Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Yan, Zhu Zhi, and Zhu Quan took turns reading the post-war statistics documents, and they all smiled happily—they would all be able to get a share of the battlefield spoils, which were all money.

Although they were all very wealthy, they could never have enough money to establish their own vassal states, so they always wanted to accumulate as much as possible.

The youngest, Zhu Quan, finished reading last and said, "Brother Prince Dai, the Battle of Clermont has now wiped out nearly 100,000 French peace troops. I'm afraid that even if the war faction could gather another 100,000 troops, it would take them quite a while."

"Most importantly, this battle successfully demonstrated the strength of the Duchy of Bourbon to the French nobles who were watching from the sidelines, which will surely give them confidence to support the Grand Duke of Bourbon."

"With our help, it shouldn't be a problem for the Grand Duke of Bourbon to replace the Grand Duke of Burgundy as regent of France."

"However, we need to discuss carefully how to proceed in a way that best benefits our plans, or rather, how to facilitate the establishment of a fiefdom for my brother, the Prince of Dai."

People grow, and the more experiences they have, the more they grow.

Although Zhu Gui had obvious flaws in his personality, he had a solid foundation from his studies at Dabentang and had gained a lot of experience in recent years. As a prince of the Ming Dynasty who was about to establish his own fiefdom, he was still considered qualified. Otherwise, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao would not have allowed him to establish his own fiefdom.

Upon hearing this, he said, "The three of you are free to share your thoughts. Your advisors under your command can also offer suggestions. We are not people who cannot listen to advice."

Hearing Zhu Gui's "tolerant and magnanimous" attitude, Zhu Yan and the other two were slightly surprised, feeling that their thirteenth brother had indeed made great progress since entering France.

At this moment, Cao Bin, a strategist under Prince Su Zhu Yan, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesties, I have a plan to offer!"

"Oh? Tell me."

At this moment, the large tent not only housed four Ming Dynasty princes, but also their important advisors and generals, totaling more than twenty people, making it quite a gathering of heroes.

If one can offer brilliant advice in such an occasion, one's reputation will soar and one's future will be limitless—one might even be able to return to the Ming Dynasty to serve as an official when the time is right.

Cao Bin looked around at the people around him and said with a smug look, "In my opinion, the biggest difficulty that the four kings will face in establishing vassal states in Europe is that we are regarded as foreigners by the Western barbarians. In addition, since we do not believe in Christianity or the Tianzhu religion, it is easy for the Western barbarians to launch attacks from all sides."

"Ultimately, what we lack is a name that can convince the Westerners to believe in us."

"In that case, we can take advantage of the Duke of Bourbon to carry out a 'borrowing a hen to lay eggs' strategy."

Upon hearing this, some people in the tent pondered, some nodded, while others frowned.

Cao Bin continued, "We can take this opportunity to help the Grand Duke of Bourbon defeat the pro-peace faction led by Philip II, and allow the Grand Duke of Bourbon to become regent of France as originally planned."

"Then let the Archduke of Bourbon, in the name of the King of France, bestow titles of nobility upon several kings, so that they could rightfully possess territories and establish vassal states in France."

“Even if the surrounding Western barbarians think we are foreigners, they can’t say anything because our kings are nobles appointed by the King of France, and they certainly won’t send troops to attack our kings’ vassal states because of this.”

After Cao Bin finished speaking, many people in the tent frowned.

Seeing that Zhu Gui was still thinking, Xiang Yin, Zhu Gui's strategist, hurriedly spoke up: "Your Majesty, Cao Bin's plan is absolutely unacceptable!"

Zhu Gui asked, "Why?"

Cao Bin also looked over, wanting to hear why Xiang Yin objected.

Xiang Yin said, “It’s very simple. Your Majesty is a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty. How can you be enfeoffed by the King of France and become a subordinate noble? In terms of rank, Your Majesty is at least as high as the King of France. If you accept his enfeoffment, wouldn’t you be willingly becoming his subordinate?”

"The most important thing is, wouldn't this be tantamount to betraying the Ming Dynasty and joining the Western barbarian countries?"

Xiang Yin's words pointed out the flaws in Cao Bin's "borrowing a hen to lay eggs" plan.

Immediately, many other advisors of the vassal kings, and even Zhu Yan's other advisors, voiced their opposition within the main tent.

“This plan is indeed not feasible. Your Majesties are all vassal kings of our Great Ming Dynasty. How can they become nobles under the King of France?”

"This plan is tantamount to treason and must not be carried out!"

