Chapter 1524: King of the United States, You Must Rescue the Market!

Sinaloa, Culiacán Castle.

The Regent of the Kingdom of New Spain, Don Juan José, in full military dress and wearing a wig, strode into his headquarters.

This headquarters was located within Culiacán Castle, and Culiacán Castle itself lay in the central part of the Province of Sinaloa. It was a sizable bastion fort, begun after the Battle of the Flood Valley, and it also served as the residence of the Governor of Sinaloa.

When Don Juan José entered the headquarters, the conference room was already crowded with officers. As Don Juan José approached, everyone came to attention and saluted, then bowed deeply.

The thirty thousand elite troops of the New Spain army led by Don Juan José had departed the Valley of Mexico on February 10, 1674, and had marched for a full month before just now reaching Culiacán, the capital of the Province of Sinaloa. The journey had taken so long, first, because the distance was truly not short — a full 1,000 kilometers separated the two places. Had Don Juan José not, after becoming Regent, allocated a huge sum of money and dispatched genuinely responsible German engineers to supervise the construction and repair of the road connecting Guasave and Mexico City, even a month would not have sufficed for the march.

Second, Don Juan José had deliberately controlled the pace of the march so as not to overtire his army. For he was constantly worried about the two ports of Colima and Acapulco — he kept feeling that Zhu Cihuan, coming through the Sonoran Desert, was merely bait set by the cunning and treacherous King of the United States.

Yet all along the way, until he entered Culiacán Castle, the two ports of Colima and Acapulco remained safe and sound. Not a single warship of the United States or the Great Ming attempted to approach. There were even merchant ships from the Batavian Republic and England paying normal visits — these ships had all first gone to America Bay and Golden Gate Bay, and only then to Acapulco. The customs authorities of the United States showed not the slightest intention of preventing them from entering Acapulco, as if no war had broken out at all.

At the same time that Colima and Acapulco remained safe and sound, the army of the Kingdom of Jiaqing that had originally been at the walls of Guasave Castle began to withdraw northward.

What did this mean?

Had they looted their fill and departed, or were they luring the enemy northward? Or was it that his good nephew, the King of the United States, Zhu Hehao, was unwilling to let the Kingdom of Jiaqing grow too strong, and so had not followed up?

Don Juan José and De Bescola had discussed it all through the previous night, and in the end could not reach a definite conclusion — they had only settled on the more probable option.

Looting their fill was probably unlikely. What was there worth looting in the Province of Sinaloa? It seemed there was only corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes! But the Chinese and Japanese on the New Continent apparently did not eat these things. As far as Don Juan José knew, the Chinese and Japanese on the New Continent were meat-eating peoples — they mainly ate meat, and also ate fish, shrimp, crab, and pigeon, as well as some vegetables and fruits. Their demand for grain was small, and they basically did not eat corn, sweet potatoes, or potatoes. What use would it be for them to seize a great heap of corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes and carry it back?

As for seizing Indian farmers to make them serfs, were the Indian farmers of the Province of Sonora not enough? Why go all the way to the Province of Sinaloa to seize them? Even if they seized that many, the Kingdom of Jiaqing could not use them! How much territory did the Kingdom of Jiaqing even have?

The possibility of luring the enemy northward did exist, but it was not very great. For Don Juan José's great army had already reached Culiacán — was there still any need to keep drawing them farther north? Even if they went north for a few more days, what great significance would that have for the capture of the two important ports of Colima and Acapulco?

The defenses of these two ports could not possibly be broken through in a month or two — merely landing enough troops on the beaches near the ports would take half a month, perhaps longer, and then one would still have to break through the strategic passes and lay siege to the bastion forts.

If the King of Jiaqing truly wanted to tie down the northward-marching New Spain army, he should have dug trenches and held firm north of Guasave Castle, drawing the New Spain army into a siege!

Since the likelihood of both looting their fill and departing and luring the enemy northward was small, then the possibility that the King of the United States, Zhu Hehao, was up to mischief became relatively large. According to the reliable intelligence held by the intelligence department of the Kingdom of New Spain, the United States of the New Continent, having already gained command of the sea along the Pacific coast, still had little interest in marching south to attack New Spain, and was instead busily preparing to advance eastward. Clearly it was unwilling to cooperate with the Kingdom of Jiaqing's southward push! Perhaps Zhu Hehao even wanted to use another's blade to kill. If that were truly the case, then this would be an opportunity to strike a blow at the Kingdom of Jiaqing!

