In 1840, the first Opium War broke out, when the British army was generally equipped with foreign guns and cannons, the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were mostly spears and knives, which were naturally inferior to the British army, so they were opened to the country. Since then, the Qing Dynasty has realized the gap between domestic weapons and equipment and the West, and has used the Western faction to promote the Western affairs movement, but it is still unable to catch up with the West.
The most important reason for the development of the West is the first industrial revolution that began in the middle of the 18th century, and the industrial revolution of the past hundred years allowed the West to enter the industrial civilization of large-scale machine production, and formed a nearly crushing situation for the Qing Dynasty, which was still in an agricultural civilization at that time.
But as early as 100 years ago, the Qing Dynasty already had an opportunity to greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the army. And the key person targeted by this opportunity is his name is Dai Zi.
Liberal arts and sciences all-rounder
Dai Zi was born in 1649, when the Qing army had already entered the customs and was only waiting to sweep away the southern forces. Dai Zi was born in an official family in the north, received a good education from an early age, was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and could write poetry and paint. At the age of eleven, he already had great ambitions and had a poem" that read, "There is no way to retreat from hunger and cold."
Moreover, he also has no books and no books, especially likes the art of war, loves to make upside down machinery since he was a child, and is especially talented in firearms and cannons.
Later, after three rebellions, in 1674, Geng Jingzhong of Fujian province responded to the rebellion, and the Kangxi Emperor sent Jie Shu, the Prince of Kang, to suppress it. Dai Zi also entered the army at this time, and was deeply appreciated by Prince Kang. Dai Zi presented Prince Kang with the "Lianzhu Fire Hammer" he had developed, leaving Prince Kang's army invincible on the battlefield.
In 1680, the Sanpan Rebellion was basically quelled, and Dai Zi returned to Beijing with Prince Kang. Kangxi gave Dai Zi a clerical position and asked him to compile the "Law of Justice" in the South Study, although he was also a high official, but obviously could not make Dai Zi's talent in firearms research and development come into play.
Ordnance Wizards
In 1686, the Dutch envoy, who was the boss of the West at the time and also the hegemon of the Western sea, presented the "cockroach shotgun" to the Qing Dynasty, Dai Zi heard the rumors, asked for orders to imitate, and it did not take long to imitate more than 10, and returned the gift to the Dutch emissaries. In addition, the Dutch emissaries also presented a "Flang machine", that is, a special cannon, and Dai Zi copied it in only 5 days.
But Dai Zi is not only capable of imitating firearms, in fact, his research and development ability is also very strong. In his youth, Dai Zi had already developed a variety of firearms, and all the history books had relevant records, but unfortunately, without design drawings, posterity could not study them.
In addition, in 1687, he also independently created the "Cupola Cannon", also known as the "Mother Cannon", from design to manufacture in only 8 days, which made countless people at that time ashamed. The so-called "mother-daughter cannon" is that when the outer mother body explodes, the internal sub-cannon will be driven by the force of the explosion to burst out in all directions and form a secondary explosion, compared with the one-shot and one-cannon also used in the West at that time, the power has increased by an unknown amount.
Kangxi was overjoyed to learn of this cannon and named it "Great General Weiyuan". Whether it was the previous "Lianzhu Fire Hammer" developed by Dai Zi or the later "Great General Weiyuan", it was one of the most advanced firearms in the world at that time. If Dai Zi continues to develop and the Qing Dynasty achieves mass production, then the Qing Dynasty will be invincible.
Heaven forbid
Dai Zi was talented, and his ordnance research and development ability was unmatched, and he became a red man in the DPRK for a time. However, Dai Zi was a man of integrity and righteousness, and from an early age he vowed to punish adultery and eliminate evil as a counselor, so he offended many people.
And the Belgian missionary Nan Huairen was quite important in the Qing court at that time, it was he who first showed off to Kangxi that the so-called "mother-son cannon" could only be built by the Belgians, and as a result, for more than a year, the Belgians did not create the "mother-son cannon", but Dai Zi only took 8 days to develop it, so that Nan Huairen lost all his face in front of Kangxi, and since then Nan Huairen has a grudge in his heart and gives Dai Zi a tripwire everywhere.
As a result, Nan Huairen designed to frame Dai Zi and whispered in Kangxi's ear that Dai Zi had colluded with Dongyang and had betrayed the official Andyo, corrupt and perverted the law. Nan Huairen had already made preparations and fabricated many evidences of Dai Zi's crimes, causing Kangxi to believe that it was true, and in a fit of rage, he sent Dai Zi to the frontier.
Dai Zi has since been displaced and has no place to live. In the cold Shengjing, Dai Zi can only "embrace the defeat of the cold kang" to sleep, during the day can only "step into the ice into the mountains to pick hazelnuts" to fill the hunger, in order to survive, Dai Zi has spent all his strength, there is no opportunity to develop firearms.
By 1726, Dai Zi had died with regret, and the first half of his life was legendary, but he never came into contact with firearms in the second half of his life. The level of firearms and weapons and equipment of the Qing Dynasty was never updated.
With Dai Zi's talents, if he could touch firearms in the second half of his life, the weapons of the Qing Dynasty would certainly be able to lead the world. At that time, Mo said that in 1840, a British army would invade in 1900, and the Qing Dynasty would not be so passive.