Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 446: Zhu Chong's plan, the natives actually built a city? [Please subscribe]

The cabin where Zhu Chong lived had good sound insulation, so he couldn't hear what was being cheered outside.

Just as Zhu Chong was about to go out to take a look, he heard the eunuch outside the door excitedly say: "Your Majesty, the fleet has finally crossed the desert!"

This sounded as if the fleet had been sailing in the desert before, but Zhu Chong understood that the eunuch meant that the shore was no longer a desert area.

He immediately took the telescope, left the cabin, and came to the deck of the Yongliang with several guards.

He didn't even need a telescope to see the green stretches on the distant shore. He picked up the telescope again and saw that beyond the beach into the mainland was no longer a desert, but shrubs and even forests!
Just then, a general of the guard army came running over to report, "Your Majesty, Commander Hu is using flag signals to ask if we should dock."

Zhu Chong saw that the fleet had already left the desert for a long time, and since Hu Dingbo asked this question, he must think that they should go ashore and find water. So he said, "Tell Commander Hu to anchor when we find a suitable port!"

"Yes!"

If not all ships were to dock, there would be no need for a particularly good port, and a port of average condition would not be difficult to find.

Only half an hour later, the scouting warship in front entered a natural harbor first, and then sent a flag signal to let more ships follow.

Hundreds of soldiers went ashore with water bags and divided into dozens of teams to search for water in all directions. Sure enough, in less than an hour, the news that the water source had been found was reported back!

The officer who delivered the message arrived on the Yongliang, saluted Zhu Chong, and reported, "Your Majesty, there is a small lake four or five miles to the southeast. However, it is occupied by a native tribe."

"A native tribe?" Zhu Chong was slightly surprised, then asked, "How many people are there?"

"Judging from the number of houses in the tribe, there are probably several hundred people."

Zhu Chong snorted, "What's there to be afraid of with just a few hundred natives? Pass on my order. Have the commander-in-chief lead 3,000 garrison troops ashore to fetch water. If this tribe dares to stop us, we'll destroy them!"

"Yes!"

As Zhu Chong's order was issued, the ships in the port started moving again. One ship after another took turns to anchor at suitable landing places, and the soldiers of the Yongfan Guard Army landed in order under the command of Commander Wang Tiande.

And they brought hundreds of horses and thousands of water bags!
···
Kucaña means "Lake of Life" in Quechua.

The Kukaniya tribe was a tribe built next to the only lake within a radius of more than 20 miles. It had a population of 500 to 600 and 200 warriors.

When the Yongfan army arrived, there were only more than a hundred warriors left in the Kukaniya tribe. As for the dozens of the tribe's most powerful warriors, they had gone hunting in the mountains and forests in the east.

Seeing thousands of strangely dressed people approaching the tribe, the Kukanya tribe was naturally extremely nervous. Young and strong men returned from the nearby fields amidst shouts, picked up weapons and became warriors.

Dai Wensi, the military advisor, said, "Commander Wang, why don't we send someone to negotiate with these natives first and see if we can avoid a fight?"

Wang Tiande said, "We don't speak the same language, and even our gestures might be different. How can we communicate?"

"Besides, you see, this little lake isn't very big, and the water doesn't seem very deep. With so many of us fetching water, and more than once, even if we don't get all the water out, I'm afraid there's only the bottom left."

"They live by the lake and farm, so they definitely won't allow us to freely take water. Even if we could communicate, we'd probably end up fighting. So why waste time?"

After saying that, Wang Tiande directly ordered the soldiers of Yongfan to go and fetch water.

Seeing thousands of Yongfan soldiers marching into the tribe, the people of the Kukaniya tribe became anxious. An elderly man ran out with a few people and blocked the army. He said a lot of gibberish and made gestures.

Unfortunately, the leading soldiers didn't understand at all, or didn't listen, and simply pushed them away.

Seeing this, several arrows immediately shot out from behind the tribe’s stone wall!
"A mere barbarian dares to attack us?" Wang Tiande snorted coldly, then waved his hand and said, "Break through this group, and kill any who resist on the spot!"

As soon as the military order was given, the Yongfan soldiers, who had been prepared, opened fire directly at the natives behind the stone parapet!
Bang bang bang...

After a burst of crisp gunfire, more than a dozen defenseless native warriors fell, but their arrows failed to kill a single Ming soldier.

The remaining natives were frightened and fled to the east.

Wang Tiande saw that there were many native women among the fleeing people. Considering that there were many unmarried soldiers in the garrison, he said, "If we let them escape into the mountains and forests, they will definitely harass us when we are trying to get water."

"Let Li Kuidou lead the cavalry in pursuit. Kill any men who refuse to surrender, and capture as many women as possible!"

"Order!"

Although some of Yong Fan's war horses died of thirst, some of them had been provided with a certain amount of drinking water and could still be used.

So, Li Kuidou, a cavalry captain, led a hundred cavalrymen to chase and kill the natives of the Kukaniya tribe.

Here, Wang Tiande ordered the remaining soldiers to go to the small lake to fetch water...
The Yongfan army stayed here for three days and almost took all the water from the small lake before leaving. They also took away more than one hundred women, dozens of children, and even twenty or thirty young men from the Kukaniya tribe.

