What was the first thing to do when guarding the city in Ming Dynasty? Teacher Lu Xun once said in an article about the advantages and disadvantages of electricity: foreigners use gunpowder as bullets to deal with the enemy, and China uses gunpowder as firecrackers to worship the gods; Sailing with a foreign compass, China used a compass to see Feng Shui, but if Lu Xun knew about firearms in the Ming Dynasty, he might not see it this way.
The Ming Dynasty was the period when firearms were used to the extreme in ancient China, and there were many kinds of firearms. He, an archaeologist in the history department of Nanjing University, told reporters that the firearms of the Ming Dynasty were the best in the world at that time. Firearms in Ming dynasty can be roughly divided into three categories: one is flammable firearms, such as rockets and fireballs; One is explosive weapons, such as mines and bombs; There is also a tubular shooting firearm, that is, a gun.
In the Ming dynasty, there was a kind of firearm called the enemy of ten thousand people, and in the Song dynasty, it was called the first city guard in the year of the opening of the Heavenly Palace. This firearm is a heart-shaped clay ball with a hole around it. When it is dry, it is filled with gunpowder and toxic substances. When the enemy attacks the city, light the fuse and throw it at the city gate. Flames will spray in all directions and keep spinning, burning the enemy. Because it is simple to make, convenient to obtain materials and has insecticidal function, it has this title.
Pan, a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, told reporters that ancient firearms were mainly made of burning black powder. The working principle of black powder is very simple, and its main components are saltpeter and sulfur. These two substances are prepared in a certain proportion, and some other auxiliary ingredients are added. When ignited, they will react chemically to produce high-temperature gas. The formula is as follows: 2KNO33C=K2N23CO2 black powder is very sensitive to sparks and flames, and the flames spread rapidly after ignition. When burning, it will release a lot of high-temperature gas, produce a lot of hot solid particles and form a lot of smoke, which will cause some confusion.
Ming weapon soldiers are three-eye large-caliber short guns invented during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, which have good repeating performance and strong practicability. Widely used in cavalry and Jizhong in Ming dynasty, it is an important individual gunpowder weapon of Ming army. However, due to its low accuracy and inconvenient reloading, this spear was gradually replaced by firearms, such as shotguns and Flemish guns, and was widely equipped by the Ming army. However, due to its special function, cavalry was still well-equipped in the late Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng went to Beijing and Chongzhen went out of the palace. The weapon is a large caliber spear with three eyes. What was the most commonly used firearm in Ming Dynasty?
He Aoyun told reporters that in the Ming Dynasty, pottery was used most frequently and produced the most. It was the number one firearm in the Ming Dynasty. The earliest Ming dynasty spear discovered today was also made in Nanjing, a bronze spear made by Baoyuan Bureau in the fifth year of Hongwu, Ming Taizu. It is 44.2 cm long, 2.2 cm in diameter and weighs 2 kg.
China's figure painting first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, decades earlier than in the West. Pottery was the most widely used in the Ming Dynasty. In this period, there is no difference between guns and cannons. If you want to use them up, you can make them smaller, and if you want to increase their energy, you can make them bigger. Usually the big one is called a spear, and the small one is called a spear. Later, it gradually developed in different directions. The big gun was dismantled and the small gun was dismantled.
But whether it is a big spear or a small spear, its basic structure is the same, which consists of three parts: front cavity, medicine cavity and tail spear. Among them, the pharmacy is equipped with fire doors. When launching, first put the gunpowder into the medicine room from the muzzle, then put it into the horse made of wood, hold your breath, then put the bullet into the front room, use a match rope to pass the bullet through the fire door and ignite the gunpowder in the medicine room. Powder combustion
Modern gunpowder is different from ancient black gunpowder, mainly smokeless gunpowder. The smoke produced after ignition is very small and there are not many solid particles, which avoids the blockage caused by too many impurities when black powder is used as propellant. So modern gunpowder is more useful as propellant.
What drugs were used in the mines of explosive weapons in the Ming Dynasty? There were also many explosive firearms in the Ming Dynasty, the most typical of which were mines and mines. China invented mines for the first time in the Ming Dynasty.
According to the fire dragon sutra written by Jiao Yu in 14 12, the earliest recorded crust is the earliest crushing ore. /kloc-in the 0 th and 5 th centuries, mines began to appear in Europe.
1558, the five strokes edited by Tang Shunzhi in Ming dynasty recorded the structure and layout method of underwater mines in detail. Underwater mines are the earliest mines in the world. It was not until the18th century that European and American countries began to use mines in actual combat.
However, Pan said that because the explosive performance of black powder was not strong, ancient explosive firearms were only propelled by black powder. Explosives put black powder in a closed empty room. The high-temperature gas generated by the combustion of black powder expands rapidly after being ignited by wires, resulting in the bursting of closed cans or boxes. If you put some destructive things in a sealed jar, such as stones, porcelain pieces and iron beads, these things will burst with the expansion of gas, thus shooting the enemy.
