Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1530

After so many years of refinement, the ironclad warship demonstrated unparalleled combat power as soon as it was unveiled.

The three-expansion, four-cylinder reciprocating steam engine provided warships with sufficient power, giving them the confidence to sail the seas.

Meanwhile, the continuous research and development of new artillery by the Academy of Sciences has given the ironclad warships the right to be called invincible at sea.

In order to test the various data of the iron-constructed warships, Wei Wu waved his hand and directly announced a one-to-ten live-fire exercise.

One iron-framed warship will fight against ten steam-powered warships converted from treasure ships. The actual combat exercise will be held at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang specially suspended court for a day and brought all civil and military officials to the estuary to inspect the entire exercise process.

No one knew the final result except for the officials who participated in the exercise; everyone remained silent after watching it.

However, after Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace, he immediately issued an imperial decree ordering the Academy of Sciences to ramp up production of ironclad warships.

After another two years of development and preparation, in the twenty-third year of Hongwu's reign, the Ming Dynasty finally revealed its true colors.

Three powerful elite troops set off from the Ming Dynasty, heading in three directions along three railways to carry out their territorial expansion plans.

The southward-bound force was the most ferocious, sweeping across the entire Southeast Asia starting from Yunnan.

From that moment on, those countries in Southeast Asia completely disappeared from the annals of history.

As the Ming army marched south, they not only conquered territory but also captured all those who resisted and refused to submit, forcing them to build railways.

While fighting, they also captured people to build railways, and finally, in the 25th year of the Hongwu reign, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was expanded to Malacca.

In the future, the world will no longer have the tourist hotspots of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, and the vital Strait of Malacca will fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the southward-bound troops stopped at the strait and failed to cross it to take Sumatra as well.

When the general in charge of the troops sent the message back to the capital, the reply he received was to maintain stability, and that the imperial court on the other side of the strait would make its own arrangements.

From the moment the Ming Dynasty bared its fangs and launched its military expeditions to the point that its southward-bound troops occupied the entire Southeast Asian region, it took a total of four years.

All of this was thanks to the advent of trains and railways, which gave the Ming Dynasty the ability to quickly mobilize soldiers and provide logistical support.

Do not underestimate the role of railways. Before the Japanese invaders invaded China, their first action was to invest heavily in railways.

This is one of the reasons why they, a mere tiny country, dared to covet the land of China; the role of railways was too great.

Meanwhile, during these four years, the other two elite teams weren't idle either.

First, there was the elite force that marched north to the northern desert. Their main objective was not conquest, but rather to support the development of the northern desert region.

According to the original plan proposed by Wei Wu and Zhu Biao, a city would be built in the northern desert region, taking advantage of the convenience of railways and the efficient construction capabilities of cement.

In these four years, the cities built by the Ming Dynasty have covered nearly half of the northern grasslands.

Whenever a city was built, the Ming Dynasty would send a group of people from within, who were the hidden population released during the land tax reform.

These people had no houses or land and were able to survive thanks to the imperial court's conscription of laborers. Now it's time for them to be put to use.

When these people were sent to the northern desert, they were initially quite panicked, feeling as if they had been exiled by the imperial court.

But it wasn't until they saw the houses prepared for them by the imperial court, and the cattle and sheep they were rented out, that they had a means to survive.

It was only then that they realized the court had not exiled them, but had given them another way of life.