Chapter 1093: Danger! America Prefecture (Seeking Subscriptions)

"What does 'José' mean?" Philip IV asked thoughtfully.

Li Yufan had not reached Spain by way of the Indian Ocean, around Africa, and into the Atlantic, but by way of the Pacific, through Mexico, and then on to Spain via the Caribbean and Atlantic routes, so he had already met Don Juan José in Mexico City.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Florida believes that if the Ming state is unwilling to withdraw from the Gulf of the Americas region, then we should march there as soon as possible. For the result of delay will be that the Ming state continually strengthens its presence in the Americas. They will certainly send their finest elite infantry and cavalry there. By that time, the situation will become extremely unfavorable."

Don Juan José now also held a ducal title and a corresponding fief, though not in Europe — it was granted in the Florida peninsula. The Spanish had discovered this landmass jutting from the American continent into the Caribbean as early as 1513, and in 1565 they established St. Augustine as a major stronghold on a bay along the east coast of the Florida peninsula.

However, because the Spanish held too vast a territory in the Americas while their home population was truly too small, the rich Florida peninsula remained essentially an undeveloped virgin land even as late as 1659.

Don Juan José, who had arrived in the Americas a year and a half earlier, made his first stop on the American continent at St. Augustine. Captivated by the climate there and the scenery of the nearby beaches, he petitioned King Philip for possession of Florida.

His request was quickly approved by King Philip, and a few months earlier, Don Juan José had been enfeoffed as Duke of Florida.

The Duke of Florida's military ability, if placed among the galaxy of famous generals of France, England, the Holy Roman Empire, or Sweden, would not even register. But with Spain's famous generals now withered away, Don Juan José could count as one who could fight. And because he could fight, he had spent these years busy with war, fighting both defeats and victories in no small number, and his vision and methods had indeed improved. After studying the report Li Yufan had brought to Mexico City concerning the destruction of Doni Khan (there had been a small number of Spanish advisors in Doni's army), he immediately realized that this Ming juvenile guard army would become his formidable rival. For the vast distance across the Pacific determined that the Ming dynasty could not possess numerical superiority in the Americas within twenty years.

Since numbers would not be superior, victory could only be achieved by relying on superiority in quality. Therefore the Ming emperor would inevitably send his strongest army units to the Americas!

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Florida hopes you will place support for the Kingdom of New Spain's war preparations at the highest priority," Li Yufan said. "He hopes you will provide the New World with a batch of new-style flintlock muskets and wooden-base explosive shells as soon as possible, because the Ming expeditionary army will certainly be equipped with these two fine weapons."

"In addition, the Duke also needs a fleet capable of transporting at least 5,000 army troops to land in the Gulf of the Americas."

"Does he know where the Chinese fortress is?" the King asked.

"Not yet," Li Yufan replied. "But the Kingdom of New Spain's reconnaissance ships have already discovered the Gulf of the Americas. In addition, the Duke of Florida has also sent Indian trading parties toward the Gulf of the Americas, and it is believed they will soon discover the exact location of the Chinese city. After that, the Duke will hire Indian tribes of the Great Plains to advance westward and engage the Ming army. Once their main force leaves the Chinese city and moves east, he will launch a surprise attack from the sea."

Another advantage the Spanish held in North America was their established contact with many formidable Great Plains Indian tribes, although this contact often took the form of mutual slaughter. But the Indian tribes of the North American Great Plains were numerous and long hostile to one another, so they had no unified leadership. They were also disunited when fighting white colonists, and it often happened that certain tribes would join with the whites against other Indian tribes.

Therefore, the New Spain authorities always had some means of driving the Great Plains Indian tribes.

And because these Great Plains tribes had long been locked in strife and slaughter, their fighting strength was still extremely formidable. Even New Spain, with a white population of several hundred thousand, could only hold its colonial outposts in New Mexico, Texas, and Florida by building forts and defending them.

If Don Juan José could successfully drive one or two of those tribes to attack the Gulf of the Americas, the Ming's America Prefecture would likely be thrown into frantic disarray for a while.

"That sounds good. Let it be done!" King Philip nodded lightly. "José will not disappoint me. He is my best child; it is only a pity he has no right of succession."

Just as the King of Spain was lamenting that his most intelligent son had no right of succession, one of his attendants knocked on the door: "Your Majesty, a report has just arrived — the former Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, is dead!"

