How strong were firearms in Qing Dynasty?

Since the Kangxi period, due to the small external pressure, there was basically no demand for heavy red cannons in the Qing Dynasty, so the output of heavy red cannons became very small. However, the development and production of light artillery is extremely prosperous. The development and prosperity of light artillery in Qing Dynasty was due to the expulsion of Russia and the occupation of Heilongjiang in the north and the pacification of Zheng in the southeast during Kangxi period. The surrounding area is invincible, and there is little demand for heavy artillery. To deal with the scattered cult insurrection and chieftain separatist regime in the south, heavy red artillery is not needed, and light artillery is the best. In addition, after Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the imperial army was relatively stable, did not fight for a long time, neglected training, and sought pleasure. Where is it willing to practice archery, horse riding and shooting, and hand-to-hand combat with swords and guns? Therefore, we all want to equip ourselves to train software. At that time, the training of ware was much simpler than archery. As long as the medicine is taken, an iron pill is shot with a bang. This is simple and interesting, and everyone can do it. But archery is really tiring, and it is impossible to pull a hard bow without a few hundred pounds of strength. Training and killing with a knife and gun is definitely a hard job. So since then, the imperial army has been equipped with more and more firearms. As for hand-to-hand combat with bows and horses riding and shooting swords and spears, it was gradually abandoned and transitioned to an era dominated by firearms. A large number of birdguns and light guns have replaced bows and spears.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Yong Zhengdi clearly saw that there were more and more firearms in the Eight Banners Army at that time, but the performance of firearms was absolutely not enough to make fighting completely unnecessary. Therefore, he once told the Eight Banners Army that "riding and shooting in a state of full rewelding, you should not specialize in shotguns and waste bows and arrows, and those who are familiar with guns and arrows immediately should be on the top", re-emphasizing the role of knives, spears and bows. However, Yong Zhengdi's instructions about not wasting bows and arrows like shotgun were not followed at all. Except for the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing and Kyrgyzstan, which had to keep the training of riding and shooting with bows and horses because they had to attend the autumn hunting ceremony, all the Eight Banners stationed in various places became shotgun teams and small artillery teams. After the Qianlong period, not only the Eight Banners Army, but also the green camp Army began to fully weaponize. During the Jiaqing period, in fact, the whole imperial army almost completely lost its hand-to-hand combat ability, which caused many jokes. However, during the Jiaqing period, the overall situation was peaceful, so the hand-to-hand combat capability of the imperial army dropped to a very weak level, which could not cause too serious consequences. During this period, the heavy artillery in Qing dynasty was rarely manufactured, and the manufacturing technology of heavy artillery was simplified. Due to the poor performance of heavy artillery made by simplified technology, the demand for heavy artillery is very small, and the imperial army is often simple and direct.

Therefore, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the manufacture of heavy artillery gradually stopped, while the development of light artillery flourished, with several hundred catties of Shenwei General Artillery, Tian Chong Artillery, Jiujie 100% Copper Artillery, Iron Core Bronze Artillery, Victory Bronze Artillery, Fufang Iron Artillery, Zimu Artillery, Wei Yan Artillery, Cheongsam, Dragon Artillery, Xinggong Xinbao, Jupao, Warrior Gun, and Wushen Gun. General Yu Weiyuan's gun, muddy copper gun, mountain-breaking gun, etc. Coming out one after another. These guns are much lighter than thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilograms of red guns before, and the design of breech multi-barrel guns has emerged. Mother and son guns and odd guns are breeches. These guns are easy to carry and train in the mountains, and are greatly influenced by the Eight Banners Army. They carry caged birds all day and neglect training. By the time the Opium War broke out in 1840, in fact, the firearms equipment rate of the imperial troops had exceeded 70%, and there were not many cold weapons at all, and there were almost no troops trained in hand-to-hand combat. Knives and guns can only be used for posing, and fighting is basically based on guns.

