The Shocking Conspiracy of Xu Guangqi et al. and the Jesuits: Total Control of the Ming Dynasty (Series 1)

Original: The people have no boundaries

Series 1:

In recent years, in the pens of some, Western missionaries since Matteo Ricci have been portrayed as a group of immortals with two main characteristics:

One is omnipotence: half of the things in heaven are known, and all things on earth are known. Indeed, Matteo Ricci and others not only know astronomy and geography, but also are proficient in traditional Chinese medicine, raising silkworms and planting mulberry seeds, and so on. See "Ironclad Evidence: Late Ming Dynasty Jesuits Plagiarize Chinese Medicine, Forge Translations, Fictionalize Western Medicine"

The second is a living Lei Feng: wholeheartedly and selflessly helping China, not only selflessly helping China to compile the calendar, but also selflessly helping China to make weapons and train its army. Missionaries were able to make weapons and train armies, which was a marvel in itself, and it was even more miraculous that they were able to teach Chinese-made weapons that had not yet been born in Europe (see below).

Nowadays, there is a fashionable saying on the Internet: there must be a demon when things go wrong. If there is an omnipotent living thunder front in the world, there will be something wrong.

I. The army at the end of the Ming Dynasty was a unit with firearms as the mainstay.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Ming army had basically bid farewell to the era of cold weapons and transformed into a firearm-based unit. Just by reading the "History of Ming", we know that in the battlefield of the late Ming Dynasty, firearms have long played a leading role.

"Ming Shi Huang Shiqing Biography": Huang Shiqing... (Chongzhen) In October of the sixteenth year, Sun Chuanting's army, which had been defeated by sun chuanting, was driven into Guanguan and sent a right battalion of 100,000 people from Nanyang to invade Shangzhou. Shiqing relied on the city to defend, and some traitors surrendered to thieves, and when they went to the city and said surrender, Shiqing pretended to be with words, and shot them, hanging on his first city: "Those who have two hearts regard this!" "The soldiers and the people died, and the cannons were exhausted, followed by stones, stones, and women digging the streets and building them."

"Biography of Ming Shi Xu Wenqi": Xu Wenqi... (Chongzhen) thirteen years moved to Jiangfang Province deputy envoy, stationed in Puzhou ... The Jing Dynasty general Hao Chengzhong sneaked through Zhang Xianzhong. Next year, a large number of troops will be launched to attack, and Wenqi will shoot and kill many thieves... The snow grew, and the cannon could not be fired, so it was executed.

"Ming Shi Zhou Yu Ji Biography" :( Zhou) Yu Ji fired cannons on all sides, killing thousands of thieves, gunpowder and exhaustion, and the periphery turned urgent... The thieves attacked the city with cannons, and those who had finished the reconquest were wounded again, and the four generals were wounded. Fearful and desperate to retreat. In the offensive and defensive battles between the Ming army and the Qing army, artillery was also the main weapon.

"Ming Shi Luo Consistent Biography": Luo Consistent... It has always been a city that stubbornly refuses, and those who are wounded by artillery are not counted. The Banner of the Great Qing Tree was surrendered, and the envoys were always disobeyed.

"Biography of Ming Shi Yan Yingyuan": Yan Yingyuan... The Qing forces attacked the city, and Ying Yuan defended it very firmly. Dongping Bo Liu Liangzuo attacked the northeast of the city with a cowhide tent, and the city attacked with cannon stones... And Songjiang was broken, the Qing soldiers came to benefit the people, and cannons were fired around, and the casualties in the city were not counted, and they were still stubborn. Landmines have long been one of the firearms widely used in the battlefields of the late Ming Dynasty. In the battle between the Ming army and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the landmines showed their might.

"Ming Shi Ai Yu Chu Biography": Yu Chu... (Chongzhen) In the winter of the sixth year, liukou came to attack. The person who buried the cannon name "Rolling Dragon" was outside the city, and the burning line in the city was sent, and the thief died without a calculation, so he was solved.

In the ming army's battle against the Qing army, landmines were also used in large quantities.

"Biography of Ming Shi Xiong Tingbi" :( Xiong) Tingbi manager less than a year, Russia into The Building of Fengji, Shenyang, Russia into tun hupi yi, Russia to meet the enemy soldiers on the Henghe River, under the Liaoyang City to chisel the river fence to bury the cannon, Yiran tree golden soup.

This alone is far from enough to explain the level of weapons and equipment of the Ming Army.

Let's give an authoritative example of an article by the famous Xu Guangqi. Xu Guangqi and others have always dreamed of controlling the Ming army, and they have worked hard to control the army.

At the end of the Wanli Calendar, Xu Guangqi repeatedly wrote about the military, and some people vigorously hyped up Xu Guangqi as a talent who was proficient in military affairs. The Wanli Emperor believed it to be true, and in view of the urgency of the war at that time and the urgent need to recruit and train a new army, he issued a decree on the second day of August in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli Dynasty (1619):

"Yes, Xu Guangqi Xiaochang's military affairs are about training new recruits and defending the capital; the officials are planning to be promoted to a higher rank."

