Through enlightened politics and powerful military power, the Tang Empire became the center of the world at that time. From the unification battle in the early Tang Dynasty to all internal and external wars in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, tangdao, a weapon with great influence on later generations, appeared in the history of cold weapons.
The definition of ancient books:
According to the official records of Lingcheng, an armory in the Six Classics of Tang Dynasty, there are four kinds of knives: one is an instrument knife, the other is a barrier knife, the third is a horizontal knife and the fourth is a stranger knife.
Yi Dao: Gai Ban Gu Jian, etc. were called Imperial Dao in Jin and Song Dynasties, and Long Dao in Wei and Jin Dynasties, all of which had dragon and phoenix rings. To the sui dynasty, it was called the instrument knife, which was held by gold, silver and feather.
Obstacle knife: Covered with a barrier to defend against the enemy.
Horizontal knife: a knife worn by soldiers, also named after the Sui Dynasty. The Law of the Tang Dynasty (Volume 8) prohibits the law that "the soldiers who guard the guards should not be far away". [Thin] It is said that people who fight often hold a horizontal knife; Its armor, cymbals, bows, arrows, etc., sometimes should be persistent and not far away. In Su Wei's era, "the horizontal knife was always brought", so Emperor Gaozong said to General Wang Jishan of Qianniuwei, "If others don't search, they can't come to us, and Qing Pei's big horizontal knife is on our side." It can be seen that the horizontal knife is the main battle of Su Wei officers and soldiers. All government soldiers have their own horizontal knives, and Su Wei often wears them. The horizontal knife of the Tang dynasty is universal for both soldiers and soil.
Mo Dao: Long Dao, also held by infantry, is used to cover bones and break knives.
It can be seen that there are four kinds of Tang Dao collectively referred to by later generations. Instrument knives, barrier knives and horizontal knives are all short soldiers, which can be divided into ceremonial knives and combat knives according to different purposes. Strange knives are different from instrument knives, horizontal knives and barrier knives (that is, general protective knives). First of all, they don't belong to the battle of the guards, but the battles held by the eight guards quoted in the Tang Law are horizontal knives, armor and shackles. Secondly, strange knives are heavy weapons. Miscellaneous Notes on the Seventy-two Armies of Don Yao Hui: In March of that year (the first year of Kaiyuan), the Imperial Capital stayed behind to play: there were strange knives and sharp weapons in the number of guards of various armies in the city ... All the strange knives and sharp weapons of their military guards were required to serve in the army. If our company wants to stand up and act, please give me a knife. It can be seen that the strange knife is not a feather instrument, but a sharp weapon.