At that time, the production technology of artillery was only advanced by the British army. The boring machine was used to process the inner bore, and the copper gun was used. However, at that time, the machine tools and measuring methods were still primitive, so it was impossible to process artillery with standardized size, so there could be no super performance. The imperial army, on the other hand, has the advanced technology of advanced composite gun body, that is, raw cast iron core gun. As long as this technology is used, it is difficult to explode, so charging is safe, and the range power is increased by increasing charging. As for the lost wax gun casting technique, it was not unique to the Qing Dynasty in Europe at this time. Because the British gun can be further bored with a boring machine after casting, the boring accuracy is slightly ahead, the gap between the shell and the bore is small, and the air tightness is better. Under the condition of the same amount of propellant, the projectile can shoot farther. In the Qing Dynasty, the composite gun body technology could make the artillery load more propellants and increase the range of the artillery, especially the well-made "Shenwei General" and other red cannons in the early days. As for a batch of clay model pig iron cannons made in various provinces after the mid-Qing Dynasty, although their performance is poor, it is not too shameful to use composite gun bodies or increase wall thickness to make them difficult to burst, because they can be filled with medicine. On February 19th, 21st year of Daoguang, Yu Qian, an imperial envoy, wrote: "The British rebels only rely on ships and cannons ... As for thousands of kilograms of cannons, foreigners can carry them at will, but they can only be used in deep-water seas, not in coastal inland seas. There is shallow ocean water in the lid, and the shore must be protected by shoal reef. If you put this thousand-pound cannon, the ship will go backwards. Once stranded, the bottom of the ship will be strong and will crack immediately. Therefore, inland and overseas, only one or two kilograms or hundreds of kilograms of guns can be fired, but the mouth is narrow and the body is wide, so they are more familiar with gunpowder. A little farther than the official gun, within a few miles. It's really not more than ten miles away. "

As for the foreign guns purchased, most of them are heavy shore guns and giant guns. Only a few years before the Opium War (1835- 1839) did we buy 200 heavy foreign guns to deploy foreign guns, which shows that the statement of closing the door to the outside world is unfounded. Guan Tianpei 1836 wrote "Bei Hai Ji", which is a collection of essays he wrote to the imperial court. He said that the maximum range of the 3,000-kilo cannon at the first floor of Humenbao exceeded 556 feet (note: Qing Dynasty 1 foot = 32 cm metric today, 556 feet today = 3.56 Li), which should be very credible. As for the range (effective range), the maximum range of artillery positions below 6000 kg is 300 feet, so the effective range of heavy guns above 6000 kg should be above 300 feet. Therefore, it can be concluded that the maximum effective range of heavy artillery at that time was above 1000 meters. According to various documents in the Qing Dynasty and abroad, the maximum range of foreign heavy artillery purchased before and after the Opium War in the Qing Dynasty was within 4 Li, and the effective range was 2~3 Li. As for the giant artillery that fires 68 pounds of shells, the maximum range is about 7 miles. At that time, the actual level of western foreign guns was only so much, only slightly higher than the old crude official guns of the imperial army. The so-called fake red guns in the Ming Dynasty, with a range of 10, are purely ancient unofficial history.

The direction and shooting angle of the German Krupp heavy artillery at Shajiao Fort in Humen, Guangdong Province can be easily adjusted, and the imperial army has not been defeated by the artillery battle.

On the imitation of foreign guns, British officer Bingham published the story "Battle of Humen" at 1843. "There were 12 guns on the old battery, four of which were Portuguese brass guns bought from the Macao authorities two years ago, which can hold 68 pounds of shells. The rest are Chinese-style, with many metal components and large caliber. " . 1842 When the British army captured Wusong in June, in a military factory, "we saw that the 10 cannons used by guerrilla artillery teams were all mounted on trolleys. This kind of cannon car is very similar to the cart used in the garden. There is a box for storing shells in front, a drawer between the handles, which contains gunpowder and a small shovel for shoveling gunpowder. In addition to seeing iron cannons of various calibers, we also found some brand-new 12-pound bullet copper cannons, which were copied according to the G G R 1826 cannon with crowns embedded beside them. The only difference is that Chinese characters have replaced the crown. " . It can be seen that the imitation of foreign guns in the Qing Dynasty, from the largest 68-pound cannon in Europe at that time to the usual 12-pound cannon, can be copied, and the quantity is not small and the quality is not low.

