On the seventh day of April in the fourth year of Longqing's reign, Gao pragmatically met with Qi Jiguang at the West Gate Tower of Kaiping.
When people heard about it, they just thought it was Qi Jiguang who was bent on getting closer to the Confucian generals. According to his usual custom, he paid a visit to the new wealthy people in the capital who came to Kaiping. He had a pragmatic and high-ranking official nicknamed "Little Hanlin". He had nothing to say except a faint smile. Only
After Zhang Juzheng heard the news, he frowned and thought for a moment, but he never took it as a big deal.
However, later generations paid great attention to this meeting. Many scholars published various writings and made many speculations and inferences about the meeting. The mainstream view in the historians at that time was that Gao Qimi must have talked about it
It covers many issues including the subsequent fundamental reforms of the Ming Army and the development and update of the Ming Army’s military equipment.
In fact, this guess is roughly correct. In this historic meeting between Gao Pragmatic and Qi Jiguang, although the two parties did not explain or explain it afterwards, some tacit agreements were indeed reached, which could barely be regarded as an agreement.
Let's make a secret appointment.
However, compared with the reform of the military system that will only take effect many years later, Gao Qi's secret meeting also has some exchanges that are quite useful for the current or recent future, especially regarding the development of some firearms.
Thought guidance. Qi Jiguang, with the acumen of a genius military strategist, approved most of the ideas, but showed some doubts about Gao's pragmatic statement that he would establish factories in the future to provide some of these weapons - because of Ming Dynasty's
Military manufacturing, especially the manufacturing of firearms, was theoretically monopolized by the imperial court and was not allowed to be involved by private individuals.
But regarding this issue, Gao Pragmatic said that he would find a solution on his own. At most, Qi Jiguang would need to lead the Shangshu in the future and express his support for this. Qi Jiguang did not need to worry about the specific arrangements. At this point, Qi Jiguang could not say much, so he could only express his agreement.
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The weapons and equipment Gao Pragmatic talked about with Qi Jiguang basically focused on firearms, and there was almost no mention of cold weapons or even armor. The exchange of firearms focused on three major aspects.
The first thing the two talked about was not guns or cannons, but bomb weapons. They also talked about three categories of bomb weapons, namely landmines, sea mines and grenades.
In fact, it can be said that the Ming Dynasty at this time far surpassed Western countries in terms of research and development and application level of bomb weapons.
For example, real landmines with mechanical automatic ignition devices were invented by the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty. If you want to trace their origins, the earliest primitive landmines can even be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Until the current Longqing period, the types and development of landmines in the Ming Dynasty have
They are all far ahead of the West.
Gao Pragmatic had read some books on this issue in his spare time. He remembered that "History of Chinese Firearms" written by Wang Zhaochun once introduced that landmines were invented by Zeng Xian, who served as the governor of the three sides during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, there are some
For example, in Joseph Needham's History of Chinese Science and Technology, it is stated that mines with mechanical ignition devices were included in Jiao Yu's "Fire Dragon Book" in 1413 in the early Ming Dynasty. However, in fact, the "Fire Dragon Book" should be a forgery of the Ming Dynasty after Jiajing.
It was formed in the early Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the honor of the inventor of landmines should still be returned to Zeng Mian.
"Landmines are explosive firearms buried underground. They were created during the Jiajing period. According to "Bing Lue Wen": "I once milled on the side and made mines. The hole was about 10 feet long, and the medicine was put in it. It was covered with stones, and more
Cover it with sand, place it on the ground, and lay it down on the ground, so that menstruation can pass. Tie it to the ground, and when it passes by, kick the machine, the fire will fall, the powder will fly, and the stones will fly down and kill people.'"
After the mine was invented by Zeng Mian, it was quickly improved by others and extended to many new varieties.
