Zhao Ming inspected Lianghuai Coal Industry and was widely promoted by newspapers led by the government. After the use of new mining technology and transportation technology, Lianghuai Coal Industry's stock bottomed out and rebounded.

Many businessmen and gentry, after seeing coal mining machines with their own eyes and rails that greatly improve transportation capacity, went back to invest heavily in coal industry stocks.

The coal industry is the weather vane. It can make profits, transport coal to Jiangnan, and manufacture low-priced lotus root coal, which makes the people in Jiangnan give up burning firewood, charcoal, and switch to lotus root. This dispels market doubts, the market rebounds rapidly, and stock trading becomes active.

When the market improved, new stocks were sold easily. The Nanjing court immediately raised millions of silver dollars by establishing a large farm in the north and putting it on the market. It solved the problem of the source of funds for restoring Hebei and Shandong.

This result made Zhao Ming quite satisfied. Not only did he solve the economic problems, but he finally had a clear idea of ​​the steam engine and railway that he had started to deploy several years ago.

Although the steam engine is not very practical now, except for coal mining, it is still useless for other industries, but as long as it is built and gradually improved, it will inevitably cause great changes in more than ten years.

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has developed business and expanded its maritime trade, and gradually gained the right to speak for trade.

In the past, although the Ming Dynasty produced goods, the profits of trade were made by Western barbarians who acted as second-hand dealers and middlemen.

In recent years, Zhao Ming has used silver dollars to settle the settlement, developed a shipping company and established a long-distance fleet, which has caused the Western countries that originally monopolized the channels to lose their monopoly status, thus losing their bargaining ability, and can only work for the Ming Dynasty, which greatly reduced its profits.

Faced with this situation, the Western barbarians are naturally unwilling to accept this.

In recent years, Zhao Ming has discovered that the cargo ships from Western Italians have not increased and the trade scale has stagnated.

Zhao Ming then ordered the Jinyiwei to collect information, and only then did he learn that the Western Yi was unwilling to work for him, so in order to pursue profit, he began to imitate the products of the Ming Dynasty.

The large amount of capital investment has led to the development of handicrafts in Western countries.

Among them, Britain began to produce cloth and tried to grow tea in colonies. Copy Chinese porcelain appeared in various countries in Europe.

Zhao Ming knew the power of counterfeit goods. Perhaps it is not yet a weather yet, but if it is allowed to develop, Western manufacturing will inevitably replace China's manufacturing industry as in history.

This immediately made Zhao Ming realize the threat.

Because once the handicrafts of Western European countries become available, it will inevitably invade the Ming Dynasty's overseas market. Overseas trade is related to the Ming Dynasty's economy and influence. Zhao Ming will definitely not allow Western counterfeit goods to compete with the Ming Dynasty for the market.

Zhao Ming knew that this is an era of high-spirited Western countries. With maritime hegemony, once the handicraft industry forms a scale, it can rely on its nautical advantages to squeeze out China's market.

This originally made Zhao Ming a little worried, but the appearance of the steam engine made Zhao Ming feel at ease.

If the merchants of the Ming Dynasty compete with Western European products in the future, then whoever has the better and cheaper products will naturally occupy the market.

In this way, businessmen have the motivation to improve efficiency and competitiveness, and they will inevitably invest money to develop new textile equipment and improve textile technology. In this way, the steam engine has the motivation to be demanded and improved.

Perhaps, in Zhao Ming's lifetime, he could see an industrial revolution breaking out in the Ming Dynasty early, and then used the produced products to defeat Western manufacturing and make it a place for raw materials.

Of course, to achieve this, in addition to low-quality products and explosive production capacity, we also need strong ships and powerful guns.

In addition, although the railway from Huainan Coal Mine to Shouzhou Wharf is driven by horses, it has greatly improved the transportation capacity.

This is just the beginning. It’s just like the world shows this thing, and when the steam engine technology accumulates, they can really load a big car, build a train, and establish a railway network. The Ming Dynasty’s national strength will inevitably have a qualitative leap.

Therefore, Zhao Ming was quite satisfied with his trip to Huainan.

The Ming Dynasty was booming, everything was going on in an orderly manner, and the national strength recovered and grew at a visible speed, which naturally made the Zhou regime in Guanzhong feel panic and felt huge pressure and a sense of crisis from top to bottom.

Last year, after Zhao Ming withdrew his troops from outside Hulao Pass, Wu Sangui led his army back to Guanzhong. The Zhou Kingdom immediately cheered up and prepared to welcome the next attack of the Ming Dynasty.

While Wu Sangui activated Meng Qiaofang, went to Chengdu to take charge and presided over Sichuan's defense. On the other hand, Sun Kewang integrated the Western Regions and strengthened the national strength of Zhou. At the same time, he also observed the surrounding areas of the Ming Dynasty, intending to find allies.

However, the result was frustrating. Wu Sangui was heartbroken to discover that Mongolia had a pile of loose sand, and the Western barbarians were driven out of the South China Sea. Other countries such as Japan, Dongshu, Annan and other countries would not have come to trek into the muddy waters between Ming and Zhou, and Zhou was already isolated and helpless.

Finally, the Zhou Kingdom concluded that to fight against the Ming Dynasty, we could only rely on ourselves.

Faced with the Ming Dynasty's pressing, Zhou State's hope of breaking the deadlock fell on Sun Kewang and Hong Chengchou, who were highly expected, which made the two feel tremendous pressure.

After the Zhou army took a break in Guanzhong, Wu Sangui selected 20,000 cavalry and gave the most exquisite equipment, and organized them into the Anxi and Beiting armies.

Hong Chengchou and Sun Kewang were ordered to lead 20,000 cavalry into the Western Regions, and drove straight into the old land of Luntai and entered the Yarkand border.

Two years ago, the Zhou army marched westward to Junggar. The army entered the territory of Yarkand and clashed with Yarkand. Abudullaha Khan was furious and led the gathered 30,000 elite troops to drive Wu Sangui away. However, he was defeated by Wu Sangui in the first battle. Abudullaha Khan was so scared that he quickly sent envoys to surrender to Wu Sangui, and provided food and grass for the Zhou army to attack Junggar.

After Junggar was defeated and Sengge Khan led his troops to move westward, the Zhou State established two protectors in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, respectively, and became the most powerful force in the Western Regions.

However, although the Zhou army established a Protectorate, both Mongolia and Yarkand were nominally surrendered and did not establish effective rule.

This time, when the Zhou army entered the Western Regions, the left and right two times arrived, it was to solve this problem so that the Western Regions could become the rear of the Zhou State and enhance the strategic depth of the Zhou State.

Only in this way can the Zhou Kingdom have the confidence to compete with the Ming Dynasty.

However, if the Zhou State wanted to strengthen its control over the Western Regions, the local nobles in the Western Regions might not be willing to be subject to excessive constraints and management.

After Junggar moved westward, the Yarkand Han Kingdom was worried that Zhou would dominate and annex the Yarkand Khanate. Yarkand Khan had been secretly contacting the Habra Khanate, Siva Khanate, and Junggar Khanate in the west, intending to get rid of Zhou's control.

Now, when the Zhou army entered the territory of Yarkand, the atmosphere in Yarkand immediately caused a high tension and undercurrent.
Chapter completed!