The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

The Mansion of Duke Wu.

Duke of Wu, Liu Wei, was discussing the issue of overseas vassalage with a group of aides.

As a prince, Liu Wei entered the army for training at the age of seventeen.

Although his mother's family, the Xu family, was originally a family of gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River, and later suffered a huge blow for obstructing the order to clear the land, they still had some connections.

Now, he had been in the army for ten years, fighting in many battles in the south and the north, and had made many contributions. He was even promoted to the title of Duke of Wu. He had long been planning to be enfeoffed overseas, so naturally he had gathered a group of staff and private servants.

Currently, those participating in this meeting are basically scholars, mainly two middle-aged men.

One of them is named Fu Honglie, from Jinxian, Jiangxi Province, and is 49 years old this year.

He started as an official and once served as a provincial councilor. Later, he was demoted because he was involved in a local political dispute. Three years ago, he was introduced to Liu Wei's staff and was trusted by Liu Wei and became his strategist.

The other person is named Zhou Chang, with the courtesy name Peigong. He is from Jingmen, Hubei and is 40 years old this year.

This person had previously been active in the officialdom of Dalai. He rose from a low-ranking clerk to an official and once served as the magistrate of a prefecture.

Two years ago, after Zhou Peigong met Liu Wei, he actually resigned from his official position to become Liu Wei's aide.

This is because if one has the status of a high-ranking official, one cannot be someone's aide or personal servant.

Especially when it comes to relationships with princes, even if they are just friends, if the relationship is too close, it will affect your future.

The fact that Zhou Peigong was willing to take up the position of Tongpan and join Liu Wei shows how much he valued Liu Wei.

After Liu Wei learned about Zhou Peigong's talents, he also attached great importance to him and regarded him as his right-hand man.

As for the other staff members, their status was not as prominent as Fu Honglie and Zhou Peigong, but they were also outstanding people.

Among them, many were born in Jiangnan, such as Gu Yanwu's nephew Xu Yuanwen from Kunshan, Zhang Ying from Tongcheng, and Wang Hongxu from Huating.

However, the most eye-catching among the crowd were two military generals, who were also the only two generals attending the meeting.

The oldest among them is Wang Jinbao, from Jingyuan, Gansu, and is 46 years old. He joined the army in his early years and his highest military position was the commander of the standing army. He was dismissed from his post several years ago for serious violations of military discipline.

Wang Jinbao is tall and has a fierce look, and you can tell at first glance that he is a good fighter.

In fact, Wang Jinbao was indeed known for his bravery and strategy in the battles of the Xi army. It was just that his fighting style was a bit wild and he often violated military discipline. If not, he might have been promoted to brigade level in his forties.

Wang Jinbao was recruited personally by Liu Wei, so he was naturally valued.

Another general was named Wan Zhengse, who was dark, thin and strong. He was from Jinjiang, Fujian and was 37 years old.

He originally served in the Dalai Navy and was Liu Wei's superior, colleague, and later subordinate.

This man was brave and resourceful in combat, and became a regimental general in the navy in his thirties.

Wan Zhengse was still in office, but after being recruited by Liu Wei, he resigned and retired from the army, preparing to help Liu Wei build a country overseas and become a founding hero...

Influenced by Liu Sheng, Liu Wei was the first to speak about the topic after the meeting started.

"The establishment of a country overseas should be done as soon as possible. It is now December of the fourteenth year of Yongxing, and I plan to send the first group of people to America in March next year."

"That is to say, there are only three or four months left for the first immigration. We must do our best to prepare for the first immigration during this period."

"What do you think about this matter? Please share your thoughts."

As the chief strategist, Fu Honglie was the first to speak.

He coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, I think the key to immigration lies in people. First of all, we need to plan how many people should be sent in the first batch, and who should make up the group." "Only after the personnel allocation is determined can we prepare for the materials."

Liu Wei asked, "Mr. Fu, how many people do you think are suitable for the first batch of immigrants? And how should they be allocated?"

Fu Honglie said: "The first batch of immigrants will go there to serve as the vanguard, so the number of people cannot be too many, but it cannot be too few. Not counting the soldiers, about 10,000 is best."

"As for the configuration, the main personnel will naturally be young and strong farmers who can serve as the main force in land reclamation. There must be at least 5,000 people."

"The second is all kinds of craftsmen, especially construction craftsmen. We need at least a thousand of them."

"Of course, other personnel configurations are also necessary. After all, there may be nothing in America, and everything needs to start from scratch."

Liu Wei nodded slightly, then looked at Zhou Peigong and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Zhou?"

Zhou Pei said, "It is not easy to recruit 10,000 suitable people within three or four months. Moreover, we'd better reserve one or two months for the immigrants to adapt to life on the ship and receive some necessary training."

"Otherwise, if more than 10,000 people were to sail on the sea for several months, and something went wrong, it could lead to a disaster."

He paused, and then continued, "Speaking of which, it shouldn't be difficult to recruit ordinary young and strong farmers. However, considering the location of your majesty's fiefdom, it would be best for us to recruit in the southern provinces such as Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, etc."

"People in these provinces can adapt to the climate in northern Mexico more easily, so they don't get sick on a large scale due to acclimatization."

“Again, we must be careful in recruiting craftsmen and make it our top priority in preparing for immigration.”

"Over the years, our craftsmen in various industries, especially senior craftsmen, have been in short supply."

"Now that the eleven families have gone overseas to establish their own countries, there must be a greater demand for craftsmen, which will make the supply of craftsmen even greater than the demand!"

"My suggestion is that before other companies react, we should invest huge sums of money to recruit craftsmen from all walks of life with high salaries and good treatment!"

After listening, Liu Wei nodded again, "Mr. Zhou reminded us that recruiting craftsmen should be the most important task."

Liu Wei said this, but he was still thinking about the military subconsciously, so he looked at Wang Jinbao and Wan Zhengse and asked, "If the first batch of 10,000 immigrants is sent, how many army and navy soldiers do you think should be equipped?"

Wang Jinbao spoke first, "The natives in northern Mexico are not a concern, but they may be harassed by Westerners, or even go to war with them."

"Considering that the army is also used to maintain order, I believe that the first batch of troops should not be less than 3,000 people!"

Liu Wei frowned slightly.

According to the conditions given by the court, he could only recruit and train an army of 5,000 people in Dalai.

We are only sending 3,000 in this first batch. Is that a bit too much?

But what Wang Jinbao said makes sense.

We have to guard against Westerners, suppress immigrants and maintain order, which requires at least 3,000 people.

He looked at Wan Zhengse again and asked, "How many naval forces do you think General Wan needs?"

The starting point of a country's founding is always on the seaside, and there are usually rivers leading to the inland, so a navy is a must.

Wan Zhengse thought for a moment and said, "The navy will need at least 800 men, two cruisers, and more than 50 gunboats."

Liu Wei felt distressed after hearing this.

The navy is a waste of money. With only 800 people, they need two cruisers and at least 50 gunboats. Based on his understanding of the prices of navy ships and guns, even if there is a discount, it will cost more than 100,000 yuan. (End of this chapter)