Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 144 Ming Dynasty Development, Miss 75
In the battle of Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty annihilated more than 10,000 enemies and forced more than 100,000 to surrender at the cost of 137 casualties.

Among the 137 injured, more than 50 were due to slippery roads due to snow. They accidentally stumbled and fell off their horses into the snow, almost dying.

Another 80 or so people did not keep warm enough and suffered frostbite on body parts, such as hands and ears, and when they urinated.
As for combat casualties, the current statistics are zero.

no way.

Using cold weapons against hot weapons is no different from seeking death.

What’s more, there are tens of thousands of hot weapons.

After Xu Da led his troops to a great defeat at Naiciwu, he continued to march northward. By the time he arrived at Jinshan, Zhu Yuanzhang had already forced Nahachu to surrender.

Seeing that failure was inevitable, Nahachu stopped resisting and led more than 100,000 people from Jinshan to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, expressing his willingness to bring the entire Liaodong under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

That’s a lot of resources.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang attacked, Nahachu's power was very great.

In addition to the more than 100,000 people and 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers gathered in Jinshan, there were also tribal populations and troops in various places.

In the Songhua River, Yimi River and other areas alone, there are still hundreds of thousands of tribal people and millions of cattle and sheep.

In addition, there are many Jurchen tribes in the deep mountains and forests of the Northeast.

The Mongols forced a large number of Jurchen tribes to submit to the Northern Yuan Dynasty. If they refused, they would be killed and their tribes would be destroyed. The Jianzhou Jurchens were forced by them to move south and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has eliminated the forces of Nahachu, it means that the sovereignty of a large number of Jurchen tribes in the northeast also belongs to the Ming Dynasty.

Because the Jurchen tribes in the early Ming Dynasty were not strong and were surviving in a state of being caught between two major forces, they had no choice but to either join the Northern Yuan forces or go south to join the Ming Dynasty. There was no third way to choose.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang's main focus was on dealing with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, so he had to consider united front work and win over all forces that could deal with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, including the Jurchens and other surrounding ethnic minorities.

So he couldn't fight Japan, and he had to resettle any minority tribes that came to him for help, so as to unite the majority and fight against the Mongols together.

But not anymore.

Our Ming Dynasty is already invincible in the world, so why should we need to consider what others think?
Not convinced?

If you don't obey, keep it to yourself, otherwise your clan will be exterminated.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Liaodong in late November and early December with hundreds of thousands of captured Mongolian tribesmen and millions of cattle and sheep.

He ordered the Mongolian tribes to be disbanded and resettled in the southwest of the Horqin grassland, which is the area from Chifeng to Tongliao in Inner Mongolia in later generations.

He also dispersed the Jurchens, who were subordinate to Liaodong, and relocated them to the mountains and forests around Shenyang, where he built a county town, sent in a county magistrate, stationed troops, and implemented the king's rule.

In fact, it is not easy to rule in this way.

After all, in that era, it was very easy for the Mongols to leave. They just had to ride on their horses and run away.

But Lao Zhu didn't care. The monk could run away, but the temple could not. The grassland was there, and the railway would be built there sooner or later.

Therefore, he arranged a large number of Mongols and Jurchens around the main gathering places of the Han people to facilitate management and rule, and if they wanted to escape, he would not pursue them.

First, a few men might escape, but the old, weak, women and children could not. There were garrisons stationed in various places, so large-scale escape was not realistic.

Secondly, when the railway is built, they will naturally understand what it means that four legs cannot outrun wheels.

After defeating the Mongols, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately returned to Nanjing.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon. For Mr. Zhu from the Gu family, nothing is more important than going home to celebrate the New Year with his wife and children.

soon.

At the end of the 14th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang rushed back to Nanjing before the New Year.

This year Zhu Yunfeng did not celebrate the New Year in Daming.

He is going to Changsha.

Last year, my parents were separated and came back after the New Year, but they had to leave again after less than a day.

The situation is much better this year, and business is finally back on track. Although I am still very busy, I still have time to spend the New Year with my son.

The New Year was spent in Zhu Yunfeng’s big villa in Changsha.

This villa is located on the side of Yuelu Mountain, next to the Xiangjiang River. The garden alone is more than 1,000 square meters. The building is nine stories high. The top six floors are as tall as a palace, the bottom floor is an underground garage, and the other two floors are wine cellars.

The decoration alone cost more than 50 million yuan, but the purchase of this villa only cost more than 30 million yuan. It has now become the house where Zhu Yunfeng's parents live.

In addition to Zhu Yunfeng's family of three, there were also many relatives from my mother's side, who all came to join in the fun on New Year's Eve.

Once a person has money, he will naturally become the center of attention.

Zhu Yunfeng's family has been a single-line family for three generations, and his closest relatives are all brothers and descendants of his great-grandfather's generation.

