The repeating crossbow was introduced into Korea by King Sejong (1418–1450), who during a trip to China saw the weapon and was impressed by its mechanism. The basic construction of this weapon has remained very much unchanged since its invention, making it one of the longest-lived mechanical weapons. The repeating crossbow saw its last serious action as late as the China-Japan war of 1894–1895, where photographs show repeating crossbows as common weapons among Qing Dynasty troops. Non-recurved versions of the repeating crossbow were often used for home defense. The Chinese repeating crossbow had a maximum range of 120 meters, with an effective range of 60 meters, far less than that of a non-repeating crossbow. The recurved repeating crossbow is generally still weaker than the regular recurved crossbow, and was mainly used for sieges or behind shield cover. The weapon used by the ancient militaries was developed into a composite-recurve variety for more power. Such action could fire 10 bolts in 15 seconds, after which the magazine would be reloaded. The bolts of one magazine are fired and reloaded by simply pushing and pulling the lever back and forth. Other repeating crossbows fired as many as 10 bolts before exhausting the magazine. Zhuge Liang improved the design of the repeating crossbow, and made a version which shot two to three bolts at once and was used in massed formations. Also known as the lián nǔ (simplified Chinese: 连弩 traditional Chinese: 連弩 literally: "continuous crossbow"), the invention is commonly attributed to the strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD) of the Three Kingdoms period, but those found in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei Province have been dated to the 4th century BC. The bow string consisted of animal sinew twisted into a cord of suitable strength. The Chinese repeating crossbow (Chinese: 諸葛弩 pinyin: zhūgě nǔ Wade–Giles: chu-ke nu literally: "Zhuge crossbow" sometimes romanized as "chu-ko-nu") is a device with a simple design. Chinese repeating crossbow (non-recurve version - ones used for war would be recurved).
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