The rumbling of cannon resounded throughout the sea.

Rewind time to more than ten days ago. Off the Valdivia River, the Spanish-flagged Yunsheng No. 1 suddenly opened fire on an approaching Spanish ship, and the Spanish crew on the deck waving their hands and cheering suddenly lay down under the bombardment of grapeshot. On the other side, the "Galician Exocet" also opened the cannon door, and the cannonballs fell on the bow of the poor Spanish ship, causing many wounds, large and small.

Ten minutes later, the Spanish battleship "Red Trout", with a full load displacement of 400 tons, slowly raised the white flag. When Julien de Eblore climbed onto the deck of the ship with a group of sailors, he was shocked by what he saw. The deck was filled with fallen sailors and crews, many dead, but still many of the wounded wailing. The deceased are usually killed by one or more tiny ovoid projectiles piercing the body, which is a masterpiece of grapeshot. Baptized by grapeshot firing from large-caliber naval guns at close range and without shelter, Julien could only say that God had abandoned these poor Spaniards at this moment.

"British? French? Or the Dutch? Falkao, the captain of the "Red Trout" who surrendered, looked coldly at Yu Lian, who was on board, and asked.

Julien did not answer him, and his sailors were not interested in listening to the old Spanish man's nonsense, so they tied up all the surviving Spaniards and sent them to Yunsheng No. 1 to be imprisoned, so that the commanders could interrogate the prisoners of war at any time.

"You have violated morality and the laws of war by raising the flag of the Kingdom of Spain! You should be ashamed! Shameless Frenchmen! "The old Spanish man was still chattering when he was taken away from the ship.

"The victor is not condemned!" Yu Lian suddenly replied to a sentence that was often on his lips, and even he was stunned after finishing speaking, and then slowly shook his head.

The battleship "Red Trout" was well maintained, and although it was beaten by nearly 20 guns of the two battleships of Xiao Bailang's fleet at close range, it was mainly due to the loss of personnel, and the damage to the hull was not very large. Yu Lian ordered people to return to the "Galician Exocet" to get tools and spare materials from Chiloe Island, and began a simple refurbishment of the battleship.

……

"All right, Venerable Captain Falco. I'm sorry we invited you to my ship in such a not-so-harmonious way, but in fact we need to know some updates on your fleet stationed in Callao, and I think you can give us a satisfactory answer, don't you? Xiao Bailang looked at the Spanish captain in front of him who was tied into a dumpling and pressed on his seat, and after speaking, he gestured with his eyes to Father Pedro, who was urgently recalled from the land, to translate.

Father Pedro, a linguistic genius, cleared his throat and stumbled across into Spanish. After the translation, there was no movement for a long time, only to find that this guy was staring at the bulkhead of the ship and staring hard, and was still muttering: "It's incredible, it's a ship made of iron!" Incredible! The devil, the devil for sure! Lord Almighty, please redeem my soul. ”

Father Pedro pursed his lips, stepped forward and kicked Captain Falcao very doggedly, and then repeated Xiao Bailang's question again.

Captain Falco, who came to his senses, spat angrily at Father Pedro, looked at Father Pedro's clerical uniform, and said contemptuously: "The Lord will not forgive you for your sins, and you have taken refuge in the shameless rebellion of the infidels!" You have violated morality, failed to abide by the laws of war prevailing in various countries, and relied on despicable and shameless tricks to achieve a trivial victory! Tell you, Tatars, I, Falcao from Valladolid, refuse to answer any of your questions! ”

Father Pedro translated his words, and Xiao Bailang laughed angrily when he heard this, and he instructed to the left and right: "All right, children, take this honorable captain down to warm up, I hope this will help him to correctly understand the situation he is facing at the moment." Be careful, don't break it. ”

Twenty minutes later, Captain Falco, with a blue nose and swollen face, was dragged back again by several able-bodied sailors. Xiao Bailang looked at the Spaniard lying on the ground, pacing slowly, and did not speak, and the military boots made of cowhide fell on the floor with a tuk tuk sound. After a while, Wang Tiezhu, the captain of Yunsheng No. 1, walked in from outside the cabin with a few pieces of paper full of words. He had just conducted a surprise interrogation of some captured Spanish sailors and a handful of junior officers, and that was what he had learned from the interrogation.

