page_title: Military history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
section_title: Flamethrower
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms / Gunpowder weapons / Flamethrower
caption_attribution_description: An 12th century Chinese flamethrower with a tank for petrol-like fluid (most likely Greek Fire that had been known to the Chinese since the early 10th century) and double-acting pump with two pistons so that it fires a continuous and unbroken stream of flame. This illustration originally appeared in the Wujing Zongyao military manuscript written in the year 1044 during the Song Dynasty of China. This picture also appears in Joseph Needham's book Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic.
context_page_description: The military history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms covers the period of Chinese history from the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907 to the demise of Northern Han in 979. This period of Chinese history is noteworthy for the introduction of gunpowder weapons and as a transitional phase from the aristocratic imperial system to the Confucian bureaucracy which characterized the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
context_section_description: According to Joseph Needham, the Chinese flamethrower which appeared during this era also used gunpowder as an igniter and was the first appearance of the slow match.
  The Chinese flamethrower, also known as "the Fierce-fire Oil Cabinet" (Chinese: 猛火油櫃 měng huǒ yóu guì), used a double-piston pump to shoot naphtha. It was first recorded to have been used in China in 919. Wu Renchen's Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms states that in 917 AD, the king of Wuyue sent fierce fire oil to the Khitans as a gift. The envoy explained that it could be used to attack cities and the Khitan ruler was delighted.
  The History of Liao gives an extended version of the account:
  The ruler of Wu State (Li Bian) sent to Abaoji, ruler of the Qidan (Liao), a quantity of furious fiery oil (meng huoyou) which on being set alight and coming in contact with water blazed all the more fiercely. It could be used in attacking cities. Tai Zu (Abaoji) was delighted, and at once got ready a cavalry force thirty thousand strong with the intention of attacking Youzhou. But his queen, Shulü laughed and said: 'Whoever heard of attacking a country with oil? Would it not be better to take three thousand horse and lie in wait on the borders, laying waste the country, so that the city will be starved out? By that means they will be brought to straits infallibly, even though it takes a few years. So why all this haste? Take care lest you be worsted, so that the Chinese mock at us, and our own people fall away.' Therefore he went no further in his design.
  — History of Liao
  According to Lin Yu's Wu-Yue Beishi (吳越備史, "The History of Wu and Yue"), the next appearance of fierce fire oil occurred in 919 AD when the two fleets of Wuyue and Wu met in battle. In the Battle of Langshan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River), the Wuyue fleet under Qian Chuanguan brought with them more than 500 dragon-like battleships and used "fire oil" to burn the enemy fleet. It was a great victory and they destroyed more than 400 enemy ships as well as capturing more than 7,000 men. Lin Yu goes on to explain appearance of the new weapon and the device used to deploy it:
  What is 'fire oil'? It comes from Arabia (Dashi Guo) in the southern seas. It is spouted forth from iron tubes. and when meeting with water or wet things it gives forth flame and smoke even more abundantly. Wusu Wang used to decorate the mouths of the tubes with silver, so that if (the tank and tube) fell into the hands of the enemy, they would scrape off the silver and reject the rest of the apparatus. So the fire oil itself would not get into their hands (and could be recovered later).
  — The History of Wu and Yue
  Flamethrowers were also recorded to have been used in 976 AD when Song naval forces confronted the Southern Tang fleet on the Changjiang. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction.
caption: A Chinese flamethrower from the Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044 AD, Song Dynasty. The text reads from top to bottom: ignition chamber, horizontal tank, piston rod, and fierce-fire oil tank cabinet installed form.
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