However, if he can use his sincere attitude to obtain some fine armor and weapons from the Ming army, it will also increase Abbas's chances of victory in the battle against the Sabankaras.

"Your allegiance to the Ming Dynasty will naturally be very welcome!"

"But what you just said, let me help Bai Heicheng resist that Saban? This is very inappropriate! ”

After listening to Abbas's words, Tang He said affectionately with a very serious application on his face.

Marouali and Abbas had different expressions.

Abbas did not have much disappointment on his face, he had not had much hope for the small number of Ming troops.

Marouali's face was full of disappointment and anxiety, without the strong military protection of the Ming army, the lord of Sabankara, Ayubuz, would have easily captured the city of Bair.

"Before I went to the West, Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the King had already instructed that as long as the power of the Ming Dynasty was displayed, and the benevolence of the Ming Dynasty should be demonstrated, what Saban you said did not offend the Ming Dynasty, and it was not conducive to the prestige of the Ming Dynasty to start a war lightly!"

Tong He said this, although he was rejecting Abbas's request.

But in Tang He's heart, he already has his own prediction of the current situation.

The real situation is that before Tang He went to the West, Zhu Han had repeatedly instructed him to find a suitable time to occupy a permanent territory here in Persia, obtain the support of some local Persians, and establish the Ming Persian Protectorate, which is the actual colony.

It's just that Tang He, as a Chinese in his heart, knows that the land is a very important symbol, and he can't let these Persians see his intentions for the Persian land without being completely sure.

Moreover, the fleet led by Tang He also has an important task, that is, to establish direct trade with Persia, I heard from them that the power of this Sabankara is very large, and if it can live in peace with the Ming Dynasty, it will definitely be a very potential trading partner.

Tang He had just arrived, and the situation was unclear, so it was naturally impossible to easily stand on the side of Baier Heicheng and make an enemy of Sabankara.

"Yes, my lord!"

After persuasion failed, Marouali had no choice but to retreat with Abbas.

The Ming fleet arrived in the city of Bair, and although it did not provide Abbas with soldiers and horses to help in the war, it still gave Abbas many benefits in commercial trade.

Among them, a large number of porcelain, sugar, tea and a large number of spices from the South Seas transported by the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty all made the merchants of Heicheng crazy.

In less than half a month, Abbas collected a huge amount of taxes from these Persian merchants who came to buy goods from the Black City.

Half a month's income almost covered Abbas's tax burden for most of the previous year.

Abbas's coffers soared, and he immediately spent money to hire many Turkic and Khorasan mercenaries from outside.

These Turks and Khorasans lived mainly in the northeastern part of Persia, where there were a large number of tribal wars and became mercenaries of various forces.

Using the money in his hands, Abbas quickly increased his strength from more than 10,000 to more than 20,000.

At the same time, Abbas did not forget to continue to curry favor with Tang He, the commander of the Ming fleet, and all kinds of Persian gem horses and beauties would send people to Tang He almost every day, the purpose of which was nothing more than to buy some light armor equipped by the Ming army.

Under the leadership of Zhu Han, Daming has a more sophisticated blast furnace steelmaking technology, which can not only effectively remove impurities such as sulfur and phosphorus in steel, but also make different proportions of steel according to their own needs.

In addition, there are abundant water conservancy resources in the south of the Yangtze River, and a few water wheels can be driven next to the steel mill, and the listed steel can be easily made into the required profiles by using hydraulic power.

In just four years in Hongwu, Yingtianfu's steel manufacturing was already able to fully meet the armor needs of the Ming army.

The rest of the factories and workshops were also able to produce large quantities of cheap and durable simple plate armor.

These plate armors basically only have a cuirass and a small number of shoulder armor and arm armor, which is really a bit rudimentary compared to the full-suit armor that the Ming Guard Army is equipped with.

But these lightweight armor are very suitable for the navy.

The environment of sea navigation is humid, and the full armor with complex structure is very difficult to maintain.

And these simple versions of plate armor, because of the simple and light structure, do not take much time to protect and maintain.

Moreover, in a small space at sea, when hand-to-hand combat is required, these lightweight simple plate armor are also more suitable for sea combat than heavy full armor.

When the Ming soldiers landed in the port of Baierhei, many of them wore this simple plate armor with them.

