The countdown to the fall of the Inca Empire begins.

Zhu Hao's recent concern is not that people from all walks of life have conquered various regions of the Inca Empire, but that they continue to explore and exploit new mines.

The former large iron ore mines, the large mining areas around the mining city near SF City, have been further expanded, and at the same time, large iron ore has been found in a place near the Andes Mountains to the south, but it is much more difficult to mine.

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

The lords and city lords everywhere need Zhu Hao to canonize them, and use them to recruit people to complete the transformation of the means of production and systems of the primitive society, and the focus is to quickly spread some things with scientific and technological content, first of all, to improve farming tools, and at the same time spread cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs and other livestock and poultry to various places, and teach these indigenous people the most basic breeding techniques.

The breeding of horses is also being promoted.

But the number of horses on hand is still limited, he brought more than 2,000 horses from Daming, four or five hundred died on the way, after arriving in the Americas, after nearly two years of breeding, it has recovered to the scale of two thousand, plus the previous sweep of the northern part of South America and the east coast of Central America, more than 2,000 horses were captured, and now the horses in his hands are more than 4,000.

At this time, the second merchant fleet of the Spaniards arrived in SF City.

The previous time, Zhu Hao directly rejected the request of the European colonists to start trade, but this time the Spaniards were obviously prepared, they brought a lot of European goods, and at the same time brought ...... Black Africans, and a whole boatload of blacks.

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

Originally, Zhu Hao didn't plan to do business with them, but the Spanish trade representative who entered the city put forward a point of view...... They can find all the available resources for Zhu Hao from Europe or Africa and send them to him.

"Tell them that if I need it, just send someone to pick it up, and they don't need to send it."

This can actually be regarded as inspiring Zhu Hao in disguise.

Since the first batch of resources he brought from Daming was obviously insufficient, especially livestock and horses, he did not necessarily need to cross the Pacific Ocean to return to Daming to ask for them, in fact, he could use some simple way to cross the Atlantic Ocean and go to Europe to grab a circle, and he could still get the materials he needed.

But in this way, he is now focusing 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 let the fleet bypass the Strait of Magellan in the south and enter the Atlantic Ocean in the next six months to a year, occupy all the natural harbors on the east coast of South America and Central America, and build cities one after another, so as to realize the full occupation of the Americas.

……

……

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

Zhu Hao didn't give them any goods with scientific and technological content, but paid for this trade with gold and silver, spending a total of 1,000 taels of gold and about 60,000 taels of silver, which added up to about 100,000 taels of silver.

For Zhu Hao, these gold and silver were a drop in the bucket, and it was useless to keep them, but they also exchanged for more than 3,000 black laborers, and at the same time obtained a batch of much-needed goods, such as 200 horses, 300 cows, and more than 1,000 sheep.

The blacks would be resettled in new places, mainly to clear wasteland and grow food.

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

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

This requires the coordination of everyone up and down the Inca Empire.

Because Zhu Hao was no longer able to draw too many people from the 40,000 people he brought from the Ming Dynasty, after all, the main role of those craftsmen, farmers and fishermen was to teach the Indians all kinds of most basic techniques and expand the proportion of the working population, rather than going to the battlefield, so now Zhu Hao's army is facing a serious shortage of manpower.

In Zhu Hao's mind, if another 100,000 people could be transported from Daming, then he would have no problem occupying the entire American continent.

Now we have to rely on the Aztecs and the Incas, and we can't give them too advanced weapons to prevent them from causing chaos, but if you want to conquer Central and South America, it is actually enough to give the natives the necessary iron weapons, after all, all the soldiers and horses sent must be led by a small number of Ming officers and soldiers, and it is enough for them to use artillery and muskets.

……

……

"Now the stall is a little bigger."

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

Previously, Zhu Hao tried not to let Lu Zhanqing and Sun Lan meet.

But now it seems that there is no need, Sun Lan and Lu Zhanqing are both very assertive women, and they are both impressed by Zhu Hao's bearing, now is the time to abandon their previous suspicions and give advice to Zhu Hao together, and they are also willing to come out and learn from Lou Suzhen how to help Zhu Hao deal with government affairs.

In front of the two "little girls", Lou Suzhen looked much older and more serious.

