The South China Sea in September was extremely hot, and all the personnel in the fleet were madly hot, and it was too hot in the cabin, like a big steamer, and the body was always wet and sticky. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, the wind blows on the deck, but the sun is hot during the day, and the shade is limited, which cannot accommodate all the people on board, and it is only slightly cooler at night, so many sailors go to sleep on the deck at night, and of course they have to pray that it will not rain.

In short, life here is torment.

Li Hu led the fleet to wander around the southern tip of the Babuyan Islands for two and a half months, such a boring day was irritating, only seabirds and sea water could be seen every day, and the day of returning was far away, and everyone was persevering.

If there is still a glimmer of light here, the plundering of two 200-ton merchant ships of the Spaniards across the Pacific trade in the middle is the only good news, the two small ships do not have much oil and water, only tens of thousands of taels of American silver and some gold coins. But the sailors were somewhat tired of seeing the scenery, and this time they had more or less income.

Li Hu also kept cursing, these damn Spaniards are just procrastinating, and they can transport gold and silver across the ocean from the Americas as slowly as a game, no wonder they were beaten all over the ground by the Dutch looking for teeth.

If Dominguez heard Li Hu's curse, he would definitely jump and scold back, do you know the power of the hurricane in the Pacific Ocean, if you don't know, his mother will come and go by himself.

Dominguez set out from the port of Acapulco in late June, with two 1,200-ton San Martin and San Francisco and eight frigates of five or six hundred tons.

But halfway through the western Pacific Ocean, a tropical hurricane blowing from the southwest blew the entire fleet northeast for six days and six nights, leaving four frigates missing.

Dominguez still remembers the 1,200-ton San Maarten being swept up to the summit by huge waves. When I slipped from the top of the peak and fell to the bottom, I felt weightless and trembling. You know, this went on for more than two days.

I can't even eat. There could be no fire at all, many people in the fleet began to crumble, there were so many sick and vomiting that there were hardly enough sailors to sail the Galen, fear began to spread like disease, and many people thought that they would not be able to return home, and they would sink into the Pacific Ocean.

Domingos heard the crew complain countless times that the man named Pacific should be sent to the gallows because he had deceived God and his pious people, the Spaniards.

After the hurricane. Everyone prayed for a new life, and Dominguez's fleet spent a week just busy mending their ships, after which he waited in nearby waters and searched for other frigates that had lost their news.

Thanks to the Virgin Mary, three more battered frigates joined them, and after replacing the masts, sails, and cabins, they were finally rescued and the fleet was back on its way, and as for the last frigate that had lost its message, Domingos could only say sorry. Because the water and food in the fleet could not support them to continue searching.

Dominguez, with a fleet of nine ships, finally approached the Philippine Islands in early September, and the mood of the sailors on board was high. It's coming to the end of this devilish trip. They were glad that they were among the ones who escaped, after all, dozens of sailors had died in the fleet, and a frigate was missing. However, they rejoiced a little early.

Also at the eastern entrance of the Babuyan Strait, two never-before-seen schooners met them and left, and Dominguez ordered the fleet to be put on alert.

Since the disappearance of the fleet led by poor Abelardo two years ago, the annual fleet trip across the Pacific Ocean has been strengthened since last year, after all, it is still possible if a hurricane makes a few of these ships missing, but the disappearance of the entire fleet is too unusual, it cannot be ruled out that the Dutch or even the Portuguese are the ghosts.

The sailors and gunners of the seven frigates were all mobilized, and although the San Martin and San Francisco had only a dozen cannons, they were all heavy guns, and the whole ship was on alert.

When the fleet entered the Babuyan Strait for more than 20 miles, an alarm sounded from the lookout, and a large number of ships approached, yes, a large number, which made the whole fleet nervous.

As the two sides approached within a few miles, Dominguez discovered that the other side was Portuguese, with Portuguese flags flying on the ship and the same boat shape.

Several of the opposing team's small communication ships approached the fleet, and a Portuguese shouted that the Portuguese nobles of the fleet wanted to meet with the leader of the Spanish fleet for a discussion.

Dominguez was at this time so focused that he had no intention of stopping the ship, not to mention that the Portuguese were one of the suspects, and they may not be strong enough, but they were able to take advantage of the special relationship between the two countries to approach and even board the Spanish warships.

Domingos interrupted the Portuguese shouting rudely, and replied very domineeringly. For a small neighbor subordinate to the Spaniards, Dominguez, as a Spanish viscount, has always had a great sense of superiority.

After refusing, several Portuguese communication ships suddenly dispersed towards the San Martin and San Francisco, while the opposite fleet continued to move closer to the fleet.

Seeing this, Dominguez suddenly figured out a lot of questions,

"Damn the Portuguese, God will punish you thieves and liars." Dominguez cursed as he prepared the fleet for battle.

Lucas, the captain of the St. Martin, and Angulo, the sailor, are directing the St. Martin to get rid of the two clippers that are approaching, but the St. Martin is like a bulky elephant, and the clippers are like a jumping deer, quickly approaching the stern.

The frigate on the side could only watch the other side approach, and if it shelled, the accuracy of the breech smoothbore guns would be bombarded together with the St. Martin.

