This article focuses on the many misconceptions of ordinary people about the era at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
First, the myth of the three-eyed iron hammer
The biggest misunderstanding of Guan Ning Iron Horse is this three-eyed iron hammer, I don't know how many network articles, describe it as a bullish artifact, it seems to be a gun in the hand, the world I have, which seriously violates the facts, but also obliterates the efforts of real meritorious people.
In the eyes of some people, the three-eyed iron hammer has three barrels, can fire three shots in a row, and can also be used as a hammer after firing the gun, which can be described as a long-range can shoot a hammer, and the length is unfavorable, since a certain book about the history of the Ming Dynasty became popular, the three-eyed iron hammer immediately became a big killing weapon in the hands of the Ming Army.
I am not denying the historical skills of Mingyue that year, but he is almost all wrong in the description of the weapons and equipment of the Ming Army. This can not blame him, the performance of firearms belongs to the military first-class secret, in order to keep secret, the records are often true and false, the moisture is very large, if only by the book judgment, it is easy to draw wrong conclusions.
In fact, those who are familiar with firearms understand that the three-eyed rifle chamber is so short, with the technical conditions at that time, how much lethality can this short-bore musket have? Even if you don't understand the principle of firearms, you can also understand another truth, the three-eyed iron hammer is such a god, why not build more, engage in more Guanning iron riding?
Is it difficult to make a three-eyed iron hammer? It was not difficult at all, and its technical requirements were very low, arguably the lowest of the muskets at the time. So why didn't the Ming army have a lot of equipment? It is not uninformed, the Three-Eyed Fire Hammer is not unique to the Guan Ning Army, and the most common firearm of the Ming Army is this thing.
This is a problem, doesn't it mean that the army, except for the Guan Ning Army, is vulnerable, and how can it not be done with the artifact? This is actually the truth, the three-eyed iron ream is not a high-tech at all, and even Yuan Chonghuan used the opinions of Zu Dashou and others to use the three-eyed iron ream, and the reason behind it was very helpless.
Among the light firearms of the Ming Dynasty, the most lethal is the bird ream, and the reason why the bird ream is called the bird ream is because it can hit the bird. In that era, being able to hit birds was a very great technology, which meant that the range power accuracy and accuracy had reached a certain level, and only a few people could shoot eagles in the past.
Therefore, the three-eyed fire bolt was not welcome at all in the Ming army troops, Qi Jiguang complained that this thing was not accurate, the power was not enough, the distance of thirty or forty steps, the armor could not be shot through, the leader still gave me some bird reams.
In fact, one sentence can explain the true power of the Three-Eyed Fire Hammer, it is really so cattle, why doesn't manchu Qing use it? The Ming Dynasty built a large number of three-eyed reams, and there were many in exile, Lin Zexu had seen this thing when he took office, and the locals used it as firecrackers to welcome him.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many places in the south still have this custom, every New Year's Festival to take a three-eyed hammer, a few sounds, more than firecrackers. Older people may still have memories, the countryside mostly call it a three-eyed salute, yes, it is this thing, do not use it as a weapon.
Then why did Yuan Chonghuan use it to equip the troops, this was really a helpless move, he actually wanted the bird ream, then there must be ah. It was much more difficult to make bird reams than to make three-eyed reams, and they were not at one level at all, and even if they were made, General Yuan would not dare to use them. Why? If the bird hammer can't shoot the projectile, it really becomes a burning stick, and the three-eyed rifle is different, look at the shape and you understand, even if it is used as a hammer, it is also a lever.
The Later Jin records also confirmed this, after the battle with Guan Ningjun, Huang Taiji counted the injuries and found that the highest proportion of injuries was a saber, followed by a hammer wound, and the three-eyed sledgehammer lived up to its name.
Therefore, what is really powerful about the Guanning Iron Horse is its concept of building an army, just like Yue Fei built the back ridge army, Yuan Chonghuan adopted the policy of ruling the Liao with Liao, only picking up the persecution of Hou jin, and forming a unit with the native people of Liaodong who have a bloody sea feud with hou Jin, which is the biggest truth about the combat effectiveness of the Guanning Iron Horse.
