Shimazu Mitsuhisa's guess was correct. The Spanish army had already arrived in California!

In the southern part of the arid central valley (Satsuma Valley), a large army is rolling forward along the nearly dry riverbed. This is a combined army composed of musketeers, pikemen, cavalry, baggage troops and a small amount of artillery.

There were as many as 15,000 people. Due to the poor roads in the Central Valley, this Spanish army did not carry many artillery, only 6 6-pound cannons. The reason why they were pulled was to deal with the strong Satsuma Castle and Honshoji Temple.

!

The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of New Spain, Don Juan Jose, Duke of Florida, was also among this army. He was riding an extremely majestic Iberian horse, wearing a large-brimmed hat that could protect the sun, and a suit of black plate armor.

, looks majestic.

After learning the news that the "King of the United States" from the Ming Dynasty had arrived in America, he led his troops to leave Mexico City, first went to Acapulco to board a ship, and then took the sea route to San Francisco.

The reason why it is so troublesome is that if you want to take the land route from Mexico City to San Francisco, you have to walk more than 3,000 kilometers!

At a marching speed of 25 kilometers per day, it would take more than four months...

And what's worse is that the infrastructure of the New Kingdom of Spain is very poor. The country is too big, the population is too small, and the Spaniards don't like infrastructure construction very much.

Therefore, there are not many decent roads between Mexico City and San Francisco, there are not many towns, and there are no military stations along the way that can provide supplies for the troops. Therefore, it is impossible to march such a long distance by land.

Just imagine... no army can carry four months' worth of food on the road, right?

So taking the sea route is the only way!

Fortunately, the Chinese navy can only dominate near the Gulf of America and has no way to run wild along the coasts of Mexico and California. Because they have no ports south of the Gulf of America - since the wind direction on the east coast of the Pacific mostly blows south,

Therefore, it is easier for the Ming fleet that has left the Gulf of America to go south than to go north. If it attacks rashly, it may have to go around half of the Pacific Ocean to return to the Gulf of America.

Once the large fleet stationed in the Gulf of America goes far away, there will be loopholes in the defense of the Gulf of America. Therefore, the main force of the Ming Dynasty fleet in the Gulf of America has never moved south in a large scale. In this way, Don Juan Jose can transport a large number of troops to San Francisco by sea.

Francesco - In the 17th century, most sailing ships could sail against the wind, and the west coast of North America was not without seas blowing northward. It just took a while to wait.

For the Ming fleet, which had no harbor to use, this kind of waiting was very dangerous - many famous naval battles in history took place between the fleet that was anchored in the wind and the fleet that came to sneak attack.

And the side that makes a sneak attack has a very high winning rate!

The Spanish fleet is not afraid of waiting. They can wait slowly in the port protected by forts and fortresses.

But Don Juan Jose knew that his advantage of being able to transport troops by sea would not last long. Because the Spanish Empire was unable to update its fleet, while the Ming Dynasty's navy would soon complete the update!

In the face of new battleships armed with large-caliber bombardment guns, the old multi-layered gun deck battleships are probably vulnerable and outdated...

Once the Ming Dynasty's fleet is updated, the Presidio Fortress of San Francesco may not be able to stop their large-caliber bombardment!

A burst of rapid hoofbeats interrupted Don Juan Jose's thoughts. When he looked up, he saw several rangers delivering messages running over at high speed. The one riding first was a German with blond hair.

He should be a German mercenary - under the temptation of Don Juan Jose's knighthood and manor in the Kingdom of New Spain, many mercenaries with little future in Europe have come to the Kingdom of New Spain in recent years.

Already.

"Your Majesty the Duke! A letter from Governor de Velasco." The German mercenary gave Don Juan Jose a military salute and then handed over a letter rolled up and sealed with wax.

Don Juan Jose took the letter, tore off the wax seal, unfolded it, looked at it, and then smiled.

