Chapter 1523: Is the Battlefield Like a Marketplace?

Zhu Cihuan brought out the United States of New Continent as a shield, and Shimazu Nogi along with a bunch of "Keishu fools" had nothing more to say.

That is a country of a million gun-toting rioters!

Even setting aside the gun-toting rioters, the United States of New Continent still possesses a rather formidable navy. If the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty's Eastern Ocean Fleet main force returns home, then along the Pacific coast of northern New Continent, the Union Navy would be number one!

After taking the three provinces of Suo, Xi, and Na, and handing over Angel Fort (according to the agreement between Zhu Cihuan and Zhu Hehao), the Kingdom of Jiaqing's coastline would become very long, at least eight or nine thousand li (because of the very long and narrow Keishu Peninsula). Without command of the sea, how could such a long coastline be defended? How many samurai households does the entire Kingdom of Jiaqing even have? One samurai household defending one or two li of coastline? Dispersed like that, what combat strength would remain?

Moreover, the Kingdom of Jiaqing's financial resources are limited, and no matter what, it could never build a naval armed force capable of opposing the Union Navy.

So these samurai of the Kingdom of Jiaqing could afford to disregard New Spain, but they dared not fail to consider the thoughts of the Union King.

An excessively powerful Kingdom of Jiaqing could not possibly be something the Union King would be pleased to see!

So everyone could only quit while ahead, and then quietly accumulate strength...

Just as Zhu Cihuan, under the banner of the wealthy magnate king, was barely reining in this group of Keishu samurai under his command who were clearly exhausted yet still wanted to run wild, the sound of hoofbeats came from far to near, followed by a drawn-out Chinese "Report—".

This was a mounted scout sent out by Zhu Cihuan returning!

After receiving the supplies sent from Guaymas Port, the cavalry unit of the Keishu army had recovered some mobility and could enter south of Guasave Castle to search and reconnoiter.

The one now shouting "Report—" and galloping into this room whose roof had gone who knows where was a samurai named Takeda Huanzhi (originally Nobuyuki, granted the character "Huan" from Zhu Cihuan). He was a leftover scrap of the Takeda family that had once dominated Kai and Shinano (verifiable in the family genealogy), with no prospects in Japan, so he had been sweet-talked by Hoshina Masateru into coming to the Kingdom of Jiaqing, becoming a member of the Takeda cavalry unit.

When he first arrived, he had thought to display his talents in the New World and recreate his ancestors' glory. But unexpectedly, in the Kingdom of Jiaqing he ended up as a horse-herding ranch owner, raising horses for a full ten years, during which he was only occasionally sent by Hoshina Masateru to act as a horse bandit, invading the Sonoran Desert to seize people. He did earn some money, and because of his merit in seizing people he received commendation, was granted the character "Huan" from Zhu Cihuan, and even became a squad leader in the cavalry unit.

But this was not the samurai life he wanted! A descendant of the great Takeda family, reduced to a horse bandit and desert raider in the New World? But what else could he do? The Kingdom of Jiaqing was a household surviving in the cracks!

Whether it was the Union to the north or the Kingdom of New Spain to the south, if either truly threw a fit, they could destroy the Kingdom of Jiaqing.

Just as he was about to resign himself to fate and abandon his samurai dream, suddenly the winds and clouds shifted, and a great war arrived!

Takeda Huanzhi, now already in his thirties, immediately brought along his son Nobutomo, who had just undergone his coming-of-age ceremony, and together they joined the expeditionary army of the King of Jiaqing.

Over the past month or more, the Takeda father and son had always been the vanguard of the Kingdom of Jiaqing's great army. Until the several warhorses they had brought with them died of exhaustion one after another, and they had no choice but to change from cavalry into idle "infantry cavalry."

Fortunately, Guaymas Port finally sent new warhorses, all fine horses produced on Union ranches!

With warhorses again, the samurai of the Takeda cavalry unit could finally become mounted cavalry once more and go to the front to win merit and establish achievements.

On the very evening he mounted his warhorse and rode out with his comrades, there was a major discovery!

"Reporting to the Great King, last night, this humble subject and others discovered a Spanish night camp sixty or seventy li south of Guasave Castle! The night camp was extremely large in scale, and countless bonfires were lit... The enemy's numbers are likely in the tens of thousands!"

