The Spaniards could not wait for their Portuguese compatriots to have a fleet, but they could only wait for a strong offensive from the Hongmen.

Without the Wyvern Gang to get in the way, Hongmen no longer has to worry about threats from the enemy on his belly and back, and can safely and boldly drive the fleet closer and aim at Manila Castle with peace of mind.

Of course, at this time, there were not many warships left in the Hongmen fleet, and together with the disabled warships docked in the port of Manila, the Hongmen fleet was full of 26 warships before, and now there are only nine, which shows the fierceness and cruelty of this naval battle.

Therefore, compared with the previous number of Hongmen artillery fire, the artillery advantage of the Hongmen fleet at this time is not so obvious, and the artillery bombardment of Manila Castle is naturally easier for the Spaniards to deal with.

After Lu Jiajie had a contact with Li Tianyang, he returned to his Ming overseas Chinese gang and began to organize manpower to continue to put pressure on the Manila Citadel in the south and build siege facilities.

Perhaps it was the perverse behavior of the Spaniards against the Ming people in Manila Castle over the years, as well as the undeclared war and wanton slaughter of overseas Chinese in the Ming Dynasty, so that the Ming people suddenly vented their dissatisfaction and resentment against the Spanish colonists over the years, and even if they sacrificed countless people, they could not dispel everyone's fighting spirit for attacking Manila Castle.

This is a good thing for Li Tianyang and them, as we all know how difficult it is to get a group of people who have not experienced real military training to attack a city in an organized manner, regardless of injury and death.

The peasant riot team can have a team of supervisors and threaten everyone with death, but if a team like Lu Jiajie and others who organized themselves spontaneously set up a team of supervisors, I am afraid that it will not be long before the hearts of this team will be dispersed.

Of course, the more help of the Daming overseas Chinese team to the Hongmen team comes from the fact that they can give full play to their numerical advantages, use local materials, and help Hongmen make many siege tools: ramming corners, climbing ladders, etc.

In fact, the Spaniards also suffered, most of their real army went to sea to fight a decisive battle with the Hongmen fleet, and now there are only more than 500 regular troops stationed in the castle, and the rest of the men are all sailors and servants who have not undergone formal training, and the aborigines and the like, which is actually greatly reduced in combat effectiveness.

The only advantage is that the stone castle designed by the Spaniards according to Western architecture is as strong and tenacious as a turtle's shell.

The siege operation kicked off on the fourth day after the repair, and a series of shelling and bombardment fell from the sky, and the Manila Citadel was blown up with black smoke and miasma, although I don't know the actual casualties inside, but from the shouting of the heavens and the earth, Li Tianyang was still very satisfied with the bombing.

The bombardment was followed by a tentative siege, in which groups of laborers with leather and wooden shields were slowly pushed towards the walls of the Manila Castle with makeshift and crudely looking siege ladders and ramming horns.

The Spaniards were not going to sit idly by, and although the artillery that emerged in their castles was a key target in the early days, there were still many artillery pieces that could be used.

Artillery is not only a weapon for attacking the city, but also a weapon for defending the city, compared to Hongmen relying on the artillery fire carried on the battleship as the main force of attack, virtually because of the distance and other relations, the artillery fire is very serious, and the Spanish artillery on the city wall, in the condescending operation and use, but the power of the artillery is brought into full play.

The people of the Ming Dynasty, who were used as laborers to push the siege equipment forward, were blown up in the artillery fire, and they were overturned on their backs, and they were suddenly crushed.

There is no way, Duowu, who has not undergone formal military training, has so many defects, and it is very difficult for them to make great achievements, and in the end, Hongmen himself has to go into battle.

Finally pushing the engineering equipment to the edge of the city wall, the Spaniards took the first step to dump a jar of fire oil from the wall, and then dropped a torch, and suddenly a raging fire caused several siege equipment to fall into flames.

The first time he tried to attack the city and retreated in a hurry, it could be seen that the Spaniards had to resist extremely fiercely, which made Li Tianyang feel very embarrassed.

To tell the truth, even if Li Tianyang wanted to defeat the Spaniards, he still didn't want to cut off trade with Westerners, at this time, most of Hongmen's economic sources were ocean-going trade, and if there were no Westerners as transit merchants, Hongmen would have almost half of the trade channels.

Li Tianyang did not intend to eradicate the Spaniards at first, he hoped that while destroying the living forces of the Spaniards, he could force the Spaniards to surrender voluntarily, so that he could negotiate with the Spaniards and use the Spanish captives as a bargaining chip to force Spain to continue to open up the trade with Hong En.

Don't forget, Hongmen has been able to cross the vast Pacific Ocean to trade in the port area of Acapulco, where there are not only abundant gold and silver resources, but also rubber resources that Hongmen needs.

Moreover, if Li Tianyang really dealt a dead hand to the Spaniards and retaliated against the Spaniards in Manila without any scruples, then with the inherent hostility of Westerners to non-Caucasian people and non-Christians, I am afraid that even the Dutch, British, and Portuguese, who maintained good trade relations with Hongmen, would have a hostile attitude towards Hongmen, and might even unite and become more and more powerful in the common hostility.

Therefore, whether it is for the sake of future development or from his own interests, until now, Li Tianyang and their offensive against the Spaniards have always been reserved.

It's different now, the two sides can still have reservations before, but in the life-and-death season, in the end, they can only fight hard, and Hongmen wants to preserve their strength and waterproof the Spaniards, which is a little unrealistic.

"Artillery bombardment, two hours!"

Li Tianyang is not a person who does not know the so-called, as the leader of Hongmen, even if he has other long-term intentions, but in the end he will still stand in the perspective of Hongmen and try to avoid too many sacrifices of Hongmen soldiers.

"Understood!"

The next two hours will be the most difficult for the Spaniards.

The supply ships of Hongmen, which were delayed by the storm at sea, gave Hongmen the supply that gave Li Tianyang the confidence to give the order to bombard and lose for an hour, and in the case of less solid artillery, Hongmen was able to concentrate more shells and continue to attack and bomb Manila Castle.

Two hours later, the bombardment turned the solid Manila castle into a pockmarked face, with shells everywhere bombarding out potholes, heavy gates turning into sieves, and holes everywhere.

(End of chapter)