Wubei Zhi (Vol. 53)

Wubei Zhi, Volume 122

Military Supplies: Fire

Illustrations and Descriptions of Firearms, Part 2

[The large lead ball] can reach five or six hundred paces, while the small lead pellets original: "xiao qianzi" can strike targets at three or four hundred paces. Upon exiting the muzzle, the pellets can spread to a width of twenty or thirty paces. Once one man finishes firing, he is replaced by another. For every mounting staff the monopod support described on the previous page, there are four cannons; these are known as Cycle Cannons Xunhuan Pao: literally "Circulating Cannons," referring to the rotating fire of the crew.

Within each "Three Thousand Camp" Sanqian Ying: one of the three elite strategic divisions of the Ming dynasty imperial army, primarily composed of cavalry, thirty mounting staffs are deployed on each of the four sides, totaling one hundred twenty cannons. In every gap between them, three "Three-Eyed Guns" Sanyan Qiang: a distinctive Ming firearm with three barrels fused together are added. By this method, victory is always achieved.

It is also said that the reason this cannon is named "Cycle" is that each station consists of five men: four to carry the cannons original: "qing pao" and one to manage the mounting staff. Once one cannon has been fired, another is immediately fired in its place, beginning again as soon as the sequence ends, like a ring without a seam original: "zhou er fu shi, ru huan wu duan"; hence the name Cycle Cannon.

Now, while the weapon possesses a front sight and a rear sight, one need not worry about inaccuracy. However, because the cannon's power is so great and its discharge so forceful, if there is no way to restrain it, the muzzle will inevitably jump upward and the tail will recoil. This causes the shot to fly either too high or too low, preventing it from striking the target with precision.

This cannon uses a wooden clamping-stock; the bearer clamps it under their right arm, so that it does not [recoil] backward...