The decision to abandon ship was undoubtedly the right one, as the Sid had largely lost power, and the broken bow mast had dragged the ship through a series of cables, making the ship more and more immobile. At the same time www.biquge.info the fire on the ship was already a little out of control, and the batteries on both sides were still firing, so continuing to try to save the "Sid" would only lead to unnecessary casualties.

After Rodriguez gave the order to abandon ship, the sailors jumped into the water with their barrels, planks, and other things.

Seeing that the sailors of the "Sid" had begun to abandon ship, the battery shifted its fire to the "Santiago", which was following it. In previous engagements, the Santiago had already hit three shells, but one hit the upper deck, breaking several cables, but it didn't do much damage. The other two, one of which went into the kitchen, caused a small fire, but it was quickly extinguished, except that the "Santiago" lost its head chef; Another shot hit the gun compartment, wrecked a cannon and killed five gunners. In general, however, the San Diego suffered limited losses.

Seeing that the "Sid" began to abandon ship, the "San Diego" also wanted to slow down to save the crew of the "Sid". But just then, another shell hit her, and this shell hit the waterline of the "San Diego". An opening was opened close to the surface of the sea, and the waves immediately crashed in.

The damage caused by this cannon was actually not large, and the small opening near the waterline was quickly blocked by the sailors. But this cannon, along with the few other near-misses, gave the San Diego a warning: if they slowed down, they would have the same results as the Sid.

As a result, the "San Diego" could no longer care about rescuing the "Sid" or dealing with the "Fly Tiger", and she kept speeding up, turning, dodging shells, and trying to escape from the battery's fire range as soon as possible. In the process, the battery hit her four more times in a row, killing and wounding more than 20 people. and caused two fires. Fortunately, the fire was quickly contained.

The "San Diego" fled from the fire range of the battery in a panic, left behind the sampans that were still waiting for her to come to the rescue, ran directly out of the fire circle of the battery, and then shot the "Fly Tiger" with artillery fire at a ridiculously long distance, which could be regarded as a little moral support for those sampans.

Soon, the other two cruisers, which had gone up to the sampans on the other side of the fairway, escaped with scars. The three warships waited outside the harbor for some time, picked up some of the sailors on the sampan that had escaped by chance, and sailed away.

"I really didn't expect the Spaniards to have such a hand." Yang Chaodong stood at the top of the central fort, looking down at the waterways on both sides, and smiled bitterly at Chen Guang, "Mr. Chen can relax now." ”

Yang Chaodong is now the chief official of Zhenyuan Port, and many specific affairs, especially the exchange of materials, money and grain, are handled by Chen Guangzai. Now that the port is blocked, Chen Guang really has nothing to do in a short period of time.

When Chen Guang heard this, he also smiled bitterly and said, "These Spaniards have really invested a lot of money this time. More than twenty ships, even old ones, sank in one go, it was really ...... Does Lord Yang have a way to dredge the waterway? ”

"We'll have to send someone down to see what is going on, and then there's something we can do now—but this time we managed to kill one of their boats and catch more than two hundred Spanish sailors. In addition, the three ships that the Spaniards ran away were also injured, at least for a short time, their fleet will lose three cruisers......," Yang Chaodong said.

……

"We have received news that the Zheng family has completed the assembly of the fleet, and may be heading south soon." An officer is reporting to Governor Franco. Beigang was also an important trading port, and although the Zheng family's trade with Spain was interrupted, trade with the Dutch and Portuguese was not, so the Spaniards could still rely on buying Dutch and Portuguese merchants to obtain some relevant information.

"Rear Admiral Duke, I wonder if our fleet is now ready to defeat the Zheng family's fleet." Franco asked Rear Admiral Duke.

"The fleet was prepared, but in the last raid on Zhenyuan Harbor, we lost one cruiser, and the other three cruisers were also damaged to varying degrees. This loss exceeded our advance estimates. Four frigates are also very important for our fleet, so ......," Duke said after a pause, "the question now is whether we can repair the damaged warships before the Chinese fleet goes south." ”

"How long will it take for these warships to be repaired?" Franco asked.

