Master Archaeologist

Chapter 186 Crossbow Machine and Lead Projectile
Inside the main tomb.

Kong Jianwen, Lin Ya and the others buried their heads around the main coffin, carefully cleaning up the funerary objects in the outer coffin.

"Forget about spears, halberds, crossbows, and arrowheads, why are there lead bullets?"

"Could it be that the Nanyue Kingdom in BC already knew how to build and use firecrackers?"

Lin Ya held a lead pellet that wasn't round enough, with question marks all over her face.

Can't blame her for being confused.

Whoever it was, would be stunned when they suddenly found a round lead shot in the outer coffin full of various weapons.

This is the tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in BC.

Why are there lead pellets? !
And put it together with a weapon, it is obviously used as a weapon, right? ?
"What a fuss!" Kong Jianwen glanced at Lin Ya expressionlessly, pouted his lips, and signaled her to look at the crossbow inside the outer coffin.

"These lead pellets were produced together with the crossbow, obviously for use by the crossbow."

"Don't underestimate the ancients."

"Before there were no firearms, the ancients also used crossbows to fire lead bullets."

"Otherwise, how did the slingshot appear?"

"In the earliest days, the ballista was also used to launch some stones."

"After the metallurgical level improved, people in the Qin and Han Dynasties discovered that lead was more suitable for projection and had more lethality. This led to artificially poured lead pellets."

"The later large-scale trebuchets also used this principle. They threw not only stones, but also large round lead bullets."

"The artillery in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is the solid shot put fired!"

The crossbow is a bow that uses mechanical force to shoot arrows. It is a long-range lethal weapon developed from a bow.

Small crossbows were already widely equipped in the Qin Dynasty.

When in use, one hand is usually raised to hold the ballista and stabilize the ballistic trajectory.

Pull the crossbow with one hand and fire a sharp arrow.

In terms of precision and lethality, the crossbows of the Warring States period were no less than modern Western rifles.

In fact, Westerners were able to invent rifles because of the crossbow that was passed from China to the West, which inspired Westerners.

The crossbows of the Warring States period were actually similar to pistols in terms of structure and shape.

Even holding it in your hand and using it are actually similar.

Qin State was able to dominate the world, largely because Qin State's crossbow machine, lethality and precision were the best among the six eastern countries.

Compared with the bow, which is very labor-intensive, the crossbow is not only more convenient to use, but also more flexible.

As long as the bow and arrow are mounted properly, you can shoot with one hand, which saves energy!

Moreover, the power of the crossbow is constant. As long as the soldiers have undergone professional training and formed muscle memory, they can repeatedly shoot crossbow bolts with the same power.

This is much more stable than a bow and arrow shot by a person's arms.

For a man of eight feet, if he shoots more than a dozen arrows in a row, his arms will feel sore, and the lethality and strength of the bow and arrow will become lower and lower.

The crossbow does not.

As long as there are enough bows and arrows, a soldier can easily fire hundreds of arrows with stable lethality!
Of course, the price of this is that the consumption of arrows is also doubled.

So even if the crossbow machine is very useful, the Qin army will not eliminate bows and arrows, and usually use bows and crossbows together.

It was like when the modern machine gun first came on the scene.

Everything is good, but the bullets are consumed too quickly, which puts a lot of pressure on logistics. As a result, although the machine is good, it cannot be equipped with a large number of equipment, and it is not even loved by the frontline troops.

Too many bullets!

The same is true for the crossbow machine, it is good everywhere, but it takes too much arrows!
From the coffin, a total of 13 lead pellets were found, all of the same size, with a diameter between 2.9 cm and 3 cm, spherical.

It is estimated that these lead bullets were the auxiliary weapons equipped by the South Vietnam State for crossbowmen at that time.

If you run out of arrowheads on the battlefield, use this buckshot!
Don't underestimate lead bullets.

With this kind of crossbow machine that can penetrate heavy armor within [-] steps, even if the lead bullets fired are enough to have a fatal effect on enemies without heavy armor.

Even if it is not fatal, it is still no problem to lose the ability to move if a lead bullet hits the body.

However, these lead bullets have been severely oxidized, showing off-white color, and most of them have cracked.

When I hold it in my hand, I am afraid that it will break if I squeeze it hard.

It is no longer as lethal as it was when it was first produced.

Next to these projectiles, there is a pile of arrowheads, at least four to five hundred, and every 20 arrowheads are a bundle.

Interestingly, these arrowheads should not have been placed in the coffin from the beginning.

According to the location of the arrowheads, Kong Jianwen's fragment, these arrowheads should be divided into two piles and placed on the coffin lid.

It was only because the inner and outer coffins were rotten that they fell into the outer coffin.

Moreover, the arrows of these arrowheads all point to the south, pointing to the tomb door, which has a meaning of deterring tomb robbers.

Assuming that if a tomb robber enters through the tomb door, and when he looks up, he will see hundreds of arrowheads pointing at him, the scene is quite scary.

If it is an ancient tomb robber who is not able to bear it mentally.

Maybe he would think that there is an agency or the owner of the tomb has knowledge and wants to kill himself.

Then he ran away in a hurry, not daring to go further into the main tomb.

In addition to these weapons.

Inside the outer coffin was another funerary object that Kong Jianwen and the others were very familiar with.

Chariots.

Another chariot!
Bow caps, umbrella handle hoops, caps...

It can be seen that Zhao Hu should be a monarch who loves to drive.

There is a martyred coachman with a cart in the tomb passage, a cart in Jingxiangling in the front room, and a pile of carts and horses in the west ear room.

Now there is even a set of chariots and horses buried in the coffin of the main tomb.

It can only be said that Zhao Hu is very good at playing.

According to the burial system during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when a person of the monarchy level passed away, if chariots and horses were to be buried with him, a pit for chariots and horses should be prepared separately.

For example, five or six chariot and horse pits, large and small, were discovered in the cemetery of Zeng Guo nobles in Wenfeng Pagoda, where the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Social Sciences participated.

These pits for chariots and horses were used by several Marquis Zeng to bury his beloved chariots, and even live horses were buried together.

The famous Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang also has a lot of pits for chariots and horses, and many chariots and horses were unearthed.

After restoration, it is now placed in Shaanxi and Qinshihuang Mausoleum Museum for tourists to visit and appreciate.

Logically speaking, the Zhao family of the Nanyue Kingdom was born in the Central Plains and served as a general of the Qin Kingdom.

In terms of burial system, even if it is not similar to Qin State, it should be similar to the burial system of the Warring States Period.

However, the Nanyue king's tomb excavated this time can be said to be very special starting from the shape of the tomb.

Not only the shape and structure of the tombs have the characteristics of cliff cave tombs and vertical pit wooden coffin tombs, but also the culture of funerary objects has a wide range of origins.

Covering Yue, Han, Chu, Qin, Xiongnu, Ouluo and even other places.

If you insist on explaining, you may only think that after Zhao Tuo's family led the Qin army to conquer Lingnan, they would inevitably be assimilated by the local Baiyue tribe in Lingnan.

Therefore, in terms of the shape and style of the tomb, it also incorporates the customs of Baiyue in the south of the Five Ridges.

There is such a special tomb.

(End of this chapter)