The fleet that Zhu Hao sent south to conquer Chile and other coastal areas and cross the Strait of Magellan to the east coast of South America made a long circle and successfully arrived in Cologne loaded with goods.
The main mission of this long-distance voyage was to explore the situation on the Atlantic coast of South America. Although Zhu Hao obtained a lot of information from his mind, the reality was different from what he expected.
After the fleet circled South America, the conclusion is that the east coast has begun to be invaded by European colonists, but the extent is not deep enough. In South America, especially in southern Brazil and the coastal areas of Argentina, the primitive tribes have relatively small populations, and European colonists have not.
The French use the indigenous people to develop plantations on a large scale, so so far, their main purpose is to plunder the population and mine.
“Many people were captured along the way, and we had three fierce battles with European fleets. Each time we sank their ships and fished out some prisoners.
"According to their confessions, large-scale iron ore and gold mines have been discovered in the inland areas of the eastern and central parts of the mainland. Some people have been mining there, but most of them are mining gold. European colonists often bring two to three hundred people at a time, and they all go inward.
Walking by land.”
After listening to the news brought back by the fleet, Zhu Hao understood that the inland area mentioned by these people should be the future state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is rich in various mineral deposits, especially gold. There was a gold rush, and now
It was the beginning of the South American Gold Rush, when European explorers organized manpower to dig for gold deposits in the shallow layers of the earth.
Some mineral deposits are only a hundred or two hundred miles away from the Brazilian coastline. If there are rivers connecting them, the collected minerals can be easily transported out.
The problem now is that Zhu Hao does not have his own territory on the east coast of South America. It is far away from the cities he built on the east coast of Central America. Even if he tries to build a port city, it will not be in his direct vicinity all year round.
Under control, even if a war breaks out, he will not be able to hear the news immediately and send reinforcements in time.
Because Zhu Hao's industrialization has taken a big step now, he has to increase the output of various mineral deposits, and the Inca Empire and the mines in Central America alone are obviously not enough to support rapid expansion. After all, it may take several years to build a city.
Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of tons of steel, not counting his consumption of building steel battleships and various muskets, artillery and other weapons.
Zhu Hao knew that once his industrialization was based on the development of military industry, it would inevitably involve a problem - frequent wars and rapid territorial expansion. Otherwise, the weapons produced would be equivalent to waste and could not be cashed in. Instead, he expected to trade with the Native Americans in exchange for
More resources are simply not realistic.
The goods Zhu Hao traded with the indigenous people were mainly light industrial products, including cloth, salt, ceramics, wine, sugar, etc., as well as livestock. He exchanged the indigenous people for their labor and food. The result of this exchange was the indigenous civilization.
The level rises linearly.
Among them, Zhu Hao will sell them some important industrial products, such as iron tools, such as iron axes, hacksaws, hoes, sickles, etc., so that they can greatly improve their production efficiency. In this way, the indigenous people of America will quickly enter the Iron Age.
transition.
But it is basically impossible for these indigenous people to trade larger goods with the government, such as industrial raw materials. Except for rubber, tobacco, herbs and other cash crops that can be planted by them, the rest basically depends on Zhu Hao to organize his own manpower to dig.
.
At this time, Zhu Hao had no choice but to think of plundering.
Directly plundering the wealth of Europe and Africa has been excluded from Zhu Hao's plan. The only thing he can do now is to capture some material transfer stations established by Europeans on the east coast of South America, so this time
He planned to send a fleet from Cologne, not just to go around in a circle to the south, but to directly seize the mineral deposits on the east coast of Brazil and its interior under the guidance of a guide, and organize manpower there.
, carry out mining and transportation, and build several cities on the east coast of South America that belong entirely to the empire under his control.
…
…
A huge fleet consisting of twenty-four large ships and more than fifty medium-sized ships is about to set off.
In addition to a thousand officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, the fleet also included 5,000 elite Aztec troops and 20,000 Inca people who had followed in the past. After completing the feat of migrating to Central America and building the city of Cologne, they were about to migrate again.
This time they will go to the east coast of Brazil to build a city.
In other words, letting the citizens of these new empires travel north and south to include all the east coast of America into the empire's territory. This will be the most critical step for Zhu Hao to conquer South America.
Zhu Hao could not go there in person, so he had to appoint a new governor and army commander.
When Zhu Hao was sending his troops off to the dock for the expedition, he could clearly feel the fatigue of the Ming officers and soldiers.
Many of them have already returned home. They have experienced too much in the past few years overseas. Many of them have abandoned their wives and children and come to America to work hard. They miss their wives and children at home very much.
Zhu Hao made a promise to them: "Within one and a half years, either I will let you return to Daming to reunite with your parents and family, or I will take them all over to enjoy their happiness. It will be up to you to choose. But in the last year and a half,
, please put the interests of Ming Dynasty first!"
At this time, it was less than nine months before the scheduled time for Zhu Hao to send troops to the Ming Dynasty, but in fact, Zhu Hao was planning to send his fleet and troops to the Ming Dynasty in four or five months.
