In the midsummer of the fifteenth year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty, at this time in Peninsula City, Peanutton County, expeditionary officers and soldiers wearing red and black military uniforms finally arrived. Ships of soldiers disembarked from the Pacific sailing ships transporting troops. Before they could recover from the discomfort caused by the long life at sea, they were greeted by officers sent by the American Admiralty Envoy on the pier and the whole team set off. Passing through the increasingly prosperous Peninsula Street Market, we walked towards the newly built military camp outside the American Palace Castle.
The first batch of Chinese immigrants arrived in Peanut Village in the ninth year of Hongxing. It has been six full years, but there were not many Chinese visitors in the first batch. Real immigration on a large scale began in the 11th year of Hongxing. In the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th years, more than 10,000 to 20,000 people crossed the ocean in four consecutive years. Come.
Just when people here in America thought that twenty thousand a year was an insurmountable upper limit, Peninsula City's port suddenly became extremely busy in the first half of the fifteenth year of Hongxing's reign. Almost every ten days, a fleet would arrive from across the ocean. Drive over here.
There were not only Pacific sailing ships from China, but also Western sailing ships from the Dutch East India Company. In less than half a year, more than 40,000 people were brought to the American Mansion. If this trend can be maintained until the end of the year, the population of the American Mansion will increase by more than 80,000 in the fifteen years of Hongxing, almost doubling!
The composition and origin of the 40,000 people who arrived in America in the first half of the 15th year of Hongxing's reign were also very different from those in previous years.
Those who came to America in the past few years, excluding those in the upper class, mainly fall into three categories. One is the lower-level soldiers of the Qing army who were captured during the Ming and Qing wars - they are all single, and most of them are "New Manchurian Peasants and Soldiers". ", he's not very good at fighting, but he's really good at clearing wasteland and farming!
The second is the northern immigrants mainly from Shandong - most of these people brought their families with them, and they were deceived by the major shareholders of the United States. The reason why most of them come from Shandong is because Shandong did not fall completely during the Ming and Qing wars. Therefore, it has a larger population among the northern provinces and is a coastal province that is not so closed.
Moreover, the climate in Shandong is close to that of the American Gulf. The crops that can be grown in Shandong can also be grown in the American Gulf, so it is most suitable to develop in the American Gulf.
The third is a young girl from Japan...
With the joint efforts of the above three groups of people, the desolate and primitive Gulf of America finally looked like a civilized world. The scale of agricultural production was also growing, driven by the orders provided by the American government. By the time of spring plowing in the 15th year of Hongxing's reign, more than 800,000 acres of cultivated land had been reclaimed!
If the weather goes well, when the harvest comes this autumn, millions of stones of flour and soybeans will be sent to warehouses across the Americas... This food is enough to feed 200,000 strong laborers for a whole year!
Coupled with the accumulation in the previous few years, by this autumn, the food in the American Palace will be enough to support a war with the Spanish.
And the smell of gunpowder here in America Mansion is indeed getting stronger and stronger.
The pace of war is approaching!
The land contact between the two sides began in the summer of the 14th year of Hongxing's reign. The defenders of Hebian Fort, the outpost of the Ming Army in America, reported multiple "contact incidents" in May and June of the 14th year.
According to reports, the Ming army patrolling and exploring south from the Hebianbao outpost encountered Spanish Japanese mercenaries at least five times in the mountains, forests and river valleys south of Hebianbao!
Although both sides maintained restraint and did not open fire, the hostile attitude was still obvious.
At the beginning of the 15th century, through reports from some Indians who escaped being killed by Japanese mercenaries in Spain and ran to the territory of America House (of course there are Indians in the America House area), at a place about 30 days away from the Riverside Fort In the large valley, there are now many "dwarfs" building castles and cultivating land.
Moreover, these dwarves were very unreasonable. They burned, killed, looted, and then deported the nearby Indian tribes. It was so cruel!
