The current Ming Dynasty is very powerful. This power is not only reflected in the military aspect, but also in the comprehensive national strength from top to bottom, which is unmatched by any country in the world.

Of course, this doesn't mean much to other countries.

Because even before Zhu Ying entered the palace, the Ming Dynasty was like this compared to other countries.

The Ming Dynasty itself stood at the pinnacle of the world, and this pinnacle has now increased by who knows how many times. It does not mean much to other countries, because they have never been able to match it anyway.

The reason why Wilkin put away his arrogance was out of respect for the majestic city of the capital, rather than out of respect for the Ming Dynasty.

Because in his previous understanding, Samarkand was the richest and most magnificent place in the world, but now seeing Nanjing with his own eyes broke his understanding.

The Ministry of Rites had special carriages for reception, and envoys from major countries like Wilkin could also walk on the roads on both sides of the Imperial Road.

Sitting in the carriage, Wilkin admired the prosperity of Nanjing city while chatting with Zhang Jian in broken Chinese.

"I used to think that Samarkand was the greatest city under the blue sky. Today, after arriving in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, I realized that there are places richer than Samarkand. It's a pity that His Majesty the Sultan cannot come in person. I think His Majesty the Sultan will definitely like this magnificent and rich city."

Wilkin had a smile on his face, but his words were full of aggression. He almost said that only our Sultan was qualified to rule such a rich city.

Zhang Jian certainly heard the sharpness in this, and said calmly: "My Great Ming is rich, with thousands of cities and more than two million elite soldiers and generals. It is because of the wisdom of the current emperor and the benevolence of the crown prince that the Great Ming is prosperous today."

"However, some scoundrels do not know the will of heaven and attempt to provoke the Ming Dynasty, such as the current grassland."

At this point, Zhang Jian paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "The capital is indeed the richest city. There is no other city in the world like the capital. In the Tianjie Temple, there are many envoys from all over the world, just like the envoys. They have lived here for a long time and don't even want to return to their own countries."

"Every year, many kings from different countries come to pay homage to our Great Ming Emperor. If your Sultan wants to come, we will welcome him. I think if your Majesty and the Crown Prince knew that your Sultan was coming, they would be very happy."

These words made Wilkin very uncomfortable.

What he meant before was that I, the Sultan, had set my eyes on this city and would lead my army to capture it sooner or later.

Zhang Jian first pointed to the grassland, and then hinted that the kings of other countries should come to pay homage. The meaning was that Timur should submit to the Ming Dynasty and pay homage to the emperor like other kings.

The two then talked about other things, but Wilkin didn't get any benefits either.

When it comes to talking, how can he compare with Zhang Jian, the old fox? To be able to get this position, he must have some real skills.

When Zhang Jian's son offended the Crown Prince's wife, it did not affect Zhang Jian's official position. This was because Zhang Jian was really able to get things done.

Although Wilkin arrived in Ming Dynasty, he could not enter the palace directly.

According to the rules, foreign ministers would only be allowed to enter the palace during a grand court meeting unless there was something important going on.

It is currently early June, so Wilkin will have to wait until the end of June.

This rule was set by Zhu Ying and is also a warning to other countries.

In fact, the Jinyiwei had long been aware of the intentions of envoys from each country to come to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. If there was anything important, it would naturally be reported to the palace for a decision.

Wilkin was not in a hurry either. His letter of credence had already been submitted, and now he was eager to learn more about the capital.

The main purpose of coming to Daming this time is to obtain the secret recipe of the train.

If he could get the secret of the train, it wouldn't be a problem for him to stay here for several years.

After settling down in the Tianjie Temple, Wilkin began to wander around the capital city.

And he was obviously not fighting alone, and he soon found a contact.

It took Wilkin three days to find a shop in the market.

There was no other way. Although he had obtained the exact address before coming here, the capital was too big and Wilkin could not ask the Ming government to help him find it. There was no one he could trust, so he could only look for it himself.

Ever since the news of the train reached Samarkand, Timur began to collect intelligence on the Ming Dynasty.

Timur had many merchants working for him, and they were his best helpers.

