In the 21st century, with the continuous development of science and technology, China's armed forces have become increasingly powerful, and it is now regarded as a military power. We in China also have many new weapons, such as new assault rifles CS, AMR2 sniper rifles, etc. And do you know how the first firearms were made, who made them, and how they evolved into what they are today?
In ancient China, the development history of firearms went through a long time. Initially, firearms used gunpowder to exert their power and loaded the gunpowder into their magazines. During the Warring States Period, gunpowder was first used in military activities. The name of the firearm at that time was "Pai Che", which contained gunpowder in its bag, similar to a sling. Later, dating back to the Three Kingdoms period, the name of this firearm evolved into "cannon". It was not until the Sui, Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties that firearms began to be widely used. After that, firearms began to take on more and more forms, and became more and more complex. In the early Qing Dynasty, there was a Qing Dynasty official, Dai Zi, who was a "genius" in making firearms. He was the genius who built the first machine gun.
Dai Zi was a firearms manufacturer in the early Qing Dynasty. He was well-written and known as Mr. Gengyan. Dai Zi was born in a family of officials. When he was young, he was quick-thinking and intelligent. He loved reading, especially books about military strategists. When he was 11 years old, he was able to write poems about supporting the country and the country and worrying about the people. It is not difficult to see that at this time, Dai Zi already had the world in mind and was worried about the country and the people. When he was young, Dai Zi fell in love with mechanical manufacturing under the influence of his father. He worked hard to develop many homemade firearms and was extremely talented in the research of firearms.
In the thirteenth year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui claimed to be the King of Zhou and proposed to restore the Ming Dynasty and attack the enemies. He wanted to rebel and proclaim himself king and emperor. At this time, Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan, responded to Wu Sangui with great force. He raised troops from Fujian and invaded Zhejiang. Faced with a critical moment for the country, Dai Zi gladly abandoned his writing and joined the army, and then went on an expedition with Prince Kang to defeat Wu Sangui and other rebellious officials and traitors. During the war between Prince Kang and Wu Sangui, Dai Zi analyzed the military situation in a clear and detailed manner. Therefore, Prince Kang admired Dai Zi's intelligence very much and respected him very much.
In the 19th year of Kangxi, the rebellion of the Three Feudatories was put down, and Dai Zi followed Prince Kang and returned to the court victoriously. After returning to the court, Emperor Kangxi heard about Dai Zi's intelligence and mechanical manufacturing talent, so he summoned him to the court and granted him an official position - Minister of the Hanlin Academy. After that, Dai Zi entered the South Study Room and often served Emperor Kangxi, discussing literature and history. At the same time, he also ordered him to participate in the compilation of "Lü Lu Zhengyi".
In the twenty-sixth year of Kangxi's reign, the Dutch government sent their envoys to visit China. During this visit, the Dutch envoy introduced a special firearm to Emperor Kangxi. The name of this firearm was the "Intestinal Bird Gun." Seeing the triumphant look of the Dutch envoy, Emperor Kangxi was very unhappy and said casually: We in China already have such a gun. But in fact, the Qing Dynasty did not have such a gun at that time. However, Dai Zi, who was beside him at this time, happened to be very talented in firearms. So, he called Dai Zi, handed him the "Panchang Bird Gun" and ordered him to make the same bird gun as soon as possible.
What is shocking is that just five days after this, Dai Zi handed over ten of his counterfeit "coil-intestine shotguns" to Emperor Kangxi, and these ten "coil-intestine shotguns" The shotgun" was actually the same as the one brought by the Dutch envoy. Later, Dai Zi also used other techniques to try to change the decoration of the "coil-intestinal shotgun", and then made several more "coil-intestine shotguns" decorated with enamel. Later, Emperor Kangxi gave all these imitation guns to the Dutch envoys, showing them that we in China also have such "mechanical geniuses" and can also make shotguns that you are proud of.
After this incident, Emperor Kangxi appreciated Dai Zi even more because of his talented mechanical manufacturing ability. At that time, there was a Belgian missionary named Nan Huairen. He once stated in front of Emperor Kangxi that their country's "child-mother cannon" was extremely complicated and only people from his country could make it. At this time, Emperor Kangxi ordered Dai Zi to research quickly, and this time Dai Zi developed the "Multiple Cannon" in just 10 days. However, Nan Huairen, who boasted about Haikou, spent a year During this time, he has not developed what he calls the "mother-child cannon" that only his own country can develop.
