The countdown to the fall of the Inca Empire has begun.

Zhu Hao's recent concern is no longer the conquest of various regions of the Inca Empire by various groups, but the continued exploration and mining of new mines. People who followed various groups to prospect for mines have reported back one after another and discovered traces of coal mines, especially in

The high mountain areas around Cusco have considerable reserves.

The previous large iron mine, that is, the large mining area around the mining city near SF City, has been further expanded. At the same time, a large iron ore was also discovered in a place near the Andes Mountains in the south, but the mining difficulty is much higher.

As Zhu Hao's conquest of the Inca Empire accelerated, the indigenous Indians in South America were now basically under Zhu Hao's direct jurisdiction.

The lords and city lords of various places need Zhu Hao to enthrone them, and use them to recruit people to complete the transformation of the means of production and systems of primitive society. The focus is to quickly spread some things with technological content. The first is to improve farming tools, and at the same time,

Cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs and other livestock and poultry spread to various places, teaching these indigenous people the most basic breeding techniques.

The breeding and breeding of horses is also in progress.

However, the number of horses Zhu Hao had on hand was still limited. He brought more than 2,000 horses from Daming, and four to five hundred died on the way. After arriving in America, after nearly two years of breeding, they returned to the scale of 2,000, and increased the number of horses.

Before he arrived, he raided northern South America and the east coast of Central America and captured more than 2,000 horses. Now he only has over 4,000 horses in his hands.

Just at this time, the second Spanish merchant fleet arrived at Shunfeng City.

The previous time, Zhu Hao directly rejected the European colonists' request to start trade, but this time the Spaniards came clearly prepared. They brought a lot of European goods, and also shipped... African blacks, and a whole shipload of them.

of black people.

Their purpose is very clear, that is, they want to start trade with SF City and open a new trade route. They want to obtain goods from SF City, especially gold, silver, silk, cotton and other products.

Originally, Zhu Hao did not intend to do business with them, but the Spanish trade representative who came to the city proposed an idea... They could find all available resources for Zhu Hao from Europe or Africa and send them to him.

"Tell them that if I need it, I can just send someone to get it. They don't need to deliver it."

This actually inspired Zhu Hao in disguised form.

Since the first batch of resources he brought from the Ming Dynasty were obviously not enough, especially the livestock and horses, he did not necessarily need to cross the Pacific Ocean to return to the Ming Dynasty to claim them. In fact, he could use a simple method to cross the Atlantic Ocean and go to Europe to grab them, and he could still obtain them.

Required supplies.

But in this case, he is now focusing his development on the west coast of the Americas, and it is not easy to extend to the other side of the continent.

The best way is to have the fleet bypass the Strait of Magellan in the south and enter the Atlantic Ocean in the next six months to one year, occupy all the natural harbors on the east coast of South America and Central America, build cities one after another, and realize the control of the Americas.

Occupied across the board.

…

…

The people and goods brought by the Europeans were eventually sent ashore.

Zhu Hao did not give them any high-tech products, but paid for the trade with gold and silver. The total cost was about 1,000 taels of gold and 60,000 taels of silver. The total cost was probably less than 100,000 taels of silver.

To Zhu Hao, these gold and silver were nothing but a drop in the bucket, and there was no use keeping them. However, they were exchanged for more than 3,000 black laborers, and at the same time he received a batch of urgently needed commodities, such as 200 horses, 300 cows and more than 1,000 cattle.

A sheep.

This group of black people will be resettled in new places and mainly used to reclaim wasteland and grow food.

Knowing that the Spanish came from the Strait of Magellan, Zhu Hao also made up his mind and prepared to send a fleet around the southern tip of South America and head for the east coast of the Americas.

At the same time, Zhu Hao will once again send a group of troops to cross the Andes Mountains, pass through what will become Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, and enter the eastern coastal area at the junction of what will become Brazil and Argentina to complete the initial occupation and development of these places.

This required the coordination of everyone in the Inca Empire.

Because Zhu Hao could no longer mobilize too many people from the 40,000 people he brought from the Ming Dynasty to go on the expedition. After all, the main role of those craftsmen, farmers and fishermen was to teach the Indians various basic techniques and expand the proportion of the working population.

, instead of going to the battlefield, so now Zhu Hao's army is facing a serious shortage of manpower.

Zhu Hao thought that if he could transport another hundred thousand people from the Ming Dynasty, he would have no problem occupying the entire American continent.

Now we have to rely heavily on the Aztecs and Incas, and we cannot give them too advanced weapons to prevent them from causing rebellion. However, if we want to conquer Central and South America, it is actually enough to give the indigenous people the necessary iron weapons. After all, they are sent to

All troops and horses must be led by a small number of Ming officers and soldiers, and it is enough for them to use artillery and muskets.

…

…

"The current stalls are a bit big."

Zhu Hao would have meetings with Lou Suzhen almost every day. At the same time, Lu Zhanqing and Sun Lan, as the rare knowledgeable people around Zhu Hao, also began to assume necessary responsibilities.

Zhu Hao tried his best to prevent Lu Zhanqing and Sun Lan from meeting before.

