The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 232 The Prince's Harem

Zheng Haiping and Zheng Ruining, uncle and nephew, controlled the port of Dakar and immediately did a business with the Europeans at the dock.

At the same time, more soldiers were sent ashore, relying on the port to expand the occupied area and rapidly expand inland and southward.

Next to Dakar is the French-controlled slave trading island of Gorée, and more than a hundred kilometers to the north is the French colony of Saint Louis.

More than 300 kilometers to the south is the Portuguese colony of Guinea-Bissau.

More than 800 kilometers to the south is the British colony of Sierra Leone.

However, at this time, most of the European colonies in Africa only had a simple castle and a few coastal towns.

Europeans did not yet have the ability to wage a full-scale war with the local indigenous regimes, nor did they have the ability to occupy large-scale land in inland Africa.

The Duke of Min is different from the Europeans. They are here to occupy land on a large scale.

Directly attack the indigenous regimes on the mainland, force the local indigenous regimes to surrender directly, and occupy large tracts of land on the mainland.

Zheng Haiping did not directly conflict with the Europeans, but decisively bypassed the European colonial outposts.

We plan to come back and clean them up after we have the inland situation under control.

Although colonial officials and merchants from several European countries felt threatened by the Ming people, they did not have the power or courage to directly confront them.

They could only remain vigilant and report what they observed and the news of the Ming Dynasty's large-scale occupation of West Africa back to their homeland.

The judgment of European colonial officials was correct, except that the Ming Dynasty wanted to occupy not West Africa, but the whole of Africa.

Before the end of the 43rd year of Xianning, the Ming central court, most of the royal family, and all the foreign vassal states in Lake Tai had sent out their first batch of "immigrants".

They were basically soldiers, based on the original vassal soldiers and garrison militia, and were equipped with the latest Australian automatic rifles.

Since the local governments organized the immigration on their own, the total number cannot be accurately counted, but it was at least over 300,000, who landed on the east and west coasts of Africa.

Seize the original coastal towns, or the coastal towns of the Ming Dynasty as a basis, quickly penetrate into inland areas, and control large areas of land.

It is clear that next year there will be more migrant boats carrying more armed migrants to Africa.

Most of the provinces in the Ming Dynasty, as well as all of the local vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, put forth most of their resources and strength and began to control the entire African continent.

Just like in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life, Europeans began to fully control Africa after the Berlin Conference in the late nineteenth century.

With the epoch-making advantages in transportation capabilities and weapons and equipment, this process will only take about twenty years.

Compared with Europe, the Ming Dynasty had a greater population advantage, the Ming Dynasty's homeland was more prosperous and there was no internal war, and the Ming Dynasty's vassal states had a stronger motivation to expand on their own.

The Ming Dynasty would occupy all of Africa faster than in history.
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On the first day of September in the forty-third year of Xianning in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jianxuan went to Xiyuan to pay his respects to his parents.

After greeting and greeting each other, the old emperor asked Zhu Jianxuan to sit down and then asked about what was happening outside:

"Have you arranged the affairs of the vassal state? Are you free now?"

Zhu Jianxuan nodded and said:

"It has been arranged, but there is still a lot to do, including organizing personnel, materials, ships, etc.
“However, these specific tasks are the responsibility of the cabinet, the privy council, and officials from various ministries.

"I only need to review and approve the progress of irregular spot checks, and I don't need to make specific plans and arrangements myself."

After listening to this, the old emperor nodded slightly:
"I remember that you used more than half of the taxes collected by the imperial court in the provinces to support the new and old vassal states' pioneering activities in Africa.

"Will it not affect the operation of the court itself? Will there be money left for officials' salaries and local development?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
“If it was two years ago, this would definitely affect the operation of the court, but it won’t happen now.

“The Ming Southern Investment Company has taken over a large number of industries in the southern part of the Ming mainland.

“Now the court’s income, in addition to normal taxes, also includes profits from southern industries.

“The actual profits of these industries will definitely be higher than the taxes.

“Moreover, the imperial court did not allow the vassal states to collect taxes on their own, nor did it allow the vassal states to spend money freely.

“Instead, the imperial court first collected the tax revenue and used it as payment for the supplies purchased by the vassal states, and paid it to all the industrial and agricultural industries of the imperial court.