Originally, Timur had joined forces with the Northern Yuan Dynasty to steal the Ming Dynasty's secret train recipe. However, the Northern Yuan Dynasty suddenly disappeared, and the Tatars who usurped the throne were caught off guard and severely damaged by the Ming Dynasty before they even started talking.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Timur to seek help from the grassland. The grassland was now unable to take care of itself and was not in a position to help him.

Fortunately, Timur made two preparations, otherwise it would have been completely dark.

"Greetings, sir."

"No need to be so polite."

It was not difficult for Wilkin to connect, and the two began to communicate in Persian.

Little did they know that they had already been targeted by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

In fact, even if Wilkin knew, there was nothing he could do. He had to come over to understand the situation, otherwise he wouldn't even know where to start.

News of Wilkin's actions soon reached Zhu Ying.

After Song Zhong reported the news, he asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, should we arrest the person and interrogate him? Our spy cannot know the specific content of their conversation."

Zhu Ying shook his head and said, "It's not necessary. We are here just for the train. Let's arrest them after these envoys leave."

"Yes, Your Highness."

That was all Zhu Ying had to say about the envoys sent by Timur.

Can a train be stolen easily? Even if we give them the manufacturing method, can they really make it?

Unless the entire scientific research department is moved to Samarkand.

This kind of technological barrier is simply not something that a military country like Timur can thoroughly study.

And they don't even have a research center.

The gap in civilization between each other can already be described as a chasm.

Zhu Ying has already read Timur's letter. Generally speaking, Timur now feels that the Ming Dynasty is very powerful and he cannot defeat it, so he chooses to submit to the Ming Dynasty and calls himself a subject.

He also brought some treasures as an atonement.

Although they are called treasures, they are only worth a few thousand treasure coins in total.

Naturally, for the Ming Dynasty, Timur's attitude is still the same.

At this stage, the distance between the Ming Dynasty and Timur is too far. No matter who launches the expedition first, they will inevitably be the one who suffers.

National war is somewhat unrealistic.

The extremely long supply lines mean that it is impossible to have a large number of troops, and insufficient troops will not pose a threat.

The troops Timur had sent before could only wander around the western regions of Tibet, and it was not enough for them to actually enter the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

The most they could do was to unite with the grassland to attack the Ming Dynasty. Now that the grassland has been occupied by the Ming Dynasty, there is no other way.

Of course, this is also because the Ming Dynasty demonstrated strong combat effectiveness on the grassland battlefield.

When it comes to war, it is never determined by looking at a country's paper data, nor is it influenced by many factors.

When Timur fought against Khwarezm and Persia, they were also weak, but they also won.

For Timur, the wealth of the Ming Dynasty did not daunt him, but instead gave him greater fighting spirit.

Zhu Ying also wanted to fight Timur, but it was too difficult.

Theoretically, a train could be built to the Timurid border, but this was obviously not something that could be completed in years or even decades.

The reason why the train that went directly to the north-south highway at the Ming Dynasty border could be built so quickly was firstly because there was an official road before that.

Zhu Ying had already started preparing railway tracks along the official road a few years ago.

Secondly, there are many towns and villages along the road from the capital to the border. This is the interior of the Ming Dynasty, and building railway tracks can ask nearby people for help, saving a lot of manpower.

Not to mention the Timurid border, even reaching Tubo is an extremely exaggerated journey.

In terms of distance alone, the distance from the capital to Tubo is nearly three times the length of the grassland border, and there are not so many nearby people to help, which means that all the laborers have to be mobilized from all over the place.

The cost here is at least ten times more than the cost of building the prairie railway.

But in Timur's territory, the number is dozens of times higher.

Money is one thing, but the loss of manpower is completely incalculable.

This is even more exaggerated than Qin Shihuang's construction of the Great Wall. If it is done by force, it is very likely to cause the current peak Ming Dynasty to fall rapidly.

Of course Zhu Ying would never do such a stupid thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very unhappy about Timur's sending envoys.

If it were before, he would still be happy, but after learning about Timur's actual situation, it was completely different.

"This cripple really thinks we are so easy to fool. He gave a tribute of several thousand taels of silver to beggars, and he still wants us to give his merchants special privileges. It's just a foolish dream."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily to his eldest grandson.

