Chapter 201: Prologue

With a whoosh, several books were tossed onto Liu Minyou's desk. Chen Xin, just back in Weihai, said smugly, "I've dug up a treasure for you."

Liu Minyou glanced at him, picked up one book with the two large characters "Seven Victories" on the cover, read a page, and said quizzically, "What use is this? I don't follow any religion."

Chen Xin came over to look, then casually tossed it on the floor. He looked at another — *On the Awe of Heaven and Love of Man* — and threw that on the floor too. Finally he found a copy of *Diagrams and Explanations of Marvelous Machines from the Far West*, handed it to Liu Minyou, and said, "This is the one. See how many machines are in it."

Liu Minyou began reading intently. His eyes grew brighter the more he read. When he set the book down, Chen Xin said smugly, "Well? This man is called Wang Zheng. I spent a great deal of talk to recruit him."

Liu Minyou praised, "A true talent. Did he write all these?"

"This *Diagrams and Explanations of Marvelous Machines from the Far West* was supposedly dictated by a missionary named Johann Schreck and written down by Wang Zheng."

Neither Liu Minyou nor Chen Xin had heard of Johann Schreck, nor did they have any impression of Nicolas Trigault, whom Wang Zheng often mentioned. In truth, Johann Schreck was as learned as Matteo Ricci, and before coming to China he was already a scientist renowned throughout Europe. He was Swiss, had studied mathematics, medicine, and philosophy at German universities, and was proficient in eight languages including Latin, Hebrew, and French. Around the late Wanli reign, he was elected to the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance and the center of modern European science at the time; only the most outstanding scholars could be admitted to the Lincean Academy. Johann Schreck was the seventh member of the academy — his immediate predecessor was none other than the celebrated Galileo. There Schreck exchanged much modern scientific knowledge and methodology, became well acquainted with Kepler and others, and enjoyed considerable renown in European scientific circles.

Later, in Lisbon, he met Nicolas Trigault, who was searching everywhere for books. Trigault was preparing to open a church library in China to promote the development of Catholicism there. Thus Johann Schreck accompanied Trigault to China in the first year of the Tianqi reign. Wang Zheng met him in the fifth year of Tianqi and thereafter followed Longobardo, Johann Schreck, and others in studying Western learning and Catholicism.

The Ming Dynasty's tolerance of Western learning far exceeded that of the later Manchu Qing. Among the scholar-official class it was a fashion, not a passing whim of a few individuals. Although Johann Schreck was once impeached by the Ministry of Rites for propagating Western anatomy as heretical learning, it did not affect his work. Even in matters as important as the calendar, the Ming court accepted Western learning. In the second year of the Chongzhen reign, the Chongzhen Emperor specially established the Calendar Bureau, intending for these missionaries to formulate a new calendar. Johann Schreck worked there all along; it is a pity that he died of illness in Beijing in the third year of Chongzhen.

"To be able to translate it to this level is already extremely rare. How do you plan to use this Wang Zheng?"

Chen Xin said, "Set up a workshop and have him guide those young craftsmen…"

"No, no, that's not the right way to use him. You can't just have him do craftsman's work. Look inside the book." Liu Minyou opened a page. "Look at these explanations of the pulley block. A single movable pulley halves the force and can lift the full weight. Sections fifty-seven to sixty discuss the force under different ratios of wheel radius to axle radius. This is completely different from our craftsmen who only know how to make implements. Our navy and fortified villages also use this pulley — they know it saves effort, but no one has studied exactly how much effort it saves, and even less could anyone write it down. That is the difference."

Chen Xin, who actually had not read it carefully at all, blinked and said, "Then how do you propose to use him?"

Liu Minyou did not answer him directly, but continued flipping to the front and pointed at an illustration. "This page explains a lunar eclipse. Although it still uses the geocentric model, it marks the positions of the sun, earth, and moon very clearly. The earth and sea together form one sphere; when the sun passes the earth there is shadow; when the shadow meets the moon there is a lunar eclipse. There is already an understanding of celestial motion. In Section 27 of Volume One, it says that the extension of every plumb line must reach the center of the earth, therefore the end of every plumb line must coincide with the earth's center. Although it does not explicitly state the source of gravity, the concept of gravitational attraction is already there. In addition, there are the Pythagorean theorem, phonetics, horizontal planes, water pressure, the lever principle, gears, object density, lifting, finding the center of gravity of a triangle, finding the center of gravity of a polyhedron… This can absolutely serve as a textbook for popularizing science."

This can absolutely serve as a textbook for popularizing science.

Chen Xin probed, "Then, you plan to…"

Liu Minyou rubbed his hands together, a little excited. "Set up a school. Call it a School of Technology. I'll select a batch of talented students and literate craftsmen to study there. We can't limit it to making machinery. I'll discuss it further with this Wang Zheng and add some junior-high-level knowledge."

