After discussing these matters related to muskets and artillery, Zhu Daming just wanted to return to the Qianqing Palace after the meeting, and when he was getting up, he suddenly remembered another thing, so he sat down again, opened his mouth and asked Sun Chengzong: "Sun Aiqing, do you know Bi Maokang?" ”

Sun Chengzong, who was thinking about what the emperor had just said, asked the emperor coldly, was a little confused, stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Bi Maokang is a person that the minister has heard of, but he has no deep friendship. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"The minister heard that during his tenure as the imperial history of the Inspectorate, this person had proposed and was ordered to supervise Yousi, dredging the Juma River and Daqing River in Baoding and other places, as well as the Chaobai River near the left of Gyeonggi, and now these rivers are not only convenient for irrigation, but also boat traffic, west to Bauhinia Pass, Juyong Pass, north and Xuanfu, Jizhen and other places, garrison food and salary are relied on for transshipment and delivery. The minister's hometown of Baoding Gaoyang, that is, on the bank of the Daqing River, is known to the minister. ”

After listening to Sun Chengzong's words, Zhu Daming was also a little confused.

The reason why Zhu Daming knew Bi Maokang was of course not because he had proposed the construction of water conservancy, but because he not only wrote a book of "Illustrated Weapons of Weapons", but also took the lead in replacing arquebuses with flint bolts, creating the first flintlock pistol in Chinese history.

But looking at Sun Chengzong's appearance, it seems that Bi Maokang is not famous for his proficiency in firearms now, but is known for his actions when he served as the imperial historian.

Zhu Daming was hesitating, and the British official Zhang Weixian suddenly said at this time: "Your Majesty, the minister knows a little about Bi Maokang and his people. ”

When Zhu Daming heard the great joy, he immediately said to him: "That's great, Zhang Aiqing quickly talk to me." ”

Seeing that the emperor was so eager, Zhang Weixian also smiled slightly, and said: "Your Majesty, this person is now serving in Nanjing, and he is the official envoy of Nanjing. ”

After saying this, Zhang Weixian paused slightly, and then told what he knew about Bi Maokang.

Bi Maokang, whose name is Menghou, is a native of She County, Anhui Province, and is a Jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, and he should be about sixty years old now.

This person's official luck in the early years is still good, after winning the Jinshi, first in the cabinet as a scholar, a few years later to the inspectorate as the imperial history, in the imperial history to do the Sun Chengzong knows that the merit in the contemporary, good things in the future, because the wind is very good, a few years later and successively promoted to Shaanxi Patrol Imperial History, Shuntian Mansion Cheng, and because of the official incorruptible as water, after the Taichang Emperor ascended the throne, he was appointed as the Changlu salt transport envoy.

But not long after, Emperor Taichang died, and Bi Maokang was also dismissed from his post as Changlu Yanyun, returned to Beijing, and went to the Inspectorate to do the imperial history of the capital.

Tianqi was promoted to the governor of Yunyang once every four years, but not long after he arrived, his mother died of illness, and Bi Mao Kangding returned home.

At the beginning of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Bi Maokang's defense system ended, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse reinstated him as the political envoy of Nanjing.

Now he has been in office as the Nanjing General Political Envoy for more than a year, but because the emperor is in Beijing, the Nanjing General Political Envoy is basically useless, and there is no room for him to play a role at all, so Zhu Daming has not noticed the person sitting in this position now.

Historically, when Bi Maokang was in July of the eighth year of Chongzhen, he once presented a military book to Emperor Chongzhen, which was the book "Illustrated Description of Weapons", which listed the manufacture, use and power of various firearms, crossbows and other weapons with pictures and texts, and said that "those who are most afraid of China are also firearms."

It can be seen that Bi Maokang has a very clear understanding of the development situation of armaments and weapons, and his grasp is also very accurate, and before he presented this illustration of weapons, he had invented the flintlock pistol independently, and described the manufacturing process of the flintlock pistol in great detail in the book, and on the signature of the book, Bi Maokang wrote that "on July 20, the eighth year of Chongzhen, the right attendant of the former military department, he now sent a letter to the minister Bi Maokang."

From this point of view, at the latest eight years before Chongzhen, Bi Maokang not only served as the right attendant of the military department, but also went home.

