Why did the Ming Dynasty maharaja factory suddenly explode?

Experts have different opinions on the causes of this disaster, including "gunpowder explosion", "earthquake", "meteorite fall" and "hurricane disaster". Each statement has its own basis, but it can't fully explain all the strange scenes.

Earthquake disaster theory

According to historical records, there were 100 earthquakes in the Ming Dynasty alone. Officials didn't make it clear that the disaster was caused by an earthquake. Before and after the disaster, there were many signs such as "great earthquake", "temple earthquake", "shocking the world", "earthquake with benefits" and "after the earthquake", but the buildings near the earthquake center, such as Xinyang Temple and Cheng 'en Temple, were not damaged too much, which is unprecedented in the world. Moreover, mushroom-shaped smoke clouds are not the phenomenon of earthquakes; Another example is the phenomenon of "men and women are naked", "naked" and "clothes", which is not the result of the earthquake; As for the huge shock wave produced in the disaster, there are few precedents in the history of earthquakes.

So whether there is an earthquake is still controversial. First of all, it lacks the support of Ming history. On the sixth day of May in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, if there is an earthquake in Beijing, Qin and the observatory inside and outside must report it, otherwise they will bear the crime of harboring, and there is no record of the earthquake in the official documents. Second, there is a lack of conclusive evidence. "The giant vocal cords slightly shook the ground", and it is really inappropriate to use "Jimen earthquake" to prove the Beijing earthquake. Imagine that even the "Jimen" earthquake hundreds of miles away has a history, and it is even more impossible for such a big "earthquake" in the capital not to leave a record.

Meteorite disaster theory

In the literature, records such as "but there is a big light in the sky" and "smoke blocks the air and the sky is dark" are very consistent with the situation when the meteorite falls, which has been scientifically confirmed today. Moreover, when the meteorite falls to the ground, it will make a huge vibration and sound, which is consistent with the recorded "sound like a roar". But the "meteorite theory" is difficult to explain what happened before the explosion, and why the big stone lion weighing several tons was thrown several miles away. For such an important event as meteorite falling, in China, which has always attached importance to astronomical observation, there are special astronomical water conservancy observation records, but nothing is seen, so it is difficult to explain.

Tornado disaster theory

Tornado is a small-scale strong cyclone with short life, belonging to a small-scale convective weather system. Therefore, the occurrence of tornadoes must meet the conditions of convective weather. Tornadoes are so destructive that everywhere they go, trees, houses and crops may be swept away and torn to pieces. However, after the earthquake, someone came to Beijing to report that a large number of clothes were shipped from Xishan and hung on the treetops, fluttering with the wind. There are piles of clothes in Changping state teaching ground, and money is everywhere for utensils and jewelry. Selective transfer of goods, no one felt the existence of the wind, indicating that there was no tornado or hurricane.

Theory of gunpowder combustion and explosion

For this catastrophe, most local chronicles and history books in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties think that the cause is "the disaster of the royal factory", which means the explosion of the royal army's powder magazine. The maharaja factory once made gunpowder in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. China is the inventor of gunpowder and thermal weapons in the world, and also the first country to use thermal weapons. In early ancient times, gunpowder was released as a signal of rank. In addition, the Ming Dynasty is an important development period in the history of science and technology in China, and military technology has been greatly developed without exception. According to reliable data, gunpowder and hot weapons were widely used by the Ming army. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, as many as 60% of the troops used firearms. In addition, 40% are cavalry and 20% are infantry, and some of them also use firearms. So it can be seen that the maharaja factory does have a certain amount of arms reserves. There are barracks, armories, armories and soldiers stationed near the princes' factory, but its scale is not as large as that of modern China's armories. Even though there were piles of gunpowder in the munitions warehouse, the power of black gunpowder was relatively small at that time, so some people speculated that even if all the fires were set, it would only burn the arsenal and the surrounding houses to the ground, and tens of thousands of people would never be killed or injured. In particular, the eunuch in Li Si at that time was foolish and made it clear that the "Maharaja Factory" was the logistics department of the Royal Army responsible for the construction. It is true that there is money, food and horses, and it is not excluded that there is a warehouse to store gunpowder. Therefore, it is wrong to push the capital disaster to the explosion of the maharaja factory. Of course, the maharaja factory is also within the explosion range. People who live nearby say that iron ore is scattered in the Wanggong factory, but this is the inevitable result of the shock wave destroying the small powder storage room after the "mushroom" cloud and "Ganoderma lucidum" cloud landed, and it is by no means a disaster caused by the fire in the Wanggong factory. Moreover, history books and local chronicles have truthfully recorded that the disaster "did not burn an inch of firewood" and "did not burn the Liao Dynasty". Therefore, some people think that Wang Gongchang is the victim of this disaster, not the culprit at all.