Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Gui thought the other three would be quite interested in his proposal; putting himself in their shoes, he didn't like being too constrained.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yan, Zhu Zhi, and Zhu Quan were not him.

Upon hearing this, even Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Liao, who had remained silent until now, shook his head. "Thirteenth Brother, if we want to establish vassal states overseas, we still need to immigrate within the Ming Dynasty. If we disobey the imperial decree now, we may be punished by the court in the future, and we may not even be allowed to establish vassal states overseas."

Zhu Quan then said, "If Brother Thirteen thinks we have too many people, then each of us should contribute 1,500 men to form a Four Kings Mercenary Army. We can then split any profits we make in France."

"Six thousand men—presumably there are lords in France who can afford to hire them. If all else fails, we can pretend to offer them some discounts; after all, we can get them back in the future."

Although Zhu Gui was somewhat tyrannical and reckless, he was not truly stupid.

His idea was that if the four princes were to "disobey orders from the army in the field," then even if the court punished them in the future, it wouldn't be too severe.

At least that's what he thought.

Now that he sees that the other three disagree, even if he's bold, he wouldn't dare to do it alone.

Therefore, he frowned and said, "Alright, let's do as Seventeenth Brother says. However, since the four of us will contribute the same number of soldiers to form a mercenary army, who should lead it?"

Zhu Quan continued to offer suggestions, saying, "Let's each select a trustworthy general, and then have the four of us publicly compete in military strategy, martial arts, and so on. Whoever comes in first place will become the commander of the Four Kings' mercenary army."

"As for the other three, they will all serve as deputy commanders, assisting in commanding the mercenaries in combat. What do you think?"

Zhu Yan said, "This method is fair, we agree."

Zhu Zhi nodded in agreement. "I agree too."

Although Zhu Gui wanted to take command directly based on his seniority and the number of troops, he had no choice but to nod when he saw that the other two agreed with Zhu Quan's idea. "Alright, let's do as Seventeenth Brother says."

He thought to himself that the other three guards had been in the Western Sea Commandery for less than a year, while his guards had been training for more than a year. He dared not say that he was the best in martial arts, but in terms of military strategy, he could definitely surpass the generals under the other three.

After agreeing on the matter, the four communicated with Zhu Gang via telegram to select a suitable lord from France to support, while simultaneously conducting the "Selection of the Commander of the Four Kings' Mercenary Army".

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Jinyang (Cairo), the capital of the State of Jin.

Zhu Gang was discussing with several of his subordinates which two French lords to select as targets for "support".

Because this matter involved intelligence on many French lords, Tie Mingyi, the commander of the Bright Guard, was also invited to participate in the meeting.

On his throne, Zhu Gang looked through the intelligence reports on the French lords that the Bright Guard had shared for the umpteenth time, his brows furrowed in worry.

"The territory of the Kingdom of France is not even as large as a few provinces of our Great Ming, yet it has so many lords. It's one thing to have so many lords, but some of these lords are actually granted fiefs, some are nominally granted fiefs, and some hold several fiefs concurrently."

"Furthermore, these lords, who consider themselves nobles, are so uncultured that they only have a few names—Charles, Louis, Philip, John—either with a prefix like brave or kind or a suffix like several generations added to the end, and that's a new name."

"Can't they come up with a name that's completely different from everyone else's? These awful names are driving me crazy!"

Upon hearing Zhu Gang's words, both the heir apparent Zhu Jixi and his ministers, including Wang Yi, Fang Gui, Xie Yu, and Yang Jun, almost burst out laughing.

There was no other reason than that they had all read the intelligence data on the lords of the Kingdom of France. Indeed, as Zhu Gang said, just figuring out the relationships between the lords with similar names was quite a headache.

For example, there are several people named Louis and John at the same time.

Although people with the same first name may not necessarily share the same surname, these Western barbarian names certainly made the few people, who were used to seeing concise yet meaningful Chinese names, feel contempt.

At this moment, the strategist Wang Yi smiled and said, "Your Majesty can use the titles of these lords as the standard, that is, the names of their most important or core fiefdoms, so that it will not be too confusing."

Zhu Gang then asked, "Mr. Wang, which two French lords do you think are suitable targets for 'support'?"

Wang Yi said, "King Charles VI of France ascended the throne at a young age and also had mental problems, so in reality, the three dukes, Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, Louis I, Duke of Anjou, and John, Duke of Berry, jointly ruled as regents."

"These three dukes were actually Charles VI's uncles, and of the three, Philip II was the most prestigious and had the most powerful territories."

"Therefore, we don't need to consider the Duchy of Burgundy—because the Duke of Burgundy is now the de facto ruler of France. He neither needs our help nor is he afraid of us."

"Although Philippe and the other three dukes were regents, there were still forces in France who were dissatisfied with them. The most representative of these forces was the faction led by Queen Isabella, the Duke of Orléans, and the Duke of Bourbon."

"According to the intelligence analysis of the Bright Guard, the biggest difference between the two political views lies in their attitudes toward the Kingdom of England."

"The Duke of Burgundy's faction can be seen as the peace-seeking faction—they hoped to ease relations with the Kingdom of England and exchange relatively long-term peace through mutual trade and other benefits."

"The Queen's faction, on the other hand, resolutely resisted the invasion of the Kingdom of England and hoped to completely recover all the lost territories from the previous Anglo-French war and drive the English back to their homeland."

