The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 106 Northwest Conspiracy
The sun sets and the sky is filled with red clouds.

At the river port outside Luanzhou City, five centipede boats are slowly approaching the shore.

Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and father-in-law Zhang Zhenna were already standing at the dock to greet them with smiles.

As soon as Wanli and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan disembarked, they both bowed repeatedly and said, "Mr. Huang and Madam, your presence is a great honor to our humble home. It is a great honor to our humble home."

what?
Deng Zilong was confused again when he heard this.

Why do these two people call His Majesty Mr. Huang?
Wanli actually exchanged a few words with the two of them with a warm expression on his face, and then followed them to the large courtyard next to the dock.

This large courtyard seems to be newly built, and the people living in it are a bit strange. The people on the street seem to be strong men with black and gray faces, and each of them looks like a coal miner.

However, the people living in the largest courtyard next to the dock are relatively normal. At least there is no dust on their faces and their clothes are clean.

This courtyard is really huge, covering at least hundreds of acres. It is obvious that it could only be built by a wealthy family.

Who are these two people? Why did His Majesty bring him to meet them?

Deng Zilong's mind was full of questions.

However, Wanli didn't say anything and just followed them inside.

Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi led the group directly to the large backyard, led them into the main hall, and brought them to a large table of sumptuous food and wine. Then he said solemnly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please take a seat."

Oh, this guy actually knew that these were the Emperor and the Empress.

Wanli nodded slightly, asked everyone to sit down, raised his glass to toast, and asked everyone to eat a bite of food. Then he introduced: "Ying Zhen, father-in-law, this is General Deng Zilong, who will be in charge of the navy training.

Zilong, this is Duke Cheng, and this is Concubine Zhang's father."

It turns out that one is a duke and the other is the father-in-law of the emperor. No wonder the Emperor and the Empress are so familiar with them.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong quickly stood up and saluted.

Upon seeing this, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen and father-in-law Zhang Zhen hurriedly stood up to return the greeting.

What are these three guys doing pushing and shoving each other?

Wanli raised his hand and asked them to sit down. Then he asked, "How is it, father-in-law? Have the navy officers and warships arrived?"

Zhang Zhen, the father-in-law, nodded repeatedly and said, "Ten thousand naval officers and soldiers and two hundred centipede boats have been recruited and dispersed to various docks on the Luan River."

Wanli nodded slightly and asked, "The gathering of the navy officers and centipede ships has not attracted anyone's attention, right?"

The father-in-law, Zhang Zhen, shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no, I personally delivered His Majesty's secret order. Besides, there are already hundreds of warships transporting iron ingots on the Luan River every day. A hundred more ships would not attract attention."

Why is this navy gathering like thieves?
Deng Zilong was bewildered when he heard this.

Seeing this, Wanli explained in detail: "General Deng, the purpose of our summoning the navy and the centipede ships is to plan for the northwest.

The situation in the northwest is very complicated. The three major families in Puzhou and the northern barbarians are in cahoots. They deliberately forced Haobai to rebel and kept asking the court for help. In fact, their target was the court's reinforcements.

The imperial court wanted to send reinforcements to quell the rebellion of Haobai, which would require at least tens of thousands of troops. However, transporting food and fodder by land was very unsafe. If they went through Pianguan Town, Yansui Town and Guyuan Town, they might be ambushed by the northern barbarians and their food supply routes might be cut off.

The drought in the northwest is becoming increasingly serious. It is almost impossible to mobilize food and grass from there. If tens of thousands of troops or even hundreds of thousands of troops are cut off from food and grass, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Therefore, I have mobilized 10,000 naval officers and soldiers and 200 centipede ships specifically for transporting food and fodder."

Oh, it turns out that this was to prevent being discovered by the three major families of Puzhou.

He had heard of the three major families in Puzhou: Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, who were all well-known figures in the court.

He just didn't expect that these guys would actually collaborate with the enemy and sell out the country, and that it was these guys who forced Haibai to rebel.

Deng Zilong nodded solemnly upon hearing this, "I understand. Your Majesty wants me to lead the navy and two hundred centipede boats to the Yellow River to transport food and fodder, right?"

Wanli nodded slightly and explained in detail: "Yes, to solve the problem in the northwest, the most critical thing is the transportation of food and grass.

The imperial court is not short of troops to quell the rebellion. The key is that there are traitors within the country and northern barbarians outside. They will most likely find ways to cut off the imperial army's food supply.

The Northern Tartars had no warships, let alone a navy, so they had no way of cutting off the food supply route if they were transporting food and fodder by water.

