sovbooks Chapter 014 Chen Ying's 35 Children
Chapter 014 Chen Ying's 35 Children
Chapter 014
Although Chen Ying spoke lightly, casting cannons using the cold casting process of molten steel was not easy and there were many technical problems to solve.
The cannon barrel and the cast seeder steel pipe are essentially the same, but the difference is very large. The seeder steel pipe has a diameter of less than four times, while the cannon barrel has a diameter of fifteen to seventeen times.
As the length of the cannon barrel increases, the overall casting difficulty becomes extremely high. Just like casting bearing bushings, it is almost the same as casting iron plowshares in the past, using double-sided pressing molds to form a single piece.
The problem is that this method is not suitable for cannons with a 15x length, especially for longer cannons, where it is difficult to achieve a one-time, precise execution.
Besides the barrel problem, Chen Ying also had to solve other technical problems with the cannons. The cannons commonly used in the Ming Dynasty, whether they were Hongyi cannons, Frankish cannons, or other types of cannons, almost all of them did not have a spade or a recoil brake.
As depicted in some later films and television dramas, cannons can fire continuously, which is actually absurd. Without a recoil brake, each time a cannon fires, the recoil force causes the gun carriage to slide backward, affecting the accuracy of the next shot.
Secondly, the cannons of the Ming Dynasty standard only adopted a fixed or adjustable double lugs, which means that the vertical elevation angle can be easily adjusted, but the horizontal movement is not possible. When the character needs to be moved, the entire cannon carriage needs to be moved as a whole.
Not only is the launch accuracy poor, but the efficiency is also worse.
These are all technical challenges that Chen Ying needs to solve. Of course, there are even bigger problems. He is preparing to build the Franco-style mother-and-child cannon, which is the world's first breech-loading artillery.
However, the problem is that the airtightness is poor, and the firing range is far lower than that of the Hongyi cannon. But the solution is actually very simple: just add a wedge-shaped breechblock, and the air leakage problem of the Frankish mother-and-child cannon can be perfectly solved.
Since the establishment of the Yongcheng Agricultural Implements Manufacturing Bureau, Chen Ying has spent almost every day at the bureau, barely taking a break. But now, he has no choice but to take a break.
"Boying, look!"
Chen Ying's adoptive father, Chen Youshi, handed Chen Ying a marriage certificate.
When Chen Ying opened the marriage certificate, he saw that it read: "The betrothal writer, Chen Youshi, is a hereditary military officer of the Horse Pasture Hundred-Household Office of Guide Guard. He has an eldest son named Ying, courtesy name Boying, who is twenty-one years old and was born on the auspicious day of the eighth day of the fourth month of the Renyin year. Now, with the help of matchmaker Zhou from the Wang family, and his uncle Chen Youfu, who is in charge of the marriage, and with the gifts of Qin Siming and Li Xiaojie, we respectfully present this marriage with a gift of colorful silk to establish our auspicious union."
I have heard that the eldest daughter of the Song family, Yan Niang, was born on the auspicious sixteenth day of the ninth month of the year Ji Hai. Born into a distinguished family, her virtuous character is renowned. Though she may be temporarily weaving at her loom, she is truly a bright pearl awaiting her radiance. Standing seven feet tall, she possesses a gentle and virtuous nature; her strength surpasses that of ordinary people, yet her heart is filled with exquisite beauty. In the past, she protected her brother against tyranny, her righteousness uplifting her neighbors; now, she assists in crafting tools, benefiting the common people…”
Chen Ying closed the marriage certificate and said, "You can decide what to do!"
"If you want me to decide how to handle it, then I won't do it!"
Chen sighed and said, "Is it up to me, your father?"
Chen Youshi is now experiencing firsthand what it means for a son to be beyond his father's control once he grows up. Chen Boying is determined to marry Song Yanniang, but Chen Youshi is initially dissatisfied because the two families are not a good match.
Once Song Yanniang marries into the Chen family, he and his wife, An, will be unable to hold their heads high in front of her. As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to be grateful, and he who takes another's money is bound to be obliging."
