How did Zhu Yuanzhang realize that he attached great importance to the production of military weapons

Today, the History Encyclopedia editor brings you the story of Zhu Yuanzhang. Interested readers can follow the editor to take a look together.
Huotong is a shooting type tubular firearm. Burning and explosive simple firearms were already used in military operations around the late Tang Dynasty. From the mid Southern period to the Yuan Dynasty, firearms were repeatedly used in wars, and the Huotong, which resembled small cannons, also emerged in response. Up to now, the earliest known Tongda Tong in the world, unearthed from the the Site of the Yuan Dynasty Shangdu Capital in Zhenglan Banner, Lingol League, Inner Mongolia, was used by Zhu Yuanzhang in the Duyang Lake water battle in the second year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty (1298)
.
The so-called “bowl mouth mirror”, as the name suggests, is a type of fire system with a muzzle resembling a bowl mouth. It has a short barrel, slow firing rate, and short range. Due to the lack of aiming devices, its hit rate cannot be compared to later firearms. But in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, the bowl mouth was a powerful weapon for the navy to defeat the enemy. After the death of Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang swiftly defeated the warlords and officially declared himself emperor in 1368, establishing the Ming Dynasty with the founding of Hongwu. The Chinese People’s Revolutionary Military Museum houses a copper large bowl gun cast in the fifth year of Hongwu (1372), with a caliber of three inches and four quarters, a length of one foot and one inch, and a weight of 63 pounds. According to the inscription on the gun “Left Guard of the Water Army, with the character number 42”, it can be inferred that this item was once used for water warfare. According to the official revised code of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Huidian, before Hongzhi (1488-1505), the Ming government’s Military Equipment Bureau had to produce 3000 of these large bowl shaped guns every three years.
The Military Equipment Bureau was a specialized institution established in the 13th year of the Hongwu reign (1380) to produce cold and hot weapons. In the same year, the court made new regulations on the issue of military equipment. The “Annals of Ming Taizu” records: “For every 100 households of soldiers, there were ten guns, twenty knives, thirty bows and arrows, and forty guns.” It can be seen that at that time, soldiers were still mainly equipped with cold weapons, but firearms had already ended the stage of using temporary equipment sporadically in the army and officially became the standardized standard equipment of the Ming army. This is the first significant measure of epoch-making significance in the history of firearms in the Ming Dynasty.
In the era of imperial rule, the rise and fall of a country’s technology, military, and culture were largely influenced by the cognition of its highest ruler. Since the day he conquered the country, Zhu Yuanzhang had already put the manufacture of firearms on the agenda, from the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household, to various local bureaus and garrisons. There were weapon manufacturing units under his jurisdiction, and the policies on the service and living conditions of craftsmen were deliberately improved to attract professional talents. Among the many weapons, firearms are given the highest priority. In order to ensure the required gunpowder, the court established a gunpowder manufacturing bureau under the supervision of the Imperial Household Department and the Military Bureau, and local gunpowder workshops were also established. Firearms are engraved with information such as the weapon name, serial number, casting time and institution, supervisor, and maker’s name. Once there is a problem in the future, accountability can be pursued based on the inscription. Conversely, if they play an important role in combat, the maker will also be rewarded for their achievements.
In theory, Zhu Yuanzhang suffered from hunger in his early years and had a low level of education. Why did he have such foresight and insight in the construction of military handicrafts?
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, various warlords emerged, with Chen Youliang, Zhu Neng Yuanzhang, and Zhang Shicheng being the most powerful. Although the banner of the uprising was to resist the Baoyuan, the battle for supremacy among the southern warlords was even more intense. The “Bao Yue Lu” written by Xu Mianzhi, a native of the Yuan Dynasty, recorded a firearms battle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng: in 1359, Zhu Yuanzhang’s general Hu Dahai led his troops to attack Shaoxing City, which belonged to Zhang Shicheng’s power. On February 8th, Hu Dahai’s army approached the outskirts of Shaoxing city. General Lv Zhen saw that Hu’s troops had not yet stabilized their position and immediately ordered the defending soldiers to attack their vanguard with fire guns and artillery. Hu Dahai’s troops attacked the city under artillery fire, resulting in numerous casualties. On March 20th, a unit of the defending army launched an attack from the city, and the Hu tribe was about to confront them when they were suddenly fired upon by the enemy, causing chaos in their formation and forcing them to retreat in frustration. Afterwards, Hu soldiers launched multiple attacks but were repelled by the defending army with firearms, especially in the area around Chunbo Bridge where the fighting was most brutal. According to reports, the Hu tribe that invaded this area was completely annihilated by the defending army. Hu Dahai finally realized the importance of firearms. On May 14th, when launching the general attack, he retaliated by ordering soldiers to use catapults and other weapons as a starting point, and then concentrated firearms such as fire guns, rockets, and stone cannons to launch into the city. The defending army suffered heavy casualties under the relentless bombardment of the Hu tribe. Hu Dahai took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack and captured Shaoxing City in one fell swoop. From then on, concentrating superior firearms to attack enemies became a common tactic of Zhu Yuanzhang. After several fierce battles, he repeatedly relied on firearms and artillery to win victories. Once he achieved success, he naturally continued to carry forward this fine tradition.
In addition, there was an objective reason why firearms could be produced in the Ming Dynasty – the lack of horses. Taking the 13th year of the Hongwu reign (1390) as an example, according to Ming history, there were a total of 1204923 officers and soldiers in the country at that time, but only 45080 horses were capable of fighting. When the Ming army clashed with the Mongol cavalry of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, it was inevitable that infantry would face off against cavalry. Firearms were the only effective weapon against cavalry attacks at that time.