Chapter 1471: North American Nomads?

"Envoy Chen, what kind of joke is this? How could we just grab people on the spot? What do you think we're catching? You think it's that easy?"

Qin Mingtao, military advisor to the Grand Marshal's Office, burst out laughing at Chen Shangchuan's suggestion. There was no such thing as cramming at the last minute like this!

Chen Shangchuan shot a glance at the "country-bumpkin" army big shot Qin Mingtao and snorted. "I know it's not easy, but does your army have that many military households to send? The Great Plains of North New Continent are boundless — even scattering a million households across them might not be enough!"

"Even if you really had a million households, could you transport them?" Yan Yingyuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, shot back at Chen Shangchuan in a tone that was neither warm nor cold.

Within the Ming military these days, there was now an "army-navy rivalry"! With military funding so tight, how could they not fight over it? Moreover, the Ming army was basically the domain of northerners (actually not true northerners — mostly descendants of the Huai River military households who had migrated north in the early Ming), while the navy was dominated by southerners, and the two sides looked down on each other!

Zhu Cilang furrowed his brow, then shot a glare at Qin Mingtao, who had stirred up the dispute. "Military Advisor, if you have a good solution, speak up and let us hear it!"

The meaning was clear: if you have no plan, shut up.

Qin Mingtao smiled and nodded. "Your Majesty, this subject does have a plan."

"Then speak!"

"Your Majesty," Qin Mingtao said, "this subject believes that contesting the Great Plains of North New Continent cannot rely on military farming colonies — it must rely on nomadic herding!"

"Nomadic herding?" Emperor Zhu's eyelids lifted, showing a trace of interest. "Go on."

"Your Majesty, the Great Plains of North New Continent are far too vast. If we rely on farming colonies, even a million households could not hold them!"

Qin Mingtao said: "Moreover, settled farming military households are too vulnerable to enemy attack. Farming colonies in the Great Stone Mountains are naturally easy to defend. Hold the mountain passes, guard the peaks, and one can always hold off ten. A village of two hundred households could not be taken even by several thousand Indians.

But on the plains it won't work — there is no defensible terrain, and we must deal not only with the Plains Indians, but also with Western armies advancing along the great rivers. Farming colonies cannot hold much territory there.

The only solution is to establish nomadic hordes. As this subject understands, the Great Plains of North New Continent contain vast stretches of fertile grassland, perfectly suited to nomadic herding, and these nomadic hordes are far harder to deal with than settled farming colonists!

A farming colony village has only two hundred households. If there is no defensible terrain, the French can send one battalion with two cannons and break it.

But a large nomadic tribe has several thousand or even ten thousand households, and it moves about constantly. If its organization, training, and equipment are all in place, the French would have to send an entire division, and even then they might not take it down.

With just two ten-thousand-household nomadic hordes — one placed in the south of the Great Plains and one in the north — and letting them roam back and forth, we can seize a vast swath of the North New Continent plains!"

Qin Mingtao was not exaggerating about nomadism — nomadic peoples really were extremely hard to deal with!

To say nothing else, just look at the nomadic hunting tribes on the North American prairies who live by following the bison — they are far harder to deal with than the corn-growing Indians down in Mexico. They wander everywhere, and they can mass together in great numbers!

Moreover, historically, the Dzungars, who roamed with muskets in hand, fought the Russians, fought the Manchus, fought the Kazakhs, fought Bukhara, fought Yarkand, fought the Khalkha Mongols, fought Ü-Tsang — with a population of only a few hundred thousand, they still opened war on all fronts. And they weren't even united internally; there was no shortage of internecine slaughter among them. Yet didn't they still hold out for over a hundred years before collapsing?

If it had been a few hundred thousand farmers tilling the soil, they would have been wiped out long ago!

"How much territory can two ten-thousand-household nomadic hordes actually hold?" Zheng Jiangong, Minister of the Navy, asked with a furrowed brow. "And wouldn't territory staked out by nomads be insecure?"

Grand Military Advisor Qin shot a glance at Second Master Zheng, thinking to himself: What does your navy know about nomadism? This matter must be handled by us, the army!

"Minister Zheng," Qin Mingtao said with a smile, "nomadism does not mean we cannot build fortresses or clear land for farming. It's just that we cannot scatter farming villages across the Great Plains like sowing beans — that would be throwing away lives. We must build star forts at key locations that can withstand sieges by ten thousand enemies!"

"And where are these key locations?" Zheng Jiangong asked again.

