Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1142: Searching the Mountains and Seas

Chapter 1142: Searching the Mountains and Seas

Yao Guangxiao was silent for a while, and then he said, "Your Highness, what you said makes a lot of sense. The Western Church is powerful. If we don't destroy it, it will become a serious threat to us."

Zhu Di nodded and said, "That's true. After all, a centipede will die even if it is dead. The Church has ruled the West for hundreds or thousands of years and has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people."

"If we want to destroy them, we must destroy these two churches at the same time. Otherwise, there will be trouble in the future. I summoned you here to discuss with you what we should do next."

Yao Guangxiao pondered for a moment and said, "This matter is not simple at all."

"It's just that...their church is divided into two. For us, it is a great opportunity, but also a big trouble."

"After all, the road to the French Church is long. If we destroy the one that is close, the French Church that is farther away will definitely be on guard."

As he spoke, he twirled the rosary in his hand, frowned and thought for a while, then sighed: "I am also at my wit's end. At this moment, I really can't think of any perfect plan."

"Don't worry, take your time to think about it." Zhu Di said with a smile. "This matter is not urgent at the moment. We just need a foolproof plan."

"Yes." Yao Guangxiao nodded, then twisted the Buddhist beads, frowned and thought hard.

Now that the Western Expedition Army had broken through the Danube, what strategy to use to conquer Europe became a problem that Zhu Di and he urgently needed to solve. Zhu Di's Western Expedition was not to be like Attila and Genghis Khan, who just came once, intimidated Europe with force, and then died without leaving any trace.

Given the current population conditions of the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely impossible for China to take over Europe. At most, it would leave behind a few concessions and colonies. But when Zhu Di went west to conquer Europe, he did not expect to return empty-handed like the previous conquerors.

What he wanted was to lay a solid foundation for China's future domination of Europe through this westward expedition. He knew that hundreds of years later these Western barbarians would bring terrible disasters to China. Things hundreds of years later could not be changed directly, but he, a Chinese ancestor who lived more than a hundred years ago, could do his best to avoid them for future generations.

That is to infiltrate Europe through culture, and bring Europe into the Chinese cultural circle like the countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty, so that these messy European countries will respect the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain, worship Confucianism, learn Chinese, and have cultural identification with China. In the future, as long as China's military power remains strong, they will naturally become one of China's foreign countries like Japan and Annan. At least in name, they will also be vassal states of the Central Plains dynasty.

To achieve such cultural penetration, completely destroy the European church, and force all European countries to convert to the Tianyi Sect supported by China are the tasks that must be accomplished in this Western Expedition.

The church has been rooted in Europe for thousands of years. Before the Renaissance, European culture was almost entirely based on church culture. If the church had not been destroyed, European culture would still have its roots. On the contrary, the destruction of the church would have been equivalent to digging up the roots of European culture.

The army that crossed the Danube defense line was already on the verge of Europe, but the European church was divided and the Crusaders had suffered a disastrous defeat. The divided church and the complicated relations between countries meant that all Europeans would not be able to unite to fight against the Crusades. This was the advantage of the Crusades afterwards.

But it was also because of the split church that the Western Expedition Army could not win the battle. If one church was destroyed, the other church would probably flee or hide. Zhu Di had to destroy the church so that European culture would become rootless and Chinese culture could be transplanted.

It’s hard…but it has to be done.

The wise Yao Guangxiao also failed to come up with a suitable solution, which put the formulation of the Western Expedition strategy on hold. Fortunately, the army still had many important tasks to do at this time. The most urgent task was to settle the large number of prisoners and hunt down the defeated Crusaders led by John who escaped from the castle.

Because of their haste, the remaining troops had neither horses nor baggage to carry. They fled the castle with nothing in their hands and in a panic. Because of the heavy snow, they could not run far, and many of them were nobles.

It's almost like chickens and ducks walking around everywhere, cattle and sheep being caught by anyone. As long as you send out the soldiers, you can capture them without any effort.

Although the Western Expedition Army is not short of coolies, you have to know that these European nobles are all valuable. Moreover, European nobles have always had the tradition of using ransom to redeem people. What they captured are not people, but real gold and silver with two legs.

Among them, the target that Zhu Di wanted to catch the most was John. A nominal commander is still a commander, and as long as John is captured, anyone who dares to take the lead in resisting the Western Expedition Army in the future will always have to think twice.

Moreover, John's net worth was also very high, because his father was a great French nobleman.

Moreover, there was another thing in Zhu Di's mind, that was the silver ingot of the Ming army that he had obtained from the merchant earlier... He was very eager to know whether his fifth brother, Prince of Zhou, Zhu Su, had successfully arrived somewhere in Europe. He needed to capture the high-ranking officials of the Crusaders, perhaps they could know the relevant news.

If Lao Wu is in danger, I must find a way to find him and then reunite with him.

After a short rest, the Ming army soon filed out of Beldraig. The grassland cavalry led by Mahamu were responsible for chasing John. They were excellent riders, which was just right for chasing and pursuing. Because they had not gained any military merit, their morale was high and they were eager to try.

Mahamu lost the ability to pass on his legacy, and in order to preserve his current power and prestige, he could only cling to the Ming dynasty. Therefore, he was unwilling to let go of any military exploits. He personally led the troops to pursue the defeated Crusaders, and in just one day, he captured more than 30 Crusaders and nobles from various countries for Zhu Di. For a while, the dungeon of Beldraig Castle was overcrowded.

However, John, who should have been the biggest target, could not be found no matter how hard Mahamu tried.

It was not until the early morning of five days later that Zhu Di, who was in Beldraig, received a report from his personal guards.

"Your Highness, there is a man outside the city who claims to be the Crusader Commander John and wants to see Your Highness."

"They said...they said they had important military information to share with His Highness."

"I want to exchange it for His Highness sending him back to France."

"Hmm?" Zhu Di was stunned. "Important military information?"

"How did this guy sneak back outside the castle... Never mind, let him in."

"How dare you come to see me on your own initiative? This mediocre person is quite courageous!"

(End of this chapter)