Fire Lance / Fire Spear

Timeline

1. 1100–1280Song–Jin battlefields · Central PlainsWorks such as the Wujing Zongyao record weapons like the 'fire lance' and 'bursting fire tube', which used gunpowder to ignite and spew flame or propel iron shot; the Song, Jin, and Western Xia all used them in city defense and trench warfare, accumulating experience in loading and ignition for later tube-shaped firearms.
2. 1341–1350Jianghuai and Huguang · Middle YangtzeIn the 1340s, amid the late Yuan wars, fire lances still appeared in large numbers as low-cost firearms in city defense and street fighting, often mixed with early Yuan hand cannons; metal-barreled examples increased, and the powder chamber evolved toward firing separate projectiles, showing technical divergence.
3. 1350–1400Various places in China · ChinaIn the early Ming, flame-throwing fire lances and projectile-firing hand cannons were listed as separate arms; the former was used for burning attacks and close-range killing, while the latter became the main shooting firearm, with the fire lance's technical elements (powder chamber, touch hole, breech socket) inherited and standardized by the hand cannon.