Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Chapter 27 - The Americas and Other Regions in 1568

This is the beginning of a new chapter.

Half of the narrative takes place in the Western Mediterranean, contrary to the title.

- Yamaga

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27-1

"Do you agree to unconditional surrender?"

"I agree if the lives of my subordinates other than myself are guaranteed."

"Rest assured. We will ensure your life as well. Additionally, I promise to transport you and your subordinates to the mainland of Spain."

"Though it is an unconditional surrender, I sincerely appreciate the exceedingly generous conditions."

In the spring of 1568, the Duke of Alba, the supreme commander of the Spanish forces in the Americas, had no choice but to accept the unconditional surrender demanded by the Japanese military (albeit inwardly shedding tears).

Since the Mexican campaign in 1562, Japan and Spain had been fiercely fighting in the Americas (more accurately, in the Caribbean islands and the continents of Central and South America). However, the situation was consistently worsening for the Spanish (and Portuguese) forces. The disparity in the quantity and quality of weapons continued to widen, with the Spanish regular army rarely achieving victory against the armed Japanese immigrant groups. It had become a grim reality.

After losing Mexico, the Duke of Alba desperately waged war against the Japanese forces (and armed Japanese immigrant groups) in the Americas, with Peru as the central base. However, faced with the dire situation of Japan controlling not only the Pacific but also the Atlantic, he had no choice but to continue the hopeless and isolated struggle to preserve the lives of his subordinates. Moreover, the gap in weapons was stark. Though the Duke of Alba might have thought he had fought for six years, the reality was that he had to accept the unconditional surrender from Japan in the spring of 1568, driven by the bitter decision to at least preserve the lives of his subordinates. Accepting this decision from the Duke of Alba effectively marked the end of the war between Japan and Spain in the Americas. However, not all Japanese people accepted this.

"At this point, let's launch an invasion of the Spanish mainland. Until the day Spain agreed to a peace treaty with Japan, Japanese colonies in the Americas would live in fear of unjust aggression from Spain. The only way to prevent this is to carry out an invasion of the mainland of Spain and force them to sign a peace treaty," Kazuko Takeda (Kamisato) declared, which was agreed by Motoyasu Matsudaira and others.

Now, the reason why Kazuko spoke so forcefully, and Motoyasu and others agreed, had its own background. The Spanish mainland showed a firm commitment to continuing the war against Japan, encouraging pirate activities centered around privateering in the Caribbean. While Japan was essentially securing maritime dominance, Spain's pirate activities were gradually being restrained. Still, from Japan's perspective, this was more than just annoying, and the proposal to conduct a mainland invasion of Spain to crush this activity had erupted within the Japanese colonies in North America and the Caribbean.

Furthermore, to suppress these pirate activities, military forces from the Matsudaira clan had even taken control of the Azores Islands. However, Spanish pirate activities persisted. In this situation, it seemed inevitable for the Matsudaira clan and others to consider carrying out a mainland invasion of Spain as the only means to confront Spain's pirate activities.

However, there was another reason why Kazuko made this declaration. It was related to the aspect of rescuing Egypt. For Kazuko, Nagamasa Azai and his wife were her relatives, and for that reason, the Japanese in Egypt had to be supported. Upon hearing about the deteriorating situation in Egypt through information from Japan, Kazuko, in the event of an emergency, planned to conquer part of the mainland of Spain and then carry out a rescue mission in Egypt.