Jiangyin County, Warden Office.

Yan Yingyuan was working normally, and on this day in the second half of the year, someone from the imperial court military department came.

"Lord Yan, you were appointed by the Ministry of War as the general manager of the Jingying Shenji Battalion, and your rank remains unchanged, and you are under the orders of Guo Wendong, the guerrilla general of the Shenji Battalion."

Yan Yingyuan was stunned on the spot, and Guo Wendong actually became an officer in the Beijing camp.

As a person who has been in the officialdom, he can guess that because his father-in-law is the first assistant of the cabinet, Guo Wendong can be in charge of the Shenji Battalion, and it should be Guo Wendong who needs to transfer himself to the Shenji Battalion.

At present, Jiannu has entered the customs and occupies the Beijing Division, and it is possible to go south at any time, and Yan Yingyuan is also very willing to serve in the Beijing camp and lead the army to fight in the future.

He packed up the day, said goodbye to his family the next day, and rode to Nanjing.

Soon after, Zhang Huangyan, who was at home in Yinxian County, Zhejiang, was also found by people from the Ministry of War, and sent documents, asking him to rush to the Nanjing Shenji Camp as soon as possible and wait for the dispatch.

Zhang Huangyan always wanted to join the army, and the next day he said goodbye to his family and set off for Nanjing.

In a village surnamed "Song" somewhere in Fengxin County, in the vegetable field, there are three old people who use small shovels to weed vegetables.

Among the three, the eldest is named Song Yingsheng, sixty-five years old; The third brother is Song Yingxing, 57 years old; The fourth is Song Yingjing, 54 years old.

As for the second child, he died of illness more than ten years ago.

In the forty-third year of Wanli, the eldest and the third were lifted in the same township examination.

The three brothers are old and bored on weekdays, so they do some easier physical work.

Song Yingsheng said: "First the thieves attacked the Beijing Division, and then the Qing army entered the customs, the world has changed drastically, the mountains and rivers are broken, and the people are the most affected." ”

Song Yingxing said: "It seems that the Ming army, the Chuang army, the Qing army, the most powerful is the Qing army, if the Qing army goes south to the south of the Yangtze River, the only remaining half of the Ming Dynasty will be difficult to spare." ”

Song Yingjing said: "Big brother, third brother, you are tired of the darkness of the court officialdom, so you quit and don't do it, we can't control the affairs of the world, let's spend the rest of your life at home." ”

At noon, the three of them went home after a busy day.

Along the way, the villagers greeted them politely, the two brothers are lifted, although they resigned, but as a scholar, the treatment of tax-free fields is still there, and many farmers in the village have offered tax avoidance to the two, and they are all happy.

Although Song Yingxing resigned, his life in his hometown is not too bad.

It's just that later in history, the Qing soldiers went south, and the boss Song Yingsheng committed suicide by taking poison and martyrdom. The privilege of scholars in the Ming Dynasty was naturally gone, and Song Yingxing refused to go out, and the family lived by farming and spent the rest of their lives in poverty.

The daughter-in-law makes lunch at home.

After eating, Song Yingxing entered the bedroom, opened the book "Heavenly Creations", which he had devoted his whole life to, turned a few pages, and sighed in his heart, I am afraid that all the techniques he has learned will no longer be useful.

"Dad, someone's looking for you!"

Hearing his son's voice, Song Yingxing came out of the hall and came to the house, a man dressed as a clerk.

"I am Song Yingxing, who are you? What are you looking for me? ”

"The small military officer is ordered to deliver official documents and letters to Lord Song!"

It turned out that the imperial court was going to build a weapons workshop and let Song Yingxing take care of it, and the official rank remained unchanged, it was still the fifth grade.

Song Yingxing felt very strange, in the past, he was also the governor of Bozhou, Fengyang Prefecture, and actually asked him to manage the weapons workshop.

Song Yingxing looked at the letter again, which was written by Guo Wendong.

Guo Wendong knew that his former boss was Ma Shiying, and his daughter married Guo Wendong, who opened a foreign goods store, and everyone knew about it among the officials under the jurisdiction of the governor of Fengyang.

took out the paper in the letter and looked at the contents, Song Yingxing's heart became more and more unsettled.

