The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 262: Chaos in the Frontier
While Wanli was thinking about refining oil and building roads, the grasslands outside the Great Wall had already become a mess.

The Ming cavalry are crazy!
This time, the cavalry from the border towns did not just raid the tribes within two hundred miles of the border, they also rushed to rob tribes four to five hundred miles, or even five to six hundred miles away.

Even if they could not take away the cattle, sheep, horses, men, women, old and young, they would still take away everything they could and kill all the young and strong people they could.

Moreover, they also specifically avoided the cavalry gathered by various tribes. If you go east, they will rob the west, and if you go west, they will rob the east. It is impossible to defend against them.

This time, the various tribes of the Northern Tartars were really badly dealt with.

Wherever the Ming cavalry passed, the nomadic tribes were in chaos. Everywhere were young men and strong men fleeing for their lives, everywhere were cattle and sheep running around, and everywhere were men, women, old and young fleeing.

These guys are really crazy. They are willing to run hundreds of miles just to steal a few sheepskins or cowhides or a few tents!

Are they really crazy?
of course not.

The border cavalry is to create chaos outside the Great Wall so that the secret guards and spies can infiltrate the various tribes of the Northern Tartars!
When Wanli received the news, he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and smile evilly to himself.

From now on, they will do this more often!
The northern barbarians invaded the border for dozens or even hundreds of years, and the soldiers and civilians in the nine border areas of the Ming Dynasty suffered greatly.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is powerful, the Northern Tartars can no longer expect to live in peace.

From now on, even if he doesn't march north, he will send border cavalry to the grasslands outside the Great Wall every year to raid and rob everywhere, at any time, in any place, or in any tribe, he can rob however he wants!
The Northern Tartars will not build any cities or fortresses. As long as the border cavalry is strong enough, the Northern Tartars will be helpless.

At this moment, they have recaptured Hetao and Beijing Xingdusi, with more than 100 million acres of grassland. The annual production of war horses has exceeded 50,000, and this number is still rising.

Moreover, they are not short of garrison guards. There are many garrison guards who want to join the border army. They can train as many cavalry as they have war horses.

After a few years of development, the cavalry of the border army will be more numerous than the young and strong men of the Northern Tartars, and then the threat posed by the Northern Tartars will be completely resolved.

However, all of this requires money to support. War is fought for money. If he wants to support so many troops, he has to work hard to make money.

They only have a hundred oil refineries now, and the gross profit on a day when all are running is only more than 7,000 taels. After deducting the cost, it is considered good if they can make 5,000 taels a day.

This is not enough.

Also, their sales channels have not been expanded yet, including the sale of coal, which is far from being expanded.

We need to find a solution to this quickly.

As soon as he issued the decree, Duke of Peng Qi Jiguang, Duke of Ding Xu Wenbi, Duke of Yingguo Zhang Yuangong, Duke of Cheng Zhu Yingzhen, Duke of Wei's son Xu Weizhiz, Earl of Xinjian Wang Chengxun, the emperor's father-in-law Zhang Zhen, Wan Bangning, Luo Sigong and others all boarded the navy's express boats and rushed to Yanchang.

It is already September now. The scorching heat in the north has gradually subsided and the climate has become cooler and more pleasant.

There are more and more naval warships in the river, especially in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, from Qiantao to the former Yansui Town, where fast boats are coming and going like crucian carp crossing the river.

Both sides of the Yanhe River estuary are already filled with docks and warehouses. The rows of docks are enough to berth four to five hundred naval warships, and it is unknown how much oil can be stored in the densely packed warehouses.

At about noon that day, two huge fleets appeared simultaneously on the north and south sides of the main trunk of the Yellow River, as if they had made an appointment.

The fleet in the north probably had more than two or three hundred large and small speedboats, stretched for dozens of miles. The fleet in the south was even more terrifying, with probably seven or eight hundred large and small warships, stretched for hundreds of miles!

When the two fleets met, Qi Jiguang, Deng Zilong and others could not help but look shocked.

Qi Jiguang did not expect that Deng Zilong actually brought so many warships that even a large telescope could not see the end of them.

Deng Zilong didn't expect that there would be so many docks and warehouses here. There was even a long stone arch bridge built near the river mouth, connecting the two banks.

He often comes here to transport grain. Last year, there was nothing here, but this year it has become as busy and bustling as the riverside in Jinling.

When the two fleets met, Qi Jiguang's fleet approached the northern pier without hesitation. They were actually passing by, and this fleet was delivering coal, grain, meat, and even various fruits and vegetables.

As soon as the fleet docked at the pier, the soldiers of the Shenji Camp who had been waiting there rushed onto the ship and began unloading the grain carts.

At present, coal is packed in tightly woven bamboo baskets, weighing about 100 pounds each, with rope loops tied on both sides. It is very convenient for two people to lift it, making it easier to load and unload without making the navy warships too dirty.

Deng Zilong's fleet approached the southern pier without hesitation.
They don't have much cargo to unload, and the dock here can't accommodate so many warships.

This problem is easy to solve. Just use cables to connect the warships in a row, anchor them together, and then hang the cables on the bollards at the nearby dock.

Deng Zilong was just directing the warships to dock when Yu Zigao, accompanied by a team of personal guards and a team of empty horses, came running over. He bowed and said, "General, the Emperor is waiting for you to discuss matters. How about we go together now?"

Oh, no wonder His Majesty asked him to bring along several dukes and nobles.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong quickly handed over the matter of stopping the boat to his officers, and then called on all the princes and nobles to get off the boat, mount their horses, and follow them to the other side.

Qi Jiguang and his men had already mounted their horses and were waiting on the other side of the river.

After exchanging a few words of greeting, everyone rode their horses and galloped into the valley.

As soon as they left the dock, they were a little confused.

Inside the dock, the road was still a normal stone slab, but outside the dock, the road turned black and very flat. The road surface of five or six meters wide looked as flat as if it was paved with a whole piece of stone slab, but this road was obviously not paved with stone slabs.

Moreover, there is a dirt road about five or six feet wide next to the river, but it is a normal loess road.

What is going on here?
Deng Zilong couldn't help but ask loudly: "Kemai, what is this road paved with?"

Yu Zigao said without hesitation: "It's paved with asphalt and gravel."

Uh, what is asphalt?
It was difficult to ask about the galloping horse. Although no one knew what asphalt was, they could only bear it and not ask any further questions.

However, they soon understood, because more than ten miles ahead there were rows and rows of craftsmen working on the road.

These craftsmen also lit firewood on the riverbank and used large pots like iron barrels to cook a kind of black bricks.

After the black bricks melted, they would pour crushed stones into it and stir it with something like a rake. After stirring for a while, the fire would be extinguished. Then they would open a door of the iron barrel, scoop out the black stones inside, spread them on the loess road surface, and finally use horses to pull huge iron rollers to roll them around.

Everyone understood that the asphalt Yu Zigao was talking about should be the black bricks.

As we rode along, the number of road construction workers gradually decreased, and the road surface became more than ten feet wide, all black and very flat.

Yu Zigao then warned loudly, "Everyone, try not to go to the riverside. It will take a day or two for vehicles to pass through there."

This was the first time that everyone had seen a road being built in this way, and they couldn't help but be amazed.

What did His Majesty call everyone here to discuss?

This time we're not discussing building this kind of road, are we?

It would be great if roads like this could be built everywhere.

The road is smooth, and the horse's hooves don't make the same deafening noise as stepping on stone slabs, so even if you gallop, the horse's hooves won't be hurt.

(End of this chapter)