The Flying Hun - Chu Ko Nu (Chinese Repeating Crossbow II)
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2020
- The second Chinese repeater from Mike Loades personal collection.
It was in pieces when it got here, and I had to completely disassemble it, sand down the original finish (it was discolored, mildewed and worn through in places), and completely restore the trigger and pins. It utilizes two bamboo slats for a prod, a horn trigger and a rawhide string. Currently it’s strung to about 70% of its power to not damage the prod. It probably has a bit more to give, but it’s largely going to be a display and teaching piece.
It’s not nearly as reliable as the first model I refurbished - but it’s a perfect example of a Boxer Rebellion era Cho Ko Nu.
It's a very clever weapon, but then when you realize it was designed and used waaaaaaaaay back in 475-to-403 BC, you have to marvel at the innovation !
Exactly! The Chinese military was WAY ahead of its time.
But not as powerful as the regular crossbows the Chinese used. If I heard correctly, since it was easy to use, it was mostly issued to conscripts.
@@wyattpeterson6286 I bet you the Persian Empire had these weapons! In the next 300 movie, they are going to be used?
@@bobeslami9770 They're making another one? When?
@@wyattpeterson6286 I don't know when it is coming out. but it has been confirmed.
"The Zhuge Nu is a handy little weapon that even the Confucian scholar or palace women can use in self-defence... It fires weakly so you have to tip the darts with poison. Once the darts are tipped with "tiger-killing poison", you can shoot it at a horse or a man and as long as you draw blood, your adversary will die immediately. The draw-back to the weapon is its very limited range."
- Gujin Tushu Jicheng
You hit the nail on the head, my man. Keep up the good work and cool video. ^_^
Literally the Saturday Night Special Lorcin or Jimenez .22 of medieval China.
Age of empire...the most deadly army of chukonu
Huskarl rush FTW
XD
Crazy that they invented something like this more than 2000 years ago, this is really ahead of its time
I was immediately in awe of this weapon when I first saw it and still find myself wondering why this bronze age jewel isn't still a favorite today.
Maybe because it's actually useless in actual combat
@@rudykurniawan5520 I've seen it in practice against moving targets. It hit more targets fatally in a short span of time than did a regular crossbow in the same amount of time. It is not "useless in combat." If it had been, it would never have been uses by Sun Tzu and his troops. You don't know what you're talking about, so you should probably just keep your mouth shut.
Sad truth is that it's never a favorite weapon since it's created. An ancient military book has mentioned it more as a tool for peasants to defend their own house from wild animals, other than an actual weapon to serve in the military. Because it doesn't have enough drawing weight to penetrate armor.
However, it still be used for a while as peasants could use it to rain thousands of arrows easily to drive the non-armored nomadic raiders out easily. But as the history goes, the northen nomadic neighbors slowly develop better and better armors. So the repeating crossbow end as a relic.
On the other hand, Chinese has hundreds of different types of the crossbows, repeating crossbow is not really something special for the ancient Chinese.
@@jasonwang5085 while it is true that it can’t stand up to modern or even medeival armor, it existed in the Bronze Age and was, at the time, more than enough for they typical armor of that time period. And, yes, it was largely used by peasants, but that’s not a referendum on the weapon itself. In fact, it more just illustrates its simplicity and how user friendly it is that even someone untrained can be a tour de force with this weapon and indeed put more arrows down range than even a skilled soldier with a normal crossbow or bow and arrow. Combine that with the fact that the repeater was supposed to be used my multiple men at once, and you would have nowhere to hide from the arrows. 100 men with Bronze Age repeaters would be just as deadly as 1000 men with normal crossbows. But, yes. You are right that it didn’t pack quite as much of a punch as an iron cross bow per shot. But in hand to hand combat, the only blows that count are the ones that connect. You could have a punch that could kill a man, but it’s worthless if it never hits. You are also correct about the armor becoming too advanced eventually for the repeater, and indeed most crossbows in general. But that’s what happens when technology improves. Still, though, it could have some use today, as not every modern day battle involves men wearing suits of armor.
@@Father_Brother_Son 1crank 500lb lever wheel,feather fletched bodkins& poison hollow( cutter)points@ouch= kkk---killers
That's a sick weapon, nice.
wrg
*Huskarls want to know your ubication*
Lol AoE2 player huh
Huskarl is great for killing foot archers
Hand cannoneers will wipe them
Lolz.
Longbows incoming
It’s beautiful in person!
Thank you! I was trying to find how the draw mechanism from the chu ko nu worked and i didn't even need any effort!
It's not meant for accuracy but for putting your enemy under heavy fire
Exactly. That principle still applies to Light machine guns today. Not for accuracy, but for Suppressive fire.