There are quite a lot of relatives on my grandparents' side, and my mother has several brothers and sisters.

After my father's business went bankrupt, these relatives had little contact with each other. A few years later, when they saw the Zhu family making a comeback, they all came over.

How many people surround a person and who they are depends on his own value.

This is human nature and there is nothing to say about it.

Zhu Yunfeng didn't like this kind of atmosphere very much, so he stayed in his room editing text messages and making phone calls.

The bad thing about being a boss is that you have to maintain all kinds of relationships.

He didn't even attend the New Year's celebration of the Hongwu Dynasty, and the company held an annual meeting at the end of the year to distribute benefits.

The red envelopes, cigarettes, alcohol, home appliances, electronic products such as mobile phones and tablets, and even cars given away were worth tens of millions.

The next step is to send text messages to all employees to wish them a happy New Year.

I also have to make phone calls to the county, city and higher-ups to wish them a happy new year, maintain relationships, etc. I'm very busy.

He just let his parents deal with the family relations themselves, he was too lazy to care.

After the New Year, Zhu Yunfeng visited some important figures and friends from the business and political circles, and had tea together to strengthen their relationships.

Although he doesn't like such things, there is nothing he can do about it in this society where human relationships are important.

He was busy like this until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, when he finally had some free time and returned to the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty underwent earth-shaking changes.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He rode their motorcycles and electric bikes to stroll along the streets.

They saw that the streets of Nanjing were now crowded with people. Large areas of land in the city used to be deserted, but new streets were slowly being built.

The streets crisscrossed and extended outward from the original Datong Street and Chang'an Street, gradually forming a series of market towns.

People are walking around, various shops are standing side by side, and their signs are fluttering in the wind.

Although it is still a little inferior to ordinary county towns in later generations, it is not much worse.

After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, Nanjing City was basically just an empty shell, and its prosperity might not even be comparable to that of Lansha Town.

It was only in recent years, with the substantial increase in grain production and Zhu Biao's relatively relaxed policy plan, that the people began to prosper.

Otherwise, it might have to be more than ten years later in the late Hongwu period, when Zhu Yuanzhang moved a large number of people in, before things could improve slightly.

At present, these changes are not brought about by the court's forced migration of population, but are the result of natural construction.

Today, handicrafts are beginning to flourish, commerce is slowly emerging, and with the construction of several major national engineering projects underway, bridges and roads are being built in various places, the economy is developing rapidly.

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty naturally developed rapidly from scratch and was able to quickly expand its presence and build better.

The most crucial thing was that Zhu Biao took a large amount of money and grain and ordered the Ministry of Works to plan a large number of national projects.

Many people know about Roosevelt's New Deal, but few know that during the reign of German Prime Minister Thomas P. Koch, a loaf of bread cost more than 50 marks. At the most exaggerated time, it cost more than trillion marks to buy a loaf of bread.

For this reason, after the little mustache came to power, he first borrowed foreign debt frantically, and then used the foreign debt to invest in domestic construction and develop basic industries, solving the employment problems of millions of people, and the German economy also miraculously recovered.

Therefore, infrastructure is the fastest way to stimulate national economic growth. It not only reduces unemployment rate, but also stimulates the development of a large number of private enterprises such as cement plants and brick factories.

It can be said that starting from the 15th year of Hongwu, after three years of operation, the Ming Dynasty finally began to get on the right track and entered the initial stage of rapid development.

As long as we continue to build steel mills, produce trains, and build bridges and roads in large numbers, we will have a brand new look in about 20 years.

Perhaps it is unlikely to catch up with the modern world. But relying on modern advanced technology and a strong national strength ahead of the 20th century, through external plunder and internal construction, it should not be difficult to reach the level of the United States in the early th century.

Within fifty years, it may be possible to catch up with the new era.

"Grandpa Tai has something."

After returning from a stroll in Nanjing City, Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He drove their motorcycles and electric bikes into the palace and parked their cars in the square outside the Qianqing Palace.

As Zhu Yunfeng got out of the car and parked it, he said, "I didn't expect the city to develop so fast."

"really."

Ji He got off the electric bike and said, "Two years ago, Nanjing only had a few streets, and you could walk to the end in a few steps. Now there must be more than 20 streets. I see brothels have opened up."

"Brothel? Where is the brothel? Why can't I see it?"

Zhu Yunfeng was confused.

"It's on West Street. Didn't you see the row of girls on the second floor?"

"Awesome, you are worthy of me. I was busy looking at the street in West Street, who would pay attention to the upstairs."

"Hey hey hey."

Ji He smiled obscenely.

Just as they were about to go up the stairs to take a look at the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di walked out of the palace.

"Where are you going?"

Zhu Yunfeng was very surprised to see them suddenly act together.

