At that time, the sharp weapon of the maritime war in the Ming Dynasty was enough to dominate the world.

Ancient history, when the weapons of war at sea in Ming Dynasty were enough to dominate the world.

Explosive weapons.

It is produced on the basis of continuous improvement of gunpowder. The projectile developed from paper projectile and ceramic projectile to iron projectile. The scope of use has developed from the ground to underground or underwater. The explosive firearms used in water combat in Ming Dynasty mainly included fire tubes, mines, mother boats, joint boats, water crows and so on.

According to the record of "Wu Bei Zhi", the method of making and using the fire tube is roughly as follows: using 1 barrel, containing 5 kilograms of coarse and slow gunpowder and covering it with a thin layer of sand. When in use, take two or three pieces of charcoal without fireworks and put them in a rough bowl, then cover them with thin ash. Lay it flat on the sand in the bucket, gently cover the bucket lid and fix it with bolts. After installation, "lift your hands horizontally, don't use force, and gently put down the boat". This kind of delay point powder cartridge has no medicine line. As long as you hit an enemy ship and knock over the charcoal in the bowl, you can detonate it so that the enemy can't throw it back.

The mines created in the Ming Dynasty include underwater mines, underwater dragon king cannons, river dragons and underwater thunder.

(1) Underwater mine. According to "On the Martial Arts" edited by Tang Jingchuan in the 28th year of Jiajing (1549), "Underwater thunder is a general (referring to a kind of artillery), with big wood as a box, stuck with putty, and the fire stays in the house. The rope was used to trip it, and three iron anchors were used to drop it, lying in ambush in various ports. When the thief boat approaches, it will move its machine. This is a manually operated mine.

(2) Underwater Dragon King Gun. According to Wu Beizhi, these mines are made of wrought iron, each weighing four to five kilograms and containing five liters to a barrel of explosives. Cary lit a fire at the head of the muzzle, and the length of the incense head depended on the distance of the bombarded enemy ship. After the incense is lit, put the cannon into a bag made of beef brisket, seal it, put it on a board, and throw it into the water with stones. There are sheep intestines in the bag that lead out of the water and put them on a floating raft made of goose feathers to let the air circulate. When night fell down the river and approached the enemy ship, the incense burned and caused an explosion. This kind of mine is similar to the modern drift mine.

(3) mixed dragon generals. The structure and shape are basically the same as those of the underwater dragon king gun, except that the rope is used to pull the fire instead of incense. According to the Song Dynasty's Heavenly Creations, this mine "has an indicator machine on the shore, with a flint and a sickle hanging in the bag, which moves spontaneously". This is a kind of mine detonated by shore control.

(4) Underwater thunder. Of the three kinds of mines mentioned above, two are guided by manual operation on shore, which are easy to expose targets and are not suitable for laying in wide waters. One is to start a fire with incense, which can only attack the parked target. The use of tactics has great limitations. In the seventeenth year of Wanli (1599), Wang used the principle of contact fuse to make underwater mines. This kind of mine is laid at the bottom of the water, and a trip rope is drawn from the mine to make it float horizontally on the water. When the enemy ship caught the tripwire, it lit the fuse, causing the mine to explode.

"Wu Beizhi" recorded the mother-child ship.

"Three feet five long, the first two feet like a boat, after five feet only on both sides, empty stomach. There is a boat hidden behind, connected to a place, and there is also a cover plate "Tibetans." The cabin of the mother ship is full of gunpowder and arson equipment, and the bow is nailed with inverted whiskers. When picking up the enemy, they hit the enemy ship through the wind and waves, and the bow was nailed to the enemy ship, "making the mother ship angry and burning with the enemy", and the crew returned by boat. According to Wu Beizhi, the captain is about four meters. It looks like a complete ship from the outside, but it is actually divided into two sections, one third in the first half and two thirds in the second half. Two iron rings are fixed on both sides of the front section, and two iron hooks are hooked on both sides of the back section. The first half is equipped with explosives such as artillery, sacred smoke, sacred sand and poisonous fire. There must be some big nails nailed to the bow. The second half is fully equipped with paddles and rudders and carries soldiers. During the attack, the enemy ships collided with the wind, but they had to be nailed to the enemy ship and the explosives exploded. The second half was taken off by the soldiers and sent back.

Shuilaoya Ming was orthodox for seven years (15 12).

The navy led by Liu Qi, the leader of the peasant uprising, and the navy of the Ming Dynasty fought a water war on the Langshan River in Nantong, Jiangsu. In the water war, the Ming navy used the "water crow". In the Ming Dynasty, Jiumin (Yuan Gonggui), who suffered from the mountain, edited it, and Liu Shu layman revised Volume XIII, which recorded the structure and release method of the "water crow". The gun contained medicine and fire, and it was made in water. There are also productions, which are shaped like a bird's beak, held in the water, and drilled with the bird's beak to make it run, climb over and sink. Just try it. It was destroyed. Thieves (pretending to be insurgents) are terrible, saying that Jiangnan soldiers can break ships in the water and are magic soldiers. "Visible" water crow "is a kind of gun launched in the water, driven by its own power device. After reaching the target, the beak began to run, drilled a big hole in the hull and sank. This kind of "water crow" is a bit like a modern torpedo, but it can't sink the enemy ship, but it can only be sunk.

According to incomplete statistics, there were more than 40 kinds of chemical weapons in the Ming Dynasty.

Among them are smoke bombs and ash cans used in military vehicles, which are filled with gunpowder, lime, smoke generating agents and even various toxic substances, wrapped in paper or packed in cans and thrown into enemy ships with the wind. Or put all kinds of chemical warfare agents into the nozzle for spraying, so as to achieve the purpose of blinding, poisoning the enemy and covering one's own attack or retreat.

In addition to a large number of firearms, warships of the Ming Dynasty also had a considerable number of cold weapons to carry out side battles and jump-and-help hand-to-hand combat. Some of these cold weapons are universal on land and water, and some are special for the water army.

The cold weapons of the water army recorded in Wu Beizhi are as follows.

Made of bamboo pole with a length of 1.5 feet and a machete. "Bamboo is long and light with a curved blade." It is used to hook enemy ships and cut their dazzling ropes. The hook is made of a wooden pole 15 feet long and an iron hook with three hooks. It is required to be rough and strong, and a dozen people pull it without bending. "The purpose of the hook is to hook their ships, so that they can't move forward, hook the dazzling on their ships, lead them to fall off, plow and sink their ships, and get a head. This plow dart is made of iron, 7 feet long, with a head diameter of 2 minutes and a tail diameter of 2 pounds. It is used to throw enemy ships in the barrels or stern of warships from top to bottom. " The boat in the middle will be pierced and the man in the middle will be broken. "Hope can only accommodate two people, and it doesn't carry many darts, generally only enough to throw three or five times. The small dart head is made of iron, with a length of 5 inches and a rod length of 7. It is made of bamboo, even without bamboo. This kind of dart is suitable for commanding at a distance of ten or twenty feet. " If you throw it like rain, you will be caught by a thief's net. This is the patron saint of warships without female walls. The net is composed of thin layers and hung on the outside to prevent the enemy from jumping. If it is dozens of layers thick, it can also prevent the gun from hitting the spear.