Chapter 1157: This Isn't Matchmaking — It's War!

The very beautiful woman Hokō Masateru had spoken of, Shimazu Nogi, had already appeared before Zhu Cihuan's eyes, riding a tall, sturdy Iberian horse and wearing a clean, crisp kendo uniform. Though somewhat small in stature, her bosom was quite ample, full and bulging, and Zhu Cihuan took a liking to her from the bottom of his heart the moment he saw her.

And at that moment Shimazu Nogi had likewise taken a fancy to Zhu Cihuan, who had ridden out alone to parley with her before the lines. Though Zhu Cihuan was a bit of a good-for-nothing, his looks were still very pleasing to young women — tall, upright, handsome, and he also had a rather thick, full beard, which was the standard for handsome men in the seventeenth century!

Here was a man with affection and a woman with intention — it looked as though they were about to strike up an illicit affair!

Unfortunately, what was to take place today at Honkō-ji was not a matchmaking gathering, but a life-and-death battle. The forces of both sides had already deployed into formation!

The Shimazu clan had sent out 1,200 men, of whom 1,000 were flintlock musketeers and 200 were mounted samurai. They had now formed up five hundred paces north of Honkō-ji, with the flintlock musketeers in the center and the mounted samurai screening the flanks, blocking the route of retreat from Honkō-ji to the Flood River valley.

Zhu Cihuan, for his part, had sent out 1,800 men, half pikemen and half matchlock gunners, drawn up in a standard Maurice-style square formation.

Although Zhu Cihuan's side had six hundred more men, because they lacked flintlocks and cavalry they were clearly at a disadvantage. Still, they did have one advantage: they were deployed with their backs to Honkō-ji, so if the situation turned unfavorable, they could withdraw and hold out there.

After both sides had deployed, battle did not begin at once. Zhu Cihuan's side was not certain what the Shimazu clan intended — 1,200 men were not enough to take Honkō-ji! And they had brought no cannon with them (the Shimazu clan had no cannon), so how could they assault such a strong fortress as Honkō-ji?

On the Shimazu side, the family head Shimazu Mitsuhisa had not appeared; instead the troops were led by Mitsuhisa's daughter Shimazu Nogi. And after Shimazu Nogi had her men deploy, she did not attack either, but instead requested a parley before the lines with the Ming prince.

"Great Prince, Your Highness, I am Shimazu Nogi, and today I serve as my father Lord Mitsuhisa's jindai."

Shimazu Nogi was quite forward; before Zhu Cihuan could even speak, she introduced herself, and she could also speak fairly fluent Chinese.

"You are the jindai?" Zhu Cihuan was taken aback. "What has happened to Mitsuhisa? Why did he not come himself?"

Shimazu Nogi gave a very apologetic smile. "Because the Viceroy of New Spain suddenly arrived in person with a great army, my father was so stricken with worry and fear that he fell ill and could not rise. He had no choice but to send me in his place to take the field. I beg Your Highness's forgiveness."

A moment ago Zhu Cihuan had been admiring the kendo-uniformed beauty; now he was jolted alert with fright. "What? The Viceroy of New Spain has come with a great army?"

"Hai!" Shimazu Nogi inclined her body slightly. "I am truly very sorry, but this humble woman cannot surrender to the Great Prince as previously agreed. I can only meet the Great Prince with weapons drawn!"

"Do you — do you not know that our Great Ming Celestial Dynasty has a million brave soldiers?" Zhu Cihuan shouted.

"Of course I know," Shimazu Nogi said with a smile, "but in the Americas, the Kingdom of New Spain can at any time send out tens of thousands of troops, while the Great Prince has only a mere two thousand men at hand. So this humble woman can only hand over the women and children in Satsuma Castle to the Spanish as hostages, and personally lead warriors to prevent the Great Prince from fleeing north. I am truly very sorry!"

Zhu Cihuan ground his teeth. "You think this prince truly has only two thousand men? This prince still has reinforcements. The Grand General Qi, Regional Commander of the American Army, leads thirty thousand troops and is following right behind this prince! Once Grand General Qi's men arrive, you will all be utterly destroyed!"

He was trying to scare the young girl.

But Shimazu Nogi did not fall for it at all. She merely giggled. "If Grand General Qi truly brings thirty thousand troops, then this humble woman will surely come before the Great Prince's horse to beg punishment with a bundle of thorns on her back, and submit to whatever the Great Prince decides!"

