When the workshops began to come alive, those who had not yet fully recovered from the fatigue of the day in their sleep had to walk out into the street from the squaint gray houses with tired faces. In the cold light of the early morning, they walked along the unpaved road towards the workshops, ready for a new day's work, and covered themselves with dust.

These workers, although tired, can get more paid, so they are willing to work harder for themselves and their families, and from here, we can better understand the reason why Xuzhou is thirsty for manpower.

And after seeing the endless flow of these workers' workshops, I secretly asserted that I am afraid that it will not be long before we are dealing with one of the most powerful people in the Ming Empire.

However, we can also see that after all, these people have just broken away from the land, and their bones are still full of attachment to the land. With the permission of the guards, I talked to a few workers I met on the road, and found that the common idea among them was to work hard for a few years to save some money, and then buy a piece of land in Xuzhou or somewhere else, and give it to themselves and their children to cultivate, and become farmers again.

From here, we can also see some of the problems that Zhao Jin Group is facing now. You know, in our experience in Italy, a skilled worker is more useful to a workshop than several apprentices, and the cost of training a skilled worker is very high, and if a skilled worker is trained and within a few years he has saved enough money to return to his hometown to buy land, the potential loss will be very staggering. Therefore, how to solve the attachment of these former farmers to the countryside so that they can stay in the workshop as much as possible and continue to work is probably a problem faced by Zhao Jin Group.

In addition, after my conversation with the guards of our house, I learned that Zhao Jin's wife was the daughter of a wealthy iron ore owner, the only daughter of the iron ore owner, who apparently brought Zhao Jin a large dowry, at least so that he could easily control the iron ore supply channels in Xuzhou, and struck down all competitors.

――I can't believe that this was just Zhao Jin's luck, could it be that Zhao Jin had already consciously started to prepare for his future business plan a few years ago, before he rose to prominence? If so, I'm afraid this young man is even more powerful than we think.

In addition, this also shows that Zhao Jintong's kinship and friends have gathered a force with great wealth around him.

At the same time, Tong Guò talked with several of the heads of the workshops, and I also found that the foreign trade of the whole of Xuzhou was in the hands of an agency set up by Zhao Jin, and that these people were only organizing production according to the orders of this body.

Although the name of this institution is the Department of Trade, although it is only responsible for foreign trade affairs on the surface, it actually covers both our German commercial houses and industry associations, and even includes the powers of some legal organs.

Not only that, but this institution can even use its monopoly position to organize production, so as to avoid hurting the profits of the workshops due to price competition, and ensure that the Zhao Jin group can obtain a steady stream of profits from it, so as to achieve its goals outside the economy.

This kind of monopolistic commercial establishment reminds me of the East India Company set up by the Dutch. However, it was much more advanced than the East India Company, which used plunder and massacre to expand its commercial interests, while this institution used commerce to benefit the majority, at least the people of Xuzhou, at least the people I saw, benefited from it.

At the same time, we can also see from Zhao Jin's move how weakened the rule of the Ming Empire government in this region has been, so much so that this huge change has been implemented without attracting much attention.

From what I said above, you can probably see that Zhao Jin and his group are full of ambition and have enough ability to make ambition a reality, and they don't even bother to hide it.

In Europe, the Medici family is seeking domination over the whole of Italy, and after holding a wealth even greater than the Medici family, how can the ambitions of the Zhao Jin group be smaller than the Medici family?

We soon saw the proof of this ambition.

When passing through the city of Xuzhou, we saw an army on the march.

Before, when we saw the lean, neat, and disciplined style of the men who escorted us, and then learned that they were merely unofficial combatants of the Xuzhou group, we had already secretly speculated about what their official troops would be, but it was not until I saw them with my own eyes that I realized that my original estimate of them was still too low.

The soldiers, under the orders of the officers, marched in very neat columns, armed with spears. The soldiers, all wearing helmets and hair shortened, were dressed in simple armor with uniform navy blue cotton clothes underneath the armor. This armor was not the light armor I had seen elsewhere in China, but resembled European-style plate armor, and apart from the oriental decorative elements, it seemed to me that they were more like battle-hardened Spanish soldiers than ordinary Ming officers and soldiers.

