In the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 AD), on April 14, the Imperial City Division, Cai Jing led Chen Gui and his daughter Chen Nanhou to meet, and after dealing with the official affairs of the Imperial City Division, they were summoned in.

Cai Jing also laughed and assisted: Lord Chen, the prince is very important, and he specially explained that he will be treated politely, and he must invite Lord Chen to Jingshiye. Chen Gui was also in a state of confusion at this time, one was the current power of the government and the opposition Cai Jing Taishi, and the other was the current crown prince, that is, the future emperor, it was a great fortune to be able to witness one of the two with his own eyes, at this time, the two of them praised themselves so much for this small place county magistrate, and their faces were suddenly flushed, and they didn't know what to say all of a sudden, but they just froze in place. Fortunately, his daughter Chen Nan, who was standing beside him at this time, shouted softly on the side.

Chen Gui reacted at this time, and hurriedly knelt down and thanked: "Xiaguan Xie Prince, Xie Cai Taishi appreciates." Xia Guan was excited for a while, and he lost his temper, and he still hoped that the prince and Master Cai would forgive his sins. After speaking, he kowtowed. Seeing this, I comforted: Lord Chen, please get up, please sit, don't get excited. Cai Jing also reminded on the side: Lord Chen first took a sip of tea to slow down his emotions, and waited for the prince to show Lord Chen. His daughter Chen Nan got up and helped Chen Gui up and sat down on the chair.

After the old rules eased up a little, I smiled and said to everyone in the hall: Lord Chen, don't be nervous, the reason why you transferred Er from the county commander back to Beijing is that Prince Ben intends to let Er give full play to his strengths and preside over the research and development of weapons supervision and the manufacture of firearms. The reason is actually very simple, now the border situation between our dynasty and Jin, Xixia and other countries is more tense than before, and my Great Song Dynasty does not have natural pastures suitable for raising horses, of course, it has not bred a good source of horses, resulting in my Great Song Dynasty cavalry is far inferior to them. Especially in the northeast, since our dynasty lost the sixteen states of Yanyun, there was no natural barrier to block the iron cavalry of the northern nomads, and the enemy's crossing of the Yin Mountain was a land of flat rivers, and the infantry to block the heavily armed cavalry was nothing more than a mantis arm as a chariot, increasing the casualties of the fearless.

Therefore, when the prince heard that Lord Chen had in-depth research on firearms and the method of defending the city, the prince wanted to borrow the strengths of Lord Chen to focus on the research and development of round-barreled firearms, so that he could fight against the enemy's heavy cavalry on the battlefield in the future, especially the Jin people's Tiefutu and abducted horses. Speaking of which, Chen Gui's father and daughter and Cai Jing also understood my intentions, but Cai Jing couldn't figure out how I knew that Chen Gui had great achievements in firearms. I had to let him think about it slowly.

When Chen Gui heard that I was using him to develop firearms, he suddenly felt a lot more relaxed when it came to his specialty and interest. But his research on firearms is still only at the elementary level, including the use of bamboo barrels to make the barrel of the gun, and then the eruption of gunpowder, how did the prince of Jingshi know about this? For this doubt, he passed by, and when he thought of this, he relieved himself and replied: Prince Xie appreciates that Xia Guan has only studied round firearms slightly, and it is not mature at present, of course, Xia Guan will do his best and do his best. As for the law of defending the city, the lower officials are also in the process of gradual improvement, and they have not yet been tested in actual combat, so the lower officials dare not speak falsely here.

For his decent reply, I immediately felt good, after all, if it is exaggerated, I feel that this person is unreliable, although the technology is a bit wooden and not flexible enough, but it is enough to have this realistic mentality. I then said to Chen Gui: Lord Chen, please rest assured, this prince also means research and development, as for whether or when the research and development can be successful, this prince does not have hard requirements and time. You don't have any worries and worries, and in addition, this prince wants to transfer Lord Chen as the deputy superintendent of the Jingshi Ordnance Supervisor, mainly to be in charge of this matter. Because since the invention of gunpowder by Sun Simiao in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the prince has been particularly lacking in military applications. At present, although the Great Song Dynasty has firearms such as earth-shattering thunder, its popularity is far from enough, and the characteristics of good medicine are not fully brought into play, but they are mostly used for fireworks and the like.

Cai Jing also smiled embarrassedly when he heard this, and then said: "Prince Qiqi, this is very true, at present, there are thousands of bows and crossbows and armor collected from all over the country every year into the arsenal, and none of them are sharp, strong, convenient, and practical. It has been reported that some prefectures and prefectures are so short of craftsmen that they have taken to the streets to temporarily arrest people to replace them, and the weapons they make can only be said to be similar in shape. The officials of the armory only counted the quantities and collected them, and it didn't matter if they could be used or not. Therefore, although there are many weapons preserved, most of them are substandard products. In peacetime, it is impossible to achieve victory in war, to keep foreign armies out of the borders, and to quell thieves at home, but it is impossible for these so-called weapons to be effective. Maybe subconsciously it is that the peace has been too long, and the whole country does not have that sense of urgency of war, so it is so relaxed about armaments and ordnance, but the accessories of ordnance such as gold, wood, silk, hemp, tendons, glue, horns, feathers and other materials are produced by the common people through hard work, and there is no reason for craftsmen to destroy them, which is a pity.

Hearing Cai Jing's reminder, I understood what he meant, so I said to Chen Gui: What Taishi Cai said is true, Lord Chen not only has to develop tube-mounted firearms, but also improve the cannons of our dynasty, and in addition, the existing firearms of the earth-shattering thunder are also upgraded to make them more suitable for the actual situation of the current battlefield. After listening to me, Cai Jing cast a look of praise, and the old rules even saluted: The lower officials will obey the instructions of the prince and the prince.

