Chapter 1165: Duke, We Are Surrounded!

Floodwater Valley.

Gunfire and battle cries had already merged into a single roar. The rolling forward Young Guard infantry squares, like moving steel fortresses, slammed ferociously into the Spanish defensive line.

In the darkness, bursts of fire kept erupting, accompanied by deafening booms. These were the grenades thrown by the grenadiers charging ahead of the Ming square, landing on the Spanish line!

Muzzle flashes flickered unceasingly as well. The trajectories of fire from both sides interwove in the night sky, forming a web of death.

The dense Ming infantry squares fired as they advanced, pressing forward steadily against the Spanish bullets. Qi Yuanbi and Yu Daren stood on high ground, silently watching everything before them.

The Spanish defense was well organized. By the light of the grenade bursts, one could see three ranks of musketeers standing in formation behind breastworks, the first two ranks loading and firing without pause! Though they barely aimed, the hail of bullets was dense, pouring down and tearing gaps in the front ranks of the Ming squares.

Yet the Ming advance was extraordinarily resolute. Fallen soldiers were quickly replaced by those behind them, and the entire square continued to grind forward at quick-march pace.

After paying a certain cost in casualties, the first wave of attacking squares had charged to within less than twenty paces of the Spanish line. At this point, this Ming battalion square finally halted. All the soldiers who had emptied their ammunition began reloading at top speed, utterly ignoring the bullets fired by the Spanish ranks ahead.

Reloading was quickly finished, and the first three ranks of the square prepared to deliver a single volley! At the whistle of the officers, the first rank dropped into a kneeling firing posture, while the second and third ranks remained standing erect and leveled their muskets.

Boom!

As the continuous roar sounded, hundreds of lethal lead balls swept forth, and the front rank of the Spanish musketeer formation instantly collapsed in a heap!

Casualties of this magnitude had clearly reached the limit these New Spanish peasant soldiers could endure. Though not yet broken, their hands and feet were trembling, and they could no longer load their ammunition properly. Their opponents, in truth, were also quite rattled — although they had been indoctrinated in feudal militarism since childhood and had seen battle before arriving in the Americas, this kind of life-or-death contest of nerve was something they were using for the first time today. Still, their long-term upbringing and rigorous training showed its effect now: their reloading speed was clearly faster than the enemy's.

And so the second, third, and fourth volleys rang out in succession!

Hundreds of lead balls tore through the air, pierced the thick smoke, and swept through the panicked Spanish infantry ranks, mowing down those terrified men row after row!

But the Spanish had thrown caution to the wind as well. Don Juan José personally came to the front, directing the battle from only one or two hundred meters behind the firing line. Behind him stood battalion after battalion of Spanish musketeers in perfect formation.

The moment one battalion at the front was shattered, a fresh battalion of musketeers immediately filled the gap!

Clearly, this chancellor of the Kingdom of New Spain had made the greatest possible resolution: to fight the southward-advancing Ming army to the death here in Floodwater Valley. Even mutual destruction would be worth it.

After all, in the Americas, the total number of whites and mixed-race whites in New Spain was nearly six hundred thousand! If one added the Indians converted to Catholicism, a population resource of three to four million was no problem at all. The Ming side's America Prefecture, by contrast, had at most a hundred thousand or so people.

The numerical advantage still lay with New Spain!

If they could not crush the enemy in one blow now, then in another ten or eight years, the Chinese population of America Prefecture might exceed a million — and by then, they would no longer be satisfied with this bit of territory around the Gulf of America! Even adding California might not satisfy their appetite!

But when he saw those musketeers — men who would have been worthy of battle even on European battlefields — beaten into mental collapse by the Ming army and retreating in utter disorder, a sense of foreboding settled over his heart.

Could this decisive battle be lost?

Just as Don Juan José struggled to drive this most unwelcome thought from his mind, the rapid sound of hoofbeats and clamor suddenly rose from behind him.

Don Juan José quickly turned to look and saw a rider spurring his horse toward him, shouting as he came: "Make way! Make way! I am the Commissioner-in-Chief of California!"

The Commissioner-in-Chief of California? De Velasco? What is he doing here? Has something gone wrong at Honpuku-ji again?

By now De Velasco had charged up to him. Without dismounting, he shouted from horseback: "Duke! The Japanese have betrayed us! We are surrounded!"

What? The Japanese have mutinied, and we are surrounded...

Don Juan José leapt to his feet. "What happened?"

De Velasco shouted to Don Juan José: "Duke, the Japanese around Honpuku-ji suddenly mutinied and joined forces with the Ming troops inside the temple! They also launched a surprise attack on the Marquis of Gaspala's camp! My two regiments were caught off guard by them as well, and had no choice but to fall back and hold the southern mouth of Floodwater Valley!

Duke, we are surrounded by the enemy!"

Don Juan José stood frozen on the spot!

How could they be surrounded? Everything was fine just a moment ago — how could they be surrounded in the blink of an eye? And weren't the Shimazu people sworn enemies of the Ming? How could they have gone over to them? Have they lost their minds or something?

"Duke! We must break out immediately!" Seeing Don Juan José in a daze, De Velasco hastily urged him. "We can still break out now, but if we wait until those damned Japanese build fortifications outside Floodwater Valley, there will be no way out!"

"But... but..." Don Juan José could barely speak. "But what about California?"

De Velasco shook his head. "It cannot be held. But we still have Mexico! And the Viceroyalty of Peru! And the largest silver mines in the world, and vast fertile lands, and millions of devout Catholic people. So this defeat is only temporary. As long as we hold San Diego Castle and the Sonora Desert, we can keep Mexico safe — and we will have the chance to rise again!"

Don Juan José had by now recovered from his panic and shock. He said to De Velasco: "And the Presidio fortress at San Francisco. We must hold there for the time being! It is our strongpoint for keeping the Chinese in check, and our bargaining chip in negotiations with them! Because several thousand Japanese women and children are still detained there — we can use them to exchange for our captured soldiers!"

"Duke, I will personally go and hold the Presidio fortress!"

Don Juan José nodded. "Good. That is what we shall do." He was now full of vigor again. His gaze swept left and right, and then he addressed his generals: "The defeat of New Spain is only temporary! For we still hold ample capital in our hands. As long as we strive and exert ourselves, our kingdom shall be invincible!

And we have the blessing of God! God is with New Spain!"

"God is with New Spain!"

Once Don Juan José and his Spaniards and German mercenaries, driven to the wall, summoned the spirit to fight for their lives, the Japanese outside Floodwater Valley could no longer hold them. After all, the Spanish still had over ten thousand men, while the Japanese had only a little over two thousand — and a weary force at that. Nor were the Japanese truly willing to fight the Spanish to the death... The principle of preserving one's strength was something the Japanese understood as well.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuanbi and Yu Daren on the other side had no idea what had happened south of Floodwater Valley. They had no telephone or mobile phone, and no way to contact Zhu Cihuan — they had no idea the Shimazu clan had already switched sides. So the sudden Spanish retreat completely took them by surprise. At first they thought Don Juan José was employing some trick, and therefore did not pursue with full force. By the time they made contact with Zhu Cihuan, figured out the situation, and began the pursuit, the Spanish had already gotten a fair distance away.

Still, it was more than five hundred li from the northern Satsuma River valley to San Francisco. If half of Don Juan José's men could complete the journey, they would truly have God to thank...

(End of Chapter)