On the contrary, Yang's invincible army was unwilling to consume precious gunpowder and arrows lost on these garbage cannon fodder.

When thousands of Tianzhu cannon fodder were killed and wounded, the Delhi Sultanate drove another group of Tianzhu cannon fodder soldiers onto the battlefield.

Yang Wushu knew that if he continued to fight like this, the main force of the Delhi Sultanate had not yet exerted its strength, and his army would be short of stamina.

Timur's Celestial Sect mercenaries were also eyeing him, making it impossible for Yang to raid.

In desperation.

Yang Wushu led his soldiers to retreat to Xindali City on his own initiative after killing and wounding nearly 10,000 indigenous Tianzhu soldiers.

Almost all the strongholds and territories on the outskirts of the city were occupied by the forces of the Delhi Sultanate, which followed.

Hundreds of thousands of natives have become consumables for the Delhi Sultanate.

Duan Power's army was trapped in the new Dali City, and all access on land had been cut off except for the waterways connecting to the sea.

。

。

。

Yingtiancheng, as the capital of the Ming Dynasty, has now become a first-class and prosperous city in the world.

The city is not only prosperous in commerce, but also has a unique industrial atmosphere today.

In the south of Yingtianfu, there were a large number of newly built factories, which produced the latest steel, glass cloth, gunpowder porcelain, etc., and supplied the provinces and even the entire maritime trade market.

In the center of the south of Yingtianfu City, there is a large-scale factory, this factory is called Yingtian Iron Factory.

In the Yingtian Iron Works, there is a tall and majestic building.

In this building, there are five institutions: the Coin Minting Bureau, the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, the Ordnance Bureau, the Process Supervision Bureau, and the Smelting Science and Technology Bureau.

Yingtian Iron Works belongs to the Ming Seven Seas Firm, and the owner of the Seven Seas Firm is Huai'an Hou Li Zhen, but the real major shareholders behind it are the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han, as well as a large number of civil and military achievements.

At this time, the craftsmen of Yingtian Iron Works were working overtime to build this factory.

In response to the development of all walks of life in Tianfu City, there is a serious shortage of a large number of craftsmen.

Therefore, in order to build the Yingtian Iron Works, most of the craftsmen were recruited from all over the country.

A large number of craftsmen and technical backbones are building in accordance with the engineering drawings in the Yingtian Iron Works, and the spacious and flat streets crisscross the rows, decorating the originally magnificent Yingtian Iron Works with more luxury and splendor.

In the traditional impression of the silly and black iron factory, in the construction plan set by Zhu Han, it has a huge and spacious factory, and the windows installed on the factory are all made of transparent glass.

Nowadays, although transparent glass has been mass-produced, it is still used as a window, but it is still affordable for many wealthy people, and this Yingtian Iron Factory is luxurious and brilliant in the eyes of ordinary people.

Zhang Wuliu is a peasant in Huaixi, when the Red Turban Army rebelled, he was so frightened that he hid in the mountains and did not dare to go out, and later the Ming Dynasty drove away the Mongols and created a peaceful and prosperous era, Zhang Wuliu came out to live.

But at this time, Zhang Wuliu found that the world had undergone tremendous changes.

Many of Zhang's fellow villagers and neighbors had their own land because they joined the army, but he had nothing but to continue to work as a tenant.

The development of relatives and friends made Zhang Wuliu also have the determination to break through.

However, one has no courage and the other has no technology, after he came to Yingtianfu, he could only rely on his strength to apply for the Yingtian Iron Factory as a laborer.

Zhang Wuliu is 29 years old this year, and he is a typical northern man, with a rough appearance, an upright personality, and a short temper.

However, he has a lot of strength, and every time he carries a mud bag, it is like carrying a sack.

On this day, Zhang Wuliu had already carried more than a dozen burdens, weighing thousands of pounds of cement bags, his face was covered with beads of sweat, he was so tired that he was about to collapse, and he slipped and almost fell to the ground while walking.

At this time, a carriage drove slowly into the compound of Yingtian Iron Factory and stopped beside Zhang Wuliu.

The coachman lifted the curtain, and a tall, thirty-year-old man jumped out of the car, helped Zhang Wuliu up, and asked with concern: "Dude, are you okay?" ”

This person is Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor who visited Weifu.

Before leaving Yingtian, Zhu Han specially told his elder brother Zhu Yuanzhang to focus on the progress of Yingtian Iron Works.

