Solid bullets bounced off the deck, and chain bullets whizzed and shredded the canvas.

Sitting in the stern, he took a sip of the Federation's finest spirits. He closed his eyes and immersed himself in the requiem played by the artillery.

Captain Gardner's report woke up Orderly, "Four soldiers abandoned their positions and tried to take refuge in the safety of the lower deck. ”

"Shot."

The calm and soothing tone of the order seems to be talking about the irises planted in the neighbor's estate. I don't know when it started, but Shou Xiang fell in love with the current life. Gambling can be addictive, and war is even more so.

The fleets of the two armies approached to 300 meters, and the battle immediately became brutal. Although the gun deck is still largely intact, the open deck is a mess.

The hindmast of the enemy flagship, the St. Liefonza was broken at the upper mast by a chain bullet fired from a 16-pounder gun. The collapsed mast to port slanted the hull for a time, and the Nanhai unleashed an explosive three-wheel salvo when the enemy ship was unable to fight back, inflicting heavy damage on the San Lyfoonzo. Seeing this, the enemy's second ship broke away from the battle with the Lima and shelled the Nanhai with the flagship.

The Nanhai's upper guns facing the battle surface were all silent, and the open deck was covered in blood. In order not to affect morale, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were quickly thrown into the sea.

By this time in the battle, the Nanhai sail rope and mast had multiple damage.

The Lima has an even more tragic appearance than the South Sea. Philip. Edward had been engaged with two enemy ships for a long time, and the Lima had lost its foremast and aft mast, and the mainmast was swaying under the sound of gunfire.

With an exclamation, Orderly looked back, and the Lima's bow mast was broken again. Of course, the effect was not great, and the foremast was lost, and the sail on the first mast was long gone, and even the mast was still there, but it was just a wooden stick that was not very useful. It's just that if it continues like this, sooner or later the Lima will become a bare hull.

The casualties were acceptable for the time being, the gun decks of both ships were not penetrated, and the main part of the ship was intact.

Harris blinked, "Your Excellency, maybe it's time for us to go." ”

Shou Xuan looked at the chief of staff and did not speak.

Harris stretched out four fingers and counted them one by one, "We can't see Galen where the enemy is engaged with the frigate, so we don't care for the time being." The enemy flagship, the St. Liefonza lost its mast, and it was impossible for the ship to catch up with our convoy. The enemy ship No. 3 engaged the Lima, and the losses were not light. The only one with relatively complete combat effectiveness is the enemy No. 2 ship. ”

The captain of the Lima, Philippe. Edward was one against two, and he knew very well what the task of the battleship was. I didn't care about the enemy's No. 2 ship, and stared at the No. 3 ship. Of course, the Lima suffered heavy losses, and the enemy's No. 3 ship was left with only a very weak sailing ability.

Shou Xiang put down his glass, "Actually, the enemy No. 2 ship can also be ignored." As the only ship in the fleet that still has full sailing capabilities, he is to defend the flagship. ”

Harris said, "Yes, Your Excellency. While we still have to go, it's time to retreat. ”

The sail mast of the Nanhai was also badly damaged, but it was still sailable.

"What will happen to the Lima if we retreat alone?"

It was impossible for the Lima to evacuate the battlefield, and there were still hundreds of officers and men on board.

Harris's eyes flashed, "Your Excellency, in war, sometimes you need to make necessary trade-offs. ”

Shou Orderly shook his head, "Harris, from a combat perspective, maybe you're right. But for me, it's not just a military issue, it's a political one. ”

If it were the Spanish, Dutch, and British navies, they would simply retreat in the face of the current situation. The battle has achieved its goal, withdraw the ships that can sail, and the ships that cannot be evacuated can choose to surrender like knights. When the battle is over, the prisoners are exchanged and redeemed through a third party, and there is generally no danger to life. For most captives, as long as they sign a pledge not to fight again, there are not many obstacles that can be erected.

But the battle between the Confederation and the Spaniards did not work. All the officers and men of the Union Navy knew what would happen if the pirates were in the hands of the Spaniards.

If Philip didn't want to be hung from the mast, he would have to fight to the end. Whether from the heart or from the political influence, the order will not abandon him.

"Elliot." Orderly turned to the captain.

"Your Excellency."

"Continue to strike at the enemy's flagship and completely smash it into a hull."

……

Lima.

Battleships that lost their ability to propel themselves were blown away from the battlefield by the wind and drifted with the tide. Perhaps trying to capture the ship, the third ship of the Spanish fleet followed. The Spanish ships also lost their ability to change sides, and they could only steer downwind and could not make cross-cutting aft maneuvers.

As the battle continued, the gun decks of both ships were punctured in several places, and only half of the Lima's guns were still fired. In a normal battle, Philip would definitely choose to surrender, which was responsible for the lives of the officers and men on the battleship. But in the face of the Spaniards, he could only continue to fight.

The Spaniards approached and fired grapeshot, leaving Philip to abandon the open deck and retreat into the cabin.

There were a few muffled noises outside, and Philip knew that the salted meats had set up a gangplank to take overboard.

I can't remember how long it had been since I had a broadside fight, but in the Caribbean, Philip was always the first to jump into the gang. This earned him the support of his sailors, and he soon became a captain after becoming a pirate.

Recovering the wound on his face, Philip straightened his breastplate and drew his sword.

"Boys, the last hour has come, and the people who don't want to be killed like rats in the bilge rush out with me."

Stuffed in the cabin with no future, and after the battleship lost its ability to propel itself, Philip was ready for a broadside battle.

Opening the stern hatch and throwing out several smoke canisters and grenades, Philip and his chosen able-bodied soldiers rushed out first. Throwing away the empty pistol, Philip fitted himself and brandished his saber.