After he finished speaking, he went to get the other books. One of them, *An Outline of the Human Body from the Far West*, introduced Western human anatomy and was also written by Johann Schreck. There were also several others — *Illustrated Explanations of Various Newly Made Devices*, *A Brief Explanation of Celestial Measurement*, *The Great Measurement*, *Western Phonetic Formulas* — all of which Liu Minyou kept. The others, like *The Western Scholar's Book* and *Seven Victories*, were tossed aside.

The most useful among them was still *Diagrams and Explanations of Marvelous Machines from the Far West*, which was divided into three volumes. The first two volumes emphasized scientific principles, while the third covered Western machinery. Water-drawing devices alone included siphons, crane-suction pumps, dragon-tail pumps, and windmill-driven water lifts. All kinds of hydraulic, wind-powered, and animal-powered machinery were included, with gear transmission widely applied. The entire book was richly illustrated and clearly explained.

Much of the content gave Liu Minyou a new understanding of the scientific level of this era, and at the same time he was astonished by Europe's progress. A single missionary who had come to China possessed such rich knowledge; one could see that in terms of scientific theory, Europe's development had already far surpassed that of the Great Ming.

Chen Xin said to Liu Minyou, "Then just set up a class. But I'll tell you first, it's hard to say how long this Wang Zheng can stay. You need to transfer people over quickly. Best if you can train a batch of teachers, so they can teach other students later."

Liu Minyou inquired about Wang Zheng's status. It turned out he was still a senior official and could not be assigned casually. Somewhat hesitantly, he said, "He's still a senior official — how can we have him teach classes?"

Chen Xin chuckled. "He's only interested in these machines and such. If we provide ample conditions and funding, he'll certainly be too happy to think of home. But I still need to insert two instruction supervisors. This Wang Zheng will preach his religion at every opportunity. Let the instruction supervisors mix in some sand, so these students don't all get turned into Jesuit congregation members."

In the blink of an eye, Wang Zheng had been in Weihai for five days. He was temporarily staying in Zhu Guobin's residence. Among all the military officers, Zhu Guobin was the only one still unmarried, so Chen Xin had commandeered the place, maids and old serving women included.

Over these days, Liu Minyou accompanied Wang Zheng on a tour of various places. Weihai's clean and orderly streets left a deep impression on him. The hope radiating from the common people also made him feel it was entirely different from other places. The brick and tile houses visible everywhere further displayed the prosperity here. Wang Zheng had just come from Yangzhou. He had always heard that Wendeng was barren land with poor people and inconvenient transport. Now, after seeing it, although he did not find Weihai bustling, it still made him see it with new eyes.

He made a special visit to the naval camp of the Wendeng Battalion. The sailors, in their dark blue uniforms — after the regulations began to be enforced, the ships were much tidier than before, and combat readiness was also well maintained. Wang Zheng was very satisfied with the naval camp. In addition, he also went to the civilian ironware workshop at Mazidun. That workshop had not been relocated and currently mainly produced farming tools. Liu Minyou hoped that one day the farming tools could also be sold to other regions for profit, so he kept it at Mazidun by the sea. Wang Zheng also had considerable knowledge of the iron mold casting method. He discussed it on the spot with those craftsmen and even personally demonstrated it once.

Accompanying Wang Zheng was very easy. He held himself to rather high moral standards: he neither visited brothels nor indulged in feasting and drinking. This gave Liu Minyou an excellent impression of Wang Zheng. Although Wang Zheng still had some of the airs of an official, he forgot all about them the moment the topic turned to machinery or Catholicism.

Early on the sixth day, Chen Xin personally came to invite him to his official office. This office was in the original armor blacksmith workshop. The workshop's business office had been remodeled and was quite spacious. All the furniture inside was newly purchased, though there was no garden. Chen Xin expressed that he would have a large residence built for Wang Zheng as soon as possible, but Wang Zheng indicated that he did not mind.

Liu Minyou catered to his interests and set up a School of Technology at the workshop. All tools and raw materials were amply supplied. These students were the most talented young people selected from the literacy classes and the workshop. They had a foundation in literacy and arithmetic, and also strong hands-on ability. Here, Wang Zheng was indeed too happy to think of home. He led a group of students in daily lectures on theory, and together they built various machines. Although a large portion of the *Diagrams and Explanations of Marvelous Machines from the Far West* was overly complex and not practical, neither Chen Xin nor Liu Minyou interfered. Making complex machinery could broaden their horizons and cultivate their sensitivity to machines.

With Wang Zheng's explanations of theory, a number of students among this batch of craftsmen began to take an interest in scientific theory and methods. Liu Minyou placed high hopes on this class and often found time to lecture as well. These students' hands-on ability was very strong; he mainly instilled in them modern scientific methods such as experimentation, logical deduction, mathematical methods, and analysis, as well as cultivated their ability to teach. He hoped that the students of this class could become the seeds of science and technology for the Wendeng Battalion, and that, paired with suitable organization and incentives, they could drive the entire technical and manufacturing system of the Wendeng Battalion, thereby, in the relatively egalitarian soil of the Wendeng Battalion, giving rise to a combination of rational deduction and empirical experience. Although they currently still lacked philosophical guidance, Liu Minyou believed that as long as they had this seed, it would sprout one day.

