Chapter 1521: Marching Forward on Wotou

After hearing De Bescora's advice, Don Juan José fell silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "I think so too. But I am still not entirely certain — when I concentrate my forces to destroy the Jiaqing army, will the great fleet in Golden Gate Bay suddenly transport a large landing force to Acapulco or Colima?"

De Bescora thought it over seriously and said, "Your Highness the Regent, that depends on how much time you need to destroy the King of Jiaqing's army. As far as I know, the King of Jiaqing's samurai army numbers no more than around 10,000 men. How much time do you need to defeat them?"

Don Juan José laughed. "To be honest, I cannot be certain I can defeat them. But one thing I am sure of: the battle between the two sides will not last long. Most likely it will be decided within a single day, though it could possibly drag on into a second day — but no longer than that."

Field battles between armies in this age never lasted long. A battle involving tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand men was usually decided within a day, or at most a few days.

Within that span of time, the great fleet in Golden Gate Bay could not possibly sail south to Acapulco or Colima. Even if the Ming great fleet left Golden Gate Bay early, it could not complete a landing operation within a few days — advancing by sea is easy enough, but landing is far more troublesome. One cannot land at a port heavily defended by the enemy; one must find a beach near the port to land on, neither too far away nor too close.

If it is too far, the landing force must march a long way to seize the target port, and their own logistical supply becomes difficult as well. Before they capture the port, all they can rely on is beachhead supply, and if the supply beachhead is too far from the front line, transport between the two becomes another headache.

Too close, of course, is also unacceptable. Troops just landed on a beach are relatively vulnerable and can easily be shot dead on the shore by the enemy. If the landing site is too close to the enemy's fortress, it becomes extremely dangerous. The Spaniards' earlier landing on the beach of the Golden Gate Peninsula was undertaken purely to support a naval surprise attack, and even then the results were unsatisfactory.

"If only a few days are needed, then the garrisons of the two important ports of Acapulco and Colima are sufficient," De Bescora said. "After the Battle of Golden Gate Bay, we have already strengthened their garrisons. Even if attacked by a large enemy fleet, they would not fall in a short time. Moreover, they are not close to Mexico City — even if they fell, the enemy would not reach Mexico City quickly."

Acapulco and Colima were both ports the Spaniards had painstakingly built up over many years, and both had extremely formidable terrain — each was a bay ringed by great mountains, and the entrances to the bays were very narrow. The entrance to Acapulco Bay was about six li wide. The entrance to Colima's bay was extremely narrow, less than half a li — basically, if you held the entrance, nothing could get in.

Moreover, the Spaniards had built batteries at the entrances of both bays, protected the cities with walls, and stationed heavy garrisons there. At Acapulco they had placed 5,000 army troops, and at the very cramped Colima they had stationed 3,000 men.

These 8,000 men were not Count Iturbide's knights, but regular soldiers of the New Spain Legion! Most of the officers came from Europe, half the soldiers also came from Europe, and the rest were creoles. The officers among them had all been ennobled — at least as knights — and the soldiers had received Don Juan José's promise that when their terms of service ended, they too would be knighted and granted estates. New Spain's territory was vast, and it ruled over countless Indians, so there was still room to enfeoff knights on a large scale.

Don Juan José finally made up his mind. He nodded and said, "Count, I intend to personally lead 30,000 of the finest warriors of the Kingdom of New Spain to meet the invading army of the Kingdom of Jiaqing.

I hope you will sortie with me and temporarily serve as my staff officer. After all, you have spent a long time among those Asians and understand their strange ways of thinking."

De Bescora snapped to attention with a click. "To follow Your Highness the Regent is my greatest honor!"

Footsteps rumbled on and on, as if they would never stop. From top to bottom, there seemed to be only one thought — forward! Forward! Forward!

The samurai of the Kingdom of Jiaqing crammed the narrow, primitive roads, every man carrying his own weapons, armor, twenty days' worth of rations, and assorted odds and ends — another several dozen jin of load!

