Sun Tzu: The influential Chinese warlord who changed warfare forever with The Art of War…
Vs…
Genghis Khan: The Mongol leader whose brutality built the largest empire on Earth.
Who…is…deadliest?"
"This will probably be my favorite match-up, Genghis Khan versus Sun Tzu, both led very cunning attacks that destroyed their enemies and made them stronger leaders." Mack said.
"Well, we have to start off with the tell of the tale." Dorian said.
Sun Tzu:
Circa: 512 BC
Age: 44
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Weapons and Armor:
Jian
Zhua
Repeating Crossbow
Leather Lamellar
Bronze Helmet
Genghis Khan:
Circa: 1206
Age: 39
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 170 lbs.
Weapons and Armor:
Turko-Mongol Saber
Jida Lance
Mongol Recurve Bow
Steel Lamellar
Steel Helmet
Wooden Shield with Steel Strips
Long Range:
Repeating Crossbow vs. Mongol Recurve Bow
"The repeating crossbow was made of wood; the bolts were iron and tipped with wolfsbane, and it is, despite its look, very lightweight. The cartridge can hold ten bolts and they fire very rapidly when you pull on this lever." the Sun Tzu expert proclaims.
"Alright, we have an armed Mongol out there for you." Geoff said.
The Sun Tzu expert loads 10 bolts into his crossbow and stands 50 feet away. The target is a ballistics gel torso dressed in Genghis Khan's armor, wearing his lamellar, helmet, and a shield. Geoff gives the countdown and the Sun Tzu expert unleashes a storm of bolds, the first 2 bounce off the shield, 4 actually hit the lamellar but didn't penetrate, 3 others went wide of the target and one sticks into the unprotected hand of the gel torso. "The thing is, with this weapon, you sacrifice a lot of power and accuracy for high fire rate." Mack said when they walked to the torso.
"But don't forget, it's covered in poison." the expert proclaimed.
"Well, the Mongols looked down on poison, they saw them as a sign of weakness, we made sure our bow pierced and killed them, not a poison." the Khan expert said.
"The recurve bow was made of wood, animal horn, and sinew. It's very high powered and could penetrate even plate armor and it fires a variety of arrows." he explained.
The test is set up and the Khan expert gets one armor piercing arrow and one wide tipped assault arrow. He takes his first shot with the armor piercing arrow and pierces through the lamellar. He takes the second arrow and fires, hitting right above the last arrow, going in much deeper. "Wow, this is powerful; it punched through the armor with the first shot," Dorian pulls it out, "it got in by 3 inches, so, where it hit it would strike the liver, right above it," he pulls out the other arrow, "ah, this one went in 5 inches and punctured the lung, these are both kill shots."
So which long range weapon gets the edge? "I have to go with the recurve bow because it was more accurate, more powerful, and more reliable." Geoff says.
"Agreed, recurve bow all the way." Dorian agreed.
"One thing we're forgetting is that Genghis and his Mongols fired this from horseback and they'd time it so when all four of the horses feet were off the ground they'd fire for maximum accuracy, edge recurve bow." Mack said.
EDGE: Mongol Recurve Bow
Coming up, we test the legendary short range killers of these masterminds of the battlefield. Later, Mack takes a look at the greatest accomplishments of these generals.
Short Range: Jian vs. Turko-Mongol Saber
"The jian was one of the four legendary weapons of China. Its double edged, bronze, very light, 3 pounds, and was 38 inches in length." Baker explained.
"The jian was Sun Tzu's premiere weapon, it could slash, cut, thrust, it was the total package." the Sun Tzu expert claimed.
The team sets up the same torso as the crossbow test to see what the jian can do. He is ordered to give a hack to the shield, a slash and thrust to the armor and a hack to the helmet. He starts off on the shield and doesn't get through, then slashes again at the armor, actually causing a few pieces of lamellar to fall off. The expert sees this and thrusts at the exposed area and penetrates out the other end. He comes up high and hits the helmet, not even scratching it. "Well, the load cell reading didn't pick up anything significant enough to break the bones behind the shield, however, you managed to break pieces off of the lamellar armor and pierce into the body, going through the bottom portion of the heart, that's an instant kill. The shot to the helmet didn't get enough force so only one failure." Dorian said.