Don't be fooled by the fact that Chen Boying and his men built that large house on two and a half acres of land in Ma Muji. The problem is that the money for buying the land and the money spent on building the house were all paid by the Song family.
If conflicts arise between the couple in the future, even if Song Yanniang kicks Chen Boying out, he will have no choice but to obediently pack his bags and leave. Moreover, the Song family are landlords and are much richer and more powerful than the Chen family, so they can only swallow their anger.
What ultimately changed Chen was the events of the past month or so. First, Chen was appointed as the Consul General of the Yongcheng Agricultural Implements Manufacturing Bureau.
Although this consul general was not an official, he was a clerk recruited by Sun Chuanting, the magistrate of Yongcheng County, and he could receive a salary. Chen Ying received a salary of one and a half shi of grain per month.
In particular, his son Chen Boying took advantage of Tie Yuanli's unplanned production and openly earned a full 460 taels of silver.
More importantly, although Chen Boying was still a soldier, he had land under his own name. Chen Ying gave Zhang Zhengyu ten horizontal swords. Of course, these ten horizontal swords were made by blacksmiths using cold forging techniques from the scraps produced when making iron plowshares.
These ten sharp swords, each weighing three catties, are worth nine taels of silver just for the steel alone. Adding the cost of forging and the willow wood scabbards, they are worth more than one hundred taels of silver.
Zhang Zhengyu naturally knew that Chen Ying wanted to get on the good side of the Zhang family, but the problem was that the Zhang family had very strict family rules, and for the Zhang family, it was better to settle the debt with money.
Considering that Chen Ying's house was located in Ma Mu Ji and adjacent to the Wang family's fields, Zhang Zhengyu had his steward purchase the sixteen mu of land under the Wang family's name at a price of seven taels and five qian of silver per mu.
Now that Chen Boying has money and land, he can stand up straight. He naturally agreed to the marriage. In Chen Youshi's view, it is no longer the Chen family climbing up to the Song family, but the Song family climbing up to their Chen family.
Seeing that Chen Ying had no objections, Chen said, "Three days from now is an auspicious day. I will then ask Wang Zhoushi to go to the Song family to propose marriage."
"Okay, you handle it!"
At this moment, a steward ran over and said, "Commander Chen, the pig iron sent from Zhecheng is of the wrong quality; it has too many impurities!"
"Return it and have the Zhecheng County government replace the materials. They have three days; otherwise, they won't get a single plow!"
"yes!"
"Chief Chen, the chain of the seeder unit has broken again!"
"Switching to stainless steel? Didn't we tell you to switch to three-strand braided steel?"
"Commander Chen..."
Chen Ying felt dizzy and nauseous. He knew these were signs of mild heatstroke. He left the refining furnace area and went to the front yard.
He immediately grabbed a bucket of water, intending to wash himself off the heat. Just as he took off his clothes, he noticed that the curtain in front of him had been lifted.
"you……"
Chen Ying turned around and saw a woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She was wearing a faded indigo cotton dress with patches on the hem, but it was clean and dry.
Her hair was styled into a simple bun, adorned with a wooden hairpin, revealing her slender neck. She was exceptionally beautiful, not with the tall and heroic beauty of Song Yanniang, but with a delicate and graceful beauty reminiscent of a woman from Jiangnan, her features exquisitely beautiful.
At this moment, her eyes and brows were filled with sorrow, her face was frighteningly pale, and she was holding the hand of a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old.
The boy was as thin as a bamboo pole, wearing a loose, coarse cloth short jacket. He looked empty-headed, but his eyes were large, dark, and stared straight at Chen Ying.
"You two, get out! Get out!"
Chen hurriedly put his short-sleeved shirt back on. Of course, the construction bureau was full of rough men, and most of the time when they were working, they would expose their upper bodies, and no one cared.
The woman suddenly knelt down with a thud. She pressed the boy's head down beside her, forcing him to kneel as well. Then, the mother and son kowtowed three times to Chen Ying.
Chen Ying was stunned: "What are you doing?"
The laborers and craftsmen around also looked over, pointing and whispering about the mother and child.
