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By 1380, twelve years after the Ming dynasty's founding, the Ming army boasted around 130,000 gunners out of its 1.3 to 1.8 million strong army. At the outbreak of the Ming–Mong Mao War (1386–1388) , the Ming general Mu Ying was ordered to produce a couple thousand hand cannons . [ 21 ]
An illustration of an "eruptor," a proto-cannon, from the 14th-century Ming dynasty book Huolongjing. The cannon was capable of firing proto-shells, cast-iron bombs filled with gunpowder. The cannon was capable of firing proto-shells, cast-iron bombs filled with gunpowder.
These weapons were not only used by Song China, but also its Jur'chen and Mongol enemies. In the history of the Jur'chen Jin dynasty, the use of cast-iron gunpowder bombs against the Mongols is described. By the time of the Ming dynasty, Chinese technology had progressed to making large land mines, many of them were deployed on the northern border.
The Ming dynasty had a high proportion of Mongols serving in important military positions, and they were highly successful at granting titles to attract Mongols to defect to the Ming. [ 54 ] In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Mongol officers in the Ming army were given preferential tax exemptions, housing, wages and title benefits. [ 4 ]
The entries are grouped according to their uses, with rough classes set aside for very similar weapons. Some weapons may fit more than one category (e.g. the spear may be used either as a polearm or as a projectile), and the earliest gunpowder weapons which fit within the period are also included.
The very earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared in 142 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty when the alchemist Wei Boyang wrote about a substance with the properties of gunpowder. He described a mixture of three powders that would "fly and dance" violently in his Cantong qi , otherwise known as the Book of the Kinship of Three , a ...
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
By the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) two types of huochong were in use. One was a hand held version with a wooden shaft known as a shouchong (手銃) whilst the larger Wankouchong (碗口銃 — bowl-mouthed cannon) or Zhankouchong (盏口銃 — cup-mouthed cannon) [3] rested on a supporting wooden frame. It was invented presumably as ...