Why are there so few people on the Guanning Iron Riders? Three-eyed iron hammers can be built in large quantities, where do you find so many people who fight and die? Using the power of firearms to obliterate the efforts and efforts of those heroes who fought on the front line of Ningyuan in spite of themselves is disrespectful to history.
Second, the real killer
If you want to find the real killing weapon of the Ming Army, the best way is to look at Hou Jin, see what the other party is learning, Hou Jin is trying to learn, it must be the best, it is very simple, the enemy is the one who knows you best.
That year, Shanhaiguan was suddenly tight, that year, those courtiers in the imperial court who used to talk endlessly, in order to fight for power and profit for three days and three nights, suddenly had no idea, the carpenter Emperor Zhu Youxiao was anxious to cry, at this critical juncture, Yuan Chonghuan stood up, patted his chest and promised that he alone could protect Shanhaiguan.
Yuan Chonghuan did what he said, he did not go to Liaodong for a few years, the defense was renewed, in 1626 Nurhaci took advantage of Sun Chengzong's removal, Liaodong lost its main backbone when the attack, Yuan Chonghuan in the absence of support, the lone army to hold the city of Ningyuan, so that the Later Jin army suffered the first major collapse in history.
How big is this? Not only did Ning Yuan not fight, but hou Jin Jun suffered numerous casualties, and Nurhaci himself was also injured, and eventually died of his wounds.
Before Ning Yuan's great victory, the Ming army encountered the HouJin army, I don't know how many years have not fought a victorious battle, let alone a victory, even a small defeat is a luxury, as long as it fights with Houjin, the di report is a collapse, a fiasco and other words.
What magic Yuan Chonghuan used to create such earth-shaking changes, I am not going to erase the painstaking efforts of Inspector Yuan, and I do not want to ignore the efforts of the heroes of Ningyuan, but only from the perspective of people to explain, I am afraid that everyone does not feel the reason for the Ming Dynasty deeply enough, and it is easy to fall into the import of water wars, so I choose another angle.
How did Nurhaci die? What cannon was killed by the cannon? Hongyi Cannon, also known as Shenwei Great General Cannon.
The Ming Dynasty firearms began very early and were very good, and Zhu Yuanzhang relied on it to beat away the Mongols. Since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang has ordered that the proportion of firearms in the army should not be less than 10%, the so-called one-two-knife, three-bow and four-gun (10% fire wrenches, 20% knife players, 30% archers and 40% long gunners), and even established the first professional firearms unit, the Divine Machine Battalion.
During the Jiajing period, the Portuguese entered Macau, and in order to gain legal control of Macau, the Portuguese slapped Daming on the back and exhausted their efforts. The Portuguese authorities in Macao had a very good attitude toward the Ming Dynasty, and in order to provide enough artillery for the Ming Dynasty, Portugal invested a lot of money to build a cannon factory in Macau that was known as the most advanced gun casting factory at that time, the Bu gallo cannon factory.
Realistically speaking, the Portuguese are not only for profit, selling arms, especially advanced arms, can never be measured by value, I believe this can be understood by everyone. And the Portuguese provided the world's most advanced artillery, the Hongyi cannon Flang machine, everything.
For example, in 1621, probably shortly before Yuan Chonghuan gave Zhu Youxue a passionate assurance, the Ming court sent someone to Macau to purchase cannons because of the deterioration of the war situation in Liaodong. I had bought it once before, but that time it was Xu Guangqi and others in their own name, the Macau authorities were flattered, the Ming court wanted a large number, the cannon could not be built for a while, the Portuguese simply took out the 30 British cannons that had just been captured.
Forgot to say, the Hongyi cannon is actually a front-loading smoothbore cannon, the maximum range can reach 10 miles, although we in China applied gunpowder the earliest, but in the production of artillery, modern times is greatly backward, the domestic artillery at that time is not comparable.
These 30 British guns were the most advanced firearms at that time, and Portugal was also worried that the Ming army would not use them, firing cannons was a technical job, the wind direction angle had to be calculated, and nothing else, just the knowledge of shell storage and transportation, few Ming dynasty people could understand. So a mission, including 100 Portuguese soldiers, was also sent, intending to do after-sales service to do home and guide the training together.
