Bringing the Railway to Daming

"kill!"

Li Guang saw the native warriors rushing into the tribe like a pack of wolves in the dark night. He first ordered people to set off fireworks as a signal, then drew his sword and led several soldiers to rush towards the place where there were the most natives in front of them.

The temperature on the island in October was about the same as that in Nanjing in summer, but both Li Guang and other guards wore fine cloth armor and wide-brimmed steel helmets (similar to flying saucer hats).

Although everyone was sweating from the heat, they charged into the midst of the native warriors like a tiger among a flock of sheep.

The native warriors were all bare-chested, with only a layer of mud on their bodies, and they didn't even have any clothes, let alone armor.

As for weapons, except for a few leaders who used iron tools, most others used bone, stone and wooden tools.

Some of the heavy stone tools could still cause some damage to the Ming army, but the bone and wooden tools could only cause minor injuries to the Ming army unless they hit their faces.

On the contrary, when the Ming army's steel knives chopped down, both the weapons and bodies of the natives were broken into pieces like mud!

In fact, Li Guang and others also brought firearms such as grenades and pistols, but they did not use them for fear of scaring the natives away. They did not use firearms in the battle four days ago, so the natives did not know that the Ming army had firearms.

Because he had signed a military order in front of Zhu Zhen, Li Guang was particularly calm this time.

While he was fighting, he still kept an eye on the situation.

Although there were many attacking natives, they were completely disorganized. There were only one or two hundred people actually fighting with them, and most of them were on the periphery, not knowing what to do.

However, the one or two hundred people who fought with them had no ability to fight back. Under the counterattack of his soldiers, they were defeated after just a short fight.

But the reinforcements haven't arrived yet!

"Pretend to retreat!" Li Guang shouted immediately, "Retreat to the west and defend!"

As the prince's guards, these soldiers' combat skills were comparable to those of the Ming emperor's personal army. Upon hearing this, they all pretended to be defeated and retreated.

The natives had no idea that the Ming army was plotting a trick. They thought that their bravery had frightened the Ming army, so they all let out excited roars imitating wild beasts and chased after them.

The native warriors on the periphery thought they could gain an advantage and joined the pursuit.

This really made Li Guang and others feel the pressure - although they were well-armored, physically strong, had high combat skills and good organization, the number of enemies and us was too great after all.

"Captain! We can't hold on any longer, use grenades!"

The natives in front of me are so densely packed that one grenade can kill or injure ten or twenty of them!
Li Guang gritted his teeth and said, "The reinforcements haven't arrived yet, everyone, hold on a little longer!"

Afterwards, Li Guang headed towards dangerous places and was hit several times by the natives' stone tools. This instead aroused his ferocity and he chopped and killed even harder.

After about a few minutes, a burst of crisp gunshots suddenly came from outside.

The native warriors were so startled that they turned back to look, while Li Guang and other Ming soldiers shouted excitedly: "Reinforcements are coming! Brothers, follow me to counterattack!"

"Kill!"

Li Guang and dozens of other Ming soldiers shouted excitedly and chased the fleeing natives to kill them. Someone even threw a grenade into the crowd.

boom!
Seeing the grenades that were like thunder, the natives became even more frightened. They lost their will to fight and fled in all directions.

Fortunately, the Ming army that came to support had already set up an encirclement.

Under the command of Captain Jiang Qing, the Ming army mainly used the fishing nets they brought to capture the native warriors. They would only kill those who were difficult to capture or were too ferocious.

It was already the middle of the night, but Zhu Zhen did not sleep. He was still standing on the deck looking towards the north.

Although this was only a battle with only six or seven hundred enemies, it was the first battle in his establishment of the vassal state, so he couldn't help but worry that he wouldn't fight well, or that he wouldn't be able to achieve his goal.

When the hydraulic mechanical bell on the Juyang chimed three times, a speedboat came down the Rio Tinto River, and someone on it shouted from a distance: "Victory! Victory!"

Zhu Zhen felt relieved upon hearing this, then burst out laughing: "These soldiers announcing victory are quite interesting. They know that a battle of a few hundred men can't be considered a great victory, yet they just shout victory."

Soon, the messenger reporting victory was brought on board the Juyang.

"Your Majesty, in this battle, approximately six or seven hundred natives attacked Captain Li. Our army killed two hundred and thirty-seven of them and captured three hundred and eighty-two. Only a few dozen escaped."

"Six or seven hundred people are attacking?" A cold glint flashed in Zhu Zhen's eyes. "It seems another tribe is involved in this?"

The messenger said, "Captain Jiang and Captain Li said the same thing."

Zhu Zhen nodded and asked, "How many casualties did our army suffer?"

The messenger said, "Only a dozen of the reinforcements led by Captain Jiang were injured. Captain Li's troops suffered five deaths and eleven serious injuries. Almost everyone else was injured."

Zhu Zhen thought that although he brought many good doctors and a lot of herbs and medicines, the weather on the island was hot, and he was afraid that not even half of the seriously injured people would survive.

By this calculation, he had only been on the island for a few days and had lost more than a dozen guards.

Although it was not as exaggerated as the loss of nearly a thousand people in Zhu Yuanzhang's battle, it still made him heartbroken - these guards were his elite troops that he had trained for nearly ten years!

After this battle.

Zhu Zhen found out the location of another indigenous tribe through interrogation of the captives, and then sent a thousand guards (young orphans adopted from Myanmar) to encircle and suppress them.

