Bringing the Railway to Daming

Given the importance attached to this "diplomatic" mission, Fang Gui, the advisor in charge of foreign affairs in the State of Jin, personally took on the role of chief envoy and led a delegation of more than 300 people to the Duchy of Bourbon.

The reason for bringing so many people is naturally for safety reasons.

Therefore, the delegation consisted of 300 elite soldiers from the Jin State garrison, while only the remaining dozen or so were the delegation's officials.

Today, southern France is one of the most chaotic regions in France because several large principalities and counties disappeared in the Anglo-French Wars decades ago and were divided up by a dozen or so smaller lords. The other equally chaotic region is naturally northern France, the border area between England and France.

These minor lords were not very powerful, so when they saw that the delegation was escorted by three hundred elite "knights" and came from the mysterious Jin Kingdom, and that they were going to visit the Grand Duke of Bourbon, basically no one dared to provoke them.

At this moment, Fang Gui led the officials of the delegation into the estate of the Grand Duke of Bourbon. Upon seeing the castle of the Bourbon family, he couldn't help but sigh with admiration.

“They built fortified villages like the powerful families of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. No wonder they were nominally subjects of France, but in reality, they were a state within a state.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jiye (17 years old), the second son of the Prince of Jin, who served as the deputy envoy in the delegation, couldn't help but say, "In that case, isn't the level of the French political system similar to that of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in our history?"

Fang Gui shook his head and chuckled, "To compare France to our Northern and Southern Dynasties is to overestimate them. In my opinion, they're about the same as the Zhou Dynasty."

As they spoke in hushed tones, the group was led into the castle’s living room.

An elderly man with brown curly hair, who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, sat in the main seat, looking at the group of people with curiosity.

A courtier of the Duke of Bourbon introduced the delegation, and the interpreter from the delegation translated. Fang Gui and his party immediately bowed and greeted him—a deep bow. Louis II, mindful of the purpose of the Jin delegation, did not pay much attention to the difference in etiquette.

After the ceremony, Louis II asked curiously, "Is your Jin state a duchy under the Great Ming Kingdom?"

Fang Gui said, "No, according to your standards, our Prince of Jin, and even a prince of the Great Ming Empire, is a kingdom."

Was the Ming Dynasty an empire, and the Jin Dynasty a kingdom?
Louis II was slightly taken aback when he heard this, but then he was delighted. A kingdom sending an embassy to him, the Grand Duke of Bourbon, instead of the French royal family, meant that he was at least on the same level as the King of France in their eyes.
Louis II then asked, "I heard that your country destroyed the Mamluk and Hafs kingdoms?"

Fang Gui said, “The Mamluk rulers are cruel and inhumane, and they have brought about their own destruction by abusing the people. King Hafs blocked my Jin fleet from leaving the Mediterranean and did not respect my Jin king. He broke his promise and mocked us. He deserves to be destroyed.”

Louis II's eyes twitched as he listened to the translation, thinking: So both kingdoms should be destroyed? Only a fool would believe that.

However, the strength of the Jin state was a good thing for him.

"I wonder what business the Prince of Jin has sent with his esteemed envoy to see me?" Louis II asked.

Fang Gui smiled slightly and said, "Our King has heard that France is currently in a state of chaos, with war breaking out everywhere, and it is the perfect time to wage war. He also admires the Duke of Bourbon's heroic act of resisting the English invasion, and therefore intends to send two armies as mercenaries to help Your Excellency fight against the English and other enemies."

Mercenaries?!

Louis II's eyes lit up when he heard this.

The main method used by King Charles V of France to reorganize the army was to replace the militia, which had no fighting capacity, with a portion of mercenaries.

Although Charles V used mercenaries from France and neighboring countries (who were actually mainly bandits and nobles' private armies), he proved to the world that using mercenaries was indeed a good way to improve the combat effectiveness of an army.

The Jin state was able to successively destroy the Mamluk and Hafs kingdoms, which must have indicated that its military strength was formidable.

If he could have a Jin army to serve, he might be able to challenge Philip II, or even carry on Charles V's legacy and drive the English out of France completely!

Thinking of this, Louis II immediately asked, "What is the fighting strength of these two armies that your country has dispatched? How many men do they have?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Gui knew that Louis II was interested.

Although things went so smoothly, he explained, "One of these two mercenary groups is the most elite force in my Jin Kingdom. It is a fully-fledged garrison with 5,600 men."

"As for the other army, it is composed of the guards of four princes of my Great Ming Empire, with a strength of six thousand men."

"As for their combat capabilities, Your Excellency can have the army of the escort mission compete with Your Excellency's army, and then you will know."

Louis II was unmoved when he heard Fang Gui's report on the number of troops, because he subconsciously thought that Fang Gui was referring to the kind of militia (temporarily conscripted farmers).

As a major power in Western Europe, and having just experienced decades of Anglo-French wars, Louis II had witnessed some relatively large-scale battles.

He was quite interested in being able to witness the strength of the Jin army in advance, and immediately ordered, "Alright, then each side will send one hundred men—to avoid casualties, let them fight with spears without heads, bows without arrowheads, wooden swords, and shields. Is that alright?"