“These include the Wangyou factory in Australia, the newly established Southern Investment Company, Northern Industry Company, and Northern Agriculture Company.

“For agricultural implements, tools, cloth, clothing, livestock, food, seeds and other bulk materials.

“So the tax revenues that support the feudal lords will eventually flow into the imperial court’s industries.

"Promote the continued development and expansion of the court's industries and further accelerate the construction and development of the north." The old emperor suddenly reacted:

"Boy, no wonder you are so generous. You give up all the taxes from every province and don't worry about the problems later..."

Then the old emperor suddenly changed the subject:
"Since there is nothing else in the court that requires your special concern, just take care of the concubine matter first.

"Your mother has chosen a hundred people for you, and you can choose the one you like from them."

Zhu Jianxuan didn't waste any words:
"Thank you, Father and Mother, for your hard work..."

The selection of princes presided over by the queen herself has finally reached the final stage.

The Queen handed Zhu Jianxuan a booklet, which contained the profiles of the girls chosen by the Queen.

It includes basic information such as place of origin and family, as well as a frontal half-length photo.

Zhu Jianxuan took a quick look and found nothing interesting.

They can be selected from countless people, and they must all have clean family backgrounds and good looks.

Mathematics scores are also at the highest level among their peers.

However, Zhu Jianxuan's original request was to select ten women over the age of eighteen to be adopted as wives, and then select twenty younger women to be raised and trained in the palace.

The one hundred children on this list are actually evenly distributed between the ages of ten and twenty.

In fact, it was because the queen felt that eighteen or nineteen years old was too old.

So she deliberately allocated the extra places to a group of candidates who she thought were of appropriate age, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

After Zhu Jianxuan finished jumping and flipping through the pages, he said to his mother:

"Mother, just choose it. I don't have much to choose from."

The Queen immediately said:
"I'm afraid you won't like my choice. My mother and I have different opinions on age, so you should choose it yourself.

"Three days later, come to Kunning Palace and meet these children in person. Keep the ones you think are suitable."

Zhu Jianxuan thought about the scene and flipped through the book in his hand again:

"It's still too much trouble. I really don't have any choice. I think these children are all good. Why don't we just keep them all?

"If I send someone I have personally met back to his hometown, there might be gossip among the people. I just saved myself the trouble."

The Queen was speechless:
"It's not impossible..."

The old emperor pointed at Zhu Jianxuan:
"It's fine as long as you are happy with it. After all, there are only a few dozen beauties. It won't cause scholars to gossip about them behind your back."

Zhu Jianxuan's audition was completed in this way, skipping the last step.

On September 3, the sixty girls selected by the Queen were taken to the South Three Houses by the eunuchs and female officials.

The Qing Dynasty abolished the position of crown prince, and the Ciqiong Palace where the crown prince lived was not rebuilt. Instead, it was changed into three courtyards with three entrances each for all the princes to live in, which was called the Nansanso.

All of the old emperor's children have grown up and moved out of the palace, and the South Three Houses are now where the crown prince Zhu Jianxuan lives alone.

Zhu Jianxuan came to the South Third House and accepted greetings from sixty beauties in the main hall in the middle of the nine courtyards.

After meeting Zhu Jianxuan, they all became palace maids in the prince's harem.

The crown prince has only one crown princess, and the other women are concubines. After giving birth to a child, they can be given the title of Madam.

Zhu Jianxuan will not appoint a Crown Princess, so she does not have a title yet.

Zhu Jianxuan then ordered the female officials to evenly distribute the sixty palace maids to live in the eight surrounding courtyards.

The courtyard in the middle was reserved for classes, meetings and discussions, and female officials were arranged to give them lessons every day, teaching them mathematics and natural history.

So that they don’t have nothing to do on weekdays and think about all kinds of messy things.

From that day on, Zhu Jianxuan randomly arranged for the nine courtyards of the South Three Houses to host ladies who were over 18 years old and had them sleep with him according to their pregnancy period.

Zhu Jianxuan worked hard in the Nansanso for three months. By the beginning of December in the 43rd year of Xianning, six palace maids had shown signs of pregnancy.

Zhu Jianxuan breathed a sigh of relief. There was nothing wrong with his body, otherwise the successor would be a big problem.

The queen was very happy to hear the news, and the old emperor was completely relieved.

(End of this chapter)