Han Chinese (II/41)

Yang Xuan's improvised chariots

Proposer: Duncan Head

Proposal:

Add the following lines:

Only Yang Xuan against southern rebels in 180 AD:

Stampeding horse-drawn carts with clouds of quicklime – Irr Exp (O)        ****1-2

Carriages with archers and crossbowmen – Reg WWg (O)                         ****2-6

Add to notes:

Minima marked **** may only be used by Yang Xuan. He may not use foreign allies

nor more than the minimum cavalry and LH.

Justification:

In 180 AD: "Rebels of Cangwu and Guiyang attacked the commandery and

county offices. The Grand Administrator of Lingling, Yang Xuan,

prepared several dozen horse-drawn carriages, loaded them with

baskets of quicklime, and then tied strips of cloth to the horses'

tails. And he also constructed carriages of war, carrying archers

and crossbow-men. When they came to battle, he placed the horse-

drawn carriages in the front rank, and the lime was thrown up with a

favouring wind. The enemy could not see. Then he set fire to the

cloth [which had been tied to the horses' tails]. The horses were

terrified, and they fled into the midst of the enemy ranks. Then he

had the war-carriages brought up from the rear, with bows and

crossbows fired at random, while the sound of gongs and drums shook

the air. All the enemy force was broken as by waves and smashed and

scattered, and uncounted numbers of them were killed or wounded in

the pursuit which followed."

(From Rafe de Crespigny's EMPEROR HUAN AND EMPEROR LING, being the

Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 157 to 189 AD as

recorded in Chapters 54 to 59 of the Zizhi tongjian of Sima Guang

available online at

http://asianstudies.anu.edu.au/wiki/index.php/Early_Imperial_China)

This is a campaign against rebels in the south – Cangwu is in modern

northern Guangxi, Guiyang in southern Hubei – so would be against an

ill-trained enemy with few or no mounted troops. Probably Yang had

few or no cavalry either.

Possibly the WWg, being apparently improvised for the occasion,

should also be Irregular?