Qian Du listened to Chen Dexing's words, and his face showed a contemplative expression.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually regarded the construction of the capitals of the sixteen feudal states of the Northern Ming Dynasty as a business!

It's pretty unexpected. However, this business can be done, and no matter how rich Beimingzhou is, just with the attitude of everyone working together to make a fortune, this thing is very likely to succeed.

According to Qian Du's experience, when a city is built from scratch, there are many and miscellaneous problems involved. It is simply impossible for officials sent tens of thousands of miles away to carry it out, and those officials who serve in such a distant place cannot be supervised at all, and they must be in a hurry to get rich and promoted, and it is unlikely that they will really devote their minds to construction—and the same would be true if the imperial court appoints him to be the governor of the New World.

So the only way to succeed in building seventeen great cities in the New World is self-government! Moreover, it must be a high degree of autonomy. Now the commercial market of the Ming Dynasty is only limited and autonomous, and there are state capitals and provinces on it, as well as the imperial court. Moreover, the commercial markets were unarmed, and they could not resist the imperial court, and naturally they could not defend themselves.

In Northern Mingzhou, the autonomous city must have its own armament, and it must also have the power to wage war against the barbarian tribes. It is necessary not only to build an army, but also to have a certain navy.

Thinking that the autonomous city must be armed, Qian Du seemed to be a little embarrassed on his face. Chen Dexing, who was sitting opposite him, had already seen some clues, and hurriedly asked, "What?" Is there anything that is difficult to do? ”

Qian Du nodded and said, "Sage, I heard that the strongholds of Northern Mingzhou are often attacked and disturbed by barbarian people?" ”

"But with this matter, I am recruiting strong men to settle in Mingzhou. All strong men who are willing to go to Mingzhou, when their service expires, they will be given granges, white women, and black slaves. These strong men will all be nobles and nobles of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty in the future. ”

"I don't know...... How many strong men does the saint plan to recruit? ”

This is not a question that should be asked by a person who knows the market. But now that the situation is special, Qian Du really has to ask for clarification.

"Fifty thousand!" Chen Dexing did not hide it. The recruitment plan for the 50,000 expeditionary force has been underway for several months, and now a tenth of it has been completed, 5,000 people have been recruited, and it is now set off for Mingzhou. It is estimated that 50,000 people will be recruited, and it will not work in two years.

Qian Du frowned. "Saint, 50,000 people guard 17 cities, which means that the average city is less than 3,000 ......"

Of course, 3,000 people are enough to defend a city, but the problem is that a lonely city will not create much wealth. To make money, you have to go out of the city, or run a farm or ranch, or pan for gold and silver, or hunt for furs. Therefore, each autonomous city of Northern Mingzhou must control a large area of land around it, and it needs to be surrounded by a large number of branch cities and villages, so that a mere 3,000 defenders will not be enough.

And. The 50,000 troops sent by Chen Dexing to Mingzhou still have a lot to do. The territory of two continents is so big, how many are now completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty? How could these 50,000 people be used to defend a dozen lonely cities?

"It's true that there aren't enough troops." Chen Dexing gently turned the wine glass in his hand, thoughtful.

Beimingzhou is now in chaos, and the natives of the central and eastern parts have been fooled by hot air balloons and cannons, except for a very few, and have become the new Indian Eight Banners. Most of the rest of the people regarded the invading Han people as devils or some other bad thing - the hot air balloon flickering method did not work every time, and the strength of the Ming Dynasty in Beimingzhou was really weak, there were not a few hot air balloons, and there were not enough powerful Tiandao Sect magic sticks. In many settlements there are no hot air balloons and magic sticks at all......

Qian Du considered the words. "Sage, if the imperial court does not have enough soldiers. So is it possible for the autonomous merchant city of Kitameisu to organize its own self-defense forces? ”

Self-Defense Forces? Fooling fools, right? That's the army!

Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian's faces suddenly changed. The autonomous city has an army, and this thing is really not easy to do!

On the one hand, Qian Du's request is justified. The autonomous city of Mingzhou definitely needs to be armed with citizens, whether it is the Self-Defense Forces or the People's Army. These cities must be armed, or they will be robbed!

