Song Dynasty Defeats Southern Han

Date: January 23, 971 • Location: Rome, Italy

Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.

A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a prod, mounted horizontally on a main frame called a tiller, which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long gun. Crossbows shoot arrow-like projectiles called bolts or quarrels. A person who uses a crossbow is called a crossbowman, an arbalister or an arbalist.