In the letter, Guo Wendong claimed to be a late student and respectfully addressed him as Mr. Guo Wendong said that he admired Mr. very much, and he admired Mr. for writing such a rare masterpiece as "Heavenly Creation". At present, the Ming Dynasty is in danger, the Qing army may go south at any time, and is in urgent need of sophisticated weapons and equipment.

If he could have made and invented more advanced firearms, he would have become famous for all eternity.

Guo Wendong also said that he was deeply saddened by the fact that he had not been able to display his strengths before, and he would definitely give him the opportunity to use what he had learned in his life, so that the techniques of the works of "Heavenly Creations" could be popularized on a large scale.

Guo Wendong also said that he had heard that there was high-yield rice overseas, which could double the existing rice harvest in Daming, and that he had a way to introduce this rice for the benefit of all people.

In the end, Guo Wendong used very sincere words, hoping that Song Yingxing would come to Nanjing to study the production of firearms, take care of the weapons workshop, and also discuss the methods of crop cultivation and income increase.

Song Yingxing was completely moved, and the eldest brother Song Yingsheng was also present, looking at his younger brother with an excited expression, and asked, "Third brother, what makes you so excited?" ”

Song Yingxing gave him the letter.

After Song Yingsheng read the content of the letter, he became excited and said: "Third brother, don't miss this good opportunity, you must go to Nanjing, it's best to bring me with you." There are too many strange things that have happened to Guo Wendong, and I want to meet this person. ”

On the same day, the brothers said goodbye to their families and rushed to Nanjing to work again.

The next day, the two set off.

In Nanjing, arsenals and barracks are under construction, and Guo Wendong is waiting for the arrival of important personnel.

At the end of the month, Yan Yingyuan arrived.

"Brother Yan!"

"Virtuous brother!"

The two were very happy to meet, Yan Yingyuan was tall and burly, and he was the kind of fierce general-type character.

In the "Jiangyin 81st Day" in history, he made the Qing army suffer a lot.

Guo Wendong needs such a person as a subordinate, and he is glad to be able to become good friends with such a person.

Immediately, Guo Wendong brought him into the mansion.

"You are in charge of the Shenji Battalion, I think it is true, and you really want to train elite soldiers and horses to fight against Jiannu."

"This is naturally true, I need Brother Yan's assistance."

"I can't ask for it, thieves are rampant, the Qing army has entered the customs and seized my territory, if I can't do anything, this is uncomfortable!"

In the evening, Guo Wendong had dinner with him, and temporarily let him stay at home and stay, and after the military barracks in the city were built, there would be a special place to stay, the officers had separate rooms, and the soldiers lived in collective dormitories.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, Zhang Huangyan arrived, and Guo Wendong came out of the gate to greet him.

Zhang Huangyan and his mount stood at the gate.

"See Lord Guo!"

Zhang Huangyan saluted respectfully.

Guo Wendong looked at him first, the twenty-five-year-old Zhang Huangyan is of medium stature, not fat or thin, elegant in appearance, and looks quite handsome, he himself is a scholar of literature, and also cultivates martial arts and military strategy, and is quite literary, according to his feelings, Zhang Huangyan in front of him is similar to Zhou Yu's type of Confucian general.

"Xuanzhu, let's talk about it first!"

Guo Wendong took him to the main hall, and the two sides sat down according to the host and guest positions.

"Xuan is unknown, but the court remembers me!"

This is what Zhang Huang is puzzled about, although he has been promoted, he has not yet been transferred from the official career and was directly transferred to the newly formed Shenji Battalion.

"Xuanzhu, I've heard people say that you are very good at riding and shooting, and you hit three times in the exam three years ago; I have also heard that you are ambitious, generous, and fond of discussing the art of war. I was ordered by the imperial court to take charge of the Shenji Battalion, and it is a great responsibility to train elite soldiers and horses, and I need someone like Xuan Zhu to help me build elite soldiers and protect my country. ”

Zhang Huangyan was surprised to know him so well.