"The reason for this is I managed to cut some of the laces of the armor in an area where it wasn't double layered." the Sun Tzu expert said.
"That's a good point, the armor is held together by laces and if you cut those or get them wet they can come undone and individual plates will drop off." Mack said.
"Well, my sword is a foot longer and more advanced than that." the Khan expert said.
"The Turko-Mongol saber was made of steel, it had a slight weight at the tip but wasn't as major as other sabers with weights at the tip like the kilij. It was 48 inches and weighed 3 pounds, very light for a sword its length." Baker explained.
"Now this is the weapon I've been waiting to see." Mack said.
The team has another torso set up with the leather lamellar and bronze helmet. The Khan goes for a stab to the abdomen first, only getting an inch of the blade through the armor. He goes up high for the hack and hits the helmet, only leaving an unnoticeable dent on the crown. Frustrated, the expert swings at the armor full force, slicing through some of the individual pieces of leather but not enough to get through. "Although you didn't get through the armor, with that swing, on the load cell, I'm saying at least one rib is broken but on the skull we only got 250 PSI, but the helmet absorbed most of that blow, although he would be stunned from the blow." Geoff explained.
"I also saw how confident you were in this weapon, then the stab didn't get through, big deal, not a stabbing weapon. Then the hack to the helmet didn't work, that's where something went off, and when the main function of this weapon didn't work, you wouldn't know what to do." Mack assessed.
"And, if we look under the armor, we see the blade only slightly got into the skin itself, and you broke the bottom rib on the left side and it didn't puncture anything, so neither is a kill." Dorian said.
"But, unlike the jian, this could be used from horseback." the Khan expert added.
"Yes, it can, but it's not going through the armor and it may break a few more ribs, so you basically have to go for the neck and face." Mack said.
So which close range weapon gets the edge? "Because of the armor failure, I have to give it to the jian." Geoff said.
"Agreed, jian did what I didn't think would happen." Dorian said.
"Edge jian." Mack agreed.
EDGE: Jian
Coming up, Mack looks at the lasting legacies of these two legends. Later, Genghis Khan's lance goes against Sun Tzu iron fist.
Lasting Legacies:
Khan's Dynasty vs. Sun Tzu's Art of War
"What is the overall legacy of Genghis Khan?" Mack asked the Khan expert.
"It would be how he unified all the Mongol clans and built his empire." he answered.
"Tell me about this."
"Genghis was born Temujin and his parents died when he was still young. When he is 39, he declares himself "Genghis Khan", or supreme ruler. From there on, quite simply he conquers everything in his path; one of his favorite tactics was a feigned retreat into a trap. He also used torture as a policy for criminals and prisoners, while he was a great political leader of the Mongol empire and helped expand it." the Khan expert explained.
"What was Sun Tzu's greatest achievement?" Mack asked.
"Obviously, the Art of War." the Sun Tzu expert answered.
"Tell me about how the book came to be?" Mack asked.
"Sun Tzu had fought in many battles and knew what strategies worked and what didn't. He knew it was harder to fight a more disciplined army, so he'd set the land around them on fire to scatter them. If you fought a larger army, lead them away from one another into an ambush. If you're fighting an enemy of calm temper, seek to anger him so that he will make a mistake you can take an advantage of."
So which legacy gets the edge? "Sun Tzu wrote one of the greatest literary works of all time while changing warfare in the process, but Genghis actually built and empire from the ground up and fought to expand it, so Genghis gets the edge." Mack said.
EDGE: Khan's Dynasty
Mid Range:
Zhua vs. Jida Lance
"The zhua was quite an intimidating weapon. It was made completely of iron, 6 feet long, 18 pounds, very heavy. On one side, you have his iron hand with claws on it which could be coated with wolfsbane, and at the other you had a solid iron ball, so you could spin it and keep hitting with both ends." Baker explained.
