Chapter 1357: Settlement Corps (Please Subscribe)

The method proposed by the local tyrant king of selecting military household leaders through examinations is actually a very effective organizational tool!

To organize the roving bandit military households and their dependents — whose numbers will very likely exceed one hundred thousand — into settlement corps that are both combat-capable and obedient to orders, it is absolutely necessary to select a batch of capable cadres. And these cadres must both command the respect of the people and be appointed from the top down, so the best method is naturally examination!

What else could be done? Let the people below elect their own leaders? That won't do. Not long ago they were still enemies of the Great Ming, and they won't all be willing to loyally serve the Ming so quickly. If they were allowed to choose their own people, those chosen would mostly be dangerous elements who don't really submit.

And having the New Army and Imperial Guard officers who oversee them directly appoint the grassroots Centurions won't work either — that way they can't command respect, and once the New Army and Imperial Guard leave, these Centurion officers would probably find it very hard to exercise their authority.

So selecting Centurion officers through a seemingly fair examination is undoubtedly the best option.

However, organizing these rounds of "United States Examinations" is no easy task either. Emperor Zhu Cilang did not intend to micromanage, but instead handed the "United States Examinations" over to the two brothers Zhu Hexing and Zhu Hehao, along with their wives, to handle.

How to test, and what kind of candidates to select, were all to be decided by those five young people among themselves. Zhu Cilang only gave the "United States Examinations" a very auspicious name — not "Imperial Examinations," but "TOEFL Examinations" — all thanks to the examinations, what a fine name!

"These years the roving bandits have drained the people of Sichuan of their very fat and marrow, and the several hundred thousand military households they raised are all quite good — brave, simple, versed in both pen and sword. Especially the youths of those military households, men and women alike, have all studied, practiced martial arts, have a rough grasp of military strategy, and know how to obey military discipline. We can recruit a batch of Centurions and Vice Centurions from among them."

Zhu Hehao gently turned the teacup in his hand and said thoughtfully: "Because the surrendered roving bandit military households have more women than men, and most of the women in those households can also fight, this TOEFL Examination can be divided into a men's examination and a women's examination. Men who pass will become Centurions and Probationary Centurions, and women who pass will become Vice Centurions. Vice Centurions can assist Centurions in managing the women within their hundred-household units. What do you all think?"

"Brother Tycoon," Zhu Hexing frowned slightly, "you want women to become officials of the United States? Can that really work? Can they manage affairs?"

Zhu Hehao glanced at Ding Yuying beside Zhu Hexing and thought to himself: Lucky Brother, you're about to be managed by a woman yourself, and you're saying women can't manage affairs?

Of course he couldn't say that so bluntly. Zhu Hehao smiled: "Centurion officers, Probationary Centurion officers, and Vice Centurion officers are not real officials, but leaders of colonial settlement corps. For now they are selected by examination; in the future they will be elected by their own people.

And the affairs a colonial settlement corps must manage are very diverse — not only men's affairs but also women's affairs. Men and women alike must be organized, everyone able to labor, everyone able to fight. Only then can they gain a firm foothold in the Rocky Mountains of the United States."

After the peace treaty was signed with the Kingdom of New Spain, the southern border of the United States of the New Continent was temporarily settled, and it entered a relatively stable period. And to the north of the Gulf of America it was rather cold, making it hard to find places suitable for settlement.

So the expansion of the United States of the New Continent turned eastward, beginning to expand toward the Stone Mountains — what the Westerners call the Rocky Mountains.

The Stone Mountains are very vast, not particularly steep, and passable everywhere. The northern part of the range is relatively humid, with many valleys and river valleys suitable for habitation. Some of these valleys and river valleys belong to Indian tribes, while others are uninhabited.

If the United States wants to occupy all this territory, it will need hundreds of armed settlement corps. The immigrants who moved over from the southeastern regions of the Great Ming have little combat capability, and they are unwilling to settle in those valleys and river valleys where it is hard to pan for gold and there are few New Continent sables to trap. Although the land there is still quite good, within the territory of the United States of the New Continent grain is plentiful and cannot be sold for much money.

So the "economic immigrants," whose heads are full of dreams of gold and sable pelts, are all unwilling to go deep into the Stone Mountains. They all prefer to stay in the coastal areas of the America Prefecture and California Prefecture.

But for Zhu Hehao, the King of the United States, how large his country actually is, and whether it has sufficient strategic depth, all depends on the pace of the advance into the Stone Mountains — which is to say, it depends on how many combat-capable and well-organized colonial settlement corps can be established!

