When we watched Scarborough Shoal become a bag with a belly full of grievances and hardships, we raised our heads and looked hundreds of kilometers ahead. What is that? Manila?!

View of Manila City through a telescope, a city located on the waterfront, just outside the city with the sea, a pier built by the sea, and tropical plants everywhere to show their vigorous vitality.

On the sea far away from the docks, large and small warships and armed merchant ships are moored, noisy people, chaotic sailors, and heavily armed soldiers are hurrying aboard the ships, preparing for the upcoming feast.

On the wharf, many natives and Spaniards were either driving their chariots and horses, or preparing for transportation. The attitude is relaxed and leisurely, as if going to a banquet.

The Spaniards in the city received a notice from the governor, and soon a fleet of Ming ships brought a large number of Ming goods.

He, in his capacity as Spanish governor in Luzon, would distribute the goods.

Everyone knew what the Doge was going to do, but, it didn't matter, wasn't Spain's prosperity based on the slaughter and plunder of the barbarians? The bustling streets of Madrid are piled up with the bones of the Incas.

Here, just over 20 years ago, there was also a plundering and massacre against those hard-working and wealthy Chinese, and the reason and basis was that they could become the internal response of the Ming Dynasty to attack Luzon. However, as it turned out, it was just a rumor.

However, in the aftermath of this incident, the colonial authorities imposed a so-called residence permit system for the Chinese, in which non-Christian Chinese paid eight pesos a year, plus five riyals as a tribute and twelve riyals as a house tax. With such plunder, the Luzon government authorities can earn hundreds of thousands of pesos per year.

Of course, a lot of it is not on the account.

A young man who looked a little old, in the midst of a crowd of Spanish women, boasted about his great achievements in the past, how he bravely rushed into the Chinese community, how he rushed to the front of the line without hesitation, and how he slaughtered the basically unprepared peaceful inhabitants with muskets and knives in his hands.

"Thank you, Governor Don Perez, that I may enjoy the glory and pleasure of distributing the wealth of those Orientals before I go to God!" With his chin with a pinch of gray beard, he pointed to the Chinese residents in the distance who were surrounded by cannons by heroic Spanish soldiers, "They are the worker ants of our empire. When they have created their wealth, we, like ants who have crushed them, have crushed them, and then, we enjoy the wealth they have created for us. ”

Soon, in the distant sea, countless white sails appeared, and the Spaniards and Luzon natives on the docks could not help but cheer, knowing that the swag, oh no, the feast of wealth distribution was about to begin.

"The inhabitants of Manila on that day waited on the docks for Governor Lee's trading fleet in a peaceful and friendly manner, and when they saw Lee's convoy approaching the city of Manila, they let out heartfelt and enthusiastic cheers. However, to their great astonishment, General Lee's fleet, the so-called galvanic ships and armed ships that had served as flanks and rearguards after the cargo ships had passed through the strait, suddenly opened fire on the batteries on the peninsula. ”

"The soldiers and officers on the battery suffered heavy casualties when they were caught off guard, and according to later statistics, about 40 percent of the personnel stationed at the battery were injured or killed in the first round of artillery fire."

This is the comment and accusation of Spanish historians about the Manila crossfire.

"Before our commercial trade vessels entered Manila Bay, the Spanish authorities in Luzon intended to carry out a pirate attack on our trade fleet, and for this purpose their batteries were prepared for battle. Moreover, before the discovery of our escort formation, artillery reloading had been carried out, and artillery interception was prepared when our escort formation entered the narrowest part of the strait. At the same time, the Spanish warships and garrisons in Manila have also been mobilized, the soldiers have boarded the ships, the warships have been hoisted and dispatched, respected Spanish colleagues, you tell me, the predecessors of your country, more than 20 ships of all sizes and nearly 2,000 soldiers have been dispatched to meet the rapid advance of our cargo fleet, what is the purpose? Are you here to shout a warm welcome?! ”

This was the response of Chinese scholars at the same international forum.

"My lord, the Spanish batteries are aiming at us! They are moving their cannons! A sentry observed and reported, "Has Blanco's ship entered the harbor?" Is there a stick of incense? Li Xiuxiu looked at the candlestick and said, "Brother Li, a stick of incense has been burned," Li Shouhan stood up violently, "Send a signal rocket, general attack!" ”

While Shouhan ordered the entire ship to open fire, Major Juan was urging the soldiers to reload the ten twenty-four-pounder coastal defense guns and prepare them for fire.

