The appearance of firearms in the early Northern Song Dynasty (10 ~19th century) marked the beginning of the era of lighters and cold weapons, which lasted about 9 centuries from the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty to the first Opium War in the Qing Dynasty (1840). During this period, with the improvement of gunpowder performance and the application of new technology, new firearms with greater power were continuously invented and played an increasingly important role in the war. However, in the Qing Dynasty, especially after the middle of18th century, due to the stagnation of firearms development, until the First Opium War, China ancient firearms never completely replaced cold weapons, but used both firearms and cold weapons. Of course, at different stages of development, the proportion of firearms and cold weapons is very different. Although cold weapons have made some progress and achievements, their role in the war is declining day by day. Cold weapons generally tend to decline, and the continuous invention and innovation of firearms became the main symbol of the development of weapons in this period. The development of ancient firearms in China can be divided into three stages: the invention and development of early firearms and utensils, and the development of firearms under the influence of foreign technology. It took about three centuries from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, which was the creation stage of early firearms. During this period, firearms have been used in war and have a certain scale. Some firearms have tens of thousands of reserves and played an important role in the war. But overall, a large number of troops were equipped with cold weapons at that time. The gunpowder arrows and fireballs invented in the Northern Song Dynasty are mainly fire-extinguishing devices used for arson, which can burn the enemy to death and scare him off. Firearms, such as iron cannons and muskets, invented in the Southern Song Dynasty have great lethality. But these two kinds of firearms, except a few can be thrown by hand, are mainly shot and thrown with cold weapons such as bows, crossbows and scorpions. The flying musket also combines a flamethrower and a spear, which is inseparable from cold weapons. Therefore, although this period has been a period of combining firearms with cold weapons, it is still a period dominated by cold weapons.

According to historical records such as History of the Song Dynasty and Military Records, from the third year of Kaibao to the fifth year of Xianping (970 ~ 1002), Feng Jisheng, the minister of the Ministry of War, Tang Fu, the captain of Shenwei Water Army, and Shipu, the envoy of Jizhou, successively presented burning firearms such as rockets, fireballs and thistles to the court. The General Introduction to the Martial Classics records the manufacturing and using methods of these firearms, and lists three gunpowder formulas, which are the earliest formulas named after gunpowder and used in military affairs in the world. These firearms were often used in the war in the Northern Song Dynasty. For example, in the first year of Jingkang (1 126), Song Jun, under the command of Prime Minister Li Gang, used the combination of cold weapons such as rockets and lightning to repel the attack of 8 Jin Army on Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan). After that, Jin Jun also learned the technology of manufacturing and using firearms, and captured Bianjing City. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the manufacture of firearms had begun to take shape. Bianjing has widely prepared siege fortifications, with more than 5,000 craftsmen under its jurisdiction, fortifications 10, including gunpowder fortifications and fire fortifications specialized in manufacturing firearms. In February of the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1084), the firearms stationed in Xuzhou and Hezhou were transported from Bianjing at one time. Bows and arrows are 6.5438 million, gunpowder bows and arrows are 20,000, gunpowder artillery arrows are 2000, and incendiary bombs are 2000.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the performance of gunpowder was significantly improved. Both Jin and the Southern Song Dynasty used iron shells to explode firearms "iron cannons". This kind of gun was first used by Jin people in 13 century. In the 14th year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty (122 1), when Jin Jun attacked qi zhou (now Qichun, Hubei), he used an iron gun made of pig iron with a shell thickness of 2 inches. Less than five years later (1232), the Mongolian army invaded Nanjing (now Kaifeng). Soldiers dug the city under the cover of a large movable bunker "cowhide hole", and the Jin army guarding the city hoisted a more explosive iron cannon "Zhentianlei" with iron cables, which exploded at the digging place. The sound was like thunder, which could be heard hundreds of miles away, producing strong burning and scattered pieces of iron shell, destroying the Mongolian army. In the second year of Jingyan (1277), the Yuan army attacked Jingjiang (now Guilin, Guangxi), and Song, the commander of the guarding city, led 250 people to ignite the big iron cannon, and died collectively. These historical records show that iron cannon has a great killing effect, the performance of gunpowder has been greatly improved, and firearms have also developed from arson equipment to weapons that directly kill and destroy, which is an important symbol of firearms' leap.

