Ninety-four warships were sailing on the sea, and three 180-ton warships that had been sent out not long ago sent a signal that someone was fighting in front of them, and it could be preliminarily estimated that it was the fleet of Hong Shiming, the eldest prince of the Hong family.

"Order the fleet to speed up," Zhang Qiang said to Zhang Liwei, the commander of the Saigon harbor garrison fleet beside him.

Now he already felt that it was really a point for a captain standing next to him, so he appointed Zhang Liwei, the general of the harbor garrison detachment of the Fifth Fleet, who was brought out this time, as the commander of this fleet.

After the fleet accelerated and advanced at a speed of six knots, four hours later, when it got dark, the fleet encountered a lone 180-ton warship of the Fourth Fleet, which, according to the captain's report, had been fighting with the Hong family's fleet for a whole day, losing 28 warships, and the two sides were fighting within a hundred nautical miles, and as many as 600 warships and warships on both sides were scuffling within a hundred nautical miles nearby, and the farthest point had reached a small island in the middle of the sea.

The entire opening of Cam Ranh Bay within a hundred kilometers is the range of the battle above.

This ship and five other warships were ordered to search for the enemy's fleet, and they had forty warships, ten warships, and ten one-hundred-eighty-ton warships behind them, and it was estimated that there were nearly sixty enemy warships and warships nearby, but because of the pursuit of both sides, it was dark and had to send men to search for the enemy.

They searched in this direction, but were raided by two armed merchant ships of the enemy, as a result of which they suffered considerable injuries.

After listening to the report, Zhang Qiang said to Zhang Liwei: "The fleet warships are listed, I command, you set off with the warship troops, search for the enemy, find the enemy and send signal flares, and we will support you." ”

Zhang Liwei immediately went down and got on the dinghy and returned to his original battleship to command the fleet, and the two sides communicated with each other by light signals, and soon he organized the warships of the entire fleet and went out with the warship.

Zhang Qiang said to the captain of the Huaxia beside him: "Contact the battleship, and the battle formation will advance into Cam Ranh Bay." ”

The further forward the sea at night, the more fierce cannon fire could be heard, and the ships passing nearby fired two cannons from time to time, and because the Huaxia naval division had its own unique communication signal, there was no conflict between the fleets of the two sides.

Four hours later, in the second half of the night, the wind began to strengthen at sea, a light rain began to fall, and the surrounding artillery fire became sparse, and the fleet successively beckoned nearly thirty warships and warships to join the fleet, and none of these warships and warships were scarred.

The fleet continued to advance towards Cam Ranh Bay, and in the second half of the night, the fleet fought with a group of enemies on the opposite side, and after the fierce artillery fire, it was not known whether the enemy was hit or not, and the enemy retreated anyway.

The crews of the fleet, who had taken turns resting for two hours at dusk, re-aboarded the deck and looked around to see dead bodies floating on the sea, broken planks, sails, broken masts, and unsunken ships.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the sky was bright, and all the surrounding scenery was revealed, and Xie Hua, the chief soldier of the Fourth Fleet, boarded the Huaxia with a tired face, waiting for Zhang Qiang's anger with his head down.

"How many losses, how many enemies were annihilated, how many of them escaped?" Zhang Qiang put down the teacup in his hand and asked coldly.

Xie Hua's middle-aged man's face was a little sad, and he said in a somewhat excited voice: "Report to Your Majesty, the whole fleet has a total of 480 combat ships, except for the 30 ships guarding the port, the 50 ships of the Qiongdao detachment, and the 20 ships that need to be renovated, with a total strength of 380 ships.

From noon to the evening of yesterday, 130 warships were lost, 27 warships were lost, 33 were seriously wounded, 55 were lightly damaged, and 135 are now intact. ”

He peeked at Zhang Qiang, and then said: "It is estimated that one hundred and forty armed merchant ships, fifty warships, and fifteen warships of the enemy were sunk, and thirty-three warships and five warships were wounded and captured. I have already sent warships to search for a hundred nautical mile range, and it is possible that this number will change, and the enemy has fled in the direction of Qiongdao. It is expected that the enemy still has more than a hundred warships or warships. ”

Zhang Qiang slapped some tables violently, "Didn't I warn you, why are you still so careless?" Okay, the dignified Huaxia sailors were attacked by the enemy, and the enemy's old warships were injured by two hundred, do you think that you are invincible in the world all these years, have you neglected training? Can't even beat some pirate-like enemies?

Yesterday we completely annihilated all the fleets of the second prince of the Hong family, and almost nearly 300 enemy warships and warships were lost, and we suffered only 27 casualties. ”

Xie Hua said eagerly: "Your Majesty, I,"

Zhang Qiang waved his hand, "That's it, from now on, you will be the vice admiral of the detachment, go and clean up, see how many ships can still sail, and give me an accurate report in a while." ”

Two hours later, after breakfast, the ships had been repaired, and Xie Hua re-embarked on the Huaxia 310.

"Your Majesty, I have sent fifty-five damaged ships to escort the seriously wounded ships home, and then they will come out to patrol here, and now I have one hundred and forty-five warships in my fleet capable of fighting."

Zhang Qiang said to him: "Send fifteen warships to join my fleet, and you will lead the remaining one hundred and thirty ships, follow us twenty nautical miles on our flank, and listen to my command."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Vice General Xie Hua left the Huaxia with some loss.

Half an hour later the fleet set sail.

After sailing for half an hour, Zhang Liwei came back with more than 40 warships, they captured 16 enemy warships, battleships, sank three enemy warships, and themselves were sunk by the enemy with a 300-ton warship, and two were damaged.

Zhang Qiang handed over the fleet to him for command, and then the entire fleet of 110 warships and warships re-sailed towards Qiongdao.

At noon, he encountered forty warships and warships of the Third Fleet that came to reinforce from the Trench Gate, and Zhang Qiang incorporated them into his own fleet, and the fleet suddenly became huge.

After Qiong Island, the fleet headed towards Palawan Island, such a huge fleet, it was a waste not to fight the enemy, Zhang Qiang wanted to teach Zheng Zhi, a bastard, a good lesson.

An hour later, Zhang Qiang and the others met the fleet that had come out to look for them Peilan, they had been looking for them at sea for two days, more than seventy warships were dusty, and the crew on the ship was not already bearded.

Zhang Qiang returned the warships of the Fourth Fleet to Xie Hua, and then transferred fifteen warships to him, so that Xie Hua's Fourth Fleet was expanded to one hundred and sixty ships at once.

After that, Zhang Qiang handed over the rest of the fleet to Peilan's command, and he returned with the Huaxia, and now thirty-seven new warships have been regrouped into the fleet.

Perrin commanded the original fleet, one hundred and ten, plus twenty warships and warships brought out from Saigon, the base of the Fifth Fleet, his fleet had reached one hundred and thirty, and his strength was not small.

The three fleets headed towards Palawan.

The next day, thirty nautical miles north of Palawan, nearly a hundred warships and warships sailed from Palawan, which was the fleet of the Great Prince who had fled earlier, Zheng Zhi and his fleet in the distance, and the Spanish fleet on the other side.

There are as many as six hundred, seven hundred of the enemy, maybe they knew about it yesterday, so they are ambushed here.

(End of chapter)