The summer of the ninth year of Chenghua.

After more than a year of rapid development, the steam engine has been popularized in all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, and after the joint optimization and improvement of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, the steam engine at this time has been updated to the third generation in just over a year, and the output efficiency has been greatly improved.

At this time, the military war bureau in the Ming Dynasty has fully realized mechanized production, the forging of the gun and the casting of the gun have all used the steam engine, in the face of mechanical force, a gun tube and gun barrel are directly stamped out on the stainless steel billet, so that the finished product rate of the gun and the gun has been greatly improved, almost reaching more than ninety percent, and the reliability and service life have also been greatly improved.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's guns and cannons are synonymous with Seiko, and even Western merchants who come and go to trade are amazed at the quality and power of the Ming firearms.

At the same time, after the use of the steam engine, the quality of the armor of the Ming army has also been greatly improved, at this time the armor equipped in the Ming army has been replaced with sophisticated plate armor, the use of a whole lightweight steel plate, the use of the brutal power of the steam engine directly stamping forming, full of defensive power.

At this time, the combat power of the Ming army was already strong, coupled with the overall improvement and improvement of the equipment of the Ming army, so that the combat power of the Ming army directly surpassed the surrounding countries, and some missionaries exclaimed after seeing the majesty of the Ming army: "Heavenly Father bless!" Fortunately, the Ming Empire is far away in the east, otherwise hundreds of thousands of such a powerful army would be enough to sweep the entire European continent, and the western countries would not have any power to fight back! ”

For the improvement of Daming's military industry and combat power, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the huge changes brought about by the steam engine!

At this time, the Ming folk also basically popularized the steam engine, almost all mines, workshops have purchased a number of units, the corresponding Ming folk have liberated a large number of labor, can be invested in the mushrooms after a rain.

Textiles, forging, light industrial products and other new industries have developed rapidly, although these industries are comparable to the mature industrial products of later generations, and they are only the simplest items, but they are already a good start.

Liu Juntao also ordered vigorous support, not only allowing the Ministry of Finance to allocate 3 million taels of silver to issue interest-free loans, so that these businessmen who invested in primary commerce would not have to worry about the future, but also issued a decree: All businessmen who invest in industry can enjoy the preferential treatment of exemption from industrial and commercial tax for three years.

In just a few months after the promulgation of these decrees, there has been a huge increase in the number of registered factories in various places, but there have been some negative consequences.

The first is the pollution of the environment!

At this time, the smoke and dust emitted by the steam engine and the damage to the vegetation in the factory were very serious, and the people at this time did not have the concept of environmental protection, so there were constantly people gathered in various parts of the Ming Dynasty to oppose the steam engine and oppose the development of industry.

Liu Juntao also sighed when he received the report, these situations are the only way for the primary stage of industrialization, and they are all labor pains, so he can only move forward hard.

As a result, Liu Juntao ordered the cabinet to enact an environmental protection bill and offer a reward for the optimization of the steam engine's emission technology, aiming to solve these two problems in the near future.

At the same time, Liu Juntao also ordered in the name of the imperial court that all factories that violate the environmental protection law and damage the environment will be revoked from the preferential tax policy and will also be fined a large amount.

As a result, the opposition of the people has decreased a lot, and the opposition of the gentry has basically disappeared.

"The Ming Dynasty is not a Manchu after all, even if there are some conservative people, they will never be as hateful as the Manchu people!"

Liu Juntao sighed in his heart, but his face was still gloomy.

At this time, the Ministry of Industry has already reported a fold: Daming's steel production is too much!

Nowadays, with the popularization and use of steam engines in the subway mines of Daming, as well as the comprehensive promotion of various new steelmaking technologies, Daming's steel production has almost doubled.

Now less than half a year has passed, and Daming's steel output has reached 2 billion catties, which is equivalent to 10 million tons!

Such an output is already very huge, more than the output of more than ten years after the outbreak of the industrial revolution in Britain in later generations, and even after the founding of New China in later generations, it only reached such an output in about 30 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China!

Correspondingly, although the industry is booming in Daming now, there are not many places that can consume steel, which means that these forged steel will be unsalable.

This is a fatal blow to the fledgling steel industry.

So, after careful consideration, Liu Juntao felt that he would launch a "steel leap ~ advance"!

The first is to increase the consumption of steel in the army, the previous army was fully reequipped, which could consume a lot of steel production, and now Liu Juntao has set his sights on the navy.

After urgent consultations with Xiang Qun, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Feng Xiang, the director of the Navy Department, and consulted Guo Yongzhong, the director of the Military Armament Department, and Ma Lijun, the general of the Ministry of Industry, Liu Juntao presided over the formulation of a ten-year outline for the development of the navy!

