The history of gunpowder

With its lethality and shocking power, gunpowder has brought peace and security to mankind and become one of the important inventions of human civilization.

China's first book on gunpowder formula was written in the eighth and ninth centuries. It is said in the book that "burning saltpeter with sulfur, realgar and honey" will lead to the phenomenon of "burning hands, face and house". The secret here should be honey. Honey can be turned into charcoal when heated. Sulfur, saltpeter and carbon are mixed together, which is the formula of gunpowder.

The invention of gunpowder is the result of people's long-term practice of alchemy, and it has a history of 1000 years.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder had been used in the military. In the first year of God's Blessing (904), Yang Xingmi led an army to besiege and led Zheng (leading troops to fire, burning dragons and shamans, and leading strong men to the city first, but the quilt was urgent). The (Fei Huo) here refers to (artillery) and (rocket). (artillery) is to make the powder into a ring, ignite the messenger wire and throw it out with a trebuchet; A rocket is to tie a powder ball under an arrow, light a fuse and shoot it out with a bow. In the Song Dynasty, wars continued, which accelerated the development of gunpowder weapons. The government of the Northern Song Dynasty established gunpowder workshops, and successively produced gunpowder arrows, artillery and other weapons with burning performance, as well as explosive weapons such as thunderbolt and thunderbolt. In Southern Song Dynasty 1259, a musket with giant bamboo as barrel and gunpowder inside was manufactured. In the Yuan Dynasty, the bronze casting fire system appeared again, which was called (General Copper). These weapons are all driven by gunpowder explosion and have shown unprecedented power in the war. The picture below shows Nanwei musket and Wei Bei gunpowder arrow.

12 and 13 centuries, gunpowder was first introduced to Arab countries, and then to Greece, Europe and even the whole world. It has promoted the civilization and progress of human society and promoted the development of economy, science and culture. It was not until the middle of14th century that the use of gunpowder and firearms was recorded in Britain and France.

1, from alchemy

The origin of alchemy is very early, and it is recorded in the Warring States policy that the alchemist gave King Jing an elixir. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also dreamed of "long life and long knowledge", asking the people for pills, recruiting alchemists, and personally refining pills. Since then, alchemy has become a trend and has become popular. Alchemists, the so-called alchemists, have appeared in all previous dynasties. The purpose of an alchemist is to find the medicine of immortality, which is impossible to achieve. Alchemy has been popular for more than 1000 years, and finally nothing has been achieved. However, some specific methods used in alchemy still have some merits, which reflect the original form of chemistry.

An important method in alchemy is "fire alchemy" Is directly related to the invention of gunpowder. The so-called "fire alchemy" is a method of heating without water. The fire method recorded by Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty in Bao Pu Zi generally includes: calcination (long-term high-temperature heating), melting (heating dry matter), moxibustion (local baking), melting (melting), pumping (distillation), flying (also called rising, that is, sublimation) and so on. These methods are the most basic chemical methods, and they are also the basis of this stupid professional invention of alchemy. The alchemist's piety and frustration in finding the elixir of life forced him to experiment repeatedly to find new methods. This created conditions for the invention of gunpowder. Before the invention of gunpowder, alchemy had obtained some artificial chemicals, such as mercury sulfide. This may be one of the earliest chemical synthesis products.

An alchemist caught fire and inspired people to know and invent gunpowder.

2. Invention of gunpowder

Although alchemists have mastered certain chemical methods, their direction is to seek the medicine of immortality, so the invention of gunpowder has certain contingency.

An alchemist usually "crouches" sulfur, arsenic and other toxic stone medicines before use, and "crouches" means surrendering. The process of losing or reducing toxicity is called "reducing fire". Sun Simiao, a famous doctor and alchemist in the early Tang Dynasty, wrote in the Single Crystal Sulfur Law that sulfur and saltpeter should be ground into powder and put into a silver jar or a sand jar. Dig a hole, put a pot in the hole, level the hole and fill it all around. Light three honey locust seeds that have not been eaten by insects one by one, then put them into a pot and set off fireworks with sulfur and saltpeter. When the smoke can't catch fire, stir-fry the charcoal until one-third of the charcoal is extinguished, then anneal it, wait until the mixture cools before taking it, and then subdue the fire.

