Rewind the clock to New Year's Day in 1637. While the 2nd Escort Squadron was struggling to navigate the warm waters of Cape Verde, more than 200 residents were watching in panic at a sailing fleet of unknown origin on the sea in the rainy and snowy Falklands Baleen Whale Harbour (formerly Sullivan's Sheltered Bay).

Li Yi, the captain of the "East Coast Eagle," who was moored in the harbor and preparing to load construction materials, also had a solemn face. Since the Republic of China on the east coast of China officially declared the Falklands as territory and built a baleen whale harbor on the basis of the former secret naval supply point in Sullivan's Sheltered Bay, although there are often some whaling ships, fishing boats, or merchant ships from various countries passing through the Strait of Magellan to come to the port to escape the bad weather or supplies, this is the first time that four warships have come to the port at a time.

"It's not good." Li Yi held up a 20x military telescope produced by the Henan Glass Factory and said to Second Lieutenant Huang Yang, the acting captain of the "Galician Exocet" next to him.

Huang Yang also held a telescope and looked at it: "All of them are small warships or armed merchant ships of three or four hundred tons, generally equipped with 16-22 guns, and most of the guns seem to be small and medium-caliber, the largest I estimate will not exceed 18 pounds, and the number is very small." ”

Li Yi thought about it, at this time, if he broke through with the "East Coast Eagle", he would probably not be able to break through. Baleen Whale Harbour is built in an estuary in Sullivan's Sheltered Bay, which is perfectly sheltered from the wind, but it can be time-consuming to get in and out of the port. Now that a fleet on the sea is obviously not good at stubble, it is blocked there, and if you slowly leave the port there, you will probably be bombarded by someone else's artillery.

Therefore, Li Yi and Huang Yang quickly reached an agreement and resolutely did not go out as a turtle with a shrunken head. Consume first. Let's see what these guys want to do. Maybe they're just here to escape the storm.

The purpose of the gang soon became clear. I saw that many small boats were laid down on the four battleships. The sailors in these dinghies wore oilcloth raincoats and carried tools to measure the depth of the water on the surface.

"Sir, these men want to land, and Sergeant Matthias asked me if I want to open fire?" A panting Charrua man ran over and asked.

Huang Yang also looked at Li Yi. Li Yi was a lieutenant in the navy, the highest-ranking military officer in the area, and he was also appointed by the Admiralty as the temporary Falklands garrison officer (in charge of transporting supplies to South Africa), and the only order to open the cannon was for him.

"Shoot warning first, and if the opponent still does not retreat or return fire, let all the shore defense guns fire at the same time." Li Yi ordered without hesitation.

The battery of Baleen Whale Harbor was built on the right side of the riverbank. There were two 18-pounder cannons, four 12-pounder cannons and four 8-pounder cannons. There were more than 30 gunners, all of whom were local residents, and they also trained regularly. Although the level is not as good as that of the naval gunners, it is not much worse, and there is no problem at all in operating a fixed shore defense battery.

The city of Baleen Whale Harbor is a small castle with a circumference of more than 400 meters, and two cannons are placed in each direction of the city. At this time, all the male inhabitants of the city were mobilized, and even some of the strong women were assigned tasks, and they were also to fight if necessary. There is no way, the population of Baleen Whale Harbor is too small, so we can only try to give full play to everyone's strength.

The Spanish and British pirates who had been exiled here after their captives had already returned to Vostochny in their naval uniforms. However, the Chaluya gunners who replaced them were not idle. Feeding a large number of live ammunition, they showed great strength, and a small 8-pound iron ball flew out of the muzzle. It fell more than 100 meters in front of the enemy ship.

It was a clear warning shot too. But these unknown enemies were apparently unmoved, and the sailors who were measuring the depth of the water in their transport boats ignored them and continued their measurements, but it was evident that their movements had increased significantly.

The four enemy warships on the sea also moved, forming a horizontal line, leveling the sides of the ships with the harbor batteries, and then sailing from east to west.

"Boom! Rumble! "The first enemy warship that passed by the front of the battery fired a salvo from twelve guns on the side of the battery. Dense shells crossed the sleet-filled sky, and most of them landed on the sea and river, and only a few fell in the mud near the fort. The muddy ground absorbed the remaining kinetic energy of the shells well, and the shells came to rest after a few jumps on the ground.

The enemy made such a move, and the battery was naturally no longer polite, and Matthias, a German man from Pomerania, immediately gave the order to shoot.

The gunners quickly stuffed the cartridges into the barrels, then stuffed the rusty iron bullets into them, and then rammed them with sticks. After carefully observing the positions of some enemy ships, the gunners adjusted the angles of the guns and fired.

The enemy ships were fired in turns, that is, four warships lined up and fired one after the other. The battleship in front of it finished firing and drove away, and the battleship behind came up and opened fire to maintain continuous fire to suppress the battery.

But their efforts are not destined to have much effect. The ten guns on the fort outside Baleen Whale Harbor are all half-buried semi-enclosed batteries, with only a small firing window exposed, and all of them are surrounded by thick brick walls. Moreover, the position of each gun is carefully involved to form crossfire with each other to ensure that there are no blind spots for shooting.

Therefore, after the two sides exchanged fire for more than half an hour, the 10 shore artillery bunkers were not injured by a single hair, but several enemy warships on the sea really suffered more than 20 shells, and although there were no casualties, their morale was completely low.

Two 12-pounder howitzers at the head of Baleen Whale Harbor also began firing at the surface, targeting enemy transport boats that were measuring the depth of the water. However, at such a long distance and such a large range, it is really hellish to be able to hit those transport boats, and all they do is to add a little psychological pressure to the enemy.

The "East Coast Eagle" and the "Galician Exocet" were moored near the pier in Hanoi and did not take part in the battle. And because of the terrain, the artillery of the enemy warships on the sea could not shoot at the dock. At this point in the battle, both sides understood that the navy alone could not solve the battle, and it was up to the army to decide the victory or defeat.

The battle ended temporarily in the afternoon. The sleet is also getting heavier, and in this part of the Falklands, it rains or snows 265 out of 365 days a year, and there are five or six westerly winds all year round. Fighting in this environment is a test for both sides.

The next day, perhaps after the assault had measured the depth of the water last night, early in the morning the four enemy ships on the sea began to fire at close range under the heavy fire of the batteries. At the same time, a large number of dinghys were laid down on board, and the dinghys were loaded with sailors equipped with a variety of weapons. Even in the midst of this bad weather, the sailors were still wearing only a tattered linen shirt. Having nothing, they drank hard liquor and cursed their enemies on the shore in vulgar English slang.

The artillery at the head of the city was finally in full swing at this point. The gunners estimated the time and distance, cut off the fuses of the bombs, and then stuffed them into the barrels, only to hear a "boom", and the fluttering explosive bombs exploded in the air above the landing ships. Iron nails and broken pieces of iron in the center of the bullet casings scattered in all directions, and some of the unlucky Britons were instantly injured.

A dozen small boats were dropped on the four British warships, carrying about 100 sailors ashore. The sailors, under the command of the officers, formed a relatively dense formation and attacked the flanks of the shore defense batteries that were firing fiercely at the warships.

At this time, the "East Shore Eagle" and the "Galician Exocet" anchored in the docks of the river harbor finally opened fire, and a dozen guns on their two ships in the firing angle launched a fierce shelling of these poor English sailors on the shore. Dense grapeshot bombs and explosive bombs fired straight at them at a distance of two or three hundred meters, plowing a bloody path in their formation. At the same time, the two 12-pounder steel cannons at the head of the city were still firing, and some musketeers were also firing at the English sailors a hundred meters away with their flintlock rifles.

The English had only landed for about ten minutes, and the more than 100 sailors quickly collapsed. Thirty or forty corpses were left in the open triangle between the walls, the docks, and the forts, as well as a large number of wounded lying on the ground wailing.

"The battle is over." Li Yi threw the telescope to Huang Yang, and then said: "It is already a luxury to have two hundred combatants on four small British warships, and I am afraid that less than half of the more than 100 people who went ashore just now can go back by standing." Combined with the losses caused by the current bombardment with the fort, they confessed at least seventy or eighty people here yesterday and today. They are not stupid, although the place of Baleen Whale Harbor is not a hard bone, but it is obviously not something they can take with small arms and legs. Look, it's so bad outside, maybe tomorrow we'll be evacuated. There are many places to make a fortune, so why bother spending it with us here. ”

"Hehe, yes." Huang Yang echoed, "However, the defense of Baleen Whale Harbor still needs to be strengthened, and the manpower is too small. If the British's ships come more next time, they will be captured if they can't keep it. ”

"Don't think about it so much." Li Yi said, "At present, it seems that Baleen Whale Harbor is not the focus of the British attack at all, and their target is probably still on the mainland." The Second Escort Detachment has not yet returned, and now there are only two warships that can be used in battle, the '10 August' and the 'Beagle', and there are so many sea areas to be protected, that they are really too busy. ”

As the two expected, the British, seeing that there was no advantage to take advantage of, dragged four small warships out of Baleen Whale Harbor that afternoon with their broken bodies and into the vast South Atlantic. (To be continued......)