The Industrial Beast Shows Its Might, Preliminary Census

Besides paving the way for electrification for the Horde, Zul'ra also persuaded Thrall to redeploy two of Kor'kron's three towns: one to Black Bear Hills in Northrend and the other to Undercity in the Eastern Kingdoms, to fight the the Scourge. This was both to fulfill an earlier promise and to seize resources from the northern continent. ♜🍪 ♗😈

Aside from the Horde's ongoing battle against the Scourge, Zul'ra continued to focus on industrialization and electrification, urging the construction of the steel mill, finding suitable mineral resources for the Horde, developing generator components, and completing the rubber manufacturing plant.

Under Zul'ra's watchful eye, twenty-four years slowly passed since the Dark Portal opened. As the festival of Feast of Winter Veil approached, the Foothill Steelworks was finally completed. Among the series of smelting equipment, Hermes also designed a set of electrical equipment. With the help of the steelworks' thermal power generation, the corresponding current was supplied to the wire-drawing equipment designed by the Gnomes engineers to produce qualified wires.

The smelting equipment, which embodies the wisdom and hard work of the engineers, did not disappoint Zul'ra. The first batch of molten steel was produced smoothly and quickly, and was cast into more than 170 hoes in just a few hours. If it were done by manpower, even if each person made one hoe, it would be impossible to go through the process from smelting to forging in less than a day.

After Zul'ra had the meticulous Gnomes engineer inspect the steel mill's safety, he ordered the mill to start full operation. The monster lived up to expectations, constantly swallowing all kinds of ores and then spitting out all kinds of steel.

The steel mill's efficiency amazed the craftsmen of all races. One blacksmith remarked that at this rate, Horde would soon have a set of steel plate armor. Hermes even admitted that the smelting equipment in Ironforge was not as efficient.

With qualified steel laid as a foundation, textile machines, generators, and new steam engine parts of suitable scale were successively produced. In line with the production of these mechanical parts, the Horde's textile mills and power plants were successively built in various places in Crossroads and Orgrimmar.

Zul'ra also set up a steam tractor factory. With the help of Goblins and Gnomes engineers, he assembled twenty agricultural steam tractors and road rollers, along with corresponding Goblins drivers, before the spring planting season. He then handed them over to farms near Orgrimmar. Construction is underway everywhere, and without these vehicles, all the factories would probably have to shut down once spring planting begins.

As the industrial monsters began to reveal their true power, the Horde was also maneuvering across the Kalimdor. Thrall sent his trusted assassin Gaodier, to join the ranks of Lirath as a diplomat. Following the strategic plan devised by Zul'ra, Gaudil instigated a deadly battle among the various the Barrens tribes of the Quilboar.

The Quilboar have always been a major threat to farms throughout the Horde. They are not simply wild beasts; they are socially organized. Even though they are very backward, their organized robbery and theft of farms is a real headache for farmers.

Thanks to the effective work of the spy diplomat Gaodier, the Quilboar have now disappeared from Durotar. After a fierce battle, only some of the old, weak, and disabled Quilboar the Barrens the north of the Barrens were persuaded by Hamuul Runetotem to accept the Horde's protection and serve the Horde. As for the Quilboar in the south of the the Barrens, they retreated to Razorfen Downs to continue their fierce fighting.

With the Quilboar gone, the Horde's farms were much more relaxed. However, they still had various troubles, such as flying Harpies and Centaur that moved like the wind. These creatures were not as greedy as the Quilboar, who frequently stole grain, nor were Quilboar as easy to deceive. But their good days were coming to an end.

While developing the Horde's mechanical industry, Zul'ra also obtained some explosive formulas from Goblins alchemists led by Marin Noggenfogger, and began to set up the Horde's chemical plant to mass-produce gunpowder.

Along with gunpowder, new breech-loading rifled muskets and cased bullets were also built. The Horde's factories were sufficient to support the production of these things. Of course, with muskets in hand, cannons were also essential.

Zul'ra had long been impatient with the catapults, ballistae, and crossbows that the Horde was now using on a large scale, because their destructive power was simply not enough in this world. Therefore, after the first batch of three hundred breech-loading rifles and three thousand rounds of ammunition were produced, they were immediately distributed to farms to arm farmers to fight against Centaur and Harpies.

While distributing firearms, Zul'ra had already devised a control plan, registering the weapon serial numbers and controlling the ammunition. Firearms are not like cold weapons such as knives and axes; without bullets, they are no better than a fire poker.

In the midst of these busy days, the twenty-fifth year of the Dark Portal officially arrived. In the twenty-four years since the Dark Portal opened, in addition to a series of industrial constructions, the initial census of the Horde has also been completed.

After verification, the Horde's current population is largest in the Amani, totaling 230,609 people in 130,621 households. Among these people, nearly 20,000 households, or about 60,000 people, are from Zuldrak, and this number continues to grow.

Faced with the growing population, Zul'ra had to use the Horde's fleet, and even hire Goblins fleet, to help the Amani relocate people to Kalimdor. Kalimdor now has 20,000 households, totaling more Amani'lai, most of whom are Shadow Trolls, Shadowfang Trolls, and Zuldrak Ice Trolls. This population is expected to grow to around 100,000 before stopping.

The Amani have the largest Horde any Horde and the highest population mobility. They are the only race in the Horde whose influence spans two continents, unlike the Shu'halo, Orcs, Sin'dorei, Forsaken, and Darkspear Trolls, whose influence is confined to either the Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor.

The Horde's population is lower than that of the Amani. The second largest group is the Goblins, with 93,479 Goblins currently in the Horde, comprising 30,762 households. These are the Goblins who have successfully become citizens. They are currently the only race in the Horde without a leader or organization, and several Goblins are quite interested in establishing their own power.

The Forsaken are the third largest group in the Horde, numbering 81,036. Due to their unique nature, they cannot be counted as households. However, Zul'ra suspects that Sylvanas has falsified the data, as the Abominations and Skeletons, who lack consciousness, should not be included in the population.

Shu'halo's population is slightly smaller than that of the Forsaken, totaling 78,630 people in 46,786 households.

The fifth-ranked group is the Darkspear Trolls, numbering 43,216, comprising 12,071 households.

Orcs are the sixth largest group of people, numbering 41,026, and are divided into 26,308 households.

Sin'dorei ranked seventh in population, with a total of 22,726 people in 10,921 households, though this number is not certain.

At the very bottom of the population list are the Gnomes personally recruited by Zul'ra. Currently, there are 1,406 Gnomes in the Horde, comprising 936 households.

According to preliminary verification, the Horde has a total population of 592,128 people, nearly 260,000 households. Based on the household registration comparison, apart from the Darkspear and Amani Trolls, all other races have families that are short of members or unmarried.

Don't wait up for me tonight, I'm going to sleep now.