Bringing the Railway to Daming

The chefs accompanying the mission were unwilling to cook for Louis II, even though he offered three times the salary.

But under Fang Gui's persuasion, the chef finally agreed and began a thrilling life as a part-time spy.

The following day, Fang Gui set off for the County of Navel with a personal letter from Louis II.

Before leaving, Louis II said to Fang Gui: "To be honest, there are several lords in the Toulouse region who are subordinate to me and are being harassed, or even invaded, by lords subordinate to the Duchy of Burgundy."

"Now that we have reached an agreement, if possible, I hope that the State of Jin can send troops as soon as possible to help my vassal lord drive out those despicable invaders."

Fang Gui said, "I will send a messenger back to Jinyang first to inform our king and ask him to send troops over as soon as possible."

"that would be great!"

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More than a month later.

Baron Milhaud.

Baron Bill de Milhaud was holed up in his castle, watching with fury as Baron Gangge led his men, disguised as bandits, to plunder the manor and town.

“That son of a bitch Gangri is raiding my territory again, and he’s even stupidly calling himself a bandit—does he think I can’t recognize his armor and horse?”

"One day I will make him pay for what he did today, and I will make him return all the property and farmers he stole from me!"

The knight commander, squire, butler, and others nearby listened silently without uttering a sound.

Baron Milio said the same thing when Baron Gangri came to plunder last year, and he said it again this year. Therefore, they felt that Baron Milio would still have to say the same thing next year.

As for the year after next?
They believed that the Baron Milhaud would disappear before the year after next.

Even the knight commander Zacre looked ashamed—although Baron Miljo's order was to retreat to the castle, it was a disgrace for a knight to fail to protect his territory.

But he also knew that Baron Milhaw had no choice.

Who could blame Baron Gangge for having not only more than twice the size of Milhaud's army, but also for his superior equipment? He even had a troop of elite archers trained in the style of English longbowmen.

With Milyo's military strength, they simply couldn't defeat this "bandit" force. If they insisted on going out to fight, they would only be throwing their lives away and causing Milyo's territory to disappear even sooner.

Just as Bill was gazing resentfully at the Gangri army reveling in the town in the distance, another strange army came into view.

The army consisted of about three hundred men, including twenty or thirty knights and the rest infantry. However, both the knights and the infantry were dressed in bright red clothing and wore only iron helmets.

Before long, the army arrived outside the castle, and Bill noticed that the faces of the soldiers were very strange, like Turks or the legendary Mongols.

'Where did this army come from? They can't be here to help that Gangri attack my castle, can they?'

Just as Bill was making wild guesses, someone he recognized appeared—a knight commander from the Grand Duke of Bourbon.

“Your Excellency, I am Lawrence, the Knight Commander of the Grand Duke of Bourbon, and the army beside me is a mercenary force hired by the Grand Duke to help you deal with the ‘bandits’.”

"Is this true?" Bill asked, somewhat skeptical.

“Of course it’s true.” Knight Commander Lawrence said, taking out a letter. “This is a letter from the Grand Duke. You can take a look.” After saying that, Lawrence placed the letter in the basket.

Bill received the letter, identified the handwriting and markings, and confirmed its authenticity, but still did not open the castle gates—for a nobleman, the castle was like an outer shell, and he would never easily let other armies in.

He took another look at the army outside the castle and said, "This mercenary force only has three hundred men, right? The bandits brought from Gangri have more than five hundred men, including more than fifty knights and a hundred elite longbowmen."

"Even if I send out all two hundred troops from the castle to help, I'm afraid we might not be able to defeat the bandits led by Gangri."

The army outside the castle, dressed in fiery red battle robes (actually cloth armor), was naturally the elite garrison army from the State of Jin.

Accompanying the army were not only the Grand Knight who served as the messenger of the Duke of Bourbon, but also an interpreter trained by the State of Jin.

The translator first translated Bill's words.

The centurion in charge of the army, Zheng Jian, snorted, "Tell this baron that we don't need his troops to help us; just watch."

The translator first translated the words to Lawrence, who was taken aback, but then immediately relayed them to Bill.

'Where did these mercenaries come from, acting so arrogantly? Do they really think those are just ordinary bandits?' Bill thought to himself.

He felt it was inappropriate for him to offer advice on such a matter; since this mercenary group was so arrogant, he should let them suffer some losses.

He then said, "Very well, I hope you will return in glory of victory. I will send you flour, pigs, sheep, and fine wine to thank you!"

Zheng Jian didn't say much and led his army directly to a town not far away. Their scouts had already found out that the "bandits" who were ravaging the Milyo territory were entrenched in that town, seemingly trying to provoke Baron Milyo to come out of the city to fight.

Of course, it could also be simply because this town, near Baron Miljo's castle, is the richest town in Miljo territory.

On the castle, Knight Commander Zacre asked, "Your Excellency, do you really think these three hundred mercenaries can drive away the army of Gangri?"

“No.” Bill shook his head. “They don’t even have a decent set of armor, so they’re bound to lose. But the Gangri army might suffer heavy losses as a result—Zakray, take a few men and keep an eye on them from a distance. Once their battle is over, come back and let me know immediately.”

Although Zacre felt that Baron Miljo's actions were wrong, he still obeyed the order and left the castle with several knights.

When Zacre arrived outside the town, he was surprised to find that the mercenaries had already stormed in, and strange, crisp cracking sounds could be heard from inside, while the shouts of battle were not very loud.

Zacre was curious and wanted to go into the town to find out what was going on.

When they got about a hundred paces from the town, they were stopped by several mercenary cavalrymen.

Zacre quickly explained that he was Baron Miljo's knight commander and meant no harm. But the other man seemed not to understand him, only drawing his bow and arrows as a warning, telling them not to approach the town any further.

So Zacree and his companions could only wait for the outcome a little over a hundred paces from the town.

Zacre thought it would take at least an hour for the battle to end.

Before long, they saw more than twenty knights from Gangri running out of the town, looking disheveled and panicked.

Then Zacre saw twenty or thirty mercenary knights either chasing after them or intercepting them from the outside. Despite their numbers being roughly equal, they easily dispatched the twenty-odd knights from Gangri Territory! (End of Chapter)