"Lads! If you want to return to Spain and be able to afford a beautiful estate, and get the prettiest women from the nearby villages into your bedroom, teach the yellow-skinned monkeys of the sea a lesson with me! ”

The artillerymen, who were naked, laughed wildly and loudly, which was an answer to him.

"Hey, Lieutenant Colonel José, what are they doing?" Major Juan looked into the distance, José had already found time to run down the battery, and several people who accompanied him went crazy and ran to the hills outside the city, José had seen the range, power and rate of fire of rockets, staying in the Doge's Palace and the battery was suicide, and the safest thing was outside the city. As he ran, José secretly prayed to his Lord that General Lee would not use his terrible artillery fire while I ran to safety. O Lord! Forgive my ignorant cousin! Look at my pious aunt's face.

"Whoosh" a rocket bursts into the sky, explodes, and scatters into beautiful fireworks!

"Major! You! A sergeant reported to him by pointing to puffs of white smoke that suddenly rose from the sea.

Before the words fell, dozens of hot tracks appeared in the eyes of the observation post.

In a short moment, the trajectory turned into a fire dragon with teeth and claws, accompanied by a sharp and piercing sound that almost drove madness, and rushed straight towards the fort!

On the battery, Perez was listening to a panting Blanco report passing by, and the signal rocket caught his attention: "What is this?" ”

Major Juan is much more experienced than him, "The enemy is about to attack, and the batteries are ready!" As soon as the words fell, Juan saw a scene that he could not forget in his next life, in the blink of an eye, more than 3,500 meters away from the fort, hundreds of fire dragons were sprayed from the side of the wind ship in an instant, yes it was a fire dragon, a fire dragon spewing flames with white smoke, there was no roar of cannons and the sharp whistle of cannonballs, and strange screams, the fire dragon basically went straight towards the battery, Juan's instinct that had been trained in the battlefield saved his life, he jumped from the battery into the sea one by one, Perez opened his mouth wide and couldn't close, Dozens of rockets had already hit the battery, inserting it into the ground around it, and then a huge explosion and flames rose into the air, and thick smoke and flames flooded the battery.

José watched from the hills outside the city, and as he expected, only one round of shelling, 30 batteries were blown up by rockets like chickens in barrels, and the remaining batteries began to counterattack, but, only one shot was fired, and the second round of rockets was already overwhelming. There was the explosion of ammunition from the battery, the stumps and flesh of the soldiers were splashed everywhere, and some soldiers screamed and turned into running burning men, but after not running a few steps, they fell to the ground, and the gunpowder of the battery was also detonated, causing a series of explosions, and the huge explosion wave even blew up the 24-pound cannon into the sky. The thick barrel of the cannon was as light as a bamboo dragonfly in the hands of a Chinese child, driven by the air waves.

Zhang Xiaohu stood on the deck with great interest, watching the gunner launch rockets, when he saw a soldier shake the handle, the turret immediately began to rotate towards the target, his face changed, when another sailor shook the handle, the gun carriage began to roughly aim at the target, his eyes were bigger than bells, when the two loaders loaded four rockets in the blink of an eye, he wanted to gouge out his eyes. He calculated that a rocket launcher could fire four to six times in the time it took for the Hongyi cannon to fire a cannon. What is even more terrifying is that the ship was moving at high speed, and the gunner hit the battery on the hill that was almost invisible with only one round of fire. Fifty-five batteries were completely destroyed in the second round of rocket artillery fire, not because the Spaniards were not strong enough, but because Li Shouhan's rockets were so powerful that he never even dreamed of such a terrible weapon, he was already about to spurt blood.

A thought popped into his heart: "Defect to him?" What he did was completely beyond the scope of the rights of a thousand-household general, if in the future, he would ,,,," Zhang Xiaohu laughed. He wants to build a big future for himself, not a small pirate leader.

"Perhaps, I will have such a strong fleet under my command in the future!"

