Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 561 John Arrives and Does One Thing [Please Subscribe]

Before John could gather the lords of the southwest after arriving in Salon, he did one thing: a ball, a ball, and it was his mother's ball.

Oh, and occasionally he would do another thing, which was to have an affair with a lady or young woman he took a fancy to.

On this day, John was discussing human body art with a baroness at one of the Earl of Auxerre's estates.

“Mrs. Margaret, I never imagined that you, in your forties, would still have such a perfect body, so captivating.” John gazed at the middle-aged noblewoman sprawled on the bed with the eyes of an appreciator of a work of art.

He was obviously not telling the truth.

Actually, this lady's face and figure were just average, not nearly as striking as any of the Parisian ladies he had ever seen. What truly fascinated him was her name—it was the same as his mother's and wife's names, which gave John a unique sense of excitement.

Mrs. Margaret, however, thought John was telling the truth and was overjoyed, blushing deeply.

Just as she was about to demonstrate her special skills to John, there was a knock on the door, and John's valet's voice came through.

"General John, an urgent report has just arrived: Baron Salan's territory has been attacked by bandits, and Baron Salan's castle is likely already under siege."

John frowned upon hearing this, losing all interest in discussing human body art with Lady Margaret. He immediately left the room, looking displeased, and said, "What exactly happened? Knowing I was coming, someone still dared to impersonate a bandit and attack other lords?"

The attendant Will said, "General, perhaps they really are bandits."

"Whether they are real bandits or fake bandits, I will capture them all and bring them to the gates of Shalon to be hanged!" After saying this, John returned to his room, had the noblewoman dress him, and then came out again. "Pass on my military order: have the Snow Lion Knights prepare to accompany me to Baron Salan's territory first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Yes!"

The attendant responded and left.

John went to the balcony and looked at the gardener trimming the flowers and trees in the manor with a cold gaze.

He was furious that a nobleman would disrespect him and cause such a disturbance after he arrived in Chalons and issued the lord's summons—this made him feel that the dignity of the Duchy of Burgundy had been seriously challenged.

In addition, John also wanted to gain military merit by eliminating the "bandits" so that those in Paris who said he had risen to a high position in the army because of his father, the Grand Regent.

The following day, John, with the prepared Snow Lion Knights, set off for Baron Salan's territory.

He did not send out any reconnaissance troops first—in his view, the entire Snow Lion Knights (with 3,000 cavalry, 1,000 heavy infantry, 1,000 elite archers, and 3,000 light infantry and logistics personnel), totaling more than 8,000 men, could run rampant in the Kingdom of France.

Whether the bandit is real or fake, he and the Snow Lion Knights will crush him!

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Saran Castle.

Zhu Gui lay half-reclined on a soft fur-covered armchair, flanked by three reasonably attractive French girls—two of them were massaging Zhu Gui's legs, and the prettiest of them was feeding her grapes.

To the side was the already appointed acting eunuch, Saran—Salan was actually just a surname of Baron Saran; his real name was Pol Lovich Kove Saran.

Zhu Gui thought the original name was too long, so he changed it to Salan, with the surname Sa and the given name Lan.

Saran's face was even paler than two days ago, almost bloodless, like a vampire from legend. He held a wine tray in his hand, containing a wine bottle and glasses, as well as several fragrant pastries.

However, Saran's attention was not on the pastries and wine, but on the three beautiful girls—one of whom was his sister, and the other two were maids he had carefully selected from his territory.

In other words, he should have been the one enjoying himself while lying on the fur chair, but now he has become its "master".

"What is Xiao Sa thinking about?" Zhu Gui glanced at Salan and asked.

Saran looked bewildered, and only after listening to the narrator's translation did he say, "I am grateful for my master's mercy in sparing my life." Zhu Gui said, "It's good that you know how to be grateful—but you'd better learn Chinese as soon as possible, otherwise how can you be a good eunuch for me?"

"Yes."

After Salan responded, a complicated expression appeared on his face.

After being castrated, he became Zhu Gui's eunuch. Only then did he realize that the person in front of him was not only from the Ming Empire, but also a prince of the Ming Empire!

That is to say, their status is the same as that of the King of France!
So, by this calculation, his service as an official under Zhu Gui was essentially equivalent to serving as a eunuch to the king, which wasn't too unfair—but the emptiness he felt in his lower body made it difficult for him to accept reality.

After an officer reported, he entered, clasped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, our scouts have learned that John, the eldest son of Philip II and a major general in the French army, is leading the Snow Lion Knights toward Baron Salan."

“John?” Zhu Gui searched his memory for information about the main French figures, and then encountered the same problem that Zhu Gang had faced before—he felt that the French names were too repetitive, and their full names were too long and difficult to remember.

He then asked, "Little Sa, do you know this John?"

Upon hearing the translator's translation, Saran immediately realized this was his chance to shine—but why? He wasn't sure.

"My esteemed master, John is the eldest son of Philip II, the Duke of Burgundy, and is also known as John the Fearless. This seems to be a compliment to his bravery, but it is actually a veiled criticism of his recklessness and disregard for consequences."

Zhu Gui listened to the translation and laughed, "Reckless? How could I be so reckless? Have you found out anything about the Snow Lion Knights?"

The officer reported, "Your Majesty, the Snow Lion Knights have come as a complete unit, totaling over eight thousand men..."

After listening to the intelligence from the Snow Lion Knights, Zhu Gui felt that a cold weapon legion of less than 10,000 men was nothing, but the problem was that the Saran Castle only had more than 3,000 French escorts at the moment.

He immediately said, “Quickly send someone to summon my remaining two thousand guards and the First Guard of the French Escort Army to Salan Castle—tell them to send out more scouts to see if they can cooperate with us from the inside to annihilate that John and the Snow Lion Knights here!”

"I will obey your orders!"

The officer accepted the order and left.

Although Saran couldn't understand the Chinese spoken earlier, he guessed that John had probably led the Snow Lion Knights to arrive. So he asked, "Master, the Snow Lion Knights are powerful. Shouldn't we leave?"

Zhu Gui laughed, "No matter how powerful the Snow Lion Knights are, can they be more powerful than my guards? Little Sa, just you wait, maybe it won't be long before that fearless John comes to keep you company."

John, will you keep me company?
Imagine what the eldest son of the Burgundian duke, who was said to be a womanizer in Paris, would look like after being castrated, and Saran suddenly felt a strange sense of anticipation.

Two days have passed in the blink of an eye.

John led the Snow Lion Knights to the outside of Saran Castle.

Seeing a flag with a skull and crossbones flying above the walls of Saran Castle, John asked in confusion, "What does that flag mean? Is it some kind of family crest?"

The attendant said, “General, as far as I know, it seems that pirates like to use skulls as flags—this flag may indicate that the bandits who occupied Saran Castle actually came from the sea and were originally pirates, who knows.”

John scoffed, "Pirates should stay in the sea. How dare they come ashore to plunder? They're asking for death."

"Pass down the order to have the officers prepare to attack Saran Castle immediately—I'm having lunch there this noon!"

"Yes, General!"

Soon, military music began to play, as the Snow Lion Knights arrayed themselves for an attack on Saran Castle.

(End of this chapter)