Don't underestimate these 100 soldiers, the Portuguese in Macau at that time, there were a total of a thousand people. In 1630, Chongzhen again ordered the purchase of cannons, and the Portuguese sent a team of 350 people, almost out of the nest.
The Portuguese not only sold cannons, they also sincerely wanted to pass on the technology of cannon making to the Ming Dynasty, and many of the envoys were technicians. Of course, the efforts of Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao and others cannot be lacking in this, and at the same time, the goodwill of the Macao authorities cannot be ignored. In 1629, when Huang Taiji besieged Beijing, Portugal also organized a volunteer team, carrying 10 cannons, all the way from Guangzhou to Beijing, placed in Zhuozhou, participated in the defense of Beijing, but Huang Taiji heard that Portuguese cannons came, deliberately detoured, and did not dare to attack Zhuozhou City.
Of the 30 cannons purchased in 1621, only 11 were eventually sent to Ningyuan City, and with these 11 cannons, Houjin had already been bombarded and Nurhaci fell.
Why only 11 were sent, and after they were transported to the capital, the Portuguese lit a cannon drill, and accidentally had an explosion accident, and the Ming officials who were instructed to supervise concluded, "This thing is harmful and has no benefit." "Asking the grapevines to return to Macau immediately is non-negotiable.
If you don't think that's obvious enough, we can go on. In 1630, Chongzhen purchased cannons, the number of which was required to be 40, and when the Portuguese were carrying cannons and marching toward Beijing, they had just arrived in Nanchang and received a notice asking the Portuguese to return and send Chinese soldiers to send cannons into Beijing.
The reason is that Lu Zhaolong wrote four times in a row, and he was bitter that he could not let the Portuguese raise their swords and prancing horses in the Beijing Division, and the prestige of the Changyi people destroyed the Chinese ambition. What is even more excessive is that in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, when the Ming Dynasty was almost finished, a big debate broke out in the Ming court, and the issue was whether artillery should be used. The opposing party reasoned that this thing was too barbaric and seriously violated the concept of benevolent and righteous governance, and demanded the abolition of the gun factory and the removal of artillery from the equipment of the Ming Army.
The motives of the opposition are, first, ignorance, and selfishness. The cannon is too high-tech, I don't understand it, the emperor has to give up power to make cannons, but also to spend money, white flowers and silver and power, all fell into the hands of others, I am anxious, what to do? Then let's oppose the construction of cannons together.
Hmmm, that's it, the country is dying, and these people are still only worried about their own selfish interests. Some people have explained that they died in party strife, and I do not oppose this, but what is the essence of party strife? From the above example, you think for yourself.
3. Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong
Whether Mao Wenlong should be killed or not is the focus of Yuan Chonghuan's unjust case, and in recent years, he did not know that a crooked wind had emerged, and he actually described Mao Wenlong as a national hero.
Funny, have you ever seen a national hero who took the opportunity to make a fortune in the country?
Mao Wenlong charged the merchant ship toll, this is just a small thing, his real evil thing is to sell things to Houjin, what to sell? Contraband, of course. In fact, those merchant ships did the same thing, think about who would take great risks during the war, trade between the two warring countries, and what kind of commodity can bring such high profits?
Why didn't Hou Jin beat him? What island and what after Jin did not have a navy is not a reason, really according to Mao Wenlong's own boast, Hou Jin gritted his teeth and dried him. The truth is that Houjin gets along well with him, the two sides have a tacit understanding, Mao Wenlong relies on the unique location of Phi Dao, and sells various contraband to Houjin to make a fortune.
So don't look at Mao Wenlong's resolute refusal to surrender, refusing to pull Hou Jin several times, he has no reason to surrender, into the post-metal, how can this business be done? The financial road is broken.
