What's the most powerful weapon you can think of?

Probably some sort of big old gun or bomb, right?

But what about weapons that existed hundreds, if not thousands of years ago?

What reigned Supreme back then?

Was it truck-sized Trebougeiers, ancient flamethrowers?

Or what about a giant iron hand capable of capsizing entire ships?

Well, put on your helmet, your body armor, and your water wings, if that big hand is anything to go by.

Because we're about to explore the most incredible ancient weapons to have ever existed. You're listening. You're listening to be amazed.

When most people think of rocket launchers, they picture high-tech weapons that launch an innovative range of projectiles.

However, as advanced as they appear, they aren't a recent invention.

In fact, the first recorded rocket launchers can be traced all the way back to 11th century China.

Their neighbors soon caught on and in 1409 CE a Korean model known as the Hua Cha was launched, literally.

Now you may not be expecting much from a 600 year old weapon, but this thing packed a punch.

At first glance, the Hua Cha doesn't seem too deadly. It's a wooden cart with sticks

poking through a box on its top. Except those are not sticks. They're 100 explosive-powered

arrows. And the box is not actually a box either. It's a launch pad. Each gunpowder filled paper tube had a fuse attached to it,

like fireworks, all of which were linked together to form one long fuse. So instead of lighting

the fuse for each arrow individually, when the main fuse was lit, all 100 of the arrows

would fire at roughly the same time. Just imagine being

on the battlefield when all of a sudden a wave of explosive propelled arrows starts raining down

all around you. Not pretty. No, and don't think about running away either because it's believed

that the range of these explosive launchers was close to 1,650 feet.

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