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Chapter 68 Overture of Donglin Conference

(PS: Today's second update, the first update is delivered. In the new week, continue to ask for orders, tickets, and recommendations.)
"I can't believe it. There are such stupid officials in this world. If Huoxiao receives a penny and two cents, he will even build his own house and fields and give them to the people for nothing? If he didn't see it with his own eyes, he heard it with his own ears. I don’t believe it even if I kill him!” After carefully inquiring about Liu Wuwei’s official voice and real situation from the people of Wuxi in private, Lu Wanling, the chief aide and dog-headed military advisor of Young Master Zhang, scolded, “The sun in Wuxi doesn’t come out from the west. Right? All officials in the Ming Dynasty have to be like him, so I would rather go home and guard the few acres of Susukida at home, and I won’t be an official if I’m killed!”

"Yes, yes, we won't be officials of Dongchang anymore - anyway, we would be useless at that time." Xiao Chuan and Chen Jianhuang, who also pretended to be the entourage of Young Master Zhang, nodded together, and felt the same way as Lu Wanling.But Young Master Zhang snorted coldly and added with an upright official appearance, "If all the officials in the world are like Liu Wuwei, then the life of ordinary people will be easier, and Jiannu will not be able to be rampant again."

Lu Wanling, Xiao Chuan, and Chen Jianhuang were speechless, but Young Master Zhang looked up to the sky and sighed, "I never dreamed that the hypocrites of the Donglin Party shouted to love the country and the people every day, but none of them could do it. The people who arrived were right under their noses, but they didn't know it at all. Hehe, it's no wonder that this Liu Wuwei is so unknown, his existence is nothing more than a big irony to the Donglin Party!" Sigh, Zhang Da The young master shook his head again, and said with a wry smile in his heart: "It's no wonder that Liu Wuwei is also unknown in the history books of later generations. With an official like him, wouldn't it discredit the Donglin Party?"

Waiting for Young Master Zhang to sigh, Zhang Shitou, the only real servant among the four followers of Young Master Zhang, stepped forward, bowed to Young Master Zhang and asked, "Master, it's getting late, should we go back to the inn for dinner now?" The young master is still waiting for us to go back in the inn." Young Master Zhang pondered for a moment, then smiled and said: "No, that kid Zhang Qing doesn't fit in anyway, let him wait. The day after tomorrow will be the Donglin Academy's conference, all Jiangnan Most of the literati will come to Wuxi, let’s take a walk to see if there are any outstanding figures, and then go to the best Zuixianlou in Wuxi city to taste what Wuxi meat and bones are like.” Lu Wanling, Zhang Shi Shi, Xiao Chuan, and Chen Jianhuang all agreed when they heard the applause—of course, Zhang Qing, who was still waiting for Young Master Zhang to go back to eat in the inn, was not so happy.

The Donglin Conference that Young Master Zhang mentioned is actually the annual regular meeting of Donglin Academy. There are many societies in Donglin Academy, and there is a small meeting every month, except for the first month, June, July, and December. For example, in February and August, starting from the day of Zhongding, there will be three days each.Those who wish to go do not have to start all over the place.Each meeting will promote one person, and talk about the "Four Books" chapter; the most important thing is the annual meeting. Whenever it is held, it must send a message half a month in advance to invite Jiangnan Donglin students and some non-Donglin students. Celebrities from Qingliu participated in the academy, and at the same time, some celebrities and heroes who admired Donglin would also come uninvited, and together with Donglin students satirized and discussed government affairs, judged people, and pointed out current problems.Therefore, this year's Donglin Society is definitely regarded as the first grand meeting of Jiangnan literati, and it is also the main public opinion center for discussing state affairs-it is definitely the number one thorn in the side of Wei Xie's party, the thorn in the flesh!Moreover, Donglin Academy's general meeting is usually held in spring or autumn. This time, at Qian Qianyi's strong request, it is an exception to hold it in summer. Naturally, there is no need to say more about it.

With so many people coming, it is of course impossible for all the dormitories of Donglin Academy to live in, and those who cannot accommodate have to stay in the inns in Wuxi County. It can be seen that literati wearing soft towels, and Jianghu people carrying knives and swords are not uncommon. The rivers and lakes are full of singing boats and flower boats. , it can be described as: a land of gold and jade, a gentle and rich town.Seeing that our bumpkin-born Young Master Zhang was dizzy and dazzled, he secretly sighed that this trip was worthwhile.

