User blog:TheXanian/Qi Jiguang VS Lautaro

Qi Jiguang VS Lautaro, who is ...... Deadliest?



Portrait of General Qi Jiguang

Qi Jiguang is a 16th century Chinese Ming Dynasty military general. He was born in 1528 in the province of Shandong to a family with a long military tradition. He is considered by Chinese historians as a brillant strategist and a national hero. He was best remembered for his victories over the Wokou pirates who had raided the east coast of China for hundreds of years. He also helped to defend the northern border of the Ming Dynasty against the Mongols by reconstructing the Great Wall and by training and reforming his army. Qi Jiguang considered training, discipline, and combined arms as the most important qualities of an army. His troops were trained with a variety of weapons and they would support and coordinate with one another during battles. He created the famous Yuan Yang formation; it was a formation which consisted of several squads of soldiers, and each squad had eleven soldiers. This formation proved to be very effective during his battles against the Wokou pirates in southern China.



Portrait of Lautaro

Lautaro was a 16th century military cacique of the native South American Mapuche tribe. He was born in 1534 and he was the son of a Mapuche chieftain. In 1546, he was captured by Spanish conquistadors and he became the personal servant of Don Pedro de Valdivia, the first Spanish governor of Chile. During his time spent with the conquistadors, he observed and learned the Spanish military skills and their ways of fighting. In 1552, he fled from the conquistadors and returned to his Mapuche tribe. The Mapuches had declared war against the Spanish invaders, and Lautaro was chosen to lead the Mapuche warriors because he was familiar with the Spanish tactics. Lautaro organized the Mapuche army from scratch, and he introduced horses and cavalry tactics to his tribesmen. Lautaro was best remembered for his victory over the conquistadors during the battle of Tucapel, in which he and his 6000 Mapuche warriors seized control of the fort Tucapel, drived away the conquistadors, and defeated Pedro de Valdivia who wanted to retake the fort. Valdivia was captured and killed by the Mapuche warriors. Lautaro died in 1557 when he tried to attack Santiago; he was killed by the conquistadors in the battle of Mataquito.

And now, let's look at their weapons !!!

First, we'll take a look at the weapons used by Qi Jiguang and his troops.

狼筅 Lang Sien Bamboo Spear



The Lang Sien was a 3-meter-long metal-tipped bamboo spear with the bamboo branches still attached. It is said that this weapon was invented by peasant rebels from southern China, and later Qi Jiguang adopted this weapon. Those bamboo branches were sharpened and they were probably smeared with poison. This weapon could be used both for attack and for defence; its metal spearhead could be used for thrusting, while those sharpened bamboo branches could prevent enemy from approaching. Qi Jiguang incorporated this weapon into his Yuan Yang formations.

藤牌,刀 The Dao sabre and the rattan shield



These were the basic weapons of Qi Jiguang's foot soldiers. They would wield the Dao sabre in one hand, and hold the rattan shield in the other. The Dao was a effective slashing weapon.

镗耙 Tang Pa Trident



The Tang Pa is an exotic ancient Chinese trident, and it was also used by Qi Jiguang's troops. It had a long spearhead, as well as two serrated blades on each side of the spearhead. It was a multi-purpose weapon; the spearhead could be used for thrusting, while those serrated blades could be used for slashing.

虎蹲砲 The Crouching-Tiger Hand Mortar



Qi Jiguang's troops deployed this type of hand mortar in the rugged terrains of southern China. It was called a "Crouching-Tiger Hand Mortar" because its two fixed stands resembled the claws of a crouching tiger. Although this primitive mortar was short-ranged, it could be carried around by soldiers due to the fact that it was relatively light compared to other cannons of this time period, thus making it fairly versatile. To compensate for its relatively weak firepower, the Ming soldiers would put dozens of lead pellets and other small projectiles inside this morter so that when it fires, these small projectiles would spread around in all directions, making it an excellent weapon against hordes of charging enemy infantry.

槍 Qiang Spear



The Qiang spear was probably the most commonly used ancient Chinese weapon.

Although Qi Jiguang's troops had many other types of weapons including the harquebus and rocket-propelled arrows, I would not put those weapons here, or else this contest would appear lopsided.

Now moving on to the Mapuche weapons

Mapuche bow and arrow



The neighboring Inca people preferred to use slings, but the Mapuche warrior's long-range weapon of choice would be his bow and arrows. The Mapuche bow was made from the wood of beech trees, and the bowstring was made of twisted sinew from the forelegs of the guanaco. The bow was about 1 meter long, and the arrow was about 50 centimetres.

Boleadoras



The Mapuche boleadoras were made of two or three stone balls joined by cords. The Mapuche warrior would throw the boleadoras at the legs of his enemy. It would disable the enemy by entangling his legs.

Mapuche long warclub



The above picture is a clay figurine depicting a Mapuche warrior holding his long warclub. This warclub was about 6 feet to 9 feet long, and it was made from hardwood. The Spanish conquistador's records suggest that this Mapuche warclub could knock down armored man or horse.

Mapuche stone axe and short warclub



These are the close-range weapons of the Mapuche warrior. The short warclub of the Mapuche warrior could also be thrown towards the enemy.

Mapuche lance



The above photo shows a Mapuche horseman holding his lance. The Mapuche lance was about 3 meters long, and it was tipped with flint stone.