Chapter 227 Firearms of the Song Dynasty

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the use of gunpowder was already common, and firearms were further developed.In order to defend against the intrusion of Jin soldiers, the military strategists of the Southern Song Dynasty continuously improved their weapons.In the second year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty (1132 A.D.), a military scientist named Chen Gui invented a tube-shaped firearm - musket, which was a great progress in the history of firearms. Although it is called a musket, it is not the same thing as the musket called in our country later.This kind of musket is made of long bamboo shaft, and the bamboo tube is filled with gunpowder.When fighting, it is held by two people, lit, fired, and used to burn the enemy.

This is the earliest tubular firearm that appeared in my country.Putting gunpowder in bamboo tubes to make muskets is a great progress in the application of gunpowder.It is not easy to hit the target accurately by using a trebuchet to launch gunpowder. With tubular firearms, people can launch more accurately and properly control the detonation of gunpowder. After the invention of the musket, after continuous improvement, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, someone invented the musket again. The musket is made of a thick bamboo tube, in which there is gunpowder and something called "Zi Ke", which may be a kind of bullet.After the gunpowder is ignited with a torch, a flame will be emitted at first, and then the "Zi Ke" will shoot out and make a sound like a cannon.

The function of the musket is only to burn people, but the musket can shoot people with fire, which is a step further than the musket. Muskets and tumblers are made of bamboo tubes.Primitive tubular firearms, not very powerful, but they are the ancestors of modern guns.Modern guns developed slowly from them.