Chapter 1529: The Advantage Gained by Running!

In the darkness of night, a fiery dragon was rolling forward along the long coastline of Sinaloa Province in the Kingdom of New Spain.

The terrain of Sinaloa Province is high in the east and low in the west. The east is all densely forested mountains, very difficult to traverse. The western coastal area, however, is flatland, and the flatland is extremely narrow — truly just a "belt," a ribbon-like strip stretching from north to south all the way to Nayarit Province. Traveling south along this "belt" is very easy. With the foot speed of the elite troops of the United States of New Continent's army, if they marched light and fast, covering one or two hundred li in a day and a night would be no difficult matter at all!

Of course, as a field army, the United States of New Continent's army could not achieve this speed at just any time. Only by forced marching in a thoroughly lightened state could they reach the flying speed of one hundred and several tens to two hundred li in a day and a night.

And tonight, the New Continent Army's First Division, advancing south along the coastline, was precisely in a state of thorough lightening.

First, all of these more than ten thousand officers and men wore no helmets or armor. The New Continent Army's equipment had always been excellent — they were of course issued helmets and breastplates — but they did not carry them on every campaign; it depended on who the opponent was. If fighting Indians, they naturally had to carry armor to keep casualties as low as possible. If the opponent was a European-style army like the New Spain forces, which relied mainly on firearms, there was no need to carry armor — to avoid too heavy a burden and reduce the troops' mobility.

Second, the baggage this army carried had been reduced to an unbelievable degree! Every soldier carried only five days' rations, weapons, ammunition, canteens, and other essential equipment.

Third, by Zhu Hehao's order, all baggage wagons and the supplies loaded on them were burned! All cannon above the 6-jin class were also abandoned! The First Division's artillery battalion carried only twenty-four 6-jin bronze cannon as it hurried south.

Fourth, the New Continent Army's First Division carried a great many warhorses, riding horses, pack horses, and draft horses. The cavalry all had two mounts per man, every cannon was assigned more than enough draft horses, and there were still surplus horses available to carry supplies and the wounded and sick.

As for the officers originally issued riding horses, they all wrapped on leggings just like the soldiers and marched south along the coast together. Even Zhu Hehao was no exception. He leaned on a walking stick, surrounded entirely by soldiers. Under the torchlight, these warriors of the United States of New Continent all saw their Great King measuring the road with his own feet, chi by chi, just like them, and everyone's pace could not help but quicken a few degrees — this Great King of theirs still seemed fairly reliable!

This Great King Zhu Hehao truly had not had it easy! From childhood he had received militarized education at Nanjing Primary School, an aristocratic primary school for training young officers. Then came Nanjing Middle School, same in style and even stricter. After that, the Army Military Academy!

After graduating from the Military Academy, he was dispatched into the army, led troops at the basic level, then went to the Grand Marshal's Office to "get gilded," and only finally was able to go to the United States of New Continent to hold command on his own.

In terms of the military education he had received and the military knowledge he had mastered, he far surpassed his opponent Don Juan José, not to mention that "Prince Qing, Zhu Cihuan." But truly commanding a great army and fighting a decisive battle that concerned the future and fate of a great nation — this was still his first time!

"Pop pop pop—"

Faint gunfire came from behind. It should be the black cavalry covering the rear exchanging fire with the pursuing New Spain cavalry.

On the night of March 26, Don Juan José at first did not realize that the United States of New Continent army facing him would use night marching to bypass his camp and hurry south. That night, a small number of black lance cavalry skirmished with the Spanish cavalry around the New Spain Legion's camp for several hours before withdrawing before dawn. Only then did Don Juan José discover that the New Continent army had already bypassed his camp and gone south.

Greatly alarmed, Don Juan José hurriedly sent cavalry in pursuit, but Zhu Hehao had long been prepared. He sent the black lance cavalry to cover the rear, setting ambushes along the way and skirmishing with the pursuing Spanish cavalry — in an open fight, the black lance cavalry could not defeat the Spanish cavalry.