After wandering east and west for a long time, the sky was getting dark, and Young Master Zhang, whose stomach began to protest, wanted to lead Lu Wanling and others to taste the Wuxi meat bones that were said to be created by Jigong, but the things that a young scholar was playing with on the roadside attracted his attention. He caught the eyes of Young Master Zhang—the binoculars!As we all know, the telescope was invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and it was only twenty years ago at most. The battlefield, but this plainly dressed scholar is holding a telescope in his hand, so he can't be a mortal.Young Master Zhang was curious, he stepped forward to salute and said: "This brother, Xiaosheng's surname is Gu, from Shandong, may I ask your brother Gao's name?"

"Brother Gu, Xiaosheng's surname is Bo and his name is Jue, from Changzhou (Wu County)." The scholar was very surprised why Young Master Zhang greeted him on his own initiative, and out of politeness, he cautiously returned the salute with fists.Young Master Zhang said with a smile: "So it's Brother Bo. I noticed the telescope in Brother Bo's hand just now and thought it was very rare, so I wanted to borrow it from Brother Bo to have a look. I wonder if Brother Bo can agree?"

"Telescope?" Bo Jue froze for a moment, raised the telescope in his hand and asked, "Brother Gu, do you mean this? This is a telescope, not a telescope?"

"Too bad, I forgot that telescope is a term that only appeared in later generations." Young Master Zhang scolded himself for being stupid, but smiled: "Yes, it is this telescope. This thing is also called telescope in Western languages. In Western dialect it is : Telescope, it was only translated into a telescope in our Ming Dynasty."

"Brother Gu is really tall, I admire him. Could it be that Brother Gu has been to the West at such a young age?" Bo Jue was stunned by a sentence of English spoken by Young Master Zhang, and quickly held the binoculars in front of Young Master Zhang with both hands, respectfully He said: "Brother Gu, please take a closer look. How does this telescope I made myself compare with Westerners' telescopes?"

"You made it yourself?" Young Master Zhang couldn't believe his ears, and Bo Jue nodded and replied, "Brother Gu Mingjian, I like playing with machinery since I was a child. I saw a Franc machine businessman using this thing in Hangzhou a few years ago. I was very curious, and after borrowing a view to note down the shapes, I made a few of them myself." (Note)
"You only saw it once, and you know how to make a telescope yourself?" Young Master Zhang was surprised. When he looked at the telescope Bo Jue sent him, he found that the barrel was made of two pieces of green bamboo, which could be pulled back and forth. It was made by the Chinese, and when they hurriedly used the telescope to observe the distant scene, Mr. Zhang preliminarily estimated that this monocular has an eight-fold zoom and can see things quite clearly. It can definitely be used for battlefield reconnaissance and sea navigation.However, Lu Wanling, Xiao Chuan and others have never seen a telescope. When they tried the telescope under the guidance of Young Master Zhang, several people exclaimed, "My God, I can see so far? Is this a sorcery?" ?”

"What is sorcery and not sorcery? It's called science." Young Master Zhang reprimanded some bumpkins, then glanced at Bo Jue who was extremely nervous, and said with a smile: "Brother Bo, I really admire you, brother Yi." In my opinion, the telescope you made yourself is absolutely comparable to the original Western ones."

"Really?!" Bo Jue asked in surprise.Young Master Zhang nodded, but he was thinking about how to abduct this Bo Jue to Beijing, and let him build thousands of eight hundred telescopes for the Liaodong Army to fight against Jiannu.Unexpectedly, Bo Jue asked again: "Brother Gu, do you know if Westerners have installed this telescope on the artillery for aiming?"

"Put the binoculars on the cannon? How do you even know this?" At that moment, Young Master Zhang almost suspected that Bo Jue was just like himself—a time traveler too!But Bo Jue replied with a smile: "To tell you the truth, Brother Gu, I have already made a model of a cannon, so I have an idea, if you can put the telescope on the cannon, then the cannon can be pointed at where to hit it? "

Young Master Zhang was dumbfounded, and after recovering, Young Master Zhang rolled his eyes wildly for a while, then took back the binoculars from Zhang Shitou, pointed to the binoculars and said, "Brother Bo, your binoculars are really wonderful, but only It is a monocular, which is inconvenient to see. If you can put two monoculars together and connect them in the middle so that they can move, then it is not only convenient to observe with both eyes at the same time, but also the field of vision can be much wider.”

"Brother Gu, we really hit it off at first sight." Bo Jue was so excited that he grabbed Master Zhang's hand, pointed to the tavern on the side of the road and said: "Brother Gu, if you don't mind, I'll let you have a few drinks while eating. How about talking in detail?"

"Yes, yes, but this kind of small restaurant is not good." Young Master Zhang laughed heartily, pulled Bo Jue away, and said with a smile, "Let's go, Zuixianlou, my younger brother will be the host."

