The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 644 Sweeping Away the Oirat Mongols and Pacifying the North
The ice age in Beizhili was a real problem.

The Chaobai River began to freeze at the end of November.

The city moat, Tonghui River, and North Canal were gradually frozen over.

At this point, waterway transportation in the capital region was completely cut off.

However, Wanli still did not return to the palace.

He was still waiting for Qi Jiguang.

On the first day of the twelfth month, around 9 a.m., snowflakes were still swirling in the sky and it was not yet bright. Yet, thousands of cavalrymen braved the wind and snow and marched southward like a long dragon through the Yanshan Mountains.

Qi Jiguang returned with his personal guards.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Wanli went directly to the Miyun Imperial Palace to greet him, personally brushed the snow off his body, and ushered him into the former county government hall.

Xiao Zhu Changxun is still learning from Song Yingxing.

Emperor Wanli pulled Qi Jiguang directly to the hanging map of northern Xinjiang and solemnly asked, "Yuanjing, where exactly is the road built in the middle of Xing'alin?"

Qi Jiguang pointed to the map and said carefully, "Your Majesty, this passage was built starting from the south bank of the Alun River, a tributary of the Nenjiang River."

We continued westward along the Arun River Valley, reaching near its source, then traversed several valleys before connecting to the Hailar River Valley. After nearly a thousand miles of construction, we finally reached the vicinity of the western grasslands.

This mountain road that passes through Xing'a Forest is nearly a thousand miles long!

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Have you sent scouts to investigate the situation on this grassland to the west?"

Qi Jiguang nodded slowly and said, "Your humble servant sent scouts to investigate the perimeter of this grassland."

This grassland is the territory of the Er'e tribe of the Oirat Mongols, who were originally the homeland of the Oirat Mongols. Legend has it that the Oirat Mongols originated in the Ergun River basin.

Their nomadic territory was located in a large area between the Ergun and Ertis rivers. "Er" is the name of the Tang Dynasty Uyghurs, which seems to refer to the Oirat Mongols.

Ergun River?
Irtysh River?
These two rivers are actually related!
The Ergun River is the source of the Heilongjiang River, and the Ertis River can be said to be the source of the Ye'ershi River or the Ob River.

These two rivers are practically 108,000 miles apart!

Wanli examined the map carefully and then asked, "What is the current strength of the Er'e tribe? Have you investigated this thoroughly?"

Qi Jiguang pondered, “When I sent scouts to investigate the outer perimeter, I did not see many scattered nomadic tribes.”

The Ertis tribe was probably finished. Esen of the Oirat tribe rose to power, and most of his people gradually migrated to the Great Lakes and Steppes area across the Ertis River.

Judging from its current size, the Er'e tribe probably couldn't even muster ten thousand cavalry.

That's good.

Emperor Wanli pointed to the map and said, "I originally planned to push from east to west. Since the Er'e tribe is no longer viable, we can seize their territory as our base for westward expansion."

Was this the main base for the campaign against the Oirat Mongols?
Qi Jiguang pondered, "This place is indeed a good place. The pasture is lush and the water source is abundant. Even if we bring hundreds of thousands of warhorses here, we won't have to worry about pasture and water."

The key issue is grain. They don't produce grain there, and the waterways don't lead directly to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, making grain transport extremely difficult.

"Your Majesty, I dare to ask, how many troops do you plan to mobilize to quell the Oirat?"

I have more than just the intention to pacify the Oirat.

Wanli slowly shook his head and said, "This time, we not only need to quell the Oirat, but we also need to establish a defense line in the north."

The Oirat tribe is probably not strong enough to muster 100,000 cavalry at the moment. If the Shenwu Battalion is transferred there, along with 50,000 cavalry each from Liaodong and Jizhou garrisons, it should be enough to sweep away the Oirat tribe.

The key is that we need to connect the two or three thousand miles to the north, build a defensive line, and completely pacify the northern part of the Ming Dynasty so that the border towns in the middle can move away with peace of mind.

Furthermore, Kemai said he saw Russians in the Shihe River basin near Yel. If we don't establish our northern defenses quickly, the Russians will likely attack after they take over the Siberian Khanate.

Are the Rakshasa people about to attack?

How can such a wide area be connected?
Qi Jiguang asked with some confusion, "Your Majesty, the rivers and waterways in this area are not connected, and the mountains are so numerous that even canals would be difficult to build. How are we supposed to connect them?"

Horse-drawn carriages are definitely impractical. They can only travel about a hundred miles a day, and the distance to the north is often tens of thousands of miles. It's simply not feasible to use horse-drawn carriages to transport people, horses, and supplies.

