Bringing the Railway to Daming

After the Jinning dynasty was established by the Three Feudatories, its army had been fighting for many years and was well-equipped, so it was quite elite.

After Zhu Gui met with a group of senior Allied generals to discuss the plan for this operation, the Allied army immediately followed Zhu Gui's instructions and split into three groups, traveling by troop transport ships and escorted by warships to Southampton, Portsmouth, and Brighton respectively.

Just as Zhu Gui had predicted, the local English garrison had not yet received news of the Ming army's landing on Great Britain and the capture of the "Three Feudatories" (Bournemouth), and their vigilance was not high. In the absence of adequate defenses, they were easily captured one after another by the elite Ming Three Feudatories allied forces.

Southampton was the most important of the three cities, and its city was the largest. According to intelligence, it was garrisoned by more than 3,000 troops. Therefore, Zhu Gui personally accompanied this army to oversee the city.

However, when Southampton fell and Zhu Gui rode in on a tall black horse, surrounded by guards, he looked utterly disappointed.

"I never imagined that this so-called major coastal city in southern England would be about the same size as some county towns in our Ming Dynasty, or even worse. Especially the city's sanitation—there's excrement and urine everywhere on the streets. The English have no manners at all."

Zhu Gui frowned as he looked at the excrement and urine scattered all over the street, and unconsciously covered his nose with one hand while commenting.

The advisor, Weng Wenjin, who was following behind on horseback, immediately said, "Your Majesty, we have captured quite a few prisoners after conquering this city. I will send people to arrange for them to carry out a thorough cleanup of the city shortly."

Zhu Gui said, “That is the right thing to do. You should also know that the reason why the Black Death was so prevalent in Europe a few years ago was not only due to years of war, but also because the Westerners did not pay attention to hygiene.”

"We must always be mindful of this—if we easily defeat the Western barbarians militarily, only to have to retreat due to a plague, it would be a laughing stock."

Weng Wenjin said, "Your Majesty, I understand and will certainly oversee this matter well."

Whether it was Zhu Gang, who was the first to establish a vassal state in North Africa, or Zhu Gui and Zhu Yan, who established vassal states in Western Europe, they were all students of Liu Kuan and had seen many videos and films from later generations, so they naturally knew the importance of hygiene.

After arriving in Europe, they witnessed the state of urban sanitation and gained a deeper understanding of why Europe was plagued by plagues such as the Black Death.

Therefore, when Zhu Gui and others established vassal states in Western Europe, they would always make the prisoners carry out a thorough cleanup whenever they captured a city or castle.

Furthermore, after taking over a city, they would issue strict decrees requiring citizens to use toilets for urination and defecation and prohibiting them from littering.

Initially, many Europeans found it difficult to accept the rule against urinating and defecating in public, as old habits die hard. However, when those who violated the law were either fined large sums of money or sent to short-term hard labor because they could not afford the fines, the remaining citizens, out of fear, gradually changed their habits of urinating and defecating in public and dumping excrement and other garbage.

Of course, Zhu Gui and his men did not forget to build public toilets, garbage stations and other public infrastructure in the city, which also benefited the Europeans they ruled.

Weng Wenjin and other civil officials had assisted Zhu Gui in governing the Dai Kingdom for several years and were already familiar with this process. They also understood the importance of urban sanitation, so even if Zhu Gui did not give the order, they would still handle the matter well.

However, the sanitation in this so-called major coastal city in southern England was indeed worse, otherwise Zhu Gui and the others wouldn't have been covering their noses.

As they approached the city lord's mansion, Zhu Gui breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was finally less excrement and garbage around. He said, "By the way, I have already made up my mind. From now on, this city will be renamed Longgang. Do you all have any objections?"

It's just the name of a small coastal town. As long as Zhu Gui didn't choose a name that was particularly taboo, Weng Wenjin and the others naturally wouldn't raise any objections.

In the following days, news also came that the Allied Forces of the Three Feudatories had captured Portsmouth and Brighton, so Zhu Gui renamed these two places as well.

Portsmouth was renamed Mouton, and Brighton was renamed Leigh.

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A few days later, in London.

Henry IV was waiting for the assembled army to arrive in London when he received news of the successive falls of Southampton, Portsmouth, and Brighton.

At this moment, Henry IV was filled with shock and rage.

