The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 670 Where is the Little Southern King's fiefdom?

I really don't know what the Jinsha River was called in later generations during the Wanli era.

All he knew was that the river ran from north to south through the entire Myanmar Pacification Commission.

Moreover, there are vast plains in the middle reaches of the Jinsha River, enough to cultivate nearly 200 million mu of arable land.

It can be said that as long as the banks of this great river are developed, Guyuan Town can take root here and guard this gateway to the West.

The importance of this river is self-evident, so he naturally had to investigate it thoroughly.

He led hundreds of naval ships from south to north to investigate Jiangtou City on the north side of the Jinsha River, and then went downstream from north to south, heading straight for the mouth of the Jinsha River.

At this time, the 50,000 Sichuan soldiers and the more than 300,000 garrison soldiers recruited from this side had all set up camp on the east bank of the mouth of the Jinsha River.

The foundation of the city wall, which spans more than ten miles in circumference, has already begun to take shape.

Around 7:00 AM, as the sun rose, the flagship stood atop the Jinsha River estuary.

As Emperor Wanli was scanning the busy soldiers on the shore through his binoculars, Prince Zhu Changzhi of the Southern Kingdom suddenly said with a hint of discomfort, "Mother, it's so hot! Why is it so hot here?"

Upon hearing this, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan quickly placed him on a small chair next to Xiao Zhu Changxun, and then ordered someone to rearrange the screen so that the wind from the outside fan could blow in.

That way it won't be hot.

The little guy even picked up a calligraphy brush and pretended to practice calligraphy like Zhu Changxun, seemingly quite pleased with himself.

Upon seeing this, Wanli frowned slightly.

It's only early March! The snow and ice in Beijing have just melted, and it's still a bit cold there, but it's already getting warm here.

It's already a bit hot, exceeding 26 degrees Celsius. And this is only Chen Shi (7-9 AM). By Wu Shi (11 PM-1 PM), it will definitely exceed 30 degrees Celsius.

If it's this hot in early March, what will it be like in June and July?

He originally intended to build the Southern King City here, and he planned to grant the Southeast Regional Military Commission to Zhu Changzhi, the Southern King, as a vassal state.

Now it seems that might not work.

He originally intended to enfeoff his four sons in the four directions of east, west, south, and north to help the Ming Dynasty guard the borders.

However, after careful consideration, they still felt that this wouldn't work.

The responsibility of guarding the frontier cannot be left to the vassal kings.

Because guarding the frontier requires troops, at least 100,000 troops.

He cannot allow his other sons to have so many troops.

If there are too many soldiers, then people will have ideas. Even if their own sons don't have ideas, there's no guarantee that their descendants won't.

If their descendants had any ideas, the peaceful and prosperous Ming Dynasty could very well be destroyed.

So he changed his mind and no longer considered having his sons guard the frontier.

At this time, he didn't have high expectations for his sons. He only had one requirement: to manage their own vassal states well and live peacefully.

It seems that leaving this kid here isn't enough.

It's so hot, it's like suffering here.

If it's cold, that's easy to solve; just install a boiler and heating pipes.

He really didn't have a good solution to the heat, since there was no air conditioning available right now!

The only solution we can think of right now is to use ice to cool it down.

The problem is, this place is more than 10,000 miles away from where ice is produced.

Moreover, once you enter the South Seas, you enter a high-temperature zone. The ice carried by the shuttle ship will melt before it reaches this area, and even wrapping it in cotton blankets won't help.

This place definitely cannot be used as this kid's fiefdom.

Neither Ava City nor Jiangtou City would work, because the temperature didn't rise much as they traveled from north to south.

In other words, both Ava City and Jiangtou City become unbearably hot in the summer.

His considerations were not due to excessive pampering of his son.

The key is that he must learn from his mistakes; the lessons of the Hongwu Emperor and the Yongle Emperor are right before his eyes.

Emperor Hongwu wanted his son to guard the frontier, but the Prince of Yan launched a rebellion and seized the throne from his grandson.

Emperor Yongle went to another extreme, treating the vassal kings like pigs, granting them fiefdoms and stipends. As long as the vassal kings stayed obediently in their fiefdoms, everything was fine.

As a result, these vassal kings had nothing to do but have children, frantically annex land, and indulge in extravagance and debauchery.

These vassal kings have become a burden on the Ming Dynasty, and the burden will only grow heavier over time, eventually crushing the Ming Dynasty.

This approach is clearly not going to work.

He had no intention of giving his descendants any stipends or stipends; instead, he gave them a share of the tax revenue from their vassal states.

