The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 703 Northwest China Suffers from Years of Drought
With the end of the American Wars, the Ming Dynasty had become the true maritime hegemon.

However, this is just the beginning.

Emperor Wanli did not want maritime hegemons to change hands again like in history, nor did he want European colonial powers to rise again.

Therefore, after negotiating with the Netherlands and Britain and France, he immediately began making arrangements.

Descartes' role in handling European business and putting those colonial bandits in check was only one aspect.

He also needs to gradually improve the defenses in the Americas.

It's entirely possible that those colonial robbers, driven mad by desperation, would resort to desperate measures.

Moreover, colonial bandits believed that being a pirate was a matter of course, and plundering everywhere was their original profession.

He couldn't let those guys rush into the territory that the Ming Dynasty had worked so hard to develop and go on a rampage of burning, killing, and looting.

After settling matters on Desila's side, he led his naval fleet, carrying 500,000 soldiers of the Beijing garrison, back to the defense zone he was responsible for in Pianguan Town.

This area was historically a hotbed of Caribbean pirates, and it was also a key point in the defense of the Americas.

They fought the Dutch and Anglo-French forces for nearly a year, and waited another two months before starting negotiations. By then, the New Year holidays were already over.

The city fortresses and port docks here are almost finished, and the soldiers of Pianguan Town have even moved in.

On the third day of the second lunar month, around 9:00 AM, Wanli, after inspecting the southern seas, finally led his fleet back to Piantou Bay and arrived at the main port of Pianguan Town.

At this time, the magnificent main city of Pianguan Town had been completed, and the tens of millions of acres of farmland cleared by the border troops had begun to be cultivated.

As soon as the flagship docked at the main pier, Du Song, Xu Guangqi, Wang Xiangjin, Li Zhizao, and others boarded the ship together.

After the emperor and his minister exchanged greetings, Wanli asked, "General Du, do you have enough men under your command?"

His Majesty has figured it out.

Upon hearing this, Du Song thought for a moment and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, if each city, fortress, and port is equipped with a thousand-household garrison, then almost all the troops in Pianguan Town will have to be sent out to defend it."

Currently, I have only assigned five hundred men to each city, fortress, and port. Even so, there is still a shortage of labor for farming.

"If it weren't for the soldiers of the garrison still helping out here, we probably wouldn't be able to cultivate these tens of millions of acres of land for three seasons; even two seasons would be difficult."

Emperor Wanli certainly saw through this problem.

If they wanted to ensure that the scattered cities, fortresses, and ports could hold out for at least a day, they would have to station thousands of men at each location.

Five hundred men are not enough. It's normal for those colonial bandits to be thousands of pirates, and it's not impossible for them to number in the thousands or even tens of thousands.

Moreover, the colonial bandits posing as pirates all had firearms and cannons, while the border troops were not yet equipped with any firearms or cannons.

If each city fortress and port is garrisoned by only five hundred border troops, it is not certain that they can hold out for even a day.

After careful consideration, Wanli solemnly said, "Yiming, it seems that the Beijing garrison will need to send troops to the Americas to assist in defense."

You will arrange for 200,000 soldiers to rotate to the Americas each year, with 100,000 stationed at the Eastern Military Command in North America for defense, and another 100,000 stationed here for defense. Start with those fully equipped with muskets and artillery.

The Beijing garrison has the most muskets and artillery, and its combat power is the strongest. It would be a waste to station them all in the Beijing area.

Moreover, the capital of the Ming Dynasty is now impregnable and it is unlikely to be attacked. If there is no large-scale battle outside, the soldiers of the capital garrison will rust away if left idle.

Every year, 200,000 soldiers from the Beijing Garrison are brought over to take turns assisting in the defense of Pianguan Town and Xuanfu Town. This also provides an opportunity for them to train and maintain their combat strength, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Upon hearing this, Qin Yiming nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then carefully instructed: "General Du, from now on, you can arrange for one hundred border troops to take turns guarding each city, fortress, and port."

"You can assign the Jingying garrison to assist in the defense of the cities, fortresses, and ports on those outer islands. Your main force will primarily be responsible for guarding the Piantou Bay area. Is that alright now?"

With the Beijing garrison coming to assist in the defense, there's definitely no problem.

Upon hearing this, Du Song nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is fine. This place should be impregnable now."

This way?

This defense zone in Central America wasn't given a name; it wouldn't work to keep calling it "this place" all the time.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli pondered and said, "From now on, let's call this place the Central Military Command of the Americas."

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

Next, we need to consider the issue of naval garrisoning. It's not enough to just have border troops and Beijing garrison soldiers stationed at the Eastern Metropolitan Commandery in North America and the Central Metropolitan Commandery in the Americas, especially the Central Metropolitan Commandery in the Americas.

The cities, fortresses, and ports here are scattered among thousands of islands. Without naval ships stationed here, the border troops and the Beijing garrison troops stationed here would be isolated and helpless.

