Chapter 1029: No One Can Take It Away! (Please Subscribe)

At the southernmost depths of the Gulf of the Americas, beside a warm bay, the immigrants and expeditionary soldiers from the Great Ming finally found Peanut Village, where the first batch of settlers had gathered.

The fleet flying the sun-and-moon banner immediately drew everyone in the village over. The men, following the instructions of Village Head Xu Kan, had put on finely crafted fur garments, cinched leather belts around their bulging waists, and hung treasured swords from those belts. Probably from eating too much beef, these men were now all strong and sturdy, and had grown thick beards — from a distance they looked like a band of great heroes living in seclusion overseas. Beside each "great hero" walked a petite and lovely woman, most of them holding children in their arms — winning the immigration race couldn't rely on transport alone; it also required childbirth!

"This humble official, Xu Kan, Village Head of Peanut Village, greets the honored superiors. A small token, hardly worthy of respect — please kindly accept it." Xu Kan, also dressed in fur clothing, went up to meet them with a face full of smiles, and waved to the group of "great heroes" behind him carrying sable pelts, telling them to hurry and bring the treasures over to present to the honored lords!

Wei Zhongcheng, who had grown thin from seasickness, saw at a glance that what those "great heroes" were carrying were sable pelts — and the fur was of excellent quality, all top-grade, and so many of them!

These are for me? Wei Zhongcheng took a breath of North America's pure air and immediately thought of the terrifying Censors of the Censorate!

I can't accept them!

I've already been banished to the Gulf of the Americas — if I commit another offense, where would I be exiled to next?

"Village Head Xu, this official is an honest official!" Wei Zhongcheng's face darkened.

Xu Kan was taken aback, thinking to himself: If you were an honest official, would you have ended up here?

He could think that, but he couldn't say it aloud. He hurriedly put on a smiling face and said: "The Governor is of course an honest official. This humble official has heard of the Governor's sterling reputation even here in the Gulf of the Americas. But the resources here are simply too abundant — anything born of nature is practically free. So these sable pelts aren't worth mentioning at all. With the Governor's divine marksmanship, after staying in the Gulf of the Americas for a few months, you could obtain hundreds or even thousands of them. This humble official is only giving the Governor a few pelts now to add a garment for keeping out the cold. The lowlands here in the Gulf of the Americas are warm, but if you go to higher ground, it gets very cold. If the Governor wishes to travel around and see the land, cold-proof clothing is absolutely indispensable."

"Hundreds or even thousands can be caught? Truly?" Zheng Xi, who held the post of Regional Commander of the Americas Prefecture garrison, spoke up. "These are sable pelts!"

"Truly, truly — you can't even finish catching them all!" Xu Kan said. "There are plenty of good things here! The Commander will know after staying here for a while!"

"Then Brother Kong the Fourth, you're the Censor — you speak."

Kong Yinwen, because he and his elder brother Kong Yinzheng looked rather imposing, had been appointed Censor of the Americas Prefecture. After hearing Xu Kan's words, he frowned and said: "Then let's pay for them. Whatever these things are worth in the Americas Prefecture, we'll pay that amount. It's not as if we're short of a little spending money."

Xu Kan hastily waved his hands. "No money needed, Censor. Here in the Americas Prefecture, money isn't needed."

"No money needed?" Kong Yinwen was stunned. "Then how do you buy things?"

How to buy things wasn't important — what mattered was how they would catch corrupt officials in the future! The amount a corrupt official embezzled had to be measured in money!

"We don't buy things," Xu Kan shook his head and said. "Here we don't buy things. There's nothing to buy, either."

"Food and drink surely have to be bought?" Kong Yinwen was getting a bit anxious.

"No buying," Xu Kan said. "Food and drink cost nothing. Wheat, if you casually plant a little, yields a fine harvest. The bay and rivers are full of fish — a casual cast of the line and they bite. Oh, and there are many stupid cattle, especially easy to catch, so the people here have grown tired of eating beef."

Grown tired of eating beef?

Your palates are too picky, aren't they? Wei Zhongcheng thought to himself: How long have you lot even been in this wild and desolate place? How have you already turned into such picky folk, tired of even beef?

"Alright, alright, enough of that," Kong Yinwen shouted. "Speaking of beef, I'm hungry. Bring me half a jin first to satisfy my craving."

Xu Kan said somewhat sheepishly: "Censor, half a jin can't be done."