He stood before the Iron Throne, roaring hoarsely, "Are the generals stationed in these cities incompetent? Not a single one of them could hold them?! Useless, utterly useless!"

One of the ministers said, “Your Majesty, with these three southern coastal cities falling one after another, I’m afraid the Ming army must have numbered far more than ten thousand. If they only had ten thousand, how could they dare to divide their forces and attack three cities at the same time?”

Henry IV calmed down slightly and said, "I know this without you having to tell me... If the Ming army comes not just 10,000, but tens of thousands, given their performance in those battles on the continent (Western Europe), I'm afraid it will be very difficult for England to resist them on its own."

"Even if we can hold them off, our army will suffer heavy casualties, and it will cost us a lot of money and food." "In that case, even if England drives out the Ming army, we will probably be eroded or even partitioned by Scotland and Ireland after the war!"

"We must find a way to get these two countries to help us resist the Ming army's attack!"

One minister said, “Your Majesty, that is true, but the Ming army is only attacking England, not Scotland or Ireland. Our three countries have been at war for many years and have deep-seated hatred. I'm afraid the other two countries would rather see us destroyed by the Ming army, so why would they send troops to help us?”

Henry IV frowned and said, "Let's send people to persuade them first, and see if we can convince both countries."

"Furthermore, the Ming army is capturing cities so quickly, and cities like Southampton and Brighton are only a few days' journey from London. I'm afraid the Ming army will launch a surprise attack on London."

"Therefore, what we need to do most right now is to prepare to resist the Ming army. If we can't even hold London, it will be too late even if Scotland and Ireland are willing to send troops to fight against the Ming army together."

The courtiers nodded in agreement, agreeing that Henry IV was right.

Next, the English monarch and his ministers began to discuss the military deployment of London.

It's no wonder Henry IV was so anxious; the southern coast was indeed not far from London. Brighton, for example, was only a little over a hundred miles away, and Annaplethor, which was a little further away, was only about two hundred miles from London.

Sure enough, the day after Zhu Gui entered Longgang (Southampton), he summoned the generals and strategists of the Allied forces to discuss the possibility of attacking London.

“Your Majesty, although the terrain in the southern part of Great Britain is not particularly complex, it is still quite hilly. Most importantly, the English have not built many roads to begin with.”

“Longgang is about 200 li away from London, and Lay is more than 120 li away from London. We did not bring many carriages and horses with us on this trip. If we want to take London by land, I am afraid it will not be convenient.”

After the meeting began, Counselor Weng Wenjin made the following remarks.

Zhu Gui asked, "What does Mr. Weng mean?"

Weng Wenjin said, “In my opinion, if we want to launch a surprise attack on London, we should go around to the east of this island and attack London via the Thames. According to the hydrographic intelligence of the Thames provided by our spies, most of our warships and troop transports can move freely on this river.”

"Most importantly, the warships are equipped with mighty cannons—I have heard that the city of London is built on the banks of the Thames. We can bombard the city and help our army take London as soon as possible!"

Zhu Gui nodded, but then looked at Lin Kui, the commander of the Jin naval fleet.

"Commander Lin, how much do you know about the English fleet stationed at the mouth of the Thames?"

Lin Kui clasped his hands in greeting, “Your Highness, according to the intelligence we have obtained, this fleet is the first fleet of England, and its strength is even greater than that of the fleet that we annihilated.”

"But it still uses those so-called 'big cogs' as its main warships, only there are as many as twenty of them. As for other warships of various sizes, there are as many as a hundred."

Zhu Gui then asked, "Are you confident that you can annihilate this fleet in one battle?"

Lin Kui said, "If we can block them in the bay, it will certainly be possible—and according to the latest intelligence I have received, this fleet has recently been stationed at the naval port near Schauderson."

"If I could lead the fleet to launch a surprise attack here, I would be very confident that I could stop them there."

Zhu Gui got up and looked at the map hanging in the hall. Then he pointed to the southeast corner of Great Britain Island and said, "Here's what you'll do. You lead the fleet to escort the troop transport convoy and the main force of the Allied forces to this place and take down this Ramsgate."

"After that, you will lead the fleet and a small number of elite Allied land forces to attack the naval port of Schauderson. If possible, take the city as well!"

Lin Kui immediately clasped his hands in a fist and said, "This humble general obeys!"

After agreeing on a general marching plan, Zhu Gui immediately began issuing military orders to the other generals and civil officials... (End of this chapter)