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

"Yes, sir, the rumors are correct. When the locals mention Erbi, they all give him a thumbs up."

Mao Yuanyi didn't know why Zhang Shikang reacted so strongly, so he had to continue explaining.

"That's really amazing. I'll send a message to His Majesty later, asking him to help look for it." Zhang Shikang said casually.

He is indeed in the capital, but he has only been here for less than half a year. He doesn't know the character of the original owner of this body. If you ask him which restaurant in the capital has the best food, he will definitely know.

But if you ask him who was the Vice Minister of War three years ago, I'm sorry, it wasn't me.

However, after Zhang Shikang finished speaking, he felt that he had said the wrong thing.

"Sir, could you please also ask for me? I have no requests in this life. I only wish to kill the enemy and serve my country. I will die without regrets." Mao Yuanyi said very solemnly.

Before, he only knew that the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp was generally trusted by the emperor. After all, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp was in charge of the safety of the capital.

But I didn't expect that the emperor would trust this young admiral to such an extent. Although it was not a big deal, he asked the emperor to help and he didn't even plan to go there himself, but just sent someone randomly?

Since the emperor trusts the admiral so much, wouldn't it be easy for the admiral to help him realize his long-cherished wish?

Sure enough, Zhang Shikang was troubled when he heard this.

"Don't make it difficult for you, my lord. I will be appointed as a general of the travel journal. If not, I will be accepted as a captain."

Seeing Zhang Shikang's thoughtful expression, Mao Yuanyi immediately knelt on the ground and lowered the tone of his request again and again.

Zhang Shikang quickly pulled the uncle up from the ground.

"General Mao, if you really want to lead troops, this admiral can now appoint you as a lieutenant general or even a deputy general.

Why do you have to go outside the customs?

That place is so dangerous!"

No matter what, this uncle is the only one he has found who is very knowledgeable about all kinds of military equipment, and he really doesn't want to let go.

Otherwise, given this uncle's straight personality, he might just let go and die.

After all, those civil officials and military supervisors are ruthless and will not spit out any bones even if they eat someone.

In this small piece of land in Jingying, and even in the capital, as long as you don't rebel, Zhang Shikang is sure that he can protect this uncle.

But if they went to other places, Zhang Shikang would be helpless.

"Sir, we can defeat the Jiannu outside the Great Wall." Mao Yuanyi didn't waste any words.

The position of the Admiral of the Beijing Camp was indeed not low, and he also discovered that although the Admiral was young, he was quite capable.

The soldiers of the Beijing Camp are well-trained and have high morale. The most important thing is that when the soldiers here mention the admiral, their eyes light up and they do not hide their gratitude, trust and respect for the young admiral.

Mao Yuanyi certainly didn't dare to underestimate Zhang Shikang, but...

No matter how well-trained the soldiers are, there are only so many soldiers left in the Beijing Camp, and they have to protect the safety of the capital, so there is no chance for them to go out and kill the enemy.

Even if there really are foreign enemies, the Beijing Army is only responsible for the defense of the city, and killing the enemies still depends on the loyal soldiers from all over the country.

This is simply incomparable to the days outside the Great Wall. He longs for the years outside the Great Wall, with swords and spears, and death on the horse's hide. Only a life like this will make his life worthwhile.

But Zhang Shikang was unhappy when he heard this.

"Who says that the soldiers of the Beijing Camp can't fight against the Jiannu? I'm telling you the truth. The reason why the Beijing Camp trains so frantically is to one day drive out the Tartars.

Also, who says that the only way to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country is to go into battle and kill the enemy?

Aren’t the civil and military officials in the court loyal to the emperor and the country?

Oh, those dick hairs do not count, but what this admiral means is that you can also serve the country by doing other things.

For example, General Mao, you are so familiar with weapons, firearms and various military equipment, why don’t you specialize in this?

By then, the weapons equipped by the Beijing Army and even the border troops were all developed by General Mao. If the army won a battle, who would dare to say that it was not due to General Mao's contribution?

I can't guarantee other armies, but in Beijing Camp, I have the final say, and General Mao will definitely be credited for the military achievements."

Zhang Shikang also answered very seriously. In fact, he didn't need to go through so much trouble. If he wanted to force this person to stay, it would only take a word.

It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I don’t want to.

Everyone has his own ambitions, and the melon that is forced is not sweet.

