This chapter is published on a regular basis, because it is estimated to take a day or two because of the business trip. I'll change it when I get back to that chapter on Monday.

Lieutenant Falco, who was traveling from the "Rock of Cádiz" to the "Bishop of Lima", watched with horror at the column of water that splashed around the boat from time to time, which were shells that fell into the water. He prayed incessantly to God to protect the Tatar shells from falling on his small transport boat.

Another round of shells struck, and more than twenty large and small iron projectiles flew over the sea and fell with the screams of death. The guns were heavily calibrated beforehand, and each gun had a firing meter that was built up from a large amount of live firing data, and even the wind speed was taken into account when formulating the firing meter, so the accuracy of these guns was frighteningly high.

The poor "Bishop of Lima" was again hit in a large area, this time in the vicinity of the stern. Two shells were fired from the gun deck of the stern, one stern gun was hit and scattered, and the army soldiers on the gun deck also suffered heavy casualties, and six or seven people were killed or wounded by shells and wood chips; The jib on the backmast was hit again, and the sail was completely unusable in tatters; The aft veranda was hit a second time, the steering wheel compartment control bar was damaged, and two steering wheelers were injured......

All in all, the "Bishop of Lima" is finished. When Lieutenant Falcao finally landed on the deck of the "Bishop of Lima" after much difficulty, the captain told him. The 500-ton battleship is now immobile and has become a veritable target ship. The boatswain instructed the sailors who were still able to move to lower their survival boats and begin to prepare for abandonment. The gunners had no intention of shooting, and all of them were crowded on the deck, and the dutiful priest was praying for the dying soldiers, and there was an atmosphere of confusion and anxiety everywhere.

Diego Garcia's face was a little pale, and his hands holding the telescope were trembling slightly, I don't know if it was because of the long time holding the telescope or because of the violent mood fluctuations, maybe it was both. Originally, I just wanted to test the firepower of the Tartan battery, but I didn't expect to pay such a high price. The frigate "Bishop of Lima" was badly damaged, no, it was not just a heavy hit. The ship is now completely immobile, and even if the Tatars no longer try to attack her, Diego Garcia will order the ship to be sunk lest she become a trophy of the Tatars and bring shame on the kingdom.

Damn Captain Torres! How the hell did he come to the conclusion that the Tatars had only 18-24 guns? Did he hear it from some babbling drunkard in a bar? This is dereliction of duty! Diego Garcia cursed in his heart, these damned Tatars actually have 32-pounder cannons that are rarely equipped with the kingdom's navy, and they are obviously long-barreled heavy guns! This heartbreaking fact made the fleet commander almost uncontrollable. It looks like it's going to end soon, and we can't afford to lose more ships. Diego Garcia once again summoned an officer to give the order, and the high-spirited action ended in such a hurry, making the Tatars see a big joke, which is really tangled!

Major Carlos watched the scene with mixed feelings, delighted at the deflated son of Diego Garcia, a swineherd, and at the same time shocked by the superior performance of the Tatar artillery. The 32-pounder, 24-pounder, and 18-pounder guns were generally much stronger than the Spanish Navy's active guns in terms of range, and the fact that the shells had such a powerful penetrating momentum after flying over a kilometer distance showed that the enemy's artillery had reached an astonishing figure.

How did they do it? When did the Tatars have such superior artillery? How did the barrel of the gun withstand the high bore pressure generated by the combustion of gunpowder in the explosion chamber with such a long barrel? Major Carlos was not a man of no learning, on the contrary, he spent his youth in Italy and received a good education. He didn't think that the Tatars, who occupied a vast territory from Ukraine to the East, had such a sophisticated artillery, could it be that the Turks had such a sophisticated artillery?

However, this is also difficult to explain, because the Turks simply do not spread to the Tatars such a technique that is ahead of the world. Well, there is only one explanation, that is, the so-called "Tatars" who occupy this land are not real Tatars at all, they must be from a country or region with quite developed skills. So where exactly is this country and region? Could it be the East? It doesn't make sense, the kingdom's fleet passes through the entire world realm, and the skills of those orientals are not as good as the kingdom, is there still a continent or the new world that has not been explored? After thinking about it, Major Carlos simply stopped dwelling on the issue, because he was about to face an even more tangled truth. That is, since the naval guns of these "Tatars" are so good, then their field army guns must be equally excellent, and it will be themselves who will bear the bombardment of these army guns at that time. It's so confusing!

