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What surprised the locals in the Middle East and the Arab world the most was not the large ships or the cannons, but a different kind of long-wave radio used for communication.

As early as the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the first batch of radios developed by the Royal Academy of Sciences were transported to Talas.

Those iron lumps were square and upright, with antennas on top and wires at the bottom.

When you speak to it, people thousands of miles away can hear you.

The Talas garrison, seeing this thing for the first time, were equally incredulous. "Can the capital hear you if you speak to it?"

"Yes. Shortwave can travel hundreds of miles, and longwave can travel thousands of miles. With stations set up along the way and transmission occurring at each step, it will reach the capital in just a few days."

A few days later, news arrived from the capital.

The soldiers of Talas gathered around the radio, listening to the sounds coming from it, all of them dumbfounded.

"Can...can it really be transmitted?"

"Nonsense. His Majesty ordered the Royal Academy of Sciences to manufacture it; how could it be fake?"

From then on, radio stations were built one after another westward.

Talas was built, Samarkand was built, Merv was built, and Baghdad was built.

A radio station was also built in the port of Persia.

From Baghdad to Persian port, a distance of two thousand miles, the news arrived as soon as the radio crackled to life.

During the twenty years of prosperity, more than twenty radio stations had been built between Baghdad and the capital.

Any news can be relayed back and forth within a few days.

The most important task for the logistics officer of the Western Expeditionary Army every day was to keep watch on the radio and send and receive messages.

"A telegram from the capital: The next batch of supplies will depart in ten days, traveling by rail to Talas, and then being transferred from Talas to various bases. The list is attached."

"Baghdad replied: Received. The supply list has been checked. All bases have sufficient inventory and there is no need for emergency replenishment at this time."

"A call from the capital: The first batch of fifty newly developed cars from the Academy of Sciences has been loaded onto a ship bound for the Persian port. Please check your mail."

"Baghdad replied: Received. Persian Port is ready to receive the site."

Those newly developed cars are smaller than trucks but faster than horse-drawn carriages.

It runs on gasoline, has four wheels, and can seat five or six people.

It runs with a whooshing sound, much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.

With the advent of radio, communication between the entire Great Zhou and the border regions became much more convenient.

Information from all over the world is sent to the capital city immediately, and the capital city's control over the world has now reached a terrifying level.

They also react immediately to any rebellions that may occur in the Middle East and the Arab world, and quickly dispatch troops to suppress them.

Moreover, the governor's offices established in the Middle East and the Abbasid Caliphate adopted a carrot-and-stick policy. Those who submitted to the rule of the Great Zhou naturally enjoyed the carrot, while those who rebelled were directly eliminated.

……

Meanwhile, a large-scale oil refinery was also under construction along the coast of the Central Plains of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

As early as the nineteenth year of the prosperous era, the first batch of oil was transported back to the Great Zhou from the Persian Gulf.

The oil was stored in iron drums and unloaded one by one at Dengzhou Port.

Then it was loaded onto trains and transported to several large oil refineries along the coast.

The oil refineries were built in Dengzhou, Yangzhou, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou.

Each refinery occupies hundreds of acres and has dozens of distillation towers and hundreds of oil storage tanks.

Producing gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel day and night.

Then these gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuels are quickly consumed, and the products produced are shipped to markets around the world.

……

Shipyards along the coast are also building new ships.

Twenty years into a prosperous era, the first batch of new large steam warships were launched.

It's bigger, faster, and has more cannons than before.

They used heavy oil, not coal.

Heavy oil burns more powerfully than coal, and it's cleaner than coal.

The shipyard's chief engineer stood at the bow, his eyes shining as he looked at the brand-new warship.

Only today did I realize how significant the research of the Royal Society was, and no one dares to say that Suning was absurd and wasteful anymore.

……

For the first time in twenty years of prosperity, trains began to increase their speed.

The new locomotives used internal combustion engines and burned diesel fuel.

It is more powerful and faster than a steam engine.

It used to take three days to travel from the capital to Suzhou, but now it only takes a day and a half.

On the train station platform, people waiting for their trains were talking animatedly.

"This new train is really fast."

"That's right. Last month when I went back to Bianliang, I took the old train, and it took two days. This month when I came back, I took the new train, and it only took one day."

"I heard they're going to speed things up. In the future, it will only take a day to get from the capital to Suzhou."

"One day? Does that mean if you leave in the morning, you'll arrive in the evening?"

"Yes. It will be more convenient for business trips in the future."

……

Soon, the first batch of cars appeared on the streets of Beijing.

Those cars, four-wheeled, gasoline-powered, can seat five or six people.

It runs with a whooshing sound, much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.

The person, seeing a car for the first time, was so frightened that they hid on the side of the road, asking, "What...what kind of monster is this?"