Moreover, since colonial bandits all came by sea, a sufficient number of ships were needed to prevent them from running around burning, killing, and looting in this hard-won developed area.

How much is enough?
After careful consideration, Wanli solemnly said, "Yunqing, you shall dispatch six hundred Weiyuan warships, one thousand Feilong ships, and one thousand Feishuo ships to garrison the East Commandery in North America and the Central Commandery in America respectively."

The Flying Dragon ships were responsible for patrolling the two sea areas, the Flying Shuttle ships were responsible for transporting provisions and supplies between various cities, fortresses, and ports, and the Mighty Farships were responsible for destroying all invading enemy ships.

That's no problem. Right now, the European colonial bandits don't have many warships left. The six hundred Weiyuan warships are already invincible in this sea area.

However, there is still a problem.

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Then, he cautiously added, "Your Majesty, this humble general dares to ask, many naval officers and soldiers have been asking me if they could also be allocated some land so that they could bring their families to their respective defense zones?"

Oh, I've been overlooking that.

The soldiers of the Beijing Garrison, the border troops, and even the garrison troops have enough land, but the naval soldiers and the Sichuan Army have no land. This is clearly unfair.

The amount of land he allocated to his soldiers was extraordinary. Fifty mu per household was considered a small amount, and many households received one hundred or even two hundred mu. This would bring in at least one hundred shi or even several hundred shi of income per year.

The garrison soldiers were one thing; they trained for a few years and were then promoted, but they didn't even know where they would be promoted to, and they didn't get any land to share.

The naval and Sichuanese soldiers would suffer greatly if they didn't have land. A hundred or even several hundred shi of grain a year was no small amount of income; the soldiers' pay and rations weren't even that high.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty is not short of land, but rather has so much land that there are not enough people to cultivate it. Why not distribute land to the naval officers and soldiers and the Sichuan army officers and soldiers?

Everyone is probably wondering about this.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "This is indeed something I overlooked. The naval officers and soldiers should also be allocated some land so that they can bring their families to the defense zone to live together."

However, the naval soldiers spend most of their time on ships and don't have much time to help their families with farming. If they are given too much land, they probably won't be able to manage it all.

How about this: we'll allocate fifty mu of land to each naval officer's household first. If a household has more than five members, they'll receive an additional ten mu of land for each extra person. What do you think?

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. In this way, the naval officers and soldiers can live and work in peace and contentment in their respective defense zones."

It seems the naval officers and soldiers haven't been assigned their defense zones yet.

After careful consideration, Wanli decisively said, "How about this, the navy will be divided into four fleets."

This is called the Eastern Fleet, which is managed by the Nationalist government. It consists of 1,200 Weiyuan warships, 2,000 Flying Dragon ships, and 2,000 Flying Shuttle ships.

Their land was divided among the islands of the Eastern Commandery in North America and the Central Commandery in America. The islands where cities, fortresses, and ports were built had sufficient water resources and most of them had a lot of land, which should be enough for the naval soldiers stationed there.

The naval fleet in the South China Sea is called the South China Sea Naval Fleet, which is under the command of Guosheng. In the past two years, we have equipped them with ships, and their territory is located in the Luzon area.

Furthermore, we also need to establish the Beiyang Fleet and the Western Fleet, respectively led by Kemai and Wuyang.

Kemai will temporarily lead 1,800 unarmored and un-cannoned Weiyuan warships and the remaining Flying Dragon ships to follow me. When the Weiyuan warships are fully equipped with armor and cannons, they will be stationed in the waters of the Eastern Ocean Commandery, the Liaodong Commandery, and the Nurgan Commandery.

We'll deploy the ships and naval personnel from Wuyang later, and then he can lead the fleet to garrison the waters of the Southeast Regional Military Command.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Emperor Wanli was always one to act on his words.

He then began allocating land to the naval officers and soldiers, and at the same time, he sent ships to the Ming Dynasty to pick up the families of the naval officers and soldiers.

Less than two months later, the Netherlands, Britain, and France actually delivered the compensation in cash and a thousand ships.

Immediately afterwards, Wanli ordered his naval officers and soldiers to sail back along the current to Wanshengtang, in preparation for delivering goods to the Americas.

While he was busy with his work, the first batch of ships that came to pick up the families of the naval officers and soldiers brought with them a handwritten letter from Crown Prince Zhu Changxun.

In his letter, Crown Prince Zhu Changxun mentioned only one thing: the Northwest has suffered from severe drought for the past two years, leaving the land barren and the harvest completely lost. The court has already allocated a large amount of disaster relief funds and grains there. He wondered if this approach would be sufficient.

When Wanli received the letter, he could no longer stay there.

When the Little Ice Age disaster strikes, simply allocating relief funds and supplies is not enough.

He immediately handed everything over to Deng Zilong, and then mobilized ships, leading 300,000 Beijing garrison soldiers and 1 million garrison soldiers back.

(End of this chapter)