[Today's second update]

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.

At this point, the southeast wind suddenly changes to a south wind. The wind was blowing in favor of the Philippine fleet, but the smoke from the battlefield blew northward, just blocking the Philippine fleet and the Pacific Fleet. The collapse of the Dutch fleet's plan to encircle the Philippine fleet from behind gave Giulio a respite.

"General! Now the wind is in our favor, and we can counter-suppress the de facto wind direction of the Dutch fleet! ”

Giulio said worriedly: "It's just that we have a small number of warships, and the anti-suppression may not have much effect." If the Pacific Fleet can come quickly, it can be tried, but now the back is completely cut off by thick smoke, and the Pacific Fleet is busy eating the dozen or so Dutch warships, I'm afraid it won't be able to reinforce us in time! ”

At this moment, a cannonball flew and instantly shattered the artifacts near the bridge. After the utensils were shattered, they were shot in all directions, and the hot shells rubbed out a cloud of green smoke, which was really choking.

Francisco patted the debris on his body, found a flat place, and reopened the chart.

"It's a southerly wind now, and if the Dutch fleet wants to regain the right to the wind, it can only go southwest into the South China Sea! And in front of us is the island of Lubang, which divides the south wind again into southeast and southwest winds, and we are now able to take advantage of the south wind for only half an hour! ”

Julio shook his head and said, "Half an hour is not enough time!" ”

This method of regular warfare, one-on-one heads-up, obviously wants to cause a decisive turn for the opponent for half an hour.

Francisco was disappointed for a moment, how he wanted to defeat the Dutch fleet before he could give an account of the loss of the treasure fleet, or else he would have to wait for a court-martial.

"I can't tell the winner today!"

Julio looked at the sky, it was almost evening, and it looked like the two sides were about to stop.

"No, we have a chance!"

"What do you say? Be louder! ”

The roar of the cannon was deafening, and Giulio did not hear Francisco clearly.

"Look, General! The island of Lubang in front of us is a long and narrow island, and the southwesterly wind blows over the South China Sea to the east, and the Dutch fleet must go through the South China Sea, so we must not follow it, because the Dutch fleet has the upper hand, and the smoke of gunpowder blows towards us. On the other hand, we must take the Verde waterway to the west of Lubang, but the southeast wind blows there, and we have the upper hand, and the Dutch fleet does not dare to come! ”

"That's it!"

Giulio nodded, "I already saw it!" That's why I'm telling you that today's battle is over! ”

"Nope! It's not over! Look here! ”

With a bang, I don't know whose half of the arm was, and blood fell from the sky onto the chart, which immediately dyed a large piece of the chart.

Francisco picked it up, looked at it a few times, skimmed it off, and wiped the blood directly with his hand, which made Giulio almost vomit, but he swallowed it back.

The charts are a little vague, but they don't affect Francisco's explanation, and Giulio understands them.

"The end of the waterway of the island of Verde goes directly out of the South China Sea, and we will ambush the Dutch fleet in the southern waters of Lubang Island before they do! At that time, we had the upper hand and suddenly appeared behind the Dutch fleet, and scared them to death if we couldn't kill them! ”

Giulio wiped a cold sweat, but has to say that Francisco's construction is very good. It is perfectly possible to take a shortcut and ambush the South China Sea Shipping Route before the enemy fleet does, and to take the Dutch fleet by surprise.

The two discussed and decided on the next plan of action.

At this time, the latest battle damage report came up. The Philippine fleet has sunk three ships and suffered heavy damage to six warships. The Dutch East India Fleet, on the other hand, sank one and suffered heavy damage to five.

After hearing the report, Giulio was very unhappy, so he was even more determined to take the Verde Island waterway and prepare to ambush the Dutch East India fleet in the South China Sea in the middle of the night to take revenge.

At the same time, Giulio ordered one of the warships that had withdrawn from the battle sequence to return to Manila, and after encountering the Pacific Fleet, he asked the Pacific Fleet to pursue the Dutch fleet along the South China Sea all the way south, and informed Shi Jianfei of the approximate time of ambushing the Dutch fleet. The other five ships were taken to St. Louis in Barayan Bay, where there was also a repair shop and it was nearby.

