Chen Zilong, whose name is Wozi, is a native of Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili, and according to later generations, he is a Shanghai hukou that Jin does not change. Chen Zilong is probably the only person who understands in the late Ming Dynasty, Chen Zilong was born in a family of eunuchs, and his son Chen Suowen was a waiter in the Xingbu and the Ministry of Industry, and he is also a very famous writer in Nanzhili. In addition to his family history, Chen Zilong is also a poet himself, and he is the most famous of the three sons in Yunjian.

In addition to his profound attainments in literature, Chen Zilong also has unique insights in miscellaneous studies. While Chen Zilong compiled the Huangming Jingshiwen alone, he also sorted out the complete book of agricultural administration by the great scientist Xu Guangqi in the late Ming Dynasty, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Chen Zilong is the successor of Xu Guangqi.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Zilong went north for the third time, and his friend Xia Yunyi was elected as the manager of Huizhou Mansion in Guangdong, but he learned that his stepmother died of illness before he took office, so he resigned and went home to worry about his mother.

On the first day of May in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Yousong, the king of fortune, supervised the country in Nanjing, and ascended the throne as emperor on May 15. As mentioned above, although the official position in the matter is not of high grade, it has a lot of power, and Chen Zilong used this official position to put forward opinions several times.

However, at this time, the whole government was a mess, the emperor had just taken office, and the first assistant Ma Shiying was full of money by the Donglin Party, and those bigwigs of the Donglin Party had no one to care about Chen Zilong, a seven-grade petty official, in order to compete for power and profit, so Chen Zilong's previous books were like mud cows entering the sea and there was no news.

At the beginning of June, Ma Shiying, the second assistant, wrote to the emperor, recommending Ruan Dacheng to go out of the mountain to serve as the squire of the military department on the grounds of knowing the military affairs.

Although Ma Shiying has the name of a eunuch, everyone knows very well what is going on, it is nothing more than that he repaired the ancestral hall for Wei Zhongxian back then, which is also reasonable, after all, local officials from all over the country had repaired it at that time.

But Ruan Dacheng is different, Ruan Dacheng himself is a traitor to the Donglin Party, or one of the masterminds of the persecution of Zuo Guangdou and others, if such a person lets him return to the core of power, then do the Donglin people still want to live?

Therefore, the Donglin Party members of all sizes in the DPRK began to bombard Zhu Yousong with songs, intending to make the emperor not agree to Ma Shiying's request.

But these Donglin stirrers forgot that Zhu Yousong is the emperor, what do you want to do when so many of you join forces? If you don't let Ruan Dacheng be an official today, will you be able to let King Lu be the emperor tomorrow? Therefore, Zhu Yousong was not elected by the court, and directly issued an order to appoint Ruan Dacheng as the squire of the military department and act as the military department!

Although Chen Zilong did not approve of using the tactics of crowds to force the emperor to comply, the emperor's decree violated the system of selecting officials in the imperial court, so in the past few days, Chen Zilong has been writing to the emperor to revoke the appointment.

Today, Chen Zilong was writing hard in the house, and the book office outside came into the house to report that there was a young general soldier named Ma Cheng who wanted to meet the adults.

As soon as Chen Zilong heard this, he remembered the Ma Cheng who reprimanded Hou Fangyu at that time, and said with a smile: "That's my little friend, invite him in!" ”

Ma Cheng walked into the house and saw Chen Zilong writing, and said with a smile: "Brother Chen, the younger brother came uninvited, did you delay your office?" ”

Chen Zilong put down his pen and said with a smile: "There, it's just some official documents, please sit down!" After Chen Zilong finished speaking, let the book serve tea.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Zilong asked: "Brother Xian, I heard Boyu say that you have been training outside the city for half a month, why do you have time to run to my brother's place?" ”

Ma Cheng likes Chen Zilong very much, and he doesn't have the pedantry of his contemporaries, so Ma Cheng didn't prepare any polite words, and opened his mouth and said: "Brother Chen, that's the case, the younger brother wants to equip the soldiers with self-made firearms, but the craftsmen of the Weapons Bureau said that they don't have an armory atlas, and the younger brother doesn't know the people from the Ministry of Industry, so he has no choice but to ask his brother here." Brother Chen, you are a big official, can you help your little brother with such a favor? ”

Chen Zilong couldn't help but laugh when he heard Ma Cheng being so honest, he didn't expect this kid to really treat himself as an outsider, but this matter is really not difficult for Chen Zilong.

"Brother Xian, the brother you said about this self-generated fire gun brother knows, it was invented by Bi Maokang, the squire of the Ministry of War, but the design of Bi Shilang was slightly insufficient, my brother improved the original atlas a few years ago, and this new atlas is in our military department, no need to go to the Ministry of Industry to find it!"

Ma Cheng was overjoyed when he heard Chen Zilong say this, he had always thought that Chen Zilong was just an enlightened stinky old nine, but he didn't expect that this stinky old nine was still a stinky old nine who understood science.

"Brother Chen, I didn't expect you to understand mechanical manufacturing? The little brother really admires! After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he stood up and hurriedly bowed.

Everyone loves to listen to compliments, Chen Zilong smiled and shook his hand: "Brother Xian, don't make fun of my brother, my level is fur, I can catch up with Master Xu there!" ”

Xu Shi? Who is Master Xu? In Ma Cheng's memory, he doesn't remember that there was still that Xu Shi at the end of the Ming Dynasty who understood this.

"Brother Chen, who is this Master Xu? Is it possible to live now? "Ma Cheng's idea is that this Xu Shi must be Chen Zilong's teacher, and naturally knows how to cast artillery, so it is better to invite him to work for himself.

