Song–Jin Firearms and Incendiary Applications

Timeline

1. c. 1040–1100Northern Song capital · Northern SongThe Wujing Zongyao records gunpowder formulas of 'saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal' and methods for making fireballs, fire arrows, and caltrop fireballs, marking gunpowder's transition from alchemy to military use and providing a technical blueprint for Song–Jin incendiary warfare.
2. 1127–1160Lianghuai and Jingxiang battlefields · Song–Jin confrontation frontIn the Song–Jin wars, both sides widely used thunderclap fireballs, smoke balls, and fire arrows to attack and defend cities; the Jin army also copied Song-made firearms. Incendiary warfare became a standard method of siege and defense, driving improvements in explosive gunpowder formulas.
3. 1201–1210Jianghuai front · HuaidongAround the Kaixi Northern Expedition (1206), Song and Jin forces used heaven-shaking thunder, iron fireballs, and flame-spewing weapons charged in bamboo or paper tubes at Xuyi, Shouchun, and elsewhere. Mutual corroboration of texts and archaeology shows tube-shaped firearms had entered combat, with lethality markedly greater than purely incendiary weapons.
4. c. 1220–1300Cai Prefecture, Xiangyang, and other places · ChinaIn the Mongol–Jin war the Jin defended cities with 'heaven-shaking thunder,' while in the Song–Mongol war firearms technology kept iterating; bronze and iron tube-shaped firearms and the 'fire-spurting lance' appeared, completing gunpowder weapons' evolution from incendiary and explosive to metal-tube projection and paving the way for Yuan and Ming cannon.