By the time of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di formed the world's earliest firearms unit, the "Shenji Camp", which shows that the Ming Dynasty rulers attached importance to firearms. By the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the proportion of firearms units reached an astonishing 30%. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was already a very big gap between China's military technology and Europe.

Li Yan naturally knew some of the history of Europe in his previous life.

European firearm inventors began to improve the fire door gun in the fifteenth century and invented the early combs. In the late 16th century, European combs had developed to a mature state. Compared with fire door guns, the advantages of the combs were very obvious. It inserted the slow-burning fuse into the fire door through the pull rod on the bolt to fire. The shooter could focus on using the sight of the fuse gun to aim at the target at the "three points and one line" while pressing the trigger with one hand. In addition, the barrel length of the combs was much longer than that of the early hand guns, and the distance between the gunpowder and gas was longer, which made the shooting accuracy, power and shooting of the combs.

Cheng has made great progress. However, the soldiers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were basically equipped with backward weapons such as fast guns, three-eyed guns, target guns, magic guns, and bird beak guns. In fact, the Ming Dynasty did not know the advantages of the combroach guns. As early as the Qi Jiguang Anti-Japanese War in the 16th century, the Ming army had already seen the Portuguese's introduction of the combroach guns from East Asia from the Japanese pirates. This new weapon was quickly used by the Ming army and received praise from the Ming soldiers. However, due to the dual role of financial problems and conservative psychology, until the Ming Dynasty fell into pieces in 1644, the Ming soldiers did not fully popularize the combroach guns.

In addition to a few elite troops with advanced military ideas, such as the Qi family army, various primitive fire gate guns still account for the majority of the total number of firearms. Moreover, the level of the grenade guns equipped by the Ming Dynasty was much lower than that of the European infantry conjunctions of the contemporary European infantry. It has been said before that the backward fire gate guns accounted for a very large proportion of the individual firearms of the army in the late Ming Dynasty. So for those Ming Dynasty soldiers who obtained the grenade guns, can their level be on par with Europe? The answer is no, and the same grenade guns are divided into three or six levels.

Ming's combs were much worse than Europe in terms of stability and performance. Although the Ming Dynasty was very inclusive and learning, the quality of weapons was worrying due to political darkness and corruption. Craftsmen did not fail to make excellent firearms. However, due to stupid and backward systems, craftsmen were unwilling to hand over high-quality firearms to the government. As a result, first-class products were exported, second-class products were internally exchanged, and third-class products were handed over to the government. Coupled with the layers of exploitation by officials of all sizes, the quality of firearms fell into the hands of officers and soldiers was extremely poor.

Often, they either silence the fire or can only kill birds. The Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers used such poor firearms. The effect can be imagined. According to the original document of Taizu of the Qing Dynasty, the Jurchen cavalry was not afraid of the Ming Dynasty firearms. Some Jurchens were shot many times but were safe. Another soldier was hit by a bullet at the joint of the helmet, but his head was safe and sound, which shows the poor quality of the Ming Dynasty firearms. The greatest advantage of the firearms cannot be exerted. In close combat, it is indeed not as good as cold weapons. This is why, the main reason why the Ming Dynasty, equipped with advanced weapons, would lose, forget the corruption of internal politics. The fundamental reason for the destruction of a dynasty is often not external enemies but internal corruption.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty is definitely a warning sign for the Tang Dynasty under the current command of Li Yan.

Just talking about the navy, the Ming Dynasty can still give the Tang Dynasty a lot of reference.

As early as the 16th century, various types of mines had become important weapons of the Ming Dynasty's navy. The "underwater thunder" created in 1549 can be called the world's first mine. The mine was made of wooden boxes as thunder shells, putty sticks to the seams, and the ropes below connected to the iron anchors, controlled depth, and manually operated and fired, which was more than 200 years earlier than the West's manufacturing and use of mines. The first timed explosion mine was the "underwater Dragon King Cannon" manufactured in 1590. The mine was made of oxen thunder shells, filled with black gunpowder, and ignited with incense as a fuse, and detonated the mines regularly with the burning time of incense. The first trigger mine was the "hunjianglong" mine manufactured in the late Ming Dynasty in 1637. The mine was detonated by direct contact with the ship.

According to historical records, during the period of the War to Resist Japan and Aid Korea during the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty navy used "underwater thunder" to sink a large Japanese warship in one fell swoop. This was the first time in human history that used mines to achieve actual results, nearly three centuries earlier than the mine war in the Russo-Japanese War (1903-1905).

After talking about the Ming Dynasty, the Song Dynasty was not useless.

The Song Dynasty emphasized culture over military affairs, but it was precisely because of this that the Song Dynasty had financial and material resources to carry out the research and development of weapons and equipment. However, most of the people of the Song Dynasty were honest, but they were not good at fighting. Therefore, it led to the acceleration of the research and development of weapons and equipment on the one hand, and the war was indeed not good at fighting. Weapons and equipment were not converted into combat power, and the two were not well connected.

On the treatment of the army: In the early Tang Dynasty, soldiers were given their own weapons and had no salary. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the court only provided soldiers' clothing and food. However, those who recruited them as corpses and imperial guards in the Song Dynasty sometimes "one person can serve as a military force, and a family of several people can live a full life." However, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the salaries of officials were paid at a discount, but the generals on the front line were exceptions, and they could also receive generous subsidies. By joining the army to win fame, it was a good way out for people without family backgrounds in the Song Dynasty.

Next is the production and research and development of military equipment. The emperors of the Song Dynasty were quite careful about weapons manufacturing. Taking Taizu of Song as an example, every weapon was built, every ten days was called "Ten-day lessons". The emperor personally read it and the tricks of the governance were all done. The 11th and 13th centuries were an era when military technology was significantly developed in Chinese society.... From the end of the 10th century, while showing a strong interest in weapons and equipment issues,... some new types of weapons were invented and created and approved and debugged, such as crossbow gunners, continuous bows, and chariots. Inventions and creations were rewarded with money; new weapons must be tested before being ordered in batches by the armory.

Martial arts became a common entertainment activity in cities in the Song Dynasty, including corner arches, sticks, swords and guns, swords and swords, crossbows, weightlifting, etc. Taking the most popular corner arches as an example, there are as many as 50 or 60 famous artists in Lin'an City alone. Even women participate in this kind of activity and even dare to compete with men on the same stage. The highest level of the competition is national, and the prizes won by the champion are very rich.
Chapter completed!