The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 692 Using Force
In fact, Wanli deliberately sent Deschel away.

There are some things he can't say to this guy's face.

He watched the man's figure disappear at the top of the stairs before solemnly saying, "Kunisuke, I'm leaving this matter to you."

Uh, leave it to me?
You didn't say exactly what to do about this.

Upon hearing this, Li Guozhu was taken aback for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, which vassal state should we recruit these troops from? Also, are we really going to lend them a hundred Fujian warships?"

Even when De Shera was alive, I couldn't say for sure.

Emperor Wanli explained in detail: "We cannot recruit 50,000 troops from a single vassal state, after all, we still need to equip these 50,000 troops with 1,000 centipede ships and 100 Fujian warships."

If we recruit troops from only one vassal state, that vassal state will become dominant, disrupting the balance of power among the vassal states. Over time, this could lead to problems.

For this 50,000 troops, you should recruit them from 50 vassal states in North America with relatively large populations, recruiting 1,000 from each vassal state.

Furthermore, we cannot simply hand over all these ships to them and let them run amok with De Shera.

There are thousands of newly appointed military scholars here. Assign one to each centipede ship and let them train and command the soldiers of the vassal states.

We really need to lend De Shera a hundred Fujian warships, otherwise he really won't be able to control those nobles in the Governor-General's jurisdiction of Brazil.

However, you must also arrange for our own officers to train and command the soldiers of our vassal states using these Fujian warships.

And most importantly, you need to replace the cannons on those Fujian warships.

You shall send the Flying Dragon Ship back to the capital shortly and have the Emperor's father-in-law cast a batch of muzzle-loading cannons, along with 100,000 round cannonballs and enough gunpowder.

We mustn't let Deshera see our breech-loading cannons, nor can we teach our vassal soldiers how to use them. Replace all the cannons on top, then pretend to drive over.

Upon hearing this, Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "First, take the Flying Dragon Ship to the nearby islands to recruit a few Centipede Ships. Then, take Deshera to the Eastern Capital of North America to gather a thousand Centipede Ships, bring the newly appointed military scholars there, and then go to the vassal states there to recruit troops."

Upon hearing this, Li Guozhu nodded repeatedly and stood up, saying, "This subordinate understands."

Having said that, he bowed and took his leave, then hurried away.

Wanli sighed slightly as he watched his retreating figure, "De Shera is here. Next year we will be dealing with those colonial bandits. Yunqing, we need to establish a defense line here as soon as possible."

How can we defend such a large area?

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, do we need to deploy defenses over such a vast sea area?"

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, we cannot allow the fleets of those colonial pirates to pass through this sea area."

If we allow the fleets of colonial pirates to pass through this sea, our canals and the Western Capitals of North and South America will be in turmoil.

These colonial bandits are even more ruthless than the Japanese pirates, and their destructive power is far greater. We absolutely cannot allow them to land, burn, kill, and loot in our rear.

Colonial robbers were even more ruthless than Japanese pirates.

I didn't see them being that ruthless.

They seem to only enjoy seizing colonies and plundering resources.

This is similar to a dynasty fighting over territory.

The Japanese pirates were a different story. Those guys would burn, kill, and plunder everywhere they couldn't seize territory.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, will they really burn, kill, and plunder everywhere like the Japanese pirates? It seems like they just want to seize colonies, right?"

You've only seen them seize colonies, you haven't seen their pirates yet.

The Caribbean pirates are very famous in later generations, and the prototype of the Caribbean pirates is the British privateer.

Wanli slowly shook his head and said, "Yunqing, you don't know yet, but Britain has an explicit law supporting pirates to plunder everywhere."

When they couldn't defeat Spain, they sent pirates to plunder and pillage everywhere, raiding Spanish treasure ships carrying gold and silver, seizing their merchant ships, and even raiding their colonies.

what?
It was explicitly stated that piracy was supported in its widespread plundering!

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong was dumbfounded and exclaimed, "Don't they have any shame?"

They have no shame.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "They are just bandits. What shame do bandits have?"

If these guys are this shameless, then we really need to be wary of them.

The question is, how do we defend such a large area?

Deng Zilong thought for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, this sea area is too vast, with several thousand islands. It would be difficult for the small force in Pianguan Town to defend all the islands."

That's not just difficult, it's simply impossible.

This sea area has at least six or seven thousand islands. Even if each island is garrisoned by a hundred households, it would still require six or seven hundred thousand troops. Pianguan Town simply doesn't have that many troops.

Emperor Wanli slowly shook his head and said, "We don't need to send people to guard every island. We don't need to guard islands without water sources."

If colonial raiders had no foothold in the Americas, they would have to sail at least five or six thousand miles, or even tens of thousands of miles, to get there.

Given the distance, their sailboats would likely take many days to sail, and they would certainly be in dire need of water by then.

"Think about it, what would they do if we protected all the islands with abundant fresh water?"

A sea voyage without fresh water is far worse than one without food. What would those colonial raiders do in such a situation?

After thinking it over carefully, Deng Zilong said solemnly, "In this situation, if I were in command, I would probably find an island with plenty of fresh water first, launch a landing attack, and replenish the water supply before making any further moves."

Well, I can last a few days without food, but I can't last a few days without water.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, no matter what, they will definitely find a way to replenish the fresh water."

