Weapon
Liannu 連弩
About this item
The Liannu (repeating crossbow) is a crossbow that shoots several arrows from a single bow. Chen Shou records that Zhuge Liang improved the repeating crossbow, and the Wei Family Annals (Weishi Chunqiu), quoted in Pei Songzhi's commentary, calls it the Yuanrong and says its arrows were eight cun (Chinese inches) long and that a single crossbow shot ten arrows at once. In the Romance, Zhuge Liang passes his method for the repeating crossbow to Jiang Wei before his death, and Jiang Wei and the Shu generals use that method to hold off the Wei army. Records, Shu 5 §42Romance, Ch. 104 §4Romance, Ch. 108 §1Romance, Ch. 116 §16
Chen Shou's text records Zhuge Liang's repeating crossbow in the Biography of Zhuge Liang in Records of Shu 5, and the repeating crossbows used by the Wei army against Gongsun Yuan in the Biographies of the Two Gongsuns, Tao and the Four Zhangs in Records of Wei 8. Pei Songzhi's commentary adds more on it in Records of Shu 5 and in the Biographies of Technicians in Records of Wei 29. The Romance depicts the repeating crossbow in Chapters 104, 107, 108 and 116. Records, Shu 5 §42Records, Wei 8 §48Records, Wei 29 §36Romance, Ch. 104 §4Romance, Ch. 107 §55Romance, Ch. 108 §1Romance, Ch. 116 §16
In the Records
At the end of Zhuge Liang's biography, Chen Shou writes that Zhuge Liang was by nature excellent at ingenious contrivances, and that improving the repeating crossbow and making the Muniu Liuma (wooden oxen and gliding horses) all came from his ideas. Chen Shou's text records neither its form nor any battle in which the repeating crossbow was used. Records, Shu 5 §42
The Wei Family Annals, quoted in Pei Songzhi's commentary, records that Zhuge Liang modified the repeating crossbow and called it the Yuanrong, that its arrows were made of iron and were eight cun long, and that a single crossbow shot ten arrows at once. Records, Shu 5 §42
A text by Fu Xuan, quoted in Pei Songzhi's commentary to the Biographies of Technicians in Records of Wei 29, records that Ma Jun of Fufeng, whose skill was said to surpass all others of his time, saw Zhuge Liang's repeating crossbow and said, "It is ingenious, but not yet perfect," adding that if he made one he could increase it fivefold. Records, Wei 29 §36
The Wei army's repeating crossbows also appear once in Chen Shou's text. In the 2nd year of Jingchu (238), when the Grand Commandant Sima Yi attacked Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong, the Wei army reached the city walls and dug siege trenches, and when the rain that had fallen for more than thirty days cleared, they raised earthen hills and towers and built stone-throwers and repeating crossbows to shoot into the city. Inside the hard-pressed city the provisions ran out and people ate one another. Records, Wei 8 §47–48
In the Romance
In Chapter 104 of the Romance, the dying Zhuge Liang gives Jiang Wei the book of twenty-four chapters recording all he has learned in his life, then says that he has a method for making repeating crossbows but has not yet had the chance to use it. The method is for arrows eight cun long, with ten arrows shot from a single crossbow; he says it is all drawn in pictures and tells Jiang Wei to build and use it accordingly, and Jiang Wei bows and receives it. Romance, Ch. 104 §3–4
In Chapter 107, when Jiang Wei, defeated after marching against Yong Province, flees to Yangping Pass, Sima Shi, the eldest son of Sima Yi, pursues him and tries to seize the pass. At that moment crossbows hidden on both sides shoot all at once; the Romance says that ten arrows flew from each crossbow, for this was the method of the repeating crossbow that Zhuge Liang left behind at his death. Chapter 108 records this again, saying that Jiang Wei had used that method to place more than a hundred repeating crossbows in ambush on both sides, that the arrows were all poisoned, so that countless men and horses of the vanguard were shot dead, and that Sima Shi escaped from the chaos with only his life. Romance, Ch. 107 §53–55Romance, Ch. 108 §1–2
In Chapter 116, as Zhong Hui's great army advances on Hanzhong, the Shu general Lu Xun (盧遜), guarding Nanzheng Pass, knows in advance that the Wei army is coming; he places troops in ambush to the left and right of the wooden bridge before the pass and sets up the ten-shot repeating crossbows Zhuge Liang left behind. When the troops of the vanguard Xu Yi come to seize the pass, arrows and stones pour down like rain, and by the time Xu Yi retreats, dozens of his horsemen have already been shot down. Romance, Ch. 116 §15–16
Where the Romance differs
The method handed down: In Chapter 104 of the Romance, before his death Zhuge Liang hands down to Jiang Wei, in drawings, the method of the repeating crossbow that he has not yet had the chance to use. Chen Shou's text says only that Zhuge Liang improved the repeating crossbow, and there is no record that he passed it to Jiang Wei. Romance, Ch. 104 §4Records, Shu 5 §42
Battles where it was used: In Chapters 107 and 108 and Chapter 116 of the Romance, Jiang Wei and Lu Xun (盧遜) hold off the troops of Sima Shi and Xu Yi with repeating crossbows. In Chen Shou's text, the only passage in which repeating crossbows are used in battle is when the Wei army attacked Gongsun Yuan's city. Romance, Ch. 107 §55Romance, Ch. 108 §1Romance, Ch. 116 §16Records, Wei 8 §48
Form: Chapter 104 of the Romance says the arrows were eight cun long and that a single crossbow shot ten arrows. Chen Shou's text gives no description, and it is the Wei Family Annals, quoted in Pei Songzhi's commentary, that records the same figures. Romance, Ch. 104 §4Records, Shu 5 §42
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.
Ownership history
| Owner | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhuge Liang | ~234 | Novel & History 「損益連弩，木牛流馬，皆出其意」 · 「吾有‘連弩’之法，不曾用得」 |
| Jiang Wei | 234~ | Romance 「皆畫成圖本。汝可依法造用。維亦拜受」 · 「姜維用武侯所傳連弩法」 |
| Lu Xun(盧遜) | 263 | Romance 「守關蜀將盧遜…裝起武侯所遺十矢連弩」 · 「時魏景元四年秋七月初三日，鍾會出師」 |
Ownership is checked against the source texts (3KDEX) — each entry rests on the passage where the item changes hands. Owners not in the People index are not shown.