This story is a follow-up to the content of the physical book of "Stealing Ming", due to the appearance of the traveler Huangshi, the characters and events of the late Ming Dynasty in this world have undergone some changes, and the Ming Chongzhen Dynasty, which should have perished, is still tenaciously surviving at the beginning of the story......

In Xiapu, Fujian Province in February of the twentieth year of Chongzhen, a young man dressed in the uniform of a Ming military captain had just walked out of the old camp in Funing Town, and Shi Ce, the current chief soldier of Funing Town, who was holding a heavy army, rarely sent this young officer out of the door in person, which made the young man feel extremely uneasy, and he hugged his fists to General Shi and said: "Dashuai, I don't dare to send you far away, so that so many brothers can see how to be humble?" ”

"The identity of the virtuous nephew is different today," the chief soldier of Funing Town said to the young man with a smile: "In the past, the virtuous nephew was a colonel under me, but this time he is a dignified envoy of the imperial court, and it is right, and it should be." ”

After bidding farewell to Shi Ce repeatedly, the young man left the Xiapu camp and immediately rushed to visit his father's other old unit, Deputy General Bao Bowen of Funing Town. Although it is said that he is a deputy general, but in fact Bao Bowen is almost not in the policy moderation, the cause naturally comes from the arrangement of the young man's father, but it is also in line with the established policy of the imperial court, and the Fujian political secretary has been very friendly to Funing Town for 20 years, and the successive governors of Fujian, as the supervisor of Funing Town, have also cared for the Fujian army and given it as convenient as possible.

The young man presented his father's New Year's greetings to Vice General Bao as a gift of tea from Vice General Bao, and as a comrade-in-arms who was born and died, the gifts were small things of little value, and there may not be ten taels of silver in total. But Bao Bowen solemnly accepted it with a smile, in addition to giving him some local specialties of Beizhili, Bao Bowenna's seven-room wives and concubines and more than a dozen children also have a share, after reading the gift list, Bao Bowen squinted his eyes and sighed lightly: "Lord Hou has a heart, and there is a nephew of Lao Xian." ”

After saying that, Bao Bowen asked his wives and concubines and children to come out to thank the young man, the two sides are good at all, so the daughter is not shy about it, the seven sons of the Bao family are very familiar with the young people, full of "Brother Huang", "Brother Huang" is very affectionate, in contrast, the "young marquis" that occasionally pops up in Bao Bowen's mouth seems a little too polite.

Every time he talked about Bao Bowen's many wives and concubines, Huang Naiming's father and mother seemed disdainful, and he heard more than once from his mother-in-law that "it was really the bully back then" or similar comments. Whenever this happens, Huang Naiming's father smiles at most and asks his mother-in-law not to criticize others behind his back, but his tone is so gentle that it is obviously impossible to convince people. This kind of conversation between his father and his mother-in-law always made Huang Naiming feel very embarrassed, for his own identity as a concubine, and for his biological mother who unfortunately died early and didn't even remember his appearance - although the master of the Huang family was quite proficient in the art of Qihuang, there were still many dead in the Hou Mansion in the northern epidemic more than ten years ago: including the two wives, the eldest daughter of the concubine and the youngest son of another concubine, the surviving Huang Naiming, his second brother and their younger sister still have lingering palpitations when they recall the ghost-like scene in the Jingshi and their home at that time.

In the depths of Huang Naiming's heart, he felt that his father had no position to accuse others of taking concubines, and he even faintly felt that he and his second brother, who was also a concubine, seemed to be outsiders in the family: his mother-in-law was very good to them, so good that she didn't look like her own mother-in-law at all; And his father is also very different from other fathers, for example, he has never scolded himself or his younger brother in his impression, although he is also very strict, but he seems to have less father-son affection, which makes Huang Naiming, who is a concubine, always can't help but miss his vague mother.

During the family banquet, Huang Naiming couldn't wait to talk about the military industry controlled by Bao Bowen, and Bao Bowen smiled when he heard this: "I heard that the imperial court is going to recruit the Hou Ye again to form a new army?" “

"Exactly." Huang Naiming nodded heavily, now the sea is already boiling, the northern provinces are full of smoke, last year Shandong rebels and the Ming army war, the Lu army and the aid of the Lu army are all gone, now the rebels are besieging Jinan and the court princes are helpless. The whispers that had been circulating in the court a few years ago about the use of the Zhendong Marquis to quell the rebellion have now been like thunder, and the Son of Heaven and the cabinet have also gone from a clear opposition a few years ago to silent now.