"Build star forts at critical river mouths," Qin Mingtao said. "If the Westerners want to enter the Great Plains in force to seize territory, they must rely on waterways. If they try to come overland, they'll have to establish farming colonies step by step, and at the rate the French are settling the New World, they won't be able to take much territory in another hundred years.

So as long as we choke off the key waterways and establish a few ten-thousand-household nomadic hordes, we can stake out an enormous expanse of land. And this approach is one we can afford. A ten-thousand-household nomadic horde needs at most twenty thousand people. We'll start with two ten-thousand-household hordes — forty thousand people will suffice. The army can surely find forty thousand people, and your navy can surely transport them over, can't it?"

Forty thousand people, half men and half women. That was certainly no small number, but it was not without a solution.

In recent years, the populations of the northern military garrisons — Daning, Anbei, Beiping, Shuofang, Hexi, and others — had been steadily increasing, and there was already some surplus manpower.

The two Mongol khanates of Chahar and Tumed could also contribute some people.

In addition, the Ming's directly administered provinces could recruit some impoverished peasants willing to cross the ocean and become military households.

Finally, the Ming Empire had a population of two hundred million! How many captured criminals and innocents more wronged than Dou E must be sitting in prisons across the land?

Adding up these several sources, forty or fifty thousand people could certainly be scraped together.

"And what about cattle, sheep, and horses?" Chen Shangchuan asked. "How many cattle and sheep must forty thousand herders graze? How many horses must they ride? Without several hundred thousand head, how could it possibly be enough?"

"We don't need that many," Yan Yingyuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, said with a smile. "The United States of New Continent hasn't existed for just a day. It has been sixteen years since the first settlers landed! In those sixteen years, who knows how many cattle, sheep, and horses have been shipped to the New Continent, and those animals have bred and multiplied there. By now the cattle, sheep, and horses of the New Continent number in the millions.

Moreover, the Great Plains of the New Continent hold countless wild bison and passenger pigeons. Forty or fifty thousand people could sustain themselves by hunting for several years. So there's no need to ship over vast numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses. Send a smaller number of fine breeding stock, then purchase ewes, mares, and cows locally, and slowly build up the herds.

In fact, establishing herds in North New Continent is very easy. The grasslands there are fertile and the climate is humid, much like the Central Plains — nothing like the northern steppes can compare. The wild bison that nature provides there can't even be eaten up! The reason we want to establish nomadic hordes is not to chase water and pasture, but to seize territory. Once the territory is firmly held in the future, we can turn nomadism into settlement."

Truly a land chosen by Heaven!

Zhu Cilang thought to himself: On the Mongol steppes, nomads live mainly on dairy products and grain (herders do have ways to obtain grain), and rarely get the chance to eat meat. If they were really sent to graze in North America, they'd be overjoyed — meat and fish at every meal!

"Your Majesty," Luo Dagong, Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, spoke up at this point, "this subject believes the Military Advisor's proposal to establish nomadic hordes on the Great Plains of North New Continent is feasible. Forty or fifty thousand men and women who know how to herd sheep and raise horses can certainly be assembled. But how should the costs be calculated? This subject requests Your Majesty's decision."

This was the Great Ming, after all — accounts had to be settled clearly!

The expense of forming two nomadic ten-thousand-household units on the Great Plains of the New Continent was astronomical! The shipping costs alone for forty or fifty thousand people, plus some baggage and breeding horses, cattle, and sheep, would run into the millions. Add in the costs of recruitment, training, organization, and settlement, and it would easily run past ten million!

The finances of the United States of New Continent were indeed rich, but even for them, producing over ten million taels at once would be a strain.

As for the silver in the Ming Empire's treasury, it could not simply be spent on the United States of New Continent. Even between father and son, accounts must be settled clearly!

Moreover, among the Ming's tributary states, the United States of New Continent was absolutely a "tycoon state." If a tycoon state could freely dip into the Celestial Court's pockets, how could the other tributary states be expected to show restraint? At that rate, it would be hard for the Great Ming to avoid bankruptcy!

Emperor Zhu nodded and smiled. "Rest assured, Duke Luo. This money will not come out of the Grand Secretariat's coffers. Since the beneficiary is the United States, the money must of course come from the United States! If there is no ready cash, bonds can be issued first. Of course, the project to form the nomadic ten-thousand-household units can begin immediately. We will advance the necessary funds for now, and later We will go collect from the tycoon king!"

(End of Chapter)