When the Marines boarded the surrendered Spanish merchant ship and sent back the signal that control had been taken, the ships of the Seventh Fleet erupted in cheers.

Liu Yunwen let out a long sigh and finally won. His body, which had been tense for a long time, finally relaxed, and he realized that his back was already wet with sweat.

"Commander, you're wounded."

A young naval officer was born to report to the commander, only to find that one of the commander's trouser legs was covered in blood, and there was a pool of blood on the deck where he was standing.

Liu Yunwen lowered his head, only to realize that he had shed so much blood.

"Medic!" The officers shouted.

There were specialized military doctors on the battleship, and basically every ship had one. Ordinary frigates have only one officer on board, and some will have an assistant. On a cruiser, the medic could have two or three assistants. And on the flagship of the fleet, on the flying general Li Guang, who has one hundred and four guns, there is a medical team consisting of two military doctors and four assistants.

Even the fleet has a special hospital ship, with more than 30 medical personnel on board, as well as many medical equipment and medicines, which are specially responsible for rescuing casualties.

Sweaty medics came running, and during the battle, the medics were also the busiest, although the fleet had hospital ships, but during the battle, the medical staff on each ship had to do emergency treatment for some emergency injuries, stop bleeding and bandage or even amputate limbs.

The middle-aged military doctor's white robe was already covered with blood, and he leaned over to Liu Yunwen's lap to take a closer look.

"It's a wooden thorn!"

In naval warfare, the solid shells of naval guns are line kills, one line at a time. But the wooden spikes that the cannonballs splashed through the side of the ship were different, they were blast sputter damage, and the spikes and splinters flying around the deck and cabin would take the lives of those around them without mercy.

During the battle, General Fei Li Guanghao also rushed to the front, with a total of one hundred and four large and small guns on his three-tier gun deck. Dealt a heavy blow to the Spanish Navy. However, in the course of the fierce firefight, General Li Guang also suffered a lot of shells, and the mast, sails, rigging, and armor plates of the ship's side were all lost to varying degrees, and even a few cannons were eaten under the waterline.

Liu Yunwen was injured in the leg by the wooden stab splashed when the ship hit the ship's armor during the battle, but he was too focused when commanding, so that Liu Yunwen didn't feel it at the time, and he didn't find out until this time.

"The injury?"

Several senior officers of the fleet who arrived asked worriedly. Such a great victory in this naval battle, if the commander of the fleet had an accident after the battle, it would have been too unworthy.

Wooden thorns may seem like small things, but they are very lethal, especially sometimes it is difficult to remove and clean. Many Navy soldiers were wounded by wooden thorns, often with disabilities or even amputations.

"The commander was lucky, although he shed a lot of blood, which seemed serious. But it's just a thorn, not a thorn, and it doesn't hurt the muscles and bones, and it's fine to take it out and bandage it after disinfection. ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Yunwen couldn't help laughing. "I said I shouldn't have been so unlucky to die not under the cannon of the Spaniards, but under a thorn of wood. Lao Hu, have the casualties of each ship been counted? ”

Lao Hu is the deputy commander of the fleet. The first thing to do after the war was to count the casualties and battle damage, so that the carpenters could repair the ships as soon as possible, and let the sailors drain the incoming water. At the same time, the communication ship sent the wounded to the hospital ship behind for treatment.

"We have lost a sixth-rank frigate, as well as three gunboats and two communication boats, and so far the number of dead has amounted to five hundred and thirteen. There are also about 200 wounded, all of whom have been initially treated by the military doctors of the boats, and the seriously wounded have also been transferred to the medical ships. ”

After Liu Yunwen heard this, he sighed.

"With the loss of six ships and the death of more than 500 brothers, our victory this time was not easy to come by."

The head of the sect said on the side, "We are not a loss, we have killed more than 1,000 Spaniards and captured more than 2,000. Six of their warships were sunk, thirty-seven were captured, and more than 100 of their fire attack ships were sunk. ”

The Seventh Fleet dispatched more than 100 ships, six of which were destroyed, of which only one was of the grade, and the rest of the warships were not seriously damaged and could be repaired. More than 10,000 soldiers were killed in more than 500 soldiers, and the death ratio was only 20 to 1, which was already a very good record.

"They all died for the empire, and we are going to hold a sea burial for them." Liu Yunwen said.

In naval warfare in this era, in fact, it was the same tactic as the army's queue shooting, and after entering the firing range, a salvo was fired. In order to ensure firepower, it is necessary to get as close as possible, and then line up in a salvo.

In such a close-range salvo, although the ships can sometimes withstand multiple rounds of artillery unsinkable, sometimes a salvo of close-range artillery can kill half of your sailors in one salvo.

