This article is excerpted from the "Encyclopedia of Ancient Chinese Weapons" compiled by Zhiwen Fenghuo Studio
Since its inception, the three-eyed gun has quickly swept all the armies and towns of the Ming Dynasty, and it has been seen everywhere in defending cities, field battles, cavalry battles, infantry battles, and chariot battles. Up to the nine-sided horse step of the important town of Beijing, down to the village and township fort regiment to train the people, it has a place where it exists.
The three-eyed gun can be traced back to the pear flower gun invented in the Song Dynasty
Birth
Zhao Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded a firearm called the "three-eyed gun at the beginning of the country" in his book "Artifact Spectrum", which can be traced back to the pear flower gun of the Song Dynasty. It uses a long spear as the main body, and three bamboo tubes are tied with thin hemp rope near the head of the spear, each of which is equipped with a small rocket, which is ignited with a medical wire. When the gun wielder is close to the enemy at thirty or forty paces, he ignites the medicine line and fires a rocket to hit the enemy. In addition, this firearm can also be used during sieges. The rockets are so terrifying that even if the enemy dodges the flying rockets, it is difficult to dodge the spears that follow up with the stabbing spears.
The three-eyed gun is likely to be inspired by this kind of **. According to He Qiaoyuan of the Ming Dynasty, "Famous Mountains and Tibetan · Volume Seventy-Eight Liu Tianhe recorded: "Tianhe is talented and cheap, and the officials who live in it must have original self-control, and there are hand-made tools for sand and water measurement in the river channel, and wheelbarrows and firearms are built in the border management, and the three-eyed gun is used later." ”
Three-eyed gun at the beginning of the country (restored).
The three-eyed gun was a firearm that contained three bamboo barrels loaded with rockets and tied under the head of a spear. When engaging an enemy, a soldier can fire a rocket to hit the enemy soldier before stabbing with the head of a gun.
In addition to the three-eyed guns for the chariot foot soldiers, Liu Tianhe also equipped the cavalry with the three-eyed guns, where the division is out, 100 carts are battalions, with 1,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, 500 firearms, 200 crossbows, 5 franc machines for each cavalry, 5 3 and 7-eyed guns, more than 10 strong crossbows, and bows and arrows. This is the earliest record of the Ming army's configuration of the three-eyed gun. Later, in the twenty-third year of Jiajing (1544), Weng Wanda, who was also the governor of Shaanxi Province with the title of the right deputy capital, called the three-eyed gun a firearm of the "nearer" in "Placing Firearms", so it is more credible that He Qiaoyuan's "Famous Mountain Collection" attributed the inventor of the three-eyed gun to Liu Tianhe.
Shape
The Three-Eyed Gun is a musket and is essentially a combination of three quick guns with the tip removed. The manufacturing process of the gun tube is the same as that of the fast gun, after the construction of the three gun pipes into one place, with three iron hoops to fix the gun pipe connection, only at the mouth of the gun to add a hoop can also be, and finally behind the gun body to build a handle seat, used to install the handle. The shank seat can be cast as a whole with the gun, or it can be forged separately and then combined into one. The end of the handle can also be fitted with a gun head or iron hoop for hand-to-hand combat.
Zhao Shizhen, a firearms master of the Ming Dynasty, made improvements to the three-eyed gun in the "Artifact Spectrum", and the three-eyed gun used by the infantry was 5 feet 5 inches (about 176 cm) long, and the gun tube was 1 foot 3 inches (about 41.).6 cm);The three-eyed gun used by the cavalry was 4 feet 4 inches long (about 140 in.).8 cm), the length of the gun tube is 1 foot 3 inches. The top of the modified three-eyed wooden handle is thickened, and three grooves in the shape of a pint are dug out on it to facilitate the inlay of the handle seat, and then fixed with an iron hoop;Add a knife to the bottom of the wooden handle;The bottom of the detachable gun tube is all replaced by a flat bottom to a screw bottom, which is convenient for the gun tube to be removed from the shank seat, which is very convenient for cleaning the rust on the shaft wall of the gun tube. In addition, since the Swift Gun and Three-Eyed Gun are forged in the same way as the Bird's Gun, it is also possible to change the Bird's Gun to a Three-Eyed Gun. Chen Renxi of the Ming Dynasty wrote in "The First Collection of the Dreamless Garden· "Manji 1" said: "If its shotgun is changed to a three-eyed gun, it can also fire three ears with one shot." ”
Normally, the three-eyed gun tube is 1 foot (about 32 cm) long, and each tube is 3 yuan (about 11.) with gunpowder1 gram), the weight of the lead used is the same as gunpowder, it is also 3 money, and the ratio of ammunition to medicine is 1 1. However, there is not only one size of the three-eyed gun, but also different sizes, and the ammunition is naturally different. Judging from the unearthed objects, the small one of the three-eyed guns is 30 centimeters long, and the large one is 44 centimeters long, which shows that the gunpowder and lead used are different according to the length of the gunpowder, and this is also very consistent with the situation of the firearms and ammunition of the Ming Dynasty "measuring the length of the gun tube and the size of the gun.