"Cars. They don't need horses; they run by themselves."

"It can run by itself? How does it run?"

"It burns oil. Just like a train."

Wealthy merchants began buying cars. A car cost several hundred taels of silver, much more expensive than a horse-drawn carriage, but it was fast, could travel far, and was convenient.

Cars began to run around on the streets of the capital.

The driver honked the horn, and it beeped.

Pedestrians quickly made way, glanced back, and marveled.

Next, the first batch of large oil tankers were launched.

Those oil tankers are bigger than transport ships; they are specifically for transporting oil.

A ship can carry several thousand tons of oil.

From the Persian Gulf to Da Zhou, a single trip can transport a year's worth of supplies.

The captain of the oil tanker stood in the bridge, gazing at the vast ocean, his heart filled with emotion. "In the past, we transported cargo by sailboats, making a trip every few months. Now, we transport oil by oil tankers, making a trip every month."

"The world has truly changed."

"Captain, how come the Royal Academy of Sciences is so powerful?"

"His Majesty is truly remarkable! The Royal Academy of Sciences was personally established by His Majesty."

……

The Arab railway was also built very quickly, thanks to the large number of Arab prisoners and natives involved in its construction.

The railway network stretched eastward from Baghdad to the Persian port, then to Samarkand, Talas, Suzhou, and finally to the capital.

The rails were laid meter by meter, the sleepers were erected one by one, and the trains ran one after another.

From Baghdad northwards to Mosul, and then to Antioch, the plan is to eventually reach the Mediterranean Sea.

The mountain roads are the most difficult to repair; they require building bridges, digging tunnels, and traversing mountains and valleys.

But the people in the Ministry of Works have plenty of ways to do things.

Explosives were used to blast open the mountain, railway tracks were laid, and trains could then run.

From Baghdad westward, along the Euphrates River, the road was built all the way to Damascus.

This route is flat and easy to repair.

The tribes along the way provided laborers based on the number of people, helping to dig soil, carry sleepers, and lay rails.

The people building the railway included laborers from Da Zhou, local workers, and castrated rebels.

Those who were castrated wore uniform prison clothes and shackles, and worked eight hours a day (sixteen hours).

They get up before dawn and don't finish work until it's completely dark.

Those who do a good job will be able to eat their fill.

Those who don't perform well will be whipped.

Those who try to escape, catch them and kill them on the spot.

If someone dies, they die. Bury them by the roadside.

Anyway, there are plenty of people. The Vice Minister of Works personally came to inspect the railway progress.

He stood beside a newly repaired section of railway track, watching the prisoners working there, and asked the overseer beside him, "How many people have died on this section of the railway?"

The overseer flipped through the book: "Two thousand three hundred people have died from Mosul to here."

The Vice Minister of Works nodded. "Continue. By this time next year, I want to see trains running to Damascus."

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The supervisor nodded repeatedly.

……

On the day the railway from Mosul to Baghdad was completed, Wang Yanjun went to inspect it.

He stood on the locomotive, watching the scenery rushing past the window.

Those barren mountains, those dilapidated villages, those dried-up riverbeds flashed by.

The train journey took half a day, and we arrived in Mosul.

Outside Mosul are the mines.

Silver mines, copper mines, iron mines, coal mines, one after another.

In those mines, chimneys billowed black smoke, machines roared, and miners went in and out.

Cart after cart of ore was pulled from the mine, loaded onto trains, and transported to the port of Persia.

They were loaded onto ships at the Persian port and transported back to the Great Zhou.

Those miners were also laborers.

There were prisoners from the Great Zhou Dynasty, rebels captured from the local area, and quotas allocated from various tribes.

The overseer walked back and forth in the mine, whip in hand.

"Hurry up! Don't slack off!"

"If you want to eat, then work!"

Those who perform well will be able to go home for the holidays at the end of the year.

Those who don't perform well will never be allowed to leave.

Wang Yanjun stood at the edge of the mine and watched for a while.

Murong Yanzhao stood beside him. "Commander, how long can these miners hold out?"

Wang Yanjun thought for a moment, "As long as there's enough food, we can keep doing this. If someone dies, we'll replace them with someone new. We have plenty of people."

Murong Yanzhao nodded.

In the twenty-third year of the prosperous reign, the governor's office of Baghdad province reported that the railway network was basically completed, all mines were in operation, and more than 90% of the local tribes had submitted to the government.

The remaining ten percent are still hiding in the mountains, but they dare not cause trouble.

The governor of Baghdad province was named Zhou Wei, a native of Lianzhou, and an old official transferred from the capital.

Because of the unique circumstances in the Middle East and the Abbasid Caliphate, the Western Expeditionary Army Command has always been the main force.

The provincial governors' offices in various regions need to cooperate with the Western Expeditionary Army Command, since preventing unrest here is the most important thing.

