When the battle reaches this point, it means that the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road. The two sides didn't have any formations, they were just entangled and fighting each other. One side bombarded with heavy iron shells from cannons, and the other with flowering shells that exploded. In contrast, the artillery of the Ming army was smaller, so it was more numerous and more intensive. But the Spaniards also had the advantage of being more skilled in handling ships and firing their guns more accurately than the Ming army.

"General Hao, it can't go on like this, one of our ships has been sunk, and two more ships have also been seriously injured!" The adjutant looked at the surrounding battle situation and anxiously reported to Hao Tong.

Hao Tong frowned and hesitated. At this point, if an order had been given to allow the ships to return fire with well-charged shells, the lethality would have doubled, and the tide of battle would have been quickly turned around. But in this way, Su Hao and Deng Zilong's plan to show weakness and lure the enemy failed, which is the consideration of the overall situation and the small situation.

If Su Hao is in command, maybe at this time, he will make up his mind to win first. He didn't want to see his soldiers suffer casualties because of the big picture he had set. But Hao Tong is different from Su Hao, he is a person who is accustomed to life and death on the battlefield, and in his previous war career, he has also experienced the choice of sacrificing some soldiers in order to achieve an overall victory, and in his opinion, such a sacrifice is completely worth it.

"Hao Tong, we must persevere, we can't give up." Tu Wenhuan reminded on the side that the old man had been turned into darkness by the ship, but his mind was still clear.

"Mr. Tu, go down and rest, this place is dangerous!" Hao Tong said to Tu Wenhuan, "Don't worry, I will do things according to General Deng's instructions." ”

Tu Wenhuan shook off the soldiers who came to help him to the cabin, and said to Hao Tong: "Hao Tong, I noticed just now that the ship over there should be the flagship of the enemy chief. Capture the thief and capture the king. Let's start with their flagship. ”

"Great idea!" Hao Tong only felt that his eyes lit up, and immediately ordered: "Concentrate firepower and attack close to the enemy chieftain's flagship!" ”

The flag was waved, and several bright ships around it rushed towards the St. Martin, on which Valdo was riding, in a hail of bullets. The guns on all ships were replaced with shotguns, and in an instant the port and port sides of the Saint-Martin were blocked.

"Oops! What's going on! Waldo, who was commanding on the bridge, only felt a black mist flying in front of him, and then four or five grains of iron sand hit his body in a row, and he squeaked and screamed in pain.

The gunners on the ship did not escape their fate, dozens of gunners were hit by iron sand at the same time, and some were blinded. Some of them had their hands so badly that they could no longer operate their artillery. For a time, half of the guns of the St. Martin were dumbfounded, and the Ming ship took advantage of this opportunity to rush to a place only a hundred paces away from the St. Martin.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Firing a cannon at such a distance is like a bayonet on a cannon. Four flowering shells hit the St. Martin at once from four different directions, and several large fires rose from the bow to the stern of the entire ship.

"Hurry up and put out the fire! Call for help! Valdo had water poured on himself to get rid of the burning sensation. While giving random orders.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The artillery of the Ming army was still roaring, and several more shells landed on the strings of the St. Martin, and the cabin began to leak everywhere.

"Mr. Valdo, get out of the way. The St. Martin was almost out of control. The staff officer anxiously suggested to Valdo. The St. Martin is an 800-ton ship that is easily unsinkable. But the Ming army desperately concentrated its firepower against it, and it had already hit more than a dozen bullets one after another, and the cabin was seriously flooded. It was only by relying on a large number of sailors desperately scooping the water outward that it barely sank.

"No, retreat at this time, and the whole line will be defeated!" Valdo is still holding on.

"Mr. Valdo. We have failed, and I see that reinforcements from the Chinese have come up. The staff officer reminded.

"What do you say? The Chinese still have reinforcements? Waldo was stunned, he was stunned by the Ming army's shotgun just now, and he didn't notice the change in the situation at sea for a while.

Seven or eight hundred paces away, a Ming fleet of six warships was heading towards the battlefield in the wind and waves. On the tower of the flagship ship in the lead, an old general pressed a steel knife in his hand, as steady as Mount Tai, and was calmly ordering: "Go at full speed, and fire at a distance of 500 steps!" ”

"Retreat!"

By this time, Waldo also knew that he had been ambushed by the Chinese. The two sides fought to the point of white heat, and the other party suddenly came with reinforcements, and how long could they hold on. Even if you fight with all your strength to eliminate the opponent in front of you, as the end of the strong crossbow, you will not be able to compete with the Ming army that came to help.

It was easier to flee than to attack, and after receiving the order to retreat, the Spanish warship threw away the superfluous items on board, including the shells that had not been fired, and the hull suddenly became brisk, and with the help of the sea breeze, it quickly broke away from the battle. Valdo ordered two light clippers to meet Deng Zilong's fleet to block them, giving the remaining six ships time to escape.

If Deng Zilong tried his best to stop it, he would actually be able to leave Valdo behind. But this battle had been determined in advance to be a defeat battle, not an annihilation battle, so Deng Zilong just put on a menacing appearance, but he left a few points when he started. Waldo, Kevin and others commanded the remnants and escaped from the interception of the Ming army, let alone like a lost dog, and after a while, they ran away without a trace. However, the two ships that were tasked with blocking were finally left behind by Deng Zilong and sank into the sea under intensive artillery fire.