Before and after the Opium War broke out, the wind of heavy artillery casting revived in the Qing Dynasty, and the casting technology instantly surpassed that of Britain. The guns manufactured by these new technologies are superior to British guns in actual performance, range and technology, so they are called new guns. After learning of the war between Britain and Japan, the imperial court and the coastal provinces began to make great efforts to cast heavy artillery. In addition to all kinds of old guns and simulation guns, they also successfully developed wrought iron guns. This wrought iron gun is a real forged steel gun. Although it is not a giant gun, the gun bore is smooth and solid ... The lighter the gun, the finer the workmanship and the greater the power. After a hundred tests, iron will never burst when casting. Flexible application, especially bulky giant guns. "Performance is much higher than the British ordinary artillery. Just after Britain decided to go to war, before the fleet reached the coast of China, the Imperial Army had artillery with higher performance and more advanced technology. In addition to forging steel guns, in 1 year after the start of the war, the Qing Dynasty invented the iron mold gun in 184 1 year, and this technology was not mastered in Europe until 30 years later. The iron model gun not only has smooth bore, standard size and higher machining accuracy than the British gun at that time, but also has faster manufacturing speed. The iron mold can be used for many times without cleaning the bore hole, which eliminates the defect that the clay mold gun is easy to explode due to multi-honeycomb, shortens the casting cycle and reduces the casting cost. 1842 printed iron mold illustrations for making iron mold guns and sent them to coastal provinces for reference. In the year of its birth,1more than 20 new iron-mold guns were cast just before the September War in eastern Zhejiang, 184 1. People call them: "Since last winter, Zhejiang has been casting guns, which is beneficial to its work and skillful, smooth and skillful, and has never gone west. "

In addition to forging steel guns and iron mold guns, during the Opium War, the imperial army also changed its shoddy style, and the artillery production became more and more sophisticated. On May 22nd, 21st year of Daoguang, Qian Bao, governor of Jiangxi Province, wrote: "The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi ordered 30 clay molds, and now 20 bronze cannons weighing 3,000 kilograms have been successively cast, all of which have been polished and the gun racks have been built. Together with the campers, they transported the gun to an open place, erected two layers of leather targets at a distance, and tested it for several days. One shot and one shot, gunpowder 122, lead 182, the sound is very loud, and his son can walk more than three miles through the leather target, which is enough to destroy the firm. " 10 19, an imperial envoy, Seng Gelinqin, and others reported: "I went to Haikou Fort to shoot ... and was selected as a scrapped ship with a length of more than 20 feet for inspection. Slaves and others were ordered to put firewood on the Haihe River, six or seven miles from the battery. When the battery holder was aimed at the spaceship, they tried one by one. Its fire and fire are agile, can reach the ship, and even surpass it. " "Atlas of the Sea" says: "Secular rumors say that the sound of cannons is like thunder, the sound vibrates for 300 miles, the marbles can hit for 30 to 40 miles, the buildings are hit during the bombardment, and the ground collapses, which has not been tested. As we all know, the size of the cannon is the same, the maximum loud vibration is five miles, and all the cannons are made in many miles ... so when people meet, if they are within one mile, they will not be very hot. He must be within 50 to 60 feet and 80 feet before he starts firing, and he hits 78 out of 10. If it is a mile away, the marble will fall, which is difficult to be accurate. Although it can be supplemented by height, it can do nothing. " There is another cloud in the article "Suspecting the distance with a gun": "If you don't believe me, you can have ten miles. If you don't believe me, you are not a person who has bent a marble. If you are straight, you will want to have six or seven miles available. " According to the historical records in the archives, even if the forged steel guns and iron mold guns are not counted, the maximum range of the giant guns newly cast by the Imperial Army can reach 7 ~ 8 Li, and the effective range can reach more than 4 Li, which is nearly 1 times farther than the heavy foreign guns purchased! ! ! As good as the British cannon firing 68 pounds of shells. There are very few giant guns in Britain, and usually the guns are only heavy foreign guns with a range of less than 4 miles.