Bao Bowen bowed slightly, this result was not too unexpected for him, this day was in the foresight of all the old departments of Zhendong Hou, but it was of course the best to get the most reliable confirmation from Huang Naiming's mouth, he immediately said angrily: "Since the Hou Ye is out of the mountain, sweeping away the thieves is naturally like a backhand view, after the virtuous nephew returns to Beijing, he will take me to report to the Hou Ye, and the ordnance matter will be wrapped up in me, just like twenty years ago, I will never dare to live up to his old man's trust." ”

"Thank you, Uncle Bao." Huang Naiming stood up and bowed deeply to Bao Bowen, and said with a smile: "But the little nephew will not return to Beijing for the time being, and leaving Beijing this time is also the emperor's order." ”

Huang Naiming explained to Bao Bowen, who was puzzled, that he was ordered by the Son of Heaven to send an envoy to Taixi to proclaim the imperial court to overseas countries, and this was still an errand that the Marquis of Zhendong personally asked for from the Son of Heaven for him. Without waiting for Huang Naiming to finish speaking, the faces of the older sons of the Bao family changed color, pacifying the thieves is a great opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and going overseas is an inconspicuous errand at all, and the weight of the two credits in the hearts of the Son of Heaven and the government and the opposition officials and people cannot be said to be the same at all. Besides, the military affairs of the counselor beside the Marquis of Zhendong are as safe as Mount Tai, and the barbarians who go to sea for thousands of miles and go to the unforeseen are in danger.

Thinking of Huang Naiming's inheritance of the status of the eldest son of the son, and the long-term discussions surrounding him, coupled with the fact that the Marquis of Zhendong has not kept his son by his side for many years, but sent him to Fujian to serve in the army, these rumors seem somewhat credible. Several sons of the Bao family even heard that the prince of Zhendong had to go into battle to kill the enemy like other soldiers in the Funing army, and it was rumored that he had also fought against thieves when he was clearing pirates overseas, and cut off many heads; They also knew that the Hou of Zhendong had a young son born five years ago, although their family was far away in Fujian, but at that time Funing Town also celebrated with the town, and the Bao family, like others, wished the Hou and his wife prosperity, peace and health, and a full house of children and grandchildren.

When several children of the Bao family were hesitant in their hearts, Bao Bowen listened to it with relish, and never showed any different colors from beginning to end. ”

Huang Naiming also smiled, and Bao Bowen asked: "That virtuous nephew came to ask about the ordnance, isn't it the Hou Ye who wants to find out?" ”

"Jia Yan said that I don't understand it, but I can't relay the letter, and he still has to write a letter to ask Uncle Bao in person," Huang Naiming said with a smile: "But Jia Yan must let me come and see, saying that I will have a long experience." ”

……

"This is a flintlock pistol," Bao Bowen took out a sample of a musket to Huang Naiming, the latter immediately looked at it carefully, and the former introduced its performance, and finally did not forget to sigh: "It should have been made in large quantities to replace the old-style firecrackers, but Hou Ye Zhishi, this matter will be delayed, and I am afraid that some short flintlock handcuffs will be made in a year or two." ”

Huang Naiming has been familiar with all kinds of ordnance in the army for a long time, and he aimed at a distant target and tried firing several shots, and after the test results, he was greatly surprised by both accuracy and power.

"What a weapon!" Huang Naiming sighed in admiration, and couldn't put it down to play with the gun in his hand, because he didn't use an open flame, and the flintlock pistol was loaded extremely quickly: "Uncle Bao, is this gun labor-intensive?" ”

"It's a little more expensive than the old-fashioned firecracker." Many years ago, in addition to adopting standards such as meters, liters, and kilograms, Zhendonghou also formulated standard units for production on Changsheng Island, and the Funing Town system developed from the Changsheng Island system still uses these standards to this day: "However, after mass manufacturing, this should be reduced a lot, and 150 man-hours should not be a too difficult goal to achieve." ”

After looking at the various new equipment that may be produced in Funing Town, Huang Naiming nodded with satisfaction: "Uncle Bao, these are all very good, but my father said that I can not look at anything, but there is one thing that must be seen, that is, the steam engine." ”

Bao Bowen smiled slightly: "Is that what Master Hou said?" ”

"yes." Huang Naiming didn't know what the so-called steam engine was, this news was secretly reported by Bao Bowen to Zhendonghou a few years ago, and Bao Bowen didn't even tell his family about this secret, Huang Naiming once asked Huang Shi what this thing was, but the latter didn't tell him but asked him to see it himself, Huang Naiming recounted with some disapproval: "I think what I've seen today are all fine products, but my father said that when I see the steam engine, I will feel that other things are children's things." ”

"Master Hou is right." Bao Bowen laughed twice, nodded and said, "Young Marquis, come with me." ”

In the tall room, the dark machine filled almost the entire space, and Bowen pointed to the cumbersome machine weighing dozens of tons: "This is the steam engine." ”

"That's not a small one." Huang Naiming stepped forward and stroked the cold fuselage, and gently knocked on it, with heavy iron plates up and down.

