The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 459: The Japanese Pirate Rebellion
After the feast, it was already noon.

The sun is high in the sky and people are a little tipsy, which makes them sleepy.

However, Wanli did not rest.

He had only met with the envoys of the Indian tribe and hosted a banquet for them, but had not yet discussed the real business.

This serious matter cannot be discussed with the envoys, as these people may not understand many things. He can only talk to Li Guozhu.

In the East Palace, Cunxin Hall, in the brand new study.

Wanli invited Li Guozhu to sit on either side of the tea table, and ordered someone to serve fragrant tea. Then he solemnly said, "Guozhu, where are these tribes roughly located? Have you marked them on the map?"

This marking cannot be done.

Li Guozhu said helplessly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I didn't make this mark.

Because they don't have a map, I can't figure out the location they described.

They usually confirm their location by unique mountains and rivers or neighboring tribes.

Moreover, they usually use horse races to calculate distances, that is, how many days it takes to ride in a certain direction to reach a certain tribe or to see certain unique mountains and rivers.

I have never seen those unique mountains and rivers, and I don't know if their horses have the same speed, so I can't mark their approximate location on the map."

That’s not right. Isn’t there a coastline as a reference?

Upon hearing this, Wanli was quite puzzled and asked, "Is there no tribe on the seashore?"

Li Guozhu shook his head slightly and explained in detail: "They may have had tribes by the sea before, but they don't have any now.

Because they all knew that the colonial bandits came from the sea, and the coastal tribes were the easiest to be destroyed.

Moreover, they did not know how to build boats, so they used large trees to carve canoes to fish.

That kind of canoe simply cannot go to the sea. In addition, the land there is vast and sparsely populated, so they don't need to rely on the sea for a living. Therefore, they all migrated inland farther away from the coast.

If I hadn't heard Your Majesty say there were people over there before I left, I wouldn't have been able to find them. You can't see anyone on the beach."

Oh, they moved away from the coast.

This is normal. Portugal and Spain invaded along the coastline, and Britain's first colonies were all on the coast.

If they don't want to be destroyed, they naturally won't dare to stay by the sea.

Wanli nodded slightly and asked, "How did you find them?"

Li Guozhu recalled, "I was replenishing fresh water at the mouth of a large river when I suddenly thought of trying to find it along the river.

The Jinyiwei cavalry ran along the river for more than a hundred miles and actually saw someone.

This is how I found them.

However, that river isn't on our map, and I can't estimate its exact location, so I can't mark it on the map."

Well, this guy was born a pirate after all, so it’s a bit difficult to ask him to draw a map.

It was a good thing for them that there were no Indian tribes on the coast.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Next time I will recruit an official who specializes in map drawing to work with you to draw this map.

You go and talk to those envoys. Since they don't want the land by the sea, why not give it to the Ming Dynasty?

After all, if our fleet wants to go there to support them, we have to build a port terminal and a city to protect it.

Moreover, the more people sent, the more food will be consumed, and the war horses also need to eat grass.

The amount of food and grass needed by the army is quite terrifying. It is impossible for us to transport it from here. We can only grow food and forage there, which requires land, a large amount of fields and grasslands.

Just tell them that and see what they think.”

Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "This should be no problem.

The territory of their tribe is calculated based on the areas of residence, planting and hunting. No one lives on the seaside and no one hunts there, so it is not considered their territory.

Besides, they are easy to talk to, so this little thing shouldn’t be a big deal to them.”

Then take more.

The land on the seaside was nothing to them, but it was very important to the Ming Dynasty.

Wanli pondered and said, “Then take our map with you when you discuss with them.

You can just draw a line along the coast and then tell them that for the convenience of drawing maps and demarcating national borders, the distance should be calculated in Ming Dynasty miles, and it is best to round it up.

What I mean is that you should discuss with them whether the area two hundred miles, or even three or four hundred miles from the coastline can be considered the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

If they are reluctant to give up their territory because of food problems, you can negotiate with them and offer them food, cattle, sheep, and horses in exchange."

Your Majesty, what you mean is to occupy more territory, right?

Hearing this, Li Guozhu slowly nodded and said, "They will probably be willing to change.

Food is disposable and will be gone once it is eaten. They should want cattle, sheep and horses.

Your Majesty, how many cattle, sheep, and horses do you think we should offer in exchange for them?"

It depends on the situation of the Indian tribe.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How many cattle, sheep, and horses does each tribe have? Which kind do they want most?"

I have discussed this with them.

Li Guozhu recalled, "A tribe can only tame a few wild horses. Smaller tribes are considered lucky if they can tame a few hundred, while larger tribes can only tame three to four thousand. Well-trained war horses like ours are what they want most.

As for sheep, they are one of their daily food sources, and they all like to drink goat milk and eat goat meat.