In the middle Tang Dynasty, a man named Qing put forward a recipe for reducing fire in the Alum Method: "22 ounces of sulfur, 22 ounces of nitrate, and half of Aristolochia. That's the end. Mix it up. Dig a hole and put the medicine in the pot, even with the ground. Put a piece of cooked fire, marble is big, and when you put it inside, the smoke will gradually rise. " He used Aristolochia instead of Gleditsia sinensis in Sun Simiao's prescription. These two substances play a burning role instead of carbon.

All the recipes for latent fire contain carbon, saltpeter should be added to sulfur, and sulfur should be added to saltpeter. This shows that the alchemist intends to burn the drug to remove its virulence.

Although the alchemist knew that the mixture of sulfur, nitrate and carbon would have a fierce reaction and took measures to control the reaction speed, the fire accident in the Dan room caused by drug fire still occurred frequently. There is a story in Tai Ping Guang Ji, which tells that in the early years of Sui Dynasty, a man named Du Chunzi visited an old man who was an alchemist. Lived there that night. Du Chunzi woke up in the middle of the night and saw "purple smoke passing through the house" in the blast furnace, and the house suddenly burned. This may be caused by the negligence of the alchemist when preparing flammable drugs. There is also an alchemy book called "A Brief Introduction to Zhen Yuan Miao Dao", which also talks about burning people's faces and hands with fire from sulfur, saltpeter, realgar and honey, going straight to the roof and burning houses. This book warns alchemists to prevent such accidents. This shows that the alchemists in the Tang Dynasty mastered a very important experience, that is, sulfur, nitrate and carbon can form a highly flammable medicine, which is called "gunpowder", that is, gunpowder. Because of the invention of gunpowder, it was once regarded as medicine in the process of self-made Dan dispensing. Compendium of Materia Medica mentions that gunpowder can cure sores, tinea, insects, dampness and epidemics.

Gunpowder can't solve the problem of immortality, and it is easy to catch fire. Alchemists are not interested in this. The formula of gunpowder was transferred from an alchemist to a strategist and became one of the gunpowder in four great inventions of ancient china.

3, the application of gunpowder

Gunpowder in Tang dynasty

Before the invention of gunpowder, fire attack was a common attack method for military strategists. At that time, a weapon called a rocket was used in the fire attack. It tied some flammable substances such as grease, rosin and sulfur to an arrow, lit it and shot it out with a bow, burning the enemy's position. If gunpowder is used instead of ordinary flammable materials, the effect will be much better. Before the invention of gunpowder, trebuchets were often used to throw stones and grease fireballs to destroy the enemy. After the invention of gunpowder, a stone thrower was used to throw gunpowder packets instead of stones and grease fireballs. According to Lu Zhen's Records of Nine Kingdoms in Song Dynasty, during the year of (10th century), Zheng led an army to attack (now Nanchang, Jiangxi) and "set out" to burn the dragon shaman in the city. This may be the earliest record of siege with gunpowder.

Song dynasty gunpowder

In the Song Dynasty, gunpowder weapons developed rapidly. According to The History of Song Dynasty: The Story of Soldiers, in 970 AD, the Ministry of War ordered Shi Fengji to be born into the Rocket Law. This method is to tie a gunpowder barrel to the front end of the arrow shaft, and after ignition, use the reaction force of the gas ejected by gunpowder combustion to shoot the arrow cluster. This is the earliest jet firearm in the world. In A.D. 1000, Tang Fu, the captain of Shenwei, as a soldier, presented his rockets, fireballs, thistles and other firearms to the Song court. During the period of 1002, Yong Lian, Jizhou made Shipu into rockets, fireballs and other firearms and performed them.

The appearance of gunpowder weapons on the battlefield indicates that a series of changes will take place in military history. Transition from using cold weapons to using firearms. The original form of gunpowder used in weapons mainly uses the combustion performance of gunpowder. The early gunpowder weapons recorded in Wu Yao have not been separated from the category of arson weapons in traditional fire attack. With the development of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons, the explosive characteristics of gunpowder are gradually utilized.

