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

"There's a kind of gunpowder that's a yellow crystal that tastes bitter and sour. No, that's not right. It should be considered explosives. Write it like that."

How many are there?"

Many soldiers in the Imperial Guards camp were busy waiting for the order to cross the river, while in the central army tent, Zhang Shikang was sipping tea and reciting some common sense of later generations.

Although Zhang Shikang held the title of Grand Marshal of the Army and was highly respected by the officers and men, he was actually not the busiest person in the Imperial Guards.

Especially during the combat, Zhang Shikang was basically only responsible for strategic adjustments, while the specific combat scheduling and command was the responsibility of Sun Weifan, Huang Degong and others, and he became a street urchin.

Basically, after dinner every day, he would walk around the military camp and check in to let everyone know that the Marshal was busy with official duties.

After becoming familiar to everyone, he stayed in the big tent with his wife and refused to come out. His subordinates thought that the general was working hard to raise offspring and did not dare to disturb him easily.

After all, I heard that the Marshal doesn’t even have a son yet.

Only Zhang Shikang understood what he was doing.

"Two hundred...two hundred and sixty-two." Ma Lingqi answered obediently.

She didn't even understand what she was writing about. What bitter and sour gunpowder? Her husband had actually eaten it. Why did he eat gunpowder?

Questions like these always troubled her, but her husband once told her that what she wrote would one day benefit the people of the Ming Dynasty and might become something like the Analects of Confucius.

One can imagine the status of the Analects in the hearts of people all over the world. Ma Lingqi admired Zhang Shikang and naturally believed what he said.

She used to interrupt often, but since she knew that this work, which was about to be published as a book, would benefit the people, Ma Lingqi held back every time and only spoke when Zhang Shikang asked her.

"Well, let me think about it again.

Yes, you keep writing.

This world is made up of molecules. Molecules are very small particles that cannot be seen with the naked eye. We need a microscope to see them. Oh, I have mentioned microscopes before, so I will not repeat them here.

Molecules are made up of atoms...

For example, the plague bacteria I mentioned earlier can be seen with the naked eye if there is a microscope with sufficient magnification. This may be helpful to medicine and future chemistry.

Oh, I forgot the periodic table."

The things that Zhang Shikang asked his wife to write were almost a hodgepodge.

He asked his wife to write about whatever he thought of, including astronomy, physics, mathematics, chemistry and even the Big Bang.

Almost the previous one explains why the earth is a sphere, and that the earth revolves around the sun, and that 99% of the stars visible to the naked eye are stars.

The next topic suddenly becomes the cause of the earthquake, such as plate collision, and then it suddenly turns to agriculture, such as fertilizers and pesticides.

The strangest thing she had ever heard was that her husband said water was made up of two gases, hydrogen and oxygen, and that the former could burn with a combustion efficiency countless times higher than that of gunpowder.

Ma Lingqi often felt like she was listening to a foreign language, and Zhang Shikang was extremely serious in what he said.

He was very clear in his mind that he would not say anything if he was not absolutely sure. Everything he wrote down must be a scientific theory that had been verified multiple times by later generations.

Even though he doesn't understand the principles of many things, he can still point out the direction.

Through this hodgepodge, he will tell the world the future direction of technological development and its basic theories.

This may seem like a fantasy, but it can actually help scientists avoid many detours.

Maybe someone will question it, but it doesn’t matter, time will prove everything.

Zhang Shikang firmly believed that he was not doing useless work, and that one day this scientific hodgepodge would be regarded as a bible by future generations.

While he was thinking, Hong Xiucheng's voice came from outside:

"Marshal, Master Chen is back."

"Oh, let him in and notify Deputy Marshal Sun and Deputy Marshal Huang to come over to discuss the matter." Zhang Shikang said to Hong Xiucheng.

Ma Lingqi's arms were sore from writing, so she tactfully packed up her pen and ink and left. Soon, Chen Ying, Sun Weifan and others came to the big tent.

"How?" Zhang Shikang asked directly.

Sending Chen Ying to persuade the Jiannu to surrender was a temporary measure taken by Zhang Shikang. Although he did not like the Jiannu very much, this was basically based on the Jiannu's massacre of the Han people and his incompetence in modern history.

But these things haven't happened yet, and from now on, they will basically not happen again.

Therefore, Zhang Shikang felt that no matter what, the Jiannu should be given a chance to survive. After all, they were living on the same land, the White Mountains and Black Waters, which was also the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

There was definitely no preferential treatment. What Zhang Shikang considered as good treatment was being given land and having enough food and clothing.

Of course, he didn't hold out much hope.

Chen Ying didn't say anything, just shook his head, looking a little lost.

Sun Weifan jokingly said:

"I told you that wouldn't work, nephew. How can you persuade them to surrender like that? It's a wonder they'll agree!"

"Dad, you have to use your job title when you're working." Sun Dasheng, who came with Sun Weifan, reminded him in a low voice.

"You bastard! Why are you still calling me dad?" Sun Weifan frowned.

Huang Degong ignored the bickering between the father and son and interrupted with some confusion:

"Why would the Marshal go and persuade them to surrender? At worst, we can mobilize warships from Tianjin. There's always a way. It's just a matter of waiting a few more days."

He felt that doing so was somewhat self-humiliating. Huang Degong had fought countless hard battles, and this time he had recovered so much lost territory, and most of the soldiers were a little proud of their success.

He believed that even if the imperial court was short of food and grass, it was necessary to take Shengjing in one go. It would be best to take advantage of the situation to continue to advance into the heartland of the Qing Dynasty, all the way to the Baishan and Heishui, and drive the Jiannu further north to join the Tungus people.

Moreover, Huang Degong's idea was also the idea of most generals.

To put it bluntly, if they make the imperial court and the Ministry of Revenue suffer more, they will be able to recover more land and gain more military merits.

Zhang Shikang just smiled without comment when he heard this.

"I just want to ask, what are you so anxious about?

Are you worried that the Ming Dynasty will not be able to defeat Dorgon in the future?

Liaodong is there, it can never run away!

From now on, our Ming Dynasty will become stronger and stronger year by year. You may not know this yet, and I just got the news.

The fixed paper shell bullets have been tested and can be put into mass production soon. The firing rate of our muskets will soon be improved again.

The coke oven steelmaking method has also been perfected by the General Administration of Manufacturing. Within three years, Ming Dynasty's steel production will begin to grow exponentially.

The Ming Dynasty's cannon foundry was expanded again. Not only did the output double, but Tang Ruowang also promised that a larger caliber copper cannon would be developed within a year and the gun carriage would be improved to make it easier to move.

This is just part of the many research and development projects of the General Manufacturing Bureau, and these firearms and steel will soon become a boost to my Guards.

Better firearms mean that soldiers no longer need to sacrifice their lives for victory.

So, answer me, why are you in such a hurry?

Is it necessary to let the soldiers take the risk of crossing the river?

Or should we make the imperial court suffer so that you can earn more military merits?

What is the difference between making the court suffer and making the people suffer?

Vice Marshal Sun, Vice Marshal Huang, please answer me."

……