"Boom! Rumble! "The fourth round of artillery shells of the Tatars came so quickly. The crew huddled on the deck of the "Bishop of Lima" to abandon the ship and board the ship was unlucky, and two 18-pound shells made a bloody way through the dense crowd before hitting the deck headfirst, only to run out of momentum. More shells hit the superstructure and the broadside deck, the hard, thick plank at the starboard waterline finally cracked under the ravages of 32-pound shells, and the "Bishop of Lima" began to tilt slightly to the right as the sea rushed in, which added to the confusion among the crew and sailors on deck. Some of them began to fight each other for a chance to escape, and even the officers were unable to stop them. As more and more sea water poured into the bilge, the tendency of the ship to the right became more and more obvious, and many desperate sailors jumped into the sea without hesitation, at least in the sea they did not have to endure the rain of cannonballs falling from the Tatars.

The battleship "Prosecutor Judge" to the north had already pulled out its anchor and hoisted its sails, preparing to withdraw. However, after seeing the tragic situation of the "Bishop of Lima" about to capsize and sink, the captain refused the request of the fleet commander to retreat immediately, but stopped and lowered a large number of life-saving boats to the sea, so that the crew of the "Bishop of Lima" would not die in vain in the icy waters. The heroic actions of the battleship "Prosecutor" saved the lives of dozens of Spanish naval officers, but of course they also put themselves in a dangerous situation.

The 24 guns on the main battery at this time began to turn to bombard the battleship "Prosecutor". In a short period of time, this cutting-edge warship, which has been in the water for only ten years, was hit by more than ten shells, and the crew on the deck was quite killed and wounded. At the critical moment, the god of luck favored them, and the eight 32-pounder cannons on the main battery needed to be cooled down due to the long continuous firing time. Taking advantage of this short gap, the battleship "Prosecutor" quickly turned around and dragged its scarred hull away from the battlefield.

Due to an intelligence error, the six main warships of the Kingdom Navy confronted the Tartan batteries. The ratio of artillery to numbers is 174:32, and in fact, since only one-sided guns can be fired at any one time, the ratio of artillery to numbers is about 2.5:1, and the caliber is not as good as that of the other side, so it is not surprising that such a dismal end was achieved. Diego Garcia quickly relented, and the remaining six capital warships assembled outside the range of the Tatar battery's guns, and then sailed south with a large number of transports and armed merchant ships, leaving only a few small inshore warships on guard and patrol off the Great Fish River.

"That's it?" Seeing from the telescope that only a small section of the mast was still remaining on the surface of the sea at this time, the "Bishop of Lima" slowly sank, and Li Yi, who was so excited that his face was flushed, asked in surprise.

"I guess I didn't run away." Wang Qinian muttered, "I'm afraid they're going south to find a landing site, and this time it's really coming." Looking at the erection of so many transport ships, it is estimated that nearly 2,000 people came. Hehe, 2,000 soldiers is not a big scale in Europe at this time, but in the New World it is a huge force, especially in such a remote and desolate La Plata area, the Spaniards really look up to us, crazy! It's insane! Speaking of the worst, Wang Qinian's face was full of wry smiles.

The latest movements of the Spaniards were immediately transmitted back to the Executive Committee and the War Office. The War Office immediately sent a large number of cavalry along the coastline to try to track the Spanish fleet, but the Spanish fleet turned and disappeared into the sea after sailing along the coast for some time. Peng speculated that the Spaniards had deliberately stayed away from the coast in order to avoid being controlled by the traversers, and that they must have been wandering over the nearby sea, waiting for an opportunity to land.

Based on this judgment, Peng Zhicheng spilled all the cavalry units that had been expanded into three outposts, and expanded the search area in an effort to find the Spaniards as soon as possible. Two days later, Leonid Fedorovich, the first outpost of the cavalry, finally spotted a large number of landing Spanish Army units near Rocha.

The Spaniards, who were on the landing, were in disarray. Artillerymen, cavalrymen, spearmen, musketeers, etc., more than a thousand hedgehogs gathered at this time near the desolate Locha beach, and the people shouted and neighed, and the chaos became a pot of porridge. Of course, the Spaniards were not unguarded, and some cavalry and gauchos were scattered around the perimeter to guard against a surprise attack during the landing, which led to heavy casualties among the troops.