In terms of projectile power, after the outbreak of the war, the imperial army not only owned 68-pound shells imported or made by itself, but also produced a 10,000-kilogram gun that fired 80-pound shells. Four types of spherical cast iron solid shells were unearthed at Guanjiang Fort in Turbulent Mountain, Zhenjiang, and the largest one actually weighed 80 kg, which undoubtedly showed that the imperial army used 10,000 kg giant guns to bombard British ships at that fort. It can be seen that the British army actually has no advantage in the performance of heavy artillery, while the performance of imperial army artillery has been greatly improved, which makes the performance of British artillery at a disadvantage.

In gunpowder and aiming, the imperial army also made rapid progress. During the war, the proportion of gunpowder in the imperial army was further improved, basically reaching the level of the British army. On September 14th, 20th year of Daoguang, Chen Jieping played: "I supervised the manufacture and processing of gunpowder, which was completed on the second day of June. On the fourth day of the fourth lunar month, British and American warships broke into Xiamen. On the fifth day, officers and men bombed with new drugs. Barbarians didn't prevent mainland gunpowder from being so fierce. They were suddenly killed and ran away immediately. Successive governors and ministers learned that Xiamen's new drugs were effective, and now the provincial bureau has allocated 20 thousand Jin of nitrate and 3000 Jin of sulfur. Take over and configure quickly. Even gunpowder has more than 20 thousand Jin, and it is still short. Now, I urge the Governor to buy more nitrosulfonic acid and store more gunpowder for a rainy day. I am ignorant and shallow, and I am eager to repay my kindness. Fusi coastal defense resists foreigners and processes them everywhere. Making gunpowder and casting more than 10,000 Jin of gunpowder can sink foreign ships, and then attack them with firepower, annihilate foreigners who resist the alliance and eliminate future troubles. I want to submit an article about processing and manufacturing drugs and continuing to extract nitroglycerin. Can you help save the provinces and unify the system? Build. In this way, the British people will be discouraged and will not dare to spy again. " On September 14, Daoguang ordered: "Chen Jieping has dealt with the system. To make gunpowder, make a list of every item of cooking nitrate. Made in Fujian. Gunpowder is now processed by the prefect, and bombardment is quite effective. With the integration of provinces, the system is like a single system. Made for use. " Here, the mixture ratio of the old powder is 8 kg of tooth nitrate, 1 kg 2 of sulfur powder and 1 kg 6 of carbon powder, and the ratio of the three is roughly 76: 10.7: 13.3.

On the other hand, in Britain, the British chemist Chevalier put forward the best chemical reaction equation of black powder after many experiments in 1825. Theoretically, the optimum ratio of nitrate, sulfur and carbon is 74.84%:11.84%:1/0/.32%. According to this equation, the proportion of nitrate, sulfur and carbon is 75%: 10%: 15%, and the mixing ratio is 78%: 8%: 14%.

As can be seen from the above, the imperial army has gunpowder with performance not inferior to that of the British army, and it is also manufactured in other provinces except Fujian Province. Construction and use. For example, on May 23rd, 20001year, Daoguang issued a report to Cheng Dun, the governor of Jiangsu Province, saying, "As for gunpowder, I severely punished the campers in the province, and processed and produced more than 10,000 kilograms according to the method of refining nitrate played by Chen Jieping, the former governor of Fujian Province last year. Try it with your palm. It's not hot. Try it on paper, don't burn it It has been delivered to the Shanghai Bureau for safekeeping. " However, due to the inefficiency of officials in various parts of the Qing Dynasty, the national artillery did not immediately switch to new drugs, which led to the imperial army still using inferior gunpowder to fight against the British in many wars. For example, in1October 7th 184 1+0, it was said in The Battle of the British in China that "China's powder magazine is a kind of ordinary building, which contains several thousand kilograms of coarse powder, which is put in wooden barrels or clay pots and we all throw it into the sea. Because although the composition of China gunpowder is similar to ours, it is a poor thing. " Then the British invaded Humen and Guangzhou, resulting in "all the anti-foreign guns were fired by mistake, although our guns were not fired accurately, and the gunpowder was mixed with sand, so the bombardment could not go far." But in general, the imperial army's artillery is more and more sophisticated, and the use of new gunpowder is also increasing.