Chapter 1156: Don Juan José Has Arrived

Shimazu Mitsuhisa had guessed exactly right — the Spanish army had already reached California!

In the southern part of the dry Central Valley (the Satsuma Valley), a great army was rolling forward along a nearly dried-up riverbed — a combined force of musketeers, pikemen, cavalry, baggage troops, and a small number of artillerymen, numbering as many as 15,000. Because the roads in the Central Valley were so poor, this Spanish army carried few cannon — only six 6-pounder guns. The reason they had dragged them along at all was to deal with the stout Satsuma castle and Honkō-ji!

The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of New Spain, the Duke of Florida, Don Juan José, was also with this great army. He rode a magnificently powerful Iberian steed, wore a broad-brimmed sun hat, and was clad in a suit of black plate armor, cutting a truly imposing figure.

He had learned that the "United King" from the Ming side had arrived at the American prefecture, and so had led his troops out of Mexico City, first boarding ship at Acapulco, then traveling by sea to San Francisco.

The reason for all that trouble was that traveling overland from Mexico City to San Francisco meant covering more than 3,000 kilometers!

At a marching speed of 25 kilometers a day, it would take more than four months.

And worse still, the Kingdom of New Spain's infrastructure was abysmal — the country was too vast, its population too sparse, and the Spanish were not much inclined toward construction.

So between Mexico City and San Francisco there were hardly any decent roads, few towns, and no supply depots along the way capable of provisioning an army. Marching that far overland was therefore simply unthinkable — what army could carry four months' worth of provisions on its back?

Going by sea was thus the only option!

Fortunately, the Chinese navy could for now only lord it over the vicinity of the American Gulf, and had no way to run wild along the coasts of Mexico and California. That was because they had almost no ports south of the American Gulf — since the winds off the Pacific's eastern shore mostly blow southward, a Ming fleet that left the American Gulf would find it easy to sail south but hard to return north. If it sortied rashly, getting back to the American Gulf would likely mean sailing around half the Pacific.

And once the great fleet defending the American Gulf went on a long expedition, gaps would open in the American Gulf's defenses — which was why the main Ming fleet there had never launched a large-scale push south. Thus Don Juan José could move large numbers of troops by sea to San Francisco — 17th-century sailing ships could mostly beat to windward, and the west coast of North America was not entirely without northward-blowing winds; one simply had to wait for the right season.

For a Ming fleet with no harbor to use, such waiting was very dangerous — many famous naval battles in history had occurred between a fleet lying at anchor waiting for a fair wind and a fleet that came to raid it.

And the raiding side won at an extremely high rate!

The Spanish fleet, by contrast, had no fear of waiting — it could wait at leisure in ports protected by batteries and fortresses.

But Don Juan José knew that his advantage of being able to move troops by sea would not last long. For the Spanish Empire was incapable of renewing its fleet, while the Ming navy would soon complete its own renewal!

Before new-model ships of the line armed with large-caliber bombardment guns, the old multi-gun-deck ships of the line would likely be nothing but decrepit junk that could not withstand a single blow.

Once the Ming fleet completed its renewal, the Presidio fortress at San Francisco would probably be unable to withstand their large-caliber bombardment guns!

A burst of rapid hoofbeats broke Don Juan José's train of thought. He looked up and saw several mounted dispatch riders galloping toward him at full speed. The foremost rider was a blond-haired German — likely a German mercenary. Lured by the knighthoods and estates in the Kingdom of New Spain that Don Juan José offered, quite a few mercenaries with no prospects in Europe had come to New Spain over the past few years.

"Your Grace! A letter from Commissioner-in-Chief de Velasco." The German mercenary gave Don Juan José a military salute, then handed over a rolled letter sealed with wax.

Don Juan José took the letter, tore off the wax seal, unfolded it and read, then broke into a smile.

"Duke," asked García, who was riding beside him, with a smile, "has the United King taken the bait?"

This García was the very commander of the Oriental Invincible Armada who had lost the great Battle of Kagoshima Bay. Although King Philip had not thrown him into prison, there was no way for him to return to the navy, so he had followed Don Juan José to the New World and taken up the post of Don Juan José's staff officer.

"The United King did not come," Don Juan José said with a laugh. "What came is his uncle — the Chinese Emperor's own younger brother."

"The Chinese Emperor's younger brother?" García frowned. "Is it the Prince of Dai or the Prince of Rinan?"

During his time in the East he had heard that Zhu Cilang had two very formidable brothers — the Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, and the Commandery Prince of Rinan, Zhu Cizhao.

"Neither of them," said Don Juan José. "It's some Prince of Chongqing — said to be a fool."

"That would be the Chinese Emperor's fifth brother. He is indeed not as clever as his three elder brothers," García paused. "Though by our Spanish standards, he certainly could not be called a fool."

Ming law prohibited marriage between those of the same surname and marriage between cousins — the former closed off marriage between paternal cousins, while the latter forbade even marriage between maternal cousins. Of course, some cousin marriages still occurred among the common people. But within the imperial palace there were none, which was why the probability of a Ming prince turning out a fool was relatively low.

Even a son like Zhu Cihuan, if King Philip could get hold of him, would surely move him to tears of gratitude.

Don Juan José sighed: "I truly dare not imagine what a Spain ruled by Carlos would be like."

The Carlos he spoke of was the future Carlos II. The previous idiot crown prince, Philip Prosper, had died of illness two years earlier. But on the fifth day after Philip Prosper's death, Prince Carlos, who looked even more of a fool, was born!

Though this prince was even more foolish, his epileptic symptoms were milder than Philip Prosper's, and his body was not so frail — he would very likely grow up and inherit Philip IV's throne.

"Duke," said García, "what is fortunate is that New Spain will be under the rule of a very intelligent monarch!"

Don Juan José glanced at García, said nothing, and merely spurred his warhorse onward.

By this time Zhu Cihuan had already entered Honkō-ji — not in a grand, conspicuous manner, but mingled among the vanguard samurai.

The reason for this arrangement was the fear of an ambush on the way into Honkō-ji — in Hoshina Masateru's view, once they were inside Honkō-ji, there would be nothing left to worry about.

Given Honkō-ji's strength and the quantity of muskets and ammunition carried by Zhu Cihuan's escorting samurai, the Shimazu clan could not possibly take it by storm — even if only seven or eight hundred men got inside, that would be enough to hold out.

So he had divided the 2,000-man escort into three columns, himself leading the vanguard, escorting Zhu Cihuan into Honkō-ji first.

The middle and rear columns, flying the Yellow Dragon Banner, remained stationed in the Flood Valley, awaiting the vanguard's signal before advancing in turn.

In the Shimazu clan's eyes, the vanguard was of little value; if they truly meant to strike at Zhu Cihuan, they should ambush the middle and rear columns.

If the middle and rear columns also entered Honkō-ji safely, then they could rest easy — the Shimazu clan's surrender was not feigned, but genuine.

"Great King! Your Highness! The middle column's Yellow Dragon Banner has been sighted!"

A samurai dashed into a side hall where Zhu Cihuan was resting and loudly reported what the lookout had spotted.

Zhu Cihuan laughed: "Now we can rest easy!"

Hoshina Masateru also let out a breath of relief: "There should be no problem now. All that remains is to wait for Shimazu Mitsuhisa to come pay his respects and hand over the hostage!"

"Hostage?" Zhu Cihuan asked. "Aren't all his family in Tokyo (Edo)? Who else is there to serve as a hostage?"

"It is a daughter of his, named Shimazu Nogi — a very beautiful woman!"

(End of Chapter)