[Today's first update, the second shift is a little later, so stay tuned!] 】

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In late autumn, the land in the north turns cold, but in the Philippines, it is still a hot summer.

The beautiful South China Sea, like a tantrum princess, is always cloudy and sunny.

The sudden heavy rain cooled down the sweltering equator and comforted the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet from the north.

However, this comfort was soon broken, and as the alarm bell sounded, the Dutch East India fleet sailed off the coast of Manila. And provoked by firing artillery shots at the fortress of Manila.

The sound of artillery rumbled and was deafening.

The sky above the fortress was suddenly filled with gunsmoke, and the scattered light emitted by the artillery fire was faintly visible, and it looked like a dark cloud and lightning in the distance.

This time, Governor Fernando did not flinch, and the Pacific Fleet joined him, which made him more confident and determined to fight the Dutch East India Fleet.

On the afternoon of 23 October, the Ming-Philippine joint fleet sailed out of Manila Bay and lined up at sea to confront the Dutch East India Fleet for the first time.

With blue seas and blue skies and strong southeast winds, the Combined Fleet immediately ordered the whole fleet to sail south after leaving Manila Bay, intending to occupy a favorable upwind position.

The Dutch East India Fleet also sailed south, naturally not wanting to let the Mingxi Combined Fleet gain the upper hand.

The fleets of the two sides formed a large formation in depth, and hundreds of warships stretched for dozens of miles on the sea, like two huge sea dragons, which was very spectacular.

The Philippine Fleet naturally led the way on the side of the Combined Fleet, followed by the Pacific Fleet.

The fleets of both sides sailed south at the same time, otherwise the other side would seize the upwind direction, so they could only rely on the side wind.

The battleship split the sea, and the giant * rolled and made a noise.

The fleets of both sides kept course for an hour or so, and then began to slowly approach each other.

Giulio's flagship versus Reyoz's flagship, and the ships of both fleets are seated one-on-one, like elementary school students lining up for school, and men and women must hold hands and pair up.

Due to the large number of warships in the Combined Fleet, after such pairing, there were 20 more cruisers in the Pacific Fleet behind than matching the enemy ships, which seemed a little lonely.

"What kind of bird tactic is this?"

Putting down the clairvoyant, Shen Yanghao couldn't help but complain.

Shi Jianfei smiled and said, "Don't say it, the war of Westerners is like a fight between two gentlemen who want to save face, it's really laughing to death!" ”

Shen Yanghao was speechless, and asked after a while: "But we have twenty more warships, we can't let them watch the excitement!" In that case, let them return to the military port! ”

Shi Jianfei replied: "Of course they are not useless! When the Allied ships in front are sunk, they can fill the gap!

"It's better for us to compress the spacing between the ships ourselves, and when we engage in battle for a while, the firepower of the units will be strengthened to reduce the casualties of our fleet!"

Shi Jianfei waved his hand, shook his head and said, "Don't!" This Giulio told us to obey his command! It just so happens that I also want to see how the Westerners conduct naval battles with each other, which will be of great benefit to our fleet in the future! ”

Shen Yanghao pursed his lips and said disdainfully: "What else?" According to their way of playing, I'm afraid that they won't want to destroy each other in this life, and this battle will have to be fought until the Year of the Monkey! ”

Suddenly, the fire flickered on the enemy side in front, and soon a thunderous sound was heard, and the Dutch East India Fleet opened fire first.

"Report the distance!"

"A thousand meters, sir!"

"Shoot a kilometer away?"

Shi Jianfei rolled his eyes and said, "Can this be fought?" ”

"Even if you can fight, you can't break through the battleship's protection when the shells fly over!"

As soon as the words fell, the cannon sound in front was already approaching, and the ships of the enemy fleet opened fire in turn, like a string of jumping fire spirits.

At this time, the enemy ships driving side by side on the opposite side also opened fire in this direction, and the fierce whistling sound broke through the smoke and pierced people's ears.

The cannonballs flew in a few seconds, stirring up a series of irregular columns of water, and the waves splashed in all directions, but the thunder was heavy and the rain was small, and it did not pose a threat to the battleship.

Knock knock!

Another barrage of artillery fire, this time in exchange for the Combined Fleet firing back. The firepower is also powerful and overwhelming.

