The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 490 Overseas Conflicts Intensify

Zhaozhou Post Station is an inconspicuous small post station on the Nurgandusi Post Road.

It is located at the confluence of the Nenjiang River and the Songhua River.

There are clear markings on the maps of the Yongle Dynasty.

However, the Nurgandusi post road has gradually been abandoned since the Xuande Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty court has not sent postmen to take care of it for a long time, and the post station has become a ruin.

Originally, there were not many people here.

At this moment, the ruins of the post station were filled with tents, bustling crowds of people, and piles of war horses.

Because the end point of the Songliao Grand Canal is here, and they have already dug here.

Wanli even moved his headquarters here.

He really wanted to complete the construction of this Grand Canal as soon as possible. This canal was not only related to how hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty could safely survive the Little Ice Age, but also related to the gains and losses of the Nurgan Regional Administration.

It is obvious that Nurhaci will not be willing to withdraw from the stage of history. This guy also wants to use the vast territory of Nurgandusi to deal with them.

They can't take this guy lightly. In history, people who can create a dynasty are not simple. This guy is obviously the kind of person who will create opportunities for himself even if there are no opportunities.

If they have to go through the East Ocean and the Tatar Sea to transport food and supplies, they may not be able to deal with this guy in a short time. Once it lasts for a long time, this guy will definitely run Yongle Mountain like Sarhu, and they will probably suffer a great loss if they rush in again.

Now that the canal has not been completed, he really can't do anything about this guy.

Because Yongle Mountain is so huge, its width is four or five hundred miles and its length is two or three thousand miles.

The key point is that this guy is deliberately avoiding them and just refuses to engage in battle with them. In this case, they have no choice but to use a large army to encircle and suppress him.

Such a large area is all mountainous. If we want to encircle and suppress this guy, even 400,000 Sichuan troops may not be enough.

The problem was that the canal had not been built, so it was unlikely that they could transport the food and supplies for 400,000 troops.

The Donghai Jurchens' lair was too far away from the Liaodong Regional Military Commission, and was blocked by mountains and rivers. If it was not possible to use the navy's fast ships to transport food and supplies, it would be extremely troublesome to use horse-drawn carriages to transport them.

Nurhaci was using this to deal with them. This guy is really a headache.

Around 9:00 a.m. that morning, Emperor Wanli was staring at a map in the large tent where maps were placed, frowning in deep thought. Suddenly, the emperor's second son, Zhu Changxu, came running in excitedly, saying, "Father, Marshal Qi is here."

Qi Jiguang is here?
That’s not right. Why is there no sound of horse hooves?

Qi Jiguang came from the war zone, so he must have been accompanied by 5,000 personal guards for protection.

If five thousand war horses are running here, the sound of horse hooves must be very loud. Why didn’t I hear any sound of horse hooves?
Wanli was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Did they come here by boat?"

The emperor's second son, Zhu Changxu, nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, I was just watching them casting nets to catch fish by the river, when suddenly hundreds of navy centipede boats came from the east. I saw that Marshal Qi was on board.

Now that they have so many boats, they can go to the middle of the river and cast their nets. That way they will definitely catch more fish. I will definitely ask my uncle to grill a few tonight. I haven't had grilled fish in a long time."

You kid, you only know how to eat.

Why don’t you go and see how they are building the canal? You actually ran to the riverside to watch them fishing!

Wanli shook his head slightly and was about to give some instructions when Qi Jiguang came quickly.

He hurried forward, took Qi Jiguang's arm and said, "Yuan Jing, thank you for your hard work. No need to be polite, no need to be polite. You came here on the navy's express ship, right?"

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the navy's express boat took the wrong path and sailed directly into the Asuri River. Fortunately, we happened to be following the Jiannu's footsteps and investigating there, otherwise they would have been circling there for who knows how long."

No wonder the navy clipper hasn’t come for such a long time, it turns out they took the wrong route.

The Asuri River is the Ussuri River in later generations. The estuary where it flows into the Heilongjiang River is only four or five hundred miles away from the estuary where the Songhua River flows into the Heilongjiang River. It is normal for the navy soldiers who have traveled tens of thousands of miles to make a mistake.

Wanli nodded slightly, then pulled Qi Jiguang over to the map and pointed at the Sanjiang Plain. "This is a very large plain, right? How many acres do you think you can reclaim?"

Do you still want to open up new land?

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's going to be difficult to open up the wasteland over there because there are too many swamps. Many of the scouts I sent out got stuck in the swamps. Fortunately, only the horses got stuck, and the men managed to escape."