The fleet stopped and started, sailing south for nearly a thousand miles before finally reaching San Antonio, the place Zhu Chong had chosen on the map as the starting point for his vassalage, and one of the later famous ports of Chile. On the second deck of the Yongliang, Zhu Chong surveyed the scenery ashore through a telescope.

I saw a big river winding towards the eastern inland along the undulating hilly terrain. The banks of the river near the sea were lush with weeds and shrubs. There were trees only one or two miles to the east, and they became more and more dense, eventually forming a large forest.

Perhaps because it was dinner time, dozens of wisps of smoke could be vaguely seen rising from the woods on the north bank of the river. It was obvious that there was an indigenous tribe among them, and it was probably quite large.

He even saw more than a dozen canoes on the river in the distance.

Putting down the telescope, Zhu Chong was about to make some bold statements when he heard his chief aide, Yang Qian, say, "Your Majesty, I see this river is quite large. I'm afraid it connects to many places inland."

"If Your Majesty lands here and establishes a vassal state, the natives upstream might become hostile to us and unite with us, even contacting the Inca Empire. I'm afraid we'll face endless harassment from them."

"In my humble opinion, it would be better to choose the natural harbor I observed a hundred and twenty to thirty miles to the north."

"Not only is it more sheltered from the wind than here, but the nearby river is smaller. Even if natives from upstream attack, their numbers and power will be smaller."

Zhu Chong frowned upon hearing this and said, "Mr. Yang, you only consider that we have to deal with the harassment of the natives. Have you ever considered that after the Yong Clan develops, we will have to conquer each native tribe one by one in order to grow stronger?"

"Or perhaps you think I'm complacent and will stop making progress by just building a small city on the west coast of South America?"

Yang Qian said, "That is not my intention. I simply hope that Yong Fan can develop more steadily. Your Majesty, please understand that this place is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, and we will not receive support from the imperial court."

"If we establish a vassal state and fight the natives too frequently, and there are too many casualties among the military and civilians, it will be difficult to replenish them."

After hearing this, Zhu Chong actually felt that what Yang Qian said made some sense, but he couldn't let go of his pride.

He frowned and said, "Even if these mere South American barbarians attack us frequently, how can they harm the soldiers and civilians of Yongfan? Could it be that the swords and armor in our soldiers' hands are fake?"

"I have made up my mind to establish my vassal state right here!"

In fact, Yang Qian looked down on Zhu Chong. The reason why he joined Zhu Chong's court and became the chief of staff was because he was caught by the Jinyiwei and got a hint, so he became the staff of Prince Yong.

In his view, this was tantamount to exiling his entire family overseas.

The only difference is that his position was not hard labor, but that he was the military advisor in Prince Yong's court, and his treatment was very good.

Not to mention anything else, just for the treatment of his family in Yongfan, even if he looked down on Zhu Chong, he had to work hard to find things for him.

Seeing that he could not persuade Zhu Chong, he sighed and said, "If Your Majesty insists on landing here to establish a vassal state, I suggest that we go upstream a few miles to the edge of the forest to choose a site for the city."

"Also, in the early stages, it's best to focus on making friends and appeasing the indigenous tribes here, and avoid making too many enemies."

Zhu Chong used to be a bit cruel and brutal, but he was not a fool. He had gone through several years of "bottom-level" training and passed the literary examination for establishing a vassal state overseas, so his relevant qualities were barely qualified.

He knew that Yang Qian's concerns about the frequent attacks by the natives in the early days of the vassal state were not without reason, so he smiled and patted Yang Qian on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, I will do as you say!"

"However, I see that there are people two or three miles up this river. There must be a native tribe there. If we want to choose a site to establish our vassal state, I'm afraid we must first deal with this tribe."

Yang Qian said, "We can first send Zou Lushi with some soldiers and goods to negotiate with the tribe and see if we can get them to agree to let us build a city here."

Zhu Chong curled his lips and said, "Their tribe is here, so how could they agree to us building a city nearby? Well, let's send someone to negotiate first - courtesy first, then force."

What he was thinking in his mind was to take advantage of the opportunity of transaction and communication to understand the population and other conditions of the department, so that it would be easier to wipe out the department later.

Afterwards, Zhu Chong summoned all his civil and military officials on the Yongliang to discuss the matter in detail and issued orders one by one.

As the order was issued, Zou Mingda, the clerk of the shogunate, and Liang Xiong, a centurion of the imperial guards, soon landed with a hundred guards and daily necessities such as needles, thread, and porcelain, and headed towards the woods in the east.

The Yongfan army also landed at a suitable landing site nearby, built a simple dock, and constructed simple defense facilities...
However, Zou Mingda and others cut through the thorns and cleared the way as they went. After crossing a mound, it took them nearly half an hour to reach a place in the woods more than a mile away from the native "tribe".

Then they stopped and subconsciously hid themselves.

"This... the natives actually built a city?" Zou Mingda looked at the stone wall in the distance and couldn't help but said in a dry voice.

Liang Xiong and other soldiers were also very surprised, because according to the information they had previously obtained, the Americas were all inhabited by natives. Although there were two countries, they were similar to the South Seas states. There should be no country on the west coast of South America, only some native tribes.

Therefore, they never expected to see an aboriginal stone city just a few miles from the coast!

After coming to his senses, Liang Xiong asked, "Recruiter Zou, what should we do now?"

(End of this chapter)