The news of moving the capital to Chang'an soon appeared in the capital's gazette.

This also caused many people in the capital to have a lot of thoughts.

Everyone knows that the economic prosperity of a dynasty must follow the capital. Wherever the capital is, the more prosperous it will be.

Although many local residents in the capital have complaints, this will lead to a decrease in their income.

But what had been reported in the imperial gazette of the capital was already a foregone conclusion, and no one could change it.

The news of banning the sale of houses in Chang'an City was also published in the official gazette of the capital.

This made it impossible for the people of the capital to migrate early.

Of course, there are still some big players with connections who can think of workarounds, but they are still in the minority.

Preparations for the project to transform Chang'an should begin now.

The first thing was not to repair the imperial palace, nor to change the houses in Chang'an.

The main key lies in dredging the Wei River.

This is an extremely large project, which means a lot of manpower and financial resources will be consumed.

Chang'an is close to the Yellow River, but the sand content of the Yellow River is too high, and most sections of the river are impassable to ships. The only waterway that can accommodate ships and transport supplies to Chang'an is the Wei River.

Because the Song Dynasty did not have its capital in Chang'an, the Wei River has not been dredged for a long time and has become somewhat silted up.

Moreover, due to the deforestation of the surrounding forests, water, soil and vegetation were seriously lost, and the sand content of the Wei River increased.

Although ships can still sail now, if the water is not cleared and allowed to develop, problems will probably arise within a hundred years.

It is impossible to just leave such a long-term plan unattended.

Therefore, Zhu Ying issued an urgent order of 600 miles, strictly prohibiting the felling of trees around the Wei River, and at the same time starting afforestation work in the Wei River section.

This is also to ensure future navigation.

In fact, in terms of the capital, the waterways in the Chang'an area were not very developed.

The future direction of the Ming Dynasty would definitely be centered on maritime trade, but Zhu Ying still chose to make Chang'an the capital.

There is a key problem here.

Chang'an is located close to the north, and can exert extremely strong control over both the northern grasslands and the western regions.

Since ancient times, the dynamics of dynasties have mainly come from two aspects.

One is outside and the other is inside.

The internal situation was just like the Tang Dynasty, with separatist regimes and rebellious princes.

The outside world is a threat to the grassland.

There is no threat from the Western Regions. There are many small countries. Even if they are unruly, they will not pose any impact on the Central Plains dynasty.

A country with tens of thousands of people is simply incomparable to even a county town in the Ming Dynasty.

And the south is even more impossible.

Be it Annan, Champa, or Zhenla, there was no possibility for them to compete with the Central Plains dynasty. Even during their glorious periods in history, they were just jumping around on the border. Talking about breaking into the Central Plains was naturally wishful thinking.

The situation is even more different on the southeast coast. The only threat is from the Japanese pirates.

And as far as the entire Chinese land is concerned, it has been easy to attack the south from the north since ancient times, but it is much more difficult to attack the north from the south.

Even in later generations, if there were problems in the south, it would be much simpler and easier from a military perspective to take Chang'an back to the south.

Although it has some impact on maritime trade, Chang'an is not short of a large amount of maritime trade supplies, and the transportation via the Wei River is already sufficient.

Although Zhu Ying had the idea of ​​building the Ming Dynasty into a maritime world empire, he had to first stabilize the Ming Dynasty's basic foundation.

Developing maritime trade with the current control will not be a big problem.

The current Ming Dynasty navy is the best navy in the world, and it has no rivals among the maritime countries.

To put it a little exaggeratedly, even if another two hundred years pass, giving two hundred years of development time, no country in the world will be able to defeat the current Ming navy.

Not to mention Zhu Ying's current strong support for the maritime fleet. Not only does he allocate a large amount of funds to the Ming Navy every year to repair the fleet and build ships, he also continuously develops shipyards, encourages civilian clans to engage in maritime trade, and strongly expands the Ming Dynasty's influence on the world's oceans.

Therefore, for the Ming Dynasty today, there is no longer any threat from the sea. The only threat is the grassland.

There is not much to say about the Northern Yuan Dynasty. It is now in a state of constant swallowing. The key lies in the Oirat Mongols and the Timurid Empire coming from the west.

Timur's war with the Golden Horde is still in its early stages, and the real main force has been sweeping across the west.

Even so, the Golden Horde was already struggling to maintain itself.

