Chapter 1162: Beware the Japanese

The crack of gunfire still rattled like popping beans, bullets fell like rain, and with the smoke and flame of bursting grenades and the dust thrown up by six-pounder cannonballs, cloud after cloud of smoke rose from the slopes on both sides of the long valley.

After the gunfire, the cannon fire, and the explosions came the shouts of men charging into battle!

The bodies of Spanish infantry in simple half-armor lay strewn across the hillsides like cut weeds. Near the Ming defense line they lay piled layer upon layer, a shocking sight. Yet the Spanish follow-up troops still kept pouring into the long valley!

Five regiments, nearly thirteen thousand officers and men, hurled themselves like towering waves again and again against the mountain pass at the northern end of the long valley leading to the central valley. Each time one regiment was beaten back, another took its place and launched a fresh assault. Clearly, Don Juan José was not willing to abandon his improvised Third Regiment.

He had originally reckoned that the Ming army, coming from far away, would not have much in the way of supplies, and that even if his ambush plan failed, as long as he could hold the southern mouth of the long valley and bottle them up for three, five, or seven days, he would win a complete victory. But he had miscalculated for a moment and allowed the Third Regiment, which had been given the task of luring the enemy, to be surrounded along with a good deal of supplies and livestock. Once those supplies and livestock fell into Ming hands, the battle of the long valley could drag on for half a month or even twenty days!

Although Don Juan José firmly believed his army could hold the southern mouth of the long valley, he still did not want his main force pinned down on the Northern California front for twenty days or more.

Because right now San Francisco, the Angel Castle, and the San Diego Castle were all very thinly defended! The area around the Angel Castle was especially dangerous! For there was no easily defended strait there, and beaches suitable for landing were everywhere. Relying on the Angel Castle alone, it was simply impossible to guard them all.

Once the Ming fleet transported landing troops and attacked there, the entire war situation in California could be completely reversed!

So while Don Juan José set up defenses at the southern mouth of the long valley — he still needed to be prepared for both outcomes — he threw everything he had into a furious assault!

In order to drive back the Ming troops holding the northern mouth of the long valley, he even hauled the six six-pounder cannons assigned to De Velasco over to the long valley battlefield and used them to bombard the Ming troops holding the hillsides.

But the Ming troops on the slopes on both sides of the northern mouth of the long valley had already dug a good many foxholes, so the bombardment had very poor effect and killed hardly any defenders. The New Spanish infantry, deprived of effective artillery support, became living targets for the Ming Young Guard soldiers firing down from the heights. They were mowed down like grass by the lead balls of the flintlocks, and even when they could push forward through the flintlock fire, they were driven back by the rain of grenades and the Ming bayonet charges.

The wooden-handled grenades used by the Ming army were actually not very powerful and could rarely kill a man outright, but the grenade fragments flying everywhere would wound anyone they grazed or struck. If the wound was not treated in time, a life would sooner or later be forfeit.

And the grenades bursting everywhere and the screams rising one after another dealt too heavy a blow to the morale of the New Spaniards, so their attacks could never last long before being beaten back by Ming bayonet counterattacks.

Don Juan José, who had hardly slept all night, already had dark circles under his eyes, and his throat was raw from shouting and from inhaling too much gunsmoke, yet he still insisted on supervising the battle at the front line.

Under his supervision, the infantry of the New Spanish army all exerted their utmost, and the flintlock musketeers from the Shimazu house were especially valiant. These Japanese charged at the front every time, and even when Ming grenades blasted them until their heads were bloody, they could still climb back up and keep fighting! Moreover, the results these Japanese soldiers achieved were quite satisfactory. They could press through Ming lead balls and grenades to within twenty or thirty paces of the Ming positions, then trade fire with the Ming using their flintlocks, inflicting a certain number of casualties on the Ming every time.