Talking along the way, I came to the best and most deceitful Zuixianlou in the city. The restaurant was already crowded with scholars and scholars from all over the south of the Yangtze River. After waiting for a long time, Master Zhang and his party finally found a table on the second floor. Call for food and wine and chat while eating.During the dinner, Young Master Zhang kept asking Bo Jue what other machines he could make. Bo Jue, who had come to observe the Donglin Conference, confessed that he had already made waterwheels, firecrackers, mines, and sea mines. And the ground crossbow and other weapon models, and currently plan to remake the armillary sphere, but it has not been understood and financially supported by the family, so many things only stay on books and sketches.Although Young Master Zhang was ecstatic, he didn't dare to show it to scare Bo Jue away. He just tactfully tried to see if Bo Jue was interested in serving the court, and went to the Ministry of Industry to make firearms for the Ming army.

"Bang!" The sudden loud sound of slapping the table interrupted the cordial conversation between Young Master Zhang and Bo Jue. Young Master Zhang looked back in surprise, only to see that the person who slapped the table was a young and strong man who was much older than himself , the strong man stood up, and yelled at a person dressed as a shopkeeper at the same table with wide eyes: "Zhang Haogu, that bastard, is he really as bad as you say?"

"The young one dares to lie to an official brother?" The middle-aged man dressed as the shopkeeper smiled bitterly: "Master Qian Qianyi of our family was framed by that dog official Zhang Haogu, so that he was dismissed from office, because Master Qian saw with his own eyes that dog official Zhang Haogu gave Wei Zhongxian Wei Laogou a bad idea to increase taxes for our merchants in the sea. Master Qian objected on the spot. I was dismissed from office. And my master also heard rumors that Zhang Haogu, that dog official, came to Jiangnan this time under the banner of fundraising and disaster relief. In fact, he was checking that Jiangnan could increase taxes and taxes. Merchants and people in the south of the Yangtze River looted more gold, silver and jewels."

"Damn, bastard!" The brawny man had a bad temper, slammed the table again, and scolded: "That dog official Zhang Haogu, you better not let me, Zheng Yiguan, meet him! If I do, , I, Zheng Yiguan, will definitely poke three transparent holes in him!"

Hearing the strong man Zheng Yiguan yelling at Wei Zhongxian and Young Master Zhang, Chen Jianhuang and Xiao Chuan, who were born in Dongchang, naturally changed their faces. They wanted to stand up and make a move, Young Master Zhang quickly stopped him with a wink, and let them scold them if they wanted to Cursed, this person surnamed Zheng became so excited after being instigated by Qian Qianyi. What big things can such an idiot do? ——However, Young Master Zhang quickly overturned his conclusion just now, because after the seemingly rude Zheng Yiguan sat down, he lowered his voice and asked the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper Chen, you Master Qian said, If I, Zheng Yiguan, get rid of Zhang Haogu, give me a big boat—this assassination of the imperial envoy is not a small crime, isn’t a big boat too small?” The voice was very low, if it wasn’t for the young master Zhang who happened to be sitting in Zheng Yi Next to the official, the restaurant is noisy, I'm afraid I may not be able to hear it clearly.

"Two, at most two." Shopkeeper Chen agreed in a low voice.That Zheng Yiguan remained calm, and started talking in a low voice with his companion at the same table.After a while, Zheng Yiguan said to the shopkeeper Chen: "Two are two, but I still have two. First, from now on, the price of the goods given to me by the Qian family company must be higher than that of the shopkeeper." Others pay half the price. Second, Lord Qian please get me four red barbarian cannons from the Jiangnan Foundry Bureau."

"This..., I have to ask the master first." The shopkeeper Chen hesitated and replied in a low voice.Young Master Zhang was startled and said, "Sea ships? Cargo? Cannons? Is this Zheng Yiguan a pirate? Ah! Why did I forget that this Zheng Yiguan is Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong? So young? Was Zheng Chenggong born?"

Note: Bo Jue, a machine manufacturer in the late Ming Dynasty.Zijue, born in Changzhou (now Wu County).He grew up in a poor family and loved to study. Because of repeated failures and witnessing corruption in the officialdom, he decided to change his studies to astronomy, mathematics and mechanical manufacturing.Pay attention to practice, set up your own laboratory, configure various tools and equipment, and develop repeatedly.In Chongzhen, Governor Zhang Guowei ordered him to make bronze cannons.After many tests, the copper cannon made has high precision and advanced structure, and a telescope is installed on the cannon, which improves the hit rate.He also manufactured waterwheels, firecrackers, landmines, and ground crossbows.Its superb mechanical manufacturing technology has a great influence on the development of the manufacturing industry in Susong area in later generations.

(End of this chapter)