The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 674 North American Turmoil
On the 26th of August, around 3 PM, the sun was shining brightly.

Yu Zigao's fleet finally returned, bringing with it the cattle, sheep, and horses of Datong Town.

At this time, courtyards were already scattered along both sides of the Datong River, and the border soldiers in Datong Town were digging ditches to prepare for land reclamation and planting.

Emperor Wanli was also considering whether or not to return to the capital.

His trip took far too long. Although the memorials to the emperor never stopped, the delay was simply too long.

It turns out that when he was in the Southeast Military Command, his memorials were already delayed by more than half a month. After he came to Fangzhang Island, the memorials were delayed by almost a month.

This was the time he received the memorial; it would take almost another month for him to review it and then order a fast ship to send it back.

In other words, important matters in the imperial court now take about two months to be processed.

This is causing too much delay.

He had no idea what the situation was like in the imperial court.

After the Weiyuan warship carrying Yu Zigao docked at the pier, he immediately ordered his men to summon him.

After the emperor and his minister exchanged greetings, he asked, "Kemai, how is everything in court? Did Zhonghua say anything to you?"

Things are fine in the imperial court, but there seems to be some problem in the Americas.

Upon hearing this, Yu Zigao cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, Grand Secretary Shen did not say anything to this humble general."

However, Minister Liang of the Ministry of War specifically spoke with me about the situation in the Americas.

General Deng has already submitted several reports, stating that ships of European colonial powers seem to frequently appear among the islands in central America.

Furthermore, ships of European colonial raiders even sailed to the coast of the East Coast of North America to spy on the region.

The problem is, those guys' ships just ran away as soon as they saw our ships; they didn't even engage our ships in combat.

Lord Liang wasn't sure if this was a serious matter, so he instructed me to report it to His Majesty in person.

This is definitely a big deal!
It seems that those European colonial powers have realized that entering Southeast Asia is hopeless, so they've started eyeing the Americas.

The Americas are probably going to descend into chaos; he needs to get back to Beijing as soon as possible.

Wanli nodded slowly, then solemnly said, "Kemai, quickly order people to unload the cattle, sheep and horses. Also, have Banghan come over."

Yu Zigao quickly bowed and took his leave.

A short while later, Qin Banghan arrived quickly.

After the emperor and his minister exchanged greetings, Wanli solemnly said, "Banghan, I am returning to the capital. I am entrusting this place to you."

what?
You're handing this over to me, not to His Highness the Prince of the South?

Qin Banghan looked at his aunt and cousin Zhu Changzhi with some reluctance, and asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, do you mean that His Highness the Prince of Nan will also return with you?"

This boy is still young and cannot be left alone in the vassal state.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, Zhi'er is still young. Let him come to take up his fiefdom when he is older."

"You need to develop this area quickly in the next two years, especially the grains, fruits, and vegetables. Plant as much as you can."

That's easy to say.

Qin Banghan nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Emperor Wanli thought for a moment, then carefully instructed, "I will leave five thousand flying shuttle ships here for you to transport grain."

If you see what supplies are still lacking here, just send someone to tell General Du. If Luzon is not enough, I will order the Weiyuan warship to send them over.

I will also leave you with the 10,000 Shenji Battalion soldiers who are exploring for minerals. They will first explore the area around Fangzhang Island for you.

As for mineral resources, send some people to mine coal first, just enough to ensure you have enough for your needs.

I will order the Ministry of Works officials and those corrupt and lawless individuals exiled to the border regions to be sent to you for other mineral resources.

"Then you can send some men to escort those exiled to the border regions to mine."

Uh, all those exiled to the border are brought here to mine?

Upon hearing this, Qin Banghan was taken aback for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "What about Zixian, Zijin, and Zhenzhi?"

These three people don't seem like civil officials.

Qin Banghan said cautiously, "Your Majesty, Lord Xu and Lord Wang are currently testing the planting of grains, melons, fruits, and vegetables in farmland and vegetable gardens more than a hundred miles away."

Lord Li has already taken the measuring cart and my thousand cavalrymen and fled two thousand miles upstream on the Datong River. I have no idea where he is now.

forget about it.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "They are busy, so let's not disturb them. I will send ships to pick them up after they are finished."

Upon hearing this, Qin Banghan nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and do your thing. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning. If you have time, come and see your aunt off."

Upon hearing this, Qin Banghan quickly bowed and took his leave.

Seeing this, Prince Zhu Changzhi of the Southern Kingdom couldn't help but ask, "Father, shall we go back now?"

You think taking up a fiefdom is fun, huh?
You don't want to go back yet. Now that your father, mother, and third brother are with you, you find being enfeoffed to be fun. If you were left here alone, you would definitely cry your eyes out.

Emperor Wanli shook his head slightly and sighed, "Something's probably going to happen in America. We need to get back quickly."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask, "Father, do you mean that those colonial bandits want to invade the Americas?"

