Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Gui needed money to establish his vassal state. Putting aside other things, the reason he was able to train such a formidable Western Sea and French vassal troops was precisely because he treated them well and equipped them with superior equipment.

Therefore, he would never complain about having too much money.

After hearing John's words, Zhu Gui stroked his short beard and asked with amusement, "Oh, then tell me, how much ransom is your father willing to pay to redeem you?"

John listened to the translator's translation, calmed himself down a bit, and said, "Fifty thousand gold francs."

"Only fifty thousand gold coins?" Zhu Gui looked greatly disappointed and shouted, "Men, take Young Master John to the army doctor to be castrated, so he can keep Saran company!"

The translator translated Zhu Gui's words very accurately.

John was filled with fear upon hearing this. Seeing the guards in the tent actually trying to pull him away, he hurriedly shouted, "One hundred thousand gold francs! I'm worth at least one hundred thousand gold francs!"

Zhu Gui had seen gold francs before; one franc was worth about half an ounce of gold. So, 100,000 gold francs was roughly equivalent to 50,000 ounces of gold, which was already a huge sum of money.

But Zhu Gui was greedy. He walked down and looked down at John, who was lying on the ground, and said, "Two hundred thousand, at least two hundred thousand gold coins are needed to save your life."

"Two hundred thousand gold francs?" John was stunned. He quickly replied, "My father can't afford that much money. Even if he could, he probably wouldn't use it to ransom me—I'm worth at most 120,000 gold francs, no more than that."

Zhu Gui: "Do you think this is like buying vegetables at the market, where you can haggle over the price? Here's what you'll do: write a letter to Philip II and ask him to send someone with 50,000 gold coins as your living expenses while you're here with me."

"As for how many gold coins it will take to let you go back, we can discuss that with your father. We'll let you go once we've reached an agreement and completed the transaction."

When John heard Zhu Gui mention a living allowance of 50,000 gold francs, he wanted to say that he didn't need that much. However, he knew that this was just a way for Zhu Gui to extort money, so to avoid suffering, he wisely agreed.

Meanwhile, Louis II also sent people to help clean up the battlefield and inquire about the origins of the cavalrymen.

Upon learning that the cavalrymen were also from the four princes of Jin and the Ming Empire, Louis II finally realized that something was amiss.

Originally, the "Pingyi Guard" and the "Four Kings Mercenaries" of Jin had already swelled to a size of 30,000 (he was told there were more than 30,000, but in reality there were more).

The number of Ming cavalry that appeared in the Battle of Clermont this time was probably between ten and twenty thousand.

In addition, the number of Ming mercenaries in those three military camps seems to be more than 30,000.

Although he did not send anyone to investigate in detail, he could still roughly estimate, based on his years of experience in leading troops and fighting, that the Ming mercenaries in Clermont probably numbered more than 50,000!

That is to say, it may be more than the army under his command!
This made Louis II feel uneasy, so he summoned Fang Gui, who was serving as the chief liaison officer, and questioned him.

"Mr. Fang, how many troops have you mobilized this time?"

Fang Gui smiled and said, "Well, actually I don't know either—our Jin State's Pingyi Guard should only have more than 10,000 people (the size of two guards), but those four princes were very angry when they heard about what happened to you, Grand Duke, so they secretly mobilized a lot of troops."

"Speaking of which, if it weren't for those four princes bringing in so many cavalry, Your Excellency wouldn't have had such an easy time winning this victory. You should thank them properly."

Louis II also wanted to meet the princes of the Ming Dynasty and, incidentally, probe their true intentions in mobilizing so many troops to France—he didn't believe that the Ming princes would actually send such a large army to help him out of anger.

···
···
a few days later.

News of the major defeat of the peace faction in the Battle of Clermont reached Paris.

When Philip II heard the news, he was in his luxurious office and felt dizzy, almost fainting.

That was an army of over 100,000, supposedly 120,000, yet not only did they fail to conquer the Duchy of Bourbon, they suffered a crushing defeat, with only 20,000 to 30,000 escaping. Even Berry and John were captured.

How could he possibly accept this?

Philip II immediately realized the terrible political consequences of this crushing defeat.

'It's over. Most of the pro-war nobles were observing before, but now that Louis II has won such a great victory, they'll probably all step forward to support him.'

"I have painstakingly planned for many years to achieve a twenty-year armistice with England, but I fear it will all come to an end now."

'However, given the strength of the Duchy of Bourbon, even with the covert support of some pro-war nobles, how could they possibly defeat Berry's army of 120,000?'

'Could it be that those Ming Dynasty mercenaries really played a crucial role in this?'

Unable to understand, Philip II sent a trusted aide to investigate the situation among the defeated army.

Two days later, he learned the real reason for Clermont's crushing defeat. "At least 50,000 Ming mercenaries appeared on the battlefield? And there were mysterious catapults with a range two or three times longer than before?"