The thunderous cannon sound was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the sea between the two fleets suddenly boiled, and the smoke was filled, and the smoke after the shooting of the battleship in front continued to accumulate, and when it reached the back, the smoke had covered the sky and the sea, and it was difficult to distinguish the sea and the sky, and the battleship was like walking in the clouds, flickering and flickering, as mysterious as a spirit ship.

Shi Jianfei and the others were eating cigarette ash in the back, unspeakably uncomfortable, and many people couldn't help but cough lightly stimulated by the smoke of gunpowder.

"Report, did our fleet open artillery fire on the enemy?"

"Did you call the flag in front?"

"Report, the smoke is full, and I can't see the flag in front of me!"

Shi Jianfei was stunned when he heard this, and looked up at the signal soldier on the main mast, which was more than forty meters high, and he couldn't see the flag in front of him, which showed that the height of the smoke had severely hindered the communication of the fleet.

"Yes! The battle line of the fleet stretched for dozens of miles, and when the smoke reached the rear, it had already spread to a high place in the air. ”

Shen Yanghao looked at the Allied battleship in front of him, only to see the fire flickering in the smoke, and said, "The cannon has been fired in front!" I deliberately don't need to play the flag! ”

Shi Jianfei nodded, after the Dutch fleet opened fire just now, the Spanish fleet in front had already fired back. It's just that the transmission of the flag is slower than the speed of firing the cannon, and the Spaniards should have fired on their own after seeing the flagship firing, so it is not good that a certain Spanish battleship on the middle of the road forgot to send the flag to notify the back.

It's not impossible!

You must know that the current Western navy is not a national navy in the true sense of the word, but a product of the combination of government and civilian in the name of the state. On the battleship, only the officers ate the national salary and wore military uniforms, and the lower sailors were civilian sailors, recruited by the captains and officers, and ate the wages of the salary, as well as the dividends of the spoils captured in the naval battle.

Strictly speaking, with the exception of the Pacific Fleet, which is entirely a warplane, the navies of all other countries are nothing more than an organized and disciplined pirate force, and in most cases they will take care of their own affairs.

It is precisely because of the influence of this general environment that in regular warfare, the navies of Western countries advocate one-on-one competition, because there is a tacit rule in their navy, that is, in a one-on-one battle, if one side sinks or captures the opponent, the bonuses and bonuses belong to this side, but not to the trophies of other warships on this side.

This was the case in the Anglo-Spanish Naval War, when the British Navy and the Spanish Navy were at war, and a British battleship destroyed a Spanish warship, the British battleship would abandon the battle and leave the fleet to share its spoils alone, but it would not be prosecuted by the British Admiralty, even if Britain was defeated in the end.

One-on-one, the Westerners divided the war to everyone in detail, and the details of the division of labor are staggering and incomprehensible. Similarly, this is the most obvious in naval battles, one-on-one is one against the enemy, you don't have to care about the overall situation, you only need to complete your own tasks.

Westerners' tactics are silly and cute, but Shi Jianfei would not do such a stupid thing. I was worried that unauthorized actions would affect Julio's mood and damage the relationship between the coalition forces. At this moment, the smoke covered the sea, and Giulio had no way of knowing about the Pacific Fleet.

"Order, the whole fleet will not fire for the time being, jump out of the smoke area! The 5th and 6th teams formed a separate detour to the right side of the enemy fleet and cooperated with the brigade! ”

The order was given, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Squadrons of the Pacific Fleet turned to the left, widening the distance between them and the rear of the Dutch fleet, avoiding the area covered by thick smoke, so that the fleet could gain insight into the overall situation. At the same time, the Fifth and Sixth Squadrons galloped southwestward, rounding the right side of the Dutch East India Fleet.

After jumping out of the smoke area, Shi Jianfei looked at the battle situation on the bridge, only to see that the long dragon that originally had only two white wave lines had now turned into a gray-white long dragon covered with thick gunsmoke.

The smoke rolled like a cloud, like the tail of a comet, soaring into the sky.

An hour later, Shen Yanghao looked at the time and said, "Calculate the time, the fifth and sixth teams have already arrived at the opposite side!" ”

Shi Jianfei nodded, looking at the shells that kept flying out of the thick smoke, knowing that the Dutch fleet had not adjusted the direction of firing, thinking that the Pacific Fleet was still on their left, and did not notice that twenty enemy ships suddenly appeared on the right.