Due to internal chaos and external pressure, the Golden Horde's dominance over the local grasslands is now comparable to that of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

And from the perspective of military equipment and wealth, even if it suffered the Ming embargo, the Northern Yuan Dynasty was much stronger than the Golden Horde.

I dare not imagine that when Timur turned around to attack the Golden Horde, he would probably be defeated in one fell swoop.

April, the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu.

As the Ming Dynasty continues to develop, it is also Timur’s highlight moment.

Samarkand.

After more than half a year, Piermahemama finally returned here again.

Just at the city gate, you can see a large number of slaves, driven by whips, constantly transporting goods.

Nobles riding tall horses, leading dozens of knights and hundreds or even thousands of slaves, continued to enter the city.

Piermahemama knew that this must be another victory somewhere.

For the Timurid Empire today, victory has become the most common thing, and they have hardly encountered any difficult wars.

This is how powerful the Mongols were in the West. When many small countries heard that the Mongolian cavalry was appearing, the kings were already trembling with fear.

The brutal and barbaric Mongolian cavalry is currently the nightmare of the entire Western world.

"Mylas, compared to the Ming Dynasty's Nanjing City, this place feels like a rural area."

"There was a foul smell everywhere, which was a strong blow to my nose. The heavy perfume mixed in was really unbearable."

"I really miss the days in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. It was so prosperous there. Not to mention smelly slaves, even dirty beggars were not seen."

“I wonder when Samarkand can become as civilized and clean as the capital of the Ming Dynasty.”

Piermahemada was sitting in the carriage and said to Melas beside him.

Melas was the Mongolian foreign official who had always been with Pirmahema in the capital.

Because they got along well, and perhaps because they had shared experiences in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Pirmahema made Melas his close minister, or his trusted subordinate.

Melas was, of course, very happy to do so.

This is Timur's second grandson. Although he has no possibility of inheriting the Timurid Empire for the time being, he is at least a local king.

Following Pirmahemah, Mailas can be said to have held a high position in his life.

"Your Majesty, the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is due to the accumulation of thousands of years of the Central Plains Dynasty, which is the center of world civilization."

"But I believe that during the holidays, Samarkand will become the world's second center."

"The current chaos and filth are only temporary. As long as Your Highness offers the cement secret recipe, Samarkand's development will become extremely rapid, and His Majesty the Sultan will also highly praise Your Highness."

Mylas said respectfully, with a hint of joy in his tone.

He knew very well that as long as the secret recipe of cement was presented to Sultan Timur, the entire Timurid Empire would usher in greater prosperity.

And His Highness Pirmahemah, who follows him, will also be valued by His Majesty Timur.

As the second grandson of Sultan Timur, Pirmakhama's status in Samarkand is self-evident. However, like other nobles, Samarkand was full of slaves and the roads were congested.

The knights in front were holding whips to clear the way, and any slaves, including civilians, who dared to block the road would be whipped and driven away.

The high-ranking nobles formed a sharp contrast with the naked and emaciated slaves around them.

Power is the strongest in Samarkand, or in the entire Timurid Empire.

The laws of the entire Timurid Empire only protected nobles and citizens, and there was no difference between slaves and goods.

The city and outside of Samarkand are two completely different worlds.

Only when you enter Samarkand can you feel its wealth and civilization.

According to the current Samarkand law, slaves cannot enter the inner city of Samarkand, nor can they spend the night or stay in the outer city.

Except for the slaves who were carrying the goods, everyone else in the outer city were citizens and nobles.

As the ruling center of the entire Timurid Empire, Samarkand had the largest number of nobles.

As of now, most of the nobles here are naturally military nobles.

When Pierma Heima's carriage entered, the nobles who saw it immediately recognized the emblem on the carriage, and they bowed their heads and placed their right hands on their chests in salute.

Pierma Heima is already very familiar with such scenes.

The inner city of Samarkand has clean and tidy streets and majestic buildings.

Even the floor is made of expensive marble.

It is not crowded here, and even the slaves living here appear clean and decent.

Poor and ordinary slaves were not even qualified to enter here, and even the slaves were nobles from many small countries, as well as their wives and daughters.

Although they lost their noble status, the education they received since childhood made them more polite.

Timur realized very early that if he wanted to govern the territory under his command, he could not rely on plundering for long, and he had to return to civilized rule.

When you, Piermahemah, enter the inner city, there will be servants waiting there.

"His Majesty the Sultan is waiting for your Highness' arrival in the palace."

The attendant bowed his head and touched his chest, speaking respectfully.

