The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 605 The Great Wilderness Opening

The White-Clad Soldiers pursued them relentlessly for over a month through the dense forests of Yongle Mountain.

The Jurchens were exhausted and extremely tired; most of them collapsed on the road.

Nurhaci had no choice but to fight to the death.

Qin Liangyu and Ma Qiancheng mobilized 5,000 troops on each side to besiege them.

The Jurchens were attacked from both sides and their entire army was wiped out.

Nurhaci's house was riddled with bullets!

The next morning, around 7 a.m., Qi Jiguang, carrying a copied report, hurried into the large tent that served as his study. With a joyful expression, he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Jurchens have been wiped out!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli took the briefing and was immediately filled with delight.

"The Jurchens were wiped out, and Nurhaci died."

This is a simplified urgent report for the purpose of speed of transmission; a detailed battle report is expected to arrive in a few hours.

But that's enough.

With the Jurchens wiped out and Nurhaci dead, this historical threat that led to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty was finally eliminated.

Emperor Wanli was truly delighted.

He held the briefing for a while, thought it over carefully, and then decisively said, "Yuanjing, convey my decree that the military merit rewards for this campaign will be doubled, and all Sichuan soldiers will be rewarded with ten taels of silver."

Should we reward those who have made contributions at this point?

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, are we preparing to withdraw our troops?"

This is not urgent.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Yongle Mountain was originally the stronghold of the Donghai Jurchen tribe. Although the Jurchens were wiped out, there are still many Donghai Jurchen people inside."

Since they've mobilized so many troops, they naturally intend to wipe out the Donghai Jurchen tribe in Yongle Mountain as well.

"Send a messenger with detailed orders, instructing Liangyu and his men to rest for three days, then lead the army northward to completely wipe out the Donghai Jurchen tribe."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

Having said that, he strode away.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask, "Father, the Jurchens have been wiped out, are we still going to wait here?"

You want to go out and have fun again?

Wanli pondered, “Although the Jurchens have been wiped out, we cannot leave yet. After all, most of the Ming army is gathered here, and there are also people from the Donghai Jurchen tribe in Yongle Mountain.”

If we simply abandon the situation, it will inevitably affect morale, which is very important, so we cannot leave yet.

However, we can do something else now. The Jurchen tribe of the East Sea shouldn't be able to break through the naval blockade and cross the Asuri River. We can take those million new recruits defending the riverbanks to reclaim wasteland.

Reclamation?
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun asked in confusion, "Father, why are we still reclaiming wasteland? Aren't we short of people to farm right now?"

There isn't one now.

However, there will be more in the future.

Emperor Wanli patiently explained, "Those princes and members of the imperial family have enslaved at least forty to fifty million common people. If we solve the problem of the princes and members of the imperial family, then we will have enough manpower to come here to farm."

Clearing land and planting crops isn't something you can just do as soon as you arrive. If you don't prepare beforehand, it will take at least a year.

We can take advantage of the fact that we have enough manpower now to complete the preliminary preparations, so that the ordinary people can come and start farming.

Oh, so it's not about farming, but about doing preliminary preparations.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun slowly nodded and then asked, "What preparations should be made in the early stages?"

I don't need to explain this to you in detail.

Wanli Emperor decisively announced in a loud voice: "Pass it on to Zixian and Zijin."

Soon, Xu Guangqi and Wang Xiangjin strode in.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli solemnly said, "The Jurchens have been wiped out. We can now bring out the new recruits of the million-strong garrison stationed along the river to reclaim wasteland."

"Think it over carefully, and see which preparations in the early stages of land reclamation are the most time-consuming. I've ordered these million new recruits to do all the most time-consuming tasks, so that we can just bring in more people to farm later."

There are many time-consuming things like this.

Xu Guangqi thought for a moment, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, the most time-consuming part is building houses and even city walls. If you want to bring people here directly to farm, it would be best to build the houses for them first."

Building houses and city walls does take time.

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I will order the Ministry of Works to prepare the materials. We will start building the houses in a few days once the materials arrive. As for the city walls, let the conscripted garrison households build them themselves during the off-season."

Do you still want to conscript garrison households?

Where are there still so many garrison households?
Wang Xiangjin thought for a moment, then carefully said, "Your Majesty, there are also the ditches in the farmland, which take quite a bit of time."

Moreover, the situation here is unique; it's all swamps. Our warships can't pass through the swamps near the streams, so we can't transport the fertilizer we produce. I believe we should dig those swamps into ponds, which would allow us to excavate ditches.

Moreover, the dredged silt can be made into fertilizer, which can be spread in the surrounding fields. Any leftover silt can be stored for later use.

