As expected by Zhu Ying, it was moving in the normal direction.

When Timur got the secret recipe for cement, he immediately began experiments.

In just over ten days, a cement road several hundred meters long was built.

Timur, in a good mood, personally led the cavalry guards onto the cement road and ran back and forth four or five times before stopping with satisfaction.

"Order all places to build roads with Samarkand as the center."

"Wherever my army goes, this cement road must be built there!!!"

Along with Timur's roar, the order was quickly conveyed throughout the Timurid Empire.

Timur attached great importance to the development of post stations, because only fast post stations could allow his orders to reach the army quickly.

The post stations on Timur's side were naturally similar to those of the Ming Dynasty before. They were all used to transport military supplies and could not be used by citizens.

However, compared with the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, Timur's financial situation was much better. In some respects, the national treasury was not better than that of the current Ming Dynasty, but it was much higher than that of Zhu Yuanzhang.

The reason here is very simple.

Because all the captives from the countries conquered by Timur became slaves.

As for slaves, they were given some food if they had it, but if they had nothing to eat, they would starve to death. That was it, they would just starve to death. No one would care about their lives.

Under Timur's rule, ordinary people in all the conquered areas basically lived in misery. The only food they had every day was the leftovers of Timur's army, which was like pig rations.

Even so, not all slaves can enjoy it.

A large number of slaves starved to death every day, and more slaves were bought and sold as commodities.

Speaking of which, Zhu Ying's Qunying Chamber of Commerce is still a major customer of Timur.

The Qunying Chamber of Commerce would purchase anyone with some skills, including women. As long as they were of a good age, they would be purchased directly and then shipped to Ming Dynasty.

It sounds a bit ridiculous, but with a large number of women being purchased, many soldiers in the Ming army, especially those currently controlled by Zhu Ying, can be rewarded.

Currently, all the professional soldiers under Zhu Ying's command, no matter what kind of soldiers they are, are welcome to join as long as they have excellent performance.

Bonuses, houses, wives, were all given as rewards.

Although there are some problems in language communication, these are not important.

As for men and women, there are some things that they will understand naturally without any communication.

However, what surprised Zhu Ying was that, because of his wives, many soldiers voluntarily learned Timur's language after getting wives from the Far East.

Zhu Ying naturally strongly supports such a situation.

And those soldiers who received the rewards were filled with gratitude.

What is the purpose of joining the army?

It is a bit too exaggerated to talk about defending the country in the Ming Dynasty. Even though the ideological education courses have never stopped, it is a very difficult process to change the thoughts in the bones.

Zhu Ying wasn't trying to train any death squads; as long as the soldiers were obedient enough, that would be enough.

In terms of ideological education, the main target is still middle-level military officers.

These talents are the key to the entire army.

When soldiers join the army, the first thing they want is to have enough food to eat, the second is to make achievements and return home in glory, and they also want to take care of the inheritance and reception.

Now that Zhu Ying has solved all their problems, they naturally have nothing to worry about.

Even if he died on the battlefield, at least the inheritance of the incense had been accomplished, and he would not lose face even if he met his ancestors in the underworld.

Incense.

Not only the famous clans, civil officials and military generals, but also the common people at the bottom of the society attach great importance to this matter.

However, for the Ming Dynasty today, when the economy begins to prosper, some problems will also arise in marriage.

For example, betrothal gifts, houses, etc.

In an economically prosperous dynasty, most people will become more vain. This is an eternal law that will never change, even in the distant future. If it is so, you will even get worse and worse.

Zhu Ying himself certainly didn't have to worry about these things, but he wanted to consider the issues more for his soldiers.

Even though the current household registration system is not as strict as before, sons inheriting their father's business is a long-term topic and a general trend today.

Naturally, only a few people want to change the household registration of those around them.

Purchasing a large number of women from outside can effectively meet the basic needs of soldiers.

However, rewarding a wife is similar to opening a blind box. Generally, it only requires age, and there are basically no high requirements in other aspects.

But if it is extremely beautiful, it is hard to say whether it will fall into the hands of the soldiers.

Even so, the troops under Zhu Ying's command had already pledged their allegiance until death.

Timur could also exchange it for a large amount of money.

However, as the construction of cement roads began throughout Timur's territory, the lives of the slaves became more difficult.

Whether it was digging lime, sand, or transporting, these hard and tiring jobs were of course done by slaves. How could they let the distinguished masters do the work?

Due to the huge amount of engineering work, a large number of corpses appeared.

Timur didn't care about these things. What he wanted was the result of quickly building a cement road.

The slaves died and so did they. What if there were not enough? We could just capture more.

Now that Timur was at war on all sides, he had no shortage of slaves. For Timur himself, the death of more slaves was not a bad thing.

If there are too many slaves, various problems will easily arise.

For example, a slave rebellion.

However, under Timur's rule, the so-called slave uprisings were only sporadic and had no chance of becoming a major event. Often, an uprising would break out in the morning and be killed in the afternoon.

The fighting power of the Mongolian knights is completely not on the same level as the slave Pingming.

That was a ridiculous mobile force. A hundred cavalrymen could slaughter thousands of slaves at will. After one round of charge, the situation was basically a collapse.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian cavalry has always been the nightmare of the entire Obaro.

There is absolutely no resistance at all.

Before the fighting even started, people were already scared out of their wits. The acts of massacring a city at will resulted in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and the terror created by the loss of millions of lives.

However, due to the cement construction, the slaves feel a bit lacking.

Timur specifically ordered the front line not to carry out massacres again and to capture more slaves to pave the way for the construction of cement roads throughout Timur's territory.

The Timurid Empire, which was already experiencing extremely sharp social conflicts, reached a critical point under such circumstances.