Zhu Di smiled and said, "The field artillery is ready. Let's go take a look. You guys can come along."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yunfeng became interested and asked, "Is it a replica of Miss 75 from France?"

"Ah."

Zhu Di nodded and said, "I got the design from the Internet and made it on a lathe."

"Then you have to go and see it. This is a groundbreaking product."

Zhu Yunfeng suddenly became excited.

"Walk."

Zhu Yuanzhang also laughed and said, "I also want to see how powerful this howitzer is."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Since it has reached the point where we can see it, it should have passed the launch test."

Everyone then went down the stairs.

Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He got back into their car.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions either rode electric tricycles or small electric donkeys.

Anyway, the square outside the Qianqing Palace was like a parking lot at this time, and there was even a row of curtains hanging under the railings of the platform above to shelter from wind and rain.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, there is a wide cement road that leads directly to the imperial farm in the southeast direction.

The imperial farm has changed its appearance again.

Initially, the imperial farm was mainly used to reclaim farmland and experiment with new crops brought by Zhu Yunfeng from modern times, including rice, wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, etc.

Later, it gradually developed into a basic industry with manufacturing workshops, chemical workshops, and experimental sites such as the training ground.

Nowadays, fields are slowly being moved to the other side of the Qinhuai River. Originally, the other side, which is the direction of Nanjing South Railway Station in later generations, was a large wilderness, but now it has been reclaimed into fertile fields and villages have been built.

The imperial farm retained its industrial functions and military training ground functions.

The former fields have now been filled with cement, and cement brick and tile bungalows have been built, like factory buildings. This includes Nanjing's only steel plant, two cement plants and several brick factories.

However, the factory areas and military camps were still separated by walls, and the parade ground was further east, near the Yunliang River.

Interestingly, this river was dug under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this moment, when Zhu Yuanzhang and his men drove into the parade ground, dozens of generals and soldiers were already waiting for them.

Zhu Yuanzhang's guards followed behind, also riding tricycles.

They all carried AKs and dispersed immediately after getting out of the car, automatically on alert.

Although the ancient costumes, tricycles and AKs make them look like a squad of African warlords, it must be admitted that even if the small African warlords were placed in the 14th century, it would still be a dimensionality reduction attack.

There is also a silver cannon on the parade ground. It is made entirely of steel and looks ferocious. It has a gun barrel on top and no bulletproof steel plate. It is about 70 cm high and has a tripod on the back to reduce recoil.

At the same time, there is a rotating wheel on the barrel for adjusting the direction of the muzzle, as well as a gun mirror mounting device, a pull rope at the rear bolt position, and the two wheels are not made of steel, but rubber tires.

The overall shape is almost exactly the same as Lao Li’s Italian cannon.

But this is normal.

Because Lao Li’s Italian cannon is actually the French M1897 75mm cannon, commonly known as Miss 75. It is a 75mm rapid-fire cannon and is also the earliest rapid-fire cannon in the world.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu, and the Duke of Chu."

The camp commander and many other generals came hurriedly and bowed to them.

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "How is the cannon going?"

The commander smiled happily and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, I have tested it many times, but I have never seen such a powerful artillery. Compared with it, the previous artillery is like scrap metal."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang walked slowly towards the direction of the cannon and asked, "How many shells can be fired per minute?"

As Zhu Yuanzhang came into contact with modern times, he also introduced the concept of clocks. Clocks were hung inside and outside the Ming Palace, as well as in factories, workshops, parade grounds, military camps, and other places to indicate the time.

So gradually the soldiers also knew what time it was.

The commander followed Zhu Yuanzhang and replied: "Normally, it is about 15 rounds per minute. If we ignore the loss of artillery, we can reach 30 rounds per minute."

"30 rounds?"

Old Zhu nodded without changing his expression.

He actually knew Miss 75 and its performance, so he was not too surprised.

Soon he walked to a position several meters behind the cannon and said, "Try firing."

"Yes!"

The commander immediately gave the order: "Fire!"

Upon hearing the order, the two artillerymen immediately began to act quickly.

One pulled the bolt, the other loaded the shells, and then the soldier who opened the bolt pulled the rope.

"boom!"

Following a huge explosion, almost a few seconds later, a deafening roar erupted from a small hill about a mile away in the distance.

Earth and rocks splashed, dust and smoke rose up, and a gray mist rose slowly in it.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes.

The power of this artillery is not beyond imagination. After all, the power of artillery is related to the shells and caliber. The explosive of the shells is nitroglycerin, just like the bullets, and the 75mm caliber is just like that.

But its advantage is its fast firing rate and strong maneuverability, and it can be pulled by two people or a horse.

Now the Ming Dynasty finally has its own rapid-fire artillery. If it has such an artillery regiment, who in this vast world can become the enemy of the Ming Dynasty?

(End of this chapter)