It took less than an hour for the fleet of Hurricanes to completely cut the batteries clean and orderly, just like a naval review and target shooting. Of course, a lot of the credit for this is due to the ammunition that exploded on the batteries, the rockets, which only aroused their enthusiasm.

I don't know if José's prayer was heard by his lord, but his lovely cousin, Don Viscount Perez, did not die, he was swept into the sea by the air waves, and was rescued by Major Juan who was in the sea.

"Our warships! Our warships must drive out these terrible Ming warships! The furious power of the rockets taught Perez a vicious lesson, and he straightened his wig and seaweed on his robe on the Spanish warship that was approaching the merchant fleet, and issued new orders as the Spanish chief in Manila.

The captains on the warship also saw the turrets that had been destroyed one by one, emitting smoke like torches, and couldn't help but feel worried, "Our guns don't seem to have such power......

"Rush forward! Get close to them! What do we Imperial Spanish Navy do best?! It's a gang jumper! Perez drew his command knife.

Several captains and commanders greeted José's pious aunt countless times in their hearts, but they had no choice but to organize their subordinates to prepare for an assault on the powerful enemy.

"Lads! For the honor of the Spanish Empire! Get ready with your muskets, knives and axes! Charge at the evil and mighty enemy! A captain shouted to his men from his warship, though there seemed to be a hint of desperation in his voice.

Seeing a dozen warships and armed merchant ships rushing towards Governor Lee's fleet, Perez couldn't help but let out a long breath, "Praise you!" My Lord! He turned his head and looked at Major Juan beside him with a stern expression, "Major Juan, I now order you to return to Manila City with me and organize the defense of the city!" ”

With a full sail, the Poseidon on which Perez and Major Juan were riding overtook the Ming cargo ships that were still moving slowly on the sea at an unprecedented speed, and returned to the docks of Manila City.

On the wharf, the Spaniards and Luzon natives, who had been happily waiting there to distribute the spoils, had fled without a trace, leaving only the beautiful shoes of the countless ladies discarded on the ground, folding fans, perfumed-sprayed handkerchiefs, and veiled hats.

The seemingly impregnable forts in the distance turned into ruins for homeless people and wild dogs to poop and pee without finding a flat place.

Those warships of the Ming Kingdom like raging dragons, oh my God, are they really demons who escaped from hell?! With a series of screams from the ladies, everyone woke up like a big dream, run! Flee to your own home! Close the door, lock the window, and hide the gold peso in the house.

"Thank God we're alive!" When Perez stepped on the dock with both feet, the first thing that came to his mind was this.

"Oscar! Captain Oscar! ”

Captain Oscar of the infantry ran over when he heard the voice, "Lord Governor, I'm here!" "As I ran, I sorted out my arms belt and saber, which were a little crooked.

"Go! Take your troops and put those! Drive all those Chinese in the eighth company to the dock! Also, aim the cannons at the head of the city at the dock, and prepare to fire the cannons to prevent those Ming navies from landing! ”

"But, Lord Governor, those are ordinary Chinese, not soldiers......"

"Enough! As long as they are from the Ming Kingdom, it is enough! I don't believe that their government forces will open fire on their own people! In fact, the army of the Ming Dynasty, especially the army of this era, treated its own people much more harshly than the enemy. Slowly, it is said that the so-called outcasts of the Ming Empire and traitors were used by the Ming Kingdom to block the offensive of the Ming army, even if the Ming army itself engaged in a mutiny and troubles from time to time.

However, it was Li Shouhan who he met.

The battle on the sea is still going on very strangely.

It is said that the battle is very strange because of the position of the fleets of both sides.

The Spanish warships that passed sideways with Li Shouhan's cargo ship changed the old habit of going up to inspect these ships loaded with valuable goods when they saw them, and rushed in the direction of the strait.

They saw very clearly that the ships of the Ming navy entered Manila Bay through the north strait of Guò, and destroyed the batteries on the peninsula one by one while entering, but the width of the North Strait was only three kilometers, and on the one hand, they had to carry out their terrible artillery bombardment on the batteries, and on the other hand, they had to do their best to pass guò, this is the time to test the level of a country's navy, to put it mildly, the artillery level of the Spanish army was much higher than that of the troops defending Han. Under such circumstances, by using technical equipment to make up for the lack of technical level, Li Shouhan's advantages in rapid aiming and rough shooting of rockets became apparent.

