The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 258 The Emperor Does Not Lead the Army in Person

Every time Wanli led an army to war, he would go to the front line of the border and command the troops personally.

But this time it seems different.

He didn't know whether he was tired or what, but he stayed in the southeast corner of Qiantao Plain without moving.

The cavalry of the Shenwu Camp had already set out and rushed to Guihua City.

Qi Jiguang also sent his personal guards to order the generals of Datong Town, Pianguan Town, and Guyuan Town to rush to Guihua City.

Wanli's imperial carriage was still in the camp on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Is the little emperor really tired of fighting and too lazy to go to the front line to command in person?

This is good news for both the northern barbarians and the civil servants in the court.

The Northern Tartars were really frightened by his crazy fighting style.

Every time he led the army in person, the Northern Tartars could not figure out who he was going to fight.

Moreover, the Northern Tartars will eventually suffer heavy losses for no apparent reason.

The inner and outer coats were taken back by him inexplicably, the Balin and Bayuet tribes were beaten to a pulp by him inexplicably, and the three Doyan guards were wiped out by him inexplicably.

The young emperor of the Ming Dynasty was truly formidable in warfare. Every time the northern barbarians heard that he was personally leading an army, they couldn't help but shudder with fear, fearing that the main force of the Ming army would suddenly rush towards them.

It is a great thing for the Northern Tartars that he does not go to the front line to command in person.

The civil servants in the court also hoped that he was tired of fighting.

When people get tired of fighting, they will stop fighting and take care of the people. Once the emperor starts to stop fighting and take care of the people, their chance will come.

So, why did he stay in the camp on the north bank of the Yellow River without doing anything?

In fact, Wanli was not in the camp on the north bank of the Yellow River at this time.

He just parked the big carriage in the camp, and after Qi Jiguang led the Shenwu Camp cavalry to the battle, he also quietly ran away.

Early in the morning at about 1 a.m. that day, he changed into the military uniform of the Imperial Guards, and took the Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan and others, as well as one thousand elite Jinyiwei and Imperial Guards, along with their mounts, and boarded the navy centipede boat, sailing downstream all the way to the former site of Yansui Town.

The speed of the centipede boat going downstream was extremely fast. Before noon, he arrived at the navy's newly built dock north of the Yanshui River estuary.

This river seems to be wider.

He raised the telescope and scanned carefully, but his brows couldn't help but frowned slightly.

The river is about thirty or forty feet wide, but the water doesn't seem to be very deep. It is also filled with loess and silt, so it is impossible to tell how deep it is.

He glanced around for a while, then asked, "Kemai, how deep is the river? Can the navy warships enter?"

Yu Zigao slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this river is too shallow. It's less than a foot deep in the middle. Even a 400-ton octopus boat can't get in. I heard from people here that the river is quite deep in the summer, but in the winter it's not even half as deep."

Well, if even a 400-ton octopus boat can’t get in, then we can’t travel by water.

Wanli glanced at the rolling loess plateau on the west bank and asked, "Father-in-law, where is the largest Yau Tong? Have you been there?"

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "I've been there. It's just over a hundred miles west of Yanchang County, along this river. There's a well there, and it's full of oil.

Ancient books from the Northern Yuan Dynasty all record that there was an oil well in the Nanying River of Yanchang. The oil was flammable and could also cure scabies in livestock.

I've also visited that well. It seems the people who lived there wanted to dig a well, but what came out was black oil."

The gushing black oil proves that the oil mine is less than a hundred meters from the ground.

This distance of over a hundred miles is nothing for a carriage.

Moreover, there are large river beaches on both sides of the Yanhe River estuary. Tens of thousands of craftsmen with large quantities of materials and horse-drawn carriages can be stationed here without feeling crowded. There will definitely be no problem in building a shipping port here in the future.

Wanli nodded slightly and asked, "Is it convenient to ride a horse from here?"

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "It's very convenient. Although the river is not deep, the valley is very wide. It's about two or three miles wide along this stretch. The section of the valley near Yanchang County is four or five miles wide. It won't be a problem to ride across on horseback."

Then go and have a look.

The amount of oil they want to refine is not just a little bit, and a small oil pond is simply not enough.

Therefore, their refineries must be built in places where there is the most oil and it is easiest to extract. If the oil disappears while they are refining, then all their work will be in vain.

The Yanhe River Valley is really wide, with mudflats on both sides more than a mile long. More than 2,000 people can pass through it without feeling crowded at all.

However, the mudflats are covered with mud and sand. It's okay to ride a horse across, but if you use a fully tanked truck, it will probably be difficult to move forward. If they really want to build an oil refinery here, they will have to build a gravel road.

Wanli was used to riding horses. The distance from the capital to the Summer Resort was more than a hundred miles, and he often rode back and forth.

These hundred miles are nothing to him.

Just after the hour of Wei, they could see the small county town in the valley ahead.

This small county town is really small, only about a mile in radius, and can only accommodate a thousand households at most.

The civilians in Yanchang County were not too surprised to see so many people and horses rushing towards them, because there were too many people and horses that came here for no apparent reason during this period of time.

In April, troops from the Beijing and border areas drove carriages, carrying strange objects, and began to explore the valleys. It seemed the soldiers were sent by the emperor to prospect for minerals, but instead of finding any, they discovered several holes for black oil. So much so, that a large pond of black oil flowed into the valley north of the city.

