Timur detained envoys from various countries because he felt that his army was strong enough.

On the other hand, he was short of slaves.

With the construction of cement roads, a large number of slaves in the Timurid Empire died, and the daily consumption was a huge and terrifying number.

The post stations around Samarkand have already been paved, but the situation at the border is quite different.

For this reason, Timur could only build a single road leading to the border.

But this would require more slaves.

Inner city of Samarkand.

This is the gathering place for nobles; merchants and slaves are not qualified to enter.

Pir Mahama and his brother Mahama Sultan walked in this magnificent city.

The noble robe made of oriental silk, the various jewels she carried, and the exquisite sword at her waist made the nobles passing by stop and bow in greeting.

"You said that in the far east, the capital of the Ming Dynasty has millions of people living there. Do they really have such a big city?"

"You know, when I came back this time, the king of Sindhu had already been defeated by me, and I captured a large number of their nobles, bringing enough slaves for Grandpa."

"Is the Ming army more powerful than the Sindhu army?"

Because of some special relationships, Pirmahamad, who originally led the army to defeat Sindhu in history, went to the Ming Dynasty, and it was his brother Sultan Mahama who led the army.

Sultan Mahmud's character was even more violent, and with Timur's army's elite cavalry, there was no chance of resistance from Sindhu.

The bloodthirsty Sultan Mahmud massacred the city crazily. If Timur had not ordered to bring back more slaves, the killing would probably have been even more severe.

After coming back, he saw the constructed cement road and learned the secret recipe brought back by his younger brother Pierma Heima. He was very happy because it meant that his army would be able to reach the battlefield faster.

As the future crown prince and current heir of the Timurid Empire, Sultan Mahmud has the strength and prestige.

At a very young age, he showed a ruthlessness similar to that of Timur, which made Timur very fond of him, and he personally gave him a lot of military power.

When Pier Ma Hema heard his brother's question, he nodded and said, "The Ming army is really very powerful. Their artillery is no worse than ours. The most important thing is their muskets, which have a longer range and stronger killing power than ours."

"When I came back from there, I witnessed the power of the Ming army's fire guns. They could penetrate even light armor within twenty steps. They had unimaginable power."

"And the improvements to these firearms were all led by the Ming Dynasty's Grandson."

"In fact, we shouldn't have detained the Ming envoys. This has given us a powerful enemy out of nowhere."

Hearing this, Sultan Mahama stopped.

After thinking for a while, he said, "That's what Grandpa meant. You know, Grandpa has always been a vassal of the powerful Ming Dynasty according to Yuan Dynasty rules, but Grandpa just doesn't want the Ming Dynasty to mess with us when we are conquering all over the world."

"We already have an army of more than two million. I heard that the Ming army only has more than one million. There is no need to worry about that anymore."

"Once we have conquered the Golden Horde, the next step will be to see how to conquer the Ming Dynasty."

"You know, Grandpa has always longed for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. There is a lot of gold and endless food there, and it is also the place our ancestor Genghis Khan wanted to occupy the most."

"At this point, even I cannot go against Grandpa's wishes."

Pierma Heima thought for a moment and asked, "Grandpa, are you ready to march west?"

Between the Timurid Empire and the Ming Dynasty was the Eastern Chagatai Khanate.

Although Timur had more victories than defeats against the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, he did not have the strength to completely conquer it, and the land he conquered was often easily taken back.

Because they were all Mongolian cavalry, Timur did not want to suffer too great a loss.

There is no need to worry about the Ming Dynasty at the moment, but it is not the time to attack it.

Sultan Mahma nodded and said, "The Ottoman Empire defeated the European coalition forces on the battlefield and occupied most of the Balkans. Nearly 10,000 Crusaders were captured. Except for 300 noble knights who were redeemed with a huge sum of money, almost all the others were killed."

"The Byzantine Empire no longer has the ability to stop the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, and they are now very arrogant, especially the Ottoman envoys, who came to our Samarkand this time to ask my grandfather to surrender directly to the Ottoman Empire."

"You know my grandfather's temper. It is for this reason that my grandfather directly detained all the envoys, including the envoys from the Ming Dynasty, and no longer pays tribute to anyone."