"Duke," Garcia, who was riding beside him, asked with a smile, "has the King of the United States been deceived?"

This Garcia was the commander of the Eastern Armada who lost the Battle of Kagoshima Bay. Although he was not arrested by King Philip and sent to prison, he had no way to return to the navy, so he followed Don Juan Ho.

Sai came to the New World and served as Don Juan Jose's staff officer.

"The King of the United States did not come..." Don Juan Jose said with a smile, "it was his uncle who came, the younger brother of the Emperor of China."

"The younger brother of the Chinese Emperor?" Garcia frowned, "Is he the Daiwang or the King of Ninan?"

When he was in the East, he had heard that Zhu Cixi had two very powerful brothers, namely King Zhu Cijiong and King Zhu Cizhao of Rinan County.

"It's not them," Don Juan Jose said, "it's Prince Chongqing. It's said that he is a fool."

"That seems to be the fifth brother of the Chinese emperor. He is indeed not as smart as his three brothers," Garcia paused, "but if he applies our Spanish standards, he certainly can't be considered a fool..."

The Ming Dynasty legally prohibited marriages with same surnames and cousin marriages. The former blocked cousin marriages, while the latter did not even allow marriages between cousins. Of course, there were still some private cousin marriages. But the palace

There is no such thing inside the palace, so the probability of a fool being born among the princes of the Ming Dynasty is relatively low.

Even if he had a son like Zhu Cihuan, if King Philip got it, he would definitely be moved to tears.

Don Juan Jose sighed: "I really can't imagine what Spain would be like under Carlos' rule..."

The Carlos he was talking about was the future Carlos II. The previous foolish crown prince, Philip Prosper, died of illness two years ago. But on the fifth day after his death, Philip Prosper looked even stupider.

Prince Carlos is born!

Although this prince is more stupid, his epilepsy symptoms are less severe than Philip Prosper's, and his body is not that weak. He is likely to grow up and inherit the throne of Philip IV.

"Duke," said Garcia, "thankfully New Spain will be under the rule of a very wise monarch!"

Don Juan Jose glanced at Garcia and said nothing. He just urged the horse under his crotch to continue moving forward.

...

Zhu Cihuan had already entered Honxun Temple at this time. He did not enter with great fanfare, but mixed in with the pioneer warriors and entered Honxun Temple.

The reason for this arrangement was because he was worried about being ambushed on the way into Honxonji Temple - in Hoshina Masaki's view, as long as he entered Honxonji Temple, there was nothing to worry about.

With the strength of Honxun Temple and the number of muskets and ammunition carried by Zhu Cihuan's guarding warriors, it is impossible for the Shimazu family to break through it - even if only seven or eight hundred people enter, it will be enough to protect themselves.

So he divided the 2,000-strong bodyguard into three teams, and led the vanguard of the front team to protect Zhu Cihuan and enter Benxun Temple first.

The middle and last two teams were stationed in the flood valley under the Yellow Dragon flag, waiting for the front team to send a signal and then come in turn.

In the eyes of the Shimazu family, the front team was of little value. If they really wanted to attack Zhu Cihuan, they should ambush the two teams behind him.

If the middle and latter teams also enter Honsōji Temple safely, then you can rest assured... The Shimadzu family is not pretending to surrender, but truly surrendering.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, you have seen the squadron's yellow dragon flag!"

A warrior rushed into a side hall where Zhu Cihuan was resting and loudly reported what the lookout post had discovered.

Zhu Cihuan smiled and said, "You can rest assured now!"

Masaki Hoshina also breathed a sigh of relief: "There should be no problem... Now we just have to wait for Shimazu Mitsuhisa to come to visit and hand over the hostages!"

"Hostages?" Zhu Cihuan asked, "Aren't all his family members in Tokyo (Edo)? Who else can serve as a hostage?"

"It's one of his daughters, named Shimazu Nokichi...a very beautiful woman!"

()
Chapter completed!