"Your Majesty, most of the prefectures and departments of Sichuan west of the Jialing River have now been recovered. Only the former Sichuan Regional Military Commission jurisdiction, Mafu Prefecture, Wumeng Prefecture, Dongchuan Prefecture, Wusa Prefecture, the Lizhou Pacification Commission jurisdiction, the Tianquan Liufan Recruitment Commission jurisdiction, Yazhou, and Jiading Department remain unrecovered. In addition, according to reports from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Governor-General's office, there are still many prefectures, counties, towns, and fortresses within Chengdu Prefecture occupied by roving bandit remnants that will be difficult to recover for the time being."

"Your Majesty, according to reports from spies, an upheaval occurred in the roving bandits' false court at the end of the twentieth year of Hongxing. The roving bandits' false Crown Prince Li Jicheng, with the support of the Long March military households, launched a mutiny, seized the false emperor's throne, deposed his father Li Laiheng, changed the reign era to Nanping, and also renamed Shalian in Burma to Haidu Prefecture. It appears he intends to flee into Burma!"

While Lucky Crown Prince and the Tycoon King and the others were discussing how to organize the "TOEFL Examinations," Zhu Cilang was in the Chaotian Palace listening to reports from Military Advisor Wu Guoyong and Minister of War Li Yan.

The news that reached Chongqing Prefecture in the first month of the twenty-first year of Hongxing was a mix of joy and worry. The good news was that most of Sichuan had been recovered. The bad news was that many roving bandit remnants were still entrenched throughout Chengdu Prefecture, occupying many sturdy fortresses.

In addition, there was another piece of news that for the moment was hard to tell whether it was good or bad — Li Laiheng, the Dongxing Emperor of the Shun, had been overthrown by his son Li Jicheng. And the newly risen Li Jicheng was putting on the appearance of wanting to flee far away to Burma.

But Zhu Cilang's mind was not on Yunnan or Burma at the moment, nor even on the two forces of Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi entrenched in northwestern Sichuan and eastern Tibet. It was on the western part of Sichuan Province — more precisely, the half of Sichuan Province west of the Jialing River.

The half of Sichuan Province west of the Jialing River only fell into Ming hands roughly after Li Laiheng was driven out of Chongqing by Zhu Cilang. In other words, this half of Sichuan was taken only after the overall situation was already decided.

The hearts of the people in that region were no longer very important to Emperor Zhu, so Emperor Zhu did not intend to divide the rural land of Sichuan west of the Jialing River equally among the local poor peasants.

Because he also had to give an accounting to the Sichuan bureaucratic landlord class that had followed him for so many years!

There was also another "people-harming policy" already on the agenda — the trade routes of Sichuan were about to be opened up!

The honeymoon period between Zhu Cilang, this Great Ming Emperor, and the working people of Sichuan was about to end. The Great Ming was, after all, a feudal dynasty, and it was in the rather unpleasant stage of semi-feudalism and semi-capitalism.

So a considerable portion of Sichuan's poor and lower-middle peasants would still have to walk the road of no return: "bankruptcy — entering the cities — going abroad — getting a green card"!

Zhu Cilang let out a breath and laughed: "As for the roving bandit remnants in Chengdu, it's best to offer them amnesty wherever possible. The Tycoon's people are short of manpower right now, so these people can go with them to the United States of the New Continent! As for those roving bandits who are officials, those willing to follow Li Dingguo can go to eastern Tibet in northwestern Sichuan. Those unwilling to follow Li Dingguo can also be given some silver and sent to the southeast to settle. Those who really insist on going to join Li Jicheng — We will not stop them either; let them go. In short, the Sichuan campaign must be wrapped up as quickly as possible!"

"Your Majesty, what about Yunnan? Do we still attack?" Li Yan asked.

"Attack!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "But not right now. Don't press a desperate enemy! Li Jicheng looks like he wants to go to Burma. We won't stop him — let him go! The good parts of Burma are in the center and south, over a thousand li from Kunming in Yunnan, nearly two thousand. Once they're settled in, they won't be able to manage affairs in Yunnan anymore. Wouldn't it be better to recover it then? Half the effort, twice the result! For now, let's properly sort out Sichuan."

Chapter recommendation for a new book: "I Want to Be a Grand Secretary"

In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming refines elixirs and cultivates the Dao, seeking immortality with single-minded devotion.

Xia Yan and Yan Song fight openly and covertly over the position of Chief Grand Secretary, neither yielding.

Folangji cannon pirates and island barbarian Japanese pirates take turns ravaging the southeastern coast.

Qi Jiguang, who has only recently inherited his ancestral post, is still in Dengzhou expressing his ambitions through poetry.

Zhang Juzheng passes the examinations, Altan seeks tribute, Qiu Luan is thrown into prison, Lu Bing is impeached.

In this year destined to be extraordinary, the youth Xu Yan of Dinghai County in Ningbo Prefecture climbs to a height and gazes far, silently swearing in his heart: I will become a Grand Secretary!

(End of Chapter)