The former were light cavalry for miscellaneous work; the latter were mainly armored heavy cavalry! But the black lance cavalry had their own advantages: first, they excelled at night raids and ambushes; second, they had multiple horses per man and could ride in rotation.

So with the tactic of running, fighting, and ambushing all at once, they made the New Spain Legion's cavalry suffer plenty. And even more miserable than these cavalrymen was Don Juan José's main force, eating dust behind Zhu Hehao's army.

The New Spain Legion was a "heavy unit," carrying large amounts of baggage and artillery. Moreover, half of its musketeers carried heavy Spanish matchlocks, the number of pikemen was not small, and the soldiers also carried quite a lot of personal baggage. Unlike his opponent who dared to go light, Don Juan José did not have an entire fleet transporting supplies for him, so he absolutely did not dare let his troops go thoroughly light. If his army went thoroughly light, whether they could even walk back to Mexico City would be a question mark!

Don Juan José, who dared not abandon his supplies, even less dared to ignore Zhu Hehao, who had slipped around to his rear. Fifteen thousand New Continent troops! Heaven knew what terrible things they might do?

So Don Juan José had no choice but to steel himself and drive his more than thirty-one thousand infantry, carrying cannon and baggage, to pursue day and night without rest.

One side was thoroughly light; the other was lugging a great heap of pots and pans. In a contest of foot speed, the latter naturally could not compare. After only two days of pursuit, Don Juan José's force was already done for. Not only had they been left more than a hundred li behind by Zhu Hehao's great army, but large numbers of stragglers and losses had also appeared. As for the officers and men still huffing and puffing in hot pursuit behind Don Juan José (not counting the cavalry that had gone ahead), no one knew whether there were even twenty-five thousand left.

The New Spain Legion's chief of staff, Diego Don de Melo, had already ridden up beside Don Juan José and quietly reminded him: "Your Highness the Regent, this cannot go on! We simply cannot catch up with the enemy."

Don Juan José had not closed his eyes for two days and two nights. The aging Regent of New Spain was nearly at the point of collapse, and inwardly he was groaning endlessly — these Asians were simply too good at running. The Jiaqing army was like this, and the New Continent army was the same. They just refused to fight properly. It was truly outrageous.

"Your Highness," Diego Don de Melo said, "we must either select elite troops and have them advance thoroughly light, or simply abandon the pursuit!"

"Abandon the pursuit?" Don Juan José shot his chief of staff an irritated look. "Am I supposed to slink back to Mexico City in disgrace?"

"Your Highness," Diego Don de Melo said with a deeply furrowed brow, "the troops are in very poor condition right now — extremely fatigued, with many soldiers straggling or deserting! The Indian militia has nearly all run off. Many knights from Sinaloa and Nayarit have also slipped away!"

"How could knights possibly slip away?" Don Juan José seemed utterly shocked.

"Your Highness, many of them have estates in Sinaloa and Nayarit, and both territories are under enemy threat..."

"Damnation!" Don Juan José cursed, but still refused to give up the pursuit. "We can let everyone rest — rest until tomorrow afternoon..."

"But if we rest," Diego Don de Melo said, "I fear the distance between us and the enemy will only grow greater!"

"No, not necessarily!" Don Juan José said thoughtfully. "Perhaps... perhaps the moment we stop, the enemy will turn around and come back to seek a decisive battle with us."

Diego Don de Melo thought for a moment, then nodded. "Perhaps. Right now their advantage is not small..."

Don Juan José's face was ashen. "Call it fifty-fifty. We still have a chance of victory, because they ran so fast that they must have abandoned a great deal of baggage and artillery. If we keep pursuing, perhaps there will be no chance at all! Not only no chance of victory — I fear even the strength to fight will be exhausted in this endless marching."

(End of Chapter)