So the Flying Shark briskly leaned on the stern of the St. Martin, stared at the black powder bag on the rudder, lit the arquebus and left, with a bang, the hull of the San Martin was beaten, the rudder was damaged, and at the same time the San Francisco was also hit by gunpowder, the problem was that the rudder was affected, but it could barely be used, but the rear of the bottom compartment began to seep water, and it was more serious, and the two giant ships could only lower their sails and slow down. Otherwise, there is a risk that the St. Martin will run aground on the beach.

At this time. The fleets that were moving in opposite directions were less than three miles apart. Li Hu ordered the cannon to be fired.

Li Hu's flagship, Li Jing, was the first to open fire, and the other nine battleships also fired one after another, all of which were 36-pounder and 48-pounder cannons on the side of the side, and the Tiago guns had not yet reached range.

The sporadic shelling relieved the Spaniards, after all, they had ten ships of the same tonnage as their own frigates, but in terms of firepower and accuracy, they were no match.

After Li Hu's fleet opened fire for more than ten minutes, the two Spanish warships at the front of the fleet opened fire. When he landed, the smoke obscured the battleship for a while amid the roar of forty heavy guns on the side side, and the projectiles roared towards the enemy ship on the opposite side.

The Shan Xiong Signal and Xue Rengui were respectively hit by several eighteen-pounder naval guns, and the wooden planks on the deck and side sides were shattered, and dust rose up, but fortunately they did not enter the cabin.

The two ships continued to move forward, as the first few battleships of the long snake formation were the most disadvantageous, they had to withstand the shelling of more than half of the opponent's fleet one after another, and the appearance of the two ships was definitely a bit miserable. Most of the sails are broken.

The rear mainmast of the single male signal was broken, and the lower deck of the Xue Rengui was broken by twenty-four pounder guns. One was on the baggage deck, where food was flying and the trough was broken, and the other was on the artillery deck, where a thirty-six-pounder cannon was wrecked and three gunners were wounded. On the single male signal, a sailor was killed and one was wounded.

After withstanding the continuous shelling of the opposing side, the two ships finally approached less than a mile, and the twenty Tiago guns on the side of the two ships roared, nearly half of which hit the two Spanish battleships on the opposite side, shattering on the side of the opposing side, one raging in the cargo hold of the San Diego, and two penetrating the gun deck.

The power of the 36-pounder Tiago's projectiles directly destroyed three 18-pounder guns, killing and wounding eight Spanish gunners, and the deck became hell on earth, and the San Diego's guns fell silent for a while.

The St. André was hit by a projectile that broke through the gun deck, but even more unfortunately, it was a 48-pound Tiago projectile, which destroyed two 24-pounder cannons, and the scattered plank fragments caused more than 40 gunners to be killed and wounded.

The two sides sailed against each other, and the San Martin and San Francisco lowered their sails and landed at the back to become spectators, one with a slight seepage, the other with a more serious situation, and the sailors were busy keeping more of the sea from entering the bottom compartment.

When the two sides met end to end, the artillery roared incessantly, becoming two adjacent lines of fire, and the smoke flashed around the fleet, leaving traces on each other's bodies.

Qian Er lit the fire rope under the order of Wang Qiang, the commander of the armor, covered his ears with his hands, and the roar continued to roar, only to see two new big holes in the side side of the ship on the opposite side that had been broken, and the power of the 48-pounder gun was fully displayed.

At the same time, the hull of the ship was slammed, and two holes were opened by the opponent's twenty-four-pounder gun, and a projectile penetrated into the gun deck, and the flying wood chips wounded three gunners, and then fell into the wall board on the other side, and the deck was also screaming again and again, but it was all flesh wounds, which was already very lucky.

Qian Erjiu had been trained, he scolded his subordinates to load the artillery, waiting for Wang Qiang's order, and suddenly, the dull sound of artillery rang out, and the projectiles were shot out again, hitting the next enemy ship, bringing them death and fear.

After a round of convergence, the two sides began to pick their heads again, one side was for the treasure ship, of course, the frigate had to be dealt with first, and the treasure ship of the other side was crawling there, of course, it could not be evacuated. So start over.

The ships on both sides were damaged, but the Spanish ships were much more miserable, each of them had four or five large holes, the sails and masts were damaged, almost all the gun decks were fatally hit, more than half of the guns or gunners were damaged, and the ability to strike was greatly reduced. And more than ninety percent of the artillery of Zhao Lie's fleet is normal, but the appearance is relatively dilapidated.

The San Martin and San Francisco, who were spectators, could only continue to watch the majestic naval battle from the best seats, after all, they were now playing soy sauce. I can't help in a hurry, and I have a huge hull and a huge cannon, so I can only watch my side fall into disadvantage.

"My lord, the enemy has a huge cannon that we don't know about, and I'm afraid we won't be able to resist it." Captain Lucas said.

Domingos, who was silently observing the battle with a telescope, did not say anything, he was not a junior brother on the battlefield, of course he knew that he was destroyed by the opponent's heavy artillery, but now he could only hope that a miracle would happen, what else could he expect. (To be continued.) )