"According to "Cao Hai Tu Bian Jing Lue 3", Shao Shoude of Danyang made a kind of mine with pig iron, filled with more than a bucket of gunpowder, and used a sandalwood anvil to anvil the bottom of the mine. The inside of the anvil was hollow, and a fire wire was installed to pass out.
Outside the shell. After the mine is made, choose the main road that the enemy must pass through, dig a pit in the ground, dozens of times in a row, bury the mine in the pit, use a small bamboo tube to lead out the fire line, and keep the earth covered as before. There is an ignition device in the mine.
When the enemy troops passed by, they trampled them to pieces, thunders shook the ground, artillery shot into the sky, fragments of thunder shells flew out like locusts, and men and horses were killed one after another."
In the Wanli period, the development of landmines in the Ming Dynasty reached a climax. "Volume 130 of "Wu Bei Zhi" records more than ten kinds of mines." Among them, there are step-type landmines, pull-type landmines, and some hair-type landmines.
Landmines, and trip-fire landmines. The use of landmines in the West should be quite late. In the true sense, automatically fired landmines may be about two hundred years later than the Ming Dynasty. There are no records of the Russian army using landmines until the Russo-Japanese War.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic did not dare to come up with anything too advanced in the picture album for Qi Jiguang. This secret meeting only briefly discussed some firing devices, whether it is stepping hair, pulling hair, point hair or trip hair. Gao Pragmatic
Both gave simple manufacturing methods - in fact, this thing is not difficult, as long as the idea is right, it is not difficult to make. Qi Jiguang himself is a firearms expert, so Gao Pragmatic did not go into details. After all, they both have a lot of time.
I'm nervous and can't stay in Kaiping for too long.
However, some of the landmines originally created by the Ming Dynasty in history, such as the "explosive cannon" represented by step-fired mines, the "crouching mine" represented by pull-fired mines, the "invincible mine cannon" represented by point-fired landmines,
Gao Pragmatic also gave manufacturing ideas for the "Ten Thousand Bullet Mine Cannon" which is the representative of explosive land mines.
The first naval mine in history was also invented by the Ming Dynasty, but it was in the 18th year of Wanli, and its name was "Underwater Dragon King Cannon". Needless to say, Gao Shi read and copied books tirelessly, and put forward the manufacturing ideas of this elementary mine product.
It was also provided to Qi Jiguang, but Qi Jiguang said that it might not be of much use in the north, and suggested that Gao Pragmatic give it to Liu Xian - Qi Jiguang was a very sensitive person in the officialdom, and obviously he already knew that Liu Xian had actually surrendered to Gao Xian.
It’s a matter of archeology.
However, Gao pragmatic found that Qi Jiguang was obviously hesitant to speak after mentioning Liu Xian. He couldn't help laughing and said: "This is a weapon for the military and the country. Although the boy is not talented, he will not hide his secrets. I know that Governor Qi must hope
I will give the manufacturing method of this underwater Dragon King Cannon to one more person - Guangdong Commander-in-Chief Yu Xujiang, right?"
Xujiang is the nickname of Yu Dayou.
Qi Jiguang saw that Gao Pragmatic's face was as usual and he was not dissatisfied at all. He couldn't help feeling that although this man was young, he was not inferior to his predecessors in terms of generosity, so he was not too polite. He nodded and admitted: "Although Mr. Liu is also in the Southern Army, at this moment
After all, after being transferred to Guizhou, it is still uncertain when he will return to Langshan. And General Yu is the commander-in-chief of Guangdong. He has been fighting against Japanese pirates, and he has a navy that is good at fighting. If he has this thing,
It will surely become as powerful as a tiger's wings... This will be the blessing of our great Ming Dynasty."
Gao pragmatic smiled and nodded, and said: "It's easy to handle. Governor Qi can send a reliable person to Guangzhou personally for the method of making mines in my album."
***The author has something to say***
It is estimated that everyone will be more interested in developing military industry, so I plan to write more. This time I will not divide it into two chapters, but start with chapters one, two, three and four.