This kind of one-hint steel plate armor is much more protective than the chain mail equipped by the soldiers of Baier Black City.

As the lord of the black city of Bair, Abbas naturally wanted to raise the equipment level of his soldiers in the face of the threat of Sarabika.

Tang He was not surprised by Abbas's move to buy a batch of Daming simple plate armor.

After coming to Persia for more than half a month, Tang He already had a clear understanding of the training and equipment level of the soldiers here in Persia.

The weapons of the local soldiers of Persia were far inferior to those of the Ming soldiers, but the quality of their local iron ore was very high, and the weapons they made were only simple craftsmanship, which could be light and sophisticated.

Therefore, it is a wise move for Baier Heicheng to want to purchase Daming's simple plate armor.

"How much armor does Abbas want!?" Yuwa asked Maruari as a translator.

"General, Lord Abbas wants a thousand sets of cuirasses! For each set of cuirasses, he was willing to give ten gold coins! Maruali asked after asking.

Ten gold coins, at the price of Persia, can buy a very fine set of chain mail.

These cuirasses worn by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were shining with cold light and were exceptionally strong, and they could easily be sold for ten gold coins here in Persia.

Therefore, when Abbas made this request, he was very worried in his heart, lest the Ming general refuse to agree to sell these armors to him at such a cheap price.

However, Tang He's reaction was very simple, and he immediately agreed to Abbas's request, and not only that, but he disagreed with the number of a thousand sets of armor.

"My Ming armor is the best quality in the world, if you want to buy it, you only buy a thousand sets, how can you get at least two thousand sets."

"If the money is not enough, there is no problem, you can pay for the goods on credit or with goods."

Tang He's friendly and generous attitude made both Abbas and Marouali overjoyed.

In fact, this is an important means that Zhu Han handed over to Tang He, first using commerce and trade to gradually control these Persian feudal lords, and then slowly cultivating the power of the Ming Dynasty, and when the Ming Dynasty can say nothing here in Persia, he will use his powerful iron fist to integrate the Persian region, and all of them will be subordinated to the Persian Protectorate governance system.

"But there is also a condition for selling these armors to you, and you need to agree to it first." Soup and immediately followed again.

"I don't know what the conditions are?" Abbas immediately asked.

Abbas thought that these wealthy Ming people came to Persia to do business, and the conditions they put forward were nothing more than taxes and supplies.

However, the conditions proposed by Tang He greatly surprised Abbas.

"There is a deserted island on the sea outside your city, as long as it is resold to my Ming fleet as a resting place for anchoring and stationing, then these two thousand sets of armor can be sold to you!" Tang He said slowly.

When he heard that it was such a condition, Abbas agreed without hesitation.

He and the island he spoke of were in the sea five or six miles outside the city of Baierhei, and the island was barren, with only one bitter well on it, and from time to time ghost fire and black oil came out of the island.

The Persians did not like this island and even called it Devil's Island.

And this island is too small, the total length of east, west, north and south is only one mile.

Abbas did not hesitate to transfer the island to the Ming Dynasty, which Tang He represented.

The two sides immediately reached a win-win deal.

As the lord of Baiheicheng, Abbas not only used Yu Ming's trade to expand his army, but also purchased this batch of very strong and practical armor, and the military strength of the entire Baier Heicheng greatly increased.

After this was confident, the people in Baier Black City spoke a lot harder.

When Ayubuz, the lord of Sarabika, sent someone to summon Abbas to swear allegiance, Abbas did not hesitate to reject the Sarabika's arrogance.

The messenger of Sarabika noticed the change in Abbas's attitude before and after, and sent someone to inquire secretly about the reason.

It soon became known about the recent changes in military power in the Black City of Bair.

"My master Ayubuz, as lord of Sarabika and protector of all Persians, if you insist on going your own way and refuse to swear allegiance to Ayubuz, who has been blessed by Allah, you will surely suffer the endless wrath of my master in the future, and the whole city of Half-Black will fall into death and starvation!" Sarabika's emissary made a final warning and threat to Abbas before leaving.

However, Abbas didn't care, his current military strength has increased dramatically, and it is no longer a simple increase in the number of 10,000 to 20,000, after obtaining the high-quality armor of the Ming army, Abbas feels that his 20,000 troops are equivalent to ordinary 30,000 Persian soldiers.

