On the deck, Liu Zhisheng raised his telescope and carefully observed Tadpole Island, and searched the nearby sea surface again before turning his head to Zheng Qingyuan and asking, "Does anyone know about the artillery arrangement on Tadpole Island?" ”

"No, I already asked. (Read Novel.com!) Zheng Qingyuan shook his head and said, "When we escaped, two artillery pieces on the island opened fire, and the accuracy was very poor, judging from the water column that was hit, it should be more than twenty-four pound guns. ”

Lin Wei interjected and asked, "Is the main channel on the right?" ”

"Yes, in the middle of the waterway on the right." Zheng Qingyuan nodded.

Lin Wei looked at Liu Zhisheng and said: "The warships of the Fujian Navy Division are slow, and we must defeat the forts on the island, otherwise, we can't afford to lose." ”

"Shoot two warships to test the firepower from the left and right." Liu Zhisheng nodded and said, "Remind them to stay away, and pay attention to the left channel to hit the reef." ”

The flag-whispering soldier immediately waved his order to give the order, and the two battleships immediately broke away from the formation and galloped forward quickly.

Spanish Second Lieutenant Pipoll watched the two battleships test from the left and right sides at the same time, and his face turned pale all of a sudden, damn it, are these Qing people planning to land and fight?

Looking at the battleships that were getting closer and closer, without waiting for Pipol's order, there was a cannon that took the lead in firing, and there was a great deal of blind obedience on the battlefield, especially the recruits who had not experienced the battle formation, as soon as they saw someone firing, the other artillery guns opened fire immediately, and the rumbling cannon immediately resounded across the sea.

Indeed, as Zheng Qingyuan said, the accuracy of the artillery was ridiculously poor, and the water column shot by the shells falling into the water was far away from the battleship.

Liu and Lin put down their binoculars and couldn't help but smile at each other, there was no doubt that the recruits stationed on Tadpole Island were all newer than them, and there were only four artillery pieces on the left side to defend them.

Liu Zhisheng ordered without hesitation: "Order Wang Xin's team to lean up from the left, and the musket team will land and attack with small rows." Luo Shengming's squad shelled head-on, attacked and harassed, and contained their firepower. ”

"What? Fancy these thirty-pounder guns? Lin Wei asked with a smile.

"To be exact, I've taken a fancy to these iron materials." Liu Zhisheng chuckled: "At least a thirty-pound cannon, thirty thousand catties of iron, not a small amount." ”

Seeing that ten battleships were approaching from the left and right, Pipol angrily scolded, and the person who designed the placement of the battery was simply an idiot! Scolding and scolding, he actually knew very well in his heart that there was not much problem with the distribution of the battery's firepower, and the quality of the gunners was a little low, but the most important thing was the artillery, which exceeded 500 yards, and it was simply a matter of luck, which was also the reason why he did not supervise training on weekdays.

Pipol, who calmed down, immediately ordered loudly: "Order all gun positions, no artillery is allowed to fire without an order!" As for turning the muzzle, he didn't dare to think at all, the fourteen thirty-two-pounder guns were about 3,000 pounds each, and they couldn't move at all in half a day.

"Boom Boom" Luo Shengming's team saw that the other party did not move, and boldly approached to a distance of 1,000 yards to preemptively open fire, because the artillery positions on Tadpole Island had been exposed, although the accuracy of this round of shelling was a little worse, but the difference in the bombing point was not far.

Seeing that the other party lined up in a battle line from a thousand yards away and opened fire, Pi Pol originally sneered, and when he looked up and saw a group of shells rushing towards him, he was so frightened that he immediately hid behind a big rock, and after a loud "bang", there were several screams, Pi Polden felt his scalp numb, how could the opponent's artillery have such a high accuracy at a distance of 1,000 yards?

He didn't have time to think about it at this time, and immediately shouted loudly: "Fight back!" Shoot back! After shouting a few times, he realized that something was wrong, and when he turned around, he saw that in addition to the two bloody corpses, there were three people behind him, and the three people were not in the gun position, but squatted to the side and vomited. ..., Manila Governor's Palace.

The Governor-General, Duke Mai Ruoting, received a letter of help from Tadpole Island, and looked at it twice in a row, he couldn't believe his eyes, the Qing fleet was at the door, what about the Far East fleet? Where did the invincible Spanish Far Eastern Fleet go? After a long pause, he leaned weakly back on the high-backed chair.

Of the 30 Qing fleets, 16 of which were Dutch warships, could it be said that the Dutch and the Qing joined forces to defeat the Far East Fleet? But even if the battle is defeated, there should be a warship that escapes back to Manila, why hasn't a single warship returned? Is it the destruction of the whole army? That's thirty-five warships, a thousand men! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder.

Seeing that Governor Mai Ruoting was silent for a long time, Lieutenant Commander Monterey, who stayed behind, was anxious and asked tentatively: "Your Excellency the Governor, is our warship facing the battle, or." ”

"Fighting?" Mai Ruoting stared at him a little distractedly, "How many warships do you still have?" ”

"Seven, Your Excellency the Governor." Lieutenant Colonel Monterey replied respectfully: "There is one third-class battleship, three fourth-class battleships, and three auxiliary ships. 2,200 in all. ”

Mai Ruoting stared at him for a long time before he said, "Are you sure that you can fight the thirty warships of the Qing Kingdom?" ”

Monterey was silent immediately, and if you are sure that you will win, I will still ask you? Even if the other side is all auxiliary ships, there are 30 of them, and they are blocked in Manila Bay, this battle cannot be fought at all.

"Now it's not the battleships that matter, it's the city of Manila." Mai Ruoting sighed lightly and said slowly: "Let the sailors sail the warship out of the port, take refuge in Manila Bay, and gather all the soldiers in the city of Manila to prevent the Qing people from attacking the city." ”

Manila Bay is only a big place, and the other party's thirty warships can be searched out in an hour, isn't this giving the battleships to the Qing people? Monterey couldn't help but curse himself, but he didn't have a better way, perhaps, Governor Mairodin's decision was right, and now he had to make sure that Manila was not lost, and it seemed that the garrison of Tadpole Island could only ask God for help.

Although Tadpole Island did not organize a decent resistance, it took most of the day to completely occupy it, and after asking at least one and a half hours from Tadpole Island to Manila, Liu Zhisheng ordered the channel to be blocked and rested on the spot for one night.

Second Lieutenant Piper was interrogated, and it was learned that there were seven warships and 2,000 navy in Manila Harbor, while Manila City was garrisoned with 800 Spanish musketeers and 2,000 natives outside the city.

Knowing this situation, Liu Zhisheng and Lin Wei were all relaxed, with this amount of troops, it can be decided in a battle tomorrow, not afraid that it has thick walls and many artillery, but the dean asked to capture the Spanish governor as much as possible, which is a bit tricky.

! @#