"General Deng, the last general is incompetent, failed to win a complete victory, and broke 3 ships, please punish the general soldier."

Hao Tong got on Deng Zilong's boat in a small boat, and as soon as they met, he knelt on one knee and pleaded guilty to Deng Zilong.

Deng Zilong clasped his hands and said with a smile: "How can there be no loss in a war, besides, this battle did not call you a complete victory, you are tied up, and it is already very good to be able to fight like this." ”

Tu Wenhuan stepped forward and reported: "General soldier, in this battle, our army was killed by shells on the ship and the ship sank and fell into the water, a total of 130 people were killed, 80 people were wounded, and 3 ships were sunk. Our troops sank 12 ships of Hongyi, and the general army led 2 ships of Hongyi. Our department salvaged the Hongyi crew and captured a total of 340 people. There are countless floating corpses of Hongyi on the sea, and his subordinates did not let the soldiers fish them out. ”

"What are you doing with this?" Deng Zilong waved his hand, "We don't rely on the number of heads to count the merits." ”

Tu Wenhuan smiled: "The subordinates also think the same, but these captives are still somewhat useful." In other words, these people can be incorporated into our team in the future. ”

"Let Hongyi be a soldier for us?" Deng Zilong was stunned for a moment, and then laughed, "Since it is changed, there must be a reason for him." The old man can't keep up with the ideas of their young people. ”

The Ming army rescued the comrades who had sunk from the sea, salvaged the bodies of the fallen comrades, and then returned to the ship. In this battle, the Ming army still won 14 to 3 under the condition of deliberately concealing its strength, paying only 3 ships and sinking 14 ships of the Spaniards, which is not a brilliant record. Although Hao Tong said things like disappointing hopes, he was still quite proud in his heart.

"Congratulations to General Deng, you won the first battle!"

Su Hao led everyone to welcome the fleet back at the dock, and saw that most of his warships were intact, but groups of Spanish prisoners were taken down from the ships, Su Hao was naturally able to guess the outcome of the battle.

"It's a shame to let Hongyi run away with 6 boats." Deng Zilong said half regretfully, half ostentatiously.

"Haha, it's just that they just left a dog to go back to deliver the letter, won't they still be the dishes in Mr. Deng's bowl sooner or later?" Su Hao said with a smile.

Deng Zilong said: "It is precisely because the old man thought of this that he did not attack with all his strength. Otherwise, how could they have escaped? ”

Deng Kui approached Hao Tong and whispered: "Old Hao, congratulations, after this battle, the general army can play the Ming court and promote you to be a general, right?" In the future, when you see this general, you don't have to salute anymore. ”

Hao Tong snorted and said: "Don't be complacent, when Lao Tzu annihilates the combined fleet of Europeans and makes a great contribution, at least he can be a deputy commander-in-chief, and when the time comes, I don't know who will salute whom." ”

Deng Kui said: "Just you can make meritorious contributions? General Su said, you are dealing with the Europeans' navy at sea, and we will clean up the Europeans' army island by island, and when the time comes, my credit may not be less than yours. I have been a general for longer than you, and if you want to promote the deputy commander-in-chief, you must also promote me first. ”

"Then give it a try." Hao Tong said indignantly, "The matter of who will be the deputy chief soldier first can be put aside first." Lao Tzu came back from nine deaths, and you didn't invite Lao Tzu to a drink? ”

Deng Kui said: "I've been ready for a long time, and when the two commanders finish their training, a few of our old buddies are ready to put you down." ”

"Maybe who's going to get down first!" Hao Tong said.

On the other side, Tu Wenhuan was handing over the captured Spanish prisoners to Su Hao, and asked as he handed them over: "Change, do you really plan to let these Hongyi people serve as soldiers for us?" ”

Su Hao said: "Why not, the Hongyi people have sufficient experience in navigation and naval warfare, and they are not worse than our soldiers at all." ”

Tu Wenhuan said: "However, they are Hongyi after all, how can they be willing to do things for our Daming?" ”

Su Hao said: "Mr. Tu doesn't know, most of these European soldiers are poor people who have nothing to live on, to put it mildly, they are hooligans and ruffians, and they just want to make money and become soldiers." For them, those who have milk are mothers, and as long as we can pay them, it doesn't matter who they serve as soldiers. ”

"Really?" Tu Wenhuan still doesn't understand, in his opinion, Europeans and Asians even look different, belonging to a typical "non-my race", how can these people be willing to work for the Ming Dynasty?

Su Hao smiled: "Mr. Tu, let's wait and see, but I have to find a few missionaries to brainwash them first." When the missionaries finished talking to them, there were people who would be willing to work for us. ”

"What if you don't want to work?" Tu Wenhuan asked again.

Su Hao said: "What's so difficult about this, we have opened so many mines in Luzon, and there is still a shortage of miners." If you don't want to be a soldier and eat food, let them be miners for the rest of their lives. ”

"This ...... It's really dark to change it. Tu Wenhuan laughed. (To be continued......)