@@adivtayudhatama3926 The issue is for the intended purpose its short range defeats itself, You want to rain down arrows but you also want to do it at a long range, 100 men with longbows would be superior to 1000 men with Chu Ko Nu because its the difference of being pelted by rocks and and having a gun shot at you.
@@onri_ yeah, no. A gun may be scarier than a rock, but try having dozens of rocks pelted at you and tell me how well you did holding that hill.
Numbers matter. Especially when the numbers are coated with poison.
@@onri_The Chu Ko Nu was invented more than 1000 years before the Welsh/English Longbow (which was also well preceded by China's invention of gunpowder) came into being. The military might of the Song Dynasty in the 11th century totally dwarfed their English equivalent be it in innovation or numbers.
@@MrBlabax Point is still moot because Cretan archers would still be more effective that a eunuch with a toy bow. You can call it innovative if you want but historically china has lost to other nations more than its won, true innovations are things that shape the way war is preformed like the Gun, Longbow or even the formations and logistics that made romans so powerful.
If you want to talk about a Chinese weapon that meets that criteria the regular Crossbow not the toy is the real innovation.
Would love to see this scaled up to a ballista size mounted and still one man job maybe with someone loading, perhaps with winding action rather than the pump
It actually was. I believe the romans fucked around with it until it became apparent how effective it actually was.
It was either them or the greeks
The Polybolos
Invented by “Hero of Alexandria” a famous Greek inventor before the time of Christ
@@2based783 no those were different and didn't use the same mechanism
Very nice demonstration.
Ancient machine gun
Dude, just 350 subscribers is a shame. Hope you get more subscribers. Nice vid.
Chu Ko Nu, or Zhuge Nu (Zhu - ge - nu, proper pronunciation), was invented by a guy name Zhuge Liang during the Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms period, about 2000 years ago. As the name implies, Zhuge Nu means Zhuge's crossbow. He was a taoist alchemist, philosopher sage, grand strategist, etc. Pretty much the Leonardo Da Vinci of his days, but being in existence 1400 years (give or take) before Leonardo Da Vinci was born.
So this is incorrect. The Chu ko nu was around long before Zhuge Liang. Zhuge took the design, which were smaller than in the video by a little bit, and figured out how to make them larger (bit bigger than in the video) and increase their power dramatically, making them actually useful in warfare of the period. The earlier style wouldn't penetrate even the cloth armor peasants had available at the time, so they had almost no use in warfare (and hadn't for a couple hundred years). Zhuge's redesign was so successful, it came to be called after him. It would allow not only the prod to hold significantly more power (he essentially figured out something with the size of the second prod and grain of bamboo if I remember my courses correctly), but also have much better accuracy at their high-end range (meaning at max range you have a decent chance of hitting hitting a target, as opposed to almost no chance individually).
ua-cam.com/video/3ZHOYhNNgfY/v-deo.html This shows a Qing, so MUCH later, variant, but the size of the second prod, and the longer power stroke are "Zhuge's" bow. The first mention of repeating crossbows is in the late Warring States period, though this could just be talking about a mounted version of this, larger and for siege defense that the Mohists had invented. Likely the original was invented by Mohists as well, a philosophy that was obsessed with engineering as a way to save peoples lives in sieges...by killing the enemy so you don't get sacked.
Thanks for that, yeah played romance of the three kingdoms his intelligence was 100.
Chinese were ahead of their time
Thanks for the demo, pretty neat!
I just saw this from rise of kingdoms cause I chose China and I thought that it looked cool and now I see what it does makes it way cooler than what I thought, I just love it
Good stationary weapon specially of for castle or fort defense and much better if the users are on the higher ground
I'm writing a fantasy screenplay right now, and I'm at a part exactly like a castle defense. Perfect weapon for it!!!
New AoE2 graphics look so realistic!
There’s a Chinese ghost laughing as you show us it’s features
Age of empires 2 cosplay?
Very smart weapon !
Imagine 20,000 Chinese soldiers armed with this raining a sky of arrows down on you
Wouldn't work, they have a range of less than 100 yards and were incredibly weak
Nice looking crossbow
nice demonstration
Im gonna have to confiscate that deadly assault weapon
Cant use gun control as an excuse
@@BlackDiamond2718 I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate that serpentine handgonne you have. That thing can punch through a steel breastplate and is perfect for sieges, way too dangerous.
@@flamebird2218 dangit time to add another amendment
Very clever !
That thing was cool!
It's so good
So much rating fire !
The handle reminds me of the bioshock crossbow
this is the weapon that I want by my side for the incoming revolution
awesome
This was a genius invention for its time. I think I'd rather have an ancient Chinese crossbow than the later medieval European ones. Sure, they have more power but they take a long time to load. And they only have one shot.
