Note: This blog post was originally part of my Breech-loading Cannons of the Ming Dynasty article. However, I decided to split (and slightly modify) this section into its own separate article for cleaner navigation, tidier organization, and easier reading and digestion.
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| Drawing of a Bai Zi Fo Lang Ji, its gun carriage, and three loading chambers. From Qing period 'Yi Hai Zhu Chen (《藝海珠塵》)'. |
The design of the wheeled gun carriage was where Zhao Shi Zhen truly demonstrated his genius. The unique gun carriage was of two-wheeled design (though the wheels were detached prior to firing), equipped with four swing-down stands, paired thills at the rear, along with two L-shaped anchoring irons at the front that anchored the carriage to the ground to counteract recoil.
In addition, Zhao Shizhen also fitted an iron bucket densely packed with cotton at the rear of the gun carriage to act as a recoil absorber, and replaced the deck planks of the gun carriage with wooden conveyor rollers, so that upon firing, the cannon slid rearward along the rollers against the bucket, compressing the cotton buffer to dampen the recoil—in essence, he had invented an early form of sliding recoil mechanism in the early 17th century.
I've said it before, I'll say it again - imagine if the Manchurians are stuck at the borderlands, even just by the limit imposed by Mao Wenlong's campaign, and Ming Empire remains for another century or so, not just China, but the entire sphere of East Asia would go to heights that will puzzle modern historians.
ReplyDeleteBut instead, best we are given with is a queue hair and severe declination.