But now it seems that it is not necessary. Sun Lan and Lu Zhanqing are both very independent women, and they are both impressed by Zhu Hao's magnanimity. Now is the time to put aside their past grudges and make suggestions for Zhu Hao together. They are also willing to come out and work with Lou Suzhen.

Learn how to help Zhu Hao handle government affairs.

In front of the two "little girls", Lou Suzhen seemed much more mature and steady.

She said: "If the young master sends troops to march eastward, can he ensure that these troops will completely obey your dispatch and command? It is not impossible for them to establish a country on their own after they go out."

Perhaps it was Lou Suzhen's early experiences that made her very wary of people.

In Zhu Hao's view, Lou Suzhen did not trust her colleagues from the Ming Dynasty, let alone these indigenous people. In her eyes, the reason why those people followed Zhu Hao was more because of the benefits.

Zhu Hao said: "What else? Should I go in person?"

"I can go with the army."

Lou Suzhen volunteered.

The implication is that she came to be the military commander to complete the conquest of the South American continent.

Zhu Hao shook his head: "Actually, we are working hard to develop technology and productivity. It is enough to stay in this place. We will not be able to occupy all the land that is vaster than the Ming Dynasty in the next ten years. I am just keeping the stall temporarily.

Let’s spread the word and legally determine our ownership of the New World.”

Zhu Hao understood that let alone conquering the entire world, even if he only conquered the Americas, it would take ten or eight years.

However, his goal is not to occupy the entire American continent. After all, compared to other continents, the Americas are still relatively backward. Many places can be said to be deserted. Why occupy them?

Even if people migrated from the Ming Dynasty, it would take years or even decades to transform.

What Zhu Hao needs to do now is to accumulate resources.

Although the territory of the Inca Empire was not large, it occupied the most fertile land to the west of the Andes Mountains, and it also had the most suitable environment for survival. Apart from the Inca Empire, many places in South America were virgin forests and swamps. There was really not much

Conquer value.

"Then young master, when will we return to Daming?"

Lou Suzhen asked the question that both Sun Lan and Lu Zhanqing wanted to ask.

All three women knew that Zhu Hao's plan included the idea of ​​leading troops back to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Hao said: "My original plan was to send troops to Europe... Well, it is this place on the map. There are many countries and nationalities there with relatively developed technology and civilization. After conquering it, we will get more resources when we manage it, but

The problem is... our number of soldiers and horses is too small.

"Even if we use the indigenous people who work with us and hope to arm them to attack Europe, it will be difficult to achieve results in a short time. This war is likely to last for more than ten years, because our culture and habits are different from those of Europeans, and they will definitely

They will not be willing to accept our Eastern civilization.

"So I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to change my plan. In the next year and a half, I will complete the final accumulation and lead the fleet back to Daming."

This is the first time Zhu Hao has specified the time of returning to Daming.

A year and a half!

That is to say, before the end of the sixth year of Jiajing, the fleet under his command will arrive in the offshore waters of Daming.

Lou Suzhen nodded. She strongly supported Zhu Hao's return to the Ming Dynasty. Only when Zhu Hao became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, or had a higher status than the emperor, could he bring the Ming Dynasty up and use the Ming Dynasty as the basis to continuously immigrate to America.

By developing the Americas, we will have the opportunity to conquer the world.

Zhu Hao said: "Before this, I will train a hundred thousand aboriginal troops. When I counterattack the Ming Dynasty in the future, I will not use the Ming Dynasty troops as the main force. After all, it involves many clan and social issues. When the Ming emperor takes action

I surrender, or I succeed in taking back the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and then I can rely on the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to conquer everywhere."

"Then...don't know where to land?"

Lou Suzhen's vision is very broad, and she is already thinking about where to use as a breakthrough point to conquer the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Hao pointed to a place on the Ming Dynasty map, which was Tianjin Port.

"Two groups of soldiers and horses, one attacking Nanjing and the other attacking the capital. What we encountered in Nanjing was probably Lu Wan...that is, the army commanded by Lu Zhanqing's grandfather. It would be best for him to submit to me. Even if he doesn't, with our equipment

The giant steel ship was enough to annihilate Lu Wan's entire fleet within ten days.

"By taking Nanjing, we will at least ensure that our officers and soldiers will receive favorable treatment.

"The northern route will mainly launch landing operations, because there are basically no ships in the north to engage in naval battles with us, so there will be mainly large wooden ships, transporting more than 60,000 troops ashore at one time, and sailing to the capital in a mighty manner. I will

I will personally lead this group of troops and capture the capital in the shortest possible time. Before doing so, I will leave a certain amount of leeway for the Ming monarchs and ministers to see if they are willing to surrender.

"If not, we will start a war directly and use firearms to clear the way. From now on, cold weapons will no longer have a chance to show off.

"So in the next year or so, almost all resources will be used to build artillery and firearms, and then to build ships. If you want to conquer the world, in addition to ensuring enough soldiers, you will also need advanced weapons.

One hundred thousand soldiers and horses with advanced weapons are enough for me to take over the Ming Dynasty and even conquer the world!"

The implication is that improving the people's livelihood in the Inca Empire does not need to be prioritized at all. The main focus now is to develop military power.
Chapter completed!