On the battlefield, the situation changes rapidly, one second you may still be a hunter, the next you may become a prey.

Griska lived up to his reputation as a wise man, and after a total rout, who would have thought that he would take him by surprise and use the cover of the night to fight back again!

In my hurry, I didn't have time to scruple more, and shouted, "Set sail at full speed!" Direction due west, get ready for a broadside battle! ”

By the time my orders were delivered to each ship, the enemy fleet had already advanced to a position less than three hundred meters from us! This was fleeting at sea, and when the hull of the ship increased to about a quarter of the speed, I suddenly heard a sound similar to that common in my ears when I was a child, an old man walking through the streets and alleys, holding a black pot of popcorn!

"Bang! Boom! Boom! After a few muffled sounds, a terrible possibility came to my mind, and I shouted, "Get cover!" ”

As soon as the words fell, one of my spirits hid on the back side of the cabin, and the rain of shrapnel had already smashed into our deck! After the crackling sounds, the screams came one after another!

It's a shotgun that the enemy army specializes in suppressing deck personnel! Damn it! Have you already reached 200 meters? After a round of shooting, the opponent's reloading effort, the flagship has accelerated to more than three-quarters, basically the same as the opponent's full speed, so there is no possibility of being caught up again!

When I looked back, our ship No. 4 had already been caught up by the Spaniards, together with the Dutch fleet, which could not understand my orders and had not been able to retreat later when the enemy had not been able to retreat! The opponent's large sail oars and countless rope hooks were thrown from the warships, and they were placed on the sides of these ships!

Under the cover of the shotguns, the dense enemy sailors crawled along the ropes like ants to our ships!

There was no room for hesitation, and I shouted, "Free fire!" Target: Kill the enemy ship! Full assistance to our fleet! ”

As soon as the order was issued, the four warships, including the flagship, began to slowly turn, changing from facing due west to facing due south - this was also a choice made after considering the direction of the wind, in the process, the distance between our ships and the opposing group was again stretched to more than 550 meters, and the enemy's shotguns could no longer reach us, but it was the accurate firing range of our artillery!

Before we started firing, our artillery paused for a while - because in the middle of the night, how to distinguish between friend and foe is the biggest problem! The enemy and our ships have become tangled - this is the usual tactic of the Spaniards, and such a deadly style of play is indeed a real headache!

So when the flagship's first gun began to shoot, it was aimed at the enemy ship that was on the side of the fourth ship, and it was already ready to shoot indiscriminately from friend to foe! Obviously, this is unacceptable, so the gunners consciously or unintentionally raised the high and low scale when correcting the shooting elements, so that it is not easy to accidentally injure their own people in the vicinity, but it also reduces the accuracy in aiming at the enemy.

So the effect of the first round of shooting can only be said to be minimal, the shooters are shocked after seeing the results, it is important to protect friendly forces, but it is more important to defeat the enemy army, so the commanders have kept the high and low back to the normal level!

The second round of shooting was a great success! The two Spanish warships around the fourth ship were like dishes on a plate that had been served with chopsticks*, and suddenly they were mottled and broken! But at the same time, the deck of the fourth ship was also mistakenly hit by two of its own shells! Suddenly, a group of people near the impact point flipped on their backs, causing chaos in the surrounding area!

I couldn't help but feel a tightening in my heart! It is normal for a qualified battlefield commander to die a person, whether it is the enemy or ours. For such a steel-hearted soldier, it's just numbers in front of you, like playing Go - do you feel heartache for losing a few pieces on the chessboard?

Obviously, they won't, but I will! After all, I am not a commander with a systematic training background, and ignoring my own people being strangled by the other side - or being killed by myself by mistake will still cause waves in my heart! Although I was able to suppress this negative emotion, it did not change the reality that I was affected by it.

"Qilan!" Hua Mei's voice sounded in my ears, and I immediately turned my head to look at her and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

She gently grabbed my sleeve with an encouraging smile and said in her clear voice: "My father often said that a soldier is the great thing of the country, the place of death and life, the way of survival, and the life lies in the general. For generals, but with a mission, never give up! ”

I nodded, silent, she let go of my sleeve and continued: "The harm of using soldiers is the greatest hesitation. The disaster of the three armies was born out of suspicion! In history, there are countless examples of losing an order and the army is broken and killed, is it possible that you are as wise as Qilan, and you have to hesitate and repeat the mistakes of these people at the juncture of the war? ”

Hua Mei's words poured down on me like cold water! In the process of fighting with the Tatars and Jurchens before, I was not afraid of life and death, but I begged for a voice, so I could fight and win! Why are you hesitant when you are at sea now?

Thinking of this, I exhaled heavily, grabbed Hua Mei's arms with both hands and squeezed them hard, and said in a deep voice: "Thank you!" Huamei! I understand! ”

After speaking, he gave her a "believe me" look, and ordered: "Order!" Our fleet turns the bow of the ship and heads northeast, keeping full speed! Indiscriminate coverage and shooting enemy fleets while driving! Close the distance with the enemy and get ready for the impact! ”

As soon as the order came out, the people around him were suddenly shocked! At sea in this era, accelerating, shooting, and preparing for the impact towards the enemy fleet means to prepare for the broadside. Both the navigators and the sailors were in high spirits for a while and began to prepare for full battle!

The fleet began to turn around, and after a turning radius of about 200 meters, our four warships had completed their turn, and were moving forward in the northeast direction, charging and shooting at the same time!

