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

Mao Yuanyi? Never heard of it.

After all, he is not a historian, and as for people with the surname Mao, Zhang Shikang only knows about Maoshan Taoist priests and Maotai.

"My cousin used to be a very powerful man. He was once the deputy general." Mao Yuantong muttered.

Zhang Shikang became a little interested after hearing this, but not much.

After all, there were a lot of generals in the Ming Dynasty, and the deputy generals were only half a level higher than the deputy generals. Any military town had a deputy general.

"He wrote a military book that explained military tactics, battle examples, and various weapons and military equipment. I think it was called 'Wu Bei Zhi'. I think he presented it to His Majesty a few years ago."

After all, Mao Yuantong didn't understand the war, so he could only give a general idea. However, when talking about this distant cousin, Mao Yuantong's face was full of admiration.

"Wubeizhi?" Zhang Shikang frowned.

The ancients mostly used classical Chinese in their writings and were very frugal with words. Sometimes one word could have several meanings. For example, the word "wubei" literally means weapons and equipment, but Mao Yuantong said it also seems to include military tactics, military strategies and battle case analysis.

This means that this book is likely to be a military work covering many aspects, which is quite interesting.

"Where is your cousin now? Has he been promoted to general?" Zhang Shikang asked casually.

But who would have thought that when Zhang Shikang asked, Mao Yuantong hesitated, and only said when he saw Zhang Shikang frowning:

"I heard from the tribe that he was punished by the imperial court for mutiny by his generals and was exiled to Fujian. It has been almost ten years. I don't even know if he is still alive."

Mao Yuantong has been working in the Ministry of Works for seven or eight years. In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has been at war everywhere, and the workshops of the Ministry of Works have been stepping up the production of weapons and equipment, so he has never had the opportunity to go back to take a look.

This was also the reason why Mao Yuantong hesitated to speak. After all, he was exiled for his crime, and even if the young admiral wanted to summon his cousin over, it would be unlikely because that was an order from the imperial court.

He didn't want to embarrass the admiral, but he did think that his cousin was very capable.

Zhang Shikang was stunned when he heard this. It turned out that this guy was not very good at being the deputy general and could not even control his subordinates.

However, the Ming Dynasty's officialdom was extremely corrupt, and only the parties involved knew the truth. Anyone who could write military works and dare to present them to the emperor must have some talent.

Zhang Shikang thought that the convoy had just left the capital, so he called over a subordinate and said:

"Go to the Duke of Ying's mansion and find my father. Ask him to come to the palace and ask His Majesty to pardon Mao Yuanyi and say that this man is useful to the Admiral."

The subordinate was about to turn around after receiving the order, but Zhang Shikang said again:

"Oh, don't forget to ask His Majesty to find that "Military History". Your Majesty can't read military books, so you can't throw it away, right?"

The first half of the sentence was addressed to the subordinate, and the second half was Zhang Shikang's muttering. The voice was not loud, but the surrounding craftsmen, including Mao Yuantong, heard it.

These craftsmen turned their heads and looked at each other with shock on their faces, especially Mao Yuantong himself.

In the minds of these lower-class people, once a person is convicted by the court, it is a done deal.

Even though the Admiral is an official, he cannot change the court or the will of His Majesty at will.

But what did their admiral say? Go to the palace and ask His Majesty to pardon you...

The words were spoken so casually, as if it was a trivial matter.

Isn't this... too exaggerated?

"Don't worry, as long as your cousin is really capable, this admiral will not treat him unfairly."

Zhang Shikang really didn't take this as a big deal. Seeing that all the craftsmen were stunned, he comforted them again:

"On behalf of my brothers, I would like to thank the Admiral!" Mao Yuantong quickly knelt down to express his gratitude.

Most of them thought that the Admiral was the son of the current Duke, so this should be the ability of the Duke.

But no matter what, they all admire this young admiral.

With Qi Dazhu’s previous words and what happened just now, everyone is full of expectations for the future.

After all, the monthly silver is a full two taels! I never dared to think about it before, but it’s more than enough for three meals a day. Now not only can I have enough food, but my wife and children at home can also live better.

"Admiral, there is also a powerful person in my hometown, but it seems that he is not good at firearms."

Looking forward to good days, and seeing that the young admiral had a good temper, another craftsman said.

"Oh, tell me about it." Zhang Shikang responded with an appreciative expression.

"My hometown is in Jiangxi, there is a man named Song Yingxing..."

Zhang Shikang was listening casually at first, but when he heard the name, his brain was like being hit by something. He knew this person!