Chen Zilong heard Ma Cheng say this and said with a smile: "Master Xu is a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, a second assistant of the cabinet, Mr. Xuanhu!" ”

Such a large list of official positions is not a simple person when he hears it, but Ma Cheng didn't know who Mr. Xuanhu was, so he hurriedly asked: "Brother Chen, you know that the younger brother is not educated, I really don't know who this Mr. Xuanhu is!" ”

Chen Zilong heard Ma Cheng say this, quickly stood up, saluted at Dongfang Xu Guangqi's hometown and said: "Mr. Xuanhu's surname is Xu, Shangguang and Xiaqi, and he is also Chen's mentor!" At that time, Chen went to Beijing many times to ask to see Master Xu, and was allowed to be listed under the door wall with the permission of the teacher! ”

Chen Zilong said this, Ma Cheng knew, it turned out that Chen Zilong's teacher was the great scientist Xu Guangqi, the cattle man who copied the Hongyi cannon. Thinking of this, Ma Cheng hurriedly asked: "Brother Chen, may I ask Mr. Xuanhu where he is, the younger brother happened to have a problem with the casting cannon, and I want to ask Mr. Xuanhu for advice!" ”

Cannons and muskets are not the same, the barrel can be drilled, but how can a cannon be drilled? Now that the material problem has been solved, the problem of casting the cannon is in front of Ma Cheng. Ma Cheng asked the blacksmith master of the Armory Bureau, and they had no problem producing muskets, because the Armory Bureau produced this. However, the artillery was not produced in Nanjing, but in Guangdong, so these blacksmiths were also blind to the casting of cannons.

Ma Cheng is now easy to hear about a cannon caster, so he made up his mind, no matter how old this Xu Guangqi is, as long as he is still alive, then he must be invited to Nanjing.

But there is a distance between reality and hope, Chen Zilong sighed when he heard Ma Cheng say this, and said: "Brother Xian, Master Xu has been immortal for eleven years!" ”

Ma Cheng heard Chen Zilong say this, and his enthusiasm immediately went from cold to ass, where are the people who are dead?

Chen Zilong looked at Ma Cheng's disappointed expression and said: "Brother Xian, although Master Xu is gone, Brother Fool has a lot of research on organs and scriptures, although he is not as proficient as Master Xu, but it is still no problem to cast cannons!" ”

Ma Cheng was overjoyed when he heard Chen Zilong say this, but he didn't expect this Chen Zilong to cast a cannon, this is really a treasure.

"Brother Chen, it just so happens that the junior brother has encountered a problem with casting the cannon, why don't you ask Brother Chen to go and see it now?"

Seeing that Ma Cheng was so anxious, Chen Zilong smiled and said: "Don't worry, brother Xian, there are some things in my brother's hands to solve, and tomorrow my brother will help you solve the problem, okay?" ”

Ma Cheng nodded again and again when he heard Chen Zilong promise to help, with the help of experts, he is better than a half-person like himself! Several methods have been designed for casting cannon Ma Cheng, but they are all learned by later generations to read through novels, and I don't know if it can become a horse Cheng.

Chen Zilong frowned after speaking, everything else is easy to do, but this firearms atlas is difficult to get, and now the squire of the military department is Ruan Dacheng, Chen Zilong doesn't like Ruan Dacheng's personality, so he naturally doesn't want to see him. However, this album is kept in the cabinet library of the Ministry of War, that is, in the archives of the Ministry of War, and no one can take it out without the consent of the squire of the Ministry of War.

Chen Zilong hesitated and said: "Brother Xian, this weapon atlas is in the cabinet library, but it needs the consent of the waiter, and it is not easy for this brother to come forward... ”

Ma Cheng saw Chen Zilong hesitate and hurriedly said: "This is simple, isn't the squire of the military department Ding Qirui?" My brother is familiar with him, so I'll find it myself! ”

Ma Cheng hasn't returned to the city for a few days, knowing that Ding Qirui has been transferred out of the military department to Huguang, Chen Zilong heard Ma Cheng say this and smiled bitterly: "Brother Xian, now the squire of the military department has been replaced by Ruan Dacheng, you know my brother and him... ”

Ma Cheng knew what was going on when he heard Chen Zilong say this, it was nothing more than the bad things about the party struggle.

"Needless to say, Brother Chen, the younger brother knows, the younger brother over there will find a way, but please leave the matter of casting the cannon to Brother Chen!"

Chen Zilong heard Ma Cheng say this and promised: "Don't worry, this virtuous brother, the foolish brother will arrange the things in his hands and go in three days!" ”

With Chen Zilong's assurance, Ma Cheng happily walked out of the office, and as soon as he turned around, he went to the third hall of the military department, that is, the office of several commanders of the military department.

Now Ma Shiying is still the secretary of the military department, but Ma Shiying is the first assistant and does not come to work in the military department, so here is Ruan Dacheng, the squire of the military department.

In the past few days, Ruan Dacheng's new official has taken office three times, and he has reorganized the military department very much, fired a few Shi Kefa irons, and replaced them with people who were kind to him back then. But now Ruan Dacheng has packed up some small shrimps, and Ruan Dacheng, the real big fish, has not yet thought of a name.

Ruan Dacheng has been married for more than ten years, and he is really rampant as soon as he gets his will, and now he is trying to find a way to clean up the Donglin party in the middle of the house, and someone outside the door reported that his son-in-law is coming.

Ruan Dacheng's official son-in-law is Cao Taiwang, the sister-in-law of his friend Cao Luji, who is studying in Guozijian. Ruan Dacheng couldn't help frowning when he heard that his son-in-law was coming, this Cao Taiwang was really rude, his daughter had not married him yet, how could he call himself the son-in-law of the Ruan family to outsiders?

However, Ruan Dacheng didn't think about anything else, and said to the messenger: "Okay, let him come in!" ”