What is the land of cannon?

What crossed your mind when you read this? If you're like me, you thought of the trench warfare of WWI or perhaps the battlefields of the Civil War.

I suggest, however, that the true land of cannon is the country which created it: China.

Has any other land had such a variety of cannon-like instruments?

In the 1100s, they started with a "fire lance," an awesome name already, which was a lance with a tube of gunpowder on it that was lit to distract the enemy. (If only they'd turned the tube the other way around, they could have had a giant bottle rocket.) Then they added iron scraps and porcelain shards to the tube. Break a teacup? You have a weapon!

By 1259, they had a "fire-emitting lance." Another excellent name. It shot a "pellet wad" forward in a great explosion, making it the first true gun, although I don't think a "pellet wad" did much damage.

Next was the "erupter," which included the "filling-the-sky erupting tube." Yet another incredibly descriptive name! The filling-the-sky erupting tube shot poisonous gas from its "orifice-penetrating flying sand magic mist tube"! Soon after, the "phalanx-charging fire gourd" shot out lead pellets!

Later, the Chinese developed such gems as the "gate-seizing generals," the "miraculous fire lances," the "thousand ball thunder cannon," the "long range awe inspiring cannon," the "crouching tiger cannon," and the "horse-beheading gun"!

Okay, that last one doesn't sound so good.

Meanwhile, the US has names like "high mobility rocket artillery system" and "medium towed howitzer." How boring.

It's too bad the Chinese didn't develop cannon until the 1100s AD. If The Israelites had had them in the 1100s BC, thing of how quickly they'd have been able to conquer the land of Caanan!

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