"Uncle Bao, what can it do?"

"You go push the cart."

Bao Bowen pointed to a flatbed iron car at the gate, Huang Naiming glanced at the car, there were boulders more than one person high on it, he looked back and asked, "Uncle Bao, are you kidding?" This car can't be pushed even by a hundred people. ”

As Bao Bowen's men started the machine, the behemoth soon let out a thunderous roar, and the leaky guy spewed out white mist from every crevice in his body, turning the room hot and dry in the blink of an eye, and the whole body of the few onlookers became wet.

The large iron cart used for the experiment was dragged back and forth by the resurrection thrust on the tracks, and let out a piercing scream, and it was impossible for a hundred people to shake the heavy cart, which was as light as a straw in the hands of the steam engine, and was easily manipulated by the former.

Bao Bowen looked at the stunned Huang Naiming with satisfaction, knowing that after the machine stopped for a long time, Huang Naiming could not recover from the shock, and when he regained his ability to move, his eyes when he looked at the machine also became awe-inspiring: "Good guy, how strong does this have to be?" ”

"The power of a thousand horses! No, it's the power of a thousand cows! A triumphant Bowen replied loudly.

One horsepower is about seven hundred and fifty watts, but obviously horses can't maintain this power output for long, and sprinters can reach a kilowatt of power, but only for a few seconds. Ploughing cattle for an hour has an average power of about four hundred watts, and likewise in continuous heavy physical labor, the average power of a man is one hundred watts, and that of a horse is about two hundred watts, and the steam engine is tireless.

It is difficult for this steam engine to give Zhendonghou himself a great sense of vibration, because it is too rudimentary by the standards of the twentieth century, with a thermal efficiency of less than 2 percent, and the output of a huge machine weighing nearly 30 tons is only 1,000 kilowatts, which is about the power of two Cadillac cars (more than 400 kilowatts).

However, Huang Naiming felt that his world was completely turned upside down, and there were too many emotions surging in his chest, and he muttered: "This is the power of the gods. ”

"Yes, it's the power of the gods!" Bao Bowen suddenly exclaimed excitedly, and his eyes suddenly became moist, but he did not shed tears as he did on the first day when he saw this machine in motion: "Think about it, twenty years ago, when I was producing weapons and armor for the Hou Ye, I built hundreds of windmills and countless reservoir waterwheels in order to drive the machine, and all this is enough as long as I have this steam engine; Also, we can use it for mining, for so many years, every time a mine is opened in Funing Town, hundreds of hardcover mines have to be organized to pan for water, buckets of water are scooped out of the pit, and the water level may not drop by half a meter in a day; Also, we can use it to transport ore, which used to be only able to be dragged up from the bottom of the mine by a basket of more than ten meters by oxen, but the steam engine can pull out thousands of catties of ore at a time; And iron, steel, we can build bigger bellows, huge bellows that we couldn't think of before......"

"This is just the first one!" Excited, Bao Bowen seemed to have completely forgotten his age and status, and he interrupted Huang Naiming to pounce on his beloved machine: "Look at these large iron plates, all of them are knocked out by our craftsmen with hammers, and after having it, I have begun to build a brand new machine to make iron plates, in simple terms, like a big rolling pin, using a steam engine to roll out the iron plates like rolling noodles; In addition, many of the parts in this machine are round, and the water power cannot be stable in any case, so the round rod cannot be sharpened, and it is all up to the craftsman to touch his eyes and sharpen it with iron, and now that we have it, the round iron rod that used to be sharpened for several months is now enough in a few days......"

"Uncle Bao......" Although he is not very proficient in machinery, Huang Naiming can also understand what he sees, and he sincerely admires: "You are really the reincarnation of Luban." ”

"If you want to talk about the first thought, it's still Master Hou." Bao Bowen thought back to the past, as well as the countless quarrels with Zhendong Hou over the years over this machine, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face: "Hou Ye likes to read very much, and he saw from a big food book that someone made a gadget with steam, so he suddenly wanted to make a big one." ”

"Big food?"

