Chapter 1125: Satsuma Valley (Please Subscribe)

After a burst of splashing, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, riding at the head, had already crossed a shallow ford and set foot on the north bank of a nameless stream. Close behind, dozens of horsemen surged across. Most of the riders wore kimono and were short in stature, and sitting astride the tall horses the Spaniards had brought to the Americas looked rather incongruous. A few of the larger figures were Westerners.

The stream Shimazu had just crossed merged not far away into a great river. On both banks of the great river the terrain was quite open, and gazing into the distance one saw range upon range of mountains. A column of people straggled along the west bank of the great river. Fewer than half of them were men in their prime; the rest were young women, some already pregnant and therefore riding horses, while everyone else went on foot. There were no few horses with them, four or five thousand in all; apart from a small number carrying people, the rest were laden with large bundles of goods. And the people traveling on foot also bore large packs on their backs, trudging forward step by step with difficulty.

These men and women on foot, and the women on horseback, were of course all short, small Japanese refugees. They were now moving north along the Central Valley under the leadership of de Velasco, Commissioner-in-Chief of California in New Spain.

De Velasco could not help feeling a certain admiration for these short, small refugees who had crossed the ocean. They had become homeless dogs, fleeing from prosperous East Asia to desolate California, yet every one of them was in high spirits, and from time to time one could hear laughter and cheerful talk.

Moreover, these small-statured East Asians apparently did not get scurvy!

Those slow-moving Chinese-style bird ships had drifted across the Pacific for more than two months, and not a single case of scurvy had occurred!

This phenomenon made de Velasco deeply worried about the Pacific naval war, which no one knew how long it would last — if the East Asian race truly was immune to scurvy, then the Ming Empire's naval personnel could remain at sea longer, and on the boundless Pacific that would be an enormous advantage!

Furthermore, the "bombard cannon revolution" had also caused tremendous difficulties for the financially strapped navy of the Kingdom of Spain — to complete this naval armament revolution, it was not merely a matter of adding a few short-barreled, large-caliber bombard cannons to traditional armed galleons; new warships had to be designed!

Because the traditional ships of the line, with two or three gun decks and scores or even a hundred cannons, were simply floating powder magazines. During a sea battle the gun decks were thrown into utter chaos; if one went below at such a time, one was sure to see powder barrels and powder charges not stored according to regulations — scores or even a hundred cannons! How many gun crews had to be crammed into those cramped gun decks? In the confusion of exchanging fire, how could everything possibly be done by the book? Even if everything were carried out according to the drill manual, when a 24-pound or 32-pound or even 40-pound explosive shell burst on a gun deck, could one avoid a sympathetic detonation and the chain of disasters that followed? Such a happy outcome was not to be dreamed of!

Therefore, designing new all-bombard-cannon ships of the line had become the foremost task of every naval power in the world today!

As far as de Velasco knew, the wealthy Ming, with their developed shipbuilding industry, as well as the Dutch and the English, had long since begun designing and building new ships of the line.

And the Ming's first-generation all-bombard-cannon ship of the line, the Yingtian Prefecture class, had already entered active service!

But what of Spain?

Whenever de Velasco thought of his homeland, which ought to have possessed the world but was so poor it could not even produce the Princess's dowry, he could not help sighing.

Just then, the horsemen riding ahead of him suddenly halted. De Velasco, caught off guard, nearly collided with the hindquarters of the horse in front. Only after a flurry of effort did he manage to rein in the unruly warhorse beneath him, and Shimazu Mitsuhisa had already ridden up beside him.

"Your Excellency the Commissioner, let us settle here!"

"Here?" De Velasco looked around. This was somewhere in the northern part of the Central Valley, a river bend, with several nameless streams descending from the great mountains to the west. The terrain was not very open, and it was uneven, but the trees were lush and it looked rather damp.

"Is this not too remote?" De Velasco thought for a moment, then added, "And the northern Central Valley floods often, which is bad for farming. Why not turn back south and choose a better spot? California has land to spare, after all."

"This place is fine!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said with a smile. "It is very much like my homeland, Satsuma Province."

Satsuma Province is in a valley? De Velasco thought to himself: This old man must have been addled by the sea voyage. Earlier, at San Francisco Bay, he had said it resembled Satsuma Province and wanted to settle there.

"Very well!" After some thought, de Velasco agreed to Shimazu Mitsuhisa's request — San Francisco Bay could not be given to the Japanese; it was too important. But giving the northern part of the Central Valley to the Japanese was no harm. With them blocking the way here, it would not be easy for the Chinese to push south!

Shimazu Mitsuhisa asked again, "Your Excellency the Commissioner, what is this place called?"

"A name? It has none yet." De Velasco said, "Elder Shimazu, why not give it one yourself?"

"Good!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said. "From this moment on, this place shall be called Satsuma Valley! Here the Satsuma people shall multiply and flourish without end!"

De Velasco nodded. "Very well, Satsuma Valley it shall be. But you must beware of floods. If you intend to bring land under cultivation, you must first build proper dikes."

"Hai! Thank you for your concern. We will certainly take care." Shimazu Mitsuhisa nodded emphatically.

De Velasco continued, "I have already spoken with the Duke of Florida about forming new flintlock musket regiments. The Duke has approved. But as you know, our Kingdom of New Spain is a large country, and many matters must be handled slowly; perhaps it will take two years to put into effect. Before then, I hope you can construct fortifications in the Satsuma Valley area and build encampments sufficient to house thirty thousand people. If you have strength to spare, store up as much grain as possible."

He paused, then looked at Shimazu Mitsuhisa. "Elder, can you finish all this in two years?"

"No problem!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said. "As long as the Commissioner's office can provide some more iron tools and grain, my people can certainly build a fortress and military camp in Satsuma Valley within two years, and can also store at least twenty thousand shi of grain."

"Can you truly do it?" De Velasco wanted to be sure.

"Absolutely no problem!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa gave an affirmative answer.

"Then that is excellent!" De Velasco smiled. "In that case, we will soon be able to drive the Ming people out of the Gulf of the Americas!"

His "soon" was, of course, soon by the standards of the Kingdom of Spain. For that "King of the World," Philip IV, there were truly many matters requiring urgent attention in the summer of 1660!

First, of course, was winning the trust of the German and Italian bankers, so that the country could escape as soon as possible from the predicament of being unable to borrow — for Spain, borrowing at usurious rates was not the worst of it; the worst was being unable to borrow at usurious rates at all!

Only, one wondered how those bankers, who had suffered enough at Spain's hands, could ever be made to trust Philip IV's credit again?

Second, of course, was drawing up a timetable for military reform — the navy had to be reformed, and the army too! Led by that suddenly powerful Ming Empire in the East, the military powers of Europe, including France, England, the Netherlands, and Sweden, had all begun reforming their armies and navies. Even the Holy Roman Empire, which had not yet fully emerged from the shadow of the Thirty Years' War, had begun army reform. And the Holy Roman Empire's enemy, the Ottoman Empire, had gone further still, launching an ambitious reform plan to revive its navy and the Sultan's Janissaries!

Only Spain, that "overlord of the world," seemed stuck in a quagmire, utterly unable to muster any strength for reform.

The third matter requiring urgent attention was one that could actually be accomplished: marrying Princess Maria Teresa to Louis XIV of France. This was no easy matter either! Fortunately, Philip IV had all along carefully shielded his daughter, keeping her out of sight of outsiders as much as possible, so that until June 7, 1660, Louis XIV did not know the true appearance of the Spanish princess.

(End of Chapter)