Yes, that's a pretty good suggestion.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Then let the Emperor's father-in-law quickly increase production and make more crushers, mixers, and dredging equipment."

Originally, I wanted to finish digging up the swamps near the main river and then move the fertilizer workshops to the vicinity of the smaller rivers.

"Now it seems we don't need to go through all that trouble. We can simply build more machines, increase fertilizer production, and then do fertilizer business to recoup the money spent on the machines."

what?
They even sell the fertilizer for money!
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiangjin was stunned and said, "Your Majesty, the only raw material we use to make fertilizer is fish bone meal, which is worth something. The rest is worthless. Will anyone buy this fertilizer?"

Of course, someone will buy it.

Wanli thought for a moment and then explained, "People are not used to buying fertilizer now, but that's okay."

We can publish a special issue of the official gazette about fertilizers, where you can give a detailed introduction on how much different fertilizers can increase the yield of various crops.

Then, we set the price of fertilizer based on the value of the increased crop yield, setting it a little lower.

For example, fifty catties of fertilizer can increase rice production by half a shi per mu. Based on the calculation that two shi of grain is worth one tael of silver, the value of the increased grain is roughly two hundred and fifty wen. We would then sell it for one wen per catty, so fifty catties would only cost fifty wen.

The investment is not large; thirty mu of land only yields a little over one ounce, but it can produce more than six ounces of grain.

There will always be some quick-thinking people who buy the fertilizer to try it out. Once they find it really works, others will definitely follow suit, and that's how the business starts.

Uh, one penny per pound?
This price may seem cheap, but the profit margin is actually surprisingly high.

Because a fertilizer workshop can produce at least hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fertilizer a day, and the swamp is basically covered with grass, and the green manure has been piled up for who knows how many years, so it is already very fertile. At most, you only need to add a few taels of silver worth of fish bone powder and other materials.

In other words, fertilizer that can be sold for several hundred taels of silver, even with labor costs included, is still less than ten taels of silver, meaning the profit margin is at least 90%.

One workshop can earn several thousand taels a month, and ten workshops would earn tens of thousands of taels. With so much swamp here, they could build at least several hundred such workshops!
How much is that?
Oh right, I didn't include the machine cost.

Wang Xiangjin thought about it carefully and then asked, "Your Majesty, in that case we'll probably have to build hundreds of fertilizer workshops."

The mixers and crushers are fine; once there are more people and livestock here, we can make other fertilizers. The problem is, the silt dredging crew—I guess they won't be able to dredge any more silt in a few years.

Such a large machine must weigh over a thousand pounds of wrought iron alone. Add to that the costs of manufacturing and transportation, Your Majesty, are we really going to build so many workshops like this?

What is this.

Wanli pondered, "Once the silt is dredged, the swamp will become a pond, which we can use as a large waterwheel, making irrigation easier."

If you don't care about the cost, this irrigation method is indeed much more convenient.

Wang Xiangjin nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Think about it, are there any other problems?"

With the houses built and the ditches dug, all that's left is to cultivate the land. What problems could there possibly be?
Xu Guangqi shook his head slightly, indicating that there was no problem.

Wang Xiangjin, however, said with some interest: "Your Majesty, we can actually start planting a large number of fruits and vegetables here this year."

For example, Chinese cabbage grows in two or three months, so we can plant it after we've dug the ditches.

There are also sweet potatoes and potatoes, which will mature in about four months. However, if these are planted now, there might not be enough manpower.

If it's a manpower issue, then it's not a problem.

Wanli pondered, "Now that spring plowing has been completed in Liaodong Commandery and Songnen Plain, we can pay to recruit able-bodied men from there and have them start digging and planting now."

You even paid someone to plant it?

That's no problem.

Wang Xiangjin nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I have no further questions."

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Then hurry up and make preparations. We'll start digging ditches tomorrow."

Xu Guangqi and Wang Xiangjin quickly bowed and took their leave.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask, "Father, why are we planting so many fruits and vegetables here? Nobody's going to eat them."

If you hire someone to do the planting, you'll need to pay them at least one tael of silver a month. How much would that cost?

Haven't you seen how terrifying it is to consume millions of troops?

Wanli shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "You only calculated the wages, not the output."

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, and Chinese cabbage—each acre yields at least a thousand catties. We pay people to come and plant them; each person would have to plant at least ten acres for us.

In other words, each person can grow at least tens of thousands of kilograms of fruits and vegetables for us, which is worth tens of taels of silver.

As for the fact that no one will come to eat it, the army here is probably still here after the cabbages are planted, so they can be eaten directly by the army.

There are also sweet potatoes and potatoes, which millions of soldiers can take back to eat or even use as seed, thus promoting their cultivation.

(End of this chapter)