Three-eyed gun: The three-eyed gun is a kind of firearm popular in the Ming Dynasty, which is cast or forged from iron and crude steel, and looks like a three-pipe individual soldier gun in the shape of a zigzag hoop together. Each tube has a small hole on the outside but shares a shank base that allows for wooden poles of varying lengths to hold. Before use, add gunpowder to the barrel, fill it with steel balls or iron blocks, etc., and place a powder wire at the small hole. When used, the gunpowder line is ignited, and the gunpowder is ignited to fire the projectile. The three guns can be fired in turns.
How to use and how to train
When standing and shooting the three-eyed gun, put the wooden handle under the armpit of the left arm, hold the gun in the left hand, look slightly down at the tail of the gun to the mouth of the gun, and take the fire rope in the right hand to light the medicine line on the fire door. The three-eyed gun is to select the strong and powerful person, five horses in a row during the battle, shoot with a bow and arrow when charging, and suddenly turn around when the enemy is about to make contact, put the bow and arrow into the pocket, take out the three-eyed gun and put it under the armpit and turn around to shoot, with the intention of surprise. As a firearm, the three-eyed gun naturally has to shoot long-range targets, and its training method is recorded in detail in the book "Kaiyuan Diagram" in the Ming Dynasty. According to what is said in the book, the three-eyed gun should be trained and put first, so as to prevent the hands from panicking when facing war, the charge is not fine, and the loading is not even. Due to the problems of accuracy, power and continuous firepower, in order to ensure that the enemy has greater lethality, the early firearms can only form a battle array of several rows, and within dozens of steps, a row of firecrackers will be released together to ensure a high hit rate, and then the front row and the rear row of firearms will replace the charge and release the guns, so as to shoot continuously and give full play to the maximum power of the early firearms.
Therefore, the Ming army emphasized that "the critical point is put in order, the rear is replaced quickly, the pretending is not mistaken, the fight is not mistaken, and the Xi is more familiar, like the rain is endless, and the law is obtained." During training, the Three-Eyed Gunners are formed into a team and are commanded by the captain. When the captain sounds, the first row of soldiers shoots one of the three eyes, and the second one fires, and so on. The soldiers in the first row retreated to charge after the three-eyed shot, and the soldiers in the second row listened to the captain's command to release the charge according to the previous method, and the soldiers in the first row also finished charging after the fight, and so on.
In addition, the Ming army also had shooting training. Kaiyuan Ming army chose a solid and thick earthen wall, and drew a horizontal line with quicklime at the same height as the wall and people's chests, which was about 32 centimeters long, and then the soldiers stood 80 steps (about 120 meters) away from the wall and shot at the earthen wall.
*: Projectile of the firebolt. **The size of the ** is made according to the caliber of the firebolt, so the size varies. In addition to **, the firebolt can also fire projectiles such as stone bullets, iron bullets, and copper bullets. To use it, you need to manually fill the gunpowder and projectile into the gunpowder, and then ignite the gunpowder line to fire the projectile.
Extended reading: Liu Tianhe
Liu Tianhe, whose name is Yanghe, was a native of Macheng County, Huangzhou, Huguang, a jinshi in the third year of Zhengde (1508), and in the fifteenth year of Jiajing (1536), he served as the left attendant of the military department and the right deputy imperial envoy of the Imperial Inspectorate of the Imperial Court of Shaanxi Province. During his tenure, he purchased a chariot battalion and manufactured chariots, firearms, and bows.
Lei Li of the Ming Dynasty wrote "The Chronicles of the Qing Dynasty Volume 126 Liu Tianhe" also made a detailed record of Liu Tianhe and the light car he manufactured: "The light car is also systematic, its wheels are only, its feet are four, and its front two feet are suspended and standing;The front beast face card one, for the hole four, in order to secure all firearms;It is next to the left and right of the card, the skirt has a pivot, and the battle is turned forward to cover the arrow;Clamp wheel box two, wheel rear box one, carry combat equipment three;Between the cards build axes, guns, knives, and hooks to the soldiers;Da Yuan two, push it to one person in the rear, set up a horizontal wood in front, two people with wings, a total of ten people in front of the puller, and the wheel pusher, all of whom are ...... warriorsLight vehicle warfare with a Franc machine, a seven-eyed gun, a three-eyed gun, a whirlwind cannon, and a magic arrow.
Three. 10. Crossbow two. ”