Chapter 1512: One Is a Warring-States Sovereign, the Other a Land Without Fathers or Sovereign

The Kingdom of Jiaqing, the royal city of Angel Fort.

Inside the honmaru palace of this Japanese-style castle, honored guests had arrived.

"Great King, Your Highness the Princess Consort — if the Kingdom of Jiaqing is to endure, it cannot remain too close to the United States! While the Son of Heaven still lives, and the Great King is the United States King's own uncle, the Kingdom of Jiaqing can of course enjoy great security. But the Great King and the Princess Consort must also consider their descendants! In the ancient Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, there were precedents of the Ji-surnamed states devouring and encroaching upon one another. Moreover, the United States and the Kingdom of Jiaqing are twenty thousand li of sea route from the Ming fatherland — if trouble arose, the Ming fatherland would be utterly powerless to help! If the Great King and the Princess Consort can seize this present opportunity, boldly advance southward, and take the Valley of Mexico, then you can put distance between yourselves and the United States, and in the future enjoy lasting survival and enduring peace!"

"Great King, Your Highness the Princess Consort — within the United States today there is an eastward faction and a southward faction. If the Great King and the Princess Consort are willing to lead the great army of Qingzhou on a long drive south, straight to Mexico City, then ships, military funds, equipment, and provisions will all be made ready. Everything is in place; all that is lacking is the east wind."

The two honored guests speaking were Kong Xingfan and Chen Yonghua, and what they said — alas, it truly did not sound like words from the mouths of Ming officials, but rather like words from the mouths of Warring States itinerant persuaders.

Their words were simply an attempt to sow discord between Zhu Cihuan and Zhu Hehao, uncle and nephew!

But then again, ever since Shimazu Nogi suffered a great loss at Zhu Hehao's hands, Zhu Cihuan and Shimazu Nogi, husband and wife, had known that this tycoon king was a very difficult character — otherwise he could not have kept control of a nation of armed rabble like the United States of the New Continent!

Now, while Zhu Cilang still lived, Zhu Hehao already wanted to push the Kingdom of Jiaqing away from his side. If one day Zhu Cilang were no longer here, it would be strange indeed if the Kingdom of Jiaqing were not swallowed up by the United States.

Of course, Zhu Cihuan and Shimazu Nogi were no ordinary Ming princely vassals and consort. They were the founding sovereigns of the Kingdom of Jiaqing — true and proper rulers of a Warring States realm!

But Zhu Cihuan and Shimazu Nogi did not dare nod their heads lightly, for their Kingdom of Jiaqing was weak in strength. Setting aside those titular nobles living within the United States, the true people of the realm — mainly Japanese samurai — numbered only a few thousand households, and at full mobilization could field at most a single division of troops.

So at this moment, Zhu Cihuan and Shimazu Nogi said not a word in response to the proposals of Kong Xingfan and Chen Yonghua.

And Kong Xingfan and Chen Yonghua merely waited in silence.

"New Spain has several million people," Zhu Cihuan said, seemingly without much confidence.

Shimazu Nogi also said, "If it were only Xizhou, we would send troops."

"How much profit is there in Xizhou?" Kong Xingfan, also a Confucian of the 'the benevolent have love' school, said with a smile to the King of Jiaqing. "The profit of New Spain is all in the Mexico Basin. Let us join hands and take it — no, spread might and virtue there. The land and the people there — our side, the United States, does not want them. They shall all go to the Great King!"

What the great Confucian Kong meant was: the land and the laboring people who do the toiling would all go to the Kingdom of Jiaqing, while the gold, silver, treasure, and beautiful women would all go to the partners on the United States side.

Chen Yonghua said with a smile, "The Great King need not worry that the Kingdom of New Spain is strong in soldiers and horses, because the United States King has already formed two nomadic ten-thousand-household units and will soon march east into the Great Plains. Once the United States King marches east, New Spain will have to send troops to support New France. Then the port of Acapulco and Mexico City will be empty and unguarded — what does the Great King have to fear? Even if Mexico City cannot be taken, seizing the port of Acapulco would still be far better than the Great King being cooped up in Angel Fort!"

"Once the port of Acapulco is in hand, will not all the rich coastal lands between Acapulco and Xizhou belong to the Great King? There are at least two million farming people there, all to be the slaves of the Great King, the Princess Consort, and the samurai host of Qingzhou."

Samurai need serfs to live well!

But the territory of the Kingdom of Jiaqing had no serfs, because the East Asian immigrants there were all people with guns! However sharp a samurai's sword, against a flintlock it was one shot and the man was gone!

So the samurai of Qingzhou were rather miserable. The Kingdom of Jiaqing practiced the "one-ryo gusoku" system — called samurai, but in reality they were farmer-soldiers. And most samurai farmsteads yielded little profit; only a few wine estates were slightly better off.