Pirmahemah had been busy outside with the construction of waterways and the distribution of post stations, so when he came back he found out that his grandfather Timur had been very angry, had detained all the envoys from various countries, and had declared war on all countries.

It turned out that it was because the Ottoman envoys were too arrogant.

Sultan Mahma continued, "In fact, my grandfather did not say that he would detain all envoys at that time. He only targeted the envoys from the Ottoman Empire."

"As a result, the envoy said that grandpa was originally a servant of the Ming Dynasty, and it was only natural for him to become a servant of the Ottoman Empire now."

Hearing this, Pierma Heima was completely speechless.

Who gave the Ottoman envoys such courage? Or did they think they had defeated the European coalition forces, so they no longer took Samarkand seriously?

At this time, Pirmahema was very clear that in the next stage of foreign wars, the entire Timurid Empire would inevitably start towards the Ottoman Empire.

They will definitely be taught a very profound lesson.

But thinking of the Ming envoy, Piermahemah said: "When I was in Ming, I went there as an envoy of the Timurid Dynasty and was treated well by Ming. Not only did they give me a good life, but the cement secret recipe was also given to me directly by the Ming Dynasty's grandson."

"Although we no longer have any relationship with the Ming Dynasty, I still want the Ming Dynasty envoys to at least have a better life."

Pirmahema was very clear about what kind of treatment he would receive in Samarkand.

Especially when grandpa was so angry.

Hearing this, Sultan Mahama didn't care.

It is definitely not possible to release people without permission, but it is a small matter to take care of them. Grandpa Timur's anger was mainly directed at the envoys of the Ottoman Empire, and the other envoys were incidental.

After the two brothers agreed, they headed towards the prison where the envoys were held.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, there is no dungeon in Samarkand, but a separate prison.

There are a large number of wooden cages here, which are used to imprison ferocious animals or slaves.

Ming Dynasty envoy Zhou Rongliang was in a wooden cage at this moment, and he was almost exhausted.

He didn't expect that the Ottoman envoy would be so stupid as to directly provoke Timur.

Unexpectedly, Timur was furious and imprisoned all the envoys.

Although it was called imprisonment, it was actually no different from slavery. In just two days here, he suffered a lot of flogging.

Every blow from the long whip with barbs would cause the skin to be torn and blood to flow.

Then just pour the salt water directly on.

As an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, he and other members were only whipped three or four times symbolically, and their entire backs were already burning with pain.

Almost all the Ottoman envoys were whipped to death.

There were only one or two left lying in the wooden cage, their slight moving bodies proving they were still alive.

At this time.

Pirmahema and Mahema Sultan had already arrived here. After meeting the officer on duty, soldiers immediately came over and released the Ming envoys from the wooden cages.

They will be confined to rooms instead, and will be given access to doctors and two meals a day.

This is all that Pierma Heima can do.

…

Ming Dynasty, May of the 29th year of Hongwu.

It's that time of the year again, the time when the Ming Dynasty Military Academy begins recruiting students.

All those who had the title of scholar or above got up before dawn and rushed to the registration point set up in the suburbs outside the city.

Things are very different now than before. In the beginning, people looked down on soldiers, and the Ming Military Academy needed publicity to recruit people, most of whom were serving soldiers.

Now everyone knows very well that the soldiers' salaries have become very generous, and as long as they successfully graduate from the Ming Military Academy, they can start at the very least as a small flag.

The officialdom has become extremely inward-looking. No matter whether one is a juren or jinshi, one cannot become an official just by having achievements. One needs to gain experience in the smallest yamen, and only after accumulating enough merits can one have the possibility of becoming a candidate for a ninth-rank official.

That's right.

Now, no matter who you are, you must start from the most basic ninth-rank official. Except for those specially recruited by the emperor, no one can violate this latest regulation.

This ninth-rank official does not refer to the ninth-rank official in the capital.

To become an official, one must first go to the local area. If one’s performance there is not outstanding enough, it means that he may stay there for the rest of his life.

This is something that is difficult to accept for today's scholars and juren.

Of course, now even the lowest-ranking official of the ninth rank has a much higher salary than before. At least he does not have to worry about food and clothing, and it is enough to support a whole family.

