Treatise on Armament Technology, Volume 204

Military Resources: Defense of Forts, Part 1

To place an exposed original: 赤身 chishen, literally "naked-bodied," implying a soldier without the protection of a wall. person atop an isolated wall is to invite disaster; even the sound of a cough could topple them. People from the border regions say:

When the enemy original: 虜 lu, a derogatory term for nomadic invaders. uses catapult stones to knock down the battlements original: 睥睨 pini, the low walls or parapets atop a rampart., the defenders will use poles to hoist up effigies made to look like men, topped with ornate hats to deceive the attackers. However, when the crowds see the enemy, they cry out in alarm: "The invaders are climbing!" In the ensuing panic, they scramble to throw themselves off the wall, while the enemy climbs up slowly like ants. This is the danger of [insubstantial] battlements.

Nowadays, commoners generally use adobe earth piled and packed to form blocks and usually set them up vertically. It is only natural that they fall easily. Recently, some have suggested using bricks since brick material is narrow and small, they must also be placed vertically, but how is this different from adobe? It simply costs more.

The current regulation dictates that one must use mud-plastered blocks those made by mixing earth with water and plastering them are called "nipei" laid horizontally to form the battlements. On the outside, apply straw-mud adding plenty of grass to the mud to make it firm and thick; wheat straw is called "maoni". This can be relied upon.

4. Barbican Battlements

Once the main walls are finished, the barbican original: 甕城 wengcheng, literally "urn city," a secondary defensive enclosure protecting the main city gate. should be addressed. The fall of civilian forts is usually half the fault of the battlements and half the fault of the gates. Why? The gates are clad in iron to resist fire. Now...