Changes of ancient weapons in China

China's ancient weapons can be divided into three stages, the first is the prehistoric period, and this stage is the weapons of the Stone Age.

After the bronze smelting and casting began, the main material of the weapon began to turn into bronze. The weapons of this period are from the Bronze Age. People learned that after metal smelting, the main material of weapons used by the army at this time was changed to steel, which entered the iron age.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, gunpowder began to be used in weapons. China is the hometown of gunpowder, and China's army first used gunpowder weapons. There are three recipes in Wu Yao in the Northern Song Dynasty, namely, the fireball technique of tribulus, the fireball technique of thunderbolt and the gunpowder method. At that time, gunpowder was used to make shells fired by trebuchets. The earliest use of the trebuchet was the gun that appeared in the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Bamboo tube firearms appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. According to the stereotyped writing of guarding city, bamboo tubes are used, which are filled with gunpowder to spray fire or burn the enemy. There are shells under the spear, which can also breathe fire. At that time, it was called musket. That is to say, tubular firearms began to appear, which was the earliest firearms.

After gunpowder spread to the west, it developed greatly. So at that time, Dutch and Spanish merchant ships arrived in China, bringing advanced firearms from the west, and the Ming army began to introduce the manufacturing technology of western firearms. After the introduction of new western firearms, the history of ancient weapons in China ended.