Emperor Ming Dynasty

Hearing that there was a mine, Liu Tingjie hurried over.

After defeating Suiyuan, Liu Tingjie served as the chief soldier of Suiyuan and stayed here. Although he had always hoped to be in the position of command, he knew that it was impossible.

Relying on the geographical advantage and the harvest on the battlefield, Liu Tingjie has a lot of money, suppressing his desire for official position.

He can take it easy, You Shiwei has been his superior for decades, and it doesn't matter if he stays for a few more years.

"You have a good nose."

Zhang Guowei smiled and drank a cup of tea with joy written all over his face.

"It can't be helped, this is a copper mine!" Liu Tingjie eagerly revealed his joy: "This is about our hats."

Although the imperial court allows private mining operations, copper mines are definitely not included. China's barren mine resources are mostly supported by Yunnan and Japan.

The birth of silver and copper coins alleviated the problem of money shortage, but the largest circulation among the people is still copper coins.

Even if one copper round is worth five copper coins, there must be copper, right?

The basis of currency issuance is copper mines, so for hundreds of years, the imperial court believed that the greatest value of Yunnan lies in the provision of red copper and logs.

If there is no Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty will fall into the embarrassing situation of no standard new money.

Once Suiyuan discovers a copper mine, its meaning will be different, and the importance of Suiyuan will increase rapidly.

Not to mention anything else, Zhang Guowei doesn't ask much, as long as he is similar to Yunnan, he will be promoted and leave here.

After staying in Suiyuan for a long time, he felt the smell of grass and cow dung in every breath he took.

"It seems that we have to recruit soldiers again." Liu Tingjie asked casually, "Where did you find the mine?"

"North of Yin Mountain, and the corner of the mountain."

Zhang Guowei stroked his slender beard and said with a smile: "This is our blessing, recruiting soldiers, we must recruit soldiers to guard them, don't let anyone steal them."

In the huge Suiyuan Province, there are only four cities, one mansion and one city, and the rest are grasslands.

In a sense, the Ming court controlled only four prefectures, and the rest of the area was governed by the Mongolian aristocrats, organized in the form of hundreds of households, sub-thousand households, and thousand households.

Due to the small output, there were only 20,000 people stationed there, and the other half of the Mongols, who were paid the same amount of food, were also officers and soldiers who were eating imperial food, and they were natural supporters of the imperial court.

Whoever has milk is a mother, which is vividly reflected in the herdsmen.

Of course, there is no way to do this, the grassland is too barren to support too many people.

The endless plains add to the fires of disasters. Even a land boundary like Shanxi is the best land boundary for herdsmen.

According to the statistics in the past few years, Suiyuan Province covers the Hetao area, and has a vast territory, even larger than Gansu. However, when Han and Mongolia are added together, there are only 25 tents and 600,000 people.

Therefore, the output of the copper mine is a great thing for Suiyuan, enough to recruit thousands of people and stabilize the foundation.

Soon, the news of the mine in Suiyuan reached Beijing, and the cabinet rejoiced, adding another source of income.

Casting copper coins does not make money, but casting copper rounds can make a lot of money.

The household department earns more than one million yuan a year from copper coins.

As Zhang Guowei thought, even if it is a copper mine with not too large reserves, the court is still concerned.

After all, if there is one, there are two, and it is worth investing in.

The Ministry of Industry immediately dispatched hundreds of craftsmen to transport them all the way.

Later, iron ore, tin ore, and lime ore were excavated in Yinshan, as well as rare gold and silver associated mines.

Suiyuan really has mines.

"Great."

Compared with the joy of Zhang Guowei's promotion, Liu Tingjie was most overjoyed by the construction of the city.

Once the bastion showed great power and carried the Manchu Qing, under its name Hehewei, the cement made of rubble mixed with lime is extremely inconspicuous.

But Liu Tingjie knew that today's cement has been greatly improved. He began to mix ironmaking slag with lime and clay to form a new cement.

The effect is even better.

Now if the iron furnace is erected and there is no shortage of slag, coupled with the mining of lime, new cement will come immediately.

"Futai, this Jiuyuan City will be indestructible."

Liu Tingjie laughed heartily.

When the rule of the Ming Dynasty on the grassland became more and more stable, the Yarkand Khanate in the northwest region took advantage of the opportunity and surrendered to the Ming court.

The Yarkand Khanate, a country established by the descendants of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, once reached the Balkhash Lake area in Central Asia, and once called itself Kyrgyz Khan.

Now the two divisions, East and West, have been restored to unity, but their vitality has been greatly damaged.

Since its capital is in Shache in the Kashgar region, it can be described as perilous.

To the west, the strength of the Kyrgyz Khanate has recovered, and it never forgets revenge; relying on the fertile land in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains, the Junggar tribe is extremely strong, and there are great signs of overthrowing the Yarkand Khanate.

At this time, the leader of the Heshuo Te tribe alongside Junggar was Oqier Tuhan, who was the eldest nephew of Gushri Khan.

After Gushi Khan went to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Eqiertu Khan took over the remaining tribes and pastures and became the leader of Moxi Mongolia.

Although it only picked up some leftovers, the Heshuo Special Department is still strong.

Whether it is Heshuote or Junggar, they are all tribes who believe in Buddhism, and they are still Tibetan Buddhism. They are naturally tit-for-tat against the Green religion Mongolia Khanate like Yarkand.

At this time, the Yeerqiang Khanate, which was sitting on the trend of the corridor, was naturally loyal to Daming.

Therefore, Abdullah Khan said bluntly: "The holy religion was invaded by the Heshuote and Junggar tribes in Ili, and the west has reached a critical moment. We need the Ming Dynasty."

"Dear Khan, the Ming Dynasty is to the east, and Heshuote is to the west, thousands of miles apart, how can the Ming Dynasty help?"

Aqimu in Turpan and his younger brother Su Litang asked his own doubts.

"According to Hami's news, last year, the Oirat and Mongolian tribes jointly paid tribute to the Ming court, and they have become subjects like us."

Abdullah Khan said frankly: "The suzerain country is all Ming, and the subordinate countries are fighting each other. In name, Ming can coordinate one or two."

"Besides, I heard that there are tens of thousands of Ming troops stationed in Gansu. As long as they ally with them, Heshuote and Junggar will definitely feel jealous."

Soon, an alliance with the Ming Dynasty was on the agenda.

For the Yarkand Khanate in the Western Regions, the tens of thousands of Ming troops near Jiayuguan directly threatened the core area of ​​Turpan.

Paying tribute is necessary and unavoidable. After forming an alliance, no war in the east is the best result.

So far, the Oirat Mongolian tribes (Moxi Mongolia), Monan Mongolian, Khalkha Mongolian tribes (Mobei), and the three major Mongolian tribes have expressed their surrender to Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Monan is directly governed by Hua Province, Mobei is self-governing, and Moxi Mongolia is separated from the Yarkant Khanate, beyond reach.

However, the unification of Mongolia in name is also unification, and it is reasonable for Emperor Shaowu to call himself Khan.

Gao Yigong, who lives far away in Suzhou, was immediately moved when he heard that there were lime and iron mines in Suiyuan.

It just so happened that the Yarkand Khanate sent news from the Western Regions.

"Hami (Guyi Prefecture) is rich in products, and it is the homeland of Ming Dynasty—"