In the third month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the situation was relatively calm. After the start of spring, the various fortified villages began bustling with spring plowing. More irrigation wells were dug, some of which were deep wells, using the windmill-driven water lifts improved by Wang Zheng. Wendeng was surrounded by sea on three sides, with ample wind power, so the impact of the drought was greatly reduced.

The northern lands suffered the usual severe drought. The areas around the Yellow River basin had even experienced a locust plague the previous year. Years of drought and the dry soil greatly increased the locusts' egg-laying. Coupled with changes in the Yellow River's course and flooding, water and drought disasters alternated, creating large areas of barren beaches or abandoned farmland along lakes, coasts, river floodplains, and waterlogged regions. This formed the East Asian migratory locust zone in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Nine Border Garrisons mainly suffered from steppe locust plagues. This year, even the area near the capital was severely drought-stricken, forcing the Chongzhen Emperor to personally pray for rain and requiring officials of all ministries to likewise observe a day of fasting at their government offices. Despite this, the drought conditions in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and other places showed no sign of improvement. Yang He's pacification policy had once again entered a dead end.

At the end of the second month, the islands along the Liaodong coast thawed. By early third month, a small number of island soldiers had fled from Pi Island. The Intelligence Bureau learned from them that the situation on the island was not peaceful.

After accepting amnesty the previous year, Liu Xingzhi had remained on Pi Island. Some of the original officers of the Dongjiang Garrison also returned to Pi Island, using their residual influence and personal retainers to divide the factions on the island. Liu Xingzhi was originally an outsider and could not mix with these old Dongjiang officers. Moreover, he had committed the act of rebellion and killed Chen Jisheng, the most prestigious man in the Dongjiang Garrison, so he constantly feared retaliation from the old soldiers. Both sides were on guard against each other daily, and drawn-sword standoffs were frequent. The morale on Pi Island grew even more scattered. Chen Xin was not clear on Liu Xingzhi's final outcome. After learning the news, he had the Intelligence Bureau monitor the situation on Pi Island. The Intelligence Bureau recruited several people who had fled Pi Island as peripheral intelligence agents and put them on merchant ships trading with Pi Island. At the same time, some combat battalions began conducting maritime transport exercises.

By mid-third month, Chen Xin received intelligence from the capital. Voices within the court were beginning to call for the continued construction of the Ningyuan-Jinzhou defense line. Because the previous year's Jianzhou Bandit incursion had left everyone with lingering fear, some people turned their eyes to recovering Guangning. Guangning controlled the juncture of Liaodong and the Mongol territories, a strategically vital position. Back then, after the Later Jin captured it, they lacked sufficient troops to occupy it. True to their horse-bandit style, they plundered the population and wealth and returned to Liaoyang, demolishing Guangning's city walls before they left.

When Sun Chengzong first took command in Liaodong, he had sent troops to patrol the old city of Guangning to demonstrate to the Mongol tribes that the Great Ming still held influence there — which shows the importance of this place.

If Guangning could be recovered, it would cut off the main passage linking the Later Jin with the various Mongol tribes. The Great Ming's influence could then once again affect the nearby Mongol tribes. The Later Jin's invasion routes would become extremely vulnerable to harassment, and they would completely lose suzerainty over the Mongols, naturally making it impossible for them to enter through the Great Wall again.

But this strategic objective far exceeded the tactical capability of the Ming army. Having fought the Jianzhou Bandits for ten years, everyone had some self-awareness and knew they had to proceed gradually. Thus two voices emerged: one was to recover Yixian to the west and build overland fortifications all the way to Guangning; the second was to go east and construct the Right Garrison of Guangning. Sun Chengzong approved of the second option, developing eastward along the coastline to approach the central Liaoning plain. In an emergency, it could be reinforced and supplied by sea. After consolidation, they could then advance north to recover important fortresses like Xiping and Zhenwu. Once a cluster of fortresses was formed, occupying Guangning would be a matter of course.

Although he agreed with the eastward plan, he believed they could not directly construct the Right Garrison of Guangning. The Right Garrison was seventy li from Jinzhou, with the Daling River channel separating them in between. If they built the city directly, once it came under Later Jin attack, it would be difficult to reinforce. Therefore he suggested first constructing the original Guangning Central Left Thousand-Household Battalion. This could both screen and protect Jinzhou and prepare for the construction of the Right Garrison. This plan seemed closest to the Ming army's current situation and gained the support of Minister of War Liang Tingdong. Thus the court began discussing the plan to construct the Guangning Central Left Thousand-Household Battalion.

The Guangning Central Left Thousand-Household Battalion was located a little over thirty li east of Jinzhou, between the Right Garrison and Jinzhou. It also had another name: Dalinghe City. (To be continued.

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