Zhu Cihuan was momentarily speechless. He would have liked to seize Shimazu Nogi and give her a thorough dressing-down, but where was he to get thirty thousand reinforcements? The American Army had only twenty thousand men in all, and they were not following behind him either! Over eight hundred li of mountain roads! It was simply impossible to follow. His two thousand men had been reduced to hunting and fishing to fill their bellies by the end of the march — what would twenty thousand men do? How many wild animals would they have to catch to have enough to eat? There were not that many to be had!

Seeing that Zhu Cihuan had nothing to say, Shimazu Nogi also sighed softly and said, "Within Honkō-ji there are three thousand koku of rice, and also quite a lot of salted meat. There is also a well in the temple for convenient access to water, enough to supply a garrison of two thousand. The rice, the salted meat, and the well water have none of them been poisoned; you may eat and drink them without worry.

So I beg the Great Prince to return and hold the castle! If the Great Prince wishes to send someone to seek reinforcements, this humble woman will not stop them. But if the Great Prince wishes to break out, then please abandon that thought!

For if the Great Prince's men do not carry enough dry provisions, they will not be able to complete the more than eight hundred li of mountain roads! Moreover, the Spanish army has already arrived. If they pursue you all the way, I fear the Great Prince will perish in the northern mountains."

Having finished these words, Shimazu Nogi inclined her body once more, then wheeled her horse around and rode off in a puff of dust, leaving Zhu Cihuan still sitting dazedly on his horse.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Before Zhu Cihuan had recovered, the Shimazu flintlocks opened fire! Of course they could not hit Zhu Cihuan — they were more than three hundred paces away, and they were firing into the air.

The Shimazu clan was now cutting tofu with a blade greased on both sides: on one hand, they played the Spanish running dog and trapped that foolish prince Zhu Cihuan; on the other, they kept a way out — what if the prince was only pretending to be a fool?

So Shimazu Mitsuhisa feigned illness and did not show his face, and Shimazu Nogi came forward in his place.

"Your Grace, the fighting has already begun over at Honkō-ji!"

The speaker was de Velasco. He had arrived near Satsuma Valley Castle before Don Juan José, and with him came four thousand mercenaries of the New Spanish Army. These mercenaries were permanently stationed in California and were part of the "New Spain Lobsters." They had now been mixed with more than two thousand flintlock musketeers sent out from Satsuma Valley Castle to form twelve flintlock battalions — each battalion was a mixed formation of two flintlock companies and two heavy matchlock companies. In the flintlock companies, three of the flintlock platoons were composed of Japanese samurai of the Shimazu clan, while one pike company was filled by New Spanish mercenaries.

De Velasco had originally wanted to form twenty "Lobster Battalions," but the Kingdom of Spain now had to do everything at a fifty or sixty percent discount, so managing to form twelve battalions was already quite good.

Moreover, this "Lobster Battalion" organization had now become the standard for the New Spanish Army.

The fifteen thousand troops Don Juan José had brought from Mexico were basically organized the same way: apart from a small amount of artillery, cavalry, and baggage troops, there were twenty-six "Lobster Battalions." Together with de Velasco's twelve battalions, there were thirty-eight battalions in all. Two of these battalions had been sent by Don Juan José to garrison Satsuma Valley Castle, and the remaining thirty-six battalions had been organized into nine provisional infantry regiments, now standing by on the south bank of the Satsuma River.

"García, you will lead one provisional infantry regiment to hold the south bank of the Satsuma River, and at the same time be responsible for guarding the grain being moved out of Satsuma Valley Castle." Don Juan José began issuing orders. "Commissioner-in-Chief de Velasco, you will lead two provisional infantry regiments and the artillery to besiege Honkō-ji. The Shimazu forces that have already reached Honkō-ji will also be under your command.

All remaining units will follow me to the Flood River valley! There we will wait for the exhausted follow-up forces of the Ming army!"

"Your Grace," de Velasco interjected, "no follow-up forces of the Ming army have been discovered as yet."

Don Juan José smiled. "They will be found! As long as our enemy is not a fool, they will certainly send elite troops to follow behind that prince — this is a chance to seize all of California in one stroke! How could they possibly give it up?"

This man was indeed King Philip's cleverest son; he had long since thought through every possibility. Of course he had also considered the possibility that Ming elite troops would follow Zhu Cihuan into the Satsuma valley in order to gain complete control of the Shimazu clan.

And the grain the Shimazu clan had stockpiled was of extraordinary importance to a Ming army that had crossed vast stretches of mountain terrain. As long as they got their hands on that grain, they would be able to commit more than twenty thousand land troops in California — and then all of California would likely fall into the hands of the United States of the New Continent!

The Duke of Florida said with a laugh, "They will certainly come! As long as we destroy them, we will have the chance to march north and occupy the Gulf of the Americas. I hear that place has developed quite splendidly!"

(End of Chapter)