The appearance and evolution of musket shows another progress of firearms. The earliest recorded musket in Historical Records is a kind of long bamboo musket used in the second year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 132) to adhere to the rules of De 'an (now Anlu, Hubei). It is made of bamboo and filled with gunpowder. When it is cold, it ignites and emits flames, burning the enemy's siege equipment "overpass". This is the earliest tubular jet firearm, which can make the ignited gunpowder spray flames intensively. This technology has been developed in the future. Five years before the Southern Song Dynasty (1232), when the Mongols attacked Jin Nanjing, the defending Jin army used a flying musket, which tied a paper powder cartridge to the spear handle, which could not only fire and hurt people, but also hit and stab. Although it is "Fei Huo", it is also mixed with iron dross and magnetic powder. When it is ejected at the same time as the flame, it can also play a certain killing role. The Southern Song Dynasty (1259) further created the earliest tubular shooting firearm-the sudden fire gun, with giant bamboo as the barrel, An Zi (projectile) in it, and fired with gunpowder. This is the first successful attempt to launch a projectile with chemical energy after more than a century of long-term exploration, and it is also an important step in the history of early firearms development, which has solved a major technical problem for the further invention of metal tube-shaped shooting firearms.

Firearms, such as iron guns and muskets, soon showed their power on the battlefield, and Song Jun, 8 Jin Army and Mongolian Army scrambled to supplement them. The scale of firearms workshops in Lin 'an (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, has far exceeded Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. Jiangling House (now Jiangling, Hubei), a military town, built one or two thousand iron cannons a month; In two years and three months, Jiankangfu (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) manufactured and repaired 64,000 pieces of iron cannons, fire bows and arrows, firebolts, thunderbolts and fire pipes weighing 3- 10 Jin. After the Mongolian army captured the Song and Jin cities, it paid special attention to collecting craftsmen and making firearms such as rockets, artillery and muskets for them. At this time, although firearms did not occupy a major position in military equipment, they have already shown an important role in some battles. Firearms have become indispensable equipment for the army. Invention and development

This stage lasted about two centuries from the Yuan Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty. The ware invented by Yuan Dynasty is the first generation of metal tube-shaped shooting firearms in China, which has been used to fire stone bullets, lead bullets and iron bullets with gunpowder to kill the enemy at a long distance. The invention of firearms began a brand-new stage in the development of firearms. In the early Ming Dynasty, in addition to hand-held spears and large bowl spears, ware also began to develop large-caliber copper guns and iron guns, which raised the manufacturing technology of guns to a new level. During this period, the mass production of weapons and the establishment of the army, especially the establishment of special firearms units, began to change the way of fighting. Although cold weapons still account for the majority of the army's weapons, the great role of firearms has made it one of the important factors that determine the outcome on the battlefield.

When did Yuan Dynasty porcelain begin? Literature is still lacking. However, in the late Southern Song Dynasty, because the performance of gunpowder had been greatly improved, gunpowder could be used as energy source, large bamboo tubes could be used to launch projectiles, and the casting technology of copper and iron tubes was mastered, so that the Yuan Dynasty had the technical basis for manufacturing metal tube-shaped shooting firearms. In the 16th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1279), the Yuan Dynasty gathered craftsmen from all over the country in Dadu (now Beijing) and developed new weapons on the basis of the original metallurgy, gunpowder and weapons manufacturing industries in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the past 20 years, general weapons supervision has been changed to military equipment supervision, and weapons manufacturing has been unified. The earliest surviving pottery with inscriptions of the Yuan Dynasty in China is the product of Shunzhi for three years (1332) exhibited in China History Museum. The device is made of bronze cast pipe, which can bear larger bore pressure and can be filled with more gunpowder and heavier projectiles, thus greatly improving the power of firearms. This weapon has a long service life and can be reloaded and fired repeatedly, so this invention soon became an important equipment of the army. According to the literature, by the end of Yuan Dynasty, this kind of porcelain had been widely used by Yuan Army and Peasant Rebels. The Biography of Ma in Dali, the history of Yuan Dynasty, records that the Yuan army used a batch of firearms in twenty-four years (1364).

