Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Zhang Shikang brought Johann Adam Schall ...

So as soon as he returned to the capital a few years ago, he took Johann Adam Schall von Bell to the small workshop in the Xishan camp.

On the one hand, it allowed Tang Ruowang to get acquainted with Song Yingxing and others in the workshop, and on the other hand, he couldn't stand the old man's muttering.

There were quite a few missionaries who traveled across the ocean from Europe to the Ming Dynasty, and there were more than a dozen whose names were recorded in the book.

The first priority of these missionaries in coming to the Ming Dynasty was, of course, to spread religion, but it was very difficult to preach in the Ming Dynasty.

In order to please those in power, almost all of these missionaries are six-transformation warriors.

Not only did he know many foreign languages, he even knew the local dialect of the Ming Dynasty. He also studied firearms, shipbuilding, and had certain attainments in chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc.

Of course, the most devout believers will not forget their mission in this land. Whenever they have the opportunity, they will take out their Bibles and read the Lord's grace to everyone they meet.

Mao Yuanyi still had to supervise the construction site, so Zhang Shikang took his personal guards and rushed to the Xishan camp.

The Xishan Rescue Camp was next to the construction site. Zhang Shikang rode Ergou and reached the camp with just one step on the accelerator.

Although the small workshop he set up in the Xishan camp did not expand much, after more than a year of subconscious rectification, it is now of a certain scale.

Not only did he have two or three hundred craftsmen of various types, but he also had six or seven big bosses in each field, including Mao Yuanyi, Song Yingxing, Bi Maokang, Bi Maoliang, and Wang Zheng.

Bi Maokang was summoned here after Zhang Shikang went to war in April last year. The old man had previously served as an official in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty. He is seventy years old this year and has long retired and returned to his hometown.

However, after learning about Zhang Shikang's ambitions, Bi Maokang still brought his family to the capital.

Not only that, Bi Maokang also recommended Wang Zheng from Shaanxi to Zhang Shikang, who then wrote a letter to Sun Chuanting asking him to find that person.

Wang Zheng arrived in Beijing from Shaanxi last October. Of course, he is also an old man, the same age as Bi Maokang, both in their seventies.

When Zhang Shikang walked towards the small workshop in Xishan Camp, he heard the passionate voice of Johann Adam Schall von Bell from a distance:

“In me you will have peace, says the Lord. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

The Lord also said…”

"My Lord!" When Song Yingxing saw Zhang Shikang coming, he immediately stopped listening and ran towards Zhang Shikang.

During this period of time, his ears were almost callused, and every day, he kept talking about Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

He could still bear it at first, but ever since Wang Zheng came, he really couldn't stand it anymore.

Because Wang Zheng is also a follower of that Lord.

Before this, Song Yingxing was considered the oldest person in the Xishan Camp, but since the Bi Maokang brothers and Wang Zheng came here, Song Yingxing seemed to have become a young man again.

Song Yingxing ran over, and the Bi Maokang brothers also walked towards Zhang Shikang, and Johann Adam Schall von Bell lost interest in preaching.

"Pastor Tang, you are not allowed to preach in the military camp," Zhang Shikang said bluntly.

He tried his best to create the best scientific research environment for these bigwigs in science and engineering, but Johann Adam Schall von Bell's missionary activities had obviously affected the mood of the bigwigs, which was absolutely not allowed.

"My lord, I just took advantage of their free time. Okay, I get it." Tang Ruowang said with a little disappointment.

At this time, five or six soldiers led two horses and pulled over a cannon. This cannon was exactly the twenty ready-made cannons that Zhang Shikang bought from the Portuguese.

Except for one cannon that was left to the Guangzhou Cannon Foundry as a research object, the remaining 19 were transported to Tianjin by the Ming Navy.

It was only yesterday that it was transported from Tianjin Wei to Xishan Camp.

"My lord, this is the copper cannon of the French." Johann Adam Schall von Bell recognized the origin of the cannon at a glance.

Uncle Bi Maokang walked over and observed the cannon for a while, nodding from time to time.

"My lord, this should be the French 24-pound cannon. Our Ming Dynasty has fallen behind in this technology." Bi Maokang sighed.

Although Bi Maokang was already seventy years old, his work "Illustrated Explanation of Military Equipment" mainly talked about firearms, and he could be regarded as an expert on firearms in the Ming Dynasty.

Before Bi Maokang retired, he specially made Wugang Chariot, Shenfei Cannon and other weapons for Emperor Chongzhen.

However, his ideas on firearms were never taken seriously by the imperial court, even though the concept and production method of the instantaneous musket was clearly recorded in "Illustrated Explanation of Military Equipment".

Bi Maokang called the instant-fire musket the self-fire musket, but this was not taken seriously by the imperial court, and the instant-fire musket was not mass-produced until the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

This is enough to show Bi Maokang's attainments in firearms.

"Yes, doesn't that book say that one must be ashamed before one can have courage?

Mr. Bi, what I mean is that I want to use the French 24-pounder as a model to see if you can find a way to replicate it."

Zhang Shikang pointed at the cannon.

Bi Maokang did not speak directly, but touched and knocked on the cannon, studied it for a while and said:

"My Lord, the difficulty in replicating this kind of cannon lies only in the barrel. This barrel should be a mixture of copper and other metals."

"Brother Bi's guess is correct. The Francois are indeed particularly good at casting bronze cannons. We Europeans prefer to call this type of cannon cannons."

Johann Adam Schall ...

Twenty-four-pounder was the name given by Europeans. At that time, people liked to use the weight of the shells to calculate the power of artillery.

If twenty-four pounds is converted into kilograms in later times, it would be nearly eleven kilograms, which was definitely considered large caliber in that era.

"My lord, do you want to build this kind of cannon? I think I can help you." Johann Adam Schall von Bell said warmly.

Although this old man encountered many setbacks in the Ming Dynasty, it seemed that the enthusiasm in his heart would never fade, and he always had a warm look on his face.

"Mr. Bi, this task will be handed over to you and Pastor Tang." Zhang Shikang happily agreed to Tang Ruowang's request.

He hadn't even opened his mouth yet, but he had to admit that it was quite comfortable to get along with the more direct Europeans.

But Bi Maokang was obviously not very happy. He pulled Zhang Shikang aside and whispered:

"My Lord, if he doesn't recite the sutra, I can work with him to develop this kind of artillery."

Bi Maokang is already seventy years old. He has been bombarded with Johann Adam Schall von Bell's Bible every day recently, so much so that all he dreams about at night is the Lord of Schall von Bell.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell him later.

But Mr. Bi, the firearms secrets of our Ming Dynasty, remember not to give them to foreigners lightly." Zhang Shikang reminded.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was gradually falling behind in firearms, so there was no need to worry about leaks.

Although Bi Maokang was a little puzzled, he still agreed.

So Zhang Shikang left Bi Maokang and Johann Adam Schall von Bell to continue studying the cannon, while he went to another house with Song Yingxing and Wang Zheng.

"Mr. Song, how is the improved spinning machine doing now?"

……