The biggest problem is that with Zhu Yingtai’s promotion of free education and the improvement of printing technology, the knowledge barriers between previous classes were directly broken.

Libraries were set up in more than a thousand counties across the Ming Dynasty.

All the books related to the examination are here. As long as you have passed the Tongshi, you can read and copy them for free.

With the reform of the examination content, the children's examination has become much simpler than before.

No matter what kind of exam it is, there is no age limit, which means that even if you are in your thirties or forties, you can take the Tongshi.

This caused the number of scholars in the entire Ming Dynasty to surge to a crazy level.

It is also for this reason that the privileges that once belonged to the scholars and juren were basically all cancelled, and the land that had been granted to these scholars and juren still belonged to them personally and was not taken back.

At this time, people discovered that being an official, which had seemed easy, had become extremely complicated.

In comparison, the Ming Military Academy is much easier.

It used to be shameful to be a soldier, but now it is an honor.

This is why the Ming Military Academy is so popular.

"How many people have signed up this year?"

At the enrollment point, Zhu Ying came over in plain clothes to check the situation. There were several long queues outside.

The person in charge of admissions at the Ming Military Academy was He Rong, the son of He Zhen.

In the 20th year of Hongwu, He Zhen resigned from his official position, was granted the title of Earl of Dongguan, a salary of 1,500 dan, and an iron certificate for hereditary privileges. He died of illness.

He Rong inherited his father He Zhen's title of Earl of Dongguan.

Now he is willing to serve in the Ming Military Academy.

He Rong is the one in charge of the entire enrollment this time.

"Reporting to Your Highness, I have asked someone to make a rough estimate and it is estimated that there are about 23,000 people, but the academy only plans to enroll 4,000 people this time."

Zhu Ying nodded slightly after listening.

This means that nearly 20,000 people outside will be eliminated.

The Ming Military Academy recruits students based on annual rankings and there is no fixed score.

The assessment areas include war chess simulation, military strategy, archery and the six arts of a gentleman.

As for the cultural examination, it is not necessary because the minimum requirement for registering is a scholar, so there is no need to say much about literacy.

The assessment of more than 20,000 people takes about three days.

During these three days, the court was responsible for food and accommodation.

This enrollment point was previously a large camp that could accommodate tens of thousands of people, which was equivalent to experiencing military life in advance.

It doesn’t mean that it needs to accommodate more than 20,000 people.

Thousands of people will be eliminated directly on the first day, and only the remaining ones can stay.

Zhu Ying's visit this time was not only to oversee the assessment of the freshmen, but most importantly to give a speech to the graduating students of the military academy.

Last year, more than 3,000 people graduated this year after a year of training.

The issue of distribution is similar to that of officials. They will be directly assigned to the garrisons throughout the Ming Dynasty.

A small number of outstanding students, about dozens of people, will be directly appointed as centurions.

What remains are the main flag and the small flags.

This is the third batch of students since the establishment of the Ming Military Academy.

A total of nearly 8,000 people have graduated.

This means that Zhu Ying controls the military power of all the guards in the world, and he has more than 8,000 middle-level officers who are equivalent to his direct subordinates.

In this way, military power is infiltrated and replaced, gradually expanding one's own influence.

When Zhu Ying stood on the platform in front of the graduating students, more than 3,000 people greeted him with fanatical eyes.

In the past December, Zhu Ying came to give students a general class at least once a month.

In addition to allowing these students to know themselves and become familiar with themselves, more importantly, they are educated on loyalty.

Obviously, Zhu Ying, who had rich teaching experience in his previous life, could make all the students excited every time.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Ying's control over military power had reached its peak.

Among military power, the biggest problem is the tiger talisman.

Even the emperor himself needed the tiger talisman to mobilize the army, because the soldiers under him did not know who the emperor was.

Zhu Ying now wants to eliminate this link.

When enough cadets graduate from the Ming Military Academy, all middle-level officers in the army will be graduates of the Ming Military Academy.

And Zhu Ying's appearance will probably be engraved in their minds for the rest of their lives.

Even without the tiger talisman, as long as Zhu Ying himself was standing there, he would still have the power to command the army.

Zhu Ying will continue this system.