The fiery sun rose from the sea, illuminating the sails of the battleship red. www.biquge.info It was summer, the sea was hot and humid, and early in the morning, the sailors were stripped of their trousers and were busy on board. Only the officers still wore brightly colored uniforms.

Rear Admiral Duque was no exception, he walked to the deck in full armor, and then asked the officer who was on duty: "Did we get rid of that Chinese ship last night?" ”

"No, General. The boat was still there, and she followed us all the time. The officer replied, "In the morning, for a while, we couldn't see her, and I thought we had gotten rid of them, but you see, over there, a few minutes ago, they came again. ”

Major General Duke nodded, reached out and took the telescope José had handed him, then stretched the telescope and looked over there. As the telescope moved, this time he quickly found the Chinese ship, which had launched a rocket into the air.

The rocket flew diagonally into the air, and then exploded with a "bang". A small gray cloud was left in the sky.

Rear Admiral Duke knew that this was what the Chinese ship was trying to do with their fleet. Those and the Chinese every once in a while, will launch a rocket into the sky, and if the Chinese fleet happens to be nearby, they can rely on this to detect the Spanish fleet in advance.

In order to get rid of the ship, last night, taking advantage of the night and wind and waves, the Spanish fleet played a turn, and then for some time did not see the rockets launched by the Chinese, so everyone, including Duke, felt that they should have gotten rid of the ship. However, after daybreak, the boat seemed to be ghostly again.

However, Major General Duke soon discovered that the situation had changed today, because just after the first rocket exploded in the air, a rocket was soon raised from the other direction.

"The enemy's fleet is nearby!" Duke thought, he glanced at the officer on duty and said, "Salvador, shouldn't you raise the alarm immediately?" ”

"Yes, General!" The officer saluted, and then he pulled the rope, and the bell hanging on the mast rang melodiously, and the sailors and soldiers immediately got busy. Some soldiers went up to the deck with flintlock pistols, and some climbed onto the mast. And in the two layers of gun decks below, the gunners also began to quickly take position and prepare for battle.

Rear Admiral Duque walked to the other side, raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of another rocket that had just been raised, and as expected, he saw another boat that was almost identical to the Chinese ship that had been with them for two days. And then a little further back he saw a third such boat, then a fourth, a fifth. And in the bow of the boat at the front, there was another person who was looking at him with a telescope like him.

"Second son, the other side should be the Spanish fleet. You see, those four big guys over there should be the battleships they drove over from Tessie. Kuroshima Renichiro handed the binoculars in his hand to Zheng Du and said.

"It still doesn't seem to be as big as the 'Endeavour'." Zheng Du held the binoculars and observed the situation on the other side, and said, "They mixed the battleships and the cruisers, except for the two cruisers at the beginning, there were two cruisers behind each battleship, forming a column. Why didn't they put the battleships and cruisers in separate formations? It seems to be much more flexible. ”

"Second son, you should ask the major general or Admiral Jack about this question. I am only the captain of a reconnaissance ship and have never commanded naval battles, how can I answer your question? Niichiro Kuroshima replied.

Zheng Du stopped talking, he returned the telescope to Kuroshima Renichiro, then took out a small notebook and began to record the situation of the Spanish fleet on it, after a while, he raised his head and said to Kuroshima Renichiro: "Captain Kuroshima, can you get closer, I want to see it clearly." ”

"Second son, we have seen what we need to see." Kiichiro Kuroshima said, "The major general forbade Childe to do anything unnecessarily risky. ”

"That's good." Zheng Du said, "I have already recorded the situation of the enemy. Let's go back and report the specific news to my brother, and if I don't understand something, I can ask him. ”

Hei Dao knew that Zheng Du was just trying to find an excuse to get on the battleship to participate in this battle, so he said: "Second son, what you recorded can be sent back by other ships, but our ship is responsible for monitoring the enemy, but we can't leave." ”

The "Blue Bird" was faster than the Spanish ships in both downwind and upwind, and as long as it did not take the initiative to rush into the firing range of the Spanish guns, there would be no danger. Hei Dao knew that this was also the reason why Zheng Sen sent Zheng Du to this boat. Obviously, the soldiers were in danger, and Zheng Sen did not want Zheng Du to directly participate in the war.

"Is it okay for me to get on that boat?" Zheng Du said again.

"The young general asked the second son to follow the young general's boat." Kuroshima replied.

……

Zheng Sen's main fleet was actually not far from here, in fact, he had already seen the rockets launched by the reconnaissance fleet at this time, and half an hour later, he received information from the returning fast traffic ship "Fei Lian".

Zheng Sen studied it in the charts, roughly determined the intersection of his fleet and the enemy, and then ordered the fleet to full sail and turn 15 degrees to the west. According to Zheng Sen's calculations, the fleets of the two sides would encounter each other in an hour, and if the course of the two sides did not change significantly, Zheng Sen would have a great chance to seize the upper hand of the Spanish fleet.

……

"The enemy has a boat left." José said to Major General Duque, who was looking down at the charts.

"Hmm." Major General Duke was looking at the charts, and when he heard José's words, he didn't look up, but just snorted to show that he had heard.

Rear Commander Duke continued to work on the charts for a while, then raised his head and said to José, who was standing on the side: "Jose, if you were that old pirate on the Chinese side, how would you command the fleet to intercept us?" ”

"General. I don't know where the Chinese fleet is, so I can't imitate the old pirate. José replied.

"yes, that's a big problem. The enemy knows where we are, doesn't he? "But even if they don't know where the enemy is, I think they must be calculating the situation on our side and then determining the route to gain the upper hand...... So, I have to make a turn every once in a while, so that their expectations of us are bound to be difficult. Alright José, go inform the ships and get ready to turn. ”