"Is Counselor Cao unaware of the dangers of this plan, or is he deliberately misleading the kings?"

"I implore Your Highness Prince Su to thoroughly investigate Cao Bin!"

"···"

Aside from opposition, many people disliked Cao Bin and even suspected that he had been paid by the French.

Although these four advisors were all dissatisfied with their positions within the Ming Dynasty and thus joined the ranks of the princes to seek a better future and wealth in distant Europe, they still considered themselves Ming people and possessed the pride of the Ming Empire.

Therefore, Cao Bin's plan truly provoked public outrage. Seeing this, Zhu Yan had no choice but to speak up: "Counselor Cao, have you not thought this through?"

This was a reminder, clearly meant to protect his subordinates—otherwise, it would be detrimental to his ability to unite his other subordinates.

Cao Bin broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly said, "I was indeed careless and had no ill intentions whatsoever. I am ashamed to have made the kings and my colleagues laugh at me."

Seeing that Cao Bin admitted his mistake on the spot, no one pursued the matter further—there was no conflict of interest, so there was no need to.

After the tent had quieted down, Zou Wuji stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I also have a plan."

Given that Cao Bin's plan had just made a fool of himself and even Zhu Yan had lost face, Zhu Gui was also afraid that his advisors would come up with half-baked plans that would embarrass him, so he said, "Advisor Zou, you should think it over carefully before you speak."

Zou Wuji smiled confidently, "I've thought it through."

"Alright, tell me about it."

Zou Wuji said, "Since Your Majesty cannot accept the investiture from the King of France, then the only way to establish a vassal state in France is to end the rule of the French royal family."

"Therefore, we must continue to intensify the conflict between the pro-war and pro-peace factions and encourage them to further escalate the war."

"In this process, it would be best to involve all the French nobles, and even the surrounding countries, and at the right time, eliminate the French royal family and all related heirs."

"At the same time, it lured the duchies and counties of Bourbon, Burgundy and other states to completely secede from France—in this process, many nobles were certainly wiped out and their territories became no-man's land."

"At this time, Your Majesty only needs to quietly occupy the territory and develop the business in the French Civil War. After two or three years, when they realize what is happening, Your Majesty should have already established a vassal state and gained a foothold, and will no longer be afraid of the Western barbarians launching attacks from all sides."

After listening to Zou Wuji's explanation, Zhu Gui, Zhu Yan, and the other two began to think about it.

Their advisors and generals were also whispering among themselves.

"I think this plan is good; it's much more feasible than Cao Bin's."

"The plan is good, but it's complicated to implement and will take at least a few years."

"Europe is not a no-man's-land. White people have occupied this place for thousands of years. Their skin color and culture are very different from those of China. How can we establish a vassal state here without spending some time and effort?"

"I'm afraid that even after establishing a vassal state, we will eventually face attacks from the surrounding Western barbarians—just like the Ottomans, who, because they believed in the true God rather than Jesus, were attacked by the Western barbarians who organized crusades to the east many times. This shows the xenophobia of the Western barbarians."

"The Western barbarians were xenophobic, especially in terms of beliefs and culture. But what were the results of their several eastward expeditions against the Ottomans? Not only did they fail to defeat the Ottomans, they actually made the Ottomans stronger and stronger."

"If our king were to establish a vassal state, would he be inferior to the Ottomans?"

"That's true."

"···"

As Zhu Gui and the other three listened to the murmurs of the advisors below, they gradually came up with an idea.

After exchanging glances, Zhu Gui asked, "What do the three of you think of Counselor Zou's plan?"

Zhu Yan said, "It's alright, but it's a bit troublesome."

Zhu Quan said, "I think it's feasible."

Zhu Zhi nodded, "I also think it's feasible."

Zhu Gui smiled and said, "Since all three of you think it's feasible, then let's proceed according to Zou Wuji's plan."

The meeting ended and everyone dispersed.

Zhu Gui re-examined the post-war statistics, especially the list of captured nobles, and then said, "Bring Young Master John to meet us."

Zhu Gui's guards knew which John was referring to, and they left immediately, quickly bringing the young John over.

Zhu Gui smiled and said, "Young Master John, we meet again."

Upon seeing Zhu Gui again, young John turned pale, his usual arrogance as the eldest son of the Grand Duke gone. After hearing the translation, he nervously said, "Don't do anything rash! I am the first heir to the Duchy of Burgundy; my family will definitely pay to ransom me!" (End of Chapter)