In the next half hour of fierce fighting, the two sides gradually widened the distance between each other because they had to go their own ways, which widened the distance between the two sides and greatly reduced the battle loss rate.

At about five o'clock, the fleets of both sides broke away and stopped exchanging fire. The Dutch East India Fleet continued along the South China Sea, while the Philippine Fleet took a shortcut through the Verde Island waterway, preparing to resupply at St. Louis in Barayan Bay before ambushing the Dutch fleet in the South China Sea.

Because Lubang Island was a long, narrow island straddling the eastern side of the South China Sea, it took three hours longer for the Dutch fleet to reach Batavia via the South China Sea than it did to reach its destination through the Verde Island waterway. This allowed the Philippine fleet to resupply at St. Louis in Barayan Bay for two hours before ambushing the Dutch fleet.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

"Julio has taken the bait!"

"Looks like you didn't spend your time here in vain!"

In order to study the Philippine fleet, Rejoz has been looking for a suitable battlefield near the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies for several months.

This Verde Island waterway was his last choice.

The waterways of Fode Island are long and narrow, but they are connected to the South China Sea at both ends. To the east of the middle of the island of Phok is a huge bay called Barayan Bay. It is a large commercial port, and an important port town is St. Louis.

The Fode Island Waterway is named after Fode Island, because Fode Island is right in the middle of the waterway, holding the north-south passage.

The bay was large, about the size of Manila, but it was not guarded by the fortified forts at the mouth of Manila Bay. Shore artillery was only available on Verde Island, but had been destroyed by months of raids by Reyoz.

Arnhem mobilized 30 frigates and hundreds of sloops, and had quietly stationed behind Verde Island, preparing a large number of gunpowder, sulfur, sea oil, and other flammable materials, waiting to play with fire to the Ming-Spanish combined fleet.

Of course, Arnhem didn't know that the situation had changed, only the Philippine fleet entered the ambush zone, and he brought enough supplies, which were originally prepared for the combined fleet, and now it seems that they are going to be greeted to the Philippine fleet.

Watching the Philippine fleet sail into the Fode Island waterway, the Dutch fleet commanders Rejots and Turner looked at each other and smiled, continued to walk in the South China Sea for half an hour, and then immediately turned back and also turned into the Fode Island waterway.

"General! There is also the Pacific Fleet behind! What if I come along? ”

"If you're Julio, why would you let the battered battleship go back to Manila, a little farther away, to recuperate, instead of the nearest St. Louis?" ”

Turner said: "He is informing the Pacific Fleet, deploy the plan!" ”

Rejoz nodded and said, "If I were Julio, I would ambush and set up an ambush in the South China Sea at the exit of the Verde Island waterway, and then let the Pacific Fleet go directly to the South China Sea, so that we can concentrate the maximum number of forces to flank us in front and rear!" ”

"Shogun Takami!"

Turner said: "Governor Arnhem is ready anyway, and it shouldn't be a problem to burn the Philippine fleet." Why don't we turn around and attack the Pacific Fleet? ”

Rejoz smiled bitterly and said, "If we go back, we will fight to the death with the Pacific Fleet." In this way, the Pacific Fleet will definitely be hit hard, so that the Ming Empire and the Spanish Empire will form a stronger alliance, we won this time, but it does not mean that we can win next time. After all, we are just a company, and the other side is the first big country in the East and the first big country in the West, do you think it's a good deal? ”

"Then we can't be bullied like this!"

Turner said unhappily: "The Ming people have seized Taiwan, and now they are helping the Spaniards to attack our company, in a certain sea area in the north, at this moment our twelve warships are being ravaged by them, we can't just forget it!" ”

Rejoz nodded and sighed, "That's what I told Governor Arnhem at the beginning!" But Arnhem told me that we now transport goods from Daming to Europe every year, and the profit we make is far greater than the benefit we have from losing Taiwan and these twelve warships, you say that we as a merchant, which one do we choose? ”

Turner was silent.

Rejoz smiled and said, "It should also be the luck of the Ming people, if they don't separate from the Philippine fleet, tonight will be their time to die!" ”

Turner sighed: "It seems that if the Pacific Fleet is not destroyed this time, only the Philippine Fleet is eliminated, our company will continue to cooperate with Daming after the war, right?" ”

"Of course!"