Gunpowder mixed with potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal powder is called black powder or brown powder. This mixture burns very easily and quite violently. If gunpowder burns in a closed container, it will explode. When gunpowder burns, it can produce a lot of gas (nitrogen, carbon dioxide) and heat. The original small volume of solid powder suddenly expands to several thousand times, and then the container will explode. This is the explosive performance of gunpowder. Using the combustion and explosion characteristics of gunpowder, various firearms can be made. The gunpowder weapons used in the Northern Song Dynasty with different purposes were all made by using the principle of black powder burning and explosion. Tribulus fireballs and poisonous smoke balls are relatively low explosive firearms. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, firearms with relatively strong explosive power also appeared, such as "thunderbolt" and "thunderbolt". This kind of firearm is mainly used to attack or defend cities. In 1 126, when Li Gang defended Kaifeng, he bombarded the retreat of the 8 Jin Army with thunder. The war between Jin and the Northern Song Dynasty further improved the artillery. Thunder is an iron firearm and an explosive weapon with an iron shell. This weapon was used by the Yuan Army when the Jin Dynasty attacked Nanjing (now Kaifeng, Henan). The description of Thunderbolt in The History of Jin is: "The gunpowder exploded, with a sound like Lei Zhen, and the heat reached more than half an acre. People and cowhide are broken without trace, and armor and iron are transparent. " This description may be a bit exaggerated, but it is a true portrayal of the power of gunpowder.

The development of firearms depends on the research and production of gunpowder. Three gunpowder formulas are recorded in Wu Yao. The contents of sulfur and nitrate in gunpowder in Tang Dynasty were the same, from 1 to 1, from 1 to 2 in Song Dynasty, even close to 1 to 3. Similar to the formula that nitrate accounts for three quarters of black powder in later generations. Adding a small amount of auxiliary components to gunpowder is to achieve the effects of flammability, explosion, poisoning and smoke screen. Gunpowder is constantly improved and developed in the process of manufacture and use.

Ceng Gongliang introduced three kinds of gunpowder formulas in 1044 "General Theory of Jason Wu", and used different auxiliary materials to achieve different purposes of flammability, explosiveness, poison release and smoke screen.

In the Song Dynasty, the demand for firearms increased day by day because of the constant war. In Song Shenzong, a military equipment supervisor was set up to be responsible for the national military equipment manufacturing. The Military Equipment Supervision Bureau employs more than 40,000 workers and is divided into ten workshops, each of which produces gunpowder and gunpowder weapons, occupying a very important position. History records the production scale at that time: "At the same sunrise, there were 7,000 crossbow gunpowder arrows, 0/0000 bow gunpowder arrows, 3,000 tribulus cannons and 20,000 leather cannons". All these have promoted the development of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons.

Tubular firearms appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and muskets were invented in 1 132. The musket is made of a long bamboo pole. First put the gunpowder in the bamboo pole, ignite the gunpowder and spray it at the enemy in the battle. When I was old school, I used "more than twenty long bamboo muskets". In A.D. 1259, muskets were made in Shouchun area, made of thick bamboo tubes. This kind of tubular firearm is different from musket. It can only spray flames to burn people. The musket is equipped with a "sub-nest". After the powder is ignited, it produces strong gas pressure and shoots out of the "sub-nest". The "sub-nest" is an atomic bomb. The musket pioneered the use of tubular firearms to launch projectiles. Modern firearms are gradually developed from tubular firearms. Therefore, the invention of tubular firearms is another great leap in the history of weapons.

Musketeers are also called muskets, so they may be made of bamboo tubes. The book "Guide to March" quoted in "Yongle Dadian" mentioned that when guarding the city in the Song Dynasty, the enemy who boarded the city was killed with a fire pipe. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, this primitive tubular firearm made of bamboo tube was made of copper or iron and cast into a cannon, which was called a "weapon".

