556: Chapter 557 Steam Railway Connects to Paris, Europe Comes Under the Light

The tenth year of the Great Ming, Spring.

With a deafening blast of its whistle, a heavy steam train with thirty carriages, its body as black as ink, spewed white smoke as it slowly pulled into the newly completed Paris North Station.

The station was no longer in the original Gothic style with pointed spires; instead, it had been rebuilt into a typical Great Ming official architectural style—red walls, yellow tiles, flying eaves, and bracket sets. A massive golden plaque with the three Chinese characters for 'Paris Station' hung high above, shimmering in the sunlight.

On the platform, the gentlemen of the past in tailcoats and carrying canes were long gone. In their place were groups of European laborers wearing gray coarse cloth work uniforms with ID numbers printed on their backs.

Most of them were former knights, fallen nobles, or former soldiers. At this moment, what they held in their hands were no longer swords and shields, but shovels and pickaxes.

"Everyone line up! Anyone who dares to push will have their lunch halved today!"

An overseer wearing a Ministry of Personnel uniform shouted loudly through a tin megaphone. Standing beside him were two small police mechs named "Suppressors," their batons flickering with electric arcs, inspiring awe and fear.

The once-proud French knights were now submissive, obediently forming a long line.

Because they knew the consequences of resistance.

After the train came to a steady halt, the massive side doors crashed open.

Inside were not passengers, but tons upon tons of fertilizer, seeds, and the latest agricultural machinery.

"Unload! Fast!"

The laborers swarmed forward and began their busy work.

In the station's VIP lounge, the Grand Protector of the Great Ming Protectorate of Europa—an elegant-looking but sharp-eyed middle-aged civil official—was watching it all with satisfaction through a floor-to-ceiling window.

"Once this 'Eurasian Main Artery' is open, the journey from Paris to the Capital is only seven days."

The Grand Protector picked up his teacup and blew on the foam. "From now on, these thousands of miles of mountains and rivers will be a smooth plain."

Opposite him sat several trembling local "Puppet" officials.

"What your Excellency says is true," said the former French Minister of Finance, now the Director of the Paris Agricultural Bureau, with a forced smile. "The Great Ming's technology is truly divine. This railway was built... so quickly."

"Quick?" The Grand Protector smiled. "With Cultivators moving mountains and filling seas, and mechs opening paths through mountains, if it were any slower, Your Majesty would have to punish me."

He set down his teacup, pulled a document from his robes, and tossed it onto the table.

"This is the 'Europa Regional Industrial Planning Document' newly approved by Your Majesty."

The officials hurriedly leaned in to look, their faces turning whiter as they read.

In the planning document, the formerly bustling industrial zones were completely erased, replaced by massive "Wheat Cultivation Zones," "Grape Cultivation Zones," "Dairy Farming Bases," and "Deep Mineral Extraction Zones."

Even the famous university cities had been converted into "Agricultural Technology Training Schools" and "Miner Skills Crash Courses."

"Excellency... this... this..." the Director of the Agricultural Bureau's voice trembled. "Does this mean in the future... we can only farm? Our textile mills, our shipyards..."

"Dismantled."

The Grand Protector spoke the two words nonchalantly. "The equipment will be shipped back to the Great Ming, and the factories will be leveled for farming."

"What? Do you have an objection?"

"No, no, no! This humble official wouldn't dare!" The director was so frightened he almost knelt.

"Good that you don't dare." The Grand Protector stood up, walked to the map, and traced his finger across the entire European continent.

"Your Majesty is merciful and cannot bear to see you suffer from cold and hunger. Therefore, this land must be farmed well."

"In the future, the dining tables of the Great Ming must have French bread, German sausages, and Italian ham."

"This is the value of your existence."

"As long as you farm the land well and mine the Ores well, the Great Ming will naturally give you coal, give you clothes, and ensure you have no worries about food and clothing."

"This is called... the global division of labor."

A hint of coldness flashed in the Grand Protector's eyes.

How was this any kind of division of labor? This was outright domestication.

Stripping away their industrial capacity, destroying their cultural self-confidence, and locking them firmly at the very bottom of the industrial chain.

From then on, Europa would no longer be the center of the world, nor even an independent civilization. It was merely a giant farm responsible for producing grain and Materials on the map of the Great Ming Empire.

...

As the railway network continued to extend, the Great Ming's tentacles reached deep into every capillary of Europe.

Massive harvesters (magically modified versions, ten times more efficient than ordinary machinery) roared across the Champagne Plain.

In bottomless mine pits, Mana Crystal Powered Drills roared day and night without rest.

Carload after carload of grain and shipload after shipload of Ore were continuously transported along the railways and sea routes to that massive Empire in the East.

And what was shipped from the East were cheap industrial finished goods, exquisite porcelain and silk, and—great ming treasure notes.

The treasure notes completely replaced the original currencies of various countries, becoming the sole means of circulation.

Europeans worked hard for a year, only to receive a few pieces of paper printed with Dragon patterns, and then used these pieces of paper to purchase goods dumped at high prices by the Great Ming.

Wealth, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, flooded into the Great Ming treasury.

"Lord Protector, the latest statistics are out."

A secretary ran into the office excitedly. "This quarter, the taxes and profits handed over to the Imperial Court from the Europa Region have quadrupled compared to last quarter! Moreover, grain production has surged, enough to support the Court in expanding the army by another three hundred thousand!"

"Very good."

The Grand Protector nodded and looked toward the eastern sky.

"Your Majesty's great undertaking is complete."

In the distant East, above the Forbidden City, that already incredibly massive Luck Golden Dragon let out another joyful roar that shook heaven and earth as this massive influx of national destiny from the West poured in.

Its body was no longer an illusory mist; instead, it began to condense real scales, each one shimmering with a substantial golden light.

The pulse of the entire Earth, at this moment, synchronized with the breathing of the Great Ming.

The unification of the world was now a settled matter.