In the unlikely event that the battleship sinks, the entire crew of the ship may be wiped out.

The Navy looks glamorous, but in fact it is very bitter. Drifting at sea for many years, he couldn't eat or sleep well, and he suffered heavy casualties in battle.

Sea burial is the traditional fate of seafarers after their death at sea, and in the Han Imperial Navy, it has also become a kind of glory for the imperial navy.

From the five tiger admirals of the navy, down to the ordinary soldiers of the navy, and even the military dogs of the Marine Corps, they are all entitled to this treatment after death.

Each ship tried to recover the corpse of the fallen soldier, even if it was broken into pieces, it had to buy one or two pieces, and even if it sank into the sea and there were no bones left, one or two of his clothes had to be taken out for this solemn ceremony.

Eternal with the sea, this is the ultimate destination of every Imperial Admiral, their eternal glory.

The fleet was moored at sea.

Liu Yunwen, the commander of the fleet who had bandaged his wounds, personally presided over this solemn sea burial ceremony.

All the officers and men of the various fleets assembled on the deck.

At this time, all the officers changed into the most formal officer uniforms, and the sailors also changed into military uniforms, and everyone was full of solemnity.

There were no monks, Taoists, priests, or priests on board the warships of the Han Dynasty, and the ceremonies were presided over by the captains of each ship. The whole ceremony was that the soldiers who died on each ship were buried at sea on the flagship.

Under dusk.

There was still the smoke of the battle on the sea, and Liu Yunwen stood on the deck, reading aloud the list of fallen soldiers.

In addition to all the members of the Flying General Li Guang, the officers on the other ships also came to attend the ceremony.

Liu Yunwen read out the names of each of the fallen soldiers, as well as all their ship numbers and positions on the ships, and each one would add a few comments on them.

The ship's medic and their assistants, together with the ship's sailors, give the fallen officers and men a final grooming process, scrub them clean, and change into the most formal military uniforms.

Instead of coffins, the soldiers buried at sea sew them up with sails, and traditionally, sew a few cannonballs into them so that their bodies could sink to the bottom of the sea.

After reading a list of more than 500 fallen soldiers, it was time to be buried.

On the deck, the naval guard began to play the Sabbath.

"Raise your gun!"

The head of the instructor, dressed in a straight military uniform, held a navy tricorn hat in his hand and shouted orders.

A group of Marines walked to the side of the ship with their guns in their hands and raised their rifles.

"Put!"

Bang bang bang gunshots rang out.

The second shot of the Marines stepped forward and raised their guns to the sky and fired again. Then there was a third shot, and so on, twenty-one rows of guns were fired in succession, and the salute was fired.

After the 21 shots were fired, the bow guns of the Fei General Li Guang also began to fire, and the rest of the ships followed suit, and another 21 shots were fired.

In the air filled with the smell of gunsmoke, two hands carried the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the side of the ship.

On the body bag sewn by the sails, there is also a nine-headed dragon flag of the Han Navy. The flap was placed on the side of the ship, and the captain of the fallen soldier, in place of his family, received from the sailors the folded naval flag, which was to be handed over to his family along with the relics of the fallen soldier.

Of the more than 500 soldiers killed in this battle, the highest rank was a naval right lieutenant, who was the first mate of the sixth-class frigate, and was killed on the spot when the battleship was hit.

"Salute!"

Liu Yunwen took the lead in saluting.

In everyone's attention, two sailors raised the rear end of the flap and let the remains of their fallen comrades slide into the sea.

The body bag sewn into the sails fell into the sea, in which there were shells, so it quickly sank into the sea.

One canvas bag after another slipped into the sea, and the atmosphere of the fleet was heavy, and this was the price paid for victory.

After the first day of funerals, the Seventh Fleet held several funerals in the following days, and many of the seriously wounded did not survive.

The final death toll in the Battle of Manila Bay also reached 578. There are dozens of seriously injured people who survived, but they all have varying degrees of disability, some are blind, some have broken hands, some have sawed off a leg, and even some unlucky people have no legs, although these people survived, they can only retire.

"Manila's fleet has been wiped out, what are we going to do next?"

Liu Yunwen just said lightly, "Of course, we will continue to blockade the port of Manila." ”

Although Manila's fleet was finished, the fortress of Manila Harbor was still strong, and their shore defense guns were still undamaged. Liu Yunwen did not plan to use the fleet to challenge the shore defense artillery of these fortresses, or use the Marine Corps to storm the fortress.

Keep around, and victory will always be theirs.

"Maybe we can send someone to persuade us to surrender." The chief of