Bringing the Railway to Daming

The third year of the Wenlong reign of the Ming Dynasty, 1397 AD.

Europe, the Kingdom of France.

With the help of Ming mercenaries, the pro-war faction, led by the Grand Duke of Bourbon, won victory after victory against the pro-peace faction, including the Grand Duke of Burgundy.

During this process, not only did some of the previously hesitant pro-war nobles openly join the pro-war army, but even some neutral (fence-sitter) nobles joined the pro-war army.

On August 28, 1397, the pro-war army entered Paris.

Because the pro-war army had too many nobles and many mercenaries from the Ming Dynasty, and was not under unified command, the entire French Valois royal bloodline was massacred in the chaos after the army entered the city. Even the Mad King Charles VI did not escape being killed.

Grand Duke Philip II, along with his second son Charles and part of the army, fled back to the Duchy of Burgundy.

Other nobles in Paris, such as the Grand Duke of Anjou, were either killed in the war or fled back to their fiefdoms.

Subsequently, the Duchy of Bourbon, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Duchy of Anjou, the Duchy of Berry, and the County of Neuville successively declared their independence from the Kingdom of France.

Thus, the Kingdom of France, established by Duke Hugo Capet of Île-de-France more than four hundred years ago after the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty of the West Frankish Kingdom, was officially declared extinct!

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On the ninth day of the eighth month of the third year of the Wenlong era.

In the Château de Stowe, near Toulouse, a major city in southwestern France, Zhu Gui, the Ming Dynasty emperor, was laughing heartily while holding a telegram.

"Excellent! The imperial court has recognized my achievements and granted me permission to formally establish a vassal state in Europe!"

Inside the hall, whether it was the strategists under the Prince of Dai, such as Xiang Yin and Zou Wuji, or the military generals such as Li Yousheng, Xiong Tingrui, and Gao Deng, they were all overjoyed upon hearing this. The reason they had brought their families and even relatives to follow Zhu Gui to Western Europe, which was tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, was precisely to secure titles and privileges for their wives and children.
Only when Zhu Gui established his own fiefdom could he have the right to bestow titles and privileges upon them.

Immediately, the strategists and generals cupped their hands in congratulations.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, our Dai Kingdom was founded among the barbarians of Europe, and its national destiny will surely be long-lasting, and its name will be passed down through the ages!"

"Your Majesty, please immediately select an auspicious day to officially establish the kingdom!"

"···"

Since becoming a eunuch, Saran gradually accepted his fate. In order to live a better life, he worked hard to learn Chinese. After more than a year, he can now understand most of the Chinese and speak quite a bit of it.

Therefore, he understood why Zhu Gui and his advisors and generals were happy, and he was even secretly excited himself.

He knew that Zhu Gui was only the thirteenth son of the previous emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the far East—while the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Hongwu, had more than twenty sons, most of whom were outstanding!

If the sons of the Hongwu Emperor were ambitious, they would choose to establish meritorious service and then set up vassal states outside the Ming Dynasty, becoming the rulers of those states.

Zhu Gui chose this path, except that he chose to establish his fiefdom in the former Kingdom of France.

Zhu Gui's three younger brothers, the Prince of Su, the Prince of Liao, and the Prince of Ning, also intended to establish vassal states in Europe.

Therefore, the reason they previously formed the Four Kings' mercenary army to help the Grand Duke of Bourbon defeat the Grand Duke of Burgundy, causing a full-scale civil war in France and ultimately destroying France, was to facilitate their establishment of feudal domains.

It can be said that the powerful nobles such as the Grand Duke of Bourbon and the Grand Duke of Burgundy who now dominate the French soil were all pawns of these Ming Dynasty princes.

When Saran first learned of this, he was extremely shocked, but he did not tell the original French nobles, such as the Grand Duke of Bourbon and the Grand Duke of Burgundy, about their thoughts.

Firstly, he had no opportunity to inform on the matter; secondly, he could see that the Duke of Bourbon was actually under the control of the Ming mercenaries and had no choice in his own destiny.