Piermahemada had no intention of getting off the car, but just nodded and asked the attendant to lead the way.

Soon, they arrived at a dome-shaped palace.

When Melas saw that Pirmahema was about to get off the carriage, he hurried to the side of the carriage, lay on the ground, and used himself as a step to offer to His Highness Pirmahema.

Piermahema was accustomed to such etiquette.

After getting off the carriage, he walked straight into the palace. Melas was waiting respectfully outside the palace.

The palace is very tall, about seven or eight meters, and its architectural style is completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of the palace, Timur was sitting on a chair, wearing gorgeous clothes and holding a golden scepter inlaid with gems.

The sharp eyes showed Timur's current state.

Timur, who was born in the 27th year of Hongwu, is 58 years old this year. Even though he has a limp due to the war, his strong body is full of strength.

"Dear Grandpa, your grandson is back."

The moment Pirmahemah saw Timur, he took a deep breath and then said respectfully.

As the ruler of the empire and the initiator of the war, Timur's power was so great that even Pirmahema, his grandson, was very afraid of him.

He vaguely remembered how his grandfather Timur taught him a lesson when he was naughty as a child.

It was also because of Timur's majestic reprimand that Pirmahemma later became addicted to alcohol.

After Timur nodded, he did not show the intimacy between the grandfather and grandson like Daming did after they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

He asked directly: "I asked you to go to Daming. Tell me what you saw in the capital of Daming."

It’s not that Timur doesn’t like his grandson. In fact, compared to his eldest grandson, Timur loves his second grandson more.

However, as a sultan, Timur's majesty was the cornerstone of the entire empire, and the continuous wars he launched left him no time to rest.

Since the establishment of the Timurid Empire in the second year of Hongwu, the entire Timurid Empire has been almost always at war for twenty-five years.

Unlike the Central Plains dynasties' rule over their inherent territories, Timur had no concept of boundaries.

Simply put, it is to continuously conquer all the visible land.

This is a belief deeply embedded in the hearts of the Mongolians, inherited from Genghis Khan.

When Pirmahema heard Grandfather Timur's question, he couldn't help but think of the memories of the capital, and said:

"I saw the prosperity of the people of the Ming Dynasty, the strength of the army, and the supreme power of the emperor."

"Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, has a population of two million, but the lives of so many people are like those in the inner city of Samarkand."

"That day, when the Ming Dynasty's grandson was enthroned, the army put on a show. Their neat steps, powerful firearms, heavy armor, and strict military discipline frightened my grandson."

"It's the first time I've seen such a powerful army in this world."

Hearing this, Timur frowned and asked, "Even my guards can't compare to them?"

Pirmahem did not answer, but repeated: "They are the strongest army I have ever seen."

Hearing this, Timur frowned even more.

He has always been very wary of the Ming Dynasty, which was a powerful dynasty that could drive out the Mongols.

Before Timur seized the Western Chagatai Khanate, he had felt the powerful threat from the Mongol envoys.

That left a great psychological trauma on Timur when he was a child.

Because the distance was too far, Timur naturally did not know the specific situation of the Mongols at that time. The news he received was that the Ming Dynasty drove the Mongols back to the grassland and continuously defeated the Mongol cavalry.

If this were not the case, Timur would not have been so polite in his letter to Zhu Yuanzhang. He would have acknowledged the ruling status of the Ming Dynasty and called himself a subject.

Seeing that his grandfather Timur looked unhappy, Piermahemah quickly added: "The grandson of the Ming Dynasty, the future emperor's successor, summoned a large number of craftsmen and invented a formula for building roads."

"The building made with this formula is as hard as marble, and the cost is very low."

Upon hearing this, Timur stared at his grandson, Pierma Hema, and asked, "So you got this recipe from the capital of the Ming Dynasty."

At this moment, Pierma Heima couldn't help but replied with joy: "Yes, I spent a lot of money to get this formula from them."

After saying that, Pierma Heima carefully took out a piece of mulberry paper from his arms.

The formula of cement is written on this piece of paper.

Timur, who was originally sitting, stood up the moment he saw the cement formula.

Pierma Heima naturally would not let his grandfather, who had difficulty walking, come over, so he immediately walked up and handed it over.

This paper is written in Chinese characters.

However, this did not pose a problem for Timur, because he was also proficient in Chinese characters, including Chinese.

This is enough to show that Timur had the idea of ​​enriching China many years ago.