"Manchu Old File": The strategy of reconciliation of the two countries, the book of the end of the two countries, Chengtai Ji does not abandon Yayi, and the great trick of the two countries is also the blessing. I did not intend to accept the generous award first, and the father and son of the fool resigned and suffered the dilemma, and I would like to thank you for the collar. But the big idea of repairing peace is all in the belly of the official. And come to the official cloud, leave a section of quality, not even unintended. When you talk about friendship among the ancients, you should talk about it in righteousness. In fact, when Ling Xianjun was in Fushun, he had been in agreement with Bu Yu's spirit and language, but the two countries were in contention, and it was inconvenient to answer, and now he received Taitai Han, if he saw the color, doubtful and relieved, and used official qualities? Only the sky can be tabled. Now with micro objects, talk about the first intercourse, more beggar Taiji to do things, do not listen to slander, forever gel paint elegant, do not do negative deeds. The officers and men of Taiji did not worry about the cloth and other items they used, and they did not take care of everything. Don't look at Meng Shuyun: "There is also benevolence and righteousness, so why should it be profitable?" "Please be familiar with it, ten thousand." The name is in full width. Left punch.
This is Mao Wenlong's handwritten letter to Huang Taiji, the original text preserved in the National Palace in Taipei. In one of the letters, Mao Wenlong said that as early as fushun, he and Xianjun (referring to Nurhaci) reached an agreement, the original promise must be done, the other party does not have to worry, the required materials must be delivered, everything is my responsibility, "Pepsi is not a mouthful of ears." ”
Yuan Chonghuan's side fights with HouJin, and your side continuously sends contraband to Houjin, taking advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune in the country, and you say that Yuan Chonghuan can not stand it. Yuan Chonghuan did not want to kill people at first, and after realizing that the garrison on Phi Dao was simply a scourge, he issued a "Letter of Planning the East River" with Chongzhen's consent, calling for the complete severance of trade between the East River and Houjin, and asking the garrison on Phi Island to move to other places.
Mao Wenlong of course did not agree, insisted on refusing to go, Yuan Chonghuan could not risk going to the island to kill people, and afterwards found a northeast specialty ginseng mink on the island that could fill 37 ships. Where did these ginseng and mink skins come from? You won't want to tell me that Mao Wenlong sent his subordinates to secretly cross the border to the northeast to dig ginseng.
A large number of officials in the Ming Dynasty cried out for Mao Wenlong because they were originally a gang, Mao Wenlong paid at least half of the profits every year to bribe the courtiers, you killed Mao Wenlong, the gang's financial road was also broken, of course, they hated Yuan Chonghuan to death, and at the same time they wanted to beautify Mao Wenlong.
Fourth, the three rebel generals of the Mao family
The so-called three rebel generals of the Mao family refer to Kong Youde, Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong, the four major kings of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Mao Wenlong's subordinates accounted for three. Many people have speculated that if such a big official is sealed, it must be very powerful, and Mao Wenlong's subordinates are so powerful, then how powerful he himself is.
Well, it is indeed very powerful, so powerful that I have gone through the history of the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to find such a brazen and traitorous person who has sold so thoroughly. Kong Youde and the three of them were heavily rewarded by Hou Jin, not because of anything else, but because they betrayed their country and betrayed them fiercely.
The front explains what firearms are the most powerful in the army, and you can see what Jin learned after that. Since Nurhaci died under the Hongyi cannon, although the Ming court was still arguing about the importance of benevolence and righteousness and the cannon, the Emperor Taiji's side realized from that day that the truth was only within the range of the cannon.
The industrial base of houjin is very poor, very poor, it can be said that it is poor and white, when Nurhaci first started his army, even iron arrows could not be built, they were all grinded with antlers. Although they have always attached great importance to ironmaking and tried their best to recruit craftsmen, it is not easy to build cannons.
Here the Portuguese tried their best to pat the Ming Dynasty ass, not only selling cannons but also selling people, sent to Beijing, in addition to cannons and technicians, but because of the obstruction of the opposition, the Ming Dynasty bought hundreds of cannons from Portugal before and after, and in the end it turned out that the two sides did not meet at all. Several Portuguese envoys were expelled halfway back, and they never saw the emperor, and this cooperation has not been smooth.
Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, and other people of insight had no choice but to adopt another method to speed up the process of casting their own cannons. Because of obstruction and objective conditions, these casting factories are mostly located in the south, no way, casting cannons need to understand mathematics, physics and chemistry, think about how many people in the Ming Dynasty learned algebraic geometry? This side did not allow the Portuguese to enter Beijing, and could only be placed in the south, where the atmosphere was more enlightened.