However, under the suppression of the Mongolian cavalry, there was no way to reach this critical point and it was forcibly suppressed.

The news from Timur soon spread to Zhu Ying through the Chamber of Commerce.

Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang also understood it.

In the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang was puzzled and said, "How come the people in the West are so obedient? Timur has done this, and there is no resistance?"

Zhu Yuanzhang felt somewhat confused about the situation of the Timurid Empire.

From Zhu Yuanzhang's perspective, the entire Timurid Empire was rotten to the core and there was almost no possibility of it being maintained for long.

But even so, the entire Timurid Empire continued to expand, and its military strength continued to increase.

Based on what has been discovered so far, the total number of troops in the entire Timurid Empire is close to two million, which is almost the same as the number of troops that did not go to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who didn't know about it before but now knows it, naturally begins to pay great attention to Timur.

The key here lies in Zhu Ying's Chamber of Commerce intelligence.

Zhu Ying replied: "They are using war to support war, and their domestic affairs are a complete mess. Almost all their money and food are obtained from war, including farmland, which is also cultivated by slaves."

"Ninety percent of the food grown by slaves must be handed over. Only under such circumstances can the Timurid Empire maintain its false prosperity."

"This kind of prosperity may seem extremely strong, but it cannot withstand any wind and rain. If there is a slight disturbance or the army is defeated, it will cause a large-scale outbreak."

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally understood these principles, so he smiled and said, "Grandson's cement formula is just adding fuel to the fire."

"It seems that Grandson has some ideas about Timur's territory?"

After the capital was moved to Chang'an, there was no doubt that the capital had a strong control over the grasslands and the Western Regions.

The border of the Western Regions borders the Timurid Empire.

The current Western Regions nominally belong to the Ming Dynasty, but in reality are under local jurisdiction. The Ming Dynasty can intervene, but it has no way to rule directly.

Zhu Ying, who started his career in the Western Regions, was naturally very familiar with the situation in the Western Regions, so it was normal for him to have such thoughts.

If the Northern Yuan Dynasty can be suppressed successfully, it means that the Ming Dynasty will get at least hundreds of thousands of cavalry.

This group of cavalry was the foundation for the Ming Dynasty's expansion on the grassland.

Using the soldiers from the grassland to rule the grassland and carry out large-scale expansion, with the logistical support provided by the Ming Dynasty, the Oirat and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate were completely unable to compete with the Ming Dynasty.

Further on is Timur.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very clear about his eldest grandson's plan. This was to pave a path for the future Ming Dynasty.

Cement roads have both advantages and disadvantages for today's cavalry.

One advantage is that it is possible to quickly mobilize military forces from across the country.

The disadvantage is that the enemy can also quickly counterattack through this cement road.

The biggest difference between Timur and the Ming Dynasty is that the Ming Dynasty has many fortified cities, and there are city defenses at all the checkpoints.

No matter how well the road is built, you still have to break through the city.

On the other hand, Timur had relatively fewer cities, which were not as exaggerated as those on the Ming Dynasty.

There are fewer mountains from the Western Regions outward.

There are a lot of plains areas, allowing war horses to gallop freely.

This is also the key reason why the Mongolian cavalry was invincible throughout the Western region.

If you want to conquer the western region, cavalry is absolutely indispensable.

The grassland military base established by Zhu Ying is an extremely critical existence.

Otherwise, why would Zhu Di and Lan Yu, the two most famous and powerful people in the Ming Dynasty, go to the grassland to train cavalry and conquer tribes?

You know, the current grassland military base sounds very simple, but it is actually a huge den of money.

This is only the current situation. If the entire Northern Yuan Dynasty can be conquered in the future, the burden on the Ming Dynasty will be extremely huge.

Just in terms of food rations, that is an astronomical figure.

This is only possible because the Ming Dynasty's current economic prosperity is in a period of rapid development, coupled with the continuous planting of high-yield crops.

Otherwise, how could the kings of all dynasties in the Central Plains not have thought of such a method?

It's just because there is no possibility of burden at all.

If you do this without high-yield crops, you will end up in the dynasty.

Without sufficient food supplies, who among the barbarians on the grassland would listen to your teachings on loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?

It can be said that everything that Daming is currently developing is based on the premise of high-yield crops.

Throughout the north, corn has already begun to be planted on a large scale.

This is extremely high-quality feed that can be used to breed a large number of high-quality war horses.

Provides great protection for operations on the grassland.

This is also the case with the three major high-yield crops. In the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty, basically only sweet potatoes and potatoes were seen, and corn hardly appeared in the people's field of vision.

Almost all of it was transported to the north.

Currently waiting.

That is to completely control the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Once the Northern Yuan Dynasty is destroyed, the black soil of Liaodong can be fully developed.

When there is enough food, there will be no uprising among the people. You can do whatever you want and achieve your goals.

At that time, why couldn't we have some ideas about the Timurid Empire?

Zhu Ying smiled and replied: "Timur's biggest hidden danger lies in the issue of succession."

"Once Timur dies and his successor is not as strong and outstanding as he was, then the country will be like the four great khanates in the past, fighting for supremacy and falling apart."

"When the Mongolian cavalry no longer obeys the orders of Song alone, coupled with the riots in the areas under his rule, all the areas conquered by Timur will inevitably form an extremely powerful storm."

"When that time comes, it will depend on whether our Ming Dynasty can take over."

"Of course, if we can't even completely conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty, there's nothing we can do over there. Even if it's fat meat, we can only watch."

"At most, the Chamber of Commerce can take advantage of the chaos to gain some insignificant benefits."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, feeling a little emotional in his heart.

For the Central Plains dynasty at this stage, while it is still considering how to solve the threat from the grassland, Da Sun has already set his sights on going beyond the grassland.