What Zhu Hao has to do in the recent period is to select elite soldiers and horses in control areas such as Cologne, Panama, the upper, middle and lower cities and Xincheng in Central America, and SF City in South America, and follow him to attack the Ming Dynasty. He will not be a Ming Dynasty
He didn't take any soldiers with him. The soldiers who went out with him were all those soldiers who had no family ties, probably only 1,500 at most, and the rest were all native Americans.
Among them, the Aztecs' 30,000 elite soldiers were used together with the Inca Empire's 70,000 warriors. These are the troops that Zhu Hao has been training rigorously recently.
…
…
Su Xigui specially took a boat from his own territory to the city of Cologne.
In the city lord's palace in Cologne City, old friends Su Xigui and Zhu Hao met again after more than a year. Their moods were different from before.
"...It's too fast. The population is growing rapidly. It feels like a dream. With your own territory, you can develop as you want, do whatever you want, and no one will control you... That feeling... Wow, it's extraordinary!
"
Su Xigui has begun to enjoy the feeling of having great power and being the leader.
Zhu Hao understood that Su Xigui was originally just a businessman with money but no power. Without the support of his brother-in-law, he would be squeezed to pieces every minute. But now, at least four to five million people are under his jurisdiction and dispatch.
He directly became the master of one party, and the natives knew nothing and were completely controlled by the government. All he had to do was manage the natives in a political and religious manner and make them feel that Ming Dynasty was a messenger sent by heaven and could not disobey them.
The indigenous people of Central America were massacred and brutally oppressed by European colonists, which made them deeply aware that they must find a strong force to rely on, and the conditions given to them by the Ming Dynasty were far inferior to those of European colonists.
Zhu Hao clearly explained the situation to Su Xigui: "Will you go with us to attack the Ming Dynasty in the future?"
"this……"
Su Xigui hesitated for a moment.
Zhu Hao said: "I have sent ships back over the past year."
"What?"
Su Xigui looked unbelievable.
Zhu Hao has always said that everyone is developing overseas with peace of mind and has not made any contact with the Ming Dynasty, but now it seems that Zhu Hao has made some preparations to command the Ming Dynasty.
"On the pretext of going to Australia... right here to mine iron ore, I will recruit 1,200 warships and a total of 100,000 troops to go out. After waiting for the Nanyang Islands, I will divide the troops into two groups and attack directly from Tianjin Wei.
To the capital, the other route goes up from the Shuojiang River at the mouth of the Yangtze River to capture Nanjing in one fell swoop!"
Zhu Hao unfolded the detailed combat map for Su Xigui to take a look at.
Because he needs Su Xigui to go back with him.
Su Xigui asked: "Is the current situation in Daming... OK?"
"Everything is the same as before."
Zhu Hao said, "The people I sent back were mainly to spy on information by bribing the Folangji people, and also sent agents to quietly log in to the coastal areas of Shandong, go deep into cities and villages, and investigate the situation in the Ming Dynasty... Our ship is anchored at
On the coastal islands, it is unknown to the government. A month ago, the task force returned to Panama City... This is a summary report on the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, please take a look."
Su Xigui is most concerned about the situation of his brother-in-law Huang Zan.
When I saw that Huang Zan had resigned as Minister of Civil Affairs and returned to his hometown to take care of his old age, I felt disappointed.
Zhu Haodao: "In the past few years, many things in Ming Dynasty have changed. For example, the construction of railways has been stopped, the shipyards have been abandoned, and the operation of the steel plants and textile plants we left behind are all in difficulty... It's not that I have to do anything, but
Under the imperial power, no matter how hard one works and develops well, everything will be brought back to its original shape when the person involved leaves... At present, Fei Hong is still the chief assistant of the cabinet, but it is said that he and Liu Chun will step down soon.
The assistant general became Yang Yiqing.
"Zhang Cong and Gui E have joined the cabinet. They have taken my previous position.
"The emperor is planning to send a fleet to look for us overseas, but I don't think they will come to our place so easily. Even if we are lucky enough to succeed, we can easily defeat them and accept them.
"The rest... lies in how to capture the Ming Dynasty quickly. The best way is to break into the capital directly."
Su Xigui asked: "The Ming Dynasty had dozens or even millions of soldiers and horses. Is it not that easy to attack the capital?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "With the artillery we have now, we can easily blow down the city walls of the capital. The best weapons of the Ming Dynasty are still the ones I used to research and manufacture, but they are basically useless now. The imperial court has no use at all."
The Hubu treasury silver was not used to improve weapons and equipment.
"Our guns are at least two to three hundred years more advanced than theirs, and our army is composed of native Americans. Although they are becoming more familiar with the Ming language, they have no emotional ties to the Ming shell.
"As long as we capture the capital, the rest depends on whether the troops of Prince Qin and the border troops of the other provinces want to fight us to the end.
"I will not change the status of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. After all, Zhu Si is my friend. I will not endanger his life. More importantly, I will coerce the Emperor to order the princes, so that Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and there are tens of millions of Chinese
People, be used by me. By then, the development of our empire will be on the right track!"