"So, Mr. Adrien Falcao from the Peruvian fleet, are you a little sober now?" After reading the interrogation report, Xiao Bailang suddenly asked, "Tell me, has the main force of Callao's fleet set off?" When did you depart? How many battleships are there? ”

Adrian Falcao didn't speak, but kept saying something in his mouth, as if he was praying to God Lu.

Xiao Bailang was a little angry for a while, and then he slowly smiled and said, "Mr. Falco, you are a pious person of God, maybe you don't care so much about your own life. For God's sake, then, save your faithful and poor subordinates, for in ten minutes I will order their execution in turn. They have become our captives because of your foolish judgment, and now they will die, unless I order their pardon. Do you understand? Strong Mr. Captain, think about it. ”

"You're the devil!" Captain Falcao muttered under his breath, "Everything you do is an act of the devil......"

"Is it like what you did to the miserable Indians?" Xiao Bailang sneered, "I'm about to lose my patience, Mr. Falco. Your young lieutenant, Felipe Falcao from Valladolid, is about to be hanged, pray for your nephew, poor man! ”

“…… My 'Red Trout' is here to make a front stop, and the main force of the fleet anchored in Callao has not yet departed. Adrien Falcao confided with difficulty, his expression looking extremely painful and complicated, "The scheduled departure date is July 10th, because the fighting in the Río Plata area has taken up too many resources, and the material preparation for the fleet's departure is not very complete, but the Governor has stipulated that the departure must be made no later than July 10th. This time, a total of eight warships will go south, and the flagship will be the San Lorenzo, which has a displacement of 1,250 tons and more than 60 cannons. Baron Nunez would be the commander of the fleet, which would be supplied with Valparaiso and Compcecion as its main supply ports when it moved south, and General Santiago would traditionally send part of his army to accompany the battle. ”

"How come there are only eight warships? So little? Xiao Bailang frowned and asked.

"Wait a little more than a month for the Gaiaanes fleet to reach Cartagena, and then they will sail north to Porto Bello. The governor of Gutiérrez had to keep enough warships on hand to escort the fleet to Panama City, trading with galleon cargo transported overland from Puerto de Bello. The waters around here are not very peaceful, and pirate ships from the English, Dutch and even French are often used to rob them. A trade fleet without a warship escort was dangerous, and the Governor did not dare to take this risk. Adrian Falcao explained.

That's right. But the Spaniards really looked up to us, and I was flattered that they had sent half of the remaining ships of Callao against us. Xiao Bailang got the answer he wanted, and said lightly: "Father Pedro, tell this captain, Mr. Captain, that he and his crew are now pardoned for capital crimes. They will be imprisoned by us until the day the war ends, and we will not mind giving them freedom at that time if anyone is willing to pay a ransom for them. Alright, let's take them to the bilge and lock them up. Stay tuned, don't do anything to me! ”

After the interrogation was completed, Xiao Bailang sent someone ashore on a traffic boat to inform the landing personnel to carry all kinds of materials they had grabbed onto the "Galician Flying Fish" as soon as possible, and at the same time discussed the next itinerary with Wang Tiezhu in a low voice.

"I think it's better to withdraw as soon as possible. Now many Spanish towns along the coast know that we are coming, and I guess it will be more and more difficult to go ashore to rob in the future, and it will be of little interest for us to stay here. Now, I say, we might as well turn around and rush to that part of Chiloe Island, hand over some of the weapons we have captured to the Araucans, and help them gain as much advantage as possible before the arrival of the main Spanish counterinsurgency, and cause as much trouble as possible for the Spaniards. Wang Tiehammer smashed his mouth and said cautiously.

"Well, you have a point." Xiao Bailang agreed, "The further north you go from here, the more powerful the Spaniards will be, and the more dangerous it will be for us. I think it's better to take it when it is good, turn around and head south, and slip away before the main fleet of the Spaniards arrives. As for what to do next, to be honest, I don't have a clue, so let's take it one step at a time. The key to ending this war depends on how well it is fought on land. I have to admit that no matter how much trouble we make here, it is not the main battlefield. Only when the Army wins a decisive victory can this war be stopped. ”