Wanli nodded slightly, then took out the map, placed it on the table, and examined it carefully. He then said with a solemn expression, "You must remember that the essence of colonial bandits is banditry."

A leopard can't change its spots, and colonial thieves can't change their habit of plundering.

They've become accustomed to living a good life off what they've plundered, and it's impossible to get them to change this bad habit.

We have now set up three lines of defense in Southeast Asia. In addition, they are tens of thousands of miles away from Southeast Asia, so it is impossible for them to send too many troops and ships to seize it. Therefore, they should have given up on Southeast Asia for the time being.

It's unlikely they would have been able to launch a large-scale invasion of Southeast Asia before they developed steamships.

The problem is, they're all used to plundering; they can't live without it.

In this situation, what do you think they will do?

What will they do?
Xiao Zhu Changxun carefully examined the map, then pointed to the south of Europe and said, "Father, Africa is so close to them, why don't they go and rob it?"

You think they didn't try to rob it?

Indeed, there are not many places in Africa on this map that were occupied by European colonial invaders.

I need to explain this to you properly.

Emperor Wanli raised his hand and gestured on the map, saying, "This has a lot to do with the terrain of Africa."

The part of northern Africa closest to the European continent is a vast desert, which is tens of thousands of miles wide from east to west and three to four thousand miles long from north to south.

The only oasis in this area is the Nile Valley, but the problem is that the powerful Ottoman Empire is nearby, so if they go there, they're just asking for trouble.

In other words, if they wanted to raid Africa, they would have to travel at least four or five thousand miles by sea to reach the middle of the western coastline of Africa.

Look, after we get around this vast desert, aren't there quite a few of their colonial outposts?
As for why they haven't yet seized large swathes of colony in Africa, it's related to what they want to plunder.

What they wanted most was real gold and silver, followed by more valuable spices, copper, precious wood, and so on.

There isn't much real gold and silver along the African coast; at least, they haven't found much.

They've only discovered the Gold Coast so far, and Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and even Britain and France are all vying for it.

As for valuable goods such as spices, copper, and precious woods, they did not seem to find them along the African coast.

Another point is that most of the tribes in Africa are still primitive tribes that live by hunting and do not grow food.

They ran there but had nothing to eat, and had to grow their own food, and even transport food from mainland Europe.

This is a losing proposition for them; they only want to rob, not to engage in production themselves, at least not now.

Think about it, in this situation, how much significance does Africa mean to them?
They'd rather travel tens of thousands of miles to Southeast Asia or even the Ming Dynasty than go to Africa to plunder, because there's nothing left to steal there for them now.

Oh, so it turns out that there's nothing to rob in Africa for them.

Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded slowly, then asked, "Father, do you mean they are preparing to take action against the Americas?"

Emperor Wanli nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, we have blocked access to Southeast Asia, and they are still unable to defeat those Western countries. Under these circumstances, they will definitely choose the closer Americas."

The Americas are only about 10,000 miles away from them, and it would be quite convenient for them to get there once they became familiar with the shipping routes.

Spain and Portugal certainly knew very well how much gold and silver they had plundered in the Americas.

They definitely want to snatch this piece of meat. The way they're sneaking around there now is probably to familiarize themselves with the shipping lanes and also to probe our strength there.

Xiao Zhu Changxun thought about it carefully, then asked, "Father, our strength over there seems to be quite good, right? Would they dare to make a move?"

Do you think that little bit of strength can scare them?
Wanli shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "Our strength over there is actually not that great."

There are only a few thousand Fujian warships and a few thousand centipede ships over there at this time. If we don't count the troops of our vassal states, our troops number only a few hundred thousand.

Our strength in the Eastern Commandery of North America is no match for them. Don't underestimate the audacity of colonial bandits; there are no cowardly bandits. As long as they can seize money, there are plenty of bandits willing to take risks.

These colonial robbers.

Xiao Zhu Changxun thought for a moment, then solemnly said, "Father, with our current strength, dealing with them shouldn't be a problem, right? Why don't we take over Europe and solve the problem once and for all?"

This is it.

After thinking it over carefully, Wanli slowly shook his head and said, "Other places can be considered, but let's not consider Europe."

That place is a den of robbers. Think about it, what good would it do us to fight so hard to take over a den of robbers?
Even if we manage to conquer Europe, we'll still have to consider how to govern it, won't we?
Those people are like bandits; if we want to subdue them, we'll need to send at least several million troops.

Moreover, resources there are scarce, and the grain production is also limited. We can't even expect to earn back the food and supplies for millions of troops; it would be a pure money-losing business.

Think about it, with our millions of troops, we can create huge profits anywhere, so why would we do something that loses money?

Xun'er, in this world, everything is about self-interest, especially for a dynasty. It's best not to do anything that doesn't bring profit or is even counterproductive.

Oh, that's a losing proposition.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun slowly nodded and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)