Ji [jǐ] is a combination of Ge and spear, that is, Ge's head is equipped with a spear point. A combat weapon with double functions of pecking and stabbing.
As early as the pre-Qin era, halberd was the main weapon used by both sides of the war. In the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty, halberds were mainly made of bronze. During the Western Han Dynasty, iron weapons were widely used, and iron halberds replaced bronze halberds as one of the main weapons on the battlefield.
There are two main shapes of halberds in the Three Kingdoms period: one is a standard halberd, and the other is an improved halberd with upturned transverse branches.
Many famous soldiers of the Three Kingdoms also like to use halberds as weapons. In many documents describing the history of the Three Kingdoms, we have written a lot about this weapon. Perhaps we are most familiar with Lu Bu's? Yuanmen shoot halberds? Allusions.
In the reflection written by Chen Shou? Guo Wei? There is a cloud in the biography of Lu Bu: A bow horse with a cloth edge, with superior arm strength, is called General Fei. ? In order to mediate the struggle between Liu Bei and Yuan Shu, Lu Bu ordered soldiers to erect halberds outside Yuanmen. Then, Lu Bu bowed and said, Gentlemen, look at the twigs of Hee Sa. If you win, you should disband your army. If you fail, you can continue to fight. ?
Lu bu then hit the halberd with an arrow. Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling shouted? General Tianwei also! ? After that, retreat and strike.
In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty? Lu Bu Zhuan also recorded the fact that Lu Bu shot halberd, indicating that halberd was the main weapon at that time and had been in the army all the time. In the later novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the weapon used by Lu Bu became an artifact.
According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, many famous soldiers used halberds at that time, such as Dian Wei, a valiant soldier under Cao Cao's account. Good at holding big double halberds and long knives. The army said: there are standard gentlemen under the account of the strong men, carrying a pair of 80 kg halberds. ?
Later, Dian Wei went out with Cao Cao. As a result, his camp in Zhang Xiu was rebelled, and Zhang Xiu people attacked Cao Cao. Wei struck it with a halberd and destroyed it with a fork, with more than ten spears. At that time, Dian Wei still fought to the death dozens of miles away to protect Cao Cao from escaping.
Zhang Liao was also a famous soldier who used halberd as a weapon. He used 7000 troops in Hefei to fight against the100000 Wu Bing led by Sun Quan himself, fearless. Liao armored himself with a halberd and took the lead. Killed dozens of people, beheaded two generals, shouted their names, rushed into the base and came under the command of Sun Quan. Right frightened, the people don't know what to do. They went to the highlands and protected themselves with halberds. ?
It can be seen that the weapon used by Sun Quan at that time was also halberd. The weapon used by Gan Ning under Sun Quan's account is also a double halberd.
As a star weapon, Ji has a glorious history in the hegemony of the Three Kingdoms.
In the first year of Taikang (280), the Jin troops were destroyed, and the era of "three points of the world" finally belonged to the Western Jin Dynasty, and the land of China entered a peaceful era.
At the same time, the records about halberd decreased sharply. It seems that after the Three Kingdoms, Ji withdrew from the historical stage as a weapon. Why?
After the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains region returned to troubled times. During the Sixteen Kingdoms Period of Eastern Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, northern nomads gradually entered the Central Plains, and the iron hoofs of armored riders reloaded into battle hit the banks of the Yellow River like a whirlwind.
Cavalry are all heavily armored, and horses are also equipped. The progress of protective gear has put forward unprecedented requirements for fighting weapons. The original divination halberd, even the improved divination halberd with upward branches, has been difficult to break armor and hurt the enemy.
In this case, in order to strengthen the lethality, the weapon manufacturer tilted the halberd branch further, so that the shape of the horizontal branch was completely lost. However, no matter how hard we try to change the halberd shape, we still can't keep up with the improvement of armor protection performance, which makes this fork halberd come to an end.
In this way, in the contradiction between attack and defense in war, halberd gradually fell behind and was replaced by spear with stronger piercing ability.
Although halberd withdrew from the ranks of actual combat weapons, it did not die out, but after transformation, it was no longer made of metal and used as a sacrificial ceremony until the Sui and Tang Dynasties and even the Song Dynasty.