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

"My humble position is acceptable. The commander-in-chief has won Guan Ningjin's heart and made a great contribution." Lu Xiangsheng bowed with a smile.

Although Lu Xiangsheng had been training troops in various towns in Shanxi, he had actually been keeping a close eye on the situation in the Ming Dynasty.

When the news of the Jimao Rebellion reached here, although Lu Xiangsheng felt that the corrupt court should have been rectified long ago, he was still worried for a long time about Zhang Shikang's behavior of overturning the table.

Fortunately, God blessed the Ming Dynasty and there was not much unrest in the capital. We thought we could have peace for a few days, but Zhang Shikang unexpectedly used another big move.

He even expanded the trend of rectifying the court to the entire Ming Dynasty, and even the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River launched a riot.

At that time, Lu Xiangsheng predicted that this was a gamble, a quick and decisive gamble on the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

During the one-year-long rebellion and reform, Lu Xiangsheng never dared to let his guard down. He was on guard against enemies from the north while continuing to pay attention to the situation in the south of the Yangtze River.

Fortunately, the result was very good. Lu Xiangsheng believed that the current emperor must have gambled, but the Ming Dynasty won the gamble.

From then on, the country was no longer shackled by the bureaucratic gentry, the court was cleared up, and the Ming Dynasty no longer had to worry about financial shortages. The situation was very good.

He also saw the imperial edict issued by the court at the beginning of the year to continue deepening the reform.

He was a Jinshi (a scholar by birth) and had worked at the grassroots level for many years. He believed that the reforms were truly aimed at reducing the burden on the people.

The Ming Dynasty had accumulated many problems, and Lu Xiangsheng had never dared to dream of such a drastic reform.

Zhang Shikang was more capable than he had imagined. After finishing his court affairs, he immediately ran to the border military town to patrol the border without his reminder.

There was varying degrees of warlordism at each border, and Guanningjin was the most serious of the dozen or so military towns on the border. It took Zhang Shikang less than a month to peacefully dismiss all of the Zu family.

The Zu family had such an intricate network of relationships in Guan Ningjin that even the late Governor Yuan would have been helpless if he came. But Zhang Shikang did it. It is said that the Zu family was grateful when they returned to Beijing.

"What's the point of having made any merit? I just wanted to lie in the Duke's Mansion and bask in the sun, but I never thought that I would end up being a firefighter day after day!" Zhang Shikang said helplessly.

His father had already lived the life he wanted, basking in the sun and taking a walk every day, having food and clothes provided, and waiting for the spring thaw to go fishing and cultivate his sentiments...

After two years of hard work, the days of setting up a stall... seemed to be getting further and further away from him.

Who can I talk to to reason with you?

"The Marshal has just come of age, and has already reached the highest position among officials. Your Majesty has given him the courtesy name Wuji, which is very appropriate.

As the saying goes, those who are capable should do more work. The Marshal's contribution will surpass all others. Not only is Your Majesty grateful to the Marshal, but the people of the world will also never forget the Marshal's kindness!"

Lu Xiangsheng praised very respectfully.

Lu Xiangsheng was not only outstanding in literary talent and martial arts, but also in military talent. Zhang Shikang always regarded him as the backbone of the Ming army.

This is different from the fawning and flattery that we see most often in daily life. It's like your idol suddenly flatters you in front of you.

Being praised by such an awesome person, Zhang Shikang must have been very happy in his heart even though he didn't show it on his face.

But his face was calm and indifferent, and he waved his hands repeatedly and said:

"No, no, it's just a small effort, not worth a sneer, not worth a sneer."

"Governor Lu, how is the training of the Tianxiong Army going?" Zhang Shikang asked casually as the two men walked towards the government office in Xuanfu City.

"Reporting to the commander, the 40,000 Tianxiong troops have been training for more than a year. They have also completed their transformation after fighting against the Jianlu last year. I think they are ready now.

