Bringing the Railway to Daming

In Nika's imagination, and in Tuke and Amaru's memories, the attackers should have been carrying ladders to climb up the city walls, and then being shot with bows and arrows by the defenders, and then being hit with stones, doused with boiling water, and stabbed with spears and lances.

The defending side has the advantage of geographical location and can often rely on the city to withstand attacks from enemies several times or even ten times their number.

This is why their ancestors of the Meriya tribe spent decades building this solid stone city bit by bit after migrating here a hundred years ago.

But the fighting style of the strangers before them overturned their cognition.

I saw some foreign soldiers holding thick metal pipes that were neither gold, silver nor copper, and came to a place two hundred steps below the city, set them up, and then started to light them.

Just when Nika and the others were feeling strange, they heard the thick metal pipes making a thunder-like sound.

Bang bang bang...

A series of "thunders" sounded, and Nika subconsciously hid under the low wall with her agility.

Then you see round stones falling on the city wall, either shattering and splashing or bouncing everywhere.

Many soldiers were injured when they were touched, and a few who died were even seriously injured and dying, or died on the spot.

The soldiers were confused and after this round of "thunder", they immediately fell to the ground in fear, shouting or trembling.

"This is divine punishment!"

"Are these strangers sent by the gods to destroy our Meriya tribe?"

"Our tribe must have angered the gods."

"It's over, we are all going to die..."

Because Nika had been familiar with the priestess Amanda since childhood, she was not so superstitious about the gods in her heart - most importantly, she saw clearly that it was the strangers who lit those strange thick tubes that made the "thunder" sound.

Thinking of something, she stood up and pulled the soldiers up one by one, shouting, "Those are enemy weapons, not divine punishment!"

"You are warriors of the Meriya tribe, not cowards!"

"If you don't want to be a slave to foreigners, stand up and fight!"

After all, it was a tribe that took into account both fishing and hunting, and quite a few warriors were still very brave. They were a little scared by the "thunder" before, but after hearing Nika's shouting, many people suddenly realized it and really stood up, ready to continue relying on the city wall to defend.

Looking down at the city, I saw rows of strangers rushing to a place about sixty or seventy steps below the city.

At this distance, their bows and arrows could barely hit the target from their high position, but they would have no power.

So many people shot arrows, and many people did not shoot. The arrows just hit the strangers' clothes (cloth armor) and bounced off, causing almost no damage.

However, when those strangers raised a thin tube, a series of strange noises and fireworks were emitted, and many of the soldiers who dared to show their heads fell down immediately.

Some lucky surviving warriors, unable to see clearly, hid and trembled, shouting: "Magic! Those foreigners know magic! They are either sent by gods or demons!"

"They're not human!"

"We can't win!"

Nika wanted to slap the cowardly soldier in the face, but she had just escaped with her life, so she didn't dare to show her face.

Soon, there was movement on the city wall, and it was obvious that strangers were climbing it.

Nika wanted to stand up and fight back with her bow and arrow, but when she showed her head, she saw many thin tubes emitting smoke facing the city wall. She was so scared that she quickly shrank back.

Sure enough, there was another series of strange noises, and the only few soldiers who dared to show their heads on this side of the city wall were killed.

From then on, no one dared to fight back.

And the foreigners also rushed to the city wall like a tide, and their number was so large that it almost submerged the walls of Meria...
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Zhu Chong got his wish and entered the city of Meria before dark.

Sitting in a large stone house that was suspected to be the tribe's meeting hall, Zhu Chong, who was 36 years old and not considered to be lustful, was moved by the light of the torches as he looked at the tied-up aboriginal lady in front of him.

At this time, Zou Mingda, the recorder, came forward, took a look at Nika, and then reported to Zhu Chong: "Your Majesty, I have found out - this tribe has always been led by women, so this noble woman is not the wife or daughter of the chief, but the female leader of the tribe."

Zhu Chong's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"I've long heard from Marquis Jiangning that the Western Yi nation has a woman as its king, known as the Queen. This tribe has several thousand people and a city, so it could barely be considered a small nation, right? So, wouldn't this woman also be called the Queen?"

Hearing this, Yang Qian and other staff members beside him couldn't help but twitch their eyes again.

She was obviously just an ordinary female leader of an indigenous tribe and a small town, but Zhu Chong forced her to be called "Queen" - why did their king like to flatter himself so much?
Zhu Chong, unaware of his ministers' criticism, asked again, "Do you know this woman's name?"

Zou Mingda said, "I don't understand the language of the locals here, so I can only translate it based on their pronunciation. It's probably called 'Meriyanikka', but I don't know her specific surname or name."

"By the way, this tribe or city is also called Meria."

"Merlianika?"

Zhu Chong stood up and began to circle Nika. He didn't know which outstanding soldier had bound her with the ropes, but they accentuated her figure. Her slightly curly black hair, her elegant yet delicate features, and her angry, unyielding eyes simply made Zhu Chong's heart flutter the more he looked at her. Nika was actually nervous and desperate at the moment.

She had heard from her mother, Amanda, and the great elder Tuke about the fate of many defeated tribes - the lucky tribal leaders could become slaves and live a hard life for several years or even more than ten years; the unlucky tribal leaders were directly killed, and their heads were chopped off to intimidate their tribesmen.

If it were a female leader like her, there would be several more possible outcomes.

If they were young and pretty, they would become slaves to the victorious tribal leader, provided the leader was a man. If they were average looking, they might be given to a brave warrior from the victorious tribe and become his slave.