Since the zhua was an infantry weapon, it will be tested against an unarmored torso then an armored horseback mannequin. Geoff gives the countdown and the zhua claw end makes contact with the skull, opening the skull and ripping away the flesh, then he comes spinning around with a second strike, tearing off the top half of the skull. He spins the zhua around and comes down onto the hole in the skull with the ball end, cracking the rest of the skull in half down the middle. The armored horsemen is released and the Sun Tzu expert swings his zhua around, the claws making a thud as they hit the mannequin, pulling it off the horse. Then, he finishes by bashing the face of the mannequin with the claw, ripping off the foam. "For the first one, I don't have to assess, that's death. From the load cell, we had over 300 PSI on the first swing, so if the hits Genghis' helmet its still a kill. Then to the horsemen, you didn't get through the armor but you pulled him off, then you ripped his face off." Dorian laughs at the grotesque damage.
"But, the problem with this weapon is that you can't use it from horseback, I can use mine, though." the Khan expert said.
"The jida lance was a 12 foot long, 5 pound lance used primarily from horseback, the blade is 8 inches of steel and it was made for high speed impacts." Baker explained.
At the range, the team has a torso dressed in Sun Tzu's armor. The Khan expert mounts his horse and charges at the gel torso. As he was in distance, thrusts at the torso, stabbing it right above the left chest. "Let's see what's under the armor." Dorian said. "Wow, this is unbelievable, you actually struck the one spot on the chest where you wouldn't get a kill or even a mortal wound, it's going to hurt but that's it."
"Well, I can get off my horse while he's on the ground and stab him to death if I have to." the Khan expert said.
So which mid range weapon gets the edge? "I have to give it to the zhua, it didn't need the amount of training the jida lance did." Geoff said.
"Agreed, the jida lance needed too much tricky horse training and even then it was iffy, edge zhua." Mack said.
"I've never seen a weapon that length to that kind of damage to the human skull, edge zhua." Dorian said.
EDGE: Zhua
But, to properly assess these warriors we must assess the X-factors of these two warriors. "So what do you have for us Rob?" Geoff asked.
"First, we have to start with the armor. Sun Tzu's Chinese soldiers will have his identical armor and Genghis Khan's Mongol's will wear leather lamellar and leather helmets but carry his shield as well. First is strategy, we gave Genghis a 90 to a Sun Tzu 92 because Sun Tzu wrote the book on how to wage war. Next, we have logistic, we gave Genghis a 92 and Sun Tzu an 88 due to Genghis and his Mongols being armed to the teeth for months on end. For physicality, we gave Genghis an 83 to Sun Tzu's 79 because Sun Tzu was more of a scholar and Genghis was a barbarian ruler. For generalship, we had to give it to Genghis; he united all of his Mongol's and other Mongol tribes to help begin his conquest. We gave him an 89 and Sun Tzu an 88. Then, we have endurance, we gave Genghis an 88 and Sun Tzu an 88 because they were both very well balanced warriors whose armor allowed them to be agile. Finally, audacity, we gave Genghis an 88 and Sun Tzu a 74. While it took courage to stand up to armies many times your size, Genghis invaded areas where others say he would be defeated." Daly said.
"Only thing left to do is throw the switch." Geoff said as Daly clicked a button.
