“...... Our Heavenly Father, may your name be exalted; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us our daily bread today. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive others. Don't let us fall into temptation, but save us from evil. Amen!

All the nations of the world, all the authority of the world, all glory shall be to you forever. Amen! ”

As the flag of San André fluttered in the wind on the masts of the 29 Spanish armed Galen ships that formed a column, the officers and men of the Spanish Oriental Armada were already in their positions and began to recite the Heavenly Father Sutra in unison.

Although the glory of Spain has dimmed, and Spain's maritime supremacy has ceased to exist after the Battle of the Downs more than a decade ago, the Spaniards' determination to fight for the Father has not wavered in the slightest.

And they still believe that their country is favored by Heavenly Father!

Because the gods are still there, the 29 Spanish warships dared to rush from the waterway between the big and small millstone islands into the Dinghai anchorage that had already fallen asleep in the middle of the night on the third day of the eighth month of the ninth year of Hongxing in the Ming Dynasty, with a little moonlight and starlight and the sea breeze blowing from the northeast!

Although these Spanish warships rushed into the anchorage through the waterway between the large and small millstone islands, the early warning rockets had already lifted off from the large and small millstone islands one after another and exploded violently in the darkness, turning into countless sparks.

But in the eyes of Admiral Garcia and de Belasco, who commanded the Pacific Star to be the first to storm the anchorage, these early warning rockets were nothing more than a salute to welcome the Spanish fleet!

Because the suddenness of the surprise attack has been achieved, the Chinese warships have long since collected their sails and lowered their anchors, and most of the personnel are not on board, even if they are still there, in the middle of the night and in the early hours of the morning, they are sleeping soundly, where is it so easy to get up and enter the combat state?

One after another, the Spanish ships rushed into the anchorage of Dinghai through the waterway between the large and small millstone islands.

After crossing the waterway between the large and small millstone islands, the Shenjiamen wharf appeared due north of the Spanish fleet. Although it is late at night, there are still lights flickering in the port and commercial port of Shenjiamen, faintly, and there seems to be a little chaos, someone must have seen the early warning rockets from the big and small millstone islands.

But it's too late!

Because the 29 Spanish warships have already released the fireboats they carried, although it is now a northeast wind, it is also the time when the sea tide is high, and the tide will carry the fireboats to the Shenjiamen Wharf where the Ming warships are moored.

This operation was carefully planned, when to raise the St. Andrew's flag, when to form a single column, and when to rush into the Dinghai anchorage, not only to catch the Ming Dynasty navy by surprise, but also to seize the opportunity to take advantage of the high tide to put the fireship on the Shenjiamen pier.

These fireships were not only able to disrupt the movement of ships of the Ming navy, but also to illuminate the gunboats.

As soon as the fireships were released, the single column of the Spanish fleet was disbanded, and all the ships began to disrupt.

Of course, this is also planned!

Although fighting in line was the standard tactic of naval warfare, it was a mess, and even in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1652-1654, the naval fleets of England and Dutch were often disrupted.

The improvised Spanish Eastern Fleet is much worse than the current Anglo-Dutch main fleet, and it is impossible to keep the queue in the big night, so let's just fight on our own!

Anyway, as long as the sneak attack is successful, are you afraid that you won't be able to win?

Admiral Garcia and Captain Barbossa of the New Spain stood side by side on the stern of the New Spain, staring intently in the direction of the Shenjiamen pier, and their hearts were in their throats.

The surprise attack was a success!

But whether the Ming warships on the dock will have something to do with going out, it's hard to say...... If they're not at home, it's hard to surprise them later!

In addition, the two of them are still waiting for the Ming army's battery to fire!

Of course, I didn't want to be shelled, but I wanted to determine their position through the enemy's muzzle flame - during the day, you could see twenty or thirty artillery fortifications with a telescope, but now you can't see them, and a dozen or twenty heavy coastal defense guns that don't know where they are, which is always a little worrying.

In addition, none of the 29 Spanish warships on the sea are now illuminated, so the Ming army's batteries should not be able to see them. Therefore, the Ming army battery opened fire at this time, and it could only be fired at the fireboat. And the fireships are very small, how can the smoothbore guns have such an accurate head? So fighting is also a waste of ammunition.

As long as the artillery of the Ming army is fired, it basically means that the level of the gunners is not very high.

But if the artillery of the Ming army can calm down and not fire...... That's a worrying thing!

"Admiral, now the Chinese warship!" Captain Barbossa's voice rang out with a slight surprise.

Admiral Garcia muttered in a low voice: "It seems to be a ship of five or six hundred tons, and I can't see it clearly...... Why didn't the fireship move? ”

Barbossa said uncertainly, "Maybe something is stuck?" ”

He didn't know that the Ming Dynasty Navy had a kind of "fireproof ship cable", and he didn't know which naval officer who was familiar with the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Ming, that is, he wrapped a special iron hook with a rope, tied the two ends to a wooden buoy, and threw it in the water in the middle to hook the bottom of the fireboat. The buoy is anchored to the bottom of the sea, so once the hook rope gets entangled in the fireboat, the fireboat cannot continue to move forward.

However, these buoy ropes were not too far from the dock where the twelve Ming warships were moored, so by the light of the fire, Garcia and Barbossa could still see the outlines of the Ming warships.

These warships were all silent, there was no reaction, and it seems that the surprise attack was really successful!

Barbossa excitedly shouted loudly to Garcia: "Admiral, are we going to rush up and shoot arson? ”

The so-called arson bomb is a hot iron ball, which is isolated from gunpowder with wooden planks, stuffed into the gun chamber together, and then used to bombard the enemy ship, using the high temperature of the iron ball to ignite the wood and cloth of the enemy ship.

"Wait, wait......" Garcia said, shaking his head, "we'll watch from behind and let the other boats go." If there really aren't sailors on those ships or there aren't many sailors, we might be able to snatch some of them. ”

The New Spain was invaluable, carrying more than 1ooo tons and carrying 54 12-pounder guns and six 24-pounder guns. Looking at the data on paper, it is an invincible existence in East Asia.

So Garcia didn't dare to take the boat to the risk.

Boom Boom Boom ......

Just then, the guns of several Spanish ships fired!

They fired arson-fired bombs that targeted two 200-ton light Galen ships.

The two Galen ships did not seem to have sailors, and they did not react at all after being hit by arson, and the red-hot shells penetrated the planks of the ship, and rolled inside the two "small boats", and soon ignited the wood on board, and the fire and smoke came out of the hull, and in the blink of an eye they burned more and more, and they were about to swallow the two wooden ships.

The two Ming warships burned, and his Ming warships still did not move...... It really looks like it's all empty ships!

"Colonel, it's really empty...... Let's go up and grab it! The first mate of the Pacific Star beside De Belasco couldn't contain his excitement.

Not counting the two warships that have already burned, there are still ten ships on the side of the Dinghai anchorage, all of which are new and good ships, and if Manila can be recaptured, the size of Spain's fleet in the East will immediately increase by one-third!

At that time, will there be any places along the coast of Daming that the Spanish fleet can't go?

"Good!" Deberasco nodded heavily, then raised his hand and pointed to a 6oo-ton Ming Army Galen ship, "That's it...... Let's go to the Spanish Empire and grab it, I'll personally lead people to jump to the gang, and the Father will bless us!" ”

The first mate also shouted: "Heavenly Father bless the king, Heavenly Father bless Spain!" ”