On the fourth day of November in the twenty-first year of Daoguang (1841), the Daoguang Emperor was instructing the Yangwei general Yi jing and counselor Wen Wei to send a recital from the eastern front of Zhejiang. It was a very sudden mention of a divine book, the Fire Dragon Sutra.
"Then the Fire Dragon Sutra three books, unknown Qing and other views or not, by the way." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
What kind of book is the Fire Dragon Sutra that can make Daoguang thousands of miles away so concerned? What unthinkable effect did this book have on the Qing army during the Opium War?
1. What is the Fire Dragon Sutra?
The Fire Dragon Sutra is a Ming Dynasty sacred book, which mainly talks about fire attack and the methods of making and applying firearms.
Therefore, this book has another name, that is, "Fire Attack Preparation", which can also be called "Firearms Manufacturing Encyclopedia".
Originally, it was a very serious book, but the reason why the Fire Dragon Sutra is a sacred book is to say his origin.
Who wrote this book? Zhuge Liang. Well, believe it or not, this book is signed with Zhuge Liang's name anyway.
"Marquis Wu of Han, Ming Chengyi Bo Liu Ji and Dongning Bo Jiao Yu are the same school."
It is obvious that it is nonsense, not only pretending to be Zhuge Liang's name, but even the revisers Liu Ji and Jiao Yu are also pretending to be in the name.
Because Liu Ji (Liu Bowen) and Jiao Yu are both early Ming Dynasty people, but the word "Chengzu" is often used in it, it is obvious that the time point is contradictory.
Therefore, it is now generally believed that the book was actually written in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and was definitely not written by Liu Ji and Jiao Yu.
Regarding the origin of this book, it is even more divine, and the author describes himself under the guise of Jiao Yu, saying that it was secretly taught by the gods of the Heavenly Gods.
"To the young hunt Confucian book, the poor will be omitted, travel the world, visit the Way." Day trip to the rooftop, meet a person, yellow crown Xuan costume, blue eyes, dancing Panasonic. ”
The whole thing is quite mysterious.
Returning to the book itself, the Fire Dragon Sutra can be divided into three chapters:
The "Fire Dragon Sutra" begins with "General Theory of Fire Attack", followed by "The Essentials of Selecting The Methods of Selecting Firearms", and then introduces various types of gunpowder and smoke; the first of the volume is "Firearms On the Map", and then introduces the cannons, guns, instruments, and spray canisters respectively;
The first of the volume is "Under the Illustration of Firearms", and then introduces the types of plates, catheters, miscellaneous species, animals, water tools, and ground ambushes.
Finally, there is "Ten Thousand Crossbows Speaking Together" and "Taking Turns to Fire Crossbows".
Because it is an explanation of the manufacture of firearms, there are many pictures inserted in the book, which are more convenient for later generations to imitate.
In general, the "Fire Dragon Sutra" still has a considerable contribution to the production and popularization of firearms.
However, the circulation of the book itself is not widespread, and even the point of being secretly transmitted has not been there, and there are not many people who know it.
It was not until the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty that it first appeared in Jiao Le's "Fire Attack rare", and other books did not record and cite it.
However, the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was still quite interested in it.
2. Books that have been remembered by Daoguang for a long time
In November of the 21st year of Daoguang, the British fleet moved north along the coast for the second time and captured the three towns of Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang.
In the face of the arrogant British army, Daoguang did not eat soft food, and immediately dispatched troops and appointed the emperor's nephew Yijing as the general of Yangwei; ordered him to take command to recover the three towns in eastern Zhejiang, it is best to completely annihilate the British army, Daoguang is actually full of hope.
However, after more than a year of fighting with the British army, Daoguang still knew that the British firearms were more fierce from the compromise of the front line.
Of course, the Qing army itself did not lack firearms, and there were many shotguns and cannons, but the quality could not keep up.
So what to do? Find a way to improve the quality of firearms! But how to improve it? Study with the British Army? It must be too late, and it is impossible.
So the only place where firearms can be learned is the Ming Dynasty before the Qing Dynasty.
As we all know, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty were still very developed at the beginning; although they gradually lagged behind the West in the later period, whether it was the Flang machine or the Hongyi cannon, the Ming Dynasty was able to learn and imitate in time. Overall, it can keep up with the trend of the world.
The most important thing is that the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty firearms are that there are many tricks, and the lethality is not strong, not to mention, but the flying in the sky, running on the ground, and swimming in the water are not lacking; even for the one-eyed, three-eyed, five-eyed, and other multi-eyed fire bolts, it is also a large enough brain hole. The key Ming Dynasty books on the introduction and manufacture of firearms were still many.
Therefore, Daoguang did not know where to hear that the Ming Dynasty had a firearm book called the Fire Dragon Sutra, so people must find it and show it to him. It is hoped that it will be copied from it, and the firearms of the former dynasty will be used to defeat the foreign devils of the current dynasty.
As early as the fourth day of the first month of November in the 21st year of Daoguang, Daoguang mentioned in his correction of the Yijing:
"Three more copies of the Fire Dragon Sutra, I don't know if Qing Qing has been viewed or not, by the way." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
This means that the three "Fire Dragon Classics" you found, have you read them with Counselor Wen Wei? If you have seen it, write a feeling after reading it and give it to you.
As for whether Yi Jing and Wen Wei read it or not, whether they read it after reading it, it is not clear.