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368), in addition to mass production of bronzes, iron cannons were also cast. The big iron cannon made in the tenth year of hongwu in Sanmen Ming dynasty (1377) is now in the Shanxi Provincial Museum, and it was called the cannon in the early Ming dynasty. Their caliber, length and weight are much higher than those of the Yuan Dynasty, and their barrels are straight, which represents a high level of artillery manufacturing in the early Ming Dynasty. After Judy, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, came to power, he further increased the number and variety of spears, improved the quality and structure, and made them more conducive to actual combat. According to historical records, the Ming army has been equipped with a large number of firearms. In the 13th year of Hongwu (1380), it was stipulated that firearms should be equipped at 10% of the total number of troops stationed in local health centers. In twenty-six years, it was stipulated that each ship of the water army should be equipped with four bowls, twenty muskets, twenty rockets and twenty arrows. During Yongle period, the Magic Machine Camp specialized in firearms was established, which became the earliest new arms specialized in firearms in China. In the Ming Dynasty, the Chengguan and the Pass were gradually equipped with utensils. In the twentieth year of Hongwu (1387), he deployed artifacts in Jinchi, Chuxiong, Pindian and Middle Lancang River in Yunnan to strengthen the garrison. In the 10th (14 12) and 20th years of Yongle, Ming Chengzu ordered gun racks to be set up at Kaiping, Fu Xuan and Datong in Peiping, and more guns were added. During the Jiajing period, almost all the defense facilities were built along the Great Wall, where there were lamps and bowls. The wide use of ware indicates that the power of igniter has developed to a higher level. However, there are still obvious defects such as time-consuming loading, slow firing rate and inaccurate shooting, which can only partially replace cold weapons. Cold weapons still occupy the main position in the equipment of the whole army.

Gun development

This period lasted about three centuries from the late Ming Dynasty to the first Opium War in Qing Dynasty. Firearms in this period have been divided into two categories: guns and cannons, which developed independently and were equipped with a large number of infantry and artillery. With the increasing power of artillery, it gradually replaced cold weapons such as bed crossbows and became the main weapon in the offensive and defensive warfare of castles. Spears (guns) equipped by infantry are slow to load and cannot be used for assassination, so knives, spears, bows and arrows are still important weapons. This situation was not fundamentally changed until the first Opium War, which had a great influence on the war in the late Qing Dynasty.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, with the European colonists plundering foreign countries with new firearms, western firearms and their manufacturing technologies were first introduced to China, among which Franco spear, bird's spear and Hony Gun had great influence. The French spear was a naval gun captured by the Ming army when the Portuguese invaded China in the early years of Jiajing. Compared with ware in structure, it has the characteristics of long gun barrel, sight and split spear (used for pre-loading gunpowder pellets), so it is more convenient to load, faster in firing speed, longer in range and higher in hit rate than ware. That was a popular gun in Europe at that time. In the Ming dynasty, according to its form, it was copied into five specifications: large, medium and small. Large ones are used for ships and defensive castle camps, medium ones are used for mobile warfare with the army, and small ones are used as individual weapons.

Bird spear was captured by the Ming army in the southeast coastal War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in the 27th year of Jiajing (1548). It was originally made of European matchlock guns. Compared with the handheld device in structure, it has the characteristics of longer barrel, smaller caliber, sight, arc butt and fire rope, so it is convenient to launch, longer range, higher hit rate and stronger penetration. In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558), the first batch of birds were successfully copied in Ming Dynasty.