"We must do our best to rush to the exit of the strait, and block the strait when their fleet does not completely pass through the strait, even if it costs a great price, we must annihilate them here!"

This is the oath and determination of the captains.

"After destroying the Ming Navy, these cargo ships full of valuable goods naturally can't escape! At that time, no matter how big our losses are, we can make up for them! ”

However, if the captains knew that there was an amateur commander on the opposite side of the Tempest, I don't know if they would still be able to laugh.

"Anyuan! Dingyuan! You two ships, take the way of crossing the port with two ships, alternately covering! Rush! ”

The Anyuan and the Dingyuan, the two gales at the front of the fleet, aimed their flanks at the Spanish aggressive fleet to the greatest extent, trying to take advantage of their own advantages of fast ships, many guns, and fast guns, and give full play to the advantages of fast launch, large quantity, and accurate shooting of shipborne rocket artillery, so as to defeat the Spanish fleet.

The flotilla approaching the port on the Double S route soon met the Spanish ships.

Unlike other people's blood boiling and heroic sacrifices, Captain Carlos's consciousness is not so high, in his opinion, even if he is a prisoner and loses a battle, he can redeem his freedom and honor with gold coins, but if he loses his precious life because of impulse, it is impossible to exchange any amount of gold coins. Even if you win the battle, you won't be able to enjoy the fruits of the victory. How to survive on the battlefield is the most important thing, this is the credo of the Elder of the Carlos Fritters.

At his behest and suggestion, his sea jackal sailed slowly at the end of the procession.

In his position, he can see the dynamics of the entire battlefield at a glance.

Zhang Xiaohu, the amateur temporary commander of the opposite fleet, oh, this position is a temporary title given to him by Li Shouhan after he swore allegiance to Li Shouhan (this kid who was about the same age as his nephew). "Let's fight first, let me see what you're capable of!" His fangs, like the monstrous nickname "Tiger Shark", were exposed.

"Humph! The last time this wind ship and the fleet bombarded, it was with Lao Tzu, but after three years of feng shui in turns, who would have thought that Lao Tzu would be able to command so many wind ships?! Or do you want to do it with the fleet of the Khromburgers?! He stood on the podium, monocular in hand, and stared at the galloping Spanish fleet. For this trip to Manila, Li Shouhan made great efforts to equip each ship with telescopes for easy observation and command. He swore that when he went back, he would definitely build a glass workshop!

"Rangefinder! How far is the Spanish fleet from my Anyuan and Dingyuan?! ”

"About three thousand steps!" The observer on the mast replied loudly.

Soon, a scene that was staged in front of Zhang Xiaohu not long ago also appeared in front of Carlos.

"What are they going to do?"

Carlos was surprised to find that the two enemy ships in front of him moved quickly to the flanks, making way for the two ships behind. Immediately afterwards, these four ships seemed to slowly adjust their sides under the unified order, forming a situation of facing the enemy on the side side.

Seeing this, the boatswain on the Carlos couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"These yellow-skinned monkeys, what are they going to do? Don't they know that our Spanish Navy likes others to fight with us the most!? ”

Carlos was very sensitive to smell a hint of danger, "Quick! Fast! Drop the sail on the rear mast on both sides! "The two sails fell, as if the car had lowered the gear and loosened the throttle, and the distance between the Sea Jackal and the detachment had been widened for a while.

In other words, the detachment was a little closer to the range of the four ships such as Anyuan and Dingyuan!

"About two thousand four hundred steps!" Once again, the rangefinder reported the distance of the enemy ship.

"Signal! Two ships in a group, An Yuan Dingyuan each led a ship, An Yuan's group, continue to shoot around, Dingyuan's group, carry out cross-shooting! Fight for the sea area for the follow-up ships to rush out of the strait! Be sure to make the warship of the Red Haired Men lose its formation after the first round of shooting! Then, the ships break in and form up to shoot cross-fire! ”

After receiving the order, Chu Dalei, the acting captain of the Dingyuan, sneered, "Which immoral guy gave this order?" In this way, how many more ships will be floating on the sea?! ”

"One shot!"

"The second cannon is good!"