And when the Ming launched bayonet charges, these "little dwarf soldiers" would also throw themselves fearlessly into hand-to-hand combat. One had to understand that those Ming soldiers in black were all very tall — they were selected northern youths, raised on good food and drink, so of course their builds were not small — and they looked very capable in close combat!

Although the Japanese little dwarfs could gain no advantage at all in hand-to-hand fighting, that ferocious determination to fight to the death without retreating still allowed them to inflict losses on the Ming troops.

So by the morning of the eleventh day of the ninth month, Don Juan José, having discovered that the Japanese could fight, began pulling out the "Japanese battalions" attached to the various regiments — in fact only two flintlock companies built around Japanese samurai — and using them as his main force, sending them out in rotation to hurl themselves again and again at the Ming positions.

After this adjustment, the New Spanish army's offensive on the afternoon of the eleventh was markedly strengthened, and after paying a terrible price in casualties, they finally forced the Ming troops back from their first line of positions.

But Don Juan José did not have many Japanese among his five regiments. After relying on them for almost an entire day, he found that these "Japanese battalions" had all suffered fairly heavy losses. Each battalion had lost seventy or eighty Japanese samurai, their combat strength had been greatly weakened, and their morale had also begun to sag.

Another round of attacks ended. Watching the battalion he had just committed being driven down the mountain by the black-clad, death-god-like Ming troops, Don Juan José sighed, lowered his monocular telescope, and looked somewhat dejected.

It was almost dark now, and the Japanese seemed to have exhausted their strength. Could it be that this battle at Flood Valley might actually be lost?

If it was lost, California would probably be impossible to hold!

Beside him, the Marquis of Gaspala was squinting and listening intently. After a while he said to Don Juan José, "Duke, there are still sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of the central valley. It seems the Third Regiment is still holding out!"

"How much longer can they hold?" Don Juan José's face was ashen. "It is getting dark again, and those Japanese are not very good at night fighting!"

"Perhaps they can hold until tomorrow," the old marquis said. "We did make some progress in today's daytime fighting. We can now order the troops to halt the attack and set up defenses on the spot. As long as we hold off the Ming night raids, tomorrow during the day will be our last chance.

If we still cannot take it, the fortress at the southern mouth will be finished, and Honkōji should also be taken by then. At that point we can transfer part of our forces back to defend Angel City."

"How goes the fighting at Honkōji?" Don Juan José suddenly remembered that he had another battlefield behind him!

"Progress has been fairly smooth," a staff officer took up the question. "The filling of the moat was completed in the morning, and in the afternoon the Shimazu troops broke into Honkōji several times, but unfortunately they could not gain a firm foothold before being driven back by the enemy."

"That is no small achievement!" Don Juan José nodded. "The fighting strength of these Japanese is truly formidable!"

He did not know that the Ming troops defending Honkōji and the Ming troops at Flood Valley were entirely different things. In his mind, the guards of a Ming prince could not possibly be inferior to those "black-clad men."

Don Juan José said, "Marquis of Gaspala, take the cavalry and relieve De Velasco. Order him to pull out all the Japanese soldiers and send them to me!"

The Marquis of Gaspala asked, "Duke, without the Shimazu samurai, what am I to use to attack Honkōji?"

"There is no need to attack," Don Juan José shook his head. "Just keep them contained. You have a cavalry regiment; are you afraid you cannot watch over a thousand-odd infantrymen?"

"Of course there is no problem."

Don Juan José drew a breath and said, "If we still cannot break through tomorrow, then the Third Regiment is beyond saving. At that point we will use half our strength to hold the southern mouth of the long valley, and use the rest to take Honkōji. There should be no problem."

Seeing Don Juan José somewhat dispirited, the Marquis of Gaspala could only console him: "Duke, if we can capture the Ming prince in Honkōji, perhaps we can use him as a bargaining chip and negotiate with the Ming dynasty to reach a favorable peace treaty."

Don Juan José let out a breath. "We will talk about that when the time comes. As long as we can hold Flood Valley and take Honkōji, nothing will be a problem!"

(End of Chapter)