The troops rolled forward like a stream of iron. After emerging from the Sonoran Desert, this force, which had already marched over a thousand li, showed not the slightest sign of slowing down. They flew straight at the port of Guaymas, once again catching the New Spaniards completely off guard.

The small number of knights and militia defending the port of Guaymas did not even know what was happening before more than ten thousand fully armed Qingzhou samurai stormed into the castle.

After taking the castle, the King of Jiaqing, Zhu Cihuan, left behind Hoshina Naomi and several hundred lightly wounded and sick men to hold the port and await the arrival of supplies. He himself led the main force onward. Because they could not wait for supplies, before leaving the port of Guaymas, Zhu Cihuan's main force took the cornmeal stored in the New Spaniards' port warehouses and made several million wotou, which they carried with them as they set out.

More than ten thousand men raced south at full speed. When tired, they rested a while by the roadside; when hungry, they gnawed on a wotou. Though weary and hard-pressed, no one uttered a word of complaint — and their morale rose higher with every passing day!

Their Los Angeles (City of Angels) household registration would soon become Mexico household registration — how could their morale not be high?

This Angel Fort (Los Angeles) was indeed a fine place in later ages, but right now it was nothing but a bitter, drought-stricken land!

The climate, water, and soil of Angel Fort and Qingzhou City were not even as good as the relatively moist zones of the Sonoran Desert!

But after emerging from the Sonoran Desert, the climate, water, and soil became far more nurturing. Everywhere the great army passed was a lush expanse of green, and from time to time along both sides of the road they could see Indian farmers sowing corn — the whites and mixed-bloods had all fled upon hearing that the Jiaqing army was invading, and the towns and estates that could be burned had been burned. But the local Indian villages simply went about their business as usual. It was nothing more than a change of who came to collect the corn!

At the sight of these industrious Indian farmers, the Jiaqing samurai's spirits rose again. These were all "yi people" among the "Xia rulers and yi subjects"!

With them, the samurai lords would be true lords who did not have to farm yet still ate wotou!

If they put in the effort now, their sons and grandsons would have their wotou secured for generations to come!

Zhu Cihuan was of course also beside himself with excitement. Although he had been born into an imperial family, his life had truly not been easy! At a very young age he had been captured by Li Zicheng and made a prisoner. After finally breaking free, he had inexplicably become entangled in a "succession conspiracy" and become someone his elder brother Zhu Cilang feared and distrusted. Even after being enfeoffed as a Commandery Prince, he had enjoyed no real wealth or glory. Later, after losing money in stock speculation, he had been forced to flee to the New Continent to escape his debts. And then, by a stroke of fate, he had been raised to the position of ruler of a nation by a group of Japanese samurai with no prospects for wealth or advancement.

But the Kingdom of Jiaqing was poor!

He, the ruler of a nation, was a poor ruler too — for more than ten years he had never known a single easy day.

These poor rulers and poor samurai of the Kingdom of Jiaqing were naturally unwilling to remain poor all their lives, so they had long ago set their eyes on neighboring New Spain.

They did not even think about the rich Valley of Mexico — thinking about it would be pointless. The Kingdom of Jiaqing had so little population; how could it possibly swallow the Valley of Mexico? Even if they succeeded for a time and fought their way in, they would only grab what they could and leave.

According to Zhu Cihuan's thinking, as long as he had Suo Province (Sonora), Xi Province (Sinaloa), Na Province (Nayarit), and several hundred thousand Indians under his rule, he would be fully satisfied.

That goal now looked as though it would soon be achieved!

But he also knew the truth of the saying that a long night brings many dreams. The variables were not only the Spaniards, but also that pack of profiteering merchants in the United States... That was why he was driving his army forward day and night without rest. Right now the goal was to seize as much territory as possible — every bit more was a bit gained!

(End of Chapter)