Of course, Timur's letter to the country was not just about submission, but this was not necessary for Timur now.

After all, the Timurid Empire is now at its most powerful. The entire Central Asia is under the control of Timur, and its territory is still expanding.

Timur, who had given up his thoughts on the Ming Dynasty, was now sharpening his sword and preparing to march into the Ottoman Empire.

Two years ago, Timur captured all the emperors of the Ottoman Empire. If Timur had not wanted to attack the Ming Dynasty and forcibly conquer the Delhi Sultanate, he would have probably reached the capital of the Ottoman Empire by now.

Because of the distance, the Ming Dynasty could not pose a direct threat to Timur. Even if the strategy of uniting with the grasslands failed, Timur could actually completely ignore the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why they were willing to submit again was because Timur made many additional requests in this letter.

Since the Ming Dynasty opened its seas, with Zhu Ying's support for maritime trade and the construction of modular factories in China, even though we have not yet reached the true era of large-scale sea navigation, it is undeniable that the products of the Ming Dynasty now have a huge impact on world maritime trade.

Central Asia is very far away from the Ming Dynasty in terms of land, but very close in terms of sea.

The first wave of sales of luxury goods from the Ming Dynasty, such as porcelain, tea, and silk, were in Central Asia.

There is no doubt that Ming Dynasty products have no trouble selling in Central Asia and even the world.

However, the Ming Dynasty had great restrictions on foreign merchants purchasing goods. Foreign merchants could not buy as much as they wanted in the Ming Dynasty. This involved a question of qualifications.

It is precisely because of this restriction that Ming Dynasty merchants can earn more profits from maritime trade.

Compared with foreign businessmen, Ming Dynasty merchants obviously have more "qualifications".

Fundamentally speaking, Zhu Ying established such rules in order to increase the trade surplus and ensure that money from all over the world continued to flow into the Ming Dynasty.

Timur attached great importance to the development of commerce, and the merchants in Samarkand provided Timur with the largest taxes every year.

Therefore, Timur naturally had to agree to the demands of the Samarkand merchants.

The condition attached to his letter was that the Ming Dynasty should give Samarkand merchants more benefits, more purchasing rights, and even complete openness.

If it were before, Zhu Yuanzhang might have agreed, but after gradually understanding the benefits of maritime trade over the years, there was no way Zhu Yuanzhang would agree.

As Zhu Yuanzhang collected intelligence in Central Asia, he naturally learned that Timur was a cripple.

Listening to the old man's complaints, Zhu Ying said, "Timur relied on the distance and surrendered on the surface, but in fact he just wanted benefits."

"The title of surrender will not cause Timur to lose anything, but it can bring him more taxes and train more soldiers."

"He knows we can't do anything to him, so he's a little reckless, but now we should teach him a lesson."

"The prince of the Tughluq dynasty of Delhi Sultan is now living in our Ming Dynasty. There is also an army of the Delhi Sultanate royal family in the U-Tsang region. Perhaps we can help this poor prince and take the Delhi Sultanate back from Timur."

"The Eastern Chagatai Khanate has always had connections and exchanges with our Ming Dynasty. I think they are also willing to contribute to the restoration of the Tughluk Dynasty."

"Timur was still attacking the Golden Horde at this time, so the Delhi Sultanate would not have many troops left. Losing the Delhi Sultanate would be a blow to Timur."

"We have already taken control of Zhenla in the South Seas. My grandson wants to take control of the Siam Peninsula first. This way, our Ming navy won't need to pass through the Strait of Malacca. We can directly station troops on the Siam Peninsula and enter the South Seas."

"The other side of the South Sea is India. India is extremely rich, but it is this wealth that causes their low combat effectiveness."

"If we take over India, we can station hundreds of thousands of troops in the Ming Dynasty and directly attack Timur."

Tianzhu is India in later generations, and now Timur is approaching the western side of Tianzhu.

Zhu Ying wanted to take over India first, use it as a springboard to establish a military base, and then attack Timur.

As for whether he could conquer India, that was beyond Zhu Ying's expectations.

It's only because of India's "tropical laziness" that their army is completely like paper.