The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 381: Metropolis in the Desert

Fatah followed Ma Weiguo in an off-road vehicle of the Ming Dynasty Honglu Temple. When they approached the under-construction Kuwait city area, they were stunned by the prosperous scene before them.

I always felt that what I saw was not real, so I couldn't help but ask Ma Weiguo directly:

"Mr. Ma, is this really Kuwait? Where are all these people here from?
"How much food and water do so many people need! How does the Ming Dynasty supply so many people with daily necessities?"

Ma Weiguo answered directly as a matter of course:
“Most of these people came directly from Ming Dynasty, and most of them were Ming Dynasty craftsmen.

“The food and water they needed were partly grown and pumped locally, and partly transported from the interior of the Mesopotamian Valley and Persia.

“But more are shipped from Africa and India.

“Look at the docks and the sea in the distance, those huge steel ships belching black smoke, people and things are transported here by these ships.

“As long as the boats are big enough and there are enough of them, we can move as much stuff as we want.

“Any big city could be moved here.”

After hearing this, Fatah was even more shocked and confused, and he also had some guesses:
"The Ming Dynasty has so many huge steel ships that it is capable of transporting an unlimited number of people, but why would it do this?

"Since the local area cannot supply so much food and water, why did the Ming Dynasty transport so many people to Kuwait? And also transport food and water from outside?

“I remember that the teacher once said that the Ming Dynasty expanded its territory overseas mainly to settle the population of the Ming Dynasty.

“But you also said, sir, that the Ming Dynasty’s top priority for resettlement is America, followed by Africa and Australia, then Europe, and finally Persia and India.

“The order is determined by the production and carrying capacity of the local land, as well as the existing population in the area.

"The Ming Dynasty would never send people to such a desert area...

“So why did the Ming Dynasty send so many people here?

"If Mr. Ma didn't deliberately deceive me before, it is probably because there is some special product here?

"Is it enough to attract the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to arrange so many humans to come and work?"

The Persian king Fateh was not stupid. He was actually able to judge that what Ma Weiguo had said before was not a lie, and that the reasons Ma Weiguo had said before were indeed logical.

So now I have actually determined in my heart that the real reason why Ming Dynasty sent so many people to Kuwait is that there are good things here.

Ma Weiguo laughed when he heard this:

"The king is indeed wise, and he discovered the key right away.

"There is indeed a very useful product here, which is worth your Majesty's efforts to mobilize troops to mine."

Fatah confirmed the guess and immediately became interested.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty was able to attract so many people to come and mine shows that this thing is really valuable.

Then can I get a share of the pie in the future?

This place is called the Persian Gulf, and I am the king of the Persian Empire.

I just don't know if this thing exists in the inland area of ​​Persia, or is it only found on the southwest coast of the Persian Gulf?

So Fatah looked around, then lowered his voice and asked:

"Mr. Ma...what is this product? Can we mine it ourselves in Persia?

"Can you tell me more about this matter? If not, just pretend I didn't ask."

Ma Weiguo smiled and said to Fatah:

"There is nothing that cannot be said. This is already a public matter in Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty will know it when he goes to Ming Dynasty. It will not affect me whether I say it or not.

"This thing is kerosene. You must have heard of it before, my king. It is something buried underground, just like groundwater. It can be extracted by digging wells.

“Look outside the dock, my lord. Those tall derricks in the distance are kerosene wells, and those huge columns around the dock are kerosene tanks.

"The largest ships we saw at the dock and on the sea, the ones with nothing on them, were the ones that were used to transport the kerosene.

"The main kerosene production area of ​​the Ming Dynasty is now on the west coast of the Persian Gulf and on the east side of the Arabian Peninsula.

“That’s around Bahrain Island and now Kuwait.

“As for the interior of Persia, we don’t know if there is any. Your Majesty, you may be more informed than I am. You can find someone to explore it yourself later.

As the king of Persia, Fatah certainly knew what kerosene was. It was a black oil that came out of the ground and could be ignited.

But it was precisely because of this that after listening to Ma Weiguo's explanation, he not only did not understand, but became even more confused:
"It's not worth it for Your Majesty to arrange so many people to mine kerosene and so many steel cargo ships to transport it..."

Ma Weiguo understood why Fatah did not understand:

“It’s worth it, of course it’s worth it, even if it’s just for lighting, it’s worth mining gunpowder specifically.

