The Battle of Langshan Jiang (狼山江之戰; ''Battle of Wolf Mountain River'') was a riverine battle which occurred in 919 during the

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen concu ...

period in China between the states of

Wuyue Wuyue (; ), 907–978, was an independent coastal kingdom founded during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) of Chinese history. It was ruled by the Haiyan Qian clan (海盐钱氏), whose family name remains widespread in t ...

and Wu.

Background

The Battle of Langshan Jiang occurred as a culmination of smaller scale conflicts between Wu and Wuyue in previous years.

Yang Xingmi Yang Xingmi (; 852''Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms''vol. 1 – December 24, 905Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 265.), né Yang Xingmin (楊行愍, name changed 886), courtesy name Huayuan ...

(the warlord who would go on to found Wu) had been fighting

Qian Liu Qian Liu (10 March 852Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter

(the warlord who would go on to found Wuyue) in skirmishes and minor campaigns since 895, and tensions between the two states only grew following

Zhu Wen Emperor Taizu of Later Liang (), personal name Zhu Quanzhong () (December 5, 852 – July 18, 912), né Zhu Wen (), name later changed to Zhu Huang (), nickname Zhu San (朱三, literally, "the third Zhu"), was a Chinese military general, mona ...

’s overthrow of the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

with his own Later Liang Dynasty, which Wu claimed was illegitimate while Wuyue pledged their allegiance. When In 919 the Later Liang emperor Zhu Zhenordered Qian Liu to attack Wu, he decided to send his son

Qian Chuanguan Qian Yuanguan (錢元瓘) (November 30, 887 – September 17, 941''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 282.), born Qian Chuanguan (錢傳瓘), formally King Wenmu of Wuyue (吳越文穆王), courtesy name Mingbao (明寶), was the second king of the state of ...

, who was then serving as his deputy military governor, to attack Wu from

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

with 500 ships. This was an extremely sizeable force and probably represented the largest assault the Wuyue had launched on Wu territory

Forces

The two forces would appear equal, roughly 500 dragon ships on each side. The Wuyue were commanded by Qian Chuanguan and the Wu by Peng Yanzhang (彭彥章). The Wuyue had an ace, a double pump flamethrower. This flamethrower may have used

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

to ignite the

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

( Greek fire). Qian Yuanguan apparently had the flamethrower (or flamethrowers) decorated with silver so that if the enemy captured it they'd take the silver and leave the petrol and apparatus.

Battle

In anticipation for the battle, Qian Chuanguan loaded his ships with ashes, sand, and beans. When the fleets encountered each other, Qian Chuanguan maneuvered his fleet into an upwind position and then scattered ashes at the Wu fleet, making the Wu soldiers unable to see his ships, and then spread the decks of his own ships with sand while throwing beans at the Wu ships, causing the Wu ships' decks to be covered with beans and the Wu soldiers to thereafter slip and unable to act quickly. He then set fire to the Wu ships, causing a general rout. When Peng's deputy Chen Fen (陳汾) did not come to Peng's aid, Peng committed suicide.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 270. The Wuyue managed to destroy with their flamethrower 400 enemy ships then captured 7000 prisoners.

Analysis

The source describes both sides as having "dragon like ships". These could simply be normal war boats with dragon heads carved on. However, these may also be

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family ...

s, canoes with dragon heads which are used for various sporting events in honour of the ancient Chinese philosopher

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the Chu (state), State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to Classical Chinese poetry, classical poetry and verses, ...

. If they were using these types of boat, then it could be that normal military equipment (i.e. warships) was in short supply, and considering the chaos of this time, that could be possible. This could be the reason why they started inventing the flamethrowers, since oil at this stage was quite abundant in the rocks around some parts of China. It is known from the ''

Wujing Zongyao The ''Wujing Zongyao'' (), sometimes rendered in English as the ''Complete Essentials for the Military Classics'', is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044. The book was compiled during the Northern Song dynasty by Z ...

'' written in 1044 that the fire drug (proto-gunpowder) was being used to ignite oil from flamethrowers by that time. It could therefore be, that in the chaos, Qian Chuanguan may have started using what was then a type of medicine (or at the most, entertainment) as a slow match for his flamethrowers.

Aftermath

Qian Liu then ordered Qian Chuanguan to attack Chang Prefecture, where the Wu regent

Xu Wen Xu Wen () (862''New History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 61. – November 20, 927''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 276.Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter), courtesy name Dunmei (), formally Prince Zhongwu of Qi (), later further ...

personally defended against the attack. At that time, the weather was dry, and the Wu soldiers were able to set fires against the Wuyue army, causing Wuyue soldiers to panic. The Wuyue generals He Feng (何逢) and Wu Jian (吳建) were killed, and Qian Chuanguan was forced to flee. Xu took the opportunity to negotiate peace between the two states by returning the captives that he took, and it was said that for the next 20 years, there were no major confrontations between the two states. The flamethrower would go on to be an effective but dangerous weapon for the Chinese. Gunpowder (probably already used in incendiary arrows and primitive grenades (see

Early thermal weapons Early thermal weapons, which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories, were employed in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately the 8th century BC until the mid-16th ...

) would go on to be used in more effective and terrorizing ways in China and the world.

Sources

* Joseph Needham. ''Science and Civilisation in China V7:5 the Gunpowder Epic'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lang-Shan Jiang, Battle Of Naval battles involving China 919 10th century in China 910s conflicts Battles of Yang Wu Battles of Wuyue