At this moment, the images of the two elders became a little taller in Chen Wuren's heart. In the Ming Dynasty, the concept of clan was prevalent, and the yamen could only control the county level. The so-called imperial power did not go to the countryside, and the order in the countryside was mainly maintained by clan rules. Even if they reported to the officials, the county magistrate would not take care of "household affairs."
But Chen Wuren still kindly reminded him: "The chief is kind-hearted, but my subordinates have something they don't know whether to say or not."
"But it doesn't matter."
"Since ancient times, it has been difficult for upright officials to deal with household affairs. If this decision is not done properly, it may damage the reputation of the Senate."
Zhang Xiao understood Chen Wuren's worries and turned to Zhang Jiayu, ready to give him a try, and asked: "Jiayu, what do you think?"
Zhang Jiayu said: "The students accompanied He Ning to the countryside. They were on the scene at that time. Huang's mother and son were really pitiful, and those who heard it shed tears. However, as Section Chief Chen said, it is difficult for upright officials to interrupt family affairs, and the students thought it was inappropriate for the two leaders to do this. Intervene.”
"Oh? Does that mean you don't care?" Zhang Xiao asked.
"No, no," Zhang Jiayu explained: "The student thought it would be better to let He Ning take care of this matter."
"Hey, that's a good idea, let me think about it," Zhang Xiao said with a smile: "He Ning, now you are a member of the Women's Federation. First, I will give you the title of special commissioner of the Guangzhou Women's Federation. Later I will ask Liu Dafu to give you the title. You issue a letter of appointment with an official seal. Not only do we have to take care of it, but we also have to take care of it legitimately!"
Zhao Hening couldn't hide his excitement on his face, but he said: "For the sake of justice, I will feel aggrieved."
"We have the athletes, but we still need a referee," Li Yao'er said. "The people from the Guangzhou Circuit Court are now at Dagang Market, Longshan, not far from here. A courier will be sent to Dagang Market early tomorrow morning to ask Yuchi from the Circuit Court to Gang and Wu Yixuan rushed to Jiujiang immediately."
Jiujiang Qiaonan Village is located about two kilometers northwest of Jiujiang Daxu, where the Jiujiang Zhu family lives. During the Xianchun period of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Yuanlong, the ancestor of the Zhu family, migrated here from Nanxiong with his people through mountains and rivers. It has been more than 300 years, and it has become deeply rooted in the local area. There are many talents in the clan. Chen Zizhuang's grandfather Zhu Rangguan went to the prefect of Kuizhou and was awarded the title of "Doctor of Zhongxian". ", and a "Liang Erqian Stone Archway" was left in the countryside.
Surrounded by fish ponds outside the village, a large area of land is enclosed behind a property belonging to the Zhu family in the village. Many of the dried fish and flower ponds are divided into smaller pits by the newly built pond foundations, and there is a tall wall around the outside. , a busy scene inside the wall. All the people working were the children of the Zhu family. Some were pouring water and lime into the pit. The heat generated by quicklime and water kept the soil at a certain temperature; some were pouring water and lime from people and livestock into the mature pit. Urine, silkworm sand and other filthy things are quietly waiting for the harvest period; others are digging out mature soil from old pits, mixing it with plant ash and sending it to the processing room.
If any European arms dealers of the same period had seen this scene, they would have been surprised that there were people in the far East who had learned the "nitrate production method" invented by the French. The earliest record of the nitrate production method in the nitrate field appeared in the 14th century. By the middle of the 15th century, Europe had become a big success, becoming the most important source of potassium nitrate in Europe. Not only did Europeans no longer depend on nitrate ore to obtain potassium nitrate, but it also greatly improved Potassium nitrate purity.
The principle of this "nitrate field method" is actually to summarize the phenomenon of potassium nitrate condensing on the soil walls of pig pens in toilets, and then replicate the deep environment on a large scale for mass production.
This technology is not complicated, but it has not been developed in China for no other reason than that it takes up a lot of farmyard manure. Compared with European agriculture, which has developed animal husbandry, China's traditional agricultural planting industry is highly developed and occupies almost all arable land, making the livestock breeding rate extremely low. Naturally, this kind of nitrate field, which requires a lot of livestock fertilizer, cannot be developed.
When the Senate was in Hainan, they also considered using the nitrate field method to produce potassium nitrate themselves. However, after calculating the input-output ratio, they found that they could not collect enough raw materials to maintain operation. After obtaining natural materials from India through the Portuguese, After the saltpeter, nothing happened.
Who would have thought that such a large-scale saltpeter field has been quietly built here. As for the Portuguese who taught this method to the Zhu family, they should have been integrated with this saltpeter field for a long time, and were handled without anyone noticing.
Zhu's house has a deep courtyard with winding corridors, bypassing the rockery in the courtyard and reaching the study. Zhu Shilian put down the scroll of thread-bound books in his hand, and said to the guests with some emotion: "He Zhen (He Rubin) was a generation of heroes. He was strict and kind in running the army. He did not seek any personal gain. He summarized the books and summarized their essentials to form " "Military Record", especially the incisive discussion of gunpowder and firearms, and its unique approach to firearms warfare. It's a pity... If Brother Shimin had helped back then and wiped out the Lingao Kun bandits in one go, we wouldn't have had the disaster we have today."
Zhu Shilian is nearly forty years old. He is the grandson of Zhu Rang, the younger brother of Zhu Bolian, and the cousin of Chen Zizhuang. Chen Zizhuang grew up in Zhu's family in Jiujiang, and Zhu Shilian was similar in age to him. The two studied and grew up together, and their friendship was extraordinary. The "Bing Lu" mentioned by Zhu Shilian was written by He Rubin. It was written in the 34th year of Wanli. Five people, including Chen Zizhuang and Liu Feng, wrote the preface to "Bing Lu". Naturally, the Zhu family also had a collection of books.
