Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zacre noticed that when the Gangri knights finally realized they were outmatched, several threw down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender and become prisoners. However, perhaps the mercenaries couldn't understand them, they killed even those knights who wanted to surrender.

Then, the mercenaries began to systematically strip the knights of their armor and weapons, and search their belongings.

What surprised Zacrey even more happened.

After acquiring armor, weapons, and valuables, these mercenaries did not keep them for themselves, but instead pooled them together in one place.

'Were their spoils distributed by the commander after the battle?'

Many people know the benefits of a unified distribution of spoils after a battle, but very few armies actually do it, let alone mercenaries whose purpose is to make money.

Mercenaries have been emerging in various parts of Europe for over a century. Zacre, as Baron Miljo's knight commander, had also come into contact with several small mercenary groups of only a few dozen men.

He could say with certainty that the combat effectiveness and discipline of those mercenaries were no match for the mercenaries in front of him.

Just as Zacree was lost in thought, the Grand Duke of Bourbon's Knight Commander Lawrence, the commander of the mercenary group, and the translator emerged from the town.

Lawrence was clearly dazed, as if he had been quite shocked by something.

"Hey, Lawrence, I'm Zacre, the knight commander of Baron Miljo. Have you dealt with the Gangri bandits in town?"

Zacre's words brought Lawrence back to his senses, and he nodded subconsciously, saying, "Yes, it's resolved."

Is it really resolved?

Zacree paused for a moment, then asked, "That gang of Gangri bandits numbered over five hundred. Could it be that only a portion of them stayed in town?"

“No,” Lawrence shook his head, “they are all here, they’ve all been dealt with.”

"They've all been taken care of?" Zacre was completely stunned upon hearing this, finding it hard to believe.

This mysterious 300-man mercenary force actually managed to defeat the Gangri army?
Besides the fifty-odd knights, there were also a hundred elite longbowmen, and the remaining infantry were all semi-professional troops trained by Baron Gangri, far superior to ordinary militia (temporarily conscripted farmers).

They actually let a mercenary group take care of it?

After regaining his senses, Zacre suddenly remembered something important and hurriedly asked, "Where is Baron Gangri? I heard he is personally leading this army."

Lawrence said with a complicated expression, "He was... killed."

Lauren witnessed firsthand the valiant Baron Gangri, clad in full iron armor, leading a dozen knights in a charge down the street against the Jin army, only to be shot down by a weapon called a "bird gun".

Faced with the arquebus, Baron Gangri's superior armor, though preventing his immediate death, no longer posed a threat. When he stood up again, he stubbornly continued to approach the Jin arquebus squad, until finally his armor was pierced by the arquebus and he died on the spot.

This made Lawrence realize that the musket was not only easier to fire than the bow and arrow, requiring less effort, but also more powerful!

Upon hearing that Baron Gangri, whom Baron Milhaw considered a formidable enemy, was dead, Zacree paused for a moment before asking in bewilderment, "Didn't these mercenaries know that capturing Baron Gangri could fetch a large ransom?"

Lawrence said, "They knew, but Baron Gangge did not surrender at the time."

“Alright.” At this point, Zacre felt he had completed the Baron's task and prepared to return to report. But before leaving, he couldn't help asking, “What's the name of this mercenary group? Where are they from?”

"They came from the State of Jin on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. They were elite soldiers of Jin. As for their specific titles, I don't know either."

“Jin State?” Zacrey mimicked Lawrence’s pronunciation, but he had no idea which country it was.

He figured Baron Milyo might know, so he didn't ask any further questions and took a few knights back to report.

After Zheng Jian led his troops to clean up the battlefield and loot the town of valuables, he gave a speech and then confirmed the merits and demerits of the soldiers in the battle.

In fact, while the discipline of the six banner commanders under his command was good enough in Zacree's eyes, it still needed improvement.

This is because only the majority of the officers and a small number of soldiers in this army were Han Chinese or Mongolians, while the majority of the soldiers were originally Mamluks.

The Mamluks are a multi-ethnic nation, so this army actually included many people from different ethnic groups, including those with yellow, white, and black skin.

Even elite soldiers who have trained for many years are not immune to making mistakes in battle.

However, there are some mistakes that no one dares to make, namely, those that are punishable by death according to military regulations, such as concealing spoils of war. In the Jin army, this would not normally constitute a capital offense, but because of the nature of mercenaries, Zhu Gang upgraded it to a capital offense to prevent the mercenaries from gradually losing control due to looting.

While the crime of concealing property was upgraded to a capital offense, the mercenaries were exceptionally generous with their rewards. In the Jin army, only a small portion of the spoils of war were distributed as rewards; but in this mercenary army, most of the spoils of war were distributed to the soldiers according to their merits, and they also received a certain amount of military merit!

For the reasons mentioned above, this elite garrison of the Jin Dynasty, after arriving in France as a mercenary force, displayed combat power that even surpassed that of the past!
After conducting a post-war "summary," Zheng Jian led his army to Baron Milyo's castle.

