Province of Sinaloa, Guasavi Castle.
The dragon-patterned royal flag of the Jiaqing Kingdom was flying high on the manor house more than ten miles north of the castle.
The soldiers of the Jiaqing Army Brigade have stopped advancing. Either doing temporary repairs or digging trenches and building fortifications outside the manor. More than a month of continuous marching and fighting has made this army look quite embarrassed. The military uniforms were in pieces, and the men were tanned and skinny. If everyone didn't have an East Asian face, they would look a bit like an Indian army.
The supply of steamed bread can be guaranteed. The climate of Sinaloa Province is much wetter than that of Sonora Province, which is more suitable for growing corn, and there are more Indian villages. This group of Indians who farmed the land did not have any ill feelings towards King Kaki's samurai corps. The upper echelons of the army, including King Kaki, Shimazu Noyoshi, Hoshina Masaki, and Shimazu Nobu, had promulgated strict disciplines long before they sent out troops. , it is strictly forbidden to harm Indian farmers, and you are not allowed to enter Indian villages without orders - they are all precious farmers! If you kill them all, how can you become a master in the future? Haven’t you had enough of “one thing, one thing, everything”?
Rare people are valuable! How many people were there in the entire Kingdom of New Spain? The provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa are both remote places in the Kingdom of New Spain. Of course, there are not many "leeks", so you have to cut them sparingly.
Because the new Japanese master looked better than the Spanish master who came first, the Indian villages generally welcomed King Jiaqing's army and were willing to provide them with some corn flour that could be used to make steamed buns. So Wotou still has enough!
A field kitchen for making steamed buns has been set up within the walls of the manor house. Hot water is heated in a large pot, a steamer is set up, and steaming begins.
In addition to steamed steamed buns, broth is also served today! The tempting aroma of meat was already wafting inside and outside the manor compound.
The warriors, who had not eaten meat for many days, could not help but look in the direction of the field kitchen, their Adam's apples rolled up and down, and they looked like they were about to cry with hunger.
The broth was made from United States corned beef and lamb, indicating that a United States supply ship had arrived in Guaymas a few days ago. However, because the transportation from Port Guaymas to here was not smooth, Naomi Hoshina who stayed there did not have much manpower available, so not many things were sent up. It was beef and mutton carried by two to three hundred war horses and war horses.
Compared with the extremely poor Jiaqing Kingdom, the financial and material resources of the United States of Xinzhou are so rich!
The supply ships currently sailing to the port of Guaymas are not sent by the United States government, but are raised by "venture investors" for King Gaqing.
This group of profiteers had little confidence in King Jiaqing at the beginning, so the promised investment was very slow to be realized. But when the news that King Jiaqing's army was advancing rapidly in Sonora Province reached Kinmen City, everyone became active.
The day after the news came, a fleet carrying war horses, meat, gunpowder, field guns, and large-caliber mortars left Kinmen Port under the escort of two United States battleships. The fleet sailed at sea for 11 days and arrived at the port of Guaymas almost behind the scenes of King Gaqing.
But it is not that easy to move these supplies from Guaymas Port to Guasavi... Investors from King Jiaqing can give money for supplies, but it is difficult to recruit enough civilians. The Garching Kingdom's own manpower is also very insufficient, so it can only be troubled by Naomi Hoshina who stayed in Guaymas Port and several officials from the Garching Kingdom.
However, Zhu Cihuan stopped moving forward not because the supplies from Guaymas Port did not arrive. But there was trouble under the Guasavi Castle!
The governor sent by Don Juan Jose to Sinaloa Province was obviously not as confused as the governor of Sonora Province. He did not attack rashly, but followed Don Juan Jose's advice, strengthened the walls and cleared the country, and stayed on the melon. Savy Castle awaits reinforcements. At the same time, light cavalry were also sent to harass the Jiaqing Army and block the patrol sent by the Jiaqing Army.