"Order, fire cover shots, give the fifth and sixth warbands time to attack!"

The fifth and sixth teams passed through the thick smoke, in order to take the opportunity to sneak attack, although this kind of tactics was definitely shamed by the Dutch, but the king was defeated, Shi Jianfei didn't care about that!

The order was given, and the forty cruisers of the Pacific Fleet opened fire one after another, and shells rained down into the smoke.

The Dutch warships in the smoke area were speculating why the Pacific Fleet on the opposite side had not fired, and were thinking about the intentions of the other side, when they saw the other side's shells coming, although it was like tickling, it was not powerful, but it gave them a reassurance, that is, the enemy was still on the opposite side, and the fire could not effectively damage them.

At this time, the 5th and 6th warframes of the Pacific Fleet were gradually approaching the rear fleet of the Dutch fleet. According to the predetermined plan, in this case, the Pacific Fleet will adopt a "V" position.

Since it was no longer possible to adopt the tactics of a "T" formation in the thick smoke, the gains outweighed the losses by forcibly interspersing them. The Dutch fleet was too long to implement the "L" scythe tactic, so it had to settle for the second best thing and use the "V" formation.

The 5th and 6th warbands took the "Z" line and approached the Dutch fleet diagonally, forming a "V" formation. But the formation of the Dutch fleet remained the same, and if you want to sneak up on them, you need to wait for your chance.

Soon, the Dutch fleet and the Philippine flagships competed for the upper wind, and the two dragon heads fought each other, with Giulio's flagship half a knot slower than Reyoz's, causing the Dutch fleet to force the Philippine fleet to turn left.

The flagship turned left, but because the fleet was too long, after half an hour, the fleet behind the two sides turned into a large left turn.

The rear part of the Dutch fleet is like a dragon's tail, turning in the largest arc.

When the opportunity came, the 5th and 6th warbands quickly captured this fighter and immediately rushed towards the Dutch fleet in a "V" formation.

There was not a lot of smoke on the right side of the Dutch fleet, and most of the smoke was concentrated in the sea area between the two fleets, so when the two sneak attack detachments of the Pacific Fleet approached a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, they were discovered by Dutch sailors.

"Enemy spotted on starboard!"

The Dutch warships saw the Pacific Fleet ships approaching one after another, and warned one after another.

"Starboard artillery fire ready!"

The sailors of the Dutch ships ran to starboard and hurriedly organized a fire defense.

"Fire!"

The 5th and 6th Squadrons of the Pacific Fleet were discovered by the enemy fleet in advance during a sneak attack, and had to change the direction of the main and secondary attacks and open artillery attacks in advance.

Because the two teams did not choose the tactics of large depth interspersing, they were not at a loss when they were discovered by the Dutch fleet at this time. Because of the "V" formation diagonal insertion tactic, the number of firepower points that the two sides attacked the opponent was roughly equal. If the "T" formation is interspersed with large depths, the fourth and fifth warbands will suffer at this time, because the enemy fleet is exactly in the horizontal position of the "T" prefix, and the firing point is at its maximum.

The advantage of using the diagonal insertion of the "V" array is that once the sneak attack succeeds, it will immediately become the dominant position of the "T" array. In the event of defeat, the Pacific Fleet can concentrate its firepower on the rearmost warships of the Dutch fleet, and the Dutch fleet can concentrate its firepower on the first few warships of the Pacific Fleet.

Knock knock!

The sea on the right suddenly set off a monstrous sky*, and the Pacific Fleet and the Dutch fleet exchanged fierce fire, opening up another battlefield.

On the other side, Shi Jianfei learned that the sneak attack fleet was exposed and fired in advance, so he immediately made a decision to change his tactics, changing sneak attack to containment, and change containment to sneak attack.

"Order, the fleet is divided into two teams, the first and second teams are the first attack echelon, and the third and fourth teams are the second echelon, turn left and go straight into the enemy fleet!"

"Yes! The fleet turns left and plunges straight into the enemy fleet! ”

"Left full rudder!"

As the flagship turned to the left, the battleship split a huge wave, and the four squadrons of the Pacific Fleet formed two echelons, turning diversion into a sneak attack, making an "L" turn, and taking advantage of the Dutch fleet's full strength to resist the attack on the right, rushing to kill the enemy from the left with all its might!