He hadn't forgotten that Baron Milio had said he would send flour, pigs, sheep, and fine wine if they won. To ensure a stable supply of provisions for the mercenaries, their pay and provisions were paid directly by the Grand Duke of Bourbon. As for how the Grand Duke of Bourbon would reimburse his subordinate lords afterward, that was none of Jin's business.

Inside the castle, Bill remained stunned for a long time after repeatedly confirming with Zacree the answer that the entire army of over five hundred Gangri "bandits" had been wiped out.

He barely came to his senses when the steward came to report that the mercenaries had returned to the castle.

“The Kingdom of Jin…” he murmured. “The Grand Duke mentioned in his letter that this army came from the Kingdom of Jin, which was under the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire. It is said that in the past few years, they have successively destroyed the Mamluk Kingdom and the Khafs Kingdom on the southern coast of the Mediterranean.”

"I just didn't expect them to be so powerful—how did they manage to wipe out more than 500 troops from Gangri territory with only 300 men?"

Zacre recalled the cavalry battle scenes he had observed and said, "Your Excellency, their battle robes should all be covered with iron armor, similar to a combination of cloth armor and iron armor."

At that time, Europe had cloth armor, leather armor, and iron armor, but cloth armor was made of cloth.

Therefore, when Bill saw Zheng Jian's mercenaries earlier, he assumed they were all wearing cloth armor.

Upon hearing that the armor might be cloth armor covered with iron, Bill suddenly realized, "No wonder... If it were three hundred elite soldiers wearing both cloth and iron armor, it wouldn't be impossible for them to wipe out Gangri's men in a surprise attack."

"But how did they deal with those elite longbowmen?"

Bill had personally experienced the formidable skill of the elite archers trained in Gangri, modeled after the English longbowmen.

That was the first time Gangri had come to plunder disguised as bandits last year. He led his knights and militia up, but more than a dozen of them were shot down in one go. That's why he retreated to his castle afterward and dared not fight against Gangri's "bandits" again.

The butler then reminded him, "Your Excellency, those mercenaries are still waiting for the flour, pigs, sheep, and wine you promised. Should we prepare them?"

Bill said, "Get ready immediately—this mercenary group is so powerful, we can't afford to offend them."

In Europe, mercenaries and bandits frequently switched roles, and it was common for them to plunder manors and towns within their employers' territories. It was also not uncommon for them to turn on their employers if the employer broke their promises, sometimes even causing the annihilation of a noble territory.

So Bill went from being arrogant at first to being obsequious later. Not only did he deliver a batch of food to Zheng Jian's Jin garrison as promised, but he also came to see Zheng Jian specifically, hoping to get closer to him.

Unfortunately, not only did the two sides not speak the same language, but their cultural customs were also very different. Bill's attempts to get close to them only led to a lot of awkward situations.

With military orders in mind, Zheng Jian had the cooks in his ranks prepare a large meal outside the castle to reward the soldiers before leaving Baron Milyo's territory.

Watching the Jin army depart, Bill couldn't help but say, "Judging from the direction they're heading, are they going to Gangri Territory?"

The attendant said, "It seems so."

Bill's eyes suddenly lit up. "That son of a bitch Gangri is dead. Are they planning to take this opportunity to plunder Gangri territory?"

Before the squire could answer, Bill loudly ordered, "Zachray, quickly gather the knights and squires, plus some elite militia, make a hundred men, and we'll go to Gangri Territory to get a piece of the pie!"

Last year and this year, Gangri plundered a lot of supplies, farmers, women and children from his territory. If this mercenary army takes them all, he will suffer a huge loss.

Even though he dared not compete with the mercenaries, arriving quickly would at least secure him a share of the spoils...

···
Two days later.

In front of Baron Gangri Castle.

Bill and his hundred-strong army stood by like lackeys, watching blankly as Zheng Jian directed his soldiers to make various preparations.

Seeing the strange, short, thick iron pipes placed about two hundred paces in front of the castle, Bill couldn't help but wonder, "Are they really going to attack Gangri Castle? Why are they using these strange iron pipes instead of catapults?"

It was only a half-day journey from Baron Milau's territory to Baron Daogangri's territory. Excluding the time spent camping and resting, Bill and his men actually only followed Zheng Jian and his group for half a day, which was spent plundering the property of several villages and manors.

The militias of these villages and manors dared not resist, so Bill was unable to witness the fighting power of this Jin army firsthand.

That's why he doubted whether Zheng Jian and his men had the ability to breach the castle.

It's important to understand that castles in Europe are very difficult to breach, so in many small-scale battles, neither side would target castles for conquest, and direct occupation was rare—only major wars would result in a large number of castles changing hands.

Hearing Bill's doubts, Zacree recalled the information he had gleaned from Lawrence and said, "Your Excellency, perhaps these thick iron pipes can also fire lead bullets, just like their thin iron pipes?"

Bill scoffed, "Even so, they still can't break through Gangri Castle."

No sooner had Bill finished speaking than Zheng Jian gave the order to attack the castle. (End of Chapter)