Some people say, "The Qing Dynasty had stockpiles of the world's advanced weapons, so why did the Qing soldiers still use machetes when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China?" Most of the people who say this are recently circulated articles, saying that after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of Mauser rifles, Maxim machine guns, Krupp cannons and other world-class advanced weapons were found in the qing dynasty's armory. Supposedly, these weapons were indeed advanced at the time. However, there was a fatal weakness, the Qing Dynasty would not build artillery shells.
I once watched a documentary called "Gun" when Li Hongzhang went to Europe to investigate, the British showed an advanced machine gun called "Maxim Machine Gun", this heavy machine gun at that time the speed of fire per minute reached 600 rounds, that is, a blink of an eye, hundreds of bullets were all fired. Li Hongzhang exclaimed: "Too fast, too fast! So, Li Hongzhang asked the price of this machine gun, and the other party offered 30 pounds. Li Hongzhang quickly shook his head and said, "Too expensive, too expensive!" ”
How much silver was £30 worth at the time? About 200 taels of silver, do you know that a warship was only 100,000 taels at that time? It can be seen that Li Hongzhang was still reluctant to buy this advanced weapon, but the Germans spent a lot of money to buy this weapon, which at that time could be said that the enemy was afraid. However, Li Hongzhang bought a small number of machine guns and later copied them back and forth, but rarely prepared troops, and I don't know what the reason was. Most likely, the bullet launch speed is too fast, and the Qing army can't afford to spend it! According to Li Hongzhang, at that time, machine guns were worth more than a soldier in the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing court never thought of spending a lot of money to buy weapons. Therefore, in the late Qing Dynasty, Cixi could take money to celebrate her birthday, and she was reluctant to buy advanced weapons and equipment for the troops, and the Qing Dynasty treated the lives of soldiers as grass and mustard.
Judging from Li Hongzhang's visit to Europe, the late Qing Dynasty was simply reluctant to spend a lot of money on advanced weapons, so how could there be any advanced weapons in the world. It is said that when the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, it used poison gas bombs, which were called "column low artillery" at that time. The Qing army did not even see it at that time, only saw the shell explode, releasing a green gas, and the soldiers smelled this gas and died of poison. In addition, the Eight-Nation Alliance all used firearms and heavy machine guns, and the weapons used by the coalition forces were different, which can be said to be much more advanced than those of the Qing Dynasty. The tactics of the Eight-Power Alliance were very flexible, and the tactics of the Qing army were very rigid.
Of course, in the late sun, some advanced preparations were also introduced from Europe, but there were not many weapons to prepare for the troops, especially the bullets were hard wounds, and the Qing government could not produce firearms and bullets. And Cixi is still relatively repulsive to these things in the West, believing that the ancestors all relied on horseback to shoot arrows to hit the country, do they have to use Western things? Therefore, there is no emphasis on Western things. It is estimated that Yuan Shikai's new army was better equipped at that time, but when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, Yuan Shikai was transferred to Shandong. The new army is also not in Beijing, and it is said that the soldiers guarding Beijing are very well armed, but they are still not opponents of the Eight-Power Alliance. To be honest, the number of weapons prepared at that time was limited, according to others, what role could the Mauser rifle play in 110 mm caliber, more than 2,000 rifles in 7.9 mm caliber, and more than 10,000 rifles? There are more than 50,000 people in the Eight-Nation Alliance, all of them are rifles, how can they be beaten. As mentioned above, although there are advanced weapons such as Krupp cannons, the problem of shells in the Qing Dynasty cannot be solved, so most of these weapons in the armory of the late Qing Dynasty are without bullets and shells, without bullets and shells, and it is impossible to fight with others with empty guns! Therefore, it is better to equip him with a large knife and spear, and the advanced weapons will let him be sealed in the warehouse.