During the Ming Dynasty, there were many kinds of firearms in China, such as Flang cannons, bird guns, bowl cannons, sharp guns, fast guns and so on. However, in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the technology of artillery not only did not progress in the past few hundred years, but even regressed. So why didn't the Manchu Qing develop firearms, and even suppress the development of firearms?
Britain launched the First Opium War, after the Second Opium War. The West once captured a batch of Qing artillery, and studies have found that this kind of cannon is no different from the reloaded cannon of hundreds of years ago. The heavy gun body, troublesome reloading, and close range at the same time, it can be said that there is not much actual combat value.
Rough processing, these Manchu Qing cannons compared with the red-clad cannons of the Ming Dynasty 200 years ago, their performance is far inferior to the Ming Dynasty's red-clad cannons. Obviously, the Manchu Qing technology in artillery and guns not only did not progress, but even the artillery of the Ming Dynasty was inferior.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banner Soldiers generally still used bows and arrows, long hairs and large knives. A small number of troops were armed with arquebusiers. Facing the Western world at that time, this arquebusier can be said to be hundreds of years behind, and its firing efficiency and attack power are not as good as those of a strong bow.
The Tang, Song, Yuanming dynasties and dynasties had close trade with the West. In the middle and pre-Manchu Qing dynasties, there was no closure of the country, and exchanges with the world were not interrupted, so it can be said that the Qing government was still able to understand the Western world.
For the Western artillery technology, it is actually known in the early morning. For example, during the Kangxi Dynasty, Tsarist Russia invaded the north. The Qing army gathered thousands of heavy troops to besiege the city of Yaksa, but the eight hundred Russian troops in the city were equipped with a large number of flintlock guns, and the Qing army could not attack the city for a long time, and was forced to adopt the method of encircling but not attacking. The tsarist army ran out of food before it finally surrendered, which was the first time that the Qing army experienced the power of the flintlock gun.
By the Time of Qianlong, Qianlong even had a large collection of flintlock guns, but the army and the people could not see them. Facing the small southern country of Burma, the Qing army also suffered from flintlock guns and Western artillery. There is also a scene in Zhu Gegege, the Qing army and the Burmese army engaged, the Qing army was defeated, and Erkang was captured by the Burmese army.
In the face of a small country like Myanmar, it is reasonable to say that it should be unilaterally crushed, but the truth is cruel. During the Qing-Burma War, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties, and even killed four main generals. Burma was in the midst of the Gongpung Dynasty, and to the west of Burma was British-controlled India.
As a result, Burma was easily accessible to the British, and the arms trade became one of the items in the trade. Myanmar is located in a tropical monsoon climate region, with high temperatures and rainy temperatures throughout the year. The arquebusiers and bows and arrows equipped by the Qing army were in such an environment, the gunpowder was wet and could not be fired, and the bows and arrows were moldy because of the rain, and the bowstrings were broken after not long.
Although the flintlock gun will also have problems due to the rainy and hot climate, but the British conquest of the four sides, has long taken the problem of moisture into the design of the weapon, it can be said that the flintlock gun has been far ahead of the Manchu arquebus gun.
Compared with the arquebusier, the main feature of the flintlock gun is the use of flint to excite, and the success rate of the stimulation is high. The arquebus gun needs to be lit with fire, and whether it can be successfully fired involves the quality of the rope and the state of the gunpowder filled. It can be said that the failure rate of arquebus gun opening is more than half, that is, only one person's gun can be used normally for two people.
Flintlock guns have a high firing success rate, unlike arquebusiers, which require torches to be prepared at all times. Therefore, in the time of ambush or night attack, the flintlock gun can be well concealed. If you want to use the arquebus gun, you must always have the torch ready. If it rains, the arquebusier is equivalent to a wooden stick and cannot play any supporting role.
The flintlock gun team adopted a three-stage shooting method. The first team shoots, the second team prepares, and the third team reloads. The range is long, the fire is continuous and dense. Especially when defending a city, it is condescending and can kill and injure a large number of enemy soldiers.
In actual combat, the Burmese gave full play to the advantages of flintlock guns. Instead of fighting a head-on battle with the Qing army, it attached itself to the city and attracted the Qing army to attack. In the Second Qing-Burmese War, the Qing Army mobilized more than 4,000 men to violently attack the burmese army's positions. The advantages of the flintlock guns equipped by the Burmese army were demonstrated, and the lethality, speed and accuracy of the flintlock guns far exceeded those of the Qing soldiers, and even a large number of untrained farmers could shoot accurately with flintlock guns.
The Qing army and the Burmese army fought for four days, both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the casualties of the Qing army were significantly higher than those of the Burmese army. Faced with jiaozuo's war, the Qing army had to ask for reinforcements.
In order to open up the Chinese market, Britain launched the First Opium War. The British Army at that time was completely flintlock guns and firing rifles. On the other hand, the Qing army never learned a lesson, from the city of Yaksa with Tsarist Russia to the war between the Manchu Qing and Burma, the Qing army's guns never progressed.
The British adopted the classic three-stage shooting method, relying on the advantage of the long range of the flintlock gun, causing a large number of casualties in the process of the Qing army's attack, and the Qing cavalry and infantry fell under the muzzle of the rows of guns. Even during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, the Taiping Army purchased a large number of Western flintlock guns and firing guns. The Manchu Qing troops remained the same, with large knives, long hairs, and arquebusiers relying entirely on the superiority of numbers to make up for the inferiority of equipment.
Then the Manchu Qing clearly knew the power of guns, why did they not introduce them, but instead vigorously opposed it. One of the most important points was to consolidate the dominance of the Manchu Qing. After the Manchu Qing Eight Banner Army entered the customs, it was invincible. The Manchu Qing believed that the difference between themselves and the Han chinese was that the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing were required to learn to ride and shoot. Cavalry and archers were the weapon of Manchu rule. If muskets and artillery are vigorously developed, then the advantage of the flagmen riding and shooting will be lost.
During the reign of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was through legislation to prohibit the phenomenon of riding and shooting among the people, thus ensuring the superiority of the Manchu Qing Eight Banner Soldiers over the Han armed forces. High-precision, high-rate guns are the nemesis of cavalry, once the Han people master the musket technology, rise up to rebel then the Qing court will inevitably be unable to suppress.
During the Qing Dynasty, although the ruling class was Manchu, it was sparsely populated. Equipped with muskets, it does not take too much time to train, and an ordinary farmer can become a good gunner.
Therefore, the Manchu Qing not only forbade the common people to be equipped with firearms, but even restricted the Green Camp, which was dominated by Han Chinese, from equipping firearms, and the government did not conduct research. In the process of trade with the West, the musket trade is also a felony.
Faced with the danger of muskets, as well as the infiltration of the West. During the Qianlong period, the country was closed to the outside world. Foreign trade means contact with foreigners, which undoubtedly gives the Chinese people the opportunity to see and contact the outside world, and this kind of trade contact will inevitably bring some new ideas and cultures while gaining wealth. On the one hand, it was to avoid conflict with the West, and on the other hand, it did not want the Manchu Qing people to understand Western science and technology, especially guns and cannons.