In this situation, as long as we build strong fortifications on all the islands with abundant fresh water, we can hold out for more than a day.

Then, every 500 li or so, find a relatively large island, build a naval port, station ships there, and send flying dragon ships to patrol day and night. This should be enough to block the colonial pirate fleet.

This seems to actually block it.

However, there seems to be one loophole.

Deng Zilong thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, if they can't replenish their water supply on these islands, they'll probably head south to our vassal states or the Governor-General's territory of Brazil to replenish their water supply."

This is something we must also be wary of.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Yes, we must also build strong fortresses to guard the river mouths of all the vassal states in the south, and send flying dragon ships to be ready to send messages at any time."

In addition, we also need to build a naval port and wharf on the largest island in the south that is closest to the mainland, and station ships there.

Even if they manage to bypass our fortress and land, fetching water will take them a long time, and our fleet will be able to get there in time.

As for the Viceroyalty of Brazil, let De Shera set up defenses. Their raids on the Viceroyalty of Brazil won't have much of an impact on us.

We're just extracting resources there; we won't be developing it extensively. As long as we build fortresses and protect the important gold, silver, and copper mines, they won't be able to steal much.

How many cities and fortresses would that require?
After Wanli established his strategy, he ordered people to search for islands with abundant fresh water.

As a result, they found hundreds of such islands.

In other words, they would need to build at least a hundred sturdy fortresses.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month of the following year, around noon, a massive fleet of thousands of ships finally arrived at the huge harbor west of Umana Island.

Yu Zigao finally led his ships to bring over hundreds of thousands of able-bodied men and women, along with the sheep that could be eaten, from Pianguan Town.

At this time, in the deepest part of the harbor, Wanli had already ordered his naval officers and soldiers to build rows and rows of docks.

However, they have not yet built a city here; the area around the port and docks is just a vast, empty plain.

The densely packed ships took turns docking at the pier, and rows upon rows of black dots surged ashore, quickly gathering into a large mass.

At this moment, Du Song, the general of Pianguan Town, also arrived on the flagship by imperial decree.

After the emperor and his minister exchanged greetings, Wanli gestured for Du Song to sit down, then pointed to the map and solemnly said, "General Du, this is the bay we are currently in, which I have named Piantou Bay."

The large bay outside Piantou Bay is three or four hundred miles in circumference, while our current small bay is thirty or forty miles in circumference. Moreover, there is an island more than a hundred miles long outside this small bay that shelters us from hurricanes.

This can be said to be the best harbor in this sea area. In the future, the center of Pianguan Town will be set up here, and the main port of the Central American Navy will also be set up here.

I have already purchased the eastern half of Avana Island and the western half of Umana Island. This entire area, spanning over two thousand li, now belongs to your Pianguan Town.

First, gather all the able-bodied men and women under your command to dig irrigation ditches and cultivate land near this port and dock. Don't build cities and houses yet.

The weather here is hot, so setting up a tent is no problem at all. But you'll need to clear out about ten million acres of wasteland nearby and plant crops first.

Because your Pianguan Town already has a population of over a million, we also need to mobilize hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of garrison soldiers to establish a defense line in this vast sea area. In addition, the naval soldiers gathered here number at least several hundred thousand.

With such a large force, the monthly grain requirement is several million shi (a unit of dry measure). We mobilized the centipede ships here and only managed to bring over a little over one million shi, less than two million shi, of grain over the course of several months.

If the Weiyuan warship and the shuttle ship were to be deployed to East Dusla in North America, it would require a significant amount of ship transport capacity.

Our Weiyuan warships and flying shuttles still need to return to the Ming Dynasty to fetch people and supplies; they can't stay here to transport food. So you'll have to work hard and quickly clear the land and start farming.

At this moment, they indeed didn't have many spare Weiyuan warships and airships to haul food.

Upon hearing this, Du Song nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli then pointed to the map and explained in detail: "The climate here is similar to that of Luzon Island. It is hot and sunny, and there is no problem planting three seasons a year."

Moreover, there are many rivers and lakes near this harbor, and the water source is abundant, making it very suitable for growing rice.

You should try to plant the rice in February, so that you can harvest the first crop around June.

The remaining men, women, children, cattle, sheep, and horses in Pianguan Town will definitely be brought over by the end of May. At that time, you can harvest the first crop and continue planting the second crop.

As for the defenses here, we're not in a hurry to build them. Right now, European colonial powers are fully engaged in invading Portuguese colonies. If we don't attack them, they won't abandon their attack on Portuguese colonies and turn around to attack us instead.

In other words, the timing of the war is entirely under our control; we can be fully prepared before we start the war.

Upon hearing this, Du Song nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli nodded slightly, then carefully instructed, "Kemai, when you go back to recruit people this time, first send a flying dragon ship to Southern Zhili to send a message, asking them to hand over all the flying dragon ships and Weiyuan warships built during this period to you to sail over together."

It doesn't matter if the Weiyuan warships are not fully staffed with naval officers and soldiers; we just happen to be decommissioning a batch of centipede ships, which will provide plenty of naval personnel.

The key is that you need to bring the newly built Flying Dragon and the Weiyuan warships. We need to scout out the enemy and prepare for war against the European colonial invaders.

Upon hearing this, Yu Zigao nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

(End of this chapter)