She said: "If Gongzi sends troops eastward, can he ensure that this group of men and horses will completely obey your dispatch and command?" It is not impossible for them to set up a kingdom of their own after they go out. ”

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

In Zhu Hao's opinion, Lou Suzhen didn't trust her fellow Ming colleagues, let alone these natives. In her eyes, the reason why people follow Zhu Hao is more because it is profitable.

Zhu Hao said: "Otherwise? Am I going in person? ”

"Concubines can go with the army."

Lou Suzhen took the initiative to ask.

In other words, she came to be the commander of the army and complete the conquest of the South American continent.

Zhu Hao shook his head: "In fact, we are working hard to develop science and technology and productive forces, it is enough to stay in this place, and occupy all the land that is more vast than the Ming Dynasty, and we will not be able to do it in the next ten years." I am now merely laying out the ground for the time being, and legally determining our ownership of the New World. ”

Zhu Hao understands that let alone conquering the whole world, even if it is just conquering the Americas, it will not be possible in ten years or eight years.

However, his goal is not to occupy all the American continents, after all, compared to other continents, the current Americas are still relatively backward, and many places can be said to be deserted, so why occupy them?

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

At present, what Zhu Hao has to do is to accumulate resources.

Despite the fact that the Inca Empire was not large, it occupied the most fertile land in the west of the Andes, and there was also the most suitable environment for survival, except for the Inca Empire, many places in South America were primeval forests and swamps, which really did not have much conquest value.

"Then son, when will we go back to Daming?"

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

The three women all knew that in the plan formulated by Zhu Hao, there was the idea of leading troops back to Daming.

Zhu Hao said: "Originally, my plan was to send troops to Europe...... Well, it's this place on the map, where there are many countries and nations, with relatively developed technology and civilization, and after defeating, you will get more resources to govern it, but the problem is ...... We have too few soldiers.

"Even if we use the natives who work with us, and expect to arm them to attack Europe, it will not be effective for a while. This war is likely to last for more than ten years, because unlike the Europeans, they will never accept our Eastern civilization.

"So I pondered for a long time, and finally decided to change the plan, and in the next year and a half, complete the final accumulation, and lead the fleet back to Daming."

Zhu Hao is the first time to concretize the time of returning to Daming.

A year and a half!

That is, before the end of the sixth year of Jiajing, the fleet under his command will arrive at the coast of Daming.

Lou Suzhen nodded, she supported Zhu Hao's return to the Ming Dynasty, only if 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 based on the Ming Dynasty, he continued to migrate to the Americas and complete the development of the Americas, so that he would have the opportunity to conquer the world.

Zhu Hao said: "Before this, I want to train an army of 100,000 aborigines, and when I counterattack the Ming Dynasty in the future, I will not focus on the Ming soldiers and horses, after all, it involves a lot of clan and social problems, and when the emperor of the Ming Dynasty submits to me, or I succeed in taking the territory of the Ming Dynasty into my own, then rely on the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to conquer everywhere." ”

"That'...... Don't know where to get ashore? ”

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

Zhu Hao pointed to a place on the map of Daming, which was Tianjin Port.

"Two lines of soldiers and horses, all the way to Nanjing, all the way to Beijing. It is likely that Lu Wan was encountered in Nanjing...... That is, the army led by Lu Zhanqing's grandfather, it is naturally best if he can submit to me, even if he does not obey, with the steel giant ship we are equipped, it is enough to wipe out Lu Wan's fleet in ten days.

"Take Nanjing, at least ensure that the family rolls of our soldiers will be treated favorably.

"And the northern road is mainly to launch landing operations, because there are basically no ships in the north to engage in naval battles with us, so there will be large wooden ships on the side, and more than 60,000 soldiers and horses will be transported ashore at a time, and they will sail to Beijing. I will personally lead this

Passers-by, take the capital in the shortest possible time, before that, I will leave a certain margin for the Ming monarchs and ministers to see if they have the intention of surrendering.

"If not, go to war directly, all of them will be firearms, and from now on, cold weapons will no longer have a chance to play.

"So in the next year or so, almost all resources will be used to build artillery and guns, and then to build ships, if you want to conquer this world, in addition to ensuring enough soldiers, you must rely more on advanced weapons. 100,000 soldiers and horses with advanced weapons are enough for me to take down the Ming Dynasty and even conquer this world! ”

The implication is that improving the livelihood of the people of the Inca Empire does not need to be prioritized at all, and now it is necessary to focus on the development of military power.

South America produces enough maize, potatoes and sweet potatoes to feed the current population.

.