Philip made the sign of the cross upon his chest. "May the Lord forgive that sinful soul!"

Then he said to Li Yufan, "Bishop, I think I will soon be able to send a fleet to New Spain!"

The King of Spain Philip's most intelligent son, Don Juan José, had guessed correctly: Zhu Cilang, who had journeyed west to Wuhan under the banner of a western campaign against the roving bandits, was preparing to send his precious juvenile army to the other side of the ocean.

Of course, not all of them would be sent, for several wars now lay before the Zhu Emperor!

First, of course, was the protracted war of besieging the Shun.

Zhu Cilang had mobilized 350,000 troops, advancing from Shaanxi, Huguang, Guizhou, and other directions in six separate columns (the column for attacking Burma had not yet set out), and had begun constructing fortresses and pressing forward step by step at the Badong forward position in Jingzhou Prefecture; the Junzhou forward position in Xiangyang Prefecture; the Zunyi forward position of the Western Sichuan Garrison; the Chishui, Bijie, and Pu'an forward areas of the Guizhou army; the Baoji and Meixian forward positions in Guanzhong; and the Qishan forward position in Gongchang Prefecture.

Second was the war on the northern steppe.

After Doni's rebellion was swiftly crushed, the resistance of the three Khalkha Mongol tribes and the Khorchin tribe also rapidly collapsed — they had originally been resisting the Great Ming and the Tumed-Chahar allied forces with covert Manchu support. Now that the Manchu themselves had been completely recovered by the Ming dynasty, how could the Khalkha and Khorchin continue fighting?

But the collapse of the three Khalkha tribes and the Khorchin tribe did not mean the northern steppe would henceforth be peaceful. The greatest difference between the Mongol tribes and the Manchu was that the latter had a cohesive core! Thus their strength was exerted in one direction, and likewise, once that core was destroyed, they could be completely conquered. The former, by contrast, was a loose confederation of who knew how many large and small tribes. The collapse of the four princely banners did not mean all the tribes had submitted to the Great Ming. Rather, it meant the Tumed, Chahar, and Dzungar tribes could begin contending over the legacy of the four.

And the powerful Dzungar tribe was in an extremely advantageous position in this contest over the legacy!

Following the Dzungar meant meat to eat!

So beginning in the twelfth year of Hongxing, a whirlwind of westward migration swept across the Mongol steppe. Several hundred thousand Mongols successively left the steppes their people had inhabited for generations and migrated west to the eastern and western slopes of the Altai Mountains, joining the Dzungar tribe.

The Mongol population under Dzungar control grew from the original six to seven hundred thousand to around one million at a stroke!

The strength of the Dzungar naturally meant war!

The question was: against whom?

And the third war requiring the Zhu Emperor's worry was the war with the Toyotomi family of Japan.

This civil war in Japan had already lasted several years, and the Tokugawa shogunate, supported by the Great Ming, had not only failed to win but had fallen into bitter fighting.

Of course, Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Hoshina Masayuki, who now presided over the shogunate's affairs, were far stronger than Tokugawa Yoshinobu and Matsudaira Katamori of the late shogunate era in history.

Under their leadership, the shogunate army could still fight on despite repeated defeats, and had even held the front line within the domains of Hiroshima and Fukuyama.

The fourth war was the war with the Pattani Sultanate. The Pattani Sultanate had originally been a vassal of Siam, but because Siam had borrowed troops from the Great Ming to attack Lan Na (which had broken away from Shun-controlled Burma), it had been ceded to the Great Ming along with Songkhla, Yala, Satun, Phatthalung, Trang, Krabi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat — originally the Zhu Emperor had not wanted so much, but Zhu Cizhao had personally gone to the Golden City to persuade King Narai, and had obtained more land. Of course, the entire process was quite friendly and harmonious, with absolutely no coercion or inducement.

Now the Ming army had entered Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat, and the phraya of Yala, Satun, Phatthalung, Trang, and other places had all submitted to the Commandery Prince of Rinan. Only the Pattani Sultanate refused to submit. This state had been merely a vassal of Siam, and had become essentially independent after Siam was invaded by the Shun — how could it now be willing to submit to Zhu Cizhao?

So the small force of elite juvenile troops the Zhu Emperor had on hand was extremely busy!

(End of Chapter)