The successful imitation of Franco spear and bird spear made firearms have better combat performance, so they were heavily equipped by the Ming army. This was most evident in Qi Jiguang's military camp when he was training in Jizhou (now Jixian, Tianjin), taking Che Ying and Mohammad as examples:

As can be seen from the above two tables, the number of vehicles, battalions and firearms trained in Qi Jiguang has obviously increased, and the number of soldiers who use firearms has reached or exceeded half. Among them, the car camp is a special artillery unit, so the proportion of light and heavy firearms is larger. In the infantry camp, due to the slow loading of ammunition, it is impossible to assassinate at close range, and archers with swords and guns still account for half. Qi Jiguang attaches great importance to the use of cold weapons and firearms. Firefighters are equipped with long knives to facilitate close combat. Cold weapon players are equipped with rockets to facilitate long-range shooting. In the formation of grass-roots combat troops, firearms and cold weapons are also organically combined, with short and long. Qi Jiguang's Record of Training (written in 157 1) records in detail the equipment of the above battalions and the requirements for training soldiers to fight with spears and birdguns, which embodies Qi Jiguang's tactical thought of combining new firearms with cold weapons and is of great significance in China's military history. Qijiajun was an elite army in the late Ming Dynasty, and its equipment, especially the proportion of firearms, hardly represented the whole picture of the Ming army at that time.

After the success of imitation bird gizzard in China, it has been continuously improved. In the 26th year of Wanli (1598), Zhao Shizhen introduced more than ten kinds of individual guns with their own characteristics, such as electric spears, thunder spears, beak spears, Lv Fan spears, eagle spears and wing tiger spears. Among them, the faucet bolt of the electric shovel is installed on the butt of the gun, and the trigger is pulled, and the faucet falls into the medicine pool. After the ignition is completed, the faucet automatically pops up, and the gun tail is equipped with a self-defense steel sheet. The thunder spear has five tubes, which can be fired in turn to improve the firing rate. In the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), Bi Maokang introduced the autogenous device into the book "A Picture of Military Equipment", and changed the ignition of chicken gizzards into flint ignition, which overcame the shortcoming that the fire line was afraid of wind and rain, and was a major improvement of the ignition device of chicken gizzards in China. However, the above firearms are not mass-produced and equipped.

As a kind of artillery, the French machine spear is relatively light and suitable for use in sports. But the caliber is small and the power is not great. During the Wanli period, the war between the late Jin army and the Ming army in the northeast became increasingly fierce, mostly guarding the city, and the weakness of the French machine was exposed. In order to seek more powerful artillery, the Ming government ordered Xu Guangqi, a university student, to buy and copy the new European large-caliber artillery, which was then called the "red cannon". According to the military records of the Ming Dynasty, the length of Hongyi cannon was over 20 feet (about 6 meters), and the heaviest one was 3000 kilograms (about 1800 kilograms). "The cave can shatter Shicheng and shake for dozens of miles." The existing physical object, the gun body is 2 ~ 3 meters long, the caliber is more than 100 mm, which is larger than the French machine, with thick tube wall and long gun body, and it is the most powerful gun at that time. After the Ming army was equipped with red guns, it played a certain role in the battle with the late Jin army. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626), Yuan Chonghuan, a general of the Ming Dynasty, defended Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning Province), repeatedly repelled the attack of 8 Jin Army with red barbarian shelling, and won the battle of guarding the city. From the 12th year to 15th year of Chongzhen (1639 ~ 1642), in the battle between Songshan (now south of Jinzhou, Liaoning) and Jinzhou, the Ming and Qing armies exchanged huge guns and launched a fierce artillery battle. At the same time, the peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng have also been equipped with large artillery. For example, when attacking Kaifeng, in addition to bombing the city wall with a lot of gunpowder, artillery was also used to bombard the city wall to cover the soldiers' capture of the fortified city.

From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, while guns made important progress, other types of firearms also made progress to varying degrees. These fruitful achievements have been fully reflected in the military books of the late Ming Dynasty, such as Bing Lu, Wu Beizhi, Jin Tang Zhu Jie Twelve Chips and so on. Wu Bei alone recorded more than 200 kinds of firearms such as gunpowder, artillery, ware, rocket, fire tag, nozzle, fireball, fire beast, firearm chariot, water gun and mine. , and drew a lot of drawings. In the preparation of gunpowder, in the late Ming Dynasty, in addition to absorbing the characteristics of foreign gunpowder formulas and making propellants more suitable for new firearms, various special propellants were also prepared, such as primary explosives, explosives, signal drugs, smoking drugs, toxic drugs and so on. , enriched the powder varieties since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In terms of nozzles and projectile firearms, the operational functions such as burning, poisoning, smoking and obstacle shielding have been improved. Rocket technology propelled by gunpowder recoil is widely used, including single-stage rocket, two-stage rocket, multi-pronged rocket and winged rocket. In terms of explosive firearms, there are more than a dozen kinds of bombs, mines and mines, which are generally used for throwing, burying in advance or sinking in land and water arteries. In addition to direct ignition, their detonation methods have been developed to pull, pull off, trigger or mechanical steel wheel ignition. These firearms, each with its own characteristics, play a role in killing and destroying together with guns in the battle.