"How could Louis II possibly afford to hire 50,000 Ming soldiers?"

"Could it be that he promised those Ming troops some other benefits?"

Philip II vaguely sensed that the storm France was about to face might be more terrifying than he had previously anticipated. And the situation facing France might be even worse than he had foreseen…

···
As the Lunar New Year approached, the capital of the Ming Dynasty received telegrams from the four vassal kings and the Jin vassal king from overseas.

After the court assembly that day, Zhu Biao specifically kept Liu Kuan behind to share this matter with him.

"My thirteenth brother and his men assisted the Grand Duke of Bourbon in achieving a great victory against the French peace faction's army at the city of Clermont—this is their telegram, which contains a more detailed account of the battle. Brother-in-law, please take a look."

After saying this, Zhu Biao instructed the eunuch to hand the telegram to Liu Kuan.

Liu Kuan was indeed quite interested in the developments of the Prince of Dai and others in Europe, and immediately began to read about them with great interest.

After reading it, he smiled and said, "Although His Highness the Prince of Dai was a bit mischievous when he was in school, he is quite concerned about establishing a vassal state. His three-step strategy of first provoking a full-scale civil war in France, then destroying the French royal family's rule, and finally establishing a vassal state is quite reliable."

Zhu Biao said, "The four of them have some strategic talent, so it's not surprising that they could come up with this plan. What I'm worried about is, after the thirteenth brother officially establishes his fiefdom, will the Western barbarians rise up and attack him because his ruler comes from the Ming Dynasty and is not from a country that believes in Catholicism?"

Liu Kuandao said, "The power of the European Church is now divided into two factions, and its influence over various countries has obviously declined. If the Prince of Dai establishes a vassal state, even if he does not believe in Catholicism, as long as he does not promote Confucianism as vigorously as the Ottomans, he should not arouse too much hostility from European countries."

"Of course, this is just my speculation. We will probably have to wait until the Prince of Dai officially establishes his fiefdom to know the truth."

Zhu Biao nodded and didn't discuss the issue further.

He changed the subject, saying, "There are only a few days left until the New Year. This year, Father will still return to the capital for the New Year. On the third day of the New Year, we will invite everyone to watch a movie together."

"My brother-in-law should still have quite a few resources, right? We need to start preparing for the movie screening banquet soon."

Liu Kuan: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I am already making preparations."

The last few days of the second year of Wenlong passed in the blink of an eye. On the third day of the third year of Wenlong, Liu Kuan brought his whole family to the Dashan Hall of the Imperial Palace as promised.

Just like last year, Zhu Yuanzhang and others were already waiting inside.

Xu Da, Tang He, and Li Wenzhong were also there, but to Liu Kuan's surprise, Lan Yu and Mu Ying had also returned to the capital and appeared in the Great Benevolence Hall as well.

After Liu Kuan and his family paid their respects to Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiong Ying, and others, they also greeted Xu Da and others.

When Liu Kuan finally greeted Mu Ying, he was filled with emotion.

Historically, Mu Ying had been grieving and coughing up blood because of Empress Ma's death in the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, which left him with a chronic illness.

In the twenty-fifth year of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Biao, who was closer to Mu Ying than a blood brother, also suddenly died of illness. Mu Ying was once again struck down and died two months later while serving in Yunnan.

At that time, Mu Yingcai was 47 years old, which can be considered a premature death.

Rationally speaking, Mu Ying's untimely death was probably due to the combined blows of losing two loved ones at a young age, as well as the influence of Yunnan's soil and climate. Ultimately, it was also due to the inadequacy of medical standards in the Ming Dynasty and the lack of attention paid to health by its civil and military officials.

However, in this timeline, Empress Ma passed away in the twentieth year of the Hongwu reign, and had been ill for many years. This was not unexpected for Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, or Mu Ying.

Zhu Biao is alive and well.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao repeatedly instructed Mu Ying to take care of his health, have him undergo regular check-ups by doctors, and take care of his health. As a result, Mu Ying has not only lived to be over fifty years old, but also looks to be in good spirits.

When Liu Kuan recalled Mu Ying's life in the original history, Mu Ying also recalled the scene more than ten years ago when the "Fairy Bridge" suddenly appeared, and he and Lan Yu accompanied Zhu Biao to meet Liu Kuan for the first time on the bridge.

Because shortly after that, he began to guard Yunnan. Although he would occasionally return to the capital to report on his duties, he did not see Liu Kuan often, and they spent even less time together.

At that time, he never imagined that the strange young man he brought back from the "Fairy Bridge" with Lan Yu would bring such a huge change to the Ming Dynasty.

After regaining her senses, Mu Ying couldn't help but pat Liu Kuan's chest and laugh, "Marquis of Jiangning, you've gotten a bit fatter than when we met two years ago."

"Haha," Liu Kuan chuckled awkwardly, "The Duke of Qian hasn't changed much; he's still as vigorous as ever." (End of Chapter)