These crossbows were incredibly weak, they barely penetrated skin and could only kill if they were dipped in poison
Lil off topic here but holy shit you have a beautiful backyard lol. I'd be chillin outside all day
First is a did you know? Did you know that British Special Forces in WWII made use of crossbows when they had to keep their killing hush hush. Silenced firearms too but they produce a flash and give you away (one bad thing about ray guns from Sci Fi should they become a reality). Plus you could probably make bolts from wood and metal at hand while deep behind enemy lines. Second and this pertains to the crossbow in question. It seems as if it could not cock the bolt and leave it unfired until the user wanted it to fire like in standard crossbows of Middle Ages Europe and today. Unless you had well developed forearms it would be hard to hold and aim.
How is a weapon that can be used by farmers be a unique unit in Chinese civ?
ROK game?
@@evanytgaming1986 He is probably referring to Age of Empires, the best and most famous historical strategy game.
@@evanytgaming1986 civilization 5
@@brunopimenta8204 no
Ask the Malay.
Nice...👍👍👍
Is there somewhere I could buy this?
Huskarl likes this content.
C'est trop bien
Imagine having like 20 dudes with these at close range on crack just spamming them at the enemy. Ded in 30 sec.
I came across this weapon long ago when i play DIABLO 2 LORD OF DESTRUCTION
Why hasn't someone made an automatic crossbow, is it really that hard? Automatic, has in no need to charge after every shot, just pull the trigger til it's empty.
A channel named Joergsprave probably has what you’re looking for
Could you have a flame burning at the end and then soak the bolts in something flammable so as they fly out they ignite and become fire bolts from hell ?
It is exceedingly hard to get any ammunition to stay alight when shot from a bow, but from a crossbow like this, there is really no way to light it. The ammunition is essentially inside the wooden box, acting as a magazine.
So it was generally impossible to aim with this weapon?
back in the day people fight in dense formation, so all you need to do is spray bolts down range
@Void and Fillet Fish What do you mean by "way too portable"? Skilled archers wanted more dead weight onto their backs or what?
@@anton.chigrinetc.96 I think he means 'not enough power due to small size'...
It bit hard to aim in a long range because its magazine, but the reload speed will be a great advantages in a close fight
Accuracy is not really the point here. Just like firearms, you just need a group of people firing at the same time. The number of bolts alone will overwhelm your enemies.
Also, Chinese battles were massive. You should check out the number of participants/soldiers in a typical Chinese war.
Using poison is not the way to end your opponents rightly! Use a pommel instead! They should have a repeating pommel launcher.
Skall reference?
All A-L-LS fair in love& W-A-R 😁
Noice!
If the bolts were fletched would you be able to shoot accurately at a longer distance?
You could shoot further but you can't shoulder it and the act of firing it moves the barrel so it's always gonna be impossible to aim with any pressision. If your shooting 100 of them in the general direction of an enemy force or your in the palace and an assassin is running down the hall at you loosing 10 poorly aimed shoots in a few seconds is great but it's not a sniper.
@@NateNuchLee When the bow is anchored to a window, the motion doesn't mess with the aim that much.
It's powerful ?
wow
Better than a bow
It's very modern weapon
So it's an ancient Chinese LMG. Nice)
In "Rise of Kingdoms", a strategic war game (mobile/pc) where you can choose to develop one out of many civilizations of history, with many historic commanders, has its special unit, called "Cho-Ko-Nu"
I got curious for the this name, and searched about it
here I am. Absolutely impressed by their knowledge of engeneering from almost 2.500 years ago, to develop something like this.
Si,yo estoy aquí por el Age Of Empires
How hard was that to aim?
"NOT AS RELIABLE"
One moment later
1:49
Imagine misfiring like this straight up because of this move, you look up and the arrow lands straight into your eye 😂🤣.
Edit: Ah wait, that is why he wear those safety glasses like that. He knew he would fuck up in higher perspective.
It's very op
For some odd reason, I'm imagining an ancient Roman crime syndicate (which probably didn't exist) using these.
this crossbow is not good amy but it's also to use to lower the enemy numbers it if the enemies were close together their numbers will be low
Back in the time , people had to put posion which used for tiger hunting with this weapon .
One wound will be good enough to kill a man or his horse .
How to load the magazine?
Love ur videos bro. We should do one together
Very fucking cool
That's an amazing invention, but I think it's used for short range shooting, not so accurate or effective. That's why is not commonly used.
Skirmishers are an effective counter against this weapon.
Good for home defense
It's The Flying Hun Chu Ko Nu (Chinese Repeating Crossbow 2) or nothing!
Were these repeater crossbows effective at long range? And many arrows could their magazines carry?