Fang Gui looked questioningly at Zhang Debiao, the accompanying military officer, and when Zhang Debiao nodded, he said, "No problem."

Then, everyone moved to the open space of the manor.

Louis II then instructed his officials: "Go and bring one hundred men from the 'Iron Knights'."

The officials were surprised and couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency, those are your most elite troops, only five hundred men in total. Isn't it unfair to use them to deal with the mercenaries of Jin?"

Louis II said, "We want to test the strength of the Jin army, not to have a fair contest."

"Okay, I understand." Under Louis II's arrangement, the hundred soldiers sent by each side quickly took their positions on the open ground.

At this moment, both Louis II and Fang Gui showed surprise.

Fang Gui was surprised because Louis II's side sent out knights dressed in iron armor, and they were quite tall and burly.

Louis II was surprised, partly because the delegation had also sent tall, burly "knights" clad in iron armor. Although the armor of the delegation's "knights" looked relatively simple, experience told Louis II that the armor's defensive capabilities were definitely not low.

After regaining his composure, Fang Gui asked in a low voice, "What are the chances of winning this battle?"

Zhang Debiao's expression was also quite solemn. He said, "We haven't fought against them before, so it's hard to say. However, these are all elite troops. Even if we are no match for them, we won't suffer a humiliating defeat."

Fang Gui frowned and said, "Tell the soldiers that this battle concerns the face of our Jin state and the grand plan of the court. We must win no matter what."

"I hereby decree that after the victory, each person shall be rewarded with at least one hundred strings of cash, and those who have made outstanding contributions will be promoted!"

Zhang Debiao clasped his hands in a fist and solemnly said, "This humble general obeys the order!"

He then personally led a hundred cavalrymen to fight against Louis II’s hundred Iron Knights.

In fact, many of the hundred cavalrymen were Mongols, and Zhang Debiao also used the Mongol tactics, maneuvering his cavalry to circle around the enemy and use arrows to reduce their manpower.

However, since both sides were armored cavalry, this tactic was not very effective.

Of course, the Ironblood Knights, who were being beaten, looked even worse.

What followed was a thrilling cavalry charge that was sure to get your blood pumping.

As he looked around, Louis II frowned—he realized that although the Iron Knights he had carefully trained were all quite strong individually, they were clearly inferior to the knights of Jin in terms of battlefield coordination.

At first glance, when the two sides clashed, it was often two or three or even more Jin knights ganging up on a single Ironblood knight.

The result was that the Iron Knights were knocked off their horses one by one, their disadvantage grew larger and larger, and in the end, the entire army was wiped out!
At this time, more than half of the Jin army's cavalry were still on horseback!
Compared to Louis II's grim expression, Fang Gui's smile was undisguised—he had originally planned to demonstrate the arquebus if all else failed, so that Louis II would know the true strength of the Jin army.

Unexpectedly, the cavalry sent by Louis II, which looked quite formidable, fought like bandits and were no match for the Jin army's cavalry.

"What does Your Excellency think of the strength of my Jin army?" Fang Gui asked with a smile.

Although Louis II felt he had lost face, as a duke with considerable experience, he was not so easily swayed as to lose his composure.

Therefore, he gave a stiff smile and said, "Your country's knights are indeed formidable—are they considered the prince's guards, or are they part of your country's elite army?"

Fang Gui said, "They are just the elite of my Jin army. As for the prince's guards, they are naturally more formidable."

Louis II's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he asked, "How many of these elite knights are in the two armies that Your Excellency just mentioned?"

Fang Gui was taken aback by these words, and then said, "Your Excellency, those two mercenary groups are basically composed of soldiers of this caliber."

Then it was Louis II's turn to be stunned. He thought he had misheard and asked the translator to repeat it. Then, with an incredulous look on his face, he said, "Both mercenary groups are composed of such elite knights? That would mean more than ten thousand knights?!"

Seeing Louis II's surprise, and after hearing the translator's explanation, Fang Gui realized there had been a misunderstanding. He then said, "Your Excellency, I meant that the combat level of the soldiers in both armies was roughly the same, but the cavalry only made up a small part, and the majority were infantry."

Louis II realized he had misunderstood.

Even after figuring it out, he was still shocked—possessing the fighting prowess of an elite knight, even without riding a horse, as long as he had the same armor, he was still a knight!

Shocked, Louis II was both excited and apprehensive, and asked, "How can I get the two mercenary armies you mentioned to serve me?"

Fang Gui was pleased to see the "mercenary plan" move to the next stage.

He said, “Your Excellency, it is like this: the elite guard of our Jin Kingdom will become your mercenaries. All you need is for them to be provided with provisions and to be allowed to keep the spoils of war.”

"As for the other Four Kings mercenary group, it will serve your important ally, Earl Vinard, under the same conditions."

All you need to do is provide them with food supplies and let the mercenaries have spoils of war?

Doesn't that mean it's free?

With this in mind, Louis II asked, "May I ask, Your Excellency, how much food do these two mercenary armies consume per day?"

Fang Gui reported a normal number.

Louis II asked incredulously, "Are there really no other conditions?"

Fang Gui smiled and said, "Of course." (End of Chapter)