"Yes, a hundred years ago, there was a big eater who made a small steam engine to draw water for his garden, but his thing was different from ours, he made a runner out of many blades, boiled water and used steam to blow the wheel......" Bao Bowen told Huang Naiming that the book (the ?????????????????????????????,English translation is called p, and the earliest practical steam engine in human history, Huang Shi, also showed him to prove the feasibility of this matter. However, after Bao Bowen's research, he decided that the steam turbine could not be large-scale, because the speed was too fast and the torque was too small, and under the insistence and intervention of Zhendonghou, Bao Bowen began to study the piston steam engine.

Take Huang Naiming to another room, Bao Bowen showed him five small piston steam engines, the smallest of which is a few meters in size, Huang Naiming was surprised to see that these little guys look very similar to the big guy just now, Bao Bowen pointed to the smallest one and said: "This thing was made fifteen years ago, and Hou Ye also came to Fujian for this purpose, and since then, we have been enlarging this thing for the past fifteen years, and the other few are new samples that have been made before." Last year, we finally made it! ”

"Then how long does Uncle Bao estimate the next steam engine will take?"

"At most one year, it should be shorter," Bao Bowen has already made up his mind to let the more than 1,000 craftsmen involved in the construction of the steam engine continue to do nothing, and think about how to improve the machine every day, and this idea is also firmly supported by Zhendonghou: "The third and fourth will be shorter, I think three months may be enough, they will save materials, and the strength will be much greater." ”

"Uncle Bao said, my father has never seen this thing?"

"yes."

"Well," Huang Naiming said thoughtfully, "And my father insisted on making this thing twenty years ago, and this time he told me that if I didn't look at the steam engine, it would be for nothing." ”

"Hou Ye's foresight has been admired and admired by Bao for decades." Bao Bowen bowed in the direction of Beijing, and smiled at Huang Naiming: "Because of this, Hou Ye asked the young Hou Ye to send Taixi, stupid as I don't understand the deep meaning of Hou Ye, but I believe that the young Hou Ye will benefit immensely, and I want to come to Shi Brother is the same, right?" ”

Huang Naiming nodded, and Shi Ce couldn't say anything about Zhendonghou's intentions, but his reaction was very similar to Bao Bowen: "Yes, Uncle Shi asked his son to go with me." ”

"If the young marquis doesn't give up, let my boss go with me." Although he knew that going to sea was extremely dangerous, Bao Bowen was determined: "I have learned one thing in the past thirty years, and I will not suffer if I follow Master Hou." ”

After looking at the machine, Bao Bowen asked a few words about the war in the South Seas, Huang Naiming was naturally very clear in the middle of it, the protracted war in the South Seas has been decided, the power of Spain and the Netherlands in this generation has been almost completely wiped out, and the merchants who come and go between the Spice Islands are all clearly visible, and they used to be just sneaky smuggling, and now it is said that even Spanish and Dutch companies have openly asked for shelter in Funing Town to avoid the privateer raids of pirates. Liu and Zheng are very effective in doing black work for Funing Town, of course, those ships with pirate flags are also full of Funing Town training, Daming maritime merchants pay to support the officers and soldiers of Funing Town, when the war is completely clear, the desperate Spaniards also sent people to the Beijing Division, and pleaded with the Ming Rite Department to pay tribute. However, the Ming court was anxious about the civil strife, and naturally had no interest in paying tribute to the barbarian envoys, since the Fujian political secretary flatly denied that there were officers and soldiers colluding with pirates in Funing Town, the cabinet drafted a draft to be handed over to Funing Town to deal with, such as strictly prohibiting coastal defense and exterminating pirates.

Bao Bowen warmly greeted Huang Naiming to stay, he didn't make much excuses, after dinner, he walked to the pavilion alone to practice swords, practicing swords every day has been Huang Naiming's habit for ten years. At the age of thirteen, he was ordered by his father to serve in the Funing army, and at the age of seventeen, he participated in the town's first battle to win the championship.

"The virtuous nephew really has the style of a marquis."

After the sword practice, Bao Bowen appeared behind Huang Naiming again, and asked the servant to hand tea and hand towels to the sweaty Zhendong Hou Shizi. Looking at the starry sky, Bao Bowen suddenly sighed: "The virtuous nephew's general star, I don't know which one." ”

"Uncle Bao made fun of the little nephew." Huang Naiming knew that Bao Bowen believed in astrology, and it was said that his attainments were still very deep, but most of the others disagreed with his astrological views, and Huang Naiming himself was not too interested in it.