It's just that the Marshal said before that we should train more firearms troops. Among the 40,000 Tianxiong troops, there are 20,000 firearms troops. But now there is a serious shortage of firearms, so I can only train like ordinary troops."

"It's okay, take your time, it will come sooner or later." Zhang Shikang comforted.

The Ministry of Industry's musket and artillery workshops were inefficient and could only produce more than 800 Rumi muskets and matchlock rifles each month. However, the performance of the Rumi gun no longer met Zhang Shikang's requirements.

The more advanced instantaneous-fire muskets were already capable of mass production, but Zhang Shikang had already made up his mind last year to separate the Ministry of Industry's research and development and production of firearms and concentrate them in the General Administration of Manufacturing to unify research and development and mass production.

However, a series of projects of the General Manufacturing Administration are still under intensive construction, and the monthly output of instantaneous muskets in the small workshop in the Xishan Camp is only more than 300.

The Ministry of Industry could only produce outdated, small-caliber imitation Franco guns. After Zhang Shikang got the 24-pound copper cannon from the small Franco, he no longer planned to produce that kind of inferior small cannon.

Therefore, compared to muskets, artillery is more scarce, especially siege artillery for field battles.

But you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Before he went out to patrol the border, he had asked Bi Maokang and Tang Ruowang to put aside other tasks and speed up the imitation of the large-caliber bronze cannon of the Little French.

It was not known whether Johann Adam Schall von Bell wanted to finish the task quickly so that he could go on to preach or whether he was really confident, but in any case he promised to make the French bronze cannon within four months.

Calculating the time, the firearms workshop that the Manufacturing Bureau gave priority to building will probably be put into use in four months.

Even if it is developed, the latest cannon casting technology needs to be taught to the cannon craftsmen transferred from the Ministry of Industry before mass production can be attempted.

Although we still have to wait, technological innovation cannot be achieved overnight.

Under the premise of insufficient firearms production capacity, the newly produced instantaneous muskets will of course have priority, and the Guards, as the central army, will definitely be given priority in allocation.

The second priority is naturally Qin Liangyu who is stationed in Chongqing Prefecture.

As the saying goes, one must first stabilize domestic turmoil before fighting foreign aggressors. Chiang Kai-shek is right.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have been jumping around for too many years, and he plans to get rid of these two warlords in the second half of the year.

Yes, ever since these two gangs of bandits were blocked in Sichuan, they have lost their roving nature and have become two solid warlords.

However, according to news from the spies of the Imperial Guard, Li Zicheng seemed to be carrying out reforms in his own territory.

In short, we should learn from him, rely on the army, and eliminate all enemies from top to bottom who are not conducive to increasing the productivity of the people.

Last year, Zhang Xianzhong attacked Qin Liangyu, but was defeated by Ma Xianglin's guerrilla warfare and failed to steal her. Before he could return to his old nest in Chengdu, his home was robbed by Li Zicheng again.

It is said that several large cities were lost. At that time, Zhang Shikang was thinking that if the two warlords had an internal fight, the imperial court could reap the benefits.

However, Li Zicheng quickly ended the confrontation and restored peace with Zhang Xianzhong.

It has to be said that Zhang Shikang had some admiration for Li Zicheng.

He was like a cockroach. No matter how many times he was defeated or crushed by the court, he could always stand up unyieldingly.

It really proves the old saying of Master Lu: What doesn't kill you will make you stronger.

We're getting off topic again.

"Hey, who's shouting in the living room?" As the two chatted, they walked outside the meeting room of the yamen. Zhang Shikang heard the people inside saying something he couldn't understand.

“Replying to the commander, they are several generals from the Shunyi King’s army of Mongolia.

They arrived a few days ago and seemed to have the intention of enhancing cooperation. I had even sent someone to deliver a letter to the Marshal to inform him of the news.

I didn't expect the Marshal to come so soon." Lu Xiangsheng replied.