Rejoz nodded very affirmatively and said: "The Philippine fleet is gone, and the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Empire can no longer threaten our East India Fleet, and at that time, a treaty will be concluded again, and if you don't get it, you will divide the Philippines together!" ”

Turner shook his head and said with a wry smile: "This is the political game in the mouth of the governor!" ”

Rejoz smiled faintly, noncommittal.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

The Dutch fleet sacrificed twelve warships to delay the Pacific Fleet, and in turn the Pacific Fleet took the opportunity to create an opportunity for the Dutch fleet to lose both.

While the two sides are hostile, there is also a coalition, which is in line with the saying that there are no eternal enemies and friends between countries, only eternal interests.

Thick smoke billowed on the sea, and in the roaring of artillery, it could be heard that the three countries were looking after each other.

The Pacific Fleet's 60 cruisers defeated 10 abandoned Dutch warships, and the battle could be said to be in full swing, and even ended the battle quickly.

However, as the commander of the Dutch fleet, Rejotz, had guessed, the Pacific Fleet was intent on cheating on the Spaniards.

In less than half an hour of fierce fighting, six of the ten Dutch ships were sunk. Shi Jianfei hurriedly called a halt and ordered the Pacific Fleet to besiege the remaining four enemy ships from afar, slowly torturing each other. Seeing that they were encircled by the Pacific Fleet and that their own fleet was not coming to reinforce them, the Dutch on the four Dutch ships decided to surrender. However, Shi Jianfei turned a blind eye to their actions of raising the white flag, and continued to attack the other party with artillery, but did not sink them, but just surrounded them on the sea with a radius of ten miles in the middle.

As a result, the remaining four enemy ships engaged in a "fierce battle" with the Pacific Fleet until 4 p.m. before accepting their surrender.

At this time, the Pacific Fleet and the Philippine Fleet were separated, which made the Spanish liaison officers on each ship very frightened and questioned the captains of each ship.

In this regard, Shi Jianfei finally gave an explanation, because the battlefield was suddenly chaotic just now, and the thick smoke locked the sea, which made the fleet lose contact with the Philippine fleet. At this time, it was even more because of the need to exterminate the remnants of the Dutch fleet, and the news of the Philippine fleet was lost.

Because the Pacific Fleet did not receive the flag sent by the Spaniards, and when Shi Jianfei changed his plan of action, he used the Pacific Fleet's own flag, which made it impossible for the Spanish liaison officers in the fleet to obtain any battlefield information, and could only stare at the smoke and the sea in a daze.

"Will this put the Philippine fleet in danger, if it is not a lose-lose ending, then we are not busy in vain?"

Shen Yanghao raised questions, and Shi Jianfei explained: "According to the current situation, among the three of Daming, the Philippines, and the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch fleet is the strongest, followed by us, and the Philippines is the worst. Ostensibly, we need to unite the Philippine fleet to defeat the Dutch fleet. But just now I found out that our tactics can definitely restrain the tactics of the Dutch fleet. Although we can't eat an elephant in one bite, we can eat one bite today and one bite tomorrow, and even the biggest elephant can eat it. ”

Shen Yanghao asked suspiciously: "However, if the Netherlands and the Philippines are allowed to compete alone, the Philippines will definitely lose and the Netherlands will win!" Aren't we going to deal with the strong? In turn, we will take out the Netherlands together with the Philippines, and then the remaining Philippines will definitely be much weaker! ”

"Who let you say that!"

Shi Jianfei said with a smile: "You forgot that there is also the East India Company of the four countries of Britain, France, Sweden and Norway, this year, they have not been idle, forming a joint fleet of the four countries, and the scale of the warships does not have to be worse than ours!" ”

"What do you mean!"

"Our goal is to look at Southeast Asia, and we are the only one!"