But Bao Bowen seemed to be provoked, and he looked up at the sky and asked with great interest, "Which star does the virtuous nephew like the most?" ”

"Ahh Huang Naiming also looked up at the vast night sky, shook his head and smiled: "Uncle Bao, the little nephew doesn't dare to be disrespectful to all the Star Monarchs. ”

"I beg the Star Monarch to bless you, how can this be called disrespectful?" Bao Bowen asked dissatisfiedly, and asked: "The virtuous nephew feels that star is the closest, and when I ask, the first thing that comes to mind is that star?" ”

"Hmm." Huang Naiming groaned, for many years he always followed He Baodao's teachings to get up before dawn to practice swords, if that star was the one he looked at most often, it should be: "Taibai Star." ”

"Good star, that Taibai Xingjun Niangniang is the young marquis's fortune star monarch." Bao Bowen exclaimed in admiration and turned his gaze to the west: "Young Marquis, do you know that Taibai Xingjun Niangniang is a goddess in a yellow dress, holding a pipa, the main killer, and the guardian star monarch of the martial arts?" Sure enough, it is very suitable for the young marquis's star monarch. ”

"yes, I know." Huang Naiming nodded, he also knew that due to the popularity of the Journey to the West script, the gender of Taibai Xingjun was now beginning to become controversial.

However, when Huang Naiming mentioned this topic, Bao Bowen obviously disdained it: "The Star Monarchs of the heavens are heavenly gods, how can they care what we mortals think, besides, how can we know the mysteries of the Star Monarch, just bow down and ask for the protection of our guardian Star Monarch." ”

When Huang Naiming nodded again and again, Bao Bowen turned his gaze to the Big Dipper: "Since the young marquis's general star is the Tai Bai Star, you should always be wary of another star, and the person favored by the star monarch will be the enemy of the young marquis." ”

As he spoke, Bao Bowen pointed to the sky, Huang Naiming looked along his arm, turned around and asked a little blankly, "Uncle Bao, are you talking about Wuqu Xingjun?" ”

"Of course not!" Bao Bowen denied it indignantly, his arm pointed to the starry sky without moving, and corrected: "It's not the sixth star of the Big Dipper, the Wuqu Xingjun of Kaiyang Palace belongs to gold, and the same as the Taibai Star Monarch, I think he should be the general star of the Hou Ye, and I am talking about the seventh star of the Big Dipper." ”

"Oh." Huang Naiming looked up again, and the sister star under Wuqu Star was bleaker and less conspicuous than the former.

"Shake the Light Palace Broken Army Star Monarch, favor those who are strong and resolute, dare to speak out, and competitive, but those who are favored by the Broken Army Star are often willful and arrogant, suspicious, and even more ......" Bao Bowen pondered for a while, and finally made up his mind and said: "Since ancient times, the Luminous Star has moved, and the traitor has come out, but the Luminous Star has only made the Emperor Star flutter at most, but it can't reduce the light of the Ziwei Star by half a point, and when the Broken Army Star shines, the Ten Thousand Stars will be discolored, not to mention the Wuqu Star, even the Ziwei Emperor Star will be overshadowed." ”

Huang Naiming looked at Bao Bowen incredulously, and the latter was still talking to himself: "The Wuqu Xingjun of the sixth star of the Big Dipper has been suppressing the Broken Army Star Monarch, always pressing him, blocking between the Broken Army Star and the Ziwei Emperor Star, the ancient sages and kings have come out one after another, and the saints have been successive ones, such as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Thousand Year Broken Army Star Fang Daliang once, and since the Qin and Han dynasties, the people's hearts are not ancient, and the world is declining. ”

"Uncle Bao......"

Bao Bowen still didn't look at Huang Naiming, he still looked at the starry sky in a daze: "Virtuous nephew, I have been friends with Hou Ye for decades, so I don't shy away from you." Since ancient times, 300 years of catastrophe, this is a number of days that cannot be moved by man. In recent years, the sea is uneasy, I watch the sky at night, the sun is confused, the emperor star is shaking, and there are things in the world that I can't bear to say. ”

"I can't bear to talk about it." Huang Naiming muttered to himself in a low voice and looked up at the purple microstar high above the Beidou again, it seemed to flicker, and then again, which made Huang Naiming also let out a long sigh.

"When Wuqu Xing can no longer suppress the light of the Broken Army Star, it will be the time of the Three Hundred Years Tribulation," Bao Bowen's words continued, and a voice came into Huang Naiming's ears: "When the time comes, the young marquis with the ether white star as the general star will have to help Wuqu Xing, and the person who uses the broken army star as the general star is the enemy of the young marquis." ”

"Broken Army." Huang Naiming muttered to himself, and looked at the seventh star of the Big Dipper again, it was still behind Wuqu Xing, revolving around the purple micro star with the Beidou as it had for thousands of years. Suddenly, Huang Naiming seemed to feel a chill from the starlight that shot into his eyes, a silent hostility towards him and his father: "Broken Army Star." ”

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