The person whom Zhu Shilian called "Brother Shimin" was none other than Mao Yuanyi. He once followed Sun Chengzong to oversee Liaodong, and together with Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Yuanhua and others, he fought with the Later Jin Dynasty on the battlefield of Liaodong. The "Wu Bei Zhi" engraved in the first year of Tianqi was compiled by him who studied the military books of the past dynasties for many years and collected information. Later, he was ostracized by the eunuchs and experienced ups and downs in the officialdom. In the second year of Chongzhen, when Hou Jin attacked the capital, he escorted Sun Chengzong to break through from Dongbianmen to Tongzhou, repelling Hou Jin's attack, and was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief, Li Juehua Island Navy. Later, he was dismissed by Liang Tingdong, Minister of War, and was tired of the rebellion in Liaodong, so he was sent to garrison Zhangpu, Fujian. After that, the situation in Liaodong became even more serious. Even though he requested King Qin many times, he was blocked by his political enemies, so he had to drink in sorrow and anger all day long.
Mao Yuanyi covered his mouth with his hand and coughed a few times, then said: "After He Zhenjiangmen, Wen Tao and military strategy were first described in the "Bing Lu". I wrote "Wu Bei Zhi·Firearms Method" and also studied the "Bing Lu" I have also heard about the Chengmai battle in the past. The division under the command of He Zhen was able to fight fiercely with the Kun thieves for several days without defeat. It has been worthy of the name of the Iron Army, which is no less than the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry. However, the Kun thieves His superior military skills are unexpected."
Zhu Shilian said: "Now that Governor Xiong has been defeated, there is no official in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the building is about to collapse. Brother Shi Min still ventures into the tiger's den even though he is ill. He can really be called the lonely loyalist of the Ming Dynasty. He is called brother 'Nian Shaoxi' When Wu came out, he was named Bei Que Wen. When he lowered his curtains, he was called a scholar, and when he mounted his horse, he was about to enter the army. With the help of his elder brother, the chance of success in this matter increased."
Mao Yuanyi said: "I can't believe it. The Zijie (Zhu Shilian's name) family helped the country and the country to destroy their families. I sincerely admire you. I am a guilty person. I want to serve my country but have no way. I am sad, angry and depressed, which leads to serious illness. I know that when The days are numbered. Fortunately, thanks to the help of the nobles in the court, I can devote myself to Guangdong to serve the country. I will die without regrets. It’s just that the Kun thieves are powerful and cannot be defeated. We still need to wait for the opportunity to raise an army. "
Mao Yuanyi passed away in the 13th year of Chongzhen in history at the age of forty-six after years of heavy drinking. Not only that, he spent fifteen years of painstaking efforts to collect military books from various generations and write and compile the "Wu Bei Zhi". It was banned in the Qing Dynasty and was not republished until the Daoguang period.
Zhu Shilian nodded knowingly, "The troops and horses are not moving yet, the food and grass go first. Please take care of me, brother, about preparing the gunpowder."
After the two chatted for a while, they went to the workshop together.
The production technology of black powder was very mature by the Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the court had strict control over the production of gunpowder and firearms, and strict confidentiality measures were in place. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the tight affairs in the Liao Dynasty and the large number of talkers in the government and the opposition, the confidentiality measures were relaxed. Therefore, the number of books on fire attack was the largest in history, and the knowledge of gunpowder was popularized among the scholar class. As Foshan's iron-frying industry was developed, it was an important artillery production base for the imperial court. There were also many craftsmen familiar with gunpowder and firearms knowledge in the Pearl River Delta region. Now that we have the expert Mao Yuanyi and the servants he brought, we can be even more powerful.
The theory of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty was still based on the "monarch, minister and left envoy" of traditional Chinese medicine. Black gunpowder used saltpeter as the king drug. The long-circulated simple formula is "one saltpeter, two yellows and three charcoal". The combined ratio of sulfur and charcoal does not exceed one quarter. . For the Jiujiang area, it is not difficult to obtain sulfur and charcoal. The local sericulture industry is well developed and requires sulfur and lime to drive away insects and ants. Due to the humid climate in the Pearl River Delta, there is an extra step of baking cocoons after silkworms spin cocoons than in Jiangnan, so charcoal is also a common and easy-to-purchase item. Only saltpeter is difficult to obtain and has always been strictly controlled by the imperial court.
Natural saltpeter mines are rare in the wild. Most of the saltpeter in China is produced in three places. The one produced in Sichuan is called Sichuan saltpeter, the one produced in Shanxi is called saltpetre, and the one produced in Shandong is called soil saltpeter. These three production areas are currently not under the control of the Senate. In addition, due to the war, there are fewer saltpeter imports from other places. After the Senate occupied Guangdong and Guangxi, it also strictly controlled the purchase and sale of saltpeter due to military needs.
In order to obtain a large amount of saltpeter without attracting the attention of outsiders, the Zhu family worked very hard, and finally learned the European "method of making saltpeter in the saltpeter field" from a Portuguese from Macau. Since it takes eight months for a saltpeter field to mature, a large number of fish ponds are needed to convert into a saltpeter field, and more than one of them is needed. Thanks to the deep-rooted Zhu family and huge industry, as well as the funding from the local gentry headed by Chen Zizhuang and the Mu Shi Taoist priests, it was managed with difficulty.
Gunpowder production is a dangerous and high-tech job. After Mao Yuanyi arrived, he established an operating system in accordance with the official gunpowder factory standards of the Ming Dynasty, with clear rewards and punishments. Compared with the previous operation that Zhu took for granted, it was upgraded to a higher level and reduced in costs. Production accidents and avoid exposure.
