Zhang Youyu was originally a subordinate of Gao Hongtu, but when Hongguang was first established, Zhang Youyu wanted to ask Gao Hongtu to help him to be promoted to the Ministry of Works or Xing's ministry, but he did not expect Gao Hongtu to reject him, and this offended Zhang Youyu. So after Ruan Dacheng came out of the mountain, Zhang Youyu immediately turned to Ruan Dacheng and became a capable general who attacked Gao Hongtu.

With the help of an insider Zhang Youyu, Ruan Dacheng took control of all the illegal affairs of Gao Hongtu. The Ministry of Revenue did not collect taxes on time. This was a big deal. Nearly one million troops in Jiangbei and Zuo Liangyu lost military salaries, but they would be in trouble. So Ruan Dacheng seized this and wanted to kill Gao Hongtu in one fell swoop.

Gao Hongtu sighed. It seemed that Ruan Dacheng was prepared today. In addition to slandering himself morally, he was also caught in evidence in political affairs. There was no way Gao Hongtu had to stand up and resign.

This made Ruan Dacheng very happy that the two generals of the Donglin Party were defeated. Next, Ruan Dacheng recommended Zhang Youyu as the Minister of Revenue, Zhou Kangeng, the former Minister of Works, and Li Zhan took over the position of the Minister of Works. These Ruan Dacheng's party members occupied high positions, and for a time the eunuch party showed signs of resurrection in the new dynasty.

In the following months, Ruan Dacheng continued to work hard, using the ashes to remove Jiang Yueguang, and posted anonymous letters in the city to run away Lu Daqi and Liu Zongzhou, but this was not Ruan Dacheng's real purpose. On the first day of July of the 17th year of Chongzhen, Ruan Dacheng finally threw out the case of the long-planned plan that caused the Donglin Party to die.

After Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty did not care at first, but thought that they had changed their new owners. Working for the Ming Dynasty was a job, and working for the Dashun Dynasty was also a job, so there was no difference.

But the fact is that Li Zicheng was too ridiculous. He was driven away by the Qing Dynasty after living in Beijing for a few days. Among these ministers, some of them heard that the Southern Ming court opened in Nanjing, so they had new ideas. First, these ministers were thinking about the Qing Dynasty's defense of the barbarians and Xia, and secondly, they were familiar with the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, so a group of scholars and officials went south to Nanjing, intending to continue working for the Southern Ming court.

But these literati were too perfect. China lacked everything but was not short of officials. The Nanjing court had already occupied all the positions. What did you surrendered and sent back to do? So these people were waiting for redistribution in Nanjing. It was these unlucky guys who allowed Ruan Dacheng to see the opportunity. These guys had already had political stains and had unclear relationships with the Donglin Party. So Ruan Dacheng incited Emperor Zhu Yousong to issue an order to announce the investigation of the matter. These literati who went south were thrown into prison. Historically, this incident was called "Shun Case", and the Shun Case had aggravated the internal strife in the Southern Ming Dynasty to a certain extent and accelerated the collapse and demise of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Of course this is a historical determination. In fact, the greater reason for the Shun case is Ruan Dacheng's counterattack against the Donglin Party. No matter what the future happens, Ruan Dacheng's Shun case actually strengthened the authority of Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, and Ma Cheng indirectly also gained great benefits.

Since the Minister of Revenue and Minister of Works replaced their own people, these two departments have increased their support for Ma Cheng's new army and allocated 100,000 taels of silver to Ma Cheng in June. As for the Xuanwu Lake Weapons Bureau, it has become Ma Cheng's private land, and he can use it as much as he wants.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ma Cheng arranged his subordinate Xu Zhenye to the Ministry of Industry as the head of the Construction and Repair Department, in charge of the leather bureau, pigment bureau, and weapons bureau. Using Xu Zhenye, Ma Cheng to rectify the Xuanwu Lake Weapon Bureau from beginning to end, improve all the unreasonable production processes, and at the same time introduce a more efficient assembly line process to greatly strengthen the production progress of the musket.

Of course, Ma Cheng would never be able to complete such a big change by himself. This is all thanks to Chen Zilong's help. Chen Zilong has a very good study of mathematics and institutions. Often, Ma Cheng puts forward an idea, and Chen Zilong can put this idea into practice.

However, Chen Zilong is not a genuine scientist like Xu Guangqi. Chen Zilong can only be regarded as Xu Guangqi's successor. His understanding of Western learning is not as good as Xu Guangqi, so Ma Cheng still cannot build the steam turbine.

Although the principle of the steam turbine is very simple, it has high requirements for materials. Ma Cheng sighed when he saw the boiler leaking everywhere. Do you really want to go to Nanyang to get rubber, and then develop a reciprocating steam engine that is not as effective as that of the steam turbine?

What Ma Cheng didn't know was that even if he went to Nanyang, he wouldn't get rubber. The origin of rubber was in the Americas and had not been introduced to Nanyang by the Portuguese for large-scale planting.

Everything went smoothly and Ma Cheng was very happy. He felt that according to this progress, he could train 10,000 troops next year. However, it was raining all night. Just when Ma Cheng was excited, Chen Zilong sent a message that disappointed Ma Cheng, and Chen Zilong was about to resign and return home.

In the past two months, Ma Cheng and Chen Zilong have had a close relationship and their relationship is getting better and better. Ma Cheng found that Chen Zilong had no pedantic atmosphere of a literati. Except for sometimes he liked to recite a limerick and browse the brothel, he was like a college student who had just graduated from later generations, with vitality, and full of hope for the country.

