The New America Prefecture Castle is the seat of the governor's office of America Prefecture and the general military office of America Prefecture. It is also the political and military center of America Prefecture. It governs Peanutton County, Sanchahekou County, Xiaohekou County, Nanwankou County, and Dashan Island. There were eight colonial strongholds including Beiwantun County, Beiwantun County, Zhongwantun County, and Nanwantun County.
Among them, Peanutton County was the earliest colony established and was also the political, economic and military center of America. The location is approximately southwest of the later city of Seattle. There are many flat islands and peninsulas in that area, with abundant rainfall, dense forests, and several rivers running through it. Water transportation is very convenient.
There are about 20,000 immigrants, officials, soldiers, etc. from the Ming Dynasty and Japan living in the jurisdiction of Peanuttun County. They are mainly distributed in four places. Peanuttun is one of them. The other three are Peninsula City, Qilitun and America. Mansion Castle.
Tunhe City is also the lowest administrative unit in the American Prefecture, with county and prefecture levels above it.
Among them, those named after villages are usually farming districts, and those named after cities are market towns.
The castle is a military unit under the jurisdiction of the General Military Office of the American Mansion.
After three or four years of reclamation and construction, the Peanut Reclamation Area is now quite large. The number of residents who have settled here has exceeded 7,000, living in seven villages with trenches and earthen walls. Surrounding these villages are more than 200,000 acres of wheat fields and grass fields! These wheat and grass fields belong to nearly 1,000 private farms, which can produce more than 200,000 stones of wheat and a large amount of fodder every year. They are the granary and foundation of the entire American colony - a bottleneck for the Ming Dynasty to send troops and immigrants to the Americas. It’s not about transportation capacity, it’s about America’s local food supply capacity!
Don't look at the fact that America Mansion is very rich in natural resources, including bison and seafood. There seems to be no shortage of food. But how many people must come to eat it?
It might be okay to have 3,500 people, but with the continuous immigration and reproduction in the past three years, by the summer of the 13th year of Hongxing, the total population of America Mansion had exceeded 43,000, and it was still growing at least once a year every year. The number of fifteen thousand increased.
Therefore, the food supply in America Mansion is not as abundant as imagined...
Peninsula City is where Xu Liuliang's business is located. It is still under construction. When it is completed, it will be the industrial, commercial and financial center of America! There are now almost 5,000 immigrants settled in Peninsula County, most of whom are merchants, sailors and craftsmen.
Qili Tun is not a village seven miles long, but guards an isthmus seven miles wide - the Gulf of America. There are many peninsulas and islands in the area. The terrain is very fragmented, which is good for defense. To the north of the Qilitun Isthmus is another large peninsula with similarly flat terrain and dense forests.
Flat terrain means that large-scale reclamation can be carried out, while dense forests mean that the land is relatively fertile. As long as all the trees are cut down, a large area of wheat and grass fields can be opened up. The peninsula north of Qilitun (called Qilitun Peninsula) is the focus of the next phase of development in Peanutton County.
However, there are not many immigrants living in Qilitun now, less than 3,000. Most of them rely on logging and hunting. There are also some farmers who have opened up thousands of acres of wheat fields and grass fields.
The American Mansion Castle is a quite large fortress. The fortress is composed of sandbags, wood, and rammed earth, and there are wide and deep trenches on the outside. However, the interior of the fortress was very empty. The total number of garrison troops, officials, family members of officials, and some women accompanying the army was only five thousand. The barracks, mansions, various offices and warehouses where they lived only accounted for about one-third of the internal area of the fortress, and as much as two-thirds of the area was empty.
These open spaces are not reserved for land speculation, but to collect all the residents and garrisons of Peanutton County and Xiaohekou County and Dahekou County south of Peanutton County, about 30,000 people, into the fortress for protection when necessary. stand up!
Although the American Colony has not been attacked by the powerful Kingdom of New Spain in the past two or three years, the prefect Wei Zhongcheng and the commander-in-chief Yu Daren are always worried and fearful of tens of thousands of people. Spanish soldiers came to kill them.
