Bringing the Railway to Daming

"The Ming army has entered the city?"

Jack was utterly desperate after hearing the shout.

If being blocked by mutinous soldiers offered a sliver of hope for survival—for example, if a nobleman led an army to suppress the mutiny—the Ming army's entry into the city left Jack feeling utterly hopeless.

According to rumors, once the Ming army enters the city, they will inevitably take control of the entire city. At that time, those who remain in the city will likely either be killed by the Ming army or sold as slaves to the East.

At the same time, the sound of footsteps coming downstairs could be heard outside.

However, upon hearing that the Ming army had arrived, the mutinous soldiers, no longer concerned with getting Jack's money, all fled in terror.

Anne, Diana, and the others all looked frightened and didn't know what to do.

“Darling, what should we do now? Those rioters should have left by now. Should we take this opportunity to escape?” Anne asked.

Jack said anxiously, "The Ming army has already entered the city, and there are so many mutinous soldiers. How are we supposed to escape? And what about all the valuables we have at home? Are we just going to abandon them?"

Anne said, "Darling, how will we know we can't escape if we don't try? As for the money here, is it more important than our family's lives?"

Jack gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I'll do as you say this time."

So he called a few people to move the furniture blocking the door, and then carefully went downstairs with some light gold and silver coins and jewelry from the bedroom.

After going downstairs, Jack, Annie, and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that there were no more soldiers in the main house.

However, when they stepped out of the house and saw the corpses lying haphazardly in the yard, especially the female corpses with their clothes torn off, Annie and the other women were immediately terrified and couldn't help but scream.

At the same time, Diana stumbled and fell down the steps, opening the bundle she was carrying and spilling the coins and jewelry inside all over the floor!
"What's wrong with you? Don't you know how to be careful?" Jack scolded his daughter, while reluctantly picking up the coins and jewelry from the ground.

Just then, a maid screamed again, "Ah, someone's here!"

Jack was startled when he heard this, and then he looked up to see a soldier rushing towards him and slashing at his head with a knife!

Jack was so frightened that he sat down on the ground, narrowly avoiding the knife.

At that moment, his wife Anne, with a sudden burst of courage, charged at the soldier, knocking him to the ground.

Upon seeing this, Jack rushed forward, intending to pin the soldiers to the ground or even kill them.

However, having lived a life of luxury for so long, he was no match for these soldiers and was instead pinned to the ground. Fortunately, in the process, the soldiers dropped their swords.

"Quickly...kill him!" Jack said with difficulty, his neck being gripped.

Annie got up, picked up a knife, and started slashing at the soldiers. But the soldiers released Jack, kicked him, knocking Annie down, and then went to pick up the knife.

Seeing this, Jack quickly stopped him.

And so, Jack and Anne found themselves entangled with the soldiers. Diana and the maids wanted to help, but were also afraid and didn't know how.

After a brief struggle, Jack was punched in the head, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the soldiers snatched the knife and grinned as they prepared to stab Jack.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out, and the soldiers froze, then fell to the ground as they turned their heads.

Jack and his companions were stunned for a moment before looking toward the courtyard gate. There they saw several soldiers dressed in strange clothes standing there, one of whom was holding a musket whose muzzle was still smoking, clearly indicating that he had killed the muzzle guards.

Although these people did not have the black hair and black eyes of the rumors, but rather resembled the Frenchmen that Jack had seen before, Jack immediately guessed their identity as Ming soldiers, and his heart sank to the bottom.

When Anne and the other women saw these soldiers in unfamiliar attire, they all showed expressions of fear.

At this moment, the soldier who fired the shot said to his comrade in Chinese, "Sir, shouldn't these coins and jewelry be considered our spoils?" Sir was also French and spoke Chinese, even more fluently. "Of course," he replied, "if we hadn't arrived in time, this family would have been killed by this English soldier, and all their money would have been stolen."

"Now that we have killed this English soldier, the money will be our spoils."

Another soldier's gaze fell on several women, especially the young and beautiful Diana, and he said, "Soldier, can these women also be considered our prisoners? Look at that beauty, she's probably worth a lot of money!"

Xiaoqi looked at Diana, who also seemed quite experienced, but then thought of something and said, "Forget it, the military law team might be outside. If we go too far and attract their attention, we'll be in big trouble—let's stop while we're ahead."

"Alright, let's call it a day while we're ahead."

The soldier who suggested taking the woman as a prisoner shrugged, then went with a few others to collect the coins and jewelry.

Jack, Annie, and the others were so frightened that they quickly shrank back into the main house. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the Ming soldiers had no intention of chasing them in.

Then something even more unexpected happened to Jack. After picking up the coins and jewelry scattered on the ground, one of the soldiers said something in French—Jack happens to know a little French because of his business.

As the Ming soldiers left, Annie couldn't help but ask, "Darling, were those Ming soldiers? What did that last man say to us?"

Jack said somewhat absentmindedly, "He said that if you don't want to die, don't run around and stay at home."

Anne looked incredulous. "Really? These Ming soldiers not only didn't break into our house to continue looting, but they also warned us to be careful? Did they figure out your identity as a baron?"

“I don’t know,” Jack shook his head.

He then came to his senses, ran out, and prepared to close the courtyard gate.

When he arrived at the gate, he secretly peeked outside and saw that there were many Ming soldiers on the street, some patrolling, and others grabbing one or two rioters from somewhere, either killing them on the spot or tying them up.

He was horrified and quickly closed the courtyard gate.

After returning home, he told his wife and daughter to close the main house door, intending for the family to hide there for a few days until the situation outside became clearer...

···
Zhu Gui disembarked from the boat, rode his big black horse, and looked around as he entered the London city he had longed to visit.

"Is this London? It's not small, but like other English cities, it's dirty and chaotic with serious sanitation problems."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but take out a handkerchief and cover his nose.

Now, Zhu Gui, who is thirty years old, has a short beard and looks like a rough and burly man. His gesture of covering his nose with a handkerchief, like a refined scholar, is really strange.

But no one around him laughed at him.

As Zhu Gui led the Allied Forces of the Three Feudatories into London, the capital of England, his prestige among the Allied Forces had become quite high.

After walking along the street for a while, Zhu Gui finally arrived at a castle.

At this moment, a man with typical Western European features but dressed in Ming Dynasty military robes smiled and introduced, "Your Highness, this is the royal palace of the English royal family, which is called Dover Castle in Chinese."

Zhu Gui glanced at the castle with its outer walls reaching four or five stories high, then revealed a critical look and said, "It looks more like a fortress used for warfare—the English call themselves a powerful nation in Western Europe, yet their royal family lives in a place like this. It's beneath them."

The man laughed and said, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but the current rulers of England are the Normans—their ancestors were barbarians from Northern Europe, so naturally they cannot compare with our Great Ming Empire or even the various vassal states."

Zhu Gui glanced at the man and said, "You spies have all made great contributions this time, and we will tell Third Brother the truth. Now, let's take you inside the castle."

"We arrived a step too late; we failed to capture Henry IV. I wonder how many English royal treasures remain in this castle. We were hoping to take a batch and send them back to the Ming Dynasty." (End of Chapter)