The sword, one of the ancient weapons, is a "short weapon". Known as the "King of Hundreds of Soldiers". The ancient sword was made of metal, long in shape, with a pointed front end, a short handle at the back end, and a weapon with edges on both sides.
The shape of the sword is roughly as follows:
Early daggers were popular in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Typical styles are: willow leaf-shaped flat stem style, which is in the shape of a willow leaf as a whole, and is polished along the edge. The edges are round and sharp, the center of the wax is slightly raised, there is no sword grid, there is no obvious boundary between the wax and the stem, and the stem is flat and has two piercings.
The thin round-stem sword without grids was popular in the early to mid-Spring and Autumn period. Typical styles include: the thin round-stem short style, which is leaf-like, with ribs on the middle spine, and extends from the end to become a round stem. Although the stem is relatively slender, it is still in the shape of a dagger as a whole; in the shape of a round stem with a sharp lower end, the stem is flat and thin, with the front broken, the lower end obliquely tapered into a sharp shape, and the ridges are convex and extended into a round stem, but it has no head and no grid. .
The unchecked oblique sword with a flat stem became popular in the late Spring and Autumn Period. Its basic style is: the two blades are wider and shorter, the middle ridge is linearly raised, the two blades are slightly slanted and concave, the lower end is flat, and there is no Lattice, or the lattice is not continuously cast, and the flat stem is pierced.
Thick-checked swords were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Typical styles include: slanting and wide from the narrow front hoe, thick checkered round stems with hoops, the back is straight, slanting to the wide, and the front hoe is roughly the same. , the grid is in the shape of an undercut, but there are two hoops on the round stem to facilitate winding.
The thin-grid sword was popular during the Warring States Period. The two swords were even, the wax was long and short, the sword grid was thin, and the round stem had no hoop.
A sword is a long, pointed weapon with a sharp edge, and its size depends on the human body as the standard, so it is determined by measuring the person. Zheng E also gave a detailed explanation of swords, saying, "People's shapes vary in size, length, and length. Swords are made to serve them, not just to observe their beauty, but to make them suitable for their use. Therefore, they are made of three grades. Wait for the third-class men to do as they please. The stem of the sword is five inches long. If the sword body is five times as long as the stem, it will be three feet. It weighs nine qiang, which means it will weigh three kilograms or twelve taels. The sword is extremely long and heavy, so it is called the superior sword. Only those who are long and powerful can win, so the sword has four stems. The length of the stem is two feet and five inches, and it is heavy. Seven Qiangs are two catties and fourteen liang. The length and weight are in the middle, so it is called Zhongzhi. It is suitable for those who get the middle. Therefore, if the sword body stops three and its stem is two feet. If the weight of the ear is only five qiang, then the middle ear is two jin, two or three cents, light and short, so it is said that the person with a short shape and weak strength can be served."
The above-mentioned sword systems were mostly used in ancient times, and there were still many changes in the past dynasties. From the Qin to the Song Dynasty, the changes were particularly significant. Zheng E said: "If we compare the swords of the Qin and Han Dynasties with the swords of the Song Dynasty, the long swords of the Song Dynasty were 21 inches and 3 cents, while the long swords of the Han Dynasty were only 17 inches and 9 cents. The daggers of the Song Dynasty were 15 inches and 2 cents. The dagger was only ten and a half inches long, so the swords of the Song Dynasty were longer and of better quality than those of the Han Dynasty." Although this is said, there should be some evidence, but it is not easy to agree with it. The purpose of the sword is that although it is not exclusively for killing, it is also an accessory for scribes. However, it is still mainly for self-defense and fending off enemies. If a long sword is inconvenient to use, a short sword will be difficult to reach far, and a short sword is light and difficult to hit. The elder is heavy and slow to swing, neither of which are suitable for sword making. This is proved by ancient books saying: "The emperor of the Han Dynasty conquered the world with a three-foot sword." Therefore, it is wrong to say that the sword in the Han Dynasty was less than two feet long. Based on the records in the history of swords, the length of ancient swords ranges from one foot three inches to more than four feet, and their weight is two to three kilograms. The Zhengfu was made according to the person's design, so it should be credible.