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The Wujing Zongyao, a military compendium compiled for the Song court by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du and others and completed in 1044, records the first true gunpowder formula and how to make it in quantity, with fire arrows and bombs. Chinese alchemists had made gunpowder from about the 9th century, and it was first used in war as an incendiary.
The mechanism
A TECHNOLOGY THAT TURNS THE BOARD
How it was checked
- EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
- Letter eraTHE CAPTURE 313 to 1302
- SourcesRECORD — Columbia University, Asia for Educators, 'Gunpowder' (Song dynasty module); Britannica, 'gunpowder'; Francis Bacon, Novum Organum I.129 (1620), Project Gutenberg · checked 19 September: Columbia University, Asia for Educators, 'Gunpowder' (the row's source); Wikipedia, 'Wujing Zongyao' (compilers; 1040-44); Wikipedia, 'History of gunpowder' (Zhenyuan miaodao yaolue, mid-9th c.; 904; 1073 decree); Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'gunpowder'