He didn't plan to give out too much land; one million mu of land for each son would be about right. Besides, all the land would be subject to land tax.

In this way, if his descendants wanted to prosper, they would have to find ways to develop their own vassal states. The more taxes their vassal states paid, the more dividends they would receive. Of course, all of this was conditional.

The premise is that he must ensure that his sons who have been granted fiefdoms can live peacefully. If they cannot live peacefully, they will definitely have ulterior motives.

The southeastern capital is too hot, making it impossible to live a peaceful life there. Therefore, he certainly cannot enfeoff the Southern King's lineage here.

The problem is, if things don't work here, where should we assign someone to?

It seems like this is the coolest place in the whole of Southeast Asia. Luzon is hotter than here, and places like Penglai Island, Java, and Srivijaya are even more unusually hot.

It seems like there's no place in Southeast Asia that isn't hot.

How to do it?

He frowned and pondered for a while, then took out the map, placed it on the table, and looked at it before asking, "Xiao Lan, what do you think about enfeoffing Zhi'er here?"

You're asking me this question?
Was the enfeoffment of princes considered part of the imperial court's policies?
The problem is, this is my precious youngest son, how can I just ignore him?

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan thought carefully for a moment, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, it's only March here and it's already so hot. I'm afraid Zhi'er won't be able to stand it in the summer."

I'm starting to feel this way.

Upon hearing this, Prince Zhu Changzhi of the Southern Kingdom nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Father, it's too hot here."

It's still morning; by noon, even with a fan, it'll probably be sweating from the heat.

"Father, when are we going back? The palace is so much more comfortable than here."

That's what you said.

So you mean you want to live in the palace forever, right?

Don't you think about it? Who can live in the palace forever?

That's the emperor!

What you said could easily be misunderstood, making people think you want to be the emperor, you know?

Children speak without restraint.

Wanli shook his head slightly and patiently explained, "We can't leave yet. Yansui Town hasn't been relocated here yet. We still need to stay here and keep watch."

"Father, just order fifty of the Weiyuan warships to go back and fetch ice. With ice, the warships will be as cool as the palace."

Oh, you can't leave yet.

Okay then, as long as there's ice, it'll be fine.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changzhi, the Prince of Xiaonan, nodded repeatedly and then picked up his brush and pretended to practice calligraphy.

He was just saying it casually; he didn't mean anything by it.

Wanli stared at the map for a while, then pointed to Fangzhang Island and said, "Xiao Lan, if we're talking about the weather, there's no place in Southeast Asia that isn't hot. Fangzhang Island in the south of Southeast Asia is quite nice."

The garrison commander of Fangzhang Island once said that it's warm and spring-like all year round, neither too hot nor too cold, and that it has mountains, sea, and rivers, and you can have whatever you want to eat.

Uh, Abbot Island!
Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan hesitated for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, Fangzhang Island is wonderful in every way, but it's just too far away. I've heard that Fangzhang Island is more than 20,000 li away from the capital."

This distance is indeed quite far; even with the existing Weiyuan warships and shuttle ships, it would take fifty or sixty days to make a round trip.

But that's okay.

Emperor Wanli solemnly said, "We can have Liangfu develop a fast ship, a real fast ship."

That is, it was fitted with the boiler of the Weiyuan warship, and equipped with a steam engine as large as the Weiyuan warship, but made into a shuttle shape, and only made about a thousand liters.

In this way, the speed of this fast ship would be at least twice as fast as the Weiyuan warship.

In other words, this kind of fast ship could travel over 2,000 li a day without any problem, so traveling over 20,000 li would only take about ten days.

They even developed a fast ship that could run faster than the Weiyuan warship and the shuttle ship.
Upon hearing this, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan cautiously said, "Your Majesty, is it really inappropriate to order the development of such a fast boat just so that I can visit Zhi'er?"

This isn't just for your convenience when visiting your son.

Emperor Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "We really need these fast ships because our territory is too vast."

It takes more than a month for a message to be sent back from the East Commandery in North America, and more than three months to make a round trip. This is too inconvenient.

Therefore, we must develop this fast ship. I will immediately order Liangfu to develop it.

These boats are no longer called boats, but speedboats.

Clippers need to carry a large number of people and supplies, while speedboats are all about speed. They'll go as fast as they can, only considering speed and not carrying capacity at all.

In later generations, speedboats could be driven as if they were flying.

That probably won't work right now.

However, with the existing technology of the Ming Dynasty, it should not be a problem to make a speedboat that is about twice as fast as the Weiyuan warship and the flying shuttle.

(End of this chapter)