A Study Of Hot Weapon In Ming Dynasty

No matter when and where, hot weapon is always one of the favorite armaments used by the strategists. The first hot weapon in China is Tuhuoqiang (突火枪), which was invented in Southern Song Dynasty. After that, during almost a century of development in Song and Yuan Dynasty, the hot weapon technology is more and more exquisite, no matter the types, the quantity, the quality, the lethality, or the kill radius of hot weapon are increasing year after year in Ming Dynasty. More than that, Not only the hot weapon of Ming Dynasty is a important part of weapon system and military system, its specific contents like the production system and the management system are also parts of social, economic, science and technology history. Therefore, researching on the content of hot weapon of Ming Dynasty, exploring the hot weapon development of Ming Dynasty, and its specific situation like production, equipment, and the actual role in the war, are very imprtant.Firstly, this paper studies on materials, craftsmen, storage, and ban system, and finds out Ming government has a complete and strict system on hot weapon in the central government, but it is losing the control of the hot weapon in the local government.Secondly, this paper explores the four parts of the improvement of the production system about hot weapon, such as the mechanism, the source of raw materials, the scale and capacity, and the cost of production. Then this paper comes to a conclusion that the hot weapon production system is also more and more sound and strict, but from the mid age of Ming Dynasty, there are lots problems of both the quantity and the quality of hot weapon.Thirdly, this paper describes the three aspects of evolution of the hot weapon itself, namely the category, the origin, and the improvement of performance and process. This paper thinks the Ming hot weapon not only has multiple kinds, but also has Multiple origins.Obviously, the Chinese hot weapon theories are brilliant, so this paper also demonstrates the practical abilities of hot weapon, from the equipment rate of hot weapon in Ming Armies to the performance of hot weapon on the battlefield.At last, this paper sums up the various aspects of the above, and discusses the reasons of the hot weapon decline form different angles, and finds out the downfall of the Ming Empire is not because of the hot weapon itself, but due to various reasons, resulting in the hot weapon can not play normal power.