So they have been preparing for the worst!
And when the summer of the thirteenth year of Hongxing arrived, bad news that made their hearts beat violently came every once in a while... Liu Liang and Liang Youxin's report was one of these bad news.
"The navy is really serious. Why didn't it stop the Spanish ships?" After sending away the two "volunteers" who reported the news, Wei Zaode's son Wei Zhongcheng's tense expression fell.
Of course he knew that the people brought by the Spaniards from Japan could not be ordinary people, they must be veterans who participated in the Toyotomi War!
The arrival of these Japanese veterans will greatly strengthen the military strength of the Kingdom of New Spain!
"It can't be stopped!" Yu Daren shook his head, "How big is the Pacific Ocean... As long as it leaves the coast of Japan, it will be difficult to catch it. The navy is exhausted and cannot stop 10% of the Spanish transport ships. With this skill It’s better to transport more people and cargo!”
"Then how many people do we have on hand?" Wei Zhongcheng asked, "How many can we fight?"
Yu Daren smiled and said: "There are a cavalry regiment and a naval squadron in service, less than 3,000 people. As for the rural soldiers, there are more than 10,000...but those people can only guard the fortress and cannot be drawn out to fight. of."
This cavalry regiment in service is a black gun and mule regiment. Most of the officers at all levels are scumbags from Laoshan-Pukou, that is, the "small shareholders" of the United States. Everyone has the title of the United States of New Zealand. The soldiers below were mostly selected from captured Qing troops or Ming cavalry who violated military discipline. This composition also determines that the combat effectiveness of this cavalry regiment cannot be compared with the real black gun and mule soldiers in the local area.
However, the jurisdiction of the American Mansion is too large, and the demand for "miscellaneous cavalry" is much stronger than the demand for elite infantry. Moreover, this group of "miscellaneous cavalry" were willing to settle down in the American Mansion, so Yu Daren chose the former between the "Nine Border Youth Army" and the "miscellaneous cavalry".
The naval squadron was built by Zheng Xi, and its main personnel were officers and soldiers of the former Dongning Army who followed him. It is said to be a navy, but in fact it is just a "Gulf Army" and cannot leave the Gulf of America.
Because this squadron is equipped with four galley gunboats modified from big bird ships.
Like the "handy cavalry", the squadron personnel are also professional soldiers who have settled in America.
In addition to these 3,000 professional soldiers, all the strong men in the American Mansion are rural soldiers. Everyone has a gun and is trained regularly. The total number registered is thirteen to four thousand. However, these people cannot be dragged out to fight in the field, that is, to guard villages, towns, and fortresses to maintain law and order.
"There are still so few!" Wei Zhongcheng's brows almost knitted into balls, "General Yu, please quickly ask the court for help... at least two regiments of the Young Guards should be sent to the American Mansion. !”
"How can two be enough?" Yu Daren shook his head, "Either we don't transfer, or we need to transfer at least one division!"
"Then, hurry up!" Wei Zhongcheng said, "There happens to be a navy clipper on the dock. Send it to deliver the message!"
Yu Daren paused and said, "Wait a little longer... You can wait a little longer!"
"Still waiting?" Wei Zhongcheng looked at Yu Daren, "Maybe the Spaniards have already invaded our area!"
"Not so fast..." Yu Daren said, "There are no traces of the Spaniards in Sanchahekou County yet. The riverside fort south of Sanchahekou County is our southernmost outpost. If When the Spaniards get there, there will only be 700 miles left from us. By then it will be too late to send a clipper to ask for help!"
"By then..." Wei Zhongcheng thought to himself: Isn't General Yu Da too calm?
Yu Daren glanced at Wei Zhongcheng and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Dafu. The men and horses of a division must be carried by at least 200 large ships. This will take up a year's transport ship quota... If you use By transporting immigrants, we can get another 15,000 to 20,000 people. How many fields can these people cultivate? How much work can they do? How much can they increase our strength?"
