Talk:Iron Flail/@comment-34254290-20180313041141/@comment-162.222.80.93-20180915155522

Believe it or not, the Chinese indeed used iron flails as a cavalry weapon, though it predates the Qing by a long shot. Iron flail cavalry appeared during the Song Dynasty. Records suggest that it was originally a weapon employed by northwestern peoples such as the Tanguts, but later the Song Chinese adopted it.

The most famous instance of usage of the iron flail cavalry was during the Nong Zhigao rebellion, which happened in South China. Nong's rebels were armed with large wooden pavises and pikes, which the local Song infantry were unable to deal with. Later the Song court sent their best general Di Qing to the rescue. Di Qing had stationed on the northwestern border for a long time and he knew the ways of cavalry warfare, so he sent the Fanluo heavy cavalry to quench the rebellion. The Fanluo cavalry were armed with iron flails, and they proved to be very effective at overcoming the rebels' shields. Eventually, the rebels were defeated, and Nong fled to Dali Kingdom in Yunnan.