I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 425 First Armor
There were sentry posts everywhere along the way, and three red brick walls. The plants and trees beside the walls had been cleared away.

The main part of the mining area is a valley, from which steam locomotives constantly pull fully loaded carriages out.

There are sentry posts at various scenic spots in the valley, and guards are stationed at each sentry post, so the security is very strict.

"There are currently three battalions of the Guards stationed in this mining area, with a total of 8100 people. These three battalions will be rotated every six months, and the three battalions on the front line will be replaced for rest and repair," Tong Lin explained.

"This mining area has received a total of 41,328 Mongolian captives, of which 4,323 were children under the age of 14. They only participated in simple labor and spent most of their time receiving education. The rest were mostly young and strong, and were the main force in the mining area. These Mongolian captives mainly came from the Battle of Yingzhou and the Battle of Hetao."

"How are these prisoners performing? I see many soldiers on duty are not wearing armor." Jiang Jiangong said as he looked at the Mongolian prisoners who were working non-stop in the valley.

"I heard that there were some troublemakers in the first year, but after the King of Jing came once the year before last and changed the propaganda method, the number of troublemakers has decreased, and no vicious incidents have occurred in the past year. So many brothers on duty don't wear armor for convenience." Tong Lin blushed and said hesitantly.

"We can't let our guard down. If something happens, it would be a shame if these brothers didn't die on the front line but died here," Jiang Jiangong said seriously.

"Yes! I will order the rectification today!" Tong Lin said seriously.

"Well, Your Majesty and Your Highness both attach great importance to this group of Mongolian prisoners. The Mongolian prisoners who were reformed before have played a huge role in the recent war. So managing these prisoners well is also a great achievement." Jiang Jiangong encouraged.

"Yes! Chief of Staff Jiang!" Tong Lin's face lit up and he said immediately.

Jiang Jiangong observed the Mongolian prisoners working for a while, and suddenly asked, "What do you think of the reform of these Mongolian prisoners?"

"How is the transformation going?" Tong Lin was stunned for a moment, then said, "The transformation of the Mongolian prisoners is very effective. Not to mention the Mongolians, even I believe the words of His Royal Highness the King of Jing."

Tong Lin stopped talking because Jiang Jiangong was looking at him coldly. "What do you mean even you believe it? Doesn't His Highness's theory of transformation make sense?"

Tong Lin knew that he had spoken out of turn, and hurriedly said, "I have spoken out of turn. I shouldn't have said anything nonsense about His Royal Highness the King of Jing's reform theory. I know I was wrong, please forgive me, Chief of Staff."

Jiang Jiangong turned his head away and stopped dwelling on the topic. "I won't hide it. The purpose of my trip is very simple. The next plan will use the 30,000 Mongolian prisoners here. I am here to evaluate whether these transformed Mongolian prisoners have reached the level that can be used by the Ming Dynasty."

"Thirty thousand? That's a lot!" Tong Lin exclaimed, "They are going to take away all the adult prisoners here!"

"Yes!" Jiang Jiangong said affirmatively without further explanation.

Tong Lin frowned and said, "Thirty thousand is a bit too many. There are still more than 15,000 prisoners from the Yingzhou battle. After two years of reform, except for the Mongolian nobles, all the others should be able to be used by our Ming Dynasty. The 15,000 young and strong captives from the Hetao area have only been reformed for one year, and I'm afraid the time is not right yet." "Your Majesty is also a little worried about this, but Your Highness thinks that one year of reform is enough. Ideological reform is only one of the means. If we want to completely control these Mongolian prisoners and make them work for us, ideological reform alone is not enough. We also need to let them establish a deep enough interest relationship with the Ming Dynasty," Jiang Jiangong explained.

"Conflict of interest?" Tong Lin was a little confused.

Jiang Jiangong and his staff began to randomly talk to Mongolian prisoners.

"Tell me your name." Zhu Feng asked the sturdy Mongolian prisoner in front of him.

"My Mongolian name is Tuzhigen, and my Chinese name is Niu Zhongxia," the Mongolian prisoner said in not very fluent Chinese.

"Niu Zhongxia" Zhu Feng was too tired to complain. This should be the sixth or seventh Mongolian prisoner named "Zhongxia" that he had seen. He felt that the names given by these Mongolian prisoners were very simple and straightforward. They did not recognize many Chinese characters, so their names often overlapped, such as other frequently appearing names: Zhonghua, Zhongming, Zhonghan and other similar names.
"How does it feel to live here?" Zhu Feng continued to ask according to the procedure.

"Very good. We were bewitched by Temujin and committed such a big mistake against the Chinese nation. We came here to atone our sins, but the Ming Dynasty treated us so well. Not only did they not beat or scold us, they also let us eat enough and had meat to eat. Seeing that mining was too tiring for us, they equipped us with steam engines to do the dirtiest and most tiring work. If we were injured or sick while working, there would be doctors to treat us and they used a lot of precious medicines." Niu Zhongxia answered a lot of questions in not very fluent Chinese with some enthusiasm.

Zhu Feng was stunned by this long string of words. This was the most proactive Mongolian prisoner he had met in the past few days. His Chinese had reached such a level that he didn't even need the Mongolian translator next to him.

"Where did you learn these words?" Zhu Feng looked at the questions on the paper in his hand, and felt that there was no need to ask many questions, so he curiously asked a question that was not on the paper.

"The teachers taught us the principles, and then I figured it out on my own." Niu Zhongxia said, scratching his head.

Zhu Feng carefully observed Niu Zhongxia's expression and his simple and honest look, and felt that he was not the kind of person who was scheming and particularly good at acting.
"If you were asked to go back to the grassland, would you be willing to go back?" Zhu Feng continued to ask.

"I don't want to!" Niu Zhongxia said firmly.

"why?"

"I have not yet redeemed myself for the sins I committed against the Chinese nation." Niu Zhongxia's voice became softer, and then he hesitated for a moment and said in an even smaller voice, "And I like life here. Life on the grassland is too hard."

Zhu Feng began to feel a certain fondness for Niu Zhongxia, and asked curiously, "Don't you miss your parents, wife, and children?"

"I am too poor, I have no wife or children, and my parents are dead. I used to think that Changshengtian took my parents away, that was fate, but now I know that my parents died because of the greed and tyranny of those nobles." Niu Zhongxia's expression dimmed a lot.
Zhu Feng opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. In the end, he just whispered, "My condolences!"

After asking a few more questions, Niu Zhongxia was taken away.
Zhu Feng wrote the words "A-grade" on Niu Zhongxia's profile.
(End of this chapter)