I asked the patrol leader next to me to find out who designed this armor, and he immediately proudly told me that this was the armor invented by Zhao Jin himself, and proudly claimed that it was the best armor in the world.

This really surprised me, was this a flash of inspiration in Zhao Jin's own mind, or was there also other people from Europe around him to guide me? If it's the latter, then it's a little worrying, and it's possible that some heresy has had an impact on Zhao Jin before us, and I can't help but feel a little uneasy.

At the same time, although we were only watching from a distance, we could see that the quality of these armors was good, and it was clear that Zhao Jin had given the best products of his ironsmith workshop to his troops. And Zhao Jin's huge wealth also made these people the most well-equipped troops I have seen in the Ming Empire.

Surrounded by us and many other villagers, these silent, yet well-dressed and distinctly dressed troops marched in unison, ignoring the cold of winter. Their movements are obviously well-trained, and their bodies are also strong, which invisibly gives us the kind of oppression that only an elite army can bring.

The attentive expressions of these soldiers reminded me of the epitome of the battlefield before the fierce battle, and under the towering walls of Xuzhou City, it looked poetic. When stationary, the soldiers of the army seem to be imitating the surrounding buildings, and all the troops are immovable. The viewer can't help but compare these walls to these stone walls. The winter sun poured on the hundred-year-old wall and these people's walls, illuminating countless swarthy faces, each of which recorded the rain of bullets and bullets of the past, and each face was nervously staring at the future swords and swords.

Looking at these seriously engaged young faces under the helmet, I couldn't help but wonder again, could it be that Zhao Jin and his cronies armed such an army, just to use it to defend their vested interests?

The answer is self-evident.

The patrol captain who escorted me looked at these people with envy, saying that he himself was one of them, but because he had been injured in the battle a while ago and had difficulty moving, he was transferred out of the army and became the patrol leader for law and order.

That's right, I only knew at this time that in recent years, Zhao Jin had thwarted the pressure of various forces within the Ming Empire and even the Ming Empire itself, and had defeated the suppressive forces gathered by the Ming Empire's imperial court several times, and even Tongguò's own huge forces had begun to expand externally.

Now I finally knew the source of the confidence of the civilians I had seen along the way—what should one have to worry about when one knew that one side had a victorious army that was clearly superior to the enemy?

Zhao Jin maintained order, so they only supported Zhao Jin.

We soon learned that the patrol captain was not talking much, and that he had indeed been a member of the combat unit - for after coming into contact with the group of soldiers, he suddenly recognized the officer in charge of the small unit as his former comrade-in-arms, and the two men soon exchanged pleasantries.

At our request, the patrol captain also introduced us to the leading officer, but this officer's attitude was somewhat different from that of the cordial patrol leader, he was as reserved and arrogant as the European officers, in short, he did not talk to us much, and did not like to answer our questions, which also poured cold water on us, and we originally wanted to learn more information about the army of Zhao Jin from him.

However, our slight regrets were quickly compensated.

After the cordial greetings between the two former comrades-in-arms, the officer, who had to leave with his troops because of his duty, gave some of his military supplies to the patrol leader - well, we don't have to hide it, these military supplies are spirits.

When they received the spirits, almost all of the patrolmen who were escorting us cheered, as if they had received some heavy gift. After all, there's nothing more invigorating than a spirit on a winter day of travel and march.

The patrol captain didn't forget us either, and he also gave us a few bottles of wine. Although we are not allowed to drink heavily as priests, the merciful God has not deprived us of the right to take some solace from wine, and we have already felt a little cowering in the cold wind, so we have each taken a few sips without any excuse.

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At the beginning of the month, I continued to ask for a monthly pass, thanks to the two old friends of "Qi Sanwen and the blessing of the light angel", thank you for your subscription and monthly pass, and thank you for your support I1292