Don Juan José smiled as he took his seat, looked at the inquiring gazes of the officers under his command, and nodded for everyone to sit.

"I, Duke of Florida, Regent of New Spain, Don Juan José, have made my decision. I shall resolutely use my main force to smash the army of the Kingdom of Jiaqing that is now withdrawing northward, and push the front line into the territory of the Province of Sonora! The operational plans for each unit will be issued shortly. I ask every unit to work with one heart and fulfill its duties. God will be with us, with New Spain, and with Spain!"

At this single command, the whole room was naturally stirred with fervor.

"May God bless us!"

"God is with us!"

The morale of Don Juan José's great army had not been very high originally, but because of Zhu Cihuan's voluntary withdrawal, everyone in the army, from top to bottom, had come to realize their own strength!

Don Juan José nodded with satisfaction, then exchanged a glance with De Bescola, who had accompanied him on the campaign. The key to this battle lay with the King of the United States. If they had guessed his intentions wrong, then the fighting ahead would be difficult indeed.

The conclusion that Don Juan José and De Bescola had reached after a sleepless night of analysis was, in fact, quite accurate!

The King of the United States, Zhu Hehao, had never been a benevolent sort to begin with, and he was extremely displeased that a group of capitalists in his own country were always on overly familiar terms with the neighboring King of Jiaqing.

The King of Jiaqing was his uncle!

An uncle seizing his nephew's realm — was that not a "tradition" of the Zhu Ming?

With such a tradition, how could Zhu Hehao not guard against his good uncle? Moreover, beside the King of Jiaqing there was also that serpent-like woman, Shimazu Noji!

Shimazu Noji did not know that the "confession" she had written had already been sent by Zhu Hehao to Nanjing, and that Zhu Hehao had also proposed that Shimazu Noji be put to death. He hoped that Zhu Cilang would issue an edict ordering Shimazu Noji to commit seppuku.

But Zhu Cilang had vetoed this proposal. Zhu Cilang knew his son's methods, and was not at all worried that he would be harmed by Shimazu Noji.

Without Zhu Cilang's support, the Rich King naturally had no way to openly strike at the Kingdom of Jiaqing, so he could only resort to underhanded tricks.

Upon learning that the great army of the Kingdom of Jiaqing had risked a sortie into the Sonoran Desert, he had immediately set out for Golden Gate Bay, and had personally demanded that Zheng Jing not send out the fleet to coordinate with the King of Jiaqing's actions.

However, after the King of Jiaqing's great gamble had succeeded, Zhu Hehao immediately changed his stance, dispatching two battleships of the United States to escort merchant ships carrying supplies and munitions to the Jiaqing army.

His earlier withholding of the fleet and refusal to cooperate, though not very loyal, was seen by the "cabal of profiteers" of the United States as nothing wrong. For the King of Jiaqing had not yet proven himself worth investing in. True, everyone had the intention to invest, and had signed agreements. But as long as the money had not actually been put down, there remained room to back out. Observing the King of Jiaqing's ability for a while was not wrong either, so the King of the United States' inaction was also not wrong!

After all, what everyone was investing in was the King of Jiaqing, not the King of the United States.

But once the King of Jiaqing had won his gamble, for the King of the United States to again make trouble was wrong — he must not block everyone's road to wealth!

Blocking a man's road to wealth is like killing his parents, and everyone here was a filial son!

So the King of the United States simply joined in as well, throwing down a large sum of silver and even sending warships to help — in this way he too could share in the spoils after the Kingdom of New Spain was defeated.

But who could have expected that no sooner had the investments of the King of the United States and the cabal of profiteers of the United States been put down than the King of Jiaqing's side ran into the main force of Don Juan José and began to "collapse like a mountain in defeat."

At this, Zhu Hehao was utterly dumbfounded!

It was not that he was pained over the loss of the bit of money he had put in, but rather that a whole crowd of profiteers who had invested had come through all sorts of connections to beg him to step in and rescue the market.

Everyone had invested so much money; they could not just stand by and watch the King of Jiaqing's entire army be annihilated!

(End of Chapter)