After a loud bang, Mitsuhisa Shimazu rode through a shoal and onto the north shore of an unknown stream. Dozens of knights followed. The figures on the horses, most of them dressed in kimonos, are small in stature, and they ride tall horses brought to America by the Spaniards, which is a bit uncoordinated. There are also a few larger ones, all of whom are of Western race.

The stream that Shimazu has just passed through joins a large river not far away, and on both sides of the river, the terrain is quite open, and as far as you can see, you can see a lot of mountains. One procession, sparsely marching on the west bank of the river, was less than half a man in the prime of life, the rest were young women, some of whom were pregnant, so on horseback, and the rest on foot. There were quite a few horses accompanying them, always four or five thousand, except for a small number carrying people, and the rest were carrying large bags of goods. And the people who walked forward also carried large bags of luggage, and walked forward step by step.

Needless to say, the men and women on foot and the women on horseback were also short Japanese refugees. They are now heading north along the central valley under the Governor of California in New Spain, De Velasco.

De Bellasco also admired these short, short, and sea-bound refugees, who had become lost dogs, running from prosperous East Asia to desolate California, and their morale was high, and they could still hear laughter from time to time.

Plus, these little East Asians don't seem to get scurvy!

Those slow Chinese bird boats drifted in the Pacific Ocean for more than two months, and there was not a single case of scurvy!

This phenomenon made de Bellasco very worried about the war at sea in the Pacific that he didn't know how long it would last - if the East Asian race was really immune to scurvy, then the naval personnel of the Ming Empire would be able to stay at sea longer, and in the incomparably vast Pacific Ocean, this would be a huge advantage!

In addition, the "bombardment revolution" also caused great problems to the financially stretched navy of the Kingdom of Spain - to complete this naval equipment revolution, it is not only necessary to add a few short-barreled large-caliber bombardment guns to the traditional armed galen ships, but to design new warships!

Because the traditional battleship with two or three gun decks, with dozens or hundreds of guns at every turn, is simply a floating powder magazine. When the naval battle was going on, there was a mess in the gun deck, and if you went down and walked around at this time, you would definitely see powder kegs and gunpowder packs that were not placed according to the regulations - dozens or hundreds of guns! How many gun crews would have to be crammed into the cramped gun deck? In the midst of a chaotic firefight, how is it possible to do everything according to the rules? Even if everything went according to the drills, would a 24-pound or 32-pound or even 40-pound flowering shell explode inside the gun deck and avoid a martyrdom and a cascade of disasters that followed? Don't even think about such a good thing!

Therefore, the design of a new type of all-bombardment battleship has become the top priority of every naval power in the world today!

As far as de Berasco knew, the wealthy and well-developed shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom had long begun to design and build new battleships.

And the first generation of the Ming Dynasty's all-bombardment battleships Ying Tianfu-class have been put into active service!

But what about Spain?

De Belasco couldn't help but sigh when he thought of his motherland, which should have owned the world, but was so poor that she couldn't even pay the dowry of Her Royal Highness the Princess.

At that moment, the knights in front of him suddenly stopped advancing, and De Belasco was not paying attention, and almost hit the butt of a horse in front of him. It took a while to stop a very disobedient war horse in his crotch, and Shimazu Mitsuhisa had already driven the horse to his side.

"Your Excellency, let's settle down here!"

"Here?" De Bellasco looked around to see what was supposed to be a bay in the northern part of the central valley, with several unknown streams coming down from the mountains to the west. The terrain is not very open and undulating, and the trees are very lush and look wet.

"Isn't this place too remote?" De Bellasco thought for a moment, and then said, "And the northern part of the central valley is often flooded, which is not conducive to farming, or let's go back to the south and pick a better place...... Anyway, California has land. ”

"It's nice here!" Mitsuhisa Shimazu smiled, "It's a lot like my hometown of Satsuma. ”

Is Satsuma in the valley? De Belasko said, "You old man must be confused on the boat." When I was in San Francisco Bay, I said that I wanted to settle there like Satsuma......

"Okay!" De Belasco thought about it, but agreed to Shimazu Mitsuhisa's request - the bay of San Francisco could not be given to the Japanese, it was too important there. And the northern part of the central valley...... It doesn't hurt to give it to the Japanese, with them blocking here, it will not be easy for the Chinese to go south!

Shimazu Mitsuhisa asked again: "Your Excellency the Governor, what is the name of this place?" ”

"Name? I haven't gotten up yet. De Belasco said, "Shimazu-sama, why don't you come up with one?" ”

"Good!" Mitsuhisa Shimazu said, "From now on, this place will be called the Satsuma Valley!" The Satsuma people will breed here and live forever! ”

Deberasco nodded: "Okay, let's call it the Satsuma Valley...... But you have to be careful of floods, and if you want to do it, you have to repair the dikes first. ”

"Hay! Thank you for your concern, we'll be sure to pay attention. Mitsuhisa Shimazu nodded heavily.

De Velasco added: "I have already mentioned to the Duke of Florida about the formation of a new flintlock corps...... The duke has already approved it. But as you know, we in the Kingdom of New Spain are a big country, and there are many things that need to be done slowly, maybe two years to be implemented. Until then, I hope you will build castles along the Satsuma River valley and build enough camps for 30,000 people. If you still have the resources to spare, stock up on as much food as you can. ”

He paused, and then looked at Shimazu Mitsuhisa: "Elder, can you finish this in two years?" ”

"No problem!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said, "As long as the Governor's Office can provide some more iron tools and food, my men will be able to build a castle and a military camp in the Satsuma Valley within two years, and they will be able to store at least 20,000 koku of grain." ”

"Can it really work?" De Belasco also wanted to be sure.

"Absolutely no problem!" Mitsuhisa Shimazu answered in the affirmative.

"That's great!" De Bellasco smiled, "In this case, we will soon be able to drive the Ming people away from the Gulf of the Americas!" ”

He spoke quickly, certainly by the standards of the Kingdom of Spain...... For Philip IV, the "King of the World", there were a lot of things that needed to be done quickly in the summer of 1660!

The first is, of course, to win the trust of the German and Italian bankers, so that the country can get out of the predicament of not being able to borrow money as soon as possible - for Spain, borrowing usury is not the worst thing, the worst thing is not borrowing usury at all!

I just don't know how the bankers, who had had enough of the suffering of Spain, could once again believe in the credit of Philip IV?

Secondly, of course, it is necessary to draw up a timetable for military reform - the Navy must be reformed, and the Army must be reformed! Due to the leadership of the suddenly powerful Ming Empire in the East, the military powers in Europe, including France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, have begun to reform their armies and navies, and even the Holy Roman Empire, which has not yet completely stepped out of the shadow of the Thirty Years' War, has also begun to reform its army. And the Ottoman Empire, the enemy of the Holy Roman Empire, launched an ambitious reform plan to revive their navy and the Sultan Guard!

Only Spain, the "hegemon of the world," seems to be stuck in a quagmire and is unable to exert any energy to carry out reforms.

The third thing that needs to be done as soon as possible can really be done, that is, Maria. Princess Teresa married Louis XIV of France. It's not easy! Fortunately, Philip IV had always been careful to protect his daughter from outsiders, so Louis XIV did not know the true face of his Spanish princess until June 7, 1660......