1332 bronze ware is the earliest existing tubular firearm with inscription in the world.

the Ming Dynasty

In the Ming dynasty, many kinds of "multi-barrel rockets" were invented in combat firearms, such as the "fire crossbow meteor arrow" that fired 10 arrows at the same time; A "swarm of bees" that fired 32 arrows; It can shoot up to 100 arrows. Judy, the prince of the Ming Dynasty (later Ming Chengzu), and Wen Jian, the emperor, fought in Baigou River, and once used "bees". This is the earliest multi-barrel rocket in the world and can be called the originator of modern multi-barrel rockets. It is particularly worth mentioning that a firearm called "Fire Dragon Out of Water" was used in the water war at that time. According to Wu Beizhi, this kind of firearm can fly three or four feet on the water, as far as two or three miles. This kind of rocket is made of bamboo and wood. There are four big "fires" tied to the dragon-shaped shell and several small rockets hidden in the abdomen. After the big "fire" was lit, the arrow was pushed away, "like a dragon coming out of the water." After the gunpowder burns out, it ignites a small rocket in the abdomen and shoots from Longkou. Hitting the target will make the enemy "burn people and ships." This is the earliest second-stage rocket in the world. In addition, the book also records embryonic missiles with certain explosion and combustion performance, such as "Shenhuo Flying Crow". The "flying crow with divine fire" is made of thin bamboo cotton paper and pasted into the shape of a crow. It is filled with gunpowder and propelled by four rockets. It is the earliest multi-powder-barrel parallel rocket in the world, and its working principle is very similar to that of today's large-scale bundled launch vehicle.

With the development of rockets, people have the desire to use the thrust of rockets to fly into the sky. According to historical records, at the end of 14, a brave man in the Ming Dynasty sat in a chair with the largest 47 rockets at that time, holding a big kite in each hand, trying to realize his flying dream with the help of the thrust of the rockets and the lift of the kite. Although it was a failed attempt, Wan Hu was hailed as the first man to fly by rocket. To commemorate 10,000 families, a crater on the moon is named after 10,000 families.

The influence of gunpowder on human beings

According to Lu Zhen's Records of Nine Kingdoms in Song Dynasty, during the year of (10th century), Zheng led an army to attack (now Nanchang, Jiangxi) and "set out" to burn the dragon shaman in the city. This may be the earliest record of siege with gunpowder. In the Song Dynasty, gunpowder weapons developed rapidly. According to The History of Song Dynasty: The Story of Soldiers, in 970 AD, the Ministry of War ordered Shi Fengji to be born into the Rocket Law. This method is to tie a gunpowder barrel to the front end of the arrow shaft, and after ignition, use the reaction force of the gas ejected by gunpowder combustion to shoot the arrow cluster. This is the earliest jet firearm in the world. In A.D. 1000, Tang Fu, the captain of Shenwei, as a soldier, presented his rockets, fireballs, thistles and other firearms to the Song court. During the period of 1002, Yong Lian, Jizhou made Shipu into rockets, fireballs and other firearms and performed them. The appearance of gunpowder weapons on the battlefield indicates that a series of changes will take place in military history. Transition from using cold weapons to using firearms.

The original form of gunpowder used in weapons mainly uses the combustion performance of gunpowder. With the development of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons, the explosive characteristics of gunpowder are gradually utilized. When gunpowder burns, it will produce a lot of gas and heat. The original small volume of solid powder suddenly expands to several thousand times, and then the container will explode. This is the explosive performance of gunpowder. Using the combustion and explosion characteristics of gunpowder, various firearms can be made. The gunpowder weapons used in the Northern Song Dynasty with different purposes were all made by using the principle of black powder burning and explosion. Tribulus fireballs and poisonous smoke balls are relatively low explosive firearms. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, firearms with relatively strong explosive power also appeared, such as "thunderbolt" and "thunderbolt". This kind of firearm is mainly used to attack or defend cities. In 1 126, when Li Gang defended Kaifeng, he bombarded the retreat of the 8 Jin Army with thunder. The war between Jin and the Northern Song Dynasty further improved the artillery. Thunder is an iron firearm and an explosive weapon with an iron shell. This weapon was used by the Yuan Army when the Jin Dynasty attacked Nanjing (now Kaifeng, Henan). Tubular firearms appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and muskets were invented in 1 132. The musket is made of a long bamboo pole. First put the gunpowder in the bamboo pole, ignite the gunpowder and spray it at the enemy in the battle. When I was old school, I used "more than twenty long bamboo muskets". In A.D. 1259, muskets were made in Shouchun area, made of thick bamboo tubes. This kind of tubular firearm is different from musket. It can only spray flames to burn people. The musket is equipped with a "sub-nest". After the powder is ignited, it produces strong gas pressure and shoots out of the "sub-nest". The "sub-nest" is an atomic bomb. The musket pioneered the use of tubular firearms to launch projectiles. Modern firearms are gradually developed from tubular firearms. Therefore, the invention of tubular firearms is another great leap in the history of weapons. Musketeers are also called muskets, so they may be made of bamboo tubes. . The book "Guide to March" quoted in "Yongle Dadian" mentioned that when guarding the city in the Song Dynasty, the enemy who boarded the city was killed with a fire pipe.