The worst thing was that he was insulted by many warriors of the victorious tribe and finally died in humiliation.

Nika felt that it would be better to have her head chopped off.

Although she was confident in her appearance, who knew what the leader of the foreigners was thinking?
What's more, she didn't want to be a slave girl of a foreign leader - she would rather die!
Zhu Chong reached out and lifted Nika's chin for a closer look. His interest grew stronger, and with a flick of his eye, he said, "Mr. Yang, since this woman is the queen of this country called Meriya, she must be respected by her people. Tell me, if I take her as my concubine, would it help Dayong quickly win over the hearts of her people?"

Hearing Zhu Chong's words, Yang Qian thought to himself: What do you mean by winning over the hearts of the Meriya tribe and thinking about Dayong? Do you think we can't see that you are clearly greedy for her body!

Although he despised it, Yang Qian agreed with Zhu Chong's move due to his rationality.

He then bowed and praised, with rare grace: "Your Majesty is wise! If my second daughter could become your concubine, even if it couldn't eliminate the hatred caused by this war, it would at least make it easier for the people of his tribe to ally with him."

"I just did a rough count, and the Meriya tribe, men, women, and children combined, number over 7,000."

"Hahaha, Mr. Yang is indeed my chosen military advisor. What he said makes perfect sense!" Zhu Chong laughed happily. "Then it's settled!"

Now that the fierce woman Deng and his nominal wife Guanyinnu are both on the boat and cannot interfere in this matter, he must take this opportunity to confirm this matter.

Then, he looked at Nika and said, "The name Meiliyanika is not pretty, and it doesn't conform to our Han customs. Today, I will give her the surname Meiya and the name Nicole. She will be called Meiya Nicole."

"This woman looks so arrogant and cold to me, like a winter plum blossom. I will confer upon her the title of Plum Consort! Zou Mingda, you will convey my intention to her."

Zou Mingda felt very embarrassed - they couldn't speak the same language, how could he convey such a complicated meaning?

After a moment's thought, he said, "Your Majesty, this woman... Concubine Mei must be most concerned about the fate of her people right now. If Your Majesty can show some mercy, perhaps Concubine Mei will be willing to serve you wholeheartedly."

Zhu Chong nodded first, then asked, "What do you think, Mr. Yang?"

Yang Qian said, "I think the elderly, weak, women, and children can be treated as ordinary captives for the time being, but all young and strong men must be forced into hard labor."

"However, if they perform well and meet certain criteria, such as being able to speak Chinese, or having made sufficient contributions, their status as hard laborers can be changed to naturalized citizens of Yong State."

Zhu Chong thought this was a good idea and could be used first, so he said, "Okay, let's do as Mr. Yang said. Zou Mingda, relay the message."

Zou Mingda had a plan in mind, and he immediately spoke while gesturing to Nika.

However, after practicing for a while, Zou Mingda found that it was too difficult to "repeat" Zhu Chong's words. After all, the two sides even had different meanings for some "common actions".

Seeing that Zhu Chong was becoming increasingly impatient, he had an idea in his anxiety and remembered the comic books he had read in the Ming Dynasty.

So he asked someone to bring pencils and white paper, and started communicating with Nika through drawing, and asked Zhu Chong to order Nika's hands to be untied - her legs were still half tied.

Nika was naturally surprised to see the pencils (made in the Ming Dynasty) and white paper. She also understood that only communication could give her people a chance to survive and even gain freedom, so she cooperated with Zou Mingda by using painting.

"What? This stupid-looking man is their king? With tens of thousands of subjects?"

'He wants me to be his third wife?'

"According to their custom, all captured men must be killed. But if I agree to marry their king, the captured men of the tribe can be spared, and the other women and children can also be treated slightly better?"

"If I behave well, maybe my people will be free in the future? And become the king's subjects?"

Nika, who already felt guilty towards the tribe, hesitated for a moment after understanding this and then expressed her decision through painting...

Zou Mingda happily bowed to Zhu Chong and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Concubine Mei is willing to be your concubine!"

This was a faulty sentence, but Zhu Chong was delighted to hear it. He laughed heartily, saying, "Hahaha, great! Quickly find two maids to bathe Concubine Mei and change her into one of our clothes. I will enter the bridal chamber tonight!"

Zhu Chong felt that he should enter the bridal chamber as soon as possible, otherwise once Deng Shi found out, there would be trouble and even ruin his plan to convert Dayong into a naturalized native.

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When Prince Yong Zhu Chong captured a city on the day he landed in his vassal state in South America and took the "queen" of a native state as his concubine, Prince Lu Zhu Tan was commanding hundreds of his men and hundreds of conquered natives to work on the large island he had named Xuanwu Island.

At this time, several days had passed since the Zouyi lost contact with the Lu Fan fleet and ran aground on a deserted island.

In order to obtain enough wood to repair the Zou Yi as soon as possible, and because the deserted island was too boring, Zhu Tan personally went to the big island to supervise the work.

In order to obtain more labor, Zhu Tan sent out guards after arriving on the island, attacked four nearby settlements, and captured more than 300 natives to serve as forced labor.

As for why this big island was named Xuanwu Island, it was because the guards who explored the southern part of the island found that there were more turtles there, almost causing a disaster.

Logically speaking, with this characteristic, it should have been named Turtle Island, but Zhu Tan thought Turtle Island sounded unpleasant, so he called it Xuanwu Island instead. (End of this chapter)