"Three guns are good!" ……

"Seven guns are good!"

All seven rocket launchers have been reloaded.

"Fire!"

Soon, the sea surface was filled with the signature shrill whistling sound of rockets, and the white eyes at the tail crossed the air, forming a white trajectory between the sea and the sky, and in Chu Dalei's eyes, it was the book of life and death written off by the king of Hades and the judges for these Spaniards. This is where the improved version of the shipborne rocket is different.

"Oh my God! What is that?!! Carlos saw the dragons swoop down on the flagship, and after a burst of smoke from the explosion, several columns of smoke rose into the air, accompanied by black smoke and red flames rising from the flagship, and occasionally a faint explosion sound, which was supposed to be the ship's powder magazine detonated by the damn fire.

On the flagship, hundreds of sailors, gunners, seamen, and soldiers jumped into the water to escape. The flagship behind them has become a slowly sinking fireball.

"Oh my God! Oh, my God! Carlos' mouth was wide open enough to shove his own fist in. As a veteran of the Armada, he was familiar with the British Navy's warfare, and the platoon bombardment of the Albion pirates sent countless heroic Spanish soldiers to Poseidon's palace.

However, now, these terrible Orientals on the other side must have used a terrible witchcraft, otherwise, how could our great Spanish Imperial warship, so tall and majestic, burst into flames, burns, and exploded with just a few cannon shots?! If the British want to sink the warships of the Empire, they can't do it without a hundred and ten cannons! And these Orientals sank the powerful warships of the empire with just a few shots. On the Zhenyuan ship, Li Xiuxiu was peeling the skin of the lychee with her dexterous little hands, and the crystal lychees were as beautiful as crystal.

Li Shouhan hated the hot weather, so he had the luxury of installing a water-cooled air conditioner on his flagship, of course, only his bedroom and war room. When the ship is moving, a special waterwheel and windmill will use the wind power and speed to pump seawater into the water tower, and the water pipe will pass into the room to cool down. When Zhang Xiaohu entered this war room for the first time, his eyes were red with envy.

Later, Li Shouhan changed to a new flagship, a water-cooled air-conditioned wind ship, and he was given a dead face to be his command ship.

"Oh, open your mouth." Li Xiuxiu put a lychee into Li Shouhan's mouth, and Li Shouhan was sitting on a chair, happily watching the battle with a telescope.

A galewind made a beautiful figure-eight and skimmed over the side of a Spanish battleship.

"Oh, it's the Columbus!" Carlos screamed.

The USS Columbus seemed lucky, it was too close to the ship.

"Fire!" The gun commander roared, and the impatient gunners waved the feather rope in their hands towards the goose feather tube on the ignition port.

"Tom!" With a dull roar, the bronze cannon on the gun emplacements erupted in a stream of flame, firing twelve-pound shells. Then, the gun body was quickly pushed backwards by the huge recoil, and was stopped by the dense layers of rope nets behind the gun position, several gunners quickly reset the gun, one gunner used a wool brush in his hand, dipped in vegetable oil, cleaned the gun chamber, and several other gunners filled the gun chamber with a nervous and orderly projectile pack, and then stuffed a log board in front of the pill bag to prevent gas leakage. Immediately after that, shells wrapped in cotton cloth were stuffed into the chamber. The 12-pounder bronze cannon and powerful recoil had a great and even fatal impact on the ship. In order to solve this problem, Li Shouhan added a muzzle brake to the muzzle of the bronze cannon, and set up a blocking rope net behind the gun emplacement, so that the ship could easily fire the cannon without being affected.

"Five guns are good!"

"Listen to me! Fire! ”

More than a dozen shells were like Spanish girls, kissing those tall Spanish battleships.

"We'll have to practice how to play this cannon, too. lest all these ships of the Franco-robot be set on fire by us. Acting Captain Chu Dalei had a hint of the stingy expression of a small landlord on the corner of his mouth. Although these ships are not as fast as the Tempest, they are better than none. ”

More than a dozen shells, as hoped, hit the Spanish battleship Columbus. The thick oak planks could not withstand the power of the twelve-pounder bronze cannon, and were pierced by the cannonballs, and the irregular shards of the planks turned into accomplices to the Spanish warriors and sailors, and several sailors were bloodied with shards of wood in their faces and heads, and they tossed and screamed on the deck. The USS Columbus also counterattacked, however, the Tempo's almost 20 knots caused most of the shells to miss, and only three or five shells hit the Tempo.