According to statistics, through the efforts of Xu Guangqi and others, the southern gun foundries produced no less than 1,000 cannons before the Ming Dynasty, and in 1630, the earliest imitation of the Hongyi cannons had exceeded 400.
Xu Guangqi then had the idea of building a firearms battalion according to the Western model. This firearms battalion is fully equipped with Western-style firearms, of course, mainly Hongyi cannons, it can be said that after training, it will be worthy of the first combat effectiveness of the Ming Army.
Xu Guangqi found Inspector Sun Yuanhua and poured all his resources into Sun Yuanhua's troops, a firearms battalion with more than 50 Portuguese technicians and instructors alone.
What does this have to do with Kong Youde and others? In 1631, Kong Youde Geng Jingzhong launched the Wuqiao Incident, captured Dengzhou, Sun Yuanhua was captured, the entire firearms battalion fell into the hands of Kong Geng's rebels, Kong Geng and his men with 3600 soldiers proficient in firearms, as well as countless firearms surrendered to Jin, the emperor Taiji was overjoyed, excited, and personally went out of the city to greet him.
Why did Kong Youde and others defect? Don't look for reasons from Mao Wenlong, if it is to avenge Mao Wenlong, Yuan Chonghuan will have died a long time ago, from the beginning, they planned to capture Dengzhou, arranged traitors in the city in advance, and the purpose of attacking Dengzhou was to take the firearms battalion and throw it away, so as to obtain rich rewards.
"Qing History Manuscript Kong Youde Biography": The commander has tens of thousands of armored soldiers, more than 100 light boats, and complete artillery and firearms. With this weapon, and even more in concert with the Ming Khan, the land and water go hand in hand, the momentum is like a bamboo, who in the world dares to make an enemy of the Khan?
Surrender is so brazenly written, what else is there to wash? Shortly after Kong Youde and the others surrendered, shang kexi was brought in, and shang kexi, following their customs, brought a large number of firearms to surrender, including four Cannons of Portuguese origin.
The surrender of Kong Youde's three men directly allowed Hou Jin to cross a step in the application of firearms. It is difficult to build artillery, it is also difficult to use artillery, whose artillery does not need training? Although there was a debate about firearms within the Ming Dynasty, the lethality of this thing was still in mind, so the information related to firearms was kept extremely tightly.
Although Hou Jin had this heart and also captured some craftsmen and soldiers on the battlefield, everyone only knew their own section, and the overall operation process and process were always specious and did not get the point.
Xu Guangqi devoted his life to this firearms battalion, not only equipped with a large number of advanced firearms, but also wrote various instructions for use, operation documents, after the loss of this firearms battalion, the Ming army's understanding of firearms at this time was not as good as houjin.
After the Dengzhou incident, it caused great shock to the Ming court, although Sun Yuanhua and others fled back, but what awaited him was capital punishment, and Xu Guangqi was also implicated, and he was depressed and depressed. The last efforts of the Ming Dynasty's insightful people on firearms were finally extinguished.
Let's look at a data, in 1626, when the Ningyuan War, the number of artillery on both sides was 11:0, and Ningyuan City had 11 cannons, and the number of houjin zeros, but before the death of the Ming Dynasty in 1643, this number became 1:10, and the number of houjin artillery was 10 times that of the Ming army.
This is only the number of ratios, and the power is not in a grade. In 1643, Li Yutian, the inspector of Liaodong Province, sighed: "The chief casts a hundred cannons and has more than enough, and I cast ten cannons and are powerless." Their previous strength was not as strong as our larger counties, and now the power of people's cannons is probably ten times greater than the artifacts we are talking about. ”
The cultural quality of the Eight Banners of Manchuria is lower, and the artillery is definitely not playable for them, so whether it is a cannon caster or a cannon user, its heavy responsibility falls on the Eight Banners of the Han Army, and the Emperor Taiji has greatly improved the treatment of the Eight Banners of the Han Army, raising them to a level with Manchuria and Mongolia.
In other words, those who have made outstanding contributions to the application of post-gold firearms are all Han Chinese, especially Kong Youde and other three people, who are even more "indispensable".