In this battle, they captured more than 200 young and strong native men, more than 300 young and strong women, and more than 100 children. As for the elderly, there was not a single one left.

Firstly, there were very few elders in the native tribes. Secondly, even if there were a few, they were all killed by the guards.

The remaining women, children and other members of the tribe who had escaped were also found, and the guards continued to encircle and suppress them, eventually capturing more than 400 young and strong women and over 100 children.

Zhu Zhen forced all captives, including children, to do hard labor.

There was one camp for young and strong native men, one camp for young and strong women and children under five years old, and another camp for children between five and thirteen years old.

Zhu Zhen decided to first build three large strongholds at the location chosen by Kuai Mingli, and then build the city next year.

The construction of the fort was primarily made of wood, supplemented by adobe and stone, requiring a considerable amount of material. Consequently, over 500 native men, driven by the Ming army, braved the dangers of felling trees, quarrying stones, and digging earth—the heaviest and most tiring work involved in the construction.

Indigenous women were sent to open up wasteland and cultivate farmland, and the labor intensity was equally high.

Even children between the ages of five and thirteen were required to do tasks in the prisoner camp, such as weaving straw ropes, chopping wood, and moving stones.

On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty immigrants were also working, some were building villages and some were reclaiming wasteland, but the intensity of their labor was much lower than that of the convicts. Their living conditions, including accommodation and food, were far different from those of the convicts, and they also had doctors and herbal medicines as medical care.

As for the immigrant children, they naturally don’t have to work. They just stay on the boat, playing or studying.

Time passed quickly and it was late November. With sufficient manpower and material resources, the three large villages were almost completed.

The largest and central village would be a temporary residence for immigrants, the second largest would be a military camp, and the smallest would be used to guard convicts (prisoners), where all three current prisoner camps were located.

On this day, Zhu Zhen brought his wife, Princess Wang, several concubines, his son and daughter including the crown prince Zhu Mengcong, and a group of entourage to the "Chu Palace" in the big camp.

Seeing the house before her, which was almost entirely made of logs, Wang couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, this is too simple. How can it be lived in? I'd rather live on a boat."

Zhu Zhen said calmly, "Then you can stay on the boat until the city is built and the official palace is completed, then you can disembark."

Wang was so angry when she heard this that she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

In the past, in the Ming Dynasty, she could still argue with Zhu Zhen by relying on her status as the daughter of Marquis Dingyuan (Wang Bi).

But now that she is overseas, she only has a half-brother with mediocre abilities. If she quarrels with Zhu Zhen again, she will be in a bad situation.

Then she looked at Zhu Zhen's concubines and thought to herself: Let's see how these vixens choose. If they can live here, then I can live here too.

At this time, it was her ten-year-old son Zhu Mengcong who spoke up to persuade her: "Mother, this palace is built nearly a man's height from the inside, and is located in the very center of this open space. Even the wood is smoked and dried, so there won't be any snakes or insects."

"After we move in, we just need to decorate it. It will definitely be more comfortable than living on the boat."

Wang Shi was just about to go down the stairs, and she smiled and said, "Okay, mother will listen to you."

Zhu Zhen also smiled and nodded in approval.

But when he thought of Zhu Mengcong's weak body, a shadow fell on his heart again - his son was quite smart and had good character, but unfortunately his health seemed to be a little poor, and he was often sick. He didn't know whether he could inherit the great cause of the Chu State.

Then, his gaze shifted to his nine-year-old second son Zhu Mengjiong.

Zhu Mengjiong was in good health. He was naughty and tough since childhood, but he liked martial arts and disliked literature, and he was born to a concubine.

Then, Zhu Zhen looked at his third son, Zhu Mengwan. This son was born to his first wife, Wang.

"Your Majesty, a merchant caravan has arrived in Hong Kong from Chu, carrying immigrants from Japan, as well as gifts from His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi to you." A messenger came to report, interrupting Zhu Zhen's thoughts.

He expected that sea merchants would send Japanese immigrants.

The place he chose to establish his vassal state was not a great country with a long history like India and Egypt. Even if there was one, the people there were native to Southeast Asia and their appearance was not to his liking.

Therefore, last year he reached an agreement with several sea merchants engaged in immigration business. After he established his vassal state, he would send several batches of Japanese women and young men to enrich the population of Chu.

This is just the first batch, and more will be delivered in the future.

In addition, he also negotiated a business deal with Zhu Di via telegram, hoping that Zhu Di could sell him some prisoners of war or even Indian women. If nothing unexpected happened, a merchant ship would be sent from Yan State in the early spring of next year.

What he didn't expect was that Zhu Gui would actually give him a gift.

Coming back to his senses, Zhu Zhen asked, "Do you know what the gift is?"

The messenger replied, "Your Majesty, the gifts are wrapped in several oil-paper packages. I don't know what they are."

Upon hearing this description, Zhu Zhen was immediately disappointed.

What he needs most now is high-quality population, followed by gold, silver and treasures.

He also thought that even if Zhu Gui could not send him anyone, he would at least send him a batch of jewelry as financial support.

If it is jewelry, it must be packed in a box instead of wrapped in oil paper.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhen said, "I know."

He planned to arrange the move to the "Chu Palace" and then go to Chulai Port to see the gift sent by Zhu Yu. (End of this chapter)