It is reported that the invention of gunpowder and Sui and Tang Dynasties began with alchemy. Before the invention of gunpowder, military strategists often used "rockets" and "fireballs" for fire attacks. With the invention of gunpowder, gunpowder weapons began to appear on the battlefield, gunpowder bags began to replace fireballs, and firearms such as gunpowder arrows and fire thistles appeared in the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were thunderbolts and thunderbolts with great explosive power, which were equivalent to the earliest grenades.
Tubular firearms appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and some people invented muskets and "sub-nests" (that is, original bullets). This is a big leap in the history of weapons. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the bamboo tube of musket was changed to copper or iron, which resulted in the "gun". In the Ming dynasty, someone invented the "multi-barrel rocket", which can shoot at most 100 arrows. There are also large-scale firearms such as "Fire Dragon Out of the Water" and "God Fire Flying Crow", which are very similar to the working principle of today's large-scale bundled launch vehicles.
It can be said that before the Qing Dynasty, China maintained the world advanced level in the development of science and technology and weapons. Dai Zi, a talented weapon manufacturer, was born in China in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Dai Zi is knowledgeable and versatile, and is familiar with astronomy, calendars, canals, poems and paintings, historical records and so on. Clever since childhood, I liked mechanical manufacturing when I was a teenager. I have made all kinds of firearms myself, and one of them can hit a target a hundred paces away.
Dai Li invented a weapon called Julien Huozi, also called 28 Julien Huozi. Behind the shovel is a magazine, which can store 28 rounds of gunpowder lead bullets. There are two spear machines, which are connected with each other. When one machine is pulled, the ammunition falls into the barrel and releases the other machine to fire. In fact, it is the earliest machine gun in the world and the first machine gun.
He joined the army in the 13th year of Kangxi, and it is said that he dedicated the book "Julian Fires" to Prince Kang. Later, it was reused by Kangxi, and under the arrangement of Kangxi, the Dutch "flat-bowel shotgun" and the Spanish "Buddha's Lang machine" were copied. The imitation of these weapons was completed by Dai Zi in a few days.
A Belgian missionary showed Kangxi the "celestial cannon" they invented, or only Belgians could make it. As a result, they didn't make it in a year, but Dai Zi made it in eight days. Kangxi also carved the name of the maker on the cannon as a souvenir. This celestial cannon played an important role in suppressing the rebellion in Galdin.
But geniuses are often jealous. Just because Dai Zi built a cannon in a short time, he was jealous of the Belgians who had studied conflict guns before. Chen, a traitor who colluded with the rebel army, wrote to Kangxi, accusing Dai Li of secretly communicating with the Japanese. In the 30th year of Kangxi, Dai Zi was exiled to Shengjing (Shenyang). This kind of release lasted for 35 years until Dai Zi died of illness and failed to return to his hometown.
Julian Hotty appeared at least 200 years before the Gatling machine gun in the west. Imagine if Dai Zi was not exiled, but continued to do weapons research. I believe that with his talent and ability, China's weapon level will not lag behind the West so much in modern history. Maybe China will be the first to own tanks and the first to own airplanes. Unfortunately, there is no "if" ...