Because Zhu Han told him that as long as this large-scale iron factory was built, the Ming Dynasty would completely become the only super-powerful empire in the whole world.

The plant uses the latest blast furnaces to smelt steel, capable of supplying 1,500 to 1,600 degrees of high-temperature furnaces.

Such a strong iron factory is enough to make Daming's weapons cheap and easy to use.

In order to prevent the officials and craftsmen below from going to the imperial court, Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, led his guards to inspect the iron factory in disguise.

Zhang Wuliu waved his hand, gasped and said, "It's okay, I'm just tired, just take a rest." ”

When Zhang Wuliu saw Zhu Yuanzhang wearing decent clothes, he guessed that he must be an official in the iron factory, or a military household guarding the iron factory.

Therefore, Zhang Wuliu was very polite to Zhu Yuanzhang, lest he lose his job as an iron factory laborer.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and ordered, "Brother, you can rest first." ”

Zhang Wuliu said gratefully: "Thank you, big brother." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Wuliu was supported by the guards and sat next to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhang Wuliu many questions, most of which were from the iron factory, and Zhang Wuliu answered the first question.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly changed his words and asked, "Brother, what do you think of our Ming people's lives now?" ”

Zhang Wuliu was silent for a while, and then replied, "I don't know what to say......

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "Then tell the truth!" Let's just chatter. ”

Zhang Wuliu thought for a while and said: "Under the rule of His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and their lives are very comfortable, and I am also happy for the people of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Well, go on." ”

Zhang Wuliu continued: "However, the price of grain is getting lower and lower year by year, and the grain produced is not worth much. There are fewer and fewer people farming, will they go hungry again in the future? ”

Zhang Wuliu's words made Zhu Yuanzhang laugh.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, "Haha, I thought it was something, it turned out to be like this!" Brother, you can rest assured, we will not have any hungry people in the future, to tell you the truth, you look at this iron factory, as long as this iron factory continues to produce steel in the future, then the people of Daming are not to say that they are hungry, and it is completely possible for the big guys to eat meat all of a sudden. ”

Zhang Wuliu is just an ordinary farmer, who rushed into the capital with the new atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty and became a worker, and he still has some knowledge, so naturally he doesn't understand what Zhu Yuanzhang said, why can the steel plant keep the people from starving?

As the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew the importance of steel to a country.

Whether it is agricultural tools or other tools, all of them are inseparable from steel.

Once Yingtian Iron and Steel Plant starts production, the steel cost of the entire Daming will drop by half!

Farmers will be able to afford better iron tools and produce more food.

Craftsmen will also have more and better tools, invent and make more amazing objects.

More importantly, the Ming army will also have more sophisticated weapons, whether it is broadswords, spears, armor, armor, or muskets, artillery, they can be sharper.

With such a strong national strength, even if there is a terrible natural disaster, it is impossible for the people of Daming to starve to death.

As the so-called neighbors store grain and I store guns, as long as the weapon is in hand, it can only be the neighbors who starve to death, not the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the iron works and was satisfied with the performance of the officials and craftsmen.

Although it was a micro-service visit, many key places in the iron factory could not be inspected.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang, with his fraudulent identity as a Jinyiwei, was still able to see the construction of many peripheral workshops of the iron factory.

Whether it is attack or quality, there are large and small officials and craftsmen who check it layer by layer.

In particular, the cement transported from Huainan has doubled the speed of various construction of the iron factory.

Cement is a thing that has a wide range of uses, and the cost is low, and the production process is just a layer of window paper.

The construction of the iron factory naturally needs these strong and easy to use cement.

Zhang Wuliu's laborers, the main work they do is to carry cement, sand and stone.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with today's market, and after returning to the palace, he immediately ordered the officials and craftsmen of the Tiantie Factory to be rewarded.

Even Zhang Wuliu, the lowest-status laborers, were rewarded with three days of extra meals.

The fragrant fat meat and fried fish made Zhang Wuliu and these iron factory laborers grateful to the Ming court.

"Da Ming is really good, what the brother said that day seems to have some truth, this iron factory can really let us eat meat!" Zhang Wuliu thought in his heart while chewing on the pork belly slices in the bowl.

The pork belly in the bowls of these workers weighed more than half a catty.

The bubbling pork belly rolled in Zhang Wuliu's mouth, making Zhang Wuliu hum happily.