Fortunately, the soldiers did not abandon it. The black oil pond was blocked on all sides and a high dam was built, so the black oil would not flow into the river.

Later, some troops from the Beijing army, border troops, and even craftsmen came one after another. They were no longer surprised.

However, the number of people this time was indeed quite large, almost catching up with the population of their county, and there seemed to be Jinyiwei among them.

What are these people here for?

Wanli has always been too lazy to deal with civil officials, and he was too lazy to even meet with a small county magistrate.

He directly asked Yongnianbo Wang Wei to take them on horseback to the oil well about a mile north of the city.

This so-called oil well is actually a water well. It looks similar to an ordinary water well, but it contains black oil instead of well water.

At that time, the soldiers of the Beijing Army and the border troops generally thought that oil and coal were both black, and where there was black oil there must be coal mines, so they took their drills and drilled around in the valley, and they specifically chose low-lying areas to drill.

As a result, less than a mile northwest of the oil well, they drilled a black oil fountain in the lowest mountain valley, which gushed out everywhere, and it was too late for them to stop it.

There was no other choice but to surround the cave.

Wanli rode his horse to Yau Tong and took a look. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, what a big Yau Tong it was.

This oil pond filled the valley within a radius of about a mile.

Fortunately, the black oil can no longer surge up when it reaches a certain height. If it flows into the river, the main trunk of the Yellow River will probably be covered with oil.

The problem is, although this oil pond is big, there is not much oil in it because it is not deep enough. The valley has not been dug down at all. It is considered good if the oil flowing out can be two or three meters deep. How much oil is that?

This valley is also a forked valley, or in other words, the rain washed out a valley of earth with branches on the loess slope.

The valley to the north seemed to be longer, about two or three miles long, and there were forks.

This oil usually comes from oil fields. At such a close distance, there should be some in the valley to the north.

Wanli scanned the area with his telescope and then asked, "Has the valley directly north been drilled?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "They've drilled it all. Five meters deep, there's nothing, not even any oil."

Wuzhang, that is more than sixteen meters deep. How much black oil can be stored at such a depth?
Two or three miles is more than a thousand meters, and this valley is about a hundred meters wide. In terms of surface area, it is 100,000 square meters, and in terms of volume, it is more than 1.6 million cubic meters. That is more than one million tons, or more than 2 billion jin.

If this valley could be filled, there would certainly be enough crude oil.

Wanli thought for a moment and then decisively said, "Father-in-law, mobilize the craftsmen to dig down in the valley to the north. Start by digging to a depth of five feet, then drill around. If there's no oil, then keep digging until oil starts to come out."

Uh, is this how oil is extracted?
Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei was stunned and said, "Your Majesty, digging ten or twenty feet deep is fine, but if it goes any deeper, there will be a landslide. By then, all the craftsmen below will be buried, and it will be too late to save them."

Upon hearing this, Wanli pondered and said, "Then let's try digging twenty feet deep to see if there is any oil coming out."

In fact, he only had a general idea of ​​how oil would be extracted in the future. The problem was that there was no such equipment at the time, so it could not be made. He could only order people to dig using primitive methods.

Twenty zhang deep is more than sixty meters, plus the five zhang of the drill bit, that’s seventy or eighty meters. If there is no more than seventy or eighty meters, then we have to make a longer and bigger drill bit!

Upon hearing this, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei felt a little embarrassed. It was such a deep pit!

For a valley that is two or three miles long, if ten thousand craftsmen were lined up, it would be amazing if they could dig half a foot deep in a day. Moreover, the deeper it is, the harder it is to dig, as the soil inside has to be lifted up.

Seeing this, Wanli simply asked, "How long do you think it will take to dig?"

Only an emperor like him would dare to order the digging of such a deep pit. He also remembered that there seemed to be a canal that was more than 70 meters deep, so he ordered the digging to be so deep.

The canal is at least several hundred miles long, and this one is only two or three miles long. It should be no problem to dig more than sixty meters deep.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei could only cautiously say, "Your Majesty, if there are only 10,000 craftsmen digging, it will probably take at least two months."

Two months is too long.

Wanli thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Talk to Kemai and have him send fast navy ships to fetch all the craftsmen who can be taken over from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, and dig it out within ten days. Is that a problem?"

How many craftsmen are left in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan?

We have already recruited a group of people here, and the remaining 50,000 craftsmen are still building cities and fortresses everywhere in the Beijing Xingdusi. It is estimated that it will be a bit difficult to recruit another 50,000.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei said cautiously, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Even the navy's fast boats will take time to pick them up. Besides, it's not certain that these three places can bring in 50,000 craftsmen in total. How about giving me five more days?"

Such a deep pit is really embarrassing.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, then half a month."

Yongnianbo Wang Wei looked around, then at the nearby county town, and then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, there is no room for tens of thousands of artisans to live here, and the county town is surrounded by farmland. What should we do?"

It is estimated that there are at most 10,000 households in such a small county. With tens of thousands of people, a navy speedboat can transport them all, including their belongings, in one trip.

Wanli pondered and said, "When I return, I will issue an order to order the navy to use fast ships to relocate all the people here to Neitao.

However, I don't have much money at the moment, so I can only give them some food and cloth, give them more land, and let the border troops over there help them build houses.

The land here is so barren, and the people must be having a hard time. It would be much better if they all moved to Neitao and cultivated the land on the south bank of the Yellow River."

(End of this chapter)