During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, this primitive tubular firearm made of bamboo tube was made of copper or iron and cast into a cannon, which was called a "weapon". In the Ming Dynasty, many kinds of "multiple rockets" were invented in combat firearms, such as the "fire crossbow meteor arrow" that fired 10 arrows at the same time; A "swarm of bees" that fired 32 arrows; It can shoot up to 100 arrows. Judy, the prince of the Ming Dynasty (later Ming Chengzu), and Wen Jian, the emperor, fought in Baigou River, and once used "bees". This is the earliest multi-barrel rocket in the world and can be called the originator of modern multi-barrel rockets. It is particularly worth mentioning that a firearm called "Fire Dragon Out of Water" was used in the water war at that time. According to Wu Beizhi, this kind of firearm can fly three or four feet on the water, as far as two or three miles. This kind of rocket is made of bamboo and wood. There are four big "fires" tied to the dragon-shaped shell and several small rockets hidden in the abdomen. After the big "fire" was lit, the arrow was pushed away, "like a dragon coming out of the water." After the gunpowder burns out, it ignites a small rocket in the abdomen and shoots from Longkou. Hitting the target will make the enemy "burn people and ships." This is the earliest second-stage rocket in the world. In addition, the book also records embryonic missiles with certain explosion and combustion performance, such as "Shenhuo Flying Crow". The "flying crow with divine fire" is made of thin bamboo cotton paper and pasted into the shape of a crow. It is filled with gunpowder and propelled by four rockets. It is the earliest multi-powder-barrel parallel rocket in the world, and its working principle is very similar to that of today's large-scale bundled launch vehicle.

With the development of rockets, people have the desire to use the thrust of rockets to fly into the sky. According to historical records, at the end of 14, Wan Hu, a brave man in the Ming Dynasty, sat in a chair with the largest 47 rockets at that time, holding a big kite in each hand, trying to realize his dream of flying with the help of the thrust of rockets and the lift of kites. Although it was a failed attempt, Wan Hu was hailed as the first man to fly by rocket. To commemorate 10,000 families, a crater on the moon is named after 10,000 families.

As early as the eighth and ninth centuries, with the knowledge of medicine and alchemy, nitrate also spread from China to Arabia. At that time, Arabs called it "China Snow" and Persians called it "China Salt". They only know how to treat diseases, metallurgy and make glass with nitrates. /kloc-in the 3rd century, gunpowder was introduced to Arab countries by merchants through India. The Greeks learned about gunpowder by translating Arabic books. Gunpowder weapons spread to Arab countries through war. Genghis Khan's western expedition, the Mongolian army used gunpowder weapons. In A.D. 1260, Yuan Shizu's army was defeated in the Syrian war, and Arabs seized gunpowder weapons such as rockets, poison cupping, artillery, thunder and lightning, thus mastering the manufacture and use of gunpowder weapons. The Arabs fought a long war with some European countries. In the war, Arabs used gunpowder weapons. For example, the Arabs used gunpowder weapons when they attacked Baasha, Spain. In the war with Arab countries, Europeans gradually mastered the technology of making gunpowder and gunpowder weapons. The introduction of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons into Europe "not only changed the method of war itself, but also changed the political relationship between rule and slavery". "The stone wall of the aristocratic castle that was impregnable before could not withstand the fire of the citizens, and the bullets of the citizens penetrated the knight's armor. The aristocratic rule perished with the armored aristocratic cavalry. With the development of capitalism, new elite guns are manufactured in European factories, equipped with powerful fleets, and set sail to conquer new colonies ... "