"What? Tens of thousands?"

"They came really fast!"

"They came at just the right time! Your Highness the Great King, our army has won battle after battle, morale is at its peak, and we have received supplies and artillery. We can absolutely fight a decisive battle to the death with the Western barbarians!"

"Correct, now is the heaven-sent opportunity to utterly defeat the Western barbarians."

"Great King, please give the order!"

Zhu Cihuan looked at this group of subordinates who were excessively brave and had an extremely high enthusiasm for cutting people down, and was truly somewhat speechless.

Cutting people down carries risks, and one must be cautious when taking the field—how come you all don't understand this principle?

He turned his head to glance at Shimazu Nogi, and Shimazu Nogi said: "Great King, the enemy is numerous and we are few. A conventional formation likely cannot be assured of victory. We should use surprise attack and night raid tactics to defeat the enemy!"

Shimazu Nobuhisa said loudly: "Great King, this subject requests battle, willing to lead 3,000 elite troops in a rapid raid on the enemy camp!"

Hoshina Masateru also said: "Great King, it has been raining frequently these days. Perhaps we can use a rainy night as cover to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp!"

Zhu Cihuan was truly somewhat speechless. Again three thousand against thirty thousand, again a rainy-night surprise attack—should they also charge straight into the New Spanish central command and cut off the head of Don Juan José in one stroke? Do you all think Don Juan José is Imagawa Yoshimoto?

"Nonsense!" Zhu Cihuan's face darkened again. His gaze swept sharply around the room at the hot-headed samurai eager to throw their lives away, and his tone deepened as well. "Now we must retreat, at least to Navojoa Fortress."

"Retreat?"

"Are we to withdraw without fighting?"

"Great King, you must not! If we withdraw without fighting, all under heaven will look down on us Keishu samurai."

"Idiots!" Zhu Cihuan barked. "We are no longer in a situation where we must fight with our backs to the river. People are now investing money in us, and investing large sums at that. Our previous 2,000-li rapid advance has whetted those people's appetites. So more and more great sailing ships will bring supplies, weapons, and even reinforcements to Guaymas Port!

Since they have already invested so much capital, they will not stand by and watch us fail. If we fail, they lose everything. So if we retreat a bit and give them a scare, they will surely invest even more capital in us, and perhaps even persuade the Union King to send troops."

It must be said, Zhu Cihuan's analysis was quite reasonable—at least his grasp of investor psychology was quite accurate.

Previously, they had not had much confidence in Zhu Cihuan and the Kingdom of Jiaqing, so when they opened their wallets, they were cautious. Later, when they saw the Kingdom of Jiaqing's great army sweeping all before it, they scrambled to throw money in. This was serious capital being sunk! If they saw the Kingdom of Jiaqing's prospects turn bad and start to decline, would those people be willing to accept losses and exit that quickly?

That was impossible. Investors generally never give up until they hit the Yellow River, so they would certainly continue to add investment, and would also pressure Zhu Hehao to send troops to the rescue. If the Union sent troops, was there any fear of not winning this battle?

Zhu Cihuan continued speaking to his subordinates: "After we retreat to Navojoa Fortress, we will be only a little over three hundred li from Guaymas Port. Holding that port, we need not fear lacking reinforcements. And Don Juan José has no sea route; his supplies and reinforcements all rely on overland transport, so he certainly cannot sustain it for long. When the time comes, we won't fight him—we'll dig deep trenches and build high ramparts and drag it out. Drag it out until he can no longer sustain himself, and then he'll either have to risk an attack or slink away in retreat! Whichever he does, we can achieve complete victory!"

What he meant was that the Union investors were now locked in, and they could burn their money to burn Don Juan José into retreat. Although Don Juan José was also quite wealthy, he had to supply his forces by land transport, which was too costly—he could not keep burning money.

Since victory could be won by burning money, why still fight to the death?

The Union has plenty of money—their specialty there is money! Their specialty is gold and sable pelts! What's the harm in burning a little?

His words made sense! They opened the eyes of a group of samurai who only knew fighting and killing, and they all nodded along!

Although they did not much fear death, still—life! Everyone only has one, and once it's gone, there's nowhere to get a second one.

(End of Chapter)