The three Lisbon naval battles attracted the attention of European countries.

The combat effectiveness shown by the Daming ocean-going fleet surprised them.

That distant eastern power, the mighty sea power has risen again?

Perhaps influenced by the Battle of Lisbon, the Anglo-Dutch Naval Battle, which was fought fiercely in the English Channel, also accelerated the course of the war, and the two sides engaged in continuous bloody fighting for three days, hoping to decide the outcome as soon as possible.

Because the logistics provided by Portugal were too sluggish, Zhu Chenggong and Wu Zhong made adjustments to the battle plan after discussing with Wu Zhong, striving for a quick victory in a period of time.

After all, the Invincible Armada has a steady stream of logistical supplies from Spain, and the Combined Fleet does not, and the small number of flowering shells carried by the Ming Royal Navy has already been exhausted, and the next can only use solid bullets to fight, the advantage is greatly reduced, and if it continues to be consumed for a long time, the Combined Fleet will be defeated sooner or later due to the depletion of ammunition!

However, according to Zhu Chenggong's understanding, the Spanish Armada has been hit three times in a row, and it should be almost impossible to hold on, and now it is just a swollen face and a fat man carrying it there.

Another punch is needed to knock him to the ground and ravage him, and the war is bound to end perfectly by shaking the whole of Europa!

On 27 May, Shi Lang led the avant-garde detachment to go hundreds of miles into the rear, and took advantage of the darkness of the night to cut off the Spanish logistics fleet to the front, and the Invincible Armada panicked, and the commander Oquindo urgently ordered to encircle the avant-garde detachment of the Combined Fleet, wanting to swallow them in one bite.

The lone advance guard detachment was besieged by fifty invincible armadas, and in just half a day, the advance guard detachment lost five battleships, and each of the other nine battleships suffered varying degrees of damage.

Among them, the "Dousu" fought the most heroically, resisting the attack of several Spanish arsonist ships and the main warship, and the sailors on board did everything possible to extinguish the fire, and fired the last shell with the already damaged cannon, killing the commander of the Invincible Armada detachment, so that the already seriously damaged "Dousu" got out of danger safely and retreated into the formation.

Shi Lang's ship, the "White Tiger", was taken care of by the Invincible Armada, and a large number of Spanish warships approached the gang, and the captain of the White Tiger, who was besieged, unfortunately died, and more than 100 of the more than 300 crew members of the ship were killed in battle.

Shi Lang himself was also wounded, and was almost crippled by a flying iron rod on his thigh.

However, no matter how much the praise paintings around him dissuaded, Shi Lang refused to get out of the cabin, continued to command the battle, and waited for the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty to stab the chrysanthemum of the Invincible Armada.

The besieging Invincible Armada did not get any benefit, and was sunk and burned by the Ming fleet and burned eight warships, and the captain of the "Sauer" Sir William led his troops to jump into the gang, and fought quite heroically, but he was taken prisoner not long after he boarded the Ming warship.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the sound of artillery was still rumbling on the sea of fierce fighting.

In the chaos of the battlefield, the silhouette of the Santiago's hull slowly lengthened, revealing its complete side, and all the guns were aimed at Shi Lang's ship, the White Tiger.

"Brigade Marshal!" The White Tiger observer suddenly shouted, "We are being targeted by the other party!" ”

"Aren't we being watched all the time?"

Shi Lang subconsciously replied, walked quickly to the porthole in that direction and took a look, and suddenly ordered: "Quick!" Right full rudder! Adjust your bearings! ”

I don't know if I don't see it, I was shocked when I saw it, the opposite side was not an ordinary battleship, but a real giant ship!

Judging by this size and number of guns, it is at least a second-class sail battleship, while the White Tiger is only a third-class battleship, and it has already been heavily damaged, and it can't withstand the several rounds of fire of the Santiago.

"Quick! Right full rudder! Fast! Shi Lang shouted nervously.