Swamps can be managed, and the silt inside can be dug out and used as fertilizer. As long as there are enough people, there will definitely be no problem in developing it.

However, he was unable to mobilize enough manpower at the moment, and the key issue now was not to develop that area, but to deal with the Jiannu.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Where did the Jiannu cross the river from? Did you find out which way they went?"

This was naturally discovered.

Qi Jiguang pointed at the map and said, "They crossed the river roughly at this location. The pontoon bridge they built with sheepskin rafts is still there, but it was cut off from the opposite side. I ordered my men to connect the broken bridge and investigate further. They must have fled south."

This guy actually ran south!

Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and said, "Nurhaci is really brave. He actually dared to run south. Why do you think he ran south? Is it because it is not as cold in the south in winter?"

The reason is probably not just this.

Qi Jiguang pointed at the map and said, "Your Majesty, during the Xuande Dynasty, the Jianzhou Guard's base was near Shuangcheng Guard. I think they must be more familiar with the terrain over there, so they fled south."

Twin City Guards?
Haishengwei!
Nurhaci went around in a circle and wanted to run back to his old nest!
This guy is really a headache.

Shuangchengwei is located on the edge of the current Zhendongbao defense zone. To the west is Changbai Mountain. With such a vast mountainous area, no matter how many Sichuan Army soldiers there are, they will be unable to defend it!
Wanli stared at the map, frowning in thought for a moment. Then he decisively said, "It looks like we'll have to send naval vessels to the bay south of Shuangchengwei to build a port. Next year, we'll deploy garrison troops there to cultivate land and build a city to prevent the Jiannu from escaping from there and causing trouble in Liangyu's defense zone."

Do you still want to reclaim land and farm?

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "Your Majesty, it seems that all the garrison troops that can be mobilized have been mobilized. It may not look big on the map, but it's actually quite large.

"I have sent scouts to investigate. The plain where the Shuangcheng Guard is located is two to three hundred miles wide from east to west, and four to five hundred miles long from north to south. At least tens of millions of acres of land can be cultivated there. Assuming fifty acres per household, at least two hundred thousand households would have to be mobilized to garrison there."

Where do they get the 200,000 garrison troops now?
There are none among the 20,000 households.

The Songnen Plain has not been filled up yet.

Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and fell into deep thought.

At this moment, there was a rumbling sound of horse hooves coming from outside.

Qi Jiguang is here now, who else is coming here?

After a while, Shan Sinan, who was in charge of the outer security, walked in quickly, clasped his hands and bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Li Yuansheng requests an audience."

Li Yuansheng!
Why did this guy come here?

Wanli was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Announce."

Soon, Li Yuansheng walked in quickly, clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "I pay my respects to His Majesty, His Highness the Northern King, and General Qi."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Yuansheng, what's the urgent matter that brought you all the way here?"

This is not an urgent matter, but it should be considered an important matter.

Li Yuansheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, it is like this. A few years ago, when the Spanish Governor of Luzon, Dasma, invaded Brunei, he hired hundreds of Zhangzhou boatmen.

This guy has a bad temper and curses at people at every turn. Sometimes he even whips the boatmen who are rowing the boat.

The boatman leader Pan Hewu was so angry that he took his men to kill Dasma and his guards at night, and also seized several of his boats and ran away.

From then on, the Spaniards became enemies with the merchants from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou who went to Luzon to do business.

Originally, there were many merchants from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou going there to do business, so the Spanish did not dare to do anything. However, this year, Spain dispatched thousands of troops, and they were all musketeers.

The merchants in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou heard that the Spaniards might take action against them, so they asked me for help, hoping that I could send troops to protect them.

I don't know what to do, so I come here to ask for your permission.

Your Majesty, how do you think we should handle this matter?"

Spanish colonists want to massacre Ming Dynasty merchants!

When Wanli heard this, he suddenly remembered.

This has indeed happened in history.

At that time, Wanli had become withdrawn because he had lost the dispute over the foundation of the country and ignored state affairs.

Regarding this matter, Emperor Wanli at that time actually said that merchants were the lowest of the four classes of people. These guys went overseas and had conflicts with others and were killed. Would the Ming Dynasty have to raise a large army to retaliate?
To be honest, at that time Wanli was so angry at those civil servants with ulterior motives that he was a little out of his mind.

But things are different now.

At this moment, Wanli was very clear that Spain was being besieged by other colonial bandits in Europe and was about to collapse.

The saying goes, "Strike while the sick is at it!"
He was just looking for an excuse to go to war with Spain.

Such a good excuse cannot be missed.

(End of this chapter)