Although Sarabika has a large territory and nearly 100,000 troops, it can only send 30,000 to 40,000 people at most to threaten the city of Bair.

With a comparable number of people, Abbas had plenty of confidence that he would be able to defend the city of Bair.

"Allah bless the pious, and I am the most pious man in Persia!"

Abbas used his restraint to make a self-proclaimed rational refusal.

However, the weak lord of the Black City of Bair, Abbas is justified and responsible, and in front of the powerful Sarabika, all belong to arrogance.

The fact that the weak dare to refuse the strong is in itself a provocation.

Ayubuz, the lord of Sarabika, couldn't help but be furious when he got the news.

"Give orders to all places, I will use an army of 50,000 people to set foot on the black city of Baier!"

"Abbas's head must be hung in the city of Bair, so that he can see with his own eyes that the city of Bair is plunged into death and flames!"

In response to the parables in the prophet's scriptures, Ayubuz expressed his determination and murderous intent to achieve the black city of Bair.

At this time, Tang He, who was stationed in the black city of Baier, did not know that this prosperous and wealthy Persian city would soon fall into a terrible war.

At this time, Tang He was busy hiring local Persian coolies to help the Ming army build the Devil's Island, which had just been obtained.

Tang He planned to build this small island into a sea fortress, which could be foolproof by using the powerful naval power of the Ming army.

The fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, November.

Jingshi, Ying Tianfu.

The tall bell tower in the city rang ten times in a row, which meant that the time was about to reach noon.

The people in Yingtian City have long been familiar with this novel bell tower, and it can even be said that they are familiar with this accurate time-telling machine in their daily lives.

Not only this very peculiar appearance of the bell tower, but also in the Yingtian City in the past year, a series of tall and novel buildings such as star viewing platforms, fountains and Xinhua watches have been built one after another.

These unique and novel buildings of the Ming Dynasty all show the wealth and strength of the Ming Dynasty from time to time.

Ying Tianfu is the capital master of the daimyo, and if the people who live here are not in the mood to deal with it calmly, I am afraid that they are already in no mood to be busy with business, and they are surprised to patronize it all day long.

Only those outsiders from other state capitals would run out into the street one by one when the bell tower was telling the time, and look up at the bell tower in the distance.

As for those foreign envoys and businessmen, their reactions were even more exaggerated when they saw these novel buildings in the Ming Dynasty, especially the envoys of small countries in Nanyang, who even knelt on the ground when they heard these bells at the beginning, kowtowing in the direction of the palace, expressing their reverence for the supreme kingdom of the Heavenly Empire.

The bells in Ying Tianfu naturally also entered the palace.

"It's ten o'clock in the hour, and what we should say has already been said, after you go back, take out a specific charter for all the things discussed today, one for us to send to the palace, and one to the king!"

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty sat on the dragon chair and said to the cabinet ministers below.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not implement the cabinet system, but followed the prime minister system of the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties.

Although each dynasty did not set up the specific official position of prime minister, their power was about the same, but the official name was different.

The cabinet system can well avoid the phenomenon of the dictatorship of the ministers, so soon after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Han immediately suggested that the elder brother implement the cabinet system.

The people sitting in the palace hall today are all members of the Ming Cabinet.

Li Shanchang, who is famous in history, did not become the first hero of the Ming Dynasty because of Zhu Han's appearance, and if you really want to say that his specific merits will never be compared to a fraction of Zhu Han.

As for the other Zhu Sheng, Liu Bowen, Shi Nai'an and others, although they have made a lot of contributions in the founding of the Ming Dynasty, they can't even compare with Li Shanchang, let alone surpass Zhu Han's contributions.

For example, the merits of Hu Weiyong, Song Lian and others are far from reaching the strength to enter the cabinet.

Therefore, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty is actually Zhu Han.

It's just that Zhu Han is really too lazy to take care of some daily affairs, and many times he is reluctant to come to the palace to discuss political affairs with Li Shanchang and others.

Today is a very important day, Zhu Han came to the palace early and sat in front of him all morning.

Because in another month, the five years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty will come to an end, and it will officially enter the threshold of the six years of Hongwu.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in order to ensure the correct implementation of the national policy and prevent the situation of changing the imperial decree overnight, Zhu Han suggested that the elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang started the five-year plan governing strategy.

(End of chapter)