There are two most important aspects of this naval development plan:

One of them is to build artillery!

Liu Juntao is ready to use three years to cast 3,000 of the latest heavy artillery pieces for the navy! Of the 3,000 guns, 2,000 will be equipped on battleships that have been launched one after another, or used to replace the obsolete guns on existing warships, and the remaining 1,000 heavy guns will be deployed on batteries along the coast to comprehensively strengthen the defense of the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

Second, Liu Juntao is ready to fully implement ironclad ships in the navy!

Liu Juntao's ironclad ships are divided into two categories, one is to install steel armor on the existing sail battleships, although the battleships will lose some of their mobility, but the overall defense of the battleship will be greatly improved, coupled with the unparalleled firepower of the Ming battleships, it can completely dominate the ocean.

Another kind of ironclad ship is the latest steam ironclad launched by the Ministry of War!

This ironclad ship is equipped with the latest high-power steam engine, which can provide an endless supply of power for the battleship, and this ironclad ship uses steel keels throughout, not only the armor is thicker, but also only some unimportant parts are made of wood, most of which are made of steel!

Although this kind of steam ironclad ship is generally maneuverable, and even inferior to some third-class battleships with good maneuverability, its defense and firepower are very outstanding, especially the defense, which can basically be invincible in the face of sail warships. However, the cost of this kind of steam ironclad is very expensive, basically the silver taels required to build a neat ironclad ship of the first class battleship level can build four or five first-class battleships with sails.

But even so, Liu Juntao still increased the navy's budget and fully supported this kind of steam ironclad ship, after all, this represents the future development trend of the navy.

In this great development of the navy, not only were all kinds of warships launched like dumplings, but also greatly consumed the backlog of steel stocks in Daming at this time.

In addition, Liu Juntao also promoted the Ministry of Industry to carry out the research and development of experimental railways, especially for the development of the original diesel locomotive, Liu Juntao specially allocated five million taels of silver for research and development funds, of course, these technologies can not be achieved overnight, can only be invested first, as for when there will be results can only be unknown.

At this time, the Ming military and civilian sides in the steam engine blessing, there has been a blowout development, the land of China after thousands of years of accumulation of various technologies, combined with the steam engine, have produced colorful and dazzling fruits, so that the Ming economic and scientific and technological strength to achieve a geometric leap.

Today's Ming Empire has entered the threshold of an industrial country with both feet, although it is still only the most basic industrial country, but it has begun to fade the color of an agricultural empire, and has begun to use steel and gunpowder to implement the national will, and has begun to expand in all directions!

Japan and the Muslim coalition forces in Central Asia bore the brunt of the attack, and after more than a year of fierce fighting, in the face of the Ming Empire's almost dimensionally reduced attack, Japan collapsed first.

At this time, Liu Juntao appointed Zhang Xiaojun as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Ming Dispatch Army, with full responsibility for all matters related to the occupation of Japan.

The Emperor of Japan has already signed the treaty, and the rest of the matter is actually a matter of finishing up the aftermath. According to the terms of the treaty, Zhang Xiaojun was going to send a new army of the Ming Dynasty to occupy Kagoshima, and then to make claims against Japan and supervise the full opening of trade and other matters such as Japan.

In addition, under the auspices of Liu Juntao, the entire Japanese state was substantially divided into three parts, and all the vassals of Japan were reorganized into three alliances, although the Japanese emperor was retained, but it was also as the co-owner of the three major alliances, turning the original same Japan into a loose alliance, and Japan also completely became the puppet and dumping market of the Ming Empire.

As for the original subject country of the Ming Dynasty, Ryukyu, Liu Juntao was unceremonious, directly sent troops to annex it, and set up the East China Sea Protectorate in the hometown of the Ryukyu State for jurisdiction.

Then, the Muslim coalition army in Central Asia was also defeated, 200,000 Ming troops rampaged in Central Asia, invincible, seven months to break through 148 cities, destroy 34 countries, tribes, for a moment the West was shaken, all directions were terrified!

In July of the ninth year of Chenghua, the Ming army's troops arrived in the West Sea (now the Black Sea), and the Western countries could not resist, Liu Juntao thought about consolidating the newly occupied territory, and at this time the Ming army's logistics supply distance was too far, so he ordered the Ming army to temporarily stop marching and turn to military jurisdiction over the existing occupied areas.

In September of the ninth year of Chenghua, Liu Juntao ordered: to implement effective management in the vast territory newly occupied by the Ming army west of the Western Regions, and to establish the Lingxi Protectorate.

The Ming Empire implemented a comprehensive Sinicization policy in the Lingxi Protectorate, and completely banned Islam, and carried out a comprehensive encirclement and suppression of the remaining hostile forces.