The fire lance (Traditional Chinese: 火槍; Simplified Chinese: 火枪; pinyin: huǒ qiāng) or fire spear is one of the first gunpowder weapons in the world. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Gunpowder warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive. ...

Description

The earliest fire lances were spear-like weapons combining a tube containing gunpowder and projectiles tied to a Chinese spear. Upon firing, the charge ejected a small projectile or poison dart along with the flame. These fire lance had a range of only a few feet. Being a weapon that combines with a spear, it was initially used as a hand-to-hand weapon with the gunpowder shot designed to give the wielder an edge in close-quarter combat. 10th All China Games 10th All China Games Qiang (qīang,槍) is the Chinese term for spear. ... HTH is an acronym, or abbreviation used in Internet slang, that means Hope This Helps or Hope That Helps. ...

Inventors soon saw the merit in the gunpowder/tube design and fire lances then appeared independent of the spear.

Diagrams, illustrations and books from the 10th century show the fire lance being used in battle, but it saw the most prolific usage during early to mid Song Dynasty, when various northern peoples encroached on Chinese soil. These short-ranged, one-shot, disposable weapons were often held in racks on city walls and gave Chinese defenders a tremendous tactical and psychological advantage when fired in volleys. They were ideal for dealing with enemies trying to scale city walls, or for holding the enemy at bay behind a breached gate. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ...

History

The first fire-lances were seen in China during the 10th century but by about 1260 they had developed into a variety of forms and although normally associated with peasant rebels regular Sung troops also used them, their use by cavalry being described at the siege of Yangchow in 1276. They were cheap and popular for several centuries sometimes being used in racks to defend cities and remained in use until well after the Ming period. The development of gunpowder in the fire lance to have enough force to hurl a killing projectile was a key step along the development of the first true guns.

This weapon paved the way for further improvements to gunpowder weapons and is the direct ancestor of the modern-day firearm and artillery. An assortment of modern handheld firearms using fixed ammunition, including military assault rifles, a sporting shotgun (fourth from bottom), and a tactical shotgun (third from bottom). ... Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ...

External links

• Little Bit of Info on the Fire Lance
• Medieval Chinese Armies, 1260-1520 (Men-at-arms S.) by Chris J. Peers. ISBN 1-85532-599-3