If they could truly gain two million — no, if they could gain even one million serfs, then the samurai of Qingzhou would become true samurai, and thereafter could ride on the necks of the laboring people and lord it over them.

"Will the United States King truly launch a great eastern campaign?" Shimazu Nogi was still somewhat uneasy. She had been played by Zhu Hehao before and did not quite trust this fine nephew.

"He certainly will," Kong Xingfan said with a smile. "The foundation of the United States King is not in the Gulf of the Americas, the Po River Valley, the Flood River Valley, or Golden Gate Bay, but in the Great River Basin, in the Great Stone Mountains — in the east of the United States!"

Although Zhu Hehao was the first monarch in the history of the United States, he was not its true founding sovereign. The four provinces of Mei, Hua, Bo, and Jia had basically not been opened up by him. Only the Great River Basin and part of the Great Stone Mountains to the east had been opened up by him.

So most people of the United States did not much acknowledge him as their king! In the final analysis, the United States was still a nation of armed rabble — without fathers, without a sovereign, but with guns in every hand!

Although Zhu Hehao had steadied his position through the support of his father Zhu Cilang and his own skill, skill and statecraft alone could never truly win people's hearts. And faced with a crowd of well-provisioned, gun-toting rabble, neither suppression nor bribery worked very well.

The only thing that could truly win hearts was the eastern campaign!

Moreover, the eastern campaign would give Zhu Hehao the chance to expand his own base. With a larger base and the people's hearts won, Zhu Hehao's power and position could be made secure!

Zhu Cihuan turned his head and glanced at Shimazu Nogi. Nogi sat rigid and motionless, only her fine brows slightly knitted, as if weighing the matter over and over. After a while she said, choosing her words carefully, "The southward campaign should still proceed steadily and surely. Better to first cross the sea and take Xizhou, then take Colima, and finally advance on the port of Acapulco."

Shimazu Nogi wanted to advance steadily and surely, step by step, toward the port of Acapulco. Mexico City she did not yet dare contemplate — that was the heartland of New Spain. If they truly brought troops to the gates of Mexico City, would Don Juan José not fight to the death? New Spain had a population of several million; if it truly fought to the death, it could still field a hundred thousand troops. With the Kingdom of Jiaqing's meager capital, how could they dare rush into the Valley of Mexico?

And Shimazu Nogi's meaning was Zhu Cihuan's meaning!

He nodded heavily. "We also think we should proceed steadily and surely. If the United States King agrees, then We shall go to Golden Gate City and conclude a covenant and swear an oath with him face to face!"

"Conclude a covenant and swear an oath — heh heh, it seems a trip to Golden Gate City is in order!"

Within the bedchamber of the White House, the United States King, preparing for bed, received the urgent report sent by six-hundred-li express from Kong Xingfan and Chen Yonghua. So he leaned back against the headboard of his great bed and read it. After finishing, he merely gave a few bitter laughs and said to his wife Wu Ahuan, "Here in the New World, this is exactly the sort of thing that works!"

With that, he handed the memorial to Wu Ahuan.

Wu Ahuan took the memorial and read it carefully. After finishing, she frowned and said, "Does the covenant still need the approval of the United States Deliberative Government?"

"Of course it must be approved!" Zhu Hehao said. "If the Deliberative Government does not approve it, it is an invalid covenant!"

"If they approve it, can we not break the covenant?" Wu Ahuan asked.

"We cannot break the covenant," Zhu Hehao said, shaking his head with a smile. "The Deliberative Government will not welcome a king who does not keep his word. If We were to break the covenant, the Deliberative Government would thereafter obstruct Us at every turn. Ahuan, you must firmly remember this point. We are not in the Ming here. The United States is not governed by a sovereign, but by deliberative government. Therefore we can only govern the country by holding seats in the Deliberative Government; we cannot cast aside the Deliberative Government and rule on our own."

"After We go forth on campaign, you will be Regent. You must perform well — you cannot stand in opposition to the assembly of deliberators, nor can you let them push you around."

"This humble consort understands," Wu Ahuan said with a nod, thinking to herself: governing this land without fathers and without a sovereign is truly no easy matter!

Seeing his wife's worried look, Zhu Hehao smiled again and said, "In truth, a land without fathers and without a sovereign has its good side too. Those deliberators may have divided our power, but they have also divided our responsibility!"

"Because they too fear the gun-toting rabble below rising up, they must help us coax and deceive together to maintain order. You need not worry that any traitorous ministers or rebels will emerge among them, nor need you worry that the deliberators will act irresponsibly and throw the country into complete chaos."

(End of Chapter)