Cannon Tactics
📋 What it is
Cannons create threats using screens — a "Cannon behind Horse" or double-Cannon battery can pin or mate.
🗣️ Coach says
The Cannon's screen rule makes unique tactics. Line up two Cannons on one file (a "battery") and they threaten to fire through each other. Put a Cannon behind a Horse and it aims at whatever the Horse "screens". Mastering screens turns the odd Cannon into a mating machine.
🧠 Memory hook
Screens are the Cannon's ammo. Batteries and Cannon-behind-Horse make the threats.
😂 Giggle
Why did the Soldier never look back?
Because Soldiers can never move backward, not even after crossing the river!
😲 Whoa!
A classic Xiangqi mate uses a Cannon firing over a single screen to trap the enemy General in its palace — one of the most common ways games end.
✅ Quick check: Why does lining up two Cannons on the same file (a "battery") create strong threats?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Each Cannon can use the other (or a nearby piece) as a screen to fire, so together they threaten captures and mates a single Cannon couldn't.
Batteries give the Cannons ready screens, multiplying their threats.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Set two Cannons on one file and a target beyond. Work out how they threaten to capture using each other.