China's gunpowder promoted the course of world history. Engels once spoke highly of China's pioneering role in the invention of gunpowder: "Now it has been proved beyond doubt that gunpowder was passed from China to Arabs through India, and then from Arabs to Europe together with gunpowder weapons through Spain." The invention of gunpowder greatly promoted the process of historical development and was one of the important pillars of the European Renaissance.

4. History of foreign exchange

As early as the eighth and ninth centuries, with the knowledge of medicine and alchemy, nitrate also spread from China to Arabia. At that time, Arabs called it "China Snow" and Persians called it "China Salt". They only know how to treat diseases, metallurgy and make glass with nitrates. /kloc-in the 3rd century, gunpowder was introduced to Arab countries by merchants through India. The Greeks learned about gunpowder by translating Arabic books. Gunpowder weapons spread to Arab countries through war. After the destruction of gold in Mongolia in A.D. 1234, all the craftsmen and firearms captured in Nongfeng and other places were taken away, and the gunpowder craftsmen and firearms in the Jin Army were incorporated into the Mongolian army. The following year, the Mongolian army launched the second expedition to the west, and the newly incorporated firearms units of the Mongolian army also went out with the army. In the next few years, Mongolian troops equipped with igniters swept across the plains of Eastern Europe. 124 1 On April 9, 2008, the Mongolian army and the allies of 30,000 Poles and Germans launched a fierce battle on the Wallstad Plain in Eastern Europe.

According to the records of the Polish historian Drugos in the book History of Poland, the Mongolian army used powerful firearms in this battle. Polish gunpowder historian geissler hid in a monastery near the battlefield and secretly described the rocket style used by Mongolian soldiers. According to geissler's description, the Mongols fired rockets in bundles from a wooden barrel. Because the wooden slips were painted with faucets, they were called "China Fire-breathing Dragon" by the Poles.

After the Mongols destroyed the Arab Empire, the Ili khanate was established. It quickly became an important hub for China gunpowder and other scientific and technological knowledge to spread to the west. The long-term stationing of Mongolian troops equipped with gunpowder weapons in Europe provided Europeans with an opportunity to peek at gunpowder technology.

In A.D. 1260, Yuan Shizu's army was defeated in the Syrian war, and Arabs seized gunpowder weapons such as rockets, poison cupping, artillery, thunder and lightning, thus mastering the manufacture and use of gunpowder weapons. The Arabs fought a long war with some European countries. In the war, Arabs used gunpowder weapons. For example, the Arabs used gunpowder weapons when they attacked Baasha, Spain. In the war with Arab countries, Europeans gradually mastered the technology of making gunpowder and gunpowder weapons.

The introduction of gunpowder and gunpowder weapons into Europe not only changed the way of war itself, but also changed the political relationship between rule and slavery. The stone wall of the aristocratic castle, which was impregnable before, could not resist the gunfire of the citizens, and the citizens' bullets penetrated the knight's armor. The aristocratic rule perished with the armored aristocratic cavalry. With the development of capitalism, new elite guns were manufactured in European factories, equipped with powerful fleets, and set sail to conquer new colonies.

The significance of the invention of gunpowder

China's gunpowder promoted the course of world history. Engels once spoke highly of China's role in the invention of gunpowder: "It has been proved beyond doubt that gunpowder was passed from China to Arabs through India, and Arabs and gunpowder weapons were introduced to Europe through Spain." Gunpowder shook the feudal rule in western Europe, and the chivalrous class, which once boasted by cold weapons, declined day by day! The invention of gunpowder greatly promoted the process of historical development and was one of the important pillars of the European Renaissance and Religious Reform.