On the fourth day of the first month of December, when Daoguang instructed the ministers of the military aircraft, he mentioned the matter of Jin Yinglin, an envoy directly subordinate to the inspector, and called it the "Firearms Illustration".
Daoguang himself should have read the "Illustration of Firearms" and the "Fire Dragon Sutra", and even compared the two books:
"The Illustration of Firearms is similar to books such as the Fire Dragon Sutra and the Twelve Chips of Jin Shaan, and the prescriptions of the instrument are also used intermittently." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
This was Daoguang's own post-reading feeling, and he felt that the manufacture of firearms in the "Illustration of Firearms" was similar to books such as the "Fire Dragon Sutra"; the style of firearms, the formula of gunpowder, were basically the same, and there was no special gap.
In addition, after Reading These Firearms Books, Daoguang came to a very important conclusion:
"Rong Qian carefully chooses and then manufactures." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
That is to say, in these Ming Dynasty firearms books, there are many large and small firearm styles, and it is impossible to imitate them all. It is necessary to carefully screen and carry out large-scale imitation and equipment of some important, practical and easy imitation firearms.
For the use of Ming Dynasty firearms to defeat the enemy troops of this dynasty, Daoguang's self-confidence was particularly explosive.
"Practice the right to victory, fight against the British and the rebellious, and be cautious." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
It's quite a fan of confidence.
On the eighth day of the first month of December, Yi Jing, who was on the front line in eastern Zhejiang, finally handed over the feeling of the Fire Dragon Sutra after reading.
"The Fire Dragon Sutra has been seen, and this book is already in the army, and various firearms have been manufactured in the battalion." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
Yi Jing said that he had read the Fire Dragon Sutra, and that there was also this book in the front-line barracks, and that he had begun to imitate it.
For Yi Jing's words and practices, Dao Guang was extremely excited in his heart, and felt that his big nephew was really powerful.
"I have learned that there are also winning instruments, so I may as well prepare more." (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
Big nephew, if you see other winning firearms in the book, you can imitate them vigorously. Keep up the good work, the more the better, not capped.
For yi jing to imitate the ming dynasty firearms, and then to attack the magic of the British army, Daoguang was not only full of confidence, it was simply addicted to it.
It was as if he had seen victory beckoning to him:
"Wait and see!" (Records of Emperor Xuanzong of the Qing Dynasty)
How to say it?
The big firearm is really good, and there is no trouble with the use of the great Qing.
What did the Yijing imitate on the eastern Zhejiang front?
3. Yi jing imitated large firearms on the front line
Although during the Opium War, it was common for the Daoguang Emperor to be fooled by front-line civil and military officials, this time his eldest nephew really did not fool him.
Yijing is indeed in accordance with the tutorial of the "Fire Dragon Sutra", and a number of firearms have been copied out to the letter, mainly based on fire hammers.
Bei Qingqiao, who was on the front line in eastern Zhejiang at the time, was a staff recruited by Yi Jing, and he wrote "Aggressive Yin", which recorded the counterattack in eastern Zhejiang.
Among them, there is a reference to the imitation of firearms by Yijing:
"After the servants rebelled from Ningbo, the general ordered the construction of five hundred flying fire bronze guns." ("Aggressive")
Yi Jing didn't say anything nonsense, he really imitated five hundred copper muskets, what did these fire bolts look like?
"Shaped like a large flower tube, one foot and two inches long, four inches in circumference, four or two gunpowder in the middle, with a gun blade on the top and a wooden pole on the bottom." ("Aggressive")
What's it like? Like a large flower tube, the fire bolt is about forty centimeters long and the circumference of the body is about twelve centimeters. The gun is capable of filling 200 grams of gunpowder. In addition, there is a wooden pole on the body, and a blade similar to a bayonet has been specially added.
How to say it? Look at the shape of this copper musket, isn't it a one-eyed rifle that was very popular in the Ming Dynasty? That's it?
As for the effect, Pei Qingqiao said this after watching it, saying it very conservatively:
"When it is placed, it looks like a shooting star, and it is said that it can burn the canopy of the ship." ("Aggressive")
When fired, it was like a meteor, and it was said that after firing, it could burn the sail ropes of British warships and cause some damage.
To put it bluntly, what does it look like? Listen up. The actual range of the Ming Dynasty's single-eyed, three-eyed and other reams will not exceed fifty meters (CCTV's program has done imitation experiments); now the Qing army imitates this batch of monocular reams, really expect to kill the British army? What are you kidding? None of them necessarily have a shotgun in their hand.
As for the final actual combat effect, it is not clear, it is estimated that the Qing army will not be equipped; because according to Pei Qingqiao's records, when Yijing recaptured the three towns in eastern Zhejiang, the Qing army brought shotguns, not these flying copper muskets.
"When the combined troops re-entered, the sky was still dark, and shotguns were fired indiscriminately in the darkness." ("Aggressive")
As for the whereabouts of these imitation muskets, after the Qing army failed to retake the three towns in eastern Zhejiang and retreated, it should have been abandoned on the spot.
In general, Daoguang is keen to imitate the firearms of the Ming Dynasty, which is actually a very sad thing; after all, modern firearms are not as good as people, and they want to go to the ancients to find wisdom, in fact, they can't keep up!
(A word of family, seek common ground while reserving differences, thank you for reading)