Chapter 1501: Surprise Attack on Golden Gate Bay!

Aboard the *Lorraine*, a ship of the line of about 1,000 tons burden armed with forty 12-pounder long guns, Vice Admiral Abraham Duquesne, a Huguenot entrusted with a heavy responsibility by King Louis XIV of France, was studying a highly accurate chart of Golden Gate Bay together with his chief of staff and captain of the *Lorraine*, the young Anne Hilarion de Cotentin de Tourville.

Vice Admiral Duquesne was indeed a veteran of nearly forty years' service who had fought in countless naval battles great and small; even with a major battle imminent, he remained perfectly composed. Tourville, however, who was only thirty-one this year, was somewhat restless.

Yes, restless.

He could not say why; he was simply uneasy! By all reason, the surprise attack on Golden Gate Bay should have been absolutely foolproof. For this raid was certain to be completely unexpected by the Chinese — France proper was more than ten thousand nautical miles from the California coast, and one had to pass through some extremely dangerous waters to get there.

If it had been worthless old warships or armed merchantmen making the voyage, that would have been one thing — but who could have imagined that King Louis and Grand Pensionary De Witt would stake so much, dispatching a full twenty new-model warships (fast-sailing ships of the line)?

These twenty new-model warships represented nearly thirty percent of the combined naval strength of France and Holland; under normal circumstances they could never possibly have sailed so far to fight. Yet they had spent more than half a year at sea, passed through untold perils, and covered those ten thousand-odd nautical miles. One ship had even struck a reef en route and been forced to undergo major repairs at Acapulco, so that it could not take part in this expedition!

Not only would the Ming Emperor and the King of the New Continent United States never have imagined it — even Vice Admiral Duquesne himself had been greatly startled when he first heard of this mad expedition plan from the lips of Louis XIV.

But after carefully studying this plan, which could only be called insane, Vice Admiral Duquesne concluded that its chances of success were extremely high!

Moreover, this scheme was the best — and the most likely to succeed — plan by which France, New Spain, and Holland could join forces to drive the Chinese out of North America.

After all, the plan was sufficiently unexpected!

No one would imagine that France and Holland would actually do such a thing — it was simply too mad!

Therefore the Ming navy could not possibly have stationed off the west coast of North America a fleet so large as to be able to oppose the combined fleet of the three nations — a fleet of 100 ships of the line would require twenty or thirty thousand sailors alone!

For a country with a population of only a little over a million, adding twenty or thirty thousand well-paid sailors to feast and drink would be an extremely heavy burden, to say nothing of paying their wages.

And stationing so large a fleet along the Pacific coast would have little meaning for the Ming Empire anyway.

The navy is, after all, an offensive arm. Spending several million taels to build 100 warships, and then spending hundreds of thousands or even a million taels a year to maintain them, only to park them in Golden Gate Harbor for defense — was that not madness?

With that money, would it not be enough to build a few more batteries at Golden Gate Bay and America Bay? A few hundred thousand taels would make Golden Gate Bay and America Bay impregnable.

In fact, the Chinese had not spent that much money fortifying Golden Gate Bay. The several ports over at America Bay were very tightly defended, but Golden Gate Bay itself had not received much investment — actually, the Rich King had long ago drawn up construction plans to strengthen the defenses of Golden Gate Bay, but labor was scarce on the New Continent and everything went slowly. On top of that, the Rich King's eastward expansion plan had tied up too much labor, so up to now the New Continent Naval Command had only built a single battery at the Golden Gate Strait, at the entrance to the bay.

Still, an attacking fleet forcing the Golden Gate Strait in daylight would pay an enormous price. But under cover of darkness, with the Spaniards' familiarity with the terrain and hydrography of Golden Gate Bay, and with a sufficiently brilliant attack plan, a surprise assault could still succeed.

The surprise attack should succeed!

The New Continent United States fleet and the Ming navy fleet anchored in Golden Gate Bay should be doomed — according to reliable intelligence, their combined strength was at most half that of the combined French, Dutch, and Spanish fleet!