Later, when Emperor Kangxi led his army to conquer Galdan for the second time, in this battle, the "Zimu Cannon" exerted its amazing power and only fired three shots at Galdan's camp. , which scared the enemy to the point of "peeing out of their pants". After the war, Emperor Kangxi was overjoyed and engraved Dai Zi's name on it, and also named this invincible "Sub-Mother Cannon" "General Weiyuan".
However, in Dai Zi’s life, his success lies in the “mother and son cannon” and his failure lies in the “mother and son cannon”. It was precisely because of that time that the Belgian double-cell cannon was "easily" developed by Dai Zi, which made Huairen, who had been studying it, feel jealous, and jealousy led to hatred. Therefore, Nan Huairen colluded with Chen Tongyan, a rebel traitor, and submitted a document to Emperor Kangxi, falsely accusing Dai Zi of colluding with the East and wanting to commit treason. At the same time, because Dai Zi was an upright man, he also offended many officials in the court. Therefore, Emperor Kangxi at that time did not investigate carefully, but after listening to the slanders of these villains, he demoted Dai Zi, who was so talented, to a commoner and exiled him to Shengjing.
Dai Zi, who was exiled to Shengjing, was penniless and lived a hard life. He had to make a living by selling calligraphy and paintings. In winter, he had to use broken cotton wool to sleep at night. Sometimes in the early morning, he had to walk through the snow and frost into the mountains to pick up hazelnuts to satisfy his hunger. During the period of Dai Zui, Dai Zi was closer to ordinary people in poetry writing, and wrote many poems about poor people. In the forty-third year of Kangxi's reign, he was pardoned and returned to his hometown, where he stayed in Tieling. While he was in Shengjing and Tieling, there was not a day when he didn't look forward to being pardoned and returning to the court to serve the country. However, this hope lasted for 35 years, and in the end it could only end in that desolate place, depressed and unhappy. And after his death, what he invented slowly disappeared from the world.
According to relevant records, Dai Zi also invented a firearm called "Lianzhu Fire Gun". The back of this firearm is a magazine containing gunpowder, which can store 28 rounds of gunpowder at a time. At the same time, its shape is very similar to a pipa. When in use, it can even fire 28 rounds of bullets continuously. However, Dai Zi did not hand over this powerful firearm to the military camp, but hid it in his home.
Legend has it that one night, when Dai Zi was sleeping, he had a very strange dream. There was a man in the dream who told him that God is kind and if you exile this weapon to In the human world, then no one from your descendants will survive. Dai Zi was frightened by this strange dream, so he followed what the dream said and did not spread the volley of fire guns to the world. After that, "Lianzhu Fire Gun" disappeared from the world.
From ancient times to the present, more than one person has been wronged. Yue Fei in the Northern Song Dynasty was killed by the evil minister Qin Hui on "unfounded" charges; the famous general Li Mu was instigated by the villain Wang Jian and chased to death; and the "mechanical genius" Dai Zi was also unjustly exiled by the evil man Nan Huairen. Dai Zi, who has his mechanical talent, can only spend his life in misery far away from the court. Excellent talents will always be tempered by difficulties and suffering. Some people can stand out after experiencing hardships, and are full of success before and after life; but some people can only be like Dai Zi, full of ambitions, but can only live a miserable life, and ultimately achieve nothing.
Conclusion
Dai Zi was originally a mechanical genius, but he offended a villain and his life became miserable. The firearms created and invented by Dai Zi did not receive the attention they deserved. Everyone says that after Dai Zi was exiled, our country's weapons fell behind for a hundred years. Isn't this statement correct? If Dai Zi had not been exiled, the firearms he made may have brought surprises to the world. If Dai Zi had not been exiled, then when the Western powers invaded China during the Qing Dynasty and later dynasties, we might not have forced the Qing Dynasty to be beaten because of backward weapons. If Dai Zi had not been exiled, then our Qing Dynasty would have had more advanced weapons at that time, and the weapons of the Qing Dynasty would not have lagged behind Western countries.