Bows and arrows are a kind of projectile weapon that shoots enemies at a distance, and are also the most common and long-standing weapon used in our history.

In the earliest ancient book of China, "The Book of Changes", there was a record that Huangdi said that "strings are arcs and cuttings are arrows". A large number of finely ground and sharp stones were excavated from the cultural relics unearthed at the Wangjiazui site in Qishan, Shaanxi, which is more than 6,000 years ago. This shows that bows and arrows have been widely used as weapons as early as the ancient times of Yanhuang.

During the Xia and Shang dynasties, bows and arrows were the most important weapons of the army. Archers were specially set up in each army (the army is the smallest unit in the army). With the development of social productivity, arrowheads (commonly known as arrows) also transitioned from bone and stone to copper. In terms of shape, the angle between the two wings was gradually increased (used to increase the wound surface), and the barbs on the end of the wings became sharper (which made it difficult to pull out), and blood grooves were cast along the side blades of both wings (used to reduce the resistance to penetrate the human body), thus greatly increasing the lethality power of bows and arrows.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the production of bows and arrows formed relatively scientific standards. The "six materials" are used to make bows: dry, horns, tendons, glue, silk, lacquer. The length and diameter of the arrow shaft, the front and rear weight of the rods, etc., have certain proportions. In particular, the arrowheads abandoned the traditional flat shape from the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty and changed to a triangular shape. The side blades of the two wings gathered into peaks, which greatly improved the penetration and lethality of the arrowheads.

The main types of ejected weapons are bows and arrows and strong crossbows. Their use greatly extends the spatial distance of battlefield fighting and plays an important role in war. Ejected weapons from the Spring and Autumn Period are not only seen in many documents, but are also confirmed by a large number of underground archaeological unearthed objects.

(1) Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bows have always been the main weapon for shooting far-range weapons, so their production has always been highly valued by people. By the Spring and Autumn Period, the production process of bows has made great progress and its quality has been greatly improved. All countries have used it to equip troops and used them in large quantities.

During the war of time, we can see from "Kaogong Ji - Gongren" that there were already relatively scientific standards for making bows. The first thing to do was to choose materials, and there were six basic materials, called "six materials": "dry, horns, tendons, glue, silk, and lacquer". The functions of the "six materials" are "dry, think it is far away; horns, think it is fast; tendons, think it is deep; glue, think it is harmonious; silk, think it is solid; lacquer, think it is frost and dew".

The selection standards are very strict and divided into levels, such as the bow stem, "The way to take the stem is seven", among which jujube wood is the best, and bamboo is the second most. A good bow usually takes two or three years to make. The bow made in this way is already a very mature composite bow, with high elasticity and durability, and is usually called "horn bows" in literature. The actual objects of ancient bows in the Spring and Autumn Period were unearthed in Chu tombs in Hunan, Hubei and other places, and they can basically confirm the records of ancient books such as "Kaogong Ji".

(2) Crossbows are far-shooting weapons developed from bows. The so-called "crosses are born from bows" in the ancients is correct. Crossbows have proved to have become more advanced projectile weapons than bows in the documents of the Spring and Autumn Period and later archaeological excavations. In "The Art of War", crossbows and armor have been listed as weapons together, and the expansion and launch of crossbows are also used to describe the military force. It can be seen that by the late Spring and Autumn Period, crossbows have been widely used in wars. The harness is usually composed of three parts: bows, wooden tube arms and copper tube machines: the bow is mounted horizontally at the front end of the arm, and the crossbow machines are installed at the middle and rear tail of the arm. The crossbow arms are used to support the bow, support the strings, and are used for use.

The crossbow machine is used to pull the string and fire it. When used, it opens the string and hangs it on the tube machine, installs the arrow skeleton in the curved arm, pulls the bending machine to decouple the string, and uses the energy stored in the open bow to quickly collect the string into kinetic energy, and ejects the arrow cluster out. Because the crossbow breaks the string mounting and the vertical string launch into two actions, the shooter has time to aim at the target and find the opportunity to shoot arrows. In addition, it can not only use one person’s full body to open the bow, but also several people can work together to open the bow, which not only improves the hit rate, but also increases the energy storage of the bow, and increases the range and penetration of the arrow cluster.

Crossbows are particularly conducive to field formation, ambush and defense operations in infantry. Its use has increased the combat capabilities of ancient troops and was a powerful combat weapon at that time. The structure of the crossbow is far more complex than that of the bow and an important step in the mechanical operation of the bow. Its mechanism is similar to the firing devices of modern guns and cannons. Its invention is worthy of being a milestone in the history of the development of projectile weapons.

(III) Arrows (arrows, clusters) are used for bow shooting or curved shooting. Arrows used for bows are longer, about 70 cm; arrows used for crossbows are shorter, around 50-60 cm. Its production also made great progress in the Spring and Autumn Period, manifested as: First, the production tends to be scientific and standardized. For example, the proportions between arrow clusters, arrow shafts, feathers, the length and diameter of the arrow shafts, the weight of the front and rear parts of the rods, etc., have certain proportions. Judging from the unearthed actual specimens of arrow clusters in the Spring and Autumn Period, the specifications, sizes and proportional relationships stipulated in "Kaogong Ji-Yaozhi" are basically consistent with the actual situation. Second, although arrow bones are mostly bronze, the shape has undergone a greater reform, that is, gradually,
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