Before the 18th century, there was no steering wheel system in the world, and the ship was difficult to turn, but there were so many talents in the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Wanli, a waiter from the Ministry of Works, who was born in a shipbuilding family, had long set this problem as a technical difficulty that must be overcome, and made certain progress.

He tried to use the steering wheel to drive the slippery rudder at the front of the rear deck of the warship, and found that the effect was very good, the helmsman could not only continuously observe the sails on the ship without obstruction, which was convenient for manoeuvring the ship, but also when steering, it was much less effort than the previous vertical tiller.

Mastering the steering wheel is to master the direction of progress, so all the warships launched after the Ming Royal Navy have adopted the steering wheel technology.

The White Tiger's massive body slowed down dramatically, and the bow quickly turned to the right, trying to turn its head at the Santiago in order to reduce the area under attack.

However, at this time, the black hole of the gun port of the San Diego opened fire at the same time, and a dense column of water was set off around the White Tiger, and the foredeck was hit by several shells, and wood chips flew sideways.

The smoke cleared, the deck of the White Tiger was blackened, several guns were overturned by gunpowder detonation, and there were still seven or eight bullet holes in the ship's tower.

Shi Langzheng pinched a handful of sweat, only to hear the observer shouting: "They are firing again!" ”

Shi Lang scolded angrily, and once again ordered the White Tiger to adjust its angle, the bow of the ship turned to the left, turned its body vertically, and continued to face the side of the Santiago, greatly reducing its area.

However, on the opposite side of the Santiago, Okundo, the commander of the Invincible Armada, showed a sly smile and gave the order with a wave of his hand.

Suddenly, around the White Tiger, the three Spanish warships that had already adjusted their angles in the melee fired an overwhelming salvo at the White Tiger.

After a round of shelling, the hull of the White Tiger seemed to be beaten into a sieve, and then suddenly an earth-shattering explosion occurred.

In the thick smoke, the hull of the White Tiger split into two sections and sank rapidly, and the sea water boiled, spewing white smoke "Zizi", forming a large whirlpool.

Fortunately, Shi Lang reacted quickly, and when he encountered a fire, he decisively gave the order to abandon the ship, and the remaining sailors on the deck had jumped into the sea when the ship was sunk, and some of them were killed by the explosion.

In just a few minutes, the white tiger completely disappeared into the sea, leaving only a broken wooden board and a corpse, and a large amount of black and white smoke continued to rise from the water.

"Unfortunately, their ammunition depot exploded!"

The commander of the armada, Okundo, had a grim face, and a sense of pride was rekindled in his heart, the armada was finally invincible in his own hands.

He ordered: "Wave the flag, let the remaining Ming fleet hang the white flag and surrender, otherwise they will all be killed!" ”

"Yes! Sir. ”

The signal had already been sent, but the remaining Ming warships did not reply to the signal, nor did they hang the white flag, but continued to fight as before, as if they were not affected by the sinking of the main ship of the detachment commander in the slightest.

Okundo raised his binoculars and looked, only to see smoke billowing from the decks of several Ming fleets that were surrounded, and more sailors jumping into the sea, like dumplings.

Soon, some of the ships were hung with rope nets, and more sailors climbed the rope nets and went down to the sea, as if the captain on the opposite side had given an order to abandon the ship.

Okundo smiled and ordered, "Send five ships to shoot them!" ”

At this time, a Spanish observer ran over and shouted: "Oh no, sir, the rear team has sent a warning, a large number of unknown warships have been found in the northeast sea!" ”

Okundo subconsciously felt bad, and quickly climbed the ship's tower, holding up the binoculars to look.

I saw patches of white sails appear on the sea to the north, and there were forty of them!

Needless to say, it must be the combined fleet of Ming and Portuguese!

"Fuck, we're fooled!"

Okundo's face was pale, his eyelids were jumping wildly, and he knew at once that the damn commander of the Ming Dynasty was fishing!