Chapter 1500: How Is There Still a

What? Urgent military affairs?

Zhu Hehao, Zhu Hekun, and Zhu Hezhen were all three career military officers, and the moment they heard there was urgent military business, every one of them grew excited.

"Summon him in!"

Zhu Hehao waved a hand grandly, looking perfectly composed. He was a prince who had seen great storms and waves, and in his years in the New Continent he had seen no shortage of urgent military affairs. Especially after the military households he had brought from the Ming homeland began pushing east into the Great Stone Mountains, urgent military affairs had multiplied.

At the worst point, as many as 8,000 Indians had besieged several military-household farmsteads of the United Provinces in the Great River Basin, and had even broken through one of them, killing three or four hundred people!

When Zhu Hehao received the news, he was not the least bit flustered or afraid. Instead he made a prompt decision, mustered 3,000 cavalry, and personally led them traveling day and night to the Great River Basin. In a single pitched battle, he routed an Indian force three times his own number, slaying more than 4,000.

After this Battle of the Great River Basin, the native tribes gathered in the basin all migrated eastward. The entire basin fell into the hands of Zhu Hehao's military-farm households!

And Zhu Hehao's own prestige soared after this great battle. Before the Great River Basin campaign, his standing in the minds of the New Continent's rebels had not been high — at least not comparable to Prince Jiaqing, Zhu Cihuan, who had made his name in the Flood River Valley battle. But after the basin campaign, Zhu Hehao's reputation was on par with Zhu Cihuan's — although the fighting power of those Indian mountain tribes was rather poor, and defeating them was not difficult at all.

But the local-tyrant prince had still won a great military exploit! That was 4,000 heads taken (the history books would at least inflate it to 40,000), and 2,000 li of territory opened up. To seize so much land — how awesome was that!

If some large Indian tribe would now come offering itself up for Zhu Hehao to farm some more prestige, that would be just perfect!

Zhu Hekun and Zhu Hezhen were equally eager to try. They had not come to the New World to eat meat; they had come to win merit and build careers!

On the ship to the New World, the two of them had already studied the materials and knew that the greatest strong enemy they would have to deal with was a tribal confederation that worshipped the sun, called something like the Great Sioux Confederation — the Great Soviet Union for short!

The Great Soviet Union! The name alone sounded formidable! A worthy opponent!

The Great Soviet Union not only sounded formidable; its strength was solid too. It was composed of seven powerful tribes and was said to possess over a hundred thousand warriors. For centuries it had rampaged across the great plains of North America and had never met a match. Even the mighty Kingdom of France could do nothing about them. The New France colony did not dare send troops to attack them, and could only humble itself and ally with them.

It was said that in order to secure the alliance, the French had given the Great Soviet Union quite a few muskets and swords, and had also given them horses shipped from Europe. There were even quite a few young Frenchmen who married "Soviet wives," joined the Great Soviet Union, and became blond, blue-eyed Soviet people.

Clearly this "Great Soviet Union" had real strength.

With the weapons and warhorses provided by France, the Great Soviet Union's strength grew even greater. Whether they decided on their own to push west, or were egged on by the French, from the latter half of last year the "Soviets" had begun frequently invading the great mountains, clashing repeatedly with the New Continent military households around Huaizhou Pass (a pass in the central Great Stone Mountains).

Though the clashes were small in scale, they sounded an alarm for Zhu Hehao — these conflicts were very likely the "Soviets" probing the depth of the New Continent military households.

Once they believed they had gauged the New Continent military households' strength, they would come invading in force.

Moreover, the "Great Soviet Union" and the United Provinces of the New Continent had had no conflicts over the past ten or twenty years. And their way of life was chasing bison across the plains; they never entered the great mountains.

Now suddenly pushing west — no matter how you looked at it, something was odd. Most likely the French were up to mischief behind the scenes.

But Zhu Hehao, Zhu Hekun, and Zhu Hezhen, the three brothers, were "Lords of Expansion," the "Three Founding Princes" of the United Provinces of the New Continent. Even the mighty Great Soviet Union did not make them afraid!

If this urgent military matter was the Great Soviet Union attacking, it would suit the three of them perfectly.

Now the twenty thousand households of the Prince of Huai and the Prince of De had all arrived, and they had also prepared twenty to thirty thousand warhorses and riding horses. Flintlocks and javelins had been issued, and the great majority of the military households had also supplied their own bows and arrows. At a single order, twenty thousand soldiers could be fielded.

