3.Hwacha
3.铳筒机火车
China was fiercely protective of its gunpowder weapons during the 14th and 15th centuries.
14、15世纪时，中国对火药武器的技术保密工作极严。
They held the most explosive advance in military technology since the bow and arrow, and they didn't plan on giving it up without a fight.
自弓箭出现以来，中国一直拥有着军事上最先进的爆炸技术，将此法平白献出那是不可能的。
China imposed strict embargoes on gunpowder exports to Korea especially, leaving Korean engineers to fend for themselves against a seemingly endless onslaught of Japanese invaders.
由于中国对朝鲜火药出口的禁令，朝鲜王朝的技师们不得不自谋出路，去对付日本侵略者那些似乎永无止境的猛攻。
By the turn of the 16th century, however, Korea had more than stepped up to the gunpowder challenge and was churning out their own war machines, matching any of the spurting tubes defending the Chinese mainland.
16世纪初，朝鲜的武器研究有了一定的突破，制造出了自己的战争武器，这一武器足以媲美中国火炮。
The Korean tour de force was the hwacha, a multi-rocket launcher that could fire over 100 rockets on a single match.
这一杰作就是铳筒机火车，一种多通道火箭发射器，点一次火可以发射100根火箭弹。
The larger versions used by the king could fire closer to 200. These things were samurai busters, capable of taking down entire formations of densely packed samurai with each salvo.
朝鲜国王所用的火车最大，点一次火可以发射近200个火箭弹。这些火箭弹车成为了日本武士的恶梦，仅一火车齐发的火箭就足以击败一整队密集的武士。

The hwacha's ammunition was called a singijeon, which was basically an exploding arrow. The singijeon's fuses were adjusted based on the range of the enemy so that they would explode on impact.
铳筒机火车配置的火箭被称为神机箭，说白了就是一支点着火的普通箭。神机箭的导火索可依据敌人的范围调整，以便在触到敌人的一瞬爆炸。
When the Japanese invasion began in full force in 1592, Korea already had hundreds of hwachas in operation.
当日本在1592年对朝鲜进行全面进攻时，对方已有上百辆可用的铳筒机火车了。
Perhaps the greatest testament to the hwacha's power came during the 1593 Battle of Haengju.
也许1593年的幸州大战是铳筒机火车威力的一次最好证明。
When Japan mounted an attack on the hilltop fortress with 30,000 troops, Haengju had barely 3,000 soldiers, civilians, and warrior monks in place to defend it.
当日本3万大军进攻山顶堡垒的时候，幸州的可防御人数士兵、普通百姓以及武僧加起来也才3千人。
The odds were overwhelming, and the Japanese forces advanced with confidence, unaware that Haengju had one final trick up its sleeve: 40 hwachas mounted on the outer walls.
胜负看着一目了然，日本军队对此相当自信，但是他们并没有意识到幸州其实拥有一个杀手锏：架在外围城墙上的40台铳筒机火车。
The Japanese samurai struggled up the hill nine times, only to be repelled again and again by a rain of pure hellfire.
日本武士九次进攻，却一次又一次地被一波又一波浓烈的地狱之火击退。
More than 10,000 Japanese died before they called off the siege, signaling one of the first major Korean victories in the Japanese invasion.
在日军叫停围歼前已有超过1万人员伤亡。这场战役是日本侵略朝鲜的战争中，朝鲜的首次大捷。

2.Axe Guns
2.斧头枪
Nearly every culture has made at least one version of a gun-blade combination. Not only do they look cool, they offer a lot of versatility on the battlefield.
几乎每一种文化都创造了至少一个版本的刀枪组合。它们不仅看起来很酷，在战场上发挥的用途更是广泛。
The bayonets used in the Crimean War and the American Civil War are probably the most famous modern examples, but the trend has been around since the first Chinese fire lances in the 10th century.
在克里米亚战争和美国内战中的使用的刺刀可能是现代最著名的例子，但这一"流行组合"可追溯到10世纪中国的第一支火矛枪。

Yet somehow, nobody really nailed it like Germany did. Some of the most well-preserved examples of German axe guns currently reside in the Historisches Museum in Dresden and date from the mid- to late 1500s.
然而不知为何，没有哪一个版本能真正比得上德国所造。一些保存最完好的德国斧头枪样品目前收藏在德累斯顿的历史博物馆。它们的历史可远溯至十六世纪中期到末期。
These ornately carved pieces featured heavy battle axes on the barrels of wheel-lock firearms.
这些雕饰精美的武器以在簧轮枪管上安装重型战斧为特征。
Some could be used as a chopper and a shooter simultaneously, while others were primarily axes that revealed a gun barrel when the axe head was removed.
一些斧头枪可同时作为斧头和手枪使用，而另一些则主要用作斧头，当取下斧头时露出枪管。
They were likely developed for cavalry, which explains the extended handles on what would otherwise be a pistol.
它们有可能是为骑兵队开发的，这就解释了斧头枪过长的手柄设计，少了这长手柄，这就只是一把正常的手枪而已。

