tenants of a tuntian were expected to protect themselves in times of emergencies and in return were exempt from corvée labour. Unlike the tuntian system of the Han dynasty, which was generally hands off, the tuntian policy of the Three Kingdoms era was to directly provide them with supplies and material assistance. The policy of tuntian was implemented primarily by Cao Cao, Tao Qian, and Gongsun Zan. Equipment Armies of the Three Kingdoms era used largely the same equipment as the Han dynasty since it directly follows the end of the Han. There were however some minor differences and developments such as the increasing prevalence of armoured cavalry. In one battle, the warlord Cao Cao boasted that with only ten sets of horse armour he had faced an enemy with three hundred sets. The horse armour may however have just been partial frontal barding. Mounting stirrups were already in use, possibly as early as the Han dynasty, but full riding stirrups would not appear until the 4th century. References to "dark armour" (xuan kai or xuan jia 玄鎧/玄甲) and "brilliant armour" also began to appear in the 3rd century. This is probably in reference to the association of high quality steel with black ferrous material. Weapons were largely the same as well, although there was more focus on idiosyncratic weapons wielded by particularly noteworthy individuals. For example, one man named Chen An apparently wielded a great sword over two meters in length and Sun Quan's wife had over a hundred female attendants armed with daos. Trends in warfare that had already been underway during the Eastern Han continued to gain momentum. By the end of the Three Kingdoms, the single edged dao, with its thicker and more durable dull side, had overtaken the straight double-edged jian as the primary close combat weapon. The more expensive, lighter, and less durable jian entered the domain of court dancers, officials, and expert warriors. While halberds were still used during the period, long spears and lances (similar to pikes) re-rose in prominence over halberds for infantry and cavalry forces. This was believed to have been the result of the long spear and lances' simpler construction, the adoption of long spears and lances by heavy cavalry to strike infantrymen, and the adoption of tighter infantry formations with less room for swinging and hooking [of halberds] in response to the greater threat by cavalry. Soldiers in