Firearms corps (Shenjiying, Divine Engine Battalion)
Cuerpo de armas de fuego (Shenjiying, Batallón de la Máquina Divina)
- Date
- c. 1410 · confidence medium
- Place
- Beijing, China
- Credited to
- Yongle Emperor (Ming dynasty)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A Ming army unit devoted to firearms (cannon, handguns and rockets) and their training, created by the Yongle Emperor after the Annam campaigns, where he encountered Vietnamese gunpowder artillery. It is one of the world's first permanent firearms corps.
The date (c. 1410) and the Vietnamese influence come from the Ming Shilu and Needham and are debated; some histories place the formal organisation around 1414.
What it led to
- the spread of gunpowder weapons in the Ming army
- military treatises on cannon of various calibres
- the spread of firearms to Korea and Japan