Ancient gunpowder is different from modern explosives. Gunpowder is generally used as a propellant for firearms, mainly as a propellant for ammunition, so that ammunition can fly out. Explosives only appear in modern times. Explosives are explosive. For example, we often say that TNT is explosive. Other chemical reactions will occur during the combustion process, producing a lot of explosion energy and shock waves, which is where explosives are more powerful than gunpowder. In ancient times, black powder only used its pushing energy to amplify the energy of cold powder.
The first gun with sight in China was made in Nanjing before the Ming Dynasty, and the China gun had no aiming function. When a cannon fires, its position often deviates. Sometimes it's unstable when launching, because you hit hard because of the strong recoil. Some recoil is twenty or thirty paces away, and sometimes they jump sideways or even roll over, injuring the gunmen and their own personnel. So when you use it, you should dig a hole first, put the gun in the hole, and fix the gun body before firing. But it also brings a trouble, that is, it can only shoot in one direction, and the position of the gun can be adjusted without moving. In an emergency, you can only abandon the gun.
However, in the middle of Ming Dynasty, a kind of light artillery called the making machine was introduced to China, and a China man named He learned how to make this kind of artillery. Ao Yun said that the earliest French machines were made in Nanjing.
According to records, there were three kinds of French guns made at that time: large, medium and small. Later, French guns were divided into five types, named No.1 and No.2 respectively, of which No.1 and No.2 were heavy guns. All kinds of French guns weigh more than 70 kilograms and have a range of 2000 meters.
Lang machine gun is a gun with a sight, with a sight in front and a shutter in the back. It is installed on the gun rack and can rotate freely up and down, left and right. Due to the introduction of French aircraft, China artillery began to enter the era of sight. It improves the hit rate and range.
In order to improve the aiming rate, a aiming device called copper gauge appeared in Ming dynasty, which was specially used to measure the shooting angle of heavy artillery.
Of course, there is still a certain gap between this scene and today. Wang Zhongyuan, director of the Institute of Ballistics of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, told reporters that there are many kinds of modern sights and the technology is more developed. The basic principle of aiming is 3. 1 line, but according to the principle of ballistics, ammunition can not fly in a straight line, but emit light. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the design of gun aiming. Modern guns consider many factors, such as gravity, initial velocity of bullets and so on. However, this is the simplest scene, and a better scene needs to consider more factors, such as wind speed, temperature and humidity. Some sights can adjust their scales according to different situations, so that they can aim more accurately.
However, although the firearms in the Ming Dynasty were not as developed as they are now, Wang Zhongyuan's
Surrounded by his ministers and sons, Zhu Yuanzhang built the Nanjing City Wall and climbed the Purple Mountain. Looking at the tiger's back on the dragon brand and the iron wall on the Ming wall, Zhu Yuanzhang wished I could not help but nod. However, his 14-year-old son Judy said a big thing: a cannon shot at the Purple Mountain and hit the Forbidden City. Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised because the commanding heights of Purple Mountain, Shogun Mountain and Yuhuatai are all outside the city, which is very unfavorable for defense. So Hongwu ordered the increase of outer cities in nine years. The outer city wall is 180 Li Long, and there are 18 gates such as Xianhe Gate and Qilin Gate. Suspicious Zhu Yuanzhang was keenly aware that the clever Judy would pose a threat to his successor in the future. But at that time, he quietly peeled an orange for Judy to eat. Knowing this, Ma Huanghou understood Zhu Yuanzhang's intention, peeled an orange and said that he would peel Judy's skin and pull his tendons, so he quickly drove Judy away from Zhu Yuanzhang.
Is this story true or not? If it really happens, can the enemy really hit Zhu Yuanzhang by setting up a cannon on the Purple Mountain? Were there any firearms in the imperial palace in the Ming Dynasty?
It may be estimated that the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty is in today's Forbidden City. In fact, it is very close to the Purple Mountain near the Taiping Gate, and it is only one or two kilometers at most. So was the artillery range that long in the early Ming Dynasty?
According to records, there were iron mortar guns, general iron guns, assault guns and Shensha car guns in the early Ming Dynasty. There are three or four hundred catties, such as ordinary guns, and one or two hundred catties, such as Shensha car guns. The maximum range of the gun can reach six or seven miles, so it can be inferred that if a powerful gun is installed on the mountain near the emergency exit, it should not be a problem to shoot into the palace. This is just a cannon in the early Ming Dynasty. For example, the French guns and Hongyi guns that appeared later had a longer range.
Pan told reporters that the range of artillery is related to many factors, the first is the propulsive ability of gunpowder. In short, the more gunpowder is used, the greater the propulsion, but the higher the firing requirements for firearms. The more gunpowder, the greater the energy, and the higher the requirement for the stability of guns carrying gunpowder, otherwise there is a danger of explosion. In ancient times, although there were many sources of gunpowder, the ability to make firearms must keep up and withstand the power of gunpowder, otherwise it would be useless to use more gunpowder. In addition, the range is also closely related to the shape and position of the gun itself. But in the Ming dynasty, it was very possible to launch shells 2 kilometers away. Nowadays, guns generally have a range of more than 50 kilometers.