Subsequently, Xu Guangqi moved around and inspected it, and then officially took office in March of the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1620) and began to train a troop.

Xu Guangqi acted absurdly, "to the point that meng lang was not right in the matter of training soldiers, and it has been passed down to this day that he laughed and broke through the mouth of the gentleman" (Guizhou Dao test Yu Shizhi, see page 210 of xu guangqi collection), only worked for one year, and was dismissed from his post on February 27, 1621, the first year of the Apocalypse (1621).

"Reasoning for the Affairs of Chen Ren" (Xu GuangqiJi, p. 169, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2014) is a job handover letter submitted by Xu Guangqi when he left his post, detailing his work in the past year.

According to Xu Guangqi's job handover letter, the soldiers of this unit are all newly recruited peasants, originally "township farmers, on the day of recruitment, the martial arts are completely unknown", a total of 4755 people. When Xu Guangqi left his post, he had already received the weapons and equipment allocated by the imperial court from the arsenal:

Armor: 5651 pairs (one set per person, extra spare);

Waist knives: 5640 (one per person, extra spare);

Bird reams (muskets): 2000 doors;

Flag guns (muskets): 1000;

Three-eyed guns (muskets): 600;

Slit cannons: 200;

Bead cannons: 100 guns;

Fishing drum cannons: 40;

Copper Flang machine (cannon): 40 guns;

Large bow: 1800 sheets;

Sub-boring: 126;

Hook and sickle: 121;

Horses: 450 horses;

Other items such as flags, trumpets and drums.

4755 people, equipped with 3600 muskets of various types, 380 guns of various types.

Only this is to know that the Ming army at this time was completely a firearm-based unit, completely bidding farewell to the era of cold weapons.

However, these firearms are only part of the firearms of this force! According to Xu Guangqi's "Reasoning for the Internal Affairs of Chen Ren", it was not until November of the 48th year of the Wanli Calendar that Xu Guangqi completed the selection of 4755 people, only 3 months after Xu Guangqi was transferred. Xu Guangqi said: Mainly due to the time relationship, the weapons and equipment that this unit should be equipped with "fine armor and sharp weapons, large and small artillery positions, and combat vehicles" has not yet had time to be fully distributed in place. According to the national standards of the Wanli Dynasty, the configuration standard of each chariot is, according to the "Daming Huidian Firearms": the Wanli three years are accurate, and 1,200 vehicles are built. Each vehicle, with three No. 2 Flang machines, two Bird Guns, two Ground Balls, two Chung Zhu Cannons, and one Fast Gun... It can be seen that according to the configuration standards of the imperial court, once the configuration is complete, the weapons and equipment of this unit will be much stronger.

There is no doubt that the Ming army was an authentic firearms force.

People can't help but wonder: the weapons and equipment of the Ming Army are so advanced and powerful, why did the Ming Dynasty fall? As we all know, the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by Li Zicheng's army. However, this was not because Li Zicheng's army was strong, but because the front-line generals of the Ming army fell without a fight. Datong and Xuanfu were the northern gates of Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the troops stationed here were the most elite and effective troops of the Ming Dynasty. However, at the same time that Li Zicheng's army arrived in Da, Jiang Ou, the commander-in-chief of Datong, opened the door and surrendered.

In the first month of the seventeenth year :( of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng was about to invade Shanxi, and the governor of Xuanda, Wang Jimo, was on the river where Jiang Ou, the commander-in-chief of Datong, was on the river, and He Qian made the payment and returned it... By March Shuo, the thieves arrived at the city. He shot the King of Yongqing and opened the door to welcome the thief in.

The same was true when Li Zicheng's army arrived at Xuanfu. Wang Chengyun, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, and Du Xun, the eunuch who was watching him, scrambled to surrender, and Wang Chengyun even ran thirty miles away to meet Li Zicheng's army.

"Biography of Ming Shi Zhu Zhifeng": Zhu Zhifeng... (Chongzhen) In the first month of the sixteenth year, he was promoted to the right capital of yushi, and inspected Xuanfu... Next March, Li Zicheng fell to Datong... And the people's hearts have been scattered, and du Xun, the lieutenant officer who is monitoring, and competes with the chief soldier Wang Chengyun to pay the money first... The Russian thief is coming, the python robe is roaring, the suburbs are thirty miles away, and the soldiers are scattered...

Li Zicheng's army made it all the way to the city of Beijing, and after that, without a decent battle, Li Zicheng entered the city of Beijing.

"Ming Shi Zhuang Liedi Benji": 癸卯, Tang Tong, Du Zhi rank surrendered to self-made, thieves entered the customs. Jiachen, Trap Changping. Otomi, the thief invaded the Beijing Division, and the Jingying army collapsed. At noon, the sun is shining, and the outer city is falling. It was Xi, Empress Zhou's betrothed. Ding Wei, Ming Shuang, the inner city fell. The emperor collapsed on Banzai Mountain, and Wang Cheng'en died.

Looking back at the Hongwu and Yongle era when the Ming army swept across the world, and then summing up the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, four words are enough: the spirit collapsed. (To be continued)