After the Qing Dynasty, the development of firearms in China gradually changed from slow to stagnation. At the beginning of Qing dynasty, due to the need of war, the manufacture of firearms was still valued. Heavy firearms are mainly cannons, while light firearms are mainly shotguns. According to the literature of Qing Dynasty, from the 13th year to the 60th year of Kangxi (1674 ~ 172 1), the central government of Qing Dynasty built about 900 bronze and iron cannons, but the basic structure and performance of the cannons were not greatly improved. For example, in the 15th year of Kangxi (1676), the gun of "Invincible General Shenwei" was still a Hony Gun, with a caliber of 1 10 mm, a total length of 248 cm, a weight of 1000 kg and an iron bullet weighing 4 kg. This kind of artillery was used in the 24th year of Kangxi (1685) to recapture jaxa occupied by Russia. There are many kinds of shotguns, a few of which use flint rifles, and most of them still use matchlock rifles. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Dai Zi once made a shotgun with a hairpin and a flat bore, which greatly improved the structure of the shotgun, but it was not widely used. As for the situation that the troops are equipped with firearms, it is roughly the same as that in the late Ming Dynasty. In the 30th year of Kangxi (169 1), a firearms camp was set up in Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners to train more than 5,000 people to use shotguns. During the five to ten years of Yongzheng (1727 ~ 1732), it was stipulated that green camp should be equipped with firearms. Generally speaking, bird gunners account for 40 ~ 50%, plus artillery 10%, and firearms men account for about 60%. /kloc-after the middle of the 0/8th century, European countries began the industrial revolution, and the machine industry gradually replaced the workshop handicraft industry, and the manufacture of firearms advanced by leaps and bounds. At that time, China was still in feudal society. Due to corrupt rule and serious conservative thoughts, the Qing government paid no attention to the development of firearms at all, and rarely rebuilt firearms. Foreign arrogance and closed-door policy prevented the spread of foreign advanced firearms and their manufacturing technology in China. Therefore, the development of firearms in China lags far behind that in the West. It was not until around the First Opium War that the Qing government hastily ordered the manufacture of artillery in coastal areas to strengthen coastal defense. But still unable to resist the powerful guns of foreign invaders, China began to become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.

the ancient rocket

The rocket in ancient China has four parts: arrow, shaft, feather and powder barrel. The shell of powder keg is made of bamboo tube or cardboard tube, and powder is filled in it. The upper end of the cylinder is closed and the lower end is open, and the fuse is led out from the small hole on the side of the cylinder. After ignition, gunpowder burns in the cylinder, producing a large amount of gas, which is injected backward at high speed and produces forward thrust. In fact, this is the prototype of modern rockets. The powder cartridge is equivalent to the propulsion system of modern rockets. Sharp arrows have the lethality of penetrating human body, which is equivalent to the warhead of modern rockets. Tail-mounted arrow feathers play a stabilizing role in flight, which is equivalent to the stabilizing system of modern rockets. The shaft is equivalent to the structure of the modern rocket. The outline map of ancient rockets in China was first recorded in the book Wu Bei Zhi compiled by Mao in A.D. 162 1 year.

After the appearance of rockets, they were quickly used in military operations and folk entertainment in China. 10 ~13rd century, muskets, flying guns, thunder cannons and other gunpowder weapons were used in the Song, Jin and Yuan wars. At that time, the flying gun was similar to the modern flame thrower and was a primitive rocket weapon. In the late Northern Song Dynasty, in the popular folk fireworks show, people used the reaction of gunpowder gas to make meteors (or firelights) and firecrackers that could fly high into the air, adding a festive atmosphere to the festival. In terms of working principle, meteor firecrackers have the characteristics of rockets.