Around here Roman or Greek gunpowder threads are an irregular but popular subject. But what if the nation that invented black powder had managed to do so several centuries earlier? Specifically, I was thinking during the 3rd or 4th centuries after the collapse of the Han, the warring kingdoms, and the rise of the Jin dynasty. I chose this era because it's after Chinese connections to the outside world along the silk road had begun, and the exchange of goods and ideas was established.
Could gunpowder still be carried west by trade and nomadic empires like the Gokturks and Uyghurs like it did with the Mongols IOTL? Which powers of the early middle ages would be the best suited to take advantage of this new advancement, the Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Franks? With Europe being considerably less developed than OTL would the tribes be steamrolled by their neighbors or could they adapt to the potential changes in warfare?
Could gunpowder still be carried west by trade and nomadic empires like the Gokturks and Uyghurs like it did with the Mongols IOTL? Which powers of the early middle ages would be the best suited to take advantage of this new advancement, the Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Franks? With Europe being considerably less developed than OTL would the tribes be steamrolled by their neighbors or could they adapt to the potential changes in warfare?