Zhang Shikang just felt that this uncle's idea had a problem, a big problem. If Mao Yuanyi was really good at fighting, Zhang Shikang had read so many rubbish novels from the late Ming Dynasty, such as Yuan Dudu, Mao Wenlong, Lu Xiangsheng, Huang Degong, Li Dingguo, and Hong Chengchou. He had heard of all the novels with gimmicks or who were really good at fighting.

But I have never heard of anyone named Mao Yuanyi, which means that this uncle’s strength may not be fighting.

He did not question the uncle's loyalty to his country, but you have to choose the right direction, right?

Mao Yuanyi was a little stunned by Zhang Shikang's words, but he still said very straightforwardly:

"Are you really sure, sir?"

"What do you mean?" Zhang Shikang didn't quite understand.

"The Beijing camp attacks the Jiannu!" Mao Yuanyi stared at Zhang Shikang with shining eyes.

"Of course. This admiral is not training these soldiers to be mere decorations.

This admiral has promised them that in the future, he will lead them into battle to kill the enemies and achieve great success.

General Mao may not know that Your Majesty wants to relax the restrictions on the nobility, and this suggestion was made by me, the admiral." Zhang Shikang said with some pride.

The situation is so chaotic and the court is so poor. If the court can't give people money, then give them honors. Otherwise, the country deserves to be destroyed. Do you really think there are so many people like this uncle who work for love?

"I am willing to follow the admiral!" Mao Yuanyi did not hesitate when he heard this. He knelt on the ground again and saluted Zhang Shikang very solemnly.

"Hey General Mao, there aren't so many formalities in the Beijing camp, don't kneel down all the time.

But I am not lying to you. Researching firearms can also be a meritorious service. If you can make a musket, and the soldiers of the Beijing camp use this firearm to win a battle, I will definitely give you a share of the credit."

Zhang Shikang helped Mao Yuanyi up and said.

The atmosphere in the Beijing camp was very bad before. When the soldiers saw him, no matter if they had anything to do or not, they always had to kneel down.

He didn't want to change this bad habit. After all, it was a tradition of thousands of years. It didn't matter if there was important military intelligence or business, but Zhang Shikang still found it troublesome on weekdays. Now that the Beijing Camp had been trained by him, it had gotten much better.

In fact, except for the brothers in the Second Sons Group, Zhang Shikang was younger than most of the soldiers, and he preferred to call his subordinates brothers.

"I will do my best to develop the musket, but Admiral, if there is a war, I will participate." Mao Yuanyi thought about it and put forward his idea.

"Okay, okay, if there is a war, this admiral will definitely take you with him." Zhang Shikang was speechless towards this war-crazy uncle.

After Mao Yuanyi received the promise, he bowed and went back happily to develop the musket.

The Ministry of Industry's first batch of turtledove-foot guns consisted of only 400 pieces, and the production efficiency was very low. It would take at least half a year to equip a firearms battalion of 5,000 people.

After thinking about it, Zhang Shikang decided to equip his 300 personal soldiers with the Turtledove Fire Gun.

These three hundred personal soldiers were also selected from the entire army of the Beijing camp at the suggestion of Sun Weifan.

On the battlefield, personal guards do not need to charge into battle like other soldiers. Their only mission is to protect the safety of the commander-in-chief.

Of course, there are regulations for personal guards. At the level of a general, the number of personal guards cannot exceed 500. According to the regulations, Zhang Shikang could also have 500 personal guards, but there were too few people in the Beijing camp.

For the next half month, Zhang Shikang stayed in the Beijing Camp to train his troops. Although the Banjiu Fire Gun was much heavier than the Rumi Gun, it was still a matchlock gun. After half a month, the guards had become proficient in using it.

On August 20th, Zhang Shikang was shooting with his subordinates when a eunuch ran over from outside. Zhang Shikang did not recognize him and thought it was Brother Chongzhen who had found Lao Bi, so he went to meet him.

"Admiral Zhang! Great... great joy!"

The eunuch was fat and was running out of breath.

"What's the good news? This admiral is not married, could it be that His Majesty has found Lao Bi?"

The eunuch didn't know who Lao Bi was, so he shook his head and said:

"Yang Ge's troops completely wiped out Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai accepted the amnesty. From then on, there were no more bandits in the Ming Dynasty!

The Emperor asked... asked me to come and tell Admiral Zhang the good news."

……