I have ordered Ling Yunyi, the governor of Fengyang, who is in charge of the grain transport, to transport the grain from the Ministry of Revenue's Taicang warehouse to Xuzhou by grain boat. Once the grain arrives in Xuzhou, it must go upstream to reach the northwest battlefield, which is over 2,000 miles away.

When fully loaded, the canal boats could only travel a hundred miles upstream in a day, which was too slow. The canal troops had little equipment and were also likely to be ambushed.

So, we have to use the navy's centipede boat.

The two hundred centipede ships do not need to be fully loaded, each ship only needs to carry 500 dan of grain. In one trip, they can carry 100,000 dan, which is enough food for 100,000 troops for one month.

Even if the centipede boat goes upstream, as long as you row hard, it is not a problem to row more than 300 miles a day, and more than 2,000 miles will take about seven days.

I have assigned fifty naval officers and soldiers to each centipede ship, ten of whom are responsible for guarding it. I will equip each of these ten officers and soldiers with a musket.

The other forty people will take turns rowing the boat, and it shouldn't be a problem to make three round trips from Xuzhou to the northwest in a month."

There are still two thousand muskets?

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem. I guarantee that I can deliver three shipments of food and fodder every month."

There should be no problem in handing this matter over to this veteran.

Wanli nodded slightly and gave detailed instructions: "First, you should lead the navy officers and soldiers to practice here. Practice pulling food upstream and building pontoon bridges. Don't expose yourself.

The Beijing Camp is currently expanding its forces, and it will probably take another two or three months to be fully prepared, so you still have plenty of time to practice."

In fact, he had already started planning for the northwest.

The transportation of food and fodder by navy warships is indeed key, but the real battle still depends on the soldiers of the Beijing camp.

Their enemies are not just the 20,000 to 30,000 rebels in Ningxia Town, but also the Northern Tartars, who are the mainstay of the three major families in Puzhou.

The Tatar Tumed tribe alone had over 100,000 troops near Ningxia Town, and the Ordos tribes and the Duolun Tumed tribe in Neitao had over 100,000 troops in total.

The 60,000 troops of the Beijing Camp were far from enough, so he planned to expand the Beijing Camp to 120,000 troops first.

At this moment, the garrisons of Henan and even Nanzhili are using the Grand Canal to gather in the capital, and the Nanyuan Grand Parade Ground has already started training and selection.

Now in the court, no civil or military officials dare to openly oppose him.

He wanted to expand the Beijing camp, and Shen Shixu and Wu Duina didn't dare to say a word.

However, there is still a problem, that is food and wages.

The Beijing Army has 120,000 troops. Even if you calculate the food and wages for ordinary border soldiers, it would be 200,000 to 300,000 taels per month. Add to that the consumption of 10,000 naval troops and war horses, and it would be 300,000 to 400,000 taels per month.

It is true that he can now allocate food and wages from the Ministry of Revenue, but he cannot drain the national treasury.

The Ming Dynasty court's annual tax revenue was only about 5 million taels, and allocating about 200,000 taels a month was the limit. If it allocated more, the court would be short of money everywhere.

He had to figure out how to get the remaining food and wages himself.

Wanli raised his glass again and asked, "Father-in-law, how is it? How much wrought iron can be produced here in a month?"

This one.

Zhang Zhen, the father-in-law of the emperor, said rather embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, the Luan River is still not long enough. Even if we build water wheels and workshops on both sides of the river, we can only produce about 30 million catties of wrought iron per month.

I am planning to go to Shahe River in Zhongtunwei, Kaiping, to build a waterwheel and workshop. I wonder if this is possible."

Thirty million jin a month, after deducting the labor cost, transportation cost and wages of the craftsmen in the Summer Resort, the profit is only about four hundred thousand taels.

Also, the glass and mirrors at the Summer Resort have too few functions, and there are only so many rich people. Even if all the rich people buy them, the maximum profit per month will be around 500,000 taels.

It seems that it is enough to support the Beijing Camp's food and wages now, but the Beijing Camp is not just 120,000 troops, 240,000 troops are not enough.

This money still needs to be earned hard.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "You don't need to ask me about this. Isn't Wenbi in charge of the Rear Army Governor's Office? This is the jurisdiction of the Rear Army Governor's Office. It will be convenient for you to do anything.

I still have to consider the problems of the northwest, so I don't have time to deal with these things. You can just discuss the construction of the waterwheel and workshop. Anyway, we'll do whatever makes money."

(End of this chapter)