These were the Uzi's of the day. A spray and pray weapon meant to pelt light infantry and other massed troops. The only real way these could be useful is to dip the bolts in poison.
I saw in history books that Chinese has a larger version of this crossbow that operates with feet involved by sitting down. That one is a long range.
No, range and penetrative power was quite poor, but few peasents with these could defend themselves by rate of fire compensating for lack of skill
Slave Knight Gael would be proud
I hate how it functions
Couldn't engineers of those times make it like standard crossbow, and you only need to rack bowstring to load new bolt in?
Umm. 450BCE hello? The Persians hadn't invaded Greece yet and people passed down bronze armor so green they should've been discarded.
the chinese had all these innovations but still failed to conquer the world, they could've at least fought the mongols with these crossbows
i still wonder how they lost against them considering they had been fighting mounted archers for centuries
These crossbows were invented around 400 BC, literally thousand year before mongol invasion. And no matter how strong Chinese dynasties were they always corrupt within and then got thrown over, like most of the empires. Even mongol empire didn't last long.
corruption that why
Chinese doesn't colonize land beyond their "central plains". Their conquest is more cultural as they had tributary system where other states "admit" they are vassal states to the Chinese dynasties. The Great Wall epitomizes the Chinese mentality. Han Wudi chased and crushed the Xiongnu yet did not colonize the vast east Siberia.
their ammo can be made out of chopsticks.
Yeah I only know about this weapon because of tabs
Ya this kind of repeating crossbow is one of the invention in ancient China. Although it has high fire rate, this weapon was not used on battlefield due to its low accuracy, short range and weak power. The main long range weapon on ancient China battlefield was still those various type of bow, especially crossbow because crossbow is much more powerful than repeating crossbow.
You may understand this repeating crossbow like sidearm and handgun, while the formal crossbow is like rifle. Rifle is used on battlefield while handgun is not, despite handgun has higher fire rate. So in ancient China, repeating crossbow was more towards the usage of home defense, royal guard and assassination.
i saw an old old photo of this used in combat during the late 1800s but there are dead bodies so i wont link it
Semi auto crossbow?
But. . . AoE2 told me it was full auto.
Narrow One bow 5
How do you aim? Lol
The ancient AK47
AOE2AOK
yo viendo mi corchetera... mmmmmmmmmmmm,
Age of empires III
So basically it's a beta version of a gun
Not really. Chinese hand cannon was "beta version" of later guns.
Seems far more efficient than European-style crossbows which required long winding before firing the next shot. Obviously with the Chu Ko Nu you sacrifice power, but I’d think the rate of fire would def make up for it.
True but a European crossbow can penetrate all but the best armour, this would struggle to get through good cloth armour.
Still an amazing weapon for its purpose
Who is here because of AoE 2?
The bow is quite poor.
This verse is about saints
Revelation 14:12
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
U know u should taper limbs because that is just extra weight
i thought it shot in a 3 round burst like in aoe 2 lol
*Rise of Kingdoms flashbacks*
wrg
Vg
Live in South Africa? Get one of these fast repeating tactical crossbows :
ua-cam.com/video/jBisrb4STLg/v-deo.html
This weapon dates from the 5th century before Christ... If the Chinese had wanted to, they could have conquered the entire known world with it, they just had to create a bigger and more powerful version of it, with a greater number of possible shots and devise a mechanism to automate and speed up the firing somehow, with some metal armor to protect the operators and perhaps an elephant or several draft horses propelling it from the inside... It could have been the equivalent of a primitive war tank, Quickly wiping out huge groups of enemy combatants...
You read too much fantasy
Rating fire is cheat
Lol I though it was japanese
Don't think Japan existed 2500 years ago.
this is overrated. Chinese crossbows that are single shot were some of the most powerful weapons of its time 2000 years ago and instead this pew pew shooter takes all the spotlight thanks to aoe2
it also takes the spot because Chinese generals of the time were obsessed with it, many of them attributed the victory of entire wars to the repeating crossbow. hard to call it overrated since at the repeating crossbows peak usage over half of an entire Chinese army would just be repeating crossbowmen
@@Daniel-lg8yo they fullfill different roles. a 350lb@30" single shot crossbow versus a 100lb@15" repeater has very different roles
@@Daniel-lg8yo First of all, the force behind those bolts weren't no where near real Chinese bows or arbalest. That is why they used poison to make them more effective. Secondly, the range on them weren't really impressive due to having small draw distance which didn't make them that effective. Lastly, they weren't precise at all because of the way the string was drawn due to it's mechanical design. It was an impressive weapon for it's time and it was useful for people that didn't have any combat experience and it was efficient in suppressing the enemy. But it wasn't like the repeating crossbow from Berserk just pew pewing people from the distance as most people think it was.
wow