The battle begins in the Mongolian steppe. Sun Tzu has finally decided to conquer other lands and leads his four Chinese soldiers into battle with the next enemy they encounter. However, Genghis, with two Mongolian foot soldiers and two horsemen inspect the territory after hearing rumors of an invasion. He sees the five intruders and orders all Mongols to draw their arrows and bows. They simultaneously knock their arrows and draw back, then Genghis orders them to fire. The arrows fly at the five soldiers and Sun Tzu feels the breeze of one pass his face. He feels his cheek and sees that one arrow has grazed it, blood on his fingers. But two other soldiers are hit by arrows, one is struck in the throat and killed while the other has an arrow stuck into his knee. Sun Tzu sees his injured soldier and leaves a repeating crossbow with him, standing in front of the injured soldier, ten feet ahead of him. Genghis grabs a jida lance and orders his other horsemen to charge with him. Genghis speeds his horse towards one of the separated Chinese soldiers and the soldier tries to run away. Genghis runs him down and stabs him in the back of the neck, killing him instantly. Another Mongol tries to chase down another Chinese soldier but the soldier turns around and swings at him with the zhua, hitting him in the chest and ripping him off his horse. On the ground, dizzy and winded, the Mongol is unable to notice the zhua come around again before it is too late, it tears out his left cheek and shatters his cheekbone and skull, killing him. But, before he can turn around, the Chinese soldier is stabbed in the shoulder blade by the other Mongol, going through the bone and puncturing his heart and lung, killing him. But before he can turn his horse around, he feels a thud and a searing pain in his neck, he pulls at the source of his pain. He looks and sees it is a bolt from the repeating crossbow. He looks back but cannot see, his vision has blurred from the poison already taking effect. He slumps onto the neck of his horse as it rides off into the distance. Genghis rides back to his foot soldiers and drops the jida lance and pulls out his Turko-Mongol saber. He orders the Mongols to do the same and charge with him. Sun Tzu, standing in the same spot, waits for them to approach. The two advance and Sun Tzu steps out of the way and the wounded soldier fires several bolts at the two Mongols. The first is struck in the hand and wrist, forcing him to drop his saber in pain. The other has a bolt enter straight through the back of his mouth and out the back of his head, killing him. The other Mongol rips out the bolts and draws his bow once more and knocks the arrow. He pulls back and lets the arrow fly, going straight through the soldier's eye and killing him. The Mongol draws his saber again but collapses to his knees as the poison takes affect. Sun Tzu stands beside the weakened warrior and stabs him in the throat, killing him. Genghis approaches Sun Tzu and dismounts his horse. He stands only a few feet away when Sun Tzu lunges forward, thrusting at Genghis' leg with his jian. Genghis dodges and swing wildly at Sun Tzu's helmet. His sword bounces off his helmet, leaving Sun Tzu disorientated. Sun Tzu grabs his jian with both hands and thrusts at Genghis' chest. His sword only makes it through an individual plate in the armor, but is stopped by a second layer underneath. Genghis stares at Sun Tzu angrily and smacks the sword out of his hand with the shield. Genghis gives an evil smile and Sun Tzu turns to run away, but Genghis slashes his calf, he collapses to his knee in pain, unable to escape. Sun Tzu looks back at Genghis and sees his blood on Genghis sword and knows he's defeated. Genghis walks toward Sun Tzu and brings his sword above his head and pulls the helmet off of Sun Tzu's head. He brings his saber down with both hands onto Sun Tzu's head, going into his skull and killing him. Genghis pulls the sword out of his fallen foe, as Sun Tzu' corpse falls to the ground, blood oozing from it's mouth and head wound. Genghis remounts his horse and rides back to his nearby camp, another enemy defeated.
Genghis Sun
Turko-Mongol Saber-52% Jian-48%
Jida Lance-40% Zhua-60%
Mongol Bow-68% Repeating Crossbow-32%
Armor Fail Rate: Armor Fail Rate:
Helmet-1% Helmet-12%
Armor-15% Armor-56%
Shield: 1% No Shield
2,626 Wins 2,374 Wins
X-Factors
Strategy: 90 Strategy: 92
Logistics: 92 Logistics: 88
Physicality: 83 Physicality: 79
Endurance: 88 Endurance: 88
Audacity: 88 Audacity: 74
"The reason Genghis won was because the technology and methods he use were more advanced than Sun Tzu and the fact that Genghis and his Mongols were some of the best horsemen in history." Mack explained.
Next week: It's a battle of the insane asylum's worst, Ivan the Terrible: the brutal Czar who led to the expansion of the Russian empire during his psychotic reign...
Vs…
Vlad the Impaler: the murderous Wallachian prince who waged war against the Ottoman Empire and impaled over 100,000 people in the process.
Who will be…the deadliest warrior?