In a previous post I said that due to the Ming founder's "principled
Luddism" there was "no longer any gunpowder artillery in China." This is
incorrect. There was no longer any *cast* gunpowder artillery in China.
What was in favour was *wrought*, ie, *forged* artillery, which was
cheaper. This represents a big difference in safety and development
potential. A seamed metal barrel will burst after a few shots, so it
is not wise to use it in combat without anticipating losing a substantial
number of personnel. Certainly, it should never be used on ships.
For extra mobility, also cheapness, a wooden tube was used. The
"supernatural function cannon" which the third Ming emperor, Yongle (1402-
1424), mentioned as having used on a campaign in Mongolia in 1414 were
probably of this kind. "Supernatural function" alludes to the Daoist
origins of gunpowder, an interesting story.
Admiral Zheng He's Treasure Fleet was seawhorthy only because the
Treasure Fleet was an entirely eunuch enterprise, from Admiral Zheng He
himself on down. Anything done by the Ming state which was not explicitly
authorized by statute law (which regulated the Outer Court, the civil
service) had to be done via an Inner Court agency, ie, the eunuchs, who
were the Emperor's personal slaves. (Tsai, The Eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty,
SUNY, 1996) What the eunuchs did or were in charge of was adequately funded,
from Palace slush funds. To the Officials in the Civil Service, it would
seem, for ideological reasons, that the funding was lavish or wasteful,
with the eunuchs self-evidently swimming in a sea of corruption. By the
same token, anything done by the Civil Service was funded on a shoestring,
and anything it produced was by the cheapest methods and of low quality.
It followed that the ships built by the Officials were so flimsy that
sailors exchanged Final Farewells with their wives and children before
embarking.
Daniel A. Foss