Zhu Hehao himself had also assembled two ten-thousand-household units, stretching from the Great River Basin all the way to Huaizhou Pass, with over a hundred farmsteads established, able at any time to summon over ten thousand musketeers to battle.

In addition, the army of the United Provinces of the New Continent now had a standing force of over ten thousand men, and there were also several thousand Ming army troops stationed within the territory of the United Provinces of the New Continent.

With so many troops, they should be able to give the "Great Soviet Union" a fight.

Even if the French expeditionary force were added in, there was nothing to fear!

"Three Great Princes, this subject has just received an urgent report from the Kingdom of Jiaqing: on the Qingzhou Peninsula (Lower California), beacon-fire smoke is rising from the watchtowers. It appears a large New Spanish force, by land and sea, is invading!"

Chen Yonghua's report was like a basin of cold water suddenly poured over the heads of the three princes who had been preparing to take their knives to the Great Soviet Union.

"New Spain?" Zhu Hehao's expression turned grave at once. "Do we know how many men and how many ships they've brought?"

Chen Yonghua shook his head. "Not yet. The Prince of Jiaqing has set up forty-eight beacon towers along the 2,400-li-long Qingzhou Peninsula. When a large Spanish force by land and sea is spotted, they light the signal fires, but the smoke and fire cannot convey specific intelligence about the enemy.

Moreover, the Qingzhou Peninsula is too long and narrow, and there are many places where a landing is possible. If the New Spanish want to cut the link between the Qingzhou Peninsula and Angel Fort, it would not be too difficult."

"Eldest Brother, this Kingdom of New Spain was defeated by us in the Flood River Valley battle and has lain dormant for years. Now that they are coming back, I fear they have come prepared, and have been plotting this for a long time."

"Eldest Brother, even leaving aside the Qingzhou Peninsula, the west coast of our United Provinces of the New Continent is nearly 5,000 li long. If the naval battle goes badly, defending such a long coastline will not be easy!"

Zhu Hekun and Zhu Hezhen, the two brothers, both had solid military judgment, and they immediately found the crux of the problem.

The battle for the west coast of North New Continent would be decided by the navy. If the navy won, the United Provinces of the New Continent could turn from defense to offense and push south along the Pacific to seize New Spain's territory.

If the naval battle was lost... the consequences would be too terrible to contemplate!

Zhu Hehao's brows suddenly knitted, and he said to Chen Yonghua, "Fufu, Golden Gate Bay — notify Golden Gate Bay at once to strengthen its vigilance. If the New Spanish really have come prepared, they will certainly launch a surprise attack on Golden Gate Bay. If the fleet in Golden Gate Bay is badly mauled by the Spanish, our troubles will be enormous!"

September 11, 1673, by the Western calendar.

Off the coast of California, an enormous fleet was sailing less than a hundred li from the shoreline, riding a rare north wind off the west coast of the North American continent as it sped northward.

Three Lorraine-class first-rate ships of the line, three Franche-Comté-class second-rates, three Luxembourg-class third-rates, four Holland-class second-rates, five refitted old-style sailing ships of the line, two Saint-Germain-class fast sail warships, four Hague-class fast sail warships, sixteen refitted old-style armed galleons, fifteen light fast sailboats, fifteen bomb vessels, twenty-five fireships.

A full ninety-six warships, their white sails filled, making them look extraordinarily huge, like one white rampart after another advancing in formation across the boundless sea. Such a magnificent sight stirred the sailors on the decks to excitement. Ninety-six warships would have been a startling number even on a European naval battlefield — let alone along the Pacific coast of the Americas.

And of these ninety-six warships, nineteen were new-style ships of the line and fast sail warships that had only recently sailed over from France and the Netherlands proper.

In addition, there were twenty-one old-style Spanish or New Spanish warships (armed galleons), all thoroughly refitted, all fitted with the latest 12-pounder bronze or cast-iron bombards, and also equipped with devastating studded explosive shells.

Many aboard this tri-nation combined fleet were beginning to look forward to a proper, aboveboard decisive battle between sailing ships of the line. Only such a decisive battle could show the enemy the might of France, the Netherlands, and Spain!

But the Regional Commander of this combined fleet, French Vice Admiral Abraham Duquesne, had no intention of giving the Chinese even the slightest chance to fight to a draw or escape.

So he was preparing a surprise attack on the home port shared by the fleet of the United Provinces of the New Continent and the New Continent squadron of the Great Ming Eastern Ocean Fleet — Golden Gate Bay!

(End of Chapter)