And on the other hand. A self-governing city tens of thousands of miles away from the mother country, but also with its own armed forces. What will this look like? The United States of America will not be able to do so, and the sixteen cities of Northern Mingzhou will definitely give rise to their own interest groups in the future, and it will certainly not be easy to pinch them together. But it is absolutely possible for sixteen cities to evolve into sixteen civic states.

When the time comes, they will have citizens, parliaments, militias, and most of them will have guns...... Isn't this the sixteen little Minglijian?

Chen Dexing suddenly found that he had sixteen small magic boxes in front of him. Inside the box are the civil state, the parliamentary constitution, the separation of powers, and everyone with a gun!

Those fundamental systems of the later generations of American imperialism will be owned by sixteen Xiao Mingjian! Because otherwise, these sixteen countries would not be able to survive and develop in Beimingzhou. Just like the Europa colonists who sailed across the ocean to put down roots in North America. It's not that everyone can't carry a gun at all, and they can't beat the Indians! It doesn't work if you don't engage in local self-government, a bunch of bastards who everyone has a gun and God is afraid of, how can you let Britain, which has no Continental Army, engage in centralization? And these bastards have been autonomous for a long time, and there are more people, so their minds are mixed, so they naturally don't pay much attention to London, and it is only a matter of time before they become independent.

Britain itself, with only six or seven million people, simply cannot rule the thirteen North American states with more than two million (minus black slaves) armed mobs. Even if there were no problems at the end of the 18th century, in a few decades or even a hundred years, when the number of Americans exceeded that of the United Kingdom itself, would independence still be stopped?

For Chen Dexing today, the independence of the sixteen countries of the Northern Ming Dynasty is not a problem, the problem is that the constitutional monarchy will appear in the Northern Ming Continent at least in the next few decades. And in the more distant future, there may even be a republic in Northern Mingzhou!

Chen Dexing could not give an answer to the question raised by Qian Du for the time being. The stakes are so high that he must convene the Imperial Council.

The Imperial Council was held on the way south to the capital of the city. This time he went south, Chen Dexing took the battleship "Shenzhou", which was a first-class battleship and the second ship of the "Oceania" class, and it was also the ship of the Ming Emperor. In order to make Chen Dexing more comfortable on the way south to Jiangdu, the battleship had extremely luxurious cabins, and the displacement was increased to 2,300 tons. Probably the largest and most luxurious sailboat in the world.

The ship's meeting room is located at the stern of the ship, a spacious hall facing the sea with a view of the white water. Inside the hall is a long conference table. Around the conference table, where more than a dozen people could sit down for the meeting, there were five people, Chen Dexing, Ren Yijiang, Zhao Fu, Kong Yu and Monk Liu.

Ren Yijiang is now the prime minister, Zhao Fu is the deputy minister, Kong Yu is the chairman of the council, and Monk Liu is still the secretary of the colonial department. The development of Beimingzhou and the establishment of many autonomous cities in Beimingzhou have a great deal to do with the stalls that the four of them are responsible for. So Chen Dexing first talked to the four of them to discuss. Once a consensus is reached, it can be easily passed in the Cabinet Office and the Advisory Council.

As for the military, this matter has little to do with them. The military has already done its best to send the army and navy to Mingzhou, and they can't get any more.

"Now this is the situation, if the seventeen cities of Beimingzhou want to develop, they must use the power of merchants and the power of the people to let them self-govern and defend themselves. The autonomous city has to be decided by the parliament, and there must be a militia. The councils of the municipalities must also have the power to wage war or make peace with the natives. It's a city-state republic! ”

Chen Dexing said slowly, his gaze swept lightly over the faces of the four important ministers. He had been thinking about it for two days, and he was already inclined to open the sixteen boxes. Even sixteen Xiao Ming Lijian are the power of Huaxia!

Moreover, most of these 16 small Minglijian will grow into very dynamic states in the future -- a civil state, a parliamentary constitutional, a state of separation of powers, and a country where everyone has a gun, although reactionary, no one can deny that such a state is full of vitality. There will definitely be many innovative things, which will provide nourishment and reference for the progress of the Ming Dynasty.

That's the benefit of multiple semicolons for the same civilization. With a semicolon, you will try different paths, and you can find the best way forward in different routes. If there is only one general number, there is only one system. There is only one voice, and the final result will certainly be rigid -- of course, there can only be one system for great unification. Even the ideas should be as unified as possible. In such a situation, it becomes very difficult to innovate and explore the system. As in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the distance between the social and economic system changed and progressed, and various ideas emerged one after another, and they never appeared in the later history of China.

