When the Guam was sunk, the decks of the battleships Pelayo and Carlos V had already been bombarded into a spectacular sea of fire by the main guns of the First Squadron of the Huaxia Army.

The total displacement tonnage of three battleships and five cruisers of the first squadron of the Huaxia Army is 47,687 tons, and the total displacement of two battleships and four armored cruisers of the Luzon fleet is 46,490 tons, and the tonnage is almost identical.

Because Hu Zhen used time-traveling technology to command, the accuracy of the Huaxia Army's artillery bombardment far exceeded that of any navy in this era, but although the two Spanish battleships were hit by dozens of bullets, their solid armor firmly protected every vital part and was not penetrated by the shells given to the Huaxia Army.

"This Spanish warship is really thick-skinned and rough-skinned!" Hu Zhen saw that the opponent's battleship had caught fire, but it still maintained a speed of more than fifteen knots, and from time to time fired a cannon or two at the Huaxia army to return fire, and felt that he was really scratching his head.

However, Hu Zhen soon made a new decision: "Fight his four armored cruisers!" ”

The artillery fire of the 1st Brigade of the Huaxia Army immediately rained down on the Princess Maria Teresa, the Almirante Okendo, the Viscaya, and the Cristobal Colón on Hu Zhen's orders.

The four armored cruisers of the Luzon fleet desperately fought back, and although they could not form a unified fire net with the two battleships, they also brought relatively big trouble to the Huaxia army.

A large-caliber artillery shell flew and hit the sea surface about a few dozen meters in front of the Dahua, setting off a column of water more than 30 meters high.

This is a near-miss bomb, and if it gets any closer, it may hit the hull of the Dahua.

At this time, Hu Zhen was standing on the bridge outside the command tower and using a telescope to observe the enemy ship, and the explosion of the cannonball caused a column of water to splash on his body, which frightened the surrounding guards to quickly surround him, huddle him in the middle, and someone proposed: "Commander-in-chief." For safety, please go back to the Command Tower! ”

Hu Zhen shook his head: "Is it safe to return to the command tower?" It is safe to sink all the enemy's fleets! ”

But the guards still hugged Hu Zhen stubbornly, and Hu Zhen had no choice but to move his steps into the command tower. As he walked, he ordered: "It's better to cut off one of her fingers than to hurt her ten fingers, concentrate your firepower, hit the Princess Maria Teresa first, and use the God Breaker One to sink her directly!" ”

According to the data reported by Hu Zhen on the radio intercom, each ship is based on the position of its own warship and the position of the Dahua. Adjust the shelling data and shell the enemy ships with the Dahua.

The 52 main guns of the capital ships of the First Squadron of the Huaxia Army poured hundreds of shells on the enemy ships every minute, and at least a dozen of them hit the target.

With such a high hit rate, it didn't take long for the Princess Maria Theresa to be scarred, and it seemed that the Huaxia Army would sink to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish as long as it had a few more rounds of such accurate salvos of the main guns.

Through the bullet fire, Severa saw that the Huaxia army used a unified salvo every time, but his own side could not organize a unified salvo of main guns at all, and the experienced heat clearly saw the danger of his own fleet. A quick decision was given: "The armored cruiser disengaged from the array line and rushed up at maximum speed, and the battleship followed up and engaged these barbarians in close combat!" As long as you are in close combat, you will be able to defeat the enemy! ”

After receiving the commander's order, Severa immediately launched a charge against the first team of the Huaxia Army, approaching a distance of about 3,000 meters suitable for its own artillery bombardment, and launched an artillery battle with the Huaxia Army.

"This Severa really has some skills in commanding the navy!" Hu Zhen snorted. The decision to respond was made immediately: "The cruiser retreated at maximum speed, at a distance of one and a half thousand meters from the three battleships, and continued to shell the enemy ships!" ”

The three battleships, the Dahua, the Great Xia, and the Maine, continued to maintain formation at a speed of 17.5 knots, and fiercely shelled the four armored cruisers of the charging Luzon fleet. The five cruisers withdrew at a rate of 21.5 knots to a distance of 1,500 meters from the battleship. Shelling enemy ships with battleships.

The first target of the main shelling of the Chinese Army was still the wounded Princess Maria Teresa.

Hundreds of shells rained down, knocking them into holes, leaking steam pipes, halting boilers, knocking over the main guns, and several armor-piercing shells piercing through the ship's side armor and exploding several large holes that poured into the water.

Princess Maria Theresa immediately lost its maximum speed, remaining less than twelve knots. The main artillery could not carry out the shelling, and crawled alone with difficulty.

Heavy artillery fire from the Chinese Army shifted to the Almirante Okundo.

The main fleet of the Luzon fleet also returned fire fiercely, but from a range of three thousand meters, the threat of artillery attack was almost negligible to the Huaxia fleet.

After the Princess Maria Theresa was shot and stalled, the cruiser Baltimore was hit in the bow by a 280-mm shell that was so lucky that it was against the sky.

The shell blew the Baltimore into a huge hole, and the bow quickly sank into the water, and the stern slowly cocked, revealing the propellers and steering gears.

"The USS Baltimore will abandon the ship immediately, and we must ensure that most people leave safely!" Seeing this, Hu Zhen knew that the cruiser with a displacement of 4,413 tons could not withstand the bombardment of a 280-mm heavy gun, so he hurriedly issued an order through the voice radio.

Of the 450 crew members on the Baltimore, 439 successfully abandoned the ship and escaped, retaining the main personnel lineup, as long as there were new warships, they could immediately form combat effectiveness.

Seeing this, the morale of the Luzon fleet was greatly boosted, and the three armored cruisers fought more vigorously, and the two battleship damage control teams took this opportunity to extinguish the fire on the ships, and began to launch a slow artillery bombardment of the Huaxia army again.

The three armored cruisers of the Luzon fleet rushed to a distance of 3,500 meters from the battleships of the Huaxia Army, and the accuracy of the artillery bombardment on both sides increased rapidly.

The Dahua, Daxia, and Maine all received several shells, but the battleship's solid defensive armor did not suffer much damage from withstanding a few shells.

But the cruisers of the Luzon fleet were much less lucky, and after a dozen rounds of armor-piercing shells from the Almirante Okundo, the boiler room in the heart was hit by a 210-mm shell, and the explosion immediately stalled the hull. Several shells flew in one after another, hitting the armored part of its waterline, blowing up several large holes, and the sea water quickly poured in, tilting the hull ten degrees, and it was extremely difficult for the main guns to continue shelling.

The bridge of the Biskaya was hit by a swarm of shells, the bridge and the conning tower were blown to pieces, and it immediately lost command and could not continue to move forward and shell.

Only the Cristobal Colón was left with some good luck, and although it was also scarred, it was able to barely maintain its top speed and continue to charge.

Captain Cristobal Colón is confident that his battleship will carry on the pride and pride of the Spanish Navy for 400 years, and that without the order of the fleet commander, it will not stop, but will continue to charge forward! (To be continued.) )