It's also possible that the Grand Duke of Bourbon knew about this all along and deliberately cooperated with the Ming Dynasty mercenaries to destroy the Valois royal family and then establish an independent kingdom. Saran even darkly thought that the regent Philip II might have deliberately caused the destruction of the Valois royal family so that his Duchy of Burgundy could rightfully become independent.

Therefore, when Saran learned of this great secret, he was not worried about the Kingdom of France at all; on the contrary, he was quite excited—although he had become a eunuch by Zhu Gui's side, he could be considered a member of the victorious (beneficial) side.

Now, Zhu Gui is about to formally establish the Dai Kingdom on French soil. Perhaps one day in the future, he may become a nobleman again as a eunuch!

Thinking of this, Saran shouted, "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

On the other side, John the Younger (Philip II's eldest son), still held hostage and trapped beside Zhu Gui, was deathly pale and muttered, "It's over. The Ming people are actually going to establish a country in France—the skies over this land are probably going to change!"

When John first became Zhu Gui's hostage, Philip II sent someone with 50,000 gold coins to ransom him.

But Zhu Gui said that the 50,000 gold coins were only enough for John's living expenses, and that another 100,000 gold coins had to be sent before John could be released.

Philip II probably felt that John was too embarrassing for him, or perhaps he really couldn't afford 100,000 gold coins (or more likely he was unwilling to pay them), so the ransom issue was dropped.

So John stayed with Zhu Gui as a hostage.

Zhu Gui never intended to actually release John, so he didn't hold back when discussing certain matters. John initially couldn't understand Chinese, but now, a year later, even though he wasn't as eager to learn as Saran, he could understand quite a bit.

That's why he felt that in the near future, the whole of Europe might be about to change.

After accepting the congratulations from his civil and military officials, Zhu Gui sat down and said, "Tell me, if we were to establish a fiefdom, where would be the most suitable place to be the capital?"

Xiang Yin spoke first, “Your Majesty, it is naturally best to take Toulouse.”

"Why do you say that?"

Xiang Yin said, "Firstly, Toulouse was previously directly under the Valois royal family. Now that the Valois royal family has been wiped out, the city is practically unclaimed and easy to take."

"Secondly, Toulouse is not far from the northern coast of the Mediterranean. In the future, as long as we control one or two ports, we can ensure smooth communication with the Western Sea Commandery and the Jin Kingdom."

"Thirdly, Toulouse is located on the Garonne River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, making it a city that connects East and West. Its location is very important, both militarily and commercially."

"As for the fourth one, it is naturally the city that is closest to us—I suppose His Majesty has long intended to seize this city, which is why he has stationed his troops here?"

“Hahaha,” Zhu Gui laughed, “Mr. Xiang is indeed our strategist, he guessed all our thoughts. That’s right, I have long set my sights on Toulouse and want to take it as the capital of the Dai Kingdom.”

"However, the name Toulouse doesn't sound good. What do you all think should be changed to?"

To openly discuss renaming a city before even conquering it feels like an early celebration.

However, none of the civil and military officials present felt there was a problem—they were familiar with the situation in Toulouse, where a fragile order was currently being maintained by some kind of maintenance committee and church forces.

The church's influence goes without saying, and as for the maintenance committee, it was essentially a chamber of commerce.

Toulouse is located on the Garonne River, downstream from Bordeaux, which provides access to the sea and connects it with England, Scotland, Ireland, and the coastal countries of Western Europe. As a result, trade flourished and merchants were quite powerful.

But in this era, no matter how powerful European merchants were, they could not surpass the power of the nobility.

Now that almost all the nobles near Toulouse had been wiped out in the previous civil war, there was naturally no one who could stop Ju Gui from taking over Toulouse.

At this moment, Zou Wuji said, "Your Majesty, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the ancient capital cities were simply called 'Daiwang City'. Therefore, I think it would be better to follow the ancients and call it Daidu or Daijing."

Zhu Gui pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Then let's call it Daijing!" (End of Chapter)