The woman raised her head: "I am Liu Shushi, and I have brought my son Liu Qian. I beg Commander Chen... to give me a way to live."
"A way out?"
Chen Ying looked at the mother and son with suspicion: "Do we know each other?"
He thought about it carefully and found that there seemed to be no trace of these two people in the original owner of Chen Boying's memories.
"The woman is from Liujiazhuang in the west of the city."
Liu Shushi spoke quickly: "The child's father, Liu Dahe, was swept away by the flood when the Yellow River breached its banks. His body was never found."
"Later, his father passed away, and all the family's land deeds, house deeds, and the dozen or so taels of silver they had saved were taken away by his uncles and brothers. They said... that we, a widow and her children, couldn't protect the Liu family's property... They emptied the family's granary, and even took away the family's tables and chairs."
Chen Ying understood; Liu Shushi and her son had encountered one of the outdated customs of the feudal era—eating offspring who had no descendants.
The term "eating the widowed and orphaned" refers to the practice where, after the death of the male head of a household, the remaining widow and orphans become easy prey for relatives and clan members. While ostensibly a gesture of support, the true aim is to exploit the family relentlessly until every last bit of value is drained, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Chen Ying asked, "Why not go to the county government to report them?"
"I went to the county government to file a complaint... The clerk there said that even an upright official can't settle family disputes. I went to the village head, and he said... he can't handle the Liu family's affairs."
Chen Ying sighed deeply. The new China overthrew the three mountains that weighed down on the people. In fact, there were not only three mountains, but also traitors.
In cases involving blood ties and clan laws, as long as there is no rebellion, the national law does not interfere with clan laws. Clan laws can directly handle matters such as theft, adultery, and fighting.
In some places, clan elders have the power to decide the life and death of their clan members. In fact, clan power has also led to other criminal activities, similar to those in Tazhai.
In the 1970s and 80s, this kind of thing was very common. It was not uncommon for villages to fight over land and water resources.
In later generations, people would have laws to protect them in such situations, but in the Ming Dynasty, even Sun Chuanting couldn't handle it.
In the Ming Dynasty, the unspoken rule was that officials would not investigate unless the people filed a complaint.
Liu Shu made no attempt to hide the scars on her arms and legs; her body was practically covered in bruises.
"Let's talk this out, get up!"
"Commander Chen, I, the woman, may die, but this child... this child is only twelve years old, he is the only son of the Liu family... his father only has this many descendants..."
Liu Shu choked back tears, pleading, "Please, take him in, whether as an adopted son or a servant! Give him food, let him live, and let the Liu family... continue its lineage!"
The surrounding craftsmen all stopped what they were doing and watched this scene.
Some people turned their faces away, unable to bear the sight. Others shook their heads and sighed; hadn't they seen enough tragedies like this in the past few months?
"No!"
Chen Ying was actually quite helpless. Although he had some money, the problem was that he was only twenty-one years old and still an unmarried young man. What kind of situation was it to adopt a son?
More importantly, he now felt that this scene was very familiar, just like the plot of "Farewell My Concubine", where the story begins with Yan Hong sending Xiao Douzi to the opera troupe...
While Chen Ying was still in a daze, Liu Shushi stood up and rushed towards the pool.
The pool in the front yard is for storing cooling water. Although the pool is not large, it is filled with fresh water from the Wo River and is more than five feet deep. If a person jumps in, he will not drown immediately, but the pool walls are slippery and extremely difficult to climb.
"mother……"
Liu Qian roared at Liu Shushi.
"Stop her!"
Chen rushed over immediately. He was so close that he grabbed Liu Shushi's hem the instant her toes touched the edge of the pool.
The coarse cloth clothes ripped open with a "rip," but fortunately Chen Ying pulled Liu Shushi back. However, what she saw on her back was shocking.
Its massive back was covered in what looked like a suit of armor, layer upon layer, all marked with the welts of vine whips.
Liu Shushi got up and was about to jump into the pool again when Chen Ying stretched out his leg and pinned her to the ground: "Are you crazy? Can't you talk things out properly? Do you have to try to kill yourself?"