"Did he write a book called... called The Exploitation of the Works of Nature?"

Human memory is a very strange thing. For example, when you read a book, you may forget what you read very quickly after you finish reading it, and you may even forget the name of the protagonist.

But if one day you hear someone talking about someone in this book, you can remember him/her immediately.

This is the case with Zhang Shikang now. He remembers that Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Exploitation" was mentioned in the history class in middle school, and knows that it is a scientific masterpiece that is said to be an encyclopedic work in the 17th century.

The reason why my brain was struck by lightning was that I had been here for some time and had always been thinking about making some inventions, but I hadn't even thought of such a great scientist.

It really is... so wrong.

Seeing Zhang Shikang's expression, the craftsman became uneasy and stammered:

"Your Excellency the Admiral, I have never heard of this book, but it is possible that I remembered it wrongly."

"No! You are not mistaken. You have made a contribution. I will give you an extra chicken drumstick tonight. Just say that this is what the admiral promised!"

Zhang Shikang was really happy. In a society that does not pay attention to scientific research, it is not easy to find a truly great scientist.

Song Yingxing may not know much about military affairs and firearms, but he is particularly good at agriculture and handicrafts. Most of the content in "Tiangong Kaiwu" is about these two aspects.

Although the research on firearms is urgent, it is, after all, of little benefit to people's livelihood.

But agriculture and handicrafts are different. You should know that the Western Industrial Revolution also started with handicrafts.

Why was the Ming Dynasty short of money? Why was it full of bandits? There are many reasons, but the backwardness of agriculture and handicrafts is definitely one of them.

If agriculture were developed, not so many people would starve to death, and not so many people would choose to take risks and rebel.

If the handicraft industry had been developed, the imperial court would not have been so poor.

Therefore, Song Yingxing was very important, so Zhang Shikang sent another person back to ask his brother Chongzhen in the palace to help look for him.

When the convoy arrived at the Xishan camp, Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan was already waiting at the camp gate.

When Sun Weifan heard that Zhang Shikang had taken more than 300 soldiers to the capital, he almost scolded Fan Chengren to death, blaming him for not stopping him.

In Sun Weifan's inherent concept, if Chunchun was not ordered to lead troops to the capital, he would be tired of living.

He was a rough man, but he knew that it was all thanks to this kid Zhang Shikang that he had the opportunity to command the army.

Although this kid's words and deeds are not reasonable, he is still a good person. He is very worried that this kid will lose the trust of the emperor because of this.

Seeing Zhang Shikang finally coming back, Sun Weifan ignored his armor and hurried over to ask him, even changing his usual way of addressing him:

"Nephew, nothing happened, right?"

"Oh! Something happened." Zhang Shikang frowned and pretended to be sad.

Sun Weifan's brows immediately furrowed, and the single-threaded CPU began to run frantically.

But Zhang Shikang immediately laughed and said:

"But it's a good thing! Look, uncle, there are 100,000 grains, more than 20,000 sets of military uniforms, 5,000 Lumi guns, swords, bows and crossbows, all brand new!

How about it, is this admiral capable?"

Zhang Shikang asked for praise with a cocky look on his face.

Sun Weifan's brain almost crashed. When he came to his senses, he realized that this guy had lied to him. His eyes widened immediately and he snorted coldly:

"You little brat, you even dare to tease me. I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your father!"

As he said this, Sun Weifan kicked him and Zhang Shikang quickly begged for mercy.

One hundred thousand shi of grain and fodder were delivered to the military camp in front of the soldiers who were training, which completely stabilized the morale of the Beijing camp. The slogans shouted during the training were as if to say, "Admiral, please train me hard."

The Xishan Camp was very large, with many empty tents, so Zhang Shikang arranged the craftsmen in groups of three.

Originally, there were ten soldiers living in one tent, which was a special treatment given by Zhang Shikang. After all, they were technical talents, but the conditions in the military camp were limited, so this was the only way for the time being.

He gave the several turtledove-foot guns that he had cheated from Fang Fengnian to Mao Yuantong, and asked Mao Yuantong to take the lead and be responsible for speeding up the imitation of the turtledove-foot gun.

When it was getting dark, the two subordinates who were sent to the capital finally came back. Emperor Chongzhen of course agreed to his request, and the copy of "Wubeizhi" was also brought back.

Zhang Shikang flipped through the book under the oil lamp for half an hour and then slammed the table.

"I've found a treasure. This Mao Yuanyi is awesome!"