Seeing that the technology is so dull, and the matter has been almost explained, I said directly to Cai Jing: Taishi Cai, find a way to appoint Chen Xianling as the deputy chief of ordnance, and promote the fourth rank to be responsible for the manufacturing and upgrading of weapons such as the Crossbow Workshop Department, the Jiafang Administration, the Stone Fire Cannon, and the Earthquake Thunder, especially the research and development of tubular firearms. and the advisors of the Nanfang Military Academy and the Beifang Military Academy, and can also walk the Wensi Academy at any time. In addition, in order to gather more forces to assist in the development of firearms by the Ordnance Supervisor, Taishi Cai sent letters to prefectures and governments across the country, sending senior craftsmen and craftsmen with expertise in firearms and other ordnance from all over the country to assist Master Chen from the Beijing Ordnance Superintendent.

Cai Jing replied with a smile on his face: I will obey the instructions of the prince. Lao Chen can handle it when he goes back. In addition, the old minister added a letter to the letter, and if there were private workshops in local states and governments that were proficient in ordnance, they would also be transferred to the Beijing Division Ordnance Supervisor. I nodded with satisfaction, thinking that ginger was still old and spicy. It's just that the stereotyped father and daughter froze on the side and couldn't come back to their senses for a long time. Cai Jing reminded softly: Lord Chen? Chen Guicai suddenly said: Qi Yu Prince, the official has not made any achievements, and he has even been promoted to multiple levels, and he has directly reached the fourth-grade official position, will this be too abrupt. Cai Jing laughed and said: Lord Chen, let's hurry up and thank you, the prince is eclectic for talents, don't be crepe, and use his grateful heart on the research and development of firearms, which can be regarded as the right prince.

At this time, the father and daughter knelt down to thank him: the lower official thanked the prince for his promotion. will live up to the expectations of the prince. It's okay to have a stereotype, I believe this is what he really says, and I believe that he will not let me down. He smiled and said to them: Everyone, at present, it is the time for the court to employ people, I hope you will fulfill your duties, work hard to do your own work, and wait to do your errand. Everyone replied and saluted.

Chen Guizi Yuan, a native of Anqiu, Mizhou (now Shandong). Chen Gui is a scholar of the Ming Law Branch, who read the works of soldiers in his early years, and has served as a general officer and a county commander. The military thinking of the stereotypes is mainly concentrated in the four volumes of the "Records of Defending the City". According to the content, the "Records of Defending the City" is divided into three parts: "The Preface to the Words of the Jingkang Dynasty and the Opposition", "The Secret of Defending the City", and "The Record of De'an Guarding the Imperial Palace", focusing on the exposition of the way of defending the city and using troops, and is the first military defense monograph in the true sense of China. In the "Records of Defending the City", in view of the gains and losses of the offensive and defensive battles of the cities of his predecessors, combined with his own military practice, he put forward the theories and methods of defensive warfare in the cities, such as the heavy city and heavy city, the attack in the defense, and the use of new muskets, which can be said to be the earliest and relatively clear expression of the strategic idea of active defense in the history of Chinese military thought. His "defense while attacking" was both tactical and strategic thinking, which had a major impact on military theory and practice at that time and in later generations. In addition, its content has also been cited in many military books in later generations. For example, Qian Zhan's "City Guarding Strategy" in the Ming Dynasty started with "City Guarding Records", and on this basis, it was studied in depth and expanded its scope.

When he was observing the rules and regulations of De'an (now Anlu, Hubei), he invented a tube-shaped firearm called "musket". The musket is made of giant bamboo, each of which is held by two people, and the gunpowder is first packed in a bamboo tube, and then used to burn the enemy when it is lit in a battle. The invention of tubular firearms is a great progress in the history of firearms, and modern guns are slowly developed from the original tubular firearms.

The defenders of the city should emphatically expound on the problem of how to reform the city defense system, establish heavy cities and heavy moats, and expand the depth of defense under the condition that firearms are used in siege operations, and suggested that the corners of the city should be reduced in all directions so that the enemy could not use artillery at angles. demolished the urn city and rebuilt the city wall; The old suspension bridge was changed to a real bridge, and there were more secret doors and protruding doors, so as to facilitate the defenders to attack in multiple ways at any time. In particular, in the tactics of defending the city, it is emphasized that only defending and not attacking is a "self-closed way of life", and that only those who are good at defending the city are those who are good at defending the city while defending, which enriches the theory of city defense in ancient China and has a great influence on the defense of the city in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The Jin army invaded, killing Liu Yanqing, the envoy of the Zhenhai Navy, and his subordinates Zhu Jin and Wang Zai fled and became thieves, invading Sui, Ying, Fu and other prefectures. Chen Gui was the commander of Anlu County at that time, and led the soldiers of Qinwang to Bianjing to rescue, to Caizhou, and returned due to the blockage of the road. Just as Zhu Jin attacked De'an Mansion, the prefect abandoned the city and fled, and the local people asked Chen Gui to act as the prefect to help defend the city. Chen Gui sent the archer Zhang Li to lead an army to recruit Zhu Jin and repel him. Soon, Wang Zai and Zhu Jin rendezvous to attack, with artillery stones and goose carts to attack the east gate of the city, Chen Gui personally commanded the battle, successive battles, Wang Zai and Zhu Jin were very afraid, led the crowd to flee.