Shi Jianfei explained: "According to your deployment just now, we and the Philippines will be left in the end, and the Philippines is determined to win a crushing victory in the war against the Netherlands, and its strength is the worst. At this time, the Four-Nation Coalition will definitely not help the strong, but the weak. Even if they don't dare to stumble openly on the surface, they will secretly support the Philippines against us! ”

Shen Yanghao nodded and said, "Yes!" The four countries of them definitely don't want us to be dominant! After the war with the Netherlands, they are expected to guard against us and make it more difficult for us! ”

Shi Jianfei nodded and said, "So, if we want to be the final winner, we must also pay the minimum price!" Let the Philippines and the Netherlands consume, and it will not be good for us for the Philippines to win. So let the Dutch win. After the battle against the Philippines, the strength of the Dutch will be greatly depleted. But our strength was preserved, and at this time the Anglo-French-Sweed-Norwegian kingdoms were even more jealous of the Dutch because of their victory. So, we can unite with the four countries and defeat the Netherlands. We are far from the Dutch East Indies. But the East India Company of the Four Nations is in Southeast Asia and India, and they are the closest, and the four countries will compete with the Dutch at any cost. ”

Shen Yanghao continued: "In this way, the strength of the six countries in Southeast Asia will be consumed because of this, and we can take the opportunity to pick the fruits of victory!" ”

Shi Jianfei nodded and said, "That's what it means!" ”

As soon as the words fell, I saw a Philippine fleet warship sailing scarred. The signal soldier contacted the other party through the guò banner, and Julio's orders and plans were only known to Shi Jianfei and others.

"This Julio has some tricks!"

Shi Jianfei and Shen Yanghao glanced at each other, both surprised. If Julio's plan succeeds, it is believed that the Dutch fleet will be severely damaged or even completely annihilated.

That would be boring, and it would affect the progress of Deng Haonan's meddling in Southeast Asian affairs.

"Looks like we can't be careless!"

"Let's go! Go and see the excitement! ”

The Pacific Fleet continued southward, albeit more slowly, arriving at the mouth of the northern waterway of Ford Island at about nine o'clock in the evening.

Of course, it was necessary to slow down, because Shi Jianfei did not want the Philippine fleet to win.

"Which way to go?"

Shi Jianfei hesitated, if he went to the South China Sea, in case of a rout of the Dutch fleet, would he intercept it or not? If you take the waterway of Fode Island, how can you explain it to Julio, it is to destroy the alliance relationship.

At this moment, the sentry suddenly shouted, and the southeast direction burst into flames.

Shi Jianfei could only see a faint light in the southeast direction of the sky on the bridge, so he had to climb to the mainmast of more than 40 meters to observe.

Sure enough, standing high and seeing far away, the southeast direction was indeed blazing.

After coming down, Shi Jianfei's face was full of doubts, and he hurriedly found the map provided to him by the Philippine governor.

"There's no reason! It looks like St. Louis over there! The location of Julio's ambush should be in the South China Sea to the southwest! ”

Shen Yanghao was also confused, and suddenly said: "Could it be that Julio did not ambush the Dutch fleet, but was beaten by the Dutch fleet?" ”

Two marching routes, either you ambush me or I ambush you! Since Giulio thought of ambushing the Dutch fleet, there was no reason why Rejoz wouldn't want to kill the Philippine fleet!

"Yes! The Dutch fleet clearly knows that the combined fleet we have formed is stronger than theirs, but they still come to provoke, it must be a trap set up by them! ”

The battlefield is no longer in the South China Sea, and it is not the Philippine fleet ambushing the Dutch fleet, on the contrary, the Dutch fleet ambushed the Philippine fleet in Barayan Bay, which was on the air for a short period of replenishment.

When the Pacific Fleet arrived at Barayam Bay, it saw a sea of fire in the bay, which covered an area of several hundred square kilometers. The fire was scorching, illuminating the vicinity of the bay as if it were day. The bay was littered with the burning wreckage of warships, thick smoke billowing out, and a series of explosions were heard from time to time.

The sea was full of corpses, and everywhere was the sound of Spanish soldiers screaming and stacking rings, and the cruelty of war reached its peak at this moment.

The entire Philippine fleet, along with Port St. Louis and the entire Barayan Bay, was reduced to flames.

Shi Jianfei wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and put the Pacific Fleet in it. If it weren't for his improvised intention to pit the Philippine fleet, I am afraid that the Pacific Fleet would have been anchored in Barayam Bay now, tasting the taste of being roasted by fire.

Shen Yanghao smiled evilly on the side: "Hey! Someone's got lucky today! ”

"you!" Shi Jianfei scolded with a smile: "Look at my joke, don't you? Grandma's, Lao Tzu is in a cold sweat! ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Thank you for the reward of 54 children's shoes! ] 】V