"Damn it! Why is this happening! Carlos slammed his fist on the rudder, "Why is the enemy's artillery fire so fast!" Such ruthless!? ”

"Captain! The enemy is too close to the Columbus! I just looked at it, and it's less than seven hundred yards! Exactly the best range of artillery fire! Even if the enemy didn't use their terrible artillery, at such a distance, the average cannon would be enough to shatter the deck of a ship! ”

Not to mention, the artillery on the opposite side was not a cast bronze cannon, but a forged bronze cannon. Although the caliber was only twelve pounds, the error of the shells and breeches was as accurate as that of the guns of the Civil War, and the cushioning of wood and the powerful thrust of maroon powder made it far more lethal and destructive than that of an eighteen-pound gun. In order to maximize the role of the existing equipment, Li Shouhan, a guy who calculates more than any rich man, concentrated the use of the 12-pounder bronze cannon forged in advance, in order to achieve the maximum use value.

A shell that deviated from its trajectory swept past the mainmast sail of the USS Columbus. The scorching cannonballs ignited the sails and fused the rigging. As the rigging was disconnected, the sails on the mainmast fell to the ground, and the Columbus began to spin in place on the surface.

"Rear main gun! Fire! Chu Dalei typically took advantage of your illness to kill you, without the slightest chivalrous demeanor, "Don't care about this broken ship, let's continue to move forward and cut off the fleet of the Francophiles!" ”

Throwing the Columbus, which had lost the mainmast, to the follow-up ships, Chu Dalei's Dingyuan and Anyuan and other four wind ships continued to frantically implement the battle plan. In the process of breaking through, bombarding the enemy ships with rockets or shipboard artillery to make the enemy ships lose part of their combat effectiveness, and then hand them over to the friendly ships behind to deal with, while the Vanguard 4 ships continue to look for the next group of victim targets on the sea.

"Captain, what should we do?!" The boatswain, with a slight trembling voice, asked Carlos's opinion, and just now, a galley swept past the armed merchant ship of the Spanish "Golden Sacred Mountain", almost brushing the side of the ship, and the Spanish warriors were excited to prepare for the gang to fight, but the enemy's intensive artillery fire shattered the courage and flesh of the warriors. He could clearly see through his binoculars that a cannonball swept through the bodies of dozens of warriors and sailors almost from the side of the ship, and fell into the sea with countless pieces of flesh and blood and screams, curses and groans of pain.

"What are we going to do?! What are we going to do!? Raise the sails! Get back! Go back and assist the defenders on the Manila Battery and defend the sacred territory of Spain! "Carlos is worthy of being an excellent subordinate of the Governor, who is able to maintain a high degree of consistency with the Governor at critical moments, and has a very clear view of the battlefield situation.

However, after he had fully sailed towards Manila City for some distance, his hands holding up the monocular could not help but tremble again!

"Damn the yellow-skinned monkey! Bummer! Despicable slave traders! He dug out all kinds of swear words that he could find in his mind, and scolded loudly.

A sailor on the mast loudly conveyed the latest enemy situation.

"The enemy fleet has been spotted in front of our ship! Fight in formation! ”

It was the schooner and the ship of fortune that had just passed them.

Behind him, Chu Dalei's Dingyuan chased after him like a mad tiger, and Chu Dalei saw very clearly that in Manila Bay, only this enemy warship had not been hit.

"Sail down! Drop the sails! Raise the white flag! "At the most critical moment, Carlos fully promoted the noble idea that a knight's life is higher than a qiē.

The wind ship almost brushed the tip of Carlos's nose, swept over the side of the jackal of the sea, and the waves splashed on Carlos's military uniform, and he clearly understood the disdainful smiles of the sailors on the fast perverted warship opposite.

The boatswain saw the double gun deck below the ship's side, the dense gun windows, and the odd seven protruding platforms.

"Hopefully, our Manila batteries will protect our Manila City. Our Governor-General, I hope you will be able to protect the citizens of Spain. ”

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