The American Mansion of the Ming Dynasty has never done such an unreasonable thing! Because the American Mansion has existed since ancient times, there have always been only a very small number of Indians here...
After receiving a report from the American Government about the arrival of "tens of thousands of Japanese mercenaries" in California, the Ming court no longer dared to take it lightly.
Starting from the end of the 14th year, a large number of Young Guards, Black Cavalry Army (all in black) and Japanese Red Iron Artillery Corps (all in red) began to board Pacific sailing ships, and tens of thousands of them flocked to the New World. .
And before these heavily armed soldiers began to arrive one after another, there were also many "stock refugees" from the prosperous Jiangnan area... Most of these people did not know how to farm. They were either small businessmen or handicrafts. The latter, as well as some landlords and scholars (now no longer scholar-bureaucrats) who lived on land rents, all came to America with their families.
Although most of these people held United States stocks that could be exchanged for land in America House, most of them did not know how to farm. Therefore, after coming to America House, they did not immediately exchange for land, but settled in Peninsula City.
Some of them relied on their crafts to make a living, some started small businesses, some opened schools, and some simply took the exam to become minor officials in the American Mansion - there are too few scholars here in the American Mansion, so there is a lack of qualified people. of officials.
Therefore, the arrival of these "stock refugees" has made the market in Peninsula City a lot more active, and also made the Yamen of America Mansion look more presentable.
However, Zhu Cihuan, Prince of Chongqing County in the Ming Dynasty, and his followers are very special beings - they are a combination of stock refugees and expeditionary forces!
Zhu Cihuan not only became an American by stock trading, but also became an American warlord... This is really bizarre. When he left Shanghai, he was still a refugee. When he arrived at the port of Peninsula City, he already had 2,000 troops. The warlord is king!
"What's going on? What's going on? Didn't you say that you got confused by stock trading and fled to America? Why are you still bringing 2,000 troops with you? Is this... you are not mistaken?"
In the American Mansion Castle, Wei Zhongcheng was frightened after receiving the report from his subordinates.
He had long known from the letters home from Wei Zaode that Zhu Cihuan, the foolish prince, had lost all his pension money in the stock market and had to run away to America.
In his opinion, people who speculate in the stock market must be very depressed, and there are many such people in Peninsula City who are struggling. Although Zhu Cihuan is the king of the county, he has never been very favored. This time he even lost all the emperor's pension money. It seems that he still owes a lot of debt. The situation can be imagined.
But today someone told him that this prince brought 2,000 troops off the ship... What on earth is going on? Is this Zhu Cihuan here? Could it be that America's "tycoon king" Zhu Hehao is here?
"Prefect Wei, Prefect Wei...the Prince of Chongqing County is here! Let's go and greet him!"
While Wei Zhongcheng was in a daze, Qi Yuanbi, the admiral of the American Army, had already entered the middle hall of the American government office while shouting.
"Is this really the Prince of Chongqing?" Wei Zhongcheng asked.
The American Army is not a simple field army, but a frontal army, in charge of all Ming armies in the Americas, including the American Gulf Navy. The merchant ships docked at the Peninsula Pier were all stopped by the American Gulf Navy's clippers at the mouth of the South Bay (the entrance to the American Gulf). After inspection, the clippers were led to the Peninsula Port.
Therefore, the information obtained by the American Army Admiral must be the most accurate.
"That's right! I also brought 2,000 Japanese guards with me," Qi Yuanbi smiled. "They were all deceived from Lord Ogura and several Japanese feudal lords when they passed through Kyushu, Japan. I heard that they also abducted Lord Ogura. A niece.”
"Wait a minute, is it the fifth prince or the third prince? Why does this sound so much like the work of the three princes?"
"They are all the same..." Qi Yuanbi laughed, "Are they all brothers! Do you still think that the fifth prince is honest? If you are really honest, you will cheat the Supreme Emperor's pension money into stock trading?"