“But the more important reason is that our emperor has led the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty to develop a series of new uses.

"Now that kerosene is known as the universal petroleum in Ming Dynasty, it is certainly more valuable."

Fatah still didn't quite understand, but he could barely analyze and judge in his heart that he didn't understand it now because he knew too little:

"I am really ignorant, could you please explain it in more detail, Mr. Ma?
"Your Majesty... and the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, what can you do with this kerosene?"

Ma Weiguo first pointed to the distance, at the large ships on the dock and on the sea with black smoke coming out:
"The latest Ming warships, passenger ships and cargo ships all use kerosene as fuel.

“Compared to coal, there is less smoke and dust, and the sailing time is longer.

"The vehicles we took along the way, which could run without horses, were also powered by kerosene.

“There are also flying machines that the king has seen, which also run on kerosene.

"There are also construction machinery around the docks, machines for digging the land, hauling cargo, plowing the fields, and pumping water, all of which are powered by kerosene."

Fatah finally realized:

"So that's how it is... Then this is really very useful..."

Ma Weiguo hadn't finished speaking yet, he raised one of his hands and showed him the clothes he was wearing:

"Most of the things I wear, from the inside out, are made of kerosene, including the dyeing fuel, which is also produced with kerosene."

Fatah was no longer suddenly enlightened, but completely confused:

"How is this possible... Aren't the clothes you are wearing some new type of silk? How could it be kerosene... How can kerosene turn into silk?"

Ma Weiguo smiled and scratched his left sleeve with his right fingernail:
“They are indeed made of kerosene, and they are more than ten times more wear-resistant than cotton and linen.

“It is many times stronger than virgin silk and will not get snagged at the slightest touch. Its color is also brighter than silk.

“I don’t know exactly how it was done, it’s all thanks to the ingenuity of His Majesty and the Ming craftsmen.

"If your Majesty is interested, you can apply to visit the chemical plant after you arrive in Zhili and see with your own eyes how kerosene is turned into clothes step by step."

The convoy that Ma Weiguo and Fatah were on quickly entered the city of Kuwait and rested in the Kuwait post house, waiting for the passenger ship to Ming Dynasty to be ready.

During this break, Ma Weiguo continued to show off to Fatah, showing more petrochemical products:
"Your Majesty, look at the paint on the walls and cabinets. The craftsmen call it paint." That is, it is a paint made from kerosene extracts. It is waterproof and anti-rust, and is a very important thing.

“Then this thing is called an air conditioner, which can adjust the air temperature, and this is a refrigerator, which can make ice in the summer.

“These shells and frames are not made of wood or iron, but of kerosene, which the emperor and the craftsmen call plastic.

“Look at these framed paintings, the surface is extremely smooth and bright, even if you pour water on them it won’t get wet, that’s because a thin film of kerosene is added to the surface.

"And these transparent films that are used to seal things are also derived from kerosene.

“There are so many things. Before His Majesty led the craftsmen to make these things, no one could have imagined that this black oil could be used to do so many things.

"Nowadays, people no longer need to farm for anything they use at home, except for food. Almost everything can be produced by mining and refining.

“It is precisely because kerosene has so many uses now that the name kerosene is no longer appropriate.

“That’s why it’s now called universal oil.

"Such a versatile industry is certainly worth developing and building with our utmost efforts.

“Now we are bringing in food from India and Africa to supply the workers here to extract oil.

“Just like supplying food to the craftsmen who made clothes and tools in the past.

"But it is no longer sent from the countryside to the city, but from other villages to the construction site."

The petrochemical industry is the foundation of modern industry. Oil is known as the blood of modern industry and occupies a huge and important share in the modern industrial system.

The various products and materials people need no longer rely on the growth and cultivation of animals and plants, but are produced directly through mines and factories.

The rapidly advancing Second Industrial Revolution has created a truly massive and unlimited demand for oil extraction and refining.

Even if the Ming Dynasty government did not take the initiative to exploit oil here, the Persian Gulf could be transformed from a desert into a prosperous metropolis simply by relying on actual industrial demand.

Fatah was not only shocked, but his entire cognition was completely overturned.

He was a native Persian and the monarch of the Muslim Church. He was already familiar with kerosene.

But I really couldn't imagine that kerosene could have such a great effect.

Fatah could not comprehend such a thing.

It's as if God created or changed something.

Most of the land in the Tianfang region is extremely desolate and the resources are extremely poor.