Moreover, the Chinese civilization in history is not only a unified empire. And it is in the far east of the world. When the civilization of Central Asia was weakened and the Silk Road was no longer smooth, the Chinese civilization became relatively closed and almost lost the opportunity to absorb the nourishment of the world's civilization. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the door of the country was finally opened by the Westerners in the Age of Discovery, and a group of Chinese who opened their eyes to see the world - the first to definitely see the world was certainly not Lin Zexu or Wei Yuan. Xu Guangqi and others in the Ming Dynasty must have known that Europeans could bend their knees – and when they began to absorb Western civilization, they were interrupted by the rise of the Manchus......

And in this time and space, the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution in the West may have to be postponed indefinitely. The Chinese civilization in the East has once again made great progress because of Chen Dexing's golden finger. But after a great progress, if the behemoth of the Ming Empire wants to make progress, it must maintain communication with the world. Draw nourishment from smaller countries that are more dynamic than themselves.

Perhaps this is the best gift that the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty will feed back to the Ming Dynasty!

"That's it, the sixteen kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty in the future must be based on these sixteen cities. If the Sixteen Cities are accustomed to being at ease, will they still listen to the kings in the future? ”

Monk Liu took over the topic and shook his head to ask.

"Then it depends on the methods of the kings, but ...... In the future, the parliaments of these 16 countries will certainly have more power. ”

Zhao Fu stroked his white beard and analyzed with a smile: "There is no way, the foundation of the 16 countries is like this, we can only rely on immigrants and businessmen to do it themselves, we can't use too much strength." These people will surely become great in the future! ”

"Then can't we send someone over?" Monk Liu asked.

"Sent, isn't President Huang already gone?" Ren Yijiang smiled bitterly, "I am also going to send 50,000 troops, and I will send tens of thousands of military households, and I have also established the Atlantic Chartered Trade Chamber of Commerce...... But Mingzhou is so big and has so many indigenous people, it is not enough to rely on these people. If the power of the people is not mobilized, the 16 countries of Mingzhou will not be able to build it for a hundred years. After all, the power of the imperial court is still very limited. ”

He only said half of what he said, and the other half was that the imperial court used Mingzhou as an ATM. How can you invest in it endlessly? Filling the fiscal deficit with Mingzhou's gold and silver is a good thing for everyone. On the other hand, I'm afraid that no one will agree - the 16 countries are closed countries, and it is okay for the Ming Dynasty to help out, but it can only be pointed, and it cannot be filled in endlessly with the fat and people's ointment of the local people of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the 16 countries of Mingzhou mainly have to rely on the power of the people, so they will naturally be the masters of the country in the future. And in order for immigrants to be able to fight the world in Mingzhou, it is necessary for everyone to carry a gun. Armed to this extent, can you still expect the common people to keep to themselves?

Kong Yu shook his head and said, "Sage, if you want to use the power of the people, you must definitely give them power, otherwise you will not succeed." If you don't use the power of the people, then you can only wait for the sixteen princes to grow up and have a retainer before going to Beimingzhou. ”

This is also a way, but some of Chen Dexing's sons are still dolls, and some have not yet been born, God knows when and when they will have a retainer?

Chen Dexing touched his beard, shook his head slightly, and said with a wry smile: "I can't wait that long...... I only have six sons now, and only four can go to Mingzhou at most. If you want the sixteen kings to grow up, and then go to Mingzhou after you have a retainer, I'm afraid it will take twenty or thirty years! By then, I will be in my sixties, how many years will I live? If I can't see the stability of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty, how can I put my mind at ease? ”

The four important ministers looked at each other, and they already understood Chen Dexing's choice. When we start Kitameisu development now, and build self-governing city. Thirty years from now, the Sixteen Kingdoms should be the climate. The system will also be stabilized. With the great god Chen Dexing, the sixteen kings can go to the country safely. If Emperor Chen can live for another ten or twenty years, the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty will be stable. The question to consider is the power of the sixteen kings.

But if the development of Beimingzhou is postponed for twenty or thirty years, Chen Dexing will not see the day when the sixteen kingdoms of Beiming will be stable. If there is no Chen Dexing, the great god to suppress the formation, it is difficult to say whether the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern Ming Dynasty can be built. (To be continued......)