Of course, this is what happened later, whether it is Sun Chengzong or Zhang Weixian, they naturally don't know these things now.

Now that Zhu Daming already knows Bi Maokang's situation and whereabouts, he must find an opportunity to place him in a position where he can give full play to his wisdom and talents.

In addition, Bi Maokang also has a brother of the same clan, named Bi Maoliang, who is also a famous figure in history.

This pair of Bi brothers, born in a wealthy family in She County, Anhui Province, became officials not for money, but to show their ambitions, so they have always been honest and self-controlled.

When the Ming history of later generations evaluated these two people, they all mentioned that they were honest and had a clean reputation.

Bi Maoliang is two years older than Bi Maokang, and he is also a few years earlier than him, and now he is also a person in his sixties, and his career in his early years was relatively smooth.

After Emperor Taichang ascended the throne, Bi Maoliang became the Yin of Shuntian Mansion. After the apocalypse, he became the right attendant of the household department, and later was affected in the struggle between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party.

And the reason for cutting his nationality to the people is not that he is from the Donglin Party, but only because he was promoted from the appointment of Shuntianfu Yin to the right attendant of the household department, which was recommended by Zhao Nanxing, the boss of the Donglin Party.

Therefore, Bi Maoliang was cut to the people, which was completely caused by the fire at the city gate and the fish in the pond.

After listening to Zhang Weixian's introduction, Zhu Daming pondered for a moment, and said to Wang Chengen, who had been standing beside him: "Wang Chengen, immediately go to the cabinet to pass the decree, and order the cabinet to work with the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites to restore Bi Maoliang's Jinshi background, and reinstate him from his original position before he was reduced to the people. As for Billy Maokang? ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Daming looked at Sun Chengzong and Zhang Weixian, and then asked: "Sun Aiqing, Zhang Aiqing, I plan to let Bi Maokang serve in the military department and assist Qing and others in rectifying the nine-sided military armament, what do Qing and the others think?" ”

Hearing this question, Sun Chengzong and Zhang Weixian were a little baffled.

Of course, they did not know at this time Bi Maokang's attainments in military armaments, although Bi Maokang was a Jinshi civilian official, but he has always been concerned about the manufacture of weapons and other issues, and the "Illustrated Description of Weapons" compiled in the eighth year of Chongzhen is naturally not something that has been studied for a while and a half, but must be the accumulation of more than ten years or even decades.

Therefore, at this time, although Bi Maokang has not yet shown his amazing talent in firearms manufacturing, he must have begun research in private, and in this regard, Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua should be more than right, or even surpass.

Although Sun Yuanhua attaches great importance to firearms manufacturing and is proficient, he is not an innovative technical talent after all, which should be said to be slightly inferior to Bi Maokang.

Because in any case, Bi Maokang was the first person in the Ming Dynasty to study flintlock pistol and the first person to manufacture flintlock pistol independently.

Sun Chengzong and Zhang Weixian glanced at each other, and finally Sun Chengzong spoke, and Sun Chengzong is now not only the Minister of Military Aircraft, but also the secretary of the Ministry of War, and at the same time he is a scholar of Wuyingdian University, with so many part-time jobs, and the people available to his subordinates are more assured in addition to the old department, and they can't find anyone, and the emperor's meaning is so obvious, even if he is not satisfied, he can't object, not to mention that this person should be regarded as the British public Zhang Weixian, the person who recommended it to the emperor, and he can't oppose it.

So Sun Chengzong bowed down and said: "There are too many part-time jobs, and there is indeed a sense of lack of skills in the affairs of the military department. ”

At this time, Zhang Weixian also bowed down and said, "The minister has no objection." ”

After listening to the statements of the two people, Zhu Daming nodded and continued to say to Wang Chengen: "Wang Chengen, you also send a decree to the cabinet, and from now on, the Nanjing general political envoy Bi Maokang will be appointed as the squire of the military department to assist the army in supervising the military and other affairs. ”

This soldier is the secretary of the military department, which can be regarded as an honorific title for the military department secretary in the past, after all, it is impossible to write Sun Chengzong's name in the holy decree.

After saying this, Zhu Daming immediately got up and left the lobby of the military aircraft department of the Wuying Hall in the midst of everyone's kneeling.