Zhou Wei stood before Wang Yanjun, the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, holding a thick stack of account books in his hands. "Commander, these are the accounts for Baghdad Prefecture this year. Taxes, minerals, railways, and population are all here."

Wang Yanjun took the ledger and flipped through a few pages.

Taxes: Two million taels of silver.

Mineral resources: 100,000 taels of silver, 50,000 catties of copper, and 100,000 barrels of oil.

Railways: The railway has a total length of 3,000 kilometers and transports 500,000 tons of goods.

Population: Three million registered households.

He closed the ledger and nodded. "Okay."

At this moment, Zhou Wei asked in confusion, "Commander, should we send troops to wipe out those tribes in the mountains?"

Wang Yanjun thought for a moment, "No need. Let them hide if they want. As long as they don't cause trouble, just pretend they don't exist. If they do, we'll deal with them."

Zhou Wei nodded knowingly.

Wang Yanjun stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, there is a street scene of Baghdad.

Those Arabs, dressed in robes, walked back and forth in the streets.

Some people were riding donkeys, some were leading camels, and some were pushing carts.

The shops along the street sell all sorts of things.

There were vendors selling naan, meat, cloth, and groceries.

Occasionally, you can see a few people wearing Zhou army uniforms walking among the crowd and talking to the locals.

The locals stopped hiding and were no longer afraid; some even smiled and greeted Zhou's soldiers.

In the distance, a train is slowly pulling out of the station, emitting white smoke and making a rumbling sound.

Further away, the chimneys of those mines were still belching black smoke, day and night.

Looking at all this, Wang Yanjun suddenly remembered a saying: "It's easy to take it down, but hard to hold it."

But their Great Zhou Western Expeditionary Army actually held out.

However, they used cannons, railways, and rules.

There were also the castrated rebels, the laborers who died on the construction site, and the tribal chiefs who learned to obey.

Of course, there will definitely be more unrest and rebellion in the future, but for now we have held on, and we will continue to hold on as always.

It wasn't until he came to the Middle East and the Arab world that Wang Yanjun understood why Suning had been so persistent.

Su Ning's interest wasn't in the top-tier beauties here, but rather in the abundant resources and strategic location.

At this moment, Pan Mei pushed open the door and came in, holding a telegram in his hand. "Commander, a telegram from the capital."

Wang Yanjun took the telegram, glanced at it, and said, "His Majesty inquires about the condition of the Western Expeditionary Army. Is Baghdad stable? Is the railway operational? Are the mines productive? Are the tribes subdued?"

Wang Yanjun remained silent for a moment.

Then he went to his desk, picked up his pen, and wrote a reply telegram: "Your Majesty: The soldiers on the western expedition are all well. Baghdad is secured. The railway is open. The mines are in production. The tribes have submitted."

After finishing writing, he handed it to Pan Mei and said, "Send it back."

"Okay." Pan Mei took the telegram and went out.

Wang Yanjun walked to the window again.

Outside the window, the setting sun bathed the entire city in a golden-red hue.

The trains, the mines, the streets, and the people were all bathed in a golden glow.

He stared at it for a long time.

Then he turned around and walked out of the house.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Damascus.

……

In the twenty-fourth year of the prosperous era, the Western Expeditionary Army began to be rotated in batches.

The soldiers who had been stationed in Baghdad, Merv, and Samarkand for several years returned home by train in batches.

New recruits arrived in batches by train.

Wang Yanjun stood on the city wall of Baghdad, watching the soldiers preparing to return home, and remained silent for a long time.

Pan Mei walked over and stood beside him. "Commander, what are you thinking about?"

Wang Yanjun shook his head: "It's nothing. I just feel that we have not let His Majesty down."

Pan Mei nodded. "Yes! It's 20,000 li from the capital to Baghdad. I never dared to imagine it before. When I received this imperial decree, I was completely dumbfounded."

"Now I can think of it! And I've achieved it all."

The two smiled at each other.

In the distance, a train is slowly pulling out of Baghdad station.

On the locomotive, the flag of the Great Zhou Dynasty fluttered in the wind.

Inside the train carriage, the soldiers returning home were gazing at the scenery outside the window, discussing amongst themselves.

"It's good to be home."

"Yes! I haven't seen my wife and kids for years."

"I wonder if the kang (heated brick bed) at home is still warm."

"It's warm. With coal and food, it's definitely warm."

The train went further and further away, gradually disappearing into the horizon.

On the city wall, Wang Yanjun stared at the railway track, remaining silent for a long time.

From the capital to Baghdad.

Twenty thousand miles away.

But with railways, cars, oil tankers, and radios, those 20,000 li (approximately 10,000 kilometers) didn't seem so far anymore.

...(End of this chapter)