"No beef?"

"It's not that there's no beef — there's plenty of beef. It's just that we have no scale. Here we don't weigh meat when we eat it. Eat your fill — as much as you want!"

Ah! Kong Yinwen was shocked. Although his elder brother was the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, their household was still run quite frugally. Meat and fish appeared daily, but it was never enough for Kong Yinwen to eat his fill! So from childhood he had made a grand vow: one day, when he attained high office, he would definitely eat meat to his heart's content.

He never expected that this grand vow would be fulfilled in the Gulf of the Americas, ten thousand li from home!

Wei Zhongcheng still found it somewhat hard to believe, and said: "Village Head Xu, don't boast. Our group, including the sailors, numbers over three thousand. Can you let all of them have a bite of beef?"

"We can!" Xu Kan nodded. "This humble official had a watchtower built on that peninsula thirty li away, and every day we've been hoping for the Celestial Court's fleet to arrive. When the brothers on the watchtower saw the Governor's fleet, they lit signal fires, and this humble official immediately led men out to hunt and kill several stupid cattle, obtaining several thousand jin of beef. We also had the women catch two or three hundred fish, which are now boiling in pots and roasting on racks. By the time everyone disembarks, they should be able to eat hot beef and fish."

It's real!

Wei Zhongcheng, Zheng Xi, Kong Yinwen, and the others were all stunned.

What kind of place is this, exactly?

"In answer to the Governor's question, this humble official is not entirely clear on the exact terrain of this region. Although this humble official has led his men to settle here for over a year, the land is too vast, and this humble official has not traveled all of it. For now, we only know that from Peanut Village, for several dozen li to the east, over a hundred li to the west, and several dozen li to the south, it is all flat woodland and grassland, the soil extremely fertile, with several large rivers in between, their waters abundant and navigable by boat. The grasslands and woodlands are covered with wild cattle, extremely robust in build and easy to catch — one catch yields several hundred jin of meat, enough for a whole village to eat for several days.

Furthermore, the climate here is warm in winter and cool in summer, with much rain in winter and ample sunshine in summer. Wheat can be harvested twice a year, and the yields are good."

Wei Zhongcheng, Zheng Xi, Kong Yinwen, and the others had already entered Peanut Village. They sat on the ground in a large wooden house, gnawing on somewhat tough wild beef and unidentified roasted fish, while listening to Xu Kan describe the situation around Peanut Village.

The prosperity of the area around Peanut Village once again exceeded the imagination of Wei Zhongcheng and the others. This place was actually a plain over a hundred and several dozen li long from east to west, and several dozen li wide from north to south — the actual area of the plain was perhaps even larger, but Xu Kan and his men had not traveled it all, so they did not know.

Plains, woodlands, pastures, rivers, plus a climate warm in winter and cool in summer, plus abundant rain to nourish it, and fertile soil — was this not a heaven-bestowed granary? If it were all cultivated, it would probably amount to several million mu, wouldn't it?

And this was merely one corner of the Gulf of the Americas. If the entire Gulf of the Americas were cultivated — the grain output of the two provinces of Jiangnan and Jiangbei probably couldn't compare with it!

"Is there really no one living here?" Wei Zhongcheng asked, somewhat uncertain.

"There are some natives, but they are extremely ignorant," Xu Kan said with a smile. "They're nothing like the nomadic, fishing, and hunting peoples of the Mongols beyond the passes. Those people live by fishing and hunting, but they can't even make bows and arrows, have no horses or carts, and don't seem to know what a wheel is. They're absolutely no match for us, and their numbers are very small."

"What about the Spanish?" Zheng Xi asked.

"We don't know where they are," Xu Kan replied. "In any case, there is absolutely no trace of the Spanish around Peanut Village. This humble official reckons they simply don't know about this territory — otherwise, how could they not have occupied it?"

How could he know that, to New Spain, this territory in the Gulf of the Americas was nothing at all — they occupied far too much rich land, so much that they could afford to treat it as inconsequential!

"If that is truly the case," Zheng Xi said, "we must redouble our efforts. We need to secure our foundations before the Spanish react!"

"Right!" Wei Zhongcheng nodded. "They'll find out sooner or later. When they do, they'll certainly send troops to contest it!"

"They won't take it away!" Zheng Xi laughed. "Since we've come, they can forget about snatching this land from our hands!"

(End of Chapter)