The Dutch fleet was fiercely attacked by the Pacific Fleet, and soon the twelve warships behind were interspersed and divided by the two echelons of the Pacific Fleet, and were seized by the opponent with the "T" crosshair, and were fiercely attacked by the opponent's side fire.

The twelve Dutch battleships were divided into three pieces, and the first two Dutch battleships were saturated by the saturation of twenty cruisers of each of the two echelons of the Pacific Fleet, and were immediately beaten into a hornet's nest, and soon the sea water poured into it, and after a moment it sank to the bottom of the sea.

The other ten Dutch warships were blocked in their way and were beaten by the Pacific Fleet, so they broke away from each other and fled.

At this time, Shi Jianfei ordered the whole fleet to be divided into six teams to outflank and annihilate the ten fleeing Dutch warships, ignoring the Philippine fleet in front.

The rear of the Dutch fleet was divided and interspersed by the Pacific Fleet, turning the original long dragon formation into a two-headed snake with a chaotic and tangled tail.

The commander of the Dutch fleet, Rejouz, was preparing to fight the Combined Fleet, provoke Julio, and then lure the Combined Fleet into the ambush circle he had set up.

At this time, when it learned that there was a problem with the rear team, the Pacific Fleet shamelessly beat ten Dutch battleships with a group of 60 warships, and immediately became furious.

"It's so shameless!"

Rayoz clenched his fists, and Adjutant Turner stepped forward and asked, "Is the general ready to return or continue?" ”

Rayoz was about to return to the rescue and clean up the shameless Pacific Fleet, when he suddenly heard the words of the adjutant and fell into deep thought.

"Reinforcement can counter-encircle the Pacific Fleet, but it will also be counter-encircled by the Philippine Fleet, and the gains outweigh the losses!"

"The destruction of the Philippine fleet is the main task!"

Only by destroying the Philippine fleet can the Philippine governor be forced to sue for peace. The Dutch East India Company did not have enough troops to invade the Philippines, so the war was mainly naval battles. If the Philippine fleet is eliminated, the Dutch fleet can dominate Southeast Asia, and the Pacific fleet will have to retreat to Taiwan.

"It's a good strategy to give up these ten warships, but you can drag down the Pacific Fleet!"

Turner said: "Now we have more than 80 warships, and the Pacific Fleet is making such a fuss, and the Philippine fleet, which only has more than 50 warships, is definitely not our opponent!" ”

"But will the Pacific Fleet watch us destroy the Philippine fleet?"

Turner thought for a moment and said, "I think, if we were the Ming people, I would wish the white people were fighting each other!" ”

Rejoz nodded and said, "There is no need for the Pacific Fleet to use sixty warships to beat our ten warships, they say this because they want to take the opportunity to separate from the Philippine fleet and give us a chance to make a move!" ”

Turner nodded and said, "If I were the commander of the Pacific Fleet, I would do the same!" ”

Yes, how could the Ming people be so kind to help the Spaniards? You must know that the Spaniards slaughtered tens of thousands of Filipino Chinese twenty years ago, and Rayoz did not believe that the Ming people did not hold grudges.

"Then take a gamble!"

Rejouz was so distracted that he gave up his reinforcements and freed up his efforts to deal with the Philippine fleet with all his might. On the one hand, the Philippine fleet was dragged by 55 warships, and on the other hand, the rear fleet of the Philippine fleet was surrounded by more than 30 warships, and for a time the Philippine fleet was in danger.

On the Philippine Fleet's flagship Marty, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Giulio, was also angry. The Pacific Fleet broke away from the Combined Fleet and went to eat alone, but pushed the Philippine fleet into the fire pit.

Francisco saw the Dutch fleet coming up from behind, and hurriedly persuaded Giulio to find a way out of the battle.

However, Giulio also knew the danger and wanted to get out of the battle, but the Dutch fleet was pressing forward step by step, and the distance between the two sides was shortened from the initial one thousand meters to three or four hundred meters.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

On the blue sea, now black clouds are shrouded, lightning and thunder roar.

As the fleets of both sides approached, the battle loss rate of each other's warships increased rapidly, and the casualties increased significantly.

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[Today's first thank you for the monthly tickets and rewards cast by friends such as Sunny Cold Drink, Blind Vision, 090010064980, Gu Qian, and Fan Chen, and Fan Chen, and so on!] Today, I would like to thank the book friend Suiyun Boy for his generous reward! 】V