However, they are not very good at breeding sheep, so they don’t have many sheep. Small tribes usually have only a few thousand sheep, and the largest tribes are those that have forty to fifty thousand sheep.

They definitely want sheep too, and the more the better.

As for cattle, they probably wouldn't want them because there are too many bison over there, and it is rumored that there are more of them than their population.

The bison there are particularly large, with the largest being over ten feet long. Killing dozens of them would be enough to feed a small tribe for several days."

Can they still hunt bison?

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously, "You said that the bison can be about ten feet long, so the hide must be very thick.

Their ironmaking technology seems to be not up to par yet. Hunting such a large bull at close range must be very dangerous. If they shoot from a distance, can their arrows kill such a large bull?"

I've even seen them kill buffalo.

Li Guozhu shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, they don't use weapons to hunt bison. They use the terrain to hunt bison.

Their hunting method is called "Bull Jumping off a Cliff".

Normally they would collect wild animal feces and colorful feathers, and also look for suitable terrain.

That is, there is a cliff more than ten feet high and a valley surrounded by rocks more than ten feet high on top.

They waited for the bison to disperse and graze on the other side of the cliff before hunting them.

Their hunting method is somewhat similar to our hunting method.

That is, all the tribesmen who could run smeared themselves with wild beast feces and put on bright feathers, and then a large group of people rushed forward and imitated the wild beasts' crazy howling, scaring the bison into fleeing in all directions.

They would select a few or even dozens of bison and surround them, scaring them so much that they would run into the ravine and fall off the cliff.”

The cow jumped off the cliff in a hurry?
This hunting method is really amazing.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly and said, “It’s good that they don’t need cattle, as we don’t have enough cattle.

How about this, you tell them that if any tribe needs to give up some land, we will exchange sheep and horses with them, 10,000 sheep and 1,000 war horses for a hundred miles of land."

Isn’t this too cheap?

However, ten thousand sheep and one thousand war horses are a huge fortune for a large tribe, and they would probably be willing to exchange them.

Upon hearing this, Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I will go and talk to them. I hope we can negotiate for a 300 to 400 li coastal area."

It is really easy to expand territory.

America has a coastline of thousands or tens of thousands of miles, and a coastline three or four hundred miles wide, how big is that territory?

That’s at least millions of square kilometers!
Wanli said with some anticipation, "You must discuss this with them and make a decision. The land we recapture from them after we help them drive out the colonial bandits will also be counted in this way."

Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "By the way, have you considered where to plant the seeds you brought back?"

Li Guozhu nodded slowly and said, "I've considered this, and it should be no problem to plant those crop seeds in Dongfan.

However, rubber trees seem to only be found in places with extremely hot summers, and in Ming Dynasty, it seems only Qiongzhou Prefecture has extremely hot summers."

Dongfan Prefecture and Qiongzhou Prefecture, right?
Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, go and discuss the division of territory with them first.

After discussing this issue, I dispatched ships to take the seeds and people to Dongfan Prefecture and Qiongzhou Prefecture for trial planting.

Maybe someone would be willing to stay and help us try planting the seeds?"

That's a lot.

Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "Many of them want to stay in Ming Dynasty.

The food here is good, the accommodation is comfortable, and many of them don’t want to go back.”

Food and accommodation are no big deal.

Upon hearing this, Wanli said without hesitation: "Then we will provide them with cattle, sheep, deer, fish, etc. As long as they want to eat, we will make sure they are full.

As long as they can help us grow these things, I will reward them with horses and sheep."

They were discussing when Deng Zilong suddenly rushed in, holding up an urgent report in both hands and bowing, saying, "Your Majesty, urgent news from Kyushu Island: Japanese pirates are rebelling in Higo and Satsuma."

Konishi Yukinaga and Shimazu Yoshihiro finally couldn't help but take action!
Wanli even revealed a strange smile when he heard this.

By the way, why were Konishi Yukinaga and Shimazu Yoshihiro so anxious? Didn’t they know that there were still hundreds of thousands of Ming troops on Honshu Island?

Of course they knew that a large number of Ming troops were on the island, but they had no choice.

Because the cities built by the Ming army were not small, they could accommodate at least tens of thousands of people, and the large ones could even accommodate one hundred thousand people.

After the city is built, the Ming army will definitely come to recruit people. Even if not all of them are Ming soldiers, the young and strong ones can also defend the city.

Moreover, the Ming army also had kerosene cans, a powerful weapon for defending the city. Kerosene cans could be thrown by young and strong men, even women and children.

How will they capture these cities then?

They can only take action before the city is built and launch a rebellion, then there may still be a chance.

If they wait until the city is built and people are brought in, they will basically have no hope.

(End of this chapter)