1.Hellburners
1.地狱之火
It was 1584, six long winters into the Eighty Years' War, and Federigo Giambelli could taste vengeance in the air.
1584年,八十年战争已经走过六个漫长的冬天,费代里戈·詹贝利甚至能品尝到空气中复仇的味道。
Years earlier, he had offered his service as a weapons designer to the Spanish court, but they'd laughed him out of the country. Fuming, he'd moved to Antwerp, where he finally found the opportunity to avenge his bruised Italian ego.
早些年,作为武器设计师的他曾服务于西班牙王廷,却受尽奚落最后被赶离出国。他愤怒极了，继而搬到安特卫普,在那儿，他终于找到机会为挫伤的自尊复仇。
Fresh off a victory against the Ottomans, Spain sent the Duke of Parma to lay siege to Antwerp, which had become the hub of Dutch separatists.
刚战胜奥斯曼帝国，西班牙就派帕尔马公爵围攻已然成为荷兰分裂派中心城的安特卫普。
The duke hoped to choke the city with a blockade of ships across the River Scheldt.
公爵试图通过以战舰封锁斯凯尔特河的手段拿下该城。
Antwerp retaliated by sending fire ships—literally, ships on fire—against the blockade. Laughing, the Spanish army pushed them away with pikes until the vessels burned themselves into the river.
安特卫普派出火攻船——说白了，就是着火的船只——回敬封锁。西班牙军队大笑着用长矛将其推开，火攻船最后自行燃烧沉没河底。
Still wanting revenge on the Spanish, Giambelli asked the city council for 60 ships, vowing to break the blockade. But the city just gave him two.
詹贝利仍想报复西班牙,他向市议会申请索要60艘船,发誓要打破封锁。但市议会只拨给他两艘。
Undeterred, Giambelli began building his masterpiece weapons. With each ship, he gutted the hold, built a cement chamber inside with walls 1.5 meters (5 ft) thick, and loaded in 3,000 kilograms (7,000 lb) of gunpowder.
詹贝利并未因此沮丧，反而开始制造他的"神器"。他将每艘船的船舱清空,在里面建造起一个墙厚1.5米(5英尺)的水泥室，并往里填充3000公斤(7000磅)火药。

He capped it with a marble roof and piled each ship high with "every dangerous missile that could be imagined."
以大理石为舱顶，他还在每艘船上高高堆积起着"人们所能想象的危险子弹"。
Finally, he constructed a clockwork mechanism to ignite the whole load at a predetermined time.
最后,他在船上安装了一个计时装置，可以定时引爆。
These two ships became the world's first remotely detonated time bombs, which he called "hellburners."
这两艘船成了世界上第一个遥控引爆的定时炸弹,詹贝利将其称为"地狱之火"。
As night approached on April 5, Giambelli sent 32 fire ships ahead of his hellburners to distract the Spaniards. The duke called his men onto the blockade to keep the ships away.
4月5日晚上，詹贝利派出32只火攻船做先锋以分散西班牙人的注意力。公爵叫士兵到封锁船上阻止敌船靠近。
But one hellburner grounded too far from the blockade and gently "popped" when its igniter misfired.
其中一艘"地狱之火"远远地就搁浅了，因为点火器失灵，这艘"地狱之火"只发出一声轻响。
With the fire ships fizzling out, the second hellburner merely nudged the line of Spanish ships and appeared to be dead in the water. Some of the Spanish soldiers began to laugh.
在所有火攻船完全熄灭之时,第二只"地狱之火"堪堪触到西班牙的船只封锁线，但似乎也已死火。一些西班牙士兵开始哄然大笑。
Then the second hellburner exploded, killing 1,000 men and blowing a 60-meter (200 ft) hole in the blockade.
就在这时，这"地狱之火"猝然炸裂，不仅炸死了1000名西班牙士兵，还在船障上炸开了一个60米(200英尺)的大洞。
The sky rained cement blocks the size of tombstones. Most importantly, the blast opened the artery to resupply the city.
天空下起了墓碑大小的水泥块雨。最重要的是,这次爆炸打通城市补给的主通道。
Shocked, the Dutch didn't move to bring in the supplies they'd stationed downriver.
另人意外的是，荷兰人并未忙着去下游的补给站搬运物资。
A few months later, they surrendered to Spain. Giambelli couldn't have cared less. His war was over because Spain damn well knew his name now.
几个月后,他们反而向西班牙投降。詹贝利对此毫不在意。他的战争结束了,因为该死的西班牙人现在总算都知道他的大名了。