"Your Excellency the Governor, all three ships are badly damaged. With the strength of our shipyard, it will take at least a month and a half to fully repair. An official replied.

Franco looked at Duke.

"No, it's too slow." Duke frowned and said, "Maybe the Zheng family's fleet has already set off. We don't have that long. If only the three warships are required to return to a basically combat-ready condition, how long will it take? ”

"General, even so, it will take at least half a month." The officer replied.

"No, I'll only give you three days at most." "In three days, the fleet will depart. You must make basic repairs within three days to restore the ability of these three ships to sail, and as for the rest, you can bring the materials and personnel to the warship and slowly repair it during the voyage. ”

"Why is there such a hurry?" Franco asked.

"Your Excellency the Governor, although our previous attack on Zhenyuan Harbor has suffered more losses than we expected, it is still a victory from a strategic point of view. If Zhenyuan Port can still be used normally, the Chinese fleet can be replenished and repaired in Zhenyuan Port, and when a typhoon arrives, take shelter in Zhenyuan Port. In this way, their ability to fight near Manila will be much enhanced. But now that Zhenyuan Harbor has been lost, the ability of their fleet to move will be greatly affected.

Your Excellency the Governor, if the Chinese want to win the war, they must transport a large number of troops to land in Manila. The Chinese strongholds in Manila may be able to provide some food supplies, but a large amount of supplies, including food supplies, may still depend on sea transportation. In this way, the safety of this sea route from Taiwan to Manila will determine the outcome of the war. For the Chinese, the best situation is that their fleet can block us in the harbor. Although the fort in Manila is strong - the Chinese in Zhenyuan Harbor have proved how vulnerable warships are in front of the batteries - but since we can block Zhenyuan Harbor with sunken ships, the Chinese can also use sunken ships to block Manila. Therefore, the fleet must remain in a state of being able to go to sea at any time, and once the Chinese fleet is discovered, our fleet must be able to go to sea immediately.

Besides, if they do bring a large group of ships to clog the harbor, they will surely do the same thing as we do, and they will only do this with those old ships, and they will not have enough sailors for these ships. As a result, these ships become vulnerable during their voyage at sea. Once they are attacked by arson bombs, it is difficult for them to control the fire because there are not enough people. As soon as we know of their departure, the fleet must immediately set out to intercept their harbor-blocking fleet, or their troop-carrying fleet. The faster our fleet sets out after receiving the news, the higher the chances of finding them at sea as soon as possible, so that we have a better chance of completely destroying them at sea.

But the size of the Chinese fleet is not small, and the number of warships is not less than ours. Although the level of their warships, as well as the level of training of their soldiers, is certainly not comparable to ours, but it cannot be underestimated. After all, in addition to this fleet, they also have a large Junk fleet, and if we lose too much in a battle with them, it will be difficult for us to effectively intercept their Junk fleet. In addition, our opponent is not only one Chinese, and if we lose too much, God knows what those Dutch rebels will do? For that, I need more ships that can be put into battle. ”

Although in this era, the Lancaster equation has not yet been summarized, but some empirical things can still be felt by the commanders at that time. They also know from experience that the change in the exchange ratio brought about by the comparison of forces is not a direct addition or subtraction. They know that in battle, the exchange is always in favor of the side with more numbers, and the greater the difference in numbers, the more pronounced this tendency tends to become. This is like a one-on-one white-knuckle fight when the martial arts of the two sides are similar, and there is a high possibility that both sides will lose; But if it becomes a two-on-one, the side with more people has a good chance of eliminating the opponent with a smaller loss. If it becomes one out of ten, then under normal circumstances, the side with more people has a very high chance of eliminating the opponent without injury. Therefore, in the battle of the main fleets of both sides, the significance of a few more ships is very great.

……

The huge fleet sailed out of the North Harbor in turn, with the fleet's flagship Endeavour at the front, followed by her sister ship Brave, followed by eight frigates.

"We first went to Penghu, where we met with the armed whaling fleet and the transport fleet, and then we headed for Manila." Old Jack stood on the bow of the ship and ordered.