Liu Shu lay on her back on the ground, her hair disheveled, her wooden hairpin fallen. She finally stopped struggling and murmured, "There's no way to survive... there's no way to survive..."
Liu Yan remained kneeling on the spot, staring blankly at his mother, neither crying nor making a fuss, his eyes unfocused. He had witnessed his mother being humiliated by her own clansmen.
Song Yanniang came over and wrapped Liu Shushi in an old garment.
Chen Daniu brought over a bowl of cold water, but Liu Shushi refused to take it. Her eyes were lifeless, like those of a walking corpse, as she murmured, "Take in my son...take in my son..."
Chen Ying looked at the mother and son with great helplessness.
Although he was the Consul General of the Construction Bureau, the problem was that the Construction Bureau was not a charitable organization. Once the autumn crops were planted, the demand for iron plows and seeders would be greatly reduced.
The production capacity of the Imperial Workshop is too high now. At most, Guide Prefecture will probably run out of iron in a month, and these craftsmen will be laid off.
"Alright, stop threatening to kill yourself. The Construction Bureau is short-handed. You stay and help in the kitchen. You'll be provided with meals, and two liters of mixed grains a day as wages! Your son..."
Chen Ying said to Wang Tiezhu, "Tiezhu, I'm entrusting this to you. You'll learn a skill from Tiezhu, and I'll provide you with meals and a liter of grain. You can support yourself, is that alright?"
Liu Shushi suddenly raised her head, staring at Chen Ying in disbelief: "Really...?"
"really!"
Chen Ying waved his hand irritably and said, "Don't we have to work anymore? Go do what you're supposed to do!"
The craftsmen gradually dispersed and began to do their own work.
"Thank you, godfather!"
Liu Qian kowtowed to Chen Ying, then turned and kowtowed again to Song Yanniang: "Thank you, Godmother!"
Song Yanniang was slightly taken aback. Unlike Chen Ying, she now knew Chen Boying's financial situation. In addition to the 460 taels of silver, Chen Boying also had various gifts received by Song Xianze, which amounted to more than 600 taels of silver.
She and Chen Ying are not married yet, so they don't have children. They will definitely have children in the future, and the Chen family will become stronger and stronger. The Chen family also needs to cultivate its own confidants.
"Your name is Chen Qian, right?"
Song Yanniang reached out her hand to Song Xianze, who pulled a silver leaf from his pocket: "This is a gift for our first meeting!"
"Thank you, godmother, thank you, uncle..."
Chen Ying thought that the matter was over.
However, he was wrong, terribly wrong.
In less than half an hour, a large group of people, at least forty or fifty, gathered in the open space in front of the Bureau of Construction's office.
There were men and women, young and old, all of them emaciated and dressed in rags. They knelt silently under the scorching sun.
"Commander Chen...please give me a way out!"
"My son died while repairing the dike, my daughter-in-law ran off with someone else, and now it's just me and this grandson..."
"My husband died of illness, the house collapsed, and my child and I haven't had a single bite to eat for three days..."
"Commander Chen, I'm the only one left in my family of five..."
"Just give me some food, I'll do anything for you..."
Chen Ying opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Song Yanniang stepped forward and said to Song Xianze, "Kang Nian, draft the documents and have them sign them!"
Song Yanniang is now acting like the mistress of the Chen family, making decisions for Chen Ying. In her opinion, Chen Ying has such skills that no one else can do it.
Whether it's taking on apprentices or adopting sons and daughters, a family needs people to thrive.
Even if Chen Ying only has sixteen mu of land, which is not enough to support so many people, the problem is that the Song family has two hundred and seventy-eight mu of land. Because of their proximity, the Song family has already cultivated all two hundred and seventy-eight mu of land and can harvest another autumn crop.
Let alone adopting a dozen or so adopted children, even dozens more, we could afford to raise them.
In a short period of time, Chen Ying had sixteen adopted sons and nineteen adopted daughters. The oldest adopted son was fifteen years old and the youngest was six years old, while the oldest adopted daughter was twelve years old and the youngest was five years old.
Chen sometimes looked at Chen Ying's thirty-five adopted grandchildren and felt like the sky had fallen.