Even without a surprise attack, if they formed up and fought openly, the combined French, Dutch, and Spanish fleet could annihilate them all.

If the Chinese fleet in Golden Gate Bay were wiped out, the combined French, Dutch, and Spanish fleet would then coordinate with the follow-up landing fleet (all composed of old merchantmen) to attack Golden Gate Fortress from both sides and seize Golden Gate Bay completely.

Once Golden Gate Bay fell to the combined French, Dutch, and Spanish forces, even if the New Continent United States did not die outright, it would lose half its life.

The remaining half of its life would be finished off by the combined forces of the "Great Soviet Union," France, and New Spain!

Yet Tourville's heart was still shrouded by a powerful sense of unease.

Abraham Duquesne did not notice Tourville's unease; he simply turned and asked, "How far are we from the Golden Gate Strait?"

Tourville: "About 100 nautical miles. If the wind does not change, we can reach the waters outside the Golden Gate Strait tonight!"

Vice Admiral Abraham Duquesne's gaze returned to the chart. The entrance to the Golden Gate Strait was extremely narrow, only about one nautical mile wide. The southern shore of the strait was a very long, narrow peninsula, and the peninsula had a triangular projection where the Chinese had built a bastion fort mounting ten to twenty 12-jin long bronze cannons, enough to seal off the strait.

Vice Admiral Abraham Duquesne was silent for a moment, then a faint smile appeared: "Now it all depends on whether Barbosa and his Spanish mortar-boat squadron can succeed!"

"They certainly can!" Though Tourville's heart was extremely uneasy, he still spoke with great certainty. "Although we were spotted by the Chinese watchtowers when passing the Baja California peninsula, it does not matter — they will not have time to react.

Barbosa and his mortar boats and marines will certainly succeed! God will surely bless him!"

September 11, night.

Fifteen mortar boats of over 100 tons burden, driven by a long-oared southwest wind, cut through the darkness, sailing the waters west of the Golden Gate peninsula.

New Spain's Rear Admiral Barbosa stood at the bow of one of the mortar boats, gripping the railing, head high and chest out, gazing at the outline of Golden Gate Fortress in the darkness ahead. His lips moved ceaselessly as he loudly recited the *Salve Regina*; at the most stirring passage, his eyes actually brimmed with tears.

Behind him, dozens of sailors rowed with all their might, and several dozen marine infantrymen wearing half-armor cuirasses knelt on one knee on the deck, hands gripping ropes, chanting the *Salve Regina*. These men were Spanish veterans from the European continent, most of them from the now-defunct Spanish Army of the Netherlands — before the War of Devolution, this elite force had long garrisoned the Spanish Netherlands and fought in the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, the Franco-Spanish War, the Anglo-Spanish War, and the War of Devolution. Though it had ultimately met a tragic end, the long years of war had unquestionably forged a body of warriors who were battle-hardened and firm in their faith in God!

It was no exaggeration to say that these Spanish veterans could absolutely be counted among the finest soldiers of this age! Their defeats in Europe had been caused entirely by the blunders of Spain's several religious-fanatic kings, not by any fault of these veterans.

Of course, they too were religious fanatics, willing to give everything for faith in God — otherwise they would never have crossed the ocean to New Spain to follow their old commander, Don Juan José.

And the task Don Juan José had given them was an extraordinarily difficult one: to suppress or seize Golden Gate Fortress, so as to cover the surprise fleet's dash into Golden Gate Bay.

In the darkness, the outline of Golden Gate Fortress grew larger and larger. Suddenly, many moving points of firelight appeared on the fortress walls!

Clearly, the Chinese were still quite vigilant. But their vigilance would change nothing! For Rear Admiral Barbosa knew perfectly well that the surprise attack had already succeeded.

The mortar-boat squadron he led had already drawn near the beach and would soon run ashore — and the beaching was certain to succeed.

Once the fifteen mortar boats had beached, as many as fifteen 36-pounder heavy mortars would open fire on Golden Gate Fortress. And each mortar boat also carried fifty veterans from the Army of the Netherlands — 750 veterans in all — absolutely enough to hold off a Ming force several times their number.

(End of Chapter)