Due to the rapid march for more than a month before, the expeditionary Kaqing Army not only suffered a large reduction in personnel, but also suffered serious losses in the horses attached to the Takeda Cavalry. Now it is no longer possible to send out the cavalry for reconnaissance and search.
Therefore, King Jiaqing's army was now confused about the enemy's situation, and was blocked by Guasavi Castle. So it was blocked in the area north of Guasavi Castle. While recuperating, he was waiting for the baggage and artillery to arrive - to attack the Guasavi Castle, it would not be possible without a sufficient number of artillery, and nail-head explosive shells would also be needed!
In the large house of this manor, King Kaqing, Shimazu Nokichi, Shimazu Nobu, Hoshina Masaki and other retainers were sitting around the table. This house was also burned down, and the roof was left open, so you could look up at the stars while sleeping at night. Now it is the location of King Jiaqing’s palace!
From the Jiaqing King Zhu Cihuan to the grassroots army commanders (equivalent to battalions) and ashigaru captains, they were all in this shabby room. The king’s treat today was all Japanese food, including Kyushu steamed buns, salted mutton in a Satsuma water basin, Aizu soja noodles, and boiled cactus as vegetables. The retainers at all levels ate without raising their heads. .
Zhu Cihuan also looked much haggard, with a deep beard and sunken eye sockets. He was the first to finish eating, and calmly watched the senior samurai under his command and his wife Shimazu Noyoshi, who had been with him for more than ten years, finish their meal and call it a day. He nodded lightly and said, "I feel sorry for you. It will be fine once we capture Guasavi Castle and Gulacan Castle. Then we will divide the manors for everyone, and you can start to live a good life... "
His wife Shimazu Noyoshi also suffered a lot along the way, and now she has turned into a black-faced woman. She looks a little skinny, but she is still thinking about the good things about snakes swallowing elephants. After hearing what her husband said, she immediately put down her job and said: "Your Majesty, the situation is very good now. It is the time for us to work hard. Why not defeat the Western barbarians in one fell swoop, save the Indian people from fire and water, and spread the power of heaven in all directions... .”
"Shut up!" Zhu Cihuan shouted, and his face fell on the spot. All the warriors present put down their jobs and looked up at the king and princess of Jiaqing Kingdom.
King Jiaqing looked a bit scary. Shimazu Noyoshi had never seen such a fierce Zhu Cihuan, and he was a little dazed for a moment.
Zhu Cihuan reprimanded: "We are gambling with our lives...Although we keep winning, our strength is still weakening. When we left Gyeongju, we had 14,000 troops, and now we are here in Guasavi, and there are How many can fight? 10,000 people are barely enough. And Don Juan Jose’s army must be on the way. The distance from the Basin of Mexico to Guasavi is only 2,000 miles, and the roads are relatively wealthy areas with good roads. There are plenty of supplies, so they won’t be as tired as us, and their number is probably several times ours!”
"But we can defeat them!" Shimazu Noyoshi was still a little unconvinced.
Zhu Cihuan said calmly: "What happens after defeat? How many more people can we have? 5,000? Or 6,000? Naiji, our strength is very weak. Now we are just trying to scare people...so we must have a meeting." It’s a plan to stop when it’s good! I just didn’t know how to stop when it’s good, so..."
Shimazu Noyoshi looked at King Kaqing and thought: Are you bad now? They are all kings of a country!
Zhu Cihuan didn't think so. If he hadn't been too greedy and stopped early, why would he have worked so hard? The lesson is profound! Now he has the feeling of being the stock king in Shanghai again, but the bets are bigger and he wins more!
He paused and then said: "Since this battle is about gambling on the fate of the country, we should have the awareness to give up when the fortune is good. Because if you gamble for a long time, you will lose...and our capital is too small, and we can't make up for it if we lose once." Book!
In addition, don’t forget that our opponents are not just New Spain! If we win too much, the country in the north will be wary of us... We have to take it easy and serve the north in a humble manner, secretly accumulating strength. Maybe there will be a day when I can go straight to Mojing in the future! "