But no one expected that the kerosene beneath the ground was so abundant and could play such a huge role.

Is this God's test for the Muslims?

However, the Muslims had been fighting among themselves for more than a thousand years, but they never discovered all this. Instead, they were discovered by the Ming people from afar.

Could it be that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is the God-chosen prophet of our time?
Wasn't Muhammad the last prophet?
This kind of overly magical and subversive thing has a certain strange effect on believers.

Fatah and Ma Weiguo stayed in Kuwait for three days, mainly waiting for their belongings to be moved onto the ship and for the ship to complete replenishment and simple overhauls.

Then we officially boarded the ship and left Kuwait.

After the fleet set sail, it sailed in the Persian Gulf for a day, and approached the shore again the next morning and headed for the port of "Oil City".

After all, there are still few Kuwaitis, and large passenger ships are rarely crowded in Kuwait, which is a branch line of the Persian Gulf shipping network.

The largest passenger ships usually do not go to Kuwait if it is not to pick up Maweiguo and Fatah.

After picking up the two of them, we had to go to Oil City to pick up other passengers.

The so-called oil city is located in the middle of the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, near the port of Dammam in Saudi Arabia in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life. Further southeast are Bahrain Island and the Qatar Peninsula.

Zhu Jianxuan originally arranged people here specifically for oil extraction, and now it is also a place dedicated to oil extraction.

So the workers simply called this place Oil City.

Oil City is a place that Ming Dynasty spent more than ten years to build. The city and port here are larger than Kuwait, and all the facilities are more mature.

Oil City is the ruling center of the Ming Dynasty in the Persian Gulf, and it is much more lively than other places.

The cities and docks were full of machines and workers.

The prosperity of an industrial city of this scale was something that the people in the Arabian region had never seen or even imagined.

The city center has a two-way four-lane main road, with reinforced concrete high-rise buildings lined up on both sides and various motor vehicles flowing on the street.

Especially at night, the streets and buildings of the entire oil city are illuminated by exceptionally bright electric lights.

Fatah's large construction site in Kuwait had been greatly shocked. After finally accepting the reality and recovering a little, it almost collapsed again when it arrived in the oil city to spend the night.

In fact, let alone Fatah, a country bumpkin from the inland, even well-informed scholars from various European countries would feel a great spiritual shock when entering such a modern industrial city.

Fatah looked at the city docks and streets that were still busy at night, at the city lights that directly blocked out the starlight, and from time to time he kept repeating in his mouth:
"The city is so prosperous. There is such a prosperous city in the desert..."

Ma Weiguo looked at Fatah's reaction as a country bumpkin entering the city, and said to Fatah with a smile of satisfaction and pride:

"Now many cities in the Ming Dynasty have also seen this situation.

“Such busy cities create huge amounts of wealth every day. Such cities also have a huge population, and they are the source of power for the Ming Dynasty.

“So it was a piece of cake for the Ming Dynasty to defeat rural empires like Russia, Shun, and the Ottoman Empire.

“At the same time, the people and workers of the Ming Dynasty did not feel any real pressure in life because of the war launched by the imperial court.

"On the contrary, we will receive more orders and wages due to the demand for production plants caused by the war.

“But if it is not absolutely necessary, the Ming court does not actually want Ming soldiers to fight in the desolate and barren inland areas.

“On our way out from the interior of Persia, supplies and transportation were huge problems.

“The key is that after spending resources and manpower and forcing force on such places, there is no direct and obvious benefit.

“So if a place is in a remote inland area with poor land and inconvenient transportation, then the Ming Dynasty will not be very interested in it.

“Persia actually meets these characteristics, but Persia’s location is too important and will affect the Ming Dynasty’s war against Shun and the Ottoman Empire.

“So the Ming Dynasty does not want to fight Persia head-on, but hopes that you will surrender voluntarily.

“As long as you don’t openly resist and harm the businessmen and civilians of Ming Dynasty, the key is not to anger His Majesty in any way.

"The Ming court will not specifically interfere in the affairs of inland Persia in the future."

Fatah listened very carefully, imagining the scene of the Ming Dynasty in his mind. For the first time, he had a general and serious understanding of the national strength of the Ming Dynasty.

Once again, I was thankful that I had met Ma Weiguo, and now I bowed my hands and thanked him very seriously:

"Thank you for your teachings, sir. I will always remember them in my heart."

(End of this chapter)