He thought that Wanli wanted to build a canal system similar to the Grand Canal to connect the entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Wanli explained in detail: "We have already developed a train that can travel by land. As long as the railway tracks are laid, the train can travel a thousand miles a day without any problem. We will use railways and trains to connect the entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty."

railway?

train!

These two names sound quite descriptive. Railway, as the name suggests, is a road built of iron, and train, as the name suggests, is a vehicle carrying fire.

The problem is that using iron to build roads and having vehicles on fire is truly hard to understand. These days, you really can't imagine it if you haven't seen the real thing.

Qi Jiguang was taken aback for a moment, but still asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what is a railway, and what is a train?" Oh, you haven't seen them yet.

After thinking for a moment, Wanli simply said, "I'll take you there and you'll understand."

Before Qi Jiguang could even finish speaking, Zhu Changxun suddenly jumped up and said, "Father, I want to go too!"

This little guy is daydreaming.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Alright, perfect. You haven't experienced riding a horse in the snow yet, let's ride over together."

Soon, a group of over a hundred riders rode out through the heavy snow, heading towards the newly opened workshops south of the Summer Palace.

Qi Jiguang was quite familiar with the Summer Palace.

He never expected that a new workshop would open up south of the Summer Palace.

What's strange about this workshop is that railway tracks are laid everywhere.

As soon as he rode over, he understood what the so-called railway was.

It turns out that the railway didn't mean paving the ground with iron plates, but rather laying two iron tracks on the ground.

When he followed Wanli into the workshop where trains were assembled, he was filled with shock.

There were several giant iron boxes lined up in a long queue inside!
He really didn't expect that the so-called train would be such a long behemoth.

This train must be hundreds of feet long!

He was stunned when he saw such a big thing.

Seeing this, Wanli immediately pulled him to the side under the train and pointed to the railway tracks: "Yuanjing, look, we just need to lay these tracks all the way, and the train can travel a thousand miles a day."

"If we simply lay such railway tracks all the way from the capital to the Beiping Regional Military Commission, the Liaodong Regional Military Commission, and the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, and then from the present-day Liaodong Town all the way to the Ertis River basin, the north will be completely pacified."

How many rails would that require?

Furthermore, it seems that this railway is not just made of rails; there are also timber and gravel underneath.

How much manpower, resources, and time would this require?
Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang thought about it carefully and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, this probably can't be completed in just one or two years, can it?"

of course.

Emperor Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Laying this railway will take a long time, so we can only do it section by section."

"Next year we will begin laying the foundation, starting with the sections from the capital to Daningwei, from Daningwei to Alunhewei, and from Alunhewei to the former Hailar Thousand-Household Garrison. These three sections must be completed first."

Uh, there are many big rivers in between.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang cautiously reminded him, "Your Majesty, the route from Daningwei to Alunhewei crosses many rivers, large and small, especially the Xilamulun River, which is exceptionally wide. It seems we cannot build such a long bridge yet."

This isn't a big problem.

Emperor Wanli explained in detail: "If we build it according to the original stone and earthen structure, it would be impossible to build a bridge this wide."

However, if roads can be paved with railway tracks, then bridges can naturally be built with steel frames and plates. We'll build iron bridges, and we can cross even the widest rivers.

Iron bridge?

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang thought carefully and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, there seem to be quite a few places along the way where iron bridges need to be built, and it will probably take a lot of time to build them."

"Your humble servant dares to ask, shall we not send troops to pacify the Oirat tribe next year?"

Of course we should fight.

Wanli slowly shook his head, then asked, "Is the road in Xing'a Forest flat, or do we need to cross mountains and valleys?"

The road we're building needs to accommodate horse-drawn carriages, so naturally we have to make it as smooth as possible.

Qi Jiguang replied without hesitation, "Your Majesty, that road is mostly flat, and I have ordered people to level the uneven parts."

That's good.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli decisively said, "Then let's first build the railway from Alunhewei to the former Hailar Thousand Household Office."

Once this railway is completed, it will be convenient to transport grain. One train can carry 10,000 shi of grain, and it can be transported from Arun River to Hailar Thousand Households in just one day.

If we just send ten of these trains, we can transport 100,000 shi of grain a day. Including round trips, we can transport 1.5 million shi of grain a month.

In other words, we could easily station over a million troops at our main base in the Hailar Thousand-Household Garrison area.

Are we going to have to mobilize so many people again?

(End of this chapter)