Zhou Ming, who became the Earl of Rhodes and the chairman of the United States of Iron Fort, spent the next period of time implementing his plan for the "economic integration of coal and steel rails". Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The core of this plan is to prepare to transport coal and iron ore resources to places with abundant water resources, large surrounding populations and relatively developed economies through raw material transportation tracks, to create several "coal and steel capitals", and then through the personnel and material transportation tracks extending in all directions, steel products will be transported to various markets, and strive to turn the United States of Iron and Steel into a steel center with more than 90% of the world's steel production.

So...... The location of the steel mill, the recruitment of miners in the coal mine, and the route planning for the construction of the track all required Zhou Ming's personal planning and leadership.

There are also things about the Free Merchant League, the mercenary union, and all sides...... With such a huge workload, even if the body is beaten with iron, it will also be weak.

To this end, Zhou Ming through the "civil service examination" held twice a year, the selection of capable government talents, regardless of origin, age, or looks, whether you are a knowledgeable bachelor, or a calculating businessman, as long as you have talent, as long as you pass the civil service examination, Zhou Ming will be eclectic to appoint.

It was with this method that after recruiting several batches of people, the burden on Zhou Ming was reduced a little.

In addition, on the New World, in order to obtain the extensive and easily exploitable sulfur and saltpeter resources behind the Ural Snow Mountain, Zhou Ming asked the thief Jairo to recruit a mercenary group of 3,000 people who can adapt to the high-altitude living environment.

In addition, many of the hundreds of crop seeds that Zhou Ming brought from the New World have sprouted under the right environment, including corn seeds, breadfruit seeds, cotton tree seeds, and rubber seeds that he is most looking forward to.

Zhou Ming's [steam engine] scientific research team, for more than ten years, has also been the steam engine test products, developed to the fifth type, in addition to the output power is small, coal consumption is large, the rest basically meets the actual needs, so Zhou Ming issued an order for mass production of "five steam engines", and strive to produce more than 100 steam engines within two years.

When the rubber tree matures, the rubber raw materials can be collected in batches, and then the vulcanized rubber can be used to replace the sealing materials in the type 5 or 6 steam engine, and the air tightness will be improved, and the thermal efficiency and output power of the steam engine will undoubtedly be greatly improved.

Everything is moving forward in an orderly manner.

However, two letters from the royal capital of Wolds City made Zhou Ming, who had been busy with various government affairs for more than a year, immediately gather an elite army of 10,000 people and rush to the royal capital of Woz City.

These two letters, in fact, are letters asking for help, one is written by King Herian himself, saying that his king has been besieged by the barbarians in the west for half a year, and begging him to send some soldiers and horses to save his kingdom, and put forward two favorable conditions in the letter: if Zhou Ming agrees to send troops, he will not only forgive him for all his previous disrespectful crimes, but also make him the Grand Duke of Rhodes within his king's knighthood...... In addition, he will marry his royal sister, Princess Elena, to him and form a royal marriage with him......

"It seems that Hirion was really beaten by the barbarians in the west, otherwise he would not have rushed to the hospital in a hurry, and the letters for help were written to me, and all my crimes were pardoned......"

Zhou Ming laughed sarcastically, he didn't expect the stingy Herian to have such a generous side.

But......

After seeing the two substantive conditions put forward by Helian at the end of the letter, and mentioning a familiar name, Zhou Ming couldn't help but sigh: "What a rare infatuated woman in the world." ”

Yes, the whole thing is about this Princess Elena.

After the end of the battle of Iti Valley, King Herrian, who had already lost and was about to lose his pants, was robbed of four of the six counties in the south by the "Northern Yankees", and the only three territories left in his hands could become fish and meat in other people's mouths at any time.

The Kingdom of Chulin is a kingdom established by nomads, and its national strength is similar to that of the Kingdom of Volis, this kingdom has many pastures, and there is a group of barbarians who live from nomadism, these barbarians (the great thief Jairo is such a barbarian), the appearance is mostly yellow hair, brown eyes, strong physique, wild nature, proficient in horsemanship, all of them are natural cavalrymen.