Zhang Wuliu thought in his heart, maybe this iron factory in Daming will really be able to let all the people eat meat every day in the future.

。

。

。

In order to develop industry as soon as possible in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Han also built other supporting cement and quarries in order to build a Yingtian Iron Factory.

In addition to these emerging industries, the original papermaking, ceramics, textile and other industries have also received a lot of technical guidance from Zhu Han.

The total output of silk in the entire Jiangnan region in the five years of Hongwu exceeded the sum of the previous three years.

The biggest credit for this naturally belongs to Zhu Han, more advanced aseptic silkworm raising, as well as standardized feeding and cultivation, have more than doubled the silk output in Jiangnan.

These projects have achieved rapid results, making Zhu Han's reputation in the Jiangnan business community unprecedentedly high.

At the same time, because of the huge impact of technology on industry, the businesses in Jiangnan attach great importance to technology.

In addition, technical research workshops belonging to various firms have been established in Gangnam to develop new technologies for the industry.

Daming's huge output has also brought about a huge increase in exports.

Hongwu's five-year share of maritime trade alone allowed several coastal cities to extract nearly 15 million taels of silver in taxes.

Before leaving Malacca, Zhu Han led the Ming fleet to procure a group of able-bodied slaves, which were mainly used as oarsmen for galleys.

These oarsmen were all trafficked by Persian traders, mainly from the countries and regions along the Mediterranean coast.

The Mediterranean was chaotic in the Middle Ages, with states and religious powers at odds with each other, and large numbers of captives were often sold into slavery.

Even in the distant South Seas, there was no shortage of these white slaves from Europe.

Zhu Han's Ming fleet sailed north along the coastline and soon reached the southern part of what would become Burma, the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean, where there was nothing of value other than the hot rainforest.

Zhu Han commanded the Ming fleet to replenish some water here, and like the local natives, he purchased some livestock and slaughtered them to make salted meat.

Zhu Han led his men around the place again, and found that there was no sign of civilization other than the local natives.

These backward natives did not have the ability to purchase Ming goods at all, and the only items they could take out were some gems that were not in good condition.

Except for hard currencies such as gold and silver, Zhu Han is not interested in luxury goods such as gemstones and jade.

He has his own considerations for the business model.

These things are corrupt and degenerate for the people.

All luxuries are only useful when they are harvested by foreigners.

Daming's extravagant hedonism, Zhu Han felt that it must be artificially controlled.

It is not far from Tianzhu Road, and after about ten days of sailing, you can reach the new Dali City where Duan Gong is located.

However, when Zhu Han was about to set sail and leave, there were some reef collision accidents, which caused a lot of losses to the two galleys.

These two galleys belong to the necessary ships of the Ming army in the coastal activities, they have a shallow draft, fast speed, can not be affected by the wind direction, if there are no these two galleys, then the Ming army in the coastal reconnaissance and landing will be greatly affected.

Therefore, Zhu Han immediately ordered the craftsmen on the ship to find a way to repair the two ships as soon as possible.

Unfortunately.

The craftsman, who was good at repairing sailing ships, had contracted plague and dysentery, and his body was so weak that he stayed in the city of Malacca and did not follow him.

Now the craftsmen are not skilled enough, and they are far behind Zhu Han's requirements in terms of progress.

At this time, a slave oarsman in charge of paddling actually stood up and offered to help the Ming army repair the warship.

The slave was a Catholic slave with curly black hair, and after being introduced by his translator, Zhu Han agreed to the slave's request and decided to give him the status of a free sailor as long as he could repair the warship.

In the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet, hierarchical order was the most important.

In order to maintain hierarchical order, it is necessary to ensure a close and strong relationship between superiors and subordinates.

If you want to change your identity on the ship, you must change your status level with real merit.

From the captain of the battleship to the ordinary oarsmen on the ship, every position requires sweat and blood to get what you want.

The slave oarsman did not disappoint, and with his help, the Ming warship was quickly repaired, and in order to reward the slave, Zhu Han announced in front of all the sailors on board that the slave would be restored to the status of a free man.

After learning about his repair process, Zhu Han was surprised to find that the slave was not illiterate.

He drew many drawings on drawings and wrote a lot of Latin script.

Although Zhu Han couldn't understand which language these Latin characters belonged to, he could clearly know that this slave was definitely not an ordinary person.