Scimitos, sailor axes, and even biblical stones, all kinds of cold weapons intertwine in the air, taking away one young life after another.

Philip's assault pushed the Spaniards and their servants to the side of the ship, and when they saw that they were about to succeed, a squad of Spanish maritime infantry fired a volley of guns from the side of the mother ship. Reinforcements from the enemy came, regaining the upper hand. There were fewer and fewer soldiers around Philip.

With a long sigh in his heart, Philip had to order the soldiers to retreat into the stern again. The Spaniards chased after them, and the battle unfolded on the gun deck.

After a long period of indoctrination, the sailors knew that there was no way back in fighting the Spaniards. They erupted in the last of their blood gushes and pushed the enemy back to the open deck.

The battle fell silent for a while, and the soldiers needed to rest and lick their wounds.

Philip was exhausted, but he still managed to cheer up the soldiers. Seize this rare respite to redeploy the combat formation.

"Distinguished gentlemen, you have done your best."

There was a sound coming down from the deck.

"I'm Juan. Morality. Chaves, as the captain of the glorious kingdom's navy, swear to treat you prisoners of war. Lay down your arms and live. ”

Philip scoffed, the pirate believed that the Spaniards were thinking they were dying.

The stalemate continued, both sides were gearing up for the next fight, and Philip knew it would be hard for him to hold on any longer.

Philip returned to his captain's cabin, the aft verandah long gone, and the sea breeze blew into the cabin through the shattered porthole. The once ornately furnished captain's cabin is now littered with confetti. Philip had no intention of tidying up the messy furniture, his mood was a little depressed, and he used this time to write a suicide note to his wife and children in Starlight City.

There was a sharp knock on the door.

"What's the matter, did the Spaniards rush down?" Philip opened the door to a cadet with an excited face.

"Sir, reinforcements...... Our reinforcements are coming. ”

Philip was a little surprised, the Nanhai couldn't get out to come to support, who would it be?

"It's not the South Seas, it's Captain Merlot, sir. We are saved. ”

Philip turned and pulled away his binoculars. Thomas Melo's Baiyun Mountain sails are agitating and approaching at full speed.

"Old man......" Two lines of tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.

……

In the previous grappling, Thomas. Merlot cautiously commanded the battleship, and the nimble frigate did not receive much damage, and the combat strength was complete at this time.

For a moderately disabled Galen, the 10-gun frigate was no longer a target to ignore. Captain Chaves had no choice but to abandon the Lima for the time being, hastily withdraw his battleship, untie the gangplanks and grappling hooks connecting the two ships, and restore navigation.

Chaves did not ignite, the Lima was a tempting trophy, and the ship, which had lost its ability to sail, could not escape.

Merlot still did not choose to fight, and when he entered the battlefield, he put away his main sail and cruised around the enemy ship using only the skewer. Philip understood what his old partner meant.

"Put down the longboat that can be used, and we will abandon the ship."

"Captain, do you want to light a fire?"

Abandoning the battleship, the cadets were a little unwilling.

Philip shook his head, "No need. ”

The sailors regained control of the deck and laid down 3 longboats on the side away from the Spaniards. More than 100 crew members who were still alive were evacuated to the longboat. Philip carefully folded his battle flag, wrapped his back and slung it to his body, and was the last to leave the Lima.

Except for the wounded, everyone participated in the paddling and headed for the upwind. In the current state of the Spanish battleships, they could not take the zigzag route to pursue the upwind.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Melo gave up his entanglement with the Spaniards and turned to the longboat close to Philip, where he only wanted to save people.

The soldiers of both armies were exhausted, no one wanted to continue fighting, and the battle was over.

The sun cast golden light on the sea, and the Spanish flag was raised again in the stern of the Lima. Captain Chaves gets the loot he coveted.

"My Lima", Philip was a little melancholy. "Thomas, we worked together to get her. Now, I'm giving her back to the Spaniards again. ”

Merlot poured a full glass of wine for his former captain, "Battleships can be rebuilt, and it is better for people to survive than anything else." ”

Philip took the wine and drank it down, and the feeling of escaping death made people feel mixed feelings.

"Thomas, do you see the flagship?"

"See, it's the Nanhai that called me the signal flag to save you."

"How are they?"

"Moderate trauma, but luckily, they still have some self-propelling ability by the time I go."

Philip poured himself another glass of wine, "What about your squadron?" ”

"We damaged two Spanish speedboats, and we couldn't beat the rest of the Galen, so we had to let him save the Spaniards."

"I'm asking you about the two ships you have left."

"With some injuries, I was worried that they would be stuck in the battlefield and let them out of the fight earlier."

"Well, the fleet is now disintegrated."

"Yes," Merlot said, "the last signal flag from the Archon is to disband the formation, and each ship chooses its own course. ”

Philip, "Thomas, let's go find the South Seas, where do you think the Archon has gone?" ”

Mellot spread out the chart, "The final course of the flagship is northwest, and I want to try it in the waters near Huizhou." ”

Philip, like Merlot, was unfamiliar with China's coast, and he couldn't think of anything else.

As night fell, the warships lost their view of each other.

The two battleships of the Spaniards, which were still intact in combat, towed the wounded battleship and began the painstaking damage management operation, restoring the navigation ability of the damaged ship as much as possible. The wind changed again, and they headed towards Macau.

Melo estimated that the two frigates that were originally part of his fleet went to Taipei.

The frigate was very fast, and the next afternoon it was near Huizhou. After three days of searching, nothing was found. With more than 100 surviving officers and men on Philip's ship, the Baiyunshan was overloaded and could not hold out for too long. In the end, he had no choice but to give up the search and turn the rudder to Taipei.