In the name of forming a marriage between the two countries, Herian invited the barbarian king of the Chulin Kingdom to the court of Woz City, and after seeing the shocking Princess Elena through a veil, the middle-aged barbarian king with straight eyes and dry mouth agreed to Herrian's request almost without thinking, as long as he could get this beauty, not to mention borrowing 10,000 soldiers and horses, it was 100,000, and he would try his best to make up this number.

But......

Herian still seriously underestimated the fierceness of his royal sister, as early as the age of 16, through extreme means such as hunger strikes, hanging, drinking medicine, etc., after pushing off the first royal marriage on her, in the next ten years, in order to wait for someone, waiting for the person she has been waiting for, using similar means to push away countless marriages related to her, the means are so fierce that even suitors are generated, am I forcing the princess to commit suicide?

After Elena categorically refused to marry the barbarian king, Herian was furious and asked this royal sister who dared to disobey him to be put under house arrest!

As a result, only half a day had passed, and someone hurriedly reported to him that Princess Elena, whose hands and feet were all tied, had not breathed for a quarter of an hour, and had suffocated herself to death.

“……？”

At this time, King Herian, the anger in his heart, in the face of this indifferent life and death, and resolute persistence, was like a small flame, which was instantly extinguished.

After the marriage failed and he found out that he had been tricked, the barbarian king angrily sent 30,000 troops to make Herrian's skull into a vessel for his own drinking, and to give the woman who had rejected him a hundred times to the lowliest manu to play with.

Seeing that the Chulin Kingdom sent 30,000 troops, the Arianor Kingdom, which had already tasted a little of the sweetness of the success of opening up the territory, was also ecstatic to send 5,000 troops, wanting to gnaw a bite of meat from the Volis Kingdom.

……

After reading the letter written by Herrian, Zhou Ming opened another elegant envelope painted with patterns, and a thick sadness welled up in his heart.

But I saw a piece of letter paper covered with wet marks, written a paragraph that is even hard-hearted, and has to be softened and dissolved:

"My frog prince, I have been waiting for you for a long time in the high castle, when will you come and fetch me? Your princess is getting old, and she is almost not pretty, and when you come to pick her up again, you will never like her again...... My Frog Prince, can you come and pick me up soon?"

……

"Kill me!"

After marching rapidly for half a month, Zhou Ming, who led an army of 10,000 to rush to the outside of Woz, saw countless barbarian soldiers who had climbed the city wall, and when the group of defensive forces composed of recruits and civilians on the city wall was retreating and reveling, he gave an order, and the cavalry troops in silver armor lined up in a "∧" formation, and crashed into the barbarian army that became infantry after dismounting collectively for the siege of the city.

It was a battle, 10,000 were killed, 5,000 were captured, and the barbarian king fled with the remnants of the defeated army.

……

Ten days later.

A grand wedding in the palace castle of Wolds.

At the gate of the castle, a tall white horse stepped on, a white helmet and red feathers, silver boots, wearing a tuxedo with white gold trim and gold ribbons on the cuffs and jewels.

In the midst of the two rows of people watching, the white horse knight, standing on the top of the steps, the woman wearing a white dress, bowed his head and touched his chest, bent over, stretched out a slender right hand to the woman, smiled, and said softly: "Your Royal Highness the Princess, your Frog Prince has come to greet you, may I ask Your Royal Highness the Princess, would you like to share a horse with your majesty and go on an adventure trip together?"

"What a frog prince, it's clearly a frog ......"

The woman in the white dress frowned, leaned back, and looked disgusted.

"However, seeing that you are so sincere, I will reluctantly agree to you!" The woman in the white dress made a grimace, put her slender jade hand on it, lifted her skirt and raised her feet, stepped on the saddle, shook her body on the horse's back, and muttered dissatisfiedly: "Be careful, my frog prince......"

Bang bang.

Turning the horse's head, the white horse knight, holding the princess with her eyes closed and her body trembling slightly in her arms, rode by, and the human walls on both sides of the red carpet erupted into thunderous applause.

When he walked out of the castle and arrived at a secluded place on the city wall, he was a beautiful woman in his arms, and he couldn't cry anymore.