Chen Zilong's impression of Ma Cheng is getting better and better. In the past, Chen Zilong learned from Ma Luan that Ma Cheng is a second-generation ancestor, but after a month of working and living together, Chen Zilong found that Ma Cheng is completely different from a playboy. Although Ma Cheng does not study, he has a wide range of knowledge and Ma Cheng has unique insights no matter what. Although many of this kind of insights are superficial, this is enough for Chen Zilong to look at Ma Cheng with admiration.

However, living and working with Ma Cheng did not reduce Chen Zilong's disappointment with the government. In the past two months, Chen Zilong wrote more than fifty letters and provided more than 60 suggestions to the country, but the entire court's attention was on the party struggle. Needless to say, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying were thinking about persecuting the Donglin Party. And the Donglin Party and other righteous people were also fighting back. In this case, no one was concerned about Chen Zilong, the seventh-rank officer.

Chen Zilong was very disappointed when he saw that the court had become like this. At the end of June, he wanted to resign and return to his hometown. Since the government did not need me, I would go home to study.

What made Chen Zilong unresolved was the work of the Weapons Bureau. Now that some major workshops have been renovated, Chen Zilong is only planning to return home in a few days. Today is here to say goodbye to Ma Cheng.

When Ma Cheng heard that Chen Zilong was about to leave him, he immediately tried to keep him and said, "Brother Chen, why do you have to leave? Why don't I tell my father and I will promote you to the official position!"

After hearing what Ma Cheng said, Chen Zilong smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, it doesn't matter whether he is promoted or not to me. What can I do if I am promoted to the Prime Minister? Now that the government has become like this, several Prime Ministers attack each other for their own personal interests, Brother Yu is extremely disappointed with the officialdom. Since this is the case, it is better to go home to study and serve my mother!"

When Ma Cheng heard Chen Zilong say this, he knew that this old man was completely desperate about the country, but what Chen Zilong said was right. The political situation in the Southern Ming Dynasty was just a pot of porridge, and anyone else would have a virtue. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang crawled out of Xiaoling Mausoleum, there was no good idea.

Ma Cheng and Chen Zilong have been having a good relationship these past ten days. They really don’t want such a right-hand man to go home so disheartenedly. In order to keep Chen Zilong, Ma Cheng doesn’t mind revealing the historical process to this good friend.

"Brother Chen, now the bandits such as Li Zicheng from the north have retreated to Guanzhong. The Qing Dynasty occupied several provinces such as Northern Zhili and Shanxi. What if the Qing Dynasty led its troops south? So Brother Chen would rather not go home. How about staying here to help me prepare for the war?"

Chen Zilong laughed when he heard Ma Cheng say this: "Haha, brother, you can rest assured. Although the Qing Dynasty cavalry is powerful, Li Zicheng is not a good person. Li Zicheng retreated to Guanzhong and had Tongguan natural barriers to defend it. The Qing Dynasty would not be able to quickly solve Li Zicheng. If he did not solve his worries, would the Qing Dynasty dare to worry about exposing his flanks to the current situation of the bandits? Therefore, the Qing Dynasty must first solve Li Zicheng going south, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops in four towns in Jiangbei, occupying the Yellow River and Huai River natural barriers. In addition, Zuo Liangyu is guarded by the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Nanzhili is very safe here!"

Chen Zilong's understanding was also the understanding of the Dukes in the court. It was precisely because everyone thought that the Qing Dynasty and Li Zicheng would be difficult to separate, so the Dukes in the court were relieved and were ready to divide the kings of all sizes before the Qing Dynasty or Li Zicheng went south.

Ma Cheng was very anxious when he heard Chen Zilong say this, but history cannot reveal too much. Ma Cheng had no choice but to ask: "Brother Chen, what should Li Zicheng do if he can't beat the Qing Dynasty? What if the Qing Dynasty sent two groups to deal with Li Zicheng and us separately?"

In history, the Qing Dynasty was divided into two groups to deal with Li Zicheng and Nanming respectively. Under the leadership of Prince Ajige of the British, a total of 30,000 Manchuria, Mongolian and Han coalition forces entered Shaanxi from Shanxi, followed Li Zicheng to chase and fight, successively occupied 63 cities in Henan, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan, and finally stopped at the city of Nanjing. There was also the leadership of Prince Yu Duoduo, the Qing Dynasty, who was the most capable of fighting in the Qing Dynasty. After passing through Henan, Shandong, and finally arrived in Yangzhou, he captured several strong cities in the world in one day, and crossed the Yangtze River ten days after the massacre of the city.

What Ma Cheng said has revealed the historical process, but Chen Zilong is not a time traveler, but like most people in this era, he still believes that the Qing Dynasty will definitely fight to death with Li Zicheng in the north first. Although Li Zicheng is defeated by the Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng's hometown is not lost yet. Li Zicheng still has hundreds of thousands of troops in Huguang, Henan. Even if the Qing Dynasty can fight, it will be impossible for him to eliminate all hundreds of thousands of troops within a few months.

Even if the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were all supermen, and each could fight ten, except for Li Zicheng, the Southern Ming court had millions of troops in Jiangbei and Wuchang. When the Qing Dynasty and Li Zicheng were tired, it was the time when the millions of troops in the Southern Ming Dynasty were waiting for their work. So Chen Zilong didn't believe Ma Cheng's words, but shook his head and smiled: "Brother, what you said is too sensational. This war is not as easy as you think!"
Chapter completed!