Editing Repeating crossbow (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of crossbows}}
[[File:Warring States Repeating Crossbow (9873085485).jpg|thumb|Repeating crossbow, [[Chu (state)|Chu]]-state period]]
[[file:Zhugenu-payne.jpg|thumb|A non-[[recurve (bow)|recurve]] repeating crossbow. Ones used for war would be recurved]]
[[file:Navalzhugenu.jpg|thumb|Naval battle scroll depicting [[Joseon]] soldiers utilizing repeating recurve crossbows during the [[Imjin War]]]]
{{quotation|The Zhuge Nu is a handy little weapon that even the Confucian scholar or palace women can use in self-defence... It fires weakly so you have to tip the darts with poison. Once the darts are tipped with "tiger-killing poison", you can shoot it at a horse or a man and as long as you draw blood, your adversary will die immediately. The draw-back to the weapon is its very limited range.{{sfn|Loades|2018}}|''[[Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China]]''}}

According to the ''Wu-Yue Chunqiu'' (history of the Wu-Yue War), written in the [[Eastern Han dynasty]], the repeating crossbow was invented during the Warring States Period by a Mr. Qin from the [[State of Chu]]. This is corroborated by the earliest archaeological evidence of repeating crossbows, which was excavated from a Chu burial site at Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, [[Hubei]] Province, and has been dated to the 4th century BC, during the [[Warring States Period]] (475 - 220 BC).<ref name="history">Lin, Yun. "History of the Crossbow," in ''Chinese Classics & Culture'', 1993, No.4: p. 33–37.</ref> Unlike repeating crossbows of later eras, the ancient double-shot repeating crossbow uses a pistol grip and a rear-pulling mechanism for arming. The Ming repeating crossbow uses an arming mechanism that requires its user to push a rear lever upwards and downwards back and forth.<ref>{{citation |url=http://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/09/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-zhu-ge-nu.html|title=Unique weapon of the Ming Dynasty — Zhu Ge Nu (諸葛弩) |date=24 September 2015 |access-date=16 April 2018}}</ref> Although handheld repeating crossbows were generally weak and required additional poison, probably [[Aconitine|aconite]], for lethality, much larger mounted versions appeared during the Ming dynasty.{{sfn|Loades|2018}}

In 180 AD, [[Yang Xuan]] used a type of repeating crossbow powered by the movement of wheels:

{{quotation|...around A.D. 180 when Yang Xuan, Grand Protector of Lingling, attempted to suppress heavy rebel activity with badly inadequate forces. Yang's solution was to load several tens of wagons with sacks of lime and mount automatic crossbows on others. Then, deploying them into a fighting formation, he exploited the wind to engulf the enemy with clouds of lime dust, blinding them, before setting rags on the tails of the horses pulling these driverless artillery wagons alight. Directed into the enemy's heavily obscured formation, their repeating crossbows (powered by linkage with the wheels) fired repeatedly in random directions, inflicting heavy casualties. Amidst the obviously great confusion the rebels fired back furiously in self-defense, decimating each other before Yang's forces came up and largely exterminated them.{{sfn|Liang|2006}}|Ralph Sawyer}}
The invention of the repeating crossbow has often been attributed to [[Zhuge Liang]], but he in fact had nothing to do with it. This misconception is based on a record attributing improvements to the multiple bolt crossbows to him.{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=8}}

During the [[Ming dynasty]], repeating crossbows were used on ships.{{sfn|Liang|2006}}

Although the repeating crossbow has been used throughout Chinese history and is attested as late as 19th century [[Qing dynasty]] in battle against the Japanese, it was generally not regarded as an important military weapon. The ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'', written during the 17th century, says that it was favored by people in southeast China but lacked in strength and its bolts tended not to harm anyone. The functions of the repeating crossbow listed in the text are primarily non-military: tiger hunting, defending fortified houses, and usage by timid men and women. According to the ''[[Tiangong Kaiwu]]'', also written during the 17th century, the repeating crossbow is only useful against robbers.{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=161-162}}{{sfn|Liang|2006}}