When the enemy and us who were fighting in front saw us turn around and kill back, they were naturally surprised in their hearts - the enemy was surprised, and our army was happy! Under the rise and fall, subtle changes suddenly occurred on the battlefield! In particular, the several ships that were directly on the side of the ship, when their morale was hit and they were covered by our firepower with all their might, suddenly had the intention of retreating.

It's just that in this situation, if they retreat, they will only become a live target for our army to pursue and hunt! Therefore, I had no choice but to move forward and get more deeply entangled with our ship! At the same time, I also divided my spirit to prevent the four warships led by me from suddenly attacking the hinterland and threatening the flagship!

For a while, our morale reached its peak, but the enemy began to move slowly towards us! In particular, the death squads on the battleship had to serve the dead, the stormtroopers were eager to show themselves, and the sailors were also fighting desperately for survival, and they actually overwhelmed the enemy troops who climbed on the ship in momentum, and fought equally!

The distance between us and the enemy is rapidly approaching, and the hearts of the enemy are getting tighter and higher! On the sea, the most terrible thing is that the back road is cut off, if we accelerate with all our strength and take advantage of the emptiness of the enemy fleet to force boarding, then these people will lose the space to retreat. Even if you grab the opponent's ship, you will become the prey of the opponent's slow slaughter because of your unskilled operation!

Therefore, most of the Spaniards' energy was attracted to me, and their attention on the frontal battlefield was forcibly distracted!

In white-knuckle warfare, either the east wind overpowers the west wind, or the west wind overpowers the east wind. As soon as the enemy's momentum weakened, the momentum of our army suddenly flourished! In addition, the enemy ships were on fire everywhere, and the people were even more anxious between the smoke and fire, and many enemy troops on the ships were in confusion and began to fight on their own!

What am I doing at this moment? The answer is: I'm observing! In the dark night, I pushed the wolf Gu style to the limit, and went all out to find the goal!

At this moment, a battleship in the middle of the enemy fleet in the rear position continuously emitted several signals such as lights and horns, all of which meant giving an all-out assault order! This is the enemy flagship! I've finally found you! Damn the guys!

I shouted: "The fleet is sailing due east!" The ships gathered fire and sent out a light in the direction of two o'clock to send a message to the enemy ships! Annihilation with all your might! ”

In a few moments, my order was passed to the ships, and nearly five hundred guns on the starboard side of the four battleships began to fire at the enemy flagship that gave the signal! The attack at this time can only be described as a storm! After three rounds of fire, no less than twenty fires ignited on the enemy's flagship, and even the mainmast was broken and smashed on the deck!

"Sink him!" I shouted, "All fire, sink it!" ”

Although the enemy ships began to make all-out efforts to evade, there was nothing to hide under the advance accurately calculated by the skilled shooters - five minutes later, the keel of the enemy flagship was broken by a powerful cannonball, and the wailing hull began to slowly break in two, and little by little the irreversible fate of sinking began!

"Oh!" An earth-shattering roar rang out from our battleship! The enemy flagship was sunk! This is usually considered the end of the battle in naval warfare. But at this time, the two sides have already killed the red eye, except for the three enemy ships in the rear, which have not yet fully entered the state of white-knuckle combat, accelerating to turn around and trying to escape, the sailors of several warships in front have forgotten the victory and defeat, and are still fighting for survival!

Indeed, even if they wanted to stop at this time, they would not be able to convince our arrogant and hateful warriors not to continue attacking them! But without backup, they are doomed to defeat!

At the dawn, the eastern coastline in front of us was burned red, and at the same time, the enemy was gone. After a night of fighting, our sailors were exhausted, so I gave up on pursuing the fleeing enemy and pressed towards several enemy ships that had fallen into the encirclement!

Finally, I don't know which ship the enemy was the first to lay down their weapons, and the enemy troops on several warships began to follow suit, and the "clanging" weapons fell to the ground one after another, and the battle was finally over!

According to the preliminary calculation of the battle situation, our No. 4 ship was heavily damaged, the ship was completely destroyed by the death squad, half of the stormtroopers were killed, 110 sailors were killed, and more than 200 were wounded! The Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses, more than a third of the sailors were killed, and almost everyone was wounded!

Sinking the enemy's flagship, the opposing Admiral Griska was salvaged by the fourth ship and held in solitary confinement. Most of the rest of the flagship's overboard have been shot in the sea! The enemy captured three battleships, two of which were large sail oars, a Venetian battleship, and a frigate, which had no hope of escaping and surrendered voluntarily. More than 700 enemies were annihilated, and several were wounded. Our consumption of ammunition and materials is not counted......

We won this battle, but in the end there is no winner!

I ordered all the ships to set sail and sail to the island where we had stopped to rest, to rest again, and to deal with the prisoners of war.

I stood on the deck, facing the sea breeze and feeling the warmth of the morning sun on my right cheek, and my heart was full of thoughts.

"Qilan, you're doing a great job!" Hua Mei's voice came from behind her again.

I smiled and didn't look back, but shook my hand with my back to her.

Hua Mei came to my side and stood side by side with me, looking ahead with me, her voice was soft, but full of joy: "After last night's battle, you have become more and more mature!" Above the sea, I am invincible, only life and death! I'm so lucky to have seen you grow up with my own eyes! ”

I couldn't help but smile dumbly: "It's better to learn well than to teach, and thank Teacher Li for his teaching!" ”

Hua Mei smiled "poof", but did not speak, but looked at me with burning eyes.

I glanced at her, smiled, and turned my head back to look at the islands looming on the distant shoreline.