Historically, the Ming People of China called Portugal and Spain Franco.
On March 21, the second year of Jiajing (1523), a fierce battle broke out between the Ming Army and the Portuguese battleships in Xicaowan, Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong province. The Ming army finally captured 42 people including Beidulu and Shushili, 35 of them were beheaded, and 2 battleships were captured, which is known as the “Battle of Xicaowan” in history. It was a small naval battle and the Ming army gained a lot. On the captured Portuguese battleship, “the gun yue Frang machine”, thus opened the Prelude of the Ming Dynasty firepower Great Leap forward.
After the Ming Dynasty acquired The Flang cannon, it began to copy and improve, and successively developed naval guns, city defense guns, chariot guns, field guns, infantry guns, cavalry guns and other guns of various sizes and types, totaling more than 30,000 guns. At the end of Jiajing, The Flang cannon had become one of the main equipment of Ming Army.
At the end of Ming Dynasty, the ratio of cold and hot weapons in Ming army reached 3:1. With this equipment, the imperial court reformed the army. The Ming army was upgraded to a new type of army with mixed cold and hot weapons. The artillery defense system was established along the Great Wall, and at the same time, the army’s firing training and tactical coordination were strengthened. The appearance and popularity of The Flang machine gun changed the equipment appearance of the Ming Army and improved the manufacturing level of firearms at that time. The Ming Dynasty and the western countries stood on the same starting line.*