"About two years ago, Charles VI's mental health deteriorated, and Queen Isabella was able to participate in the regency. However, the core members of their faction were still the Duke of Bourbon, followed by the Duke of Orléans."

"Strictly speaking, the Duke of Orléans is a neutral party here. He hopes to bridge the gap between the peace faction and the war faction, but he is slightly biased towards the war faction." "Whether from the perspective of the long-term strategy for Western Europe or from the perspective of the current situation in France, we should choose a target to support from among the war faction lords."

"My suggestion is that our Jin mercenaries could try to make contact with Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (the benevolent Louis)."

"As for the mercenary group formed by the four leaders, they can contact Earl Navel, another important member of the pro-war faction."

"If we can get the Duke of Bourbon and the Earl of Navel to accept our army as mercenaries, then things will be much easier."

Zhu Gang nodded first, then asked, "Does anyone else have any other suggestions?"

Fang Gui and the others thought to themselves, "Since you've already agreed, who has any objections?"

Zhu Jixi then spoke up, "Father, how many mercenaries should we send?"

Zhu Gang looked at Wang Yi, "I am preparing to send a guard. What do you think, Mr. Wang?"

A garrison of 5,600 men, even if they were just ordinary vassal garrisons and not military garrisons, and their firearms equipment rate was not high, would still be a powerful military force in modern France.

He immediately nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise; one guard is just right."

"Then it's settled—Ji Xi, go and send a telegram to the thirteenth prince and tell them the targets we've chosen to support. If they're not satisfied, they can choose for themselves, but they must choose from among the 'pro-war' lords of France, so as not to cause the two armies to kill each other in the future."

Zhu Jixi nodded, "Your subject will go and send the message now."

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France, the Duchy of Bourbon.

The 58-year-old Duke of Bourbon, Louis de Bourbon III, is in a bad mood lately.

During the war in which England invaded France two or three decades ago (the first phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France), he was a close friend of Bertrand du Guéclair, the heroic commander of the French resistance against England.

Later, after King Charles V of France ascended the throne, he negotiated peace with England. In order to ensure that France would pay the deposit, he unfortunately became one of the hostages held by England and was imprisoned in England for nearly ten years before he was able to return to France.

This experience instilled in Louis II a deep-seated hostility towards England, leading him to hope to drive the English out of France and even invade the English islands.

However, he recently received news that Philip II was planning to conclude a twenty-year armistice with England!

In Louis II's eyes, Philip II was a complete traitor! A French collaborator who sought benefits for the English!
When Charles V ascended the throne, he sought peace with England because France was beset by internal and external troubles and lacked military strength, leaving him no choice but to sue for peace.

Afterwards, Charles V reorganized the army, reformed the tax system, and unified the princes, greatly strengthening the power of France. He then decisively launched a war against England, which resulted in the recovery of many lost territories and drove the English to the northern coast (Normandy).

Although Charles V died young and his son Charles VI was mentally ill, the army he left behind was still there. If Philip II and others were truly willing, they could have continued fighting the English and reclaimed all the lost territories.

After all, England is not what it used to be. Due to tax issues, there were constant rebellions by lords of all sizes. The internal war lasted for six or seven years after King Charles II ascended the throne before it was temporarily stopped by mutual compromise.

But now Charles II is taking revenge on the lords who participated in the uprising, finding excuses to execute or exile the nobles who were involved in the uprising.

It is foreseeable that this move will provoke discontent among the remaining nobles, and England will most likely erupt into an even more serious civil war.

Although France is currently experiencing internal strife, isn't the main conflict the conflicting political views of the pro-war and pro-peace factions? If Philip II were to change his stance and turn the pro-peace faction into a pro-war faction, the French civil war could naturally be quelled, and the entire nation could wage war against England to avenge the national humiliation!

Philip II controlled the government, yet instead of doing this, he wanted to conclude a twenty-year peace treaty with England. What else could he be but a traitor?!

Philip II may have even wanted to keep England, his external enemy, in check so that his Duchy of Burgundy would have enough time to annex more lords who did not obey him, and thus replace the Valois dynasty and establish his Kingdom of Burgundy-France!
Thinking of this, and recalling the cases this year where several minor lords under his control were annexed by lords of the Duchy of Burgundy, Louis II became increasingly certain that Philip II wanted to "change the dynasty".

Even if he were certain, there was nothing he could do—he was no match for the other. Even if he knew Philip II's plot, what could he do to stop him?
Let alone stop it, given the temperament of Philip II's son John, if he doesn't show submission in time, it's estimated that even the Duchy of Bourbon might not be able to be preserved.

"Ugh!"

Louis II sighed heavily again, losing all interest in even the expensive tea that had been brewed beside him.

At this moment, an official walked in, looking at him strangely, and said, "Your Excellency, a delegation has arrived outside and wishes to see you."

"A mission? Which country's mission?"

"It is said to be the Jin State, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Jin Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty?" The Duchy of Bourbon was relatively close to the Mediterranean, so Louis II had heard some news about the southern coast of the Mediterranean. He asked with a thought, "Could it be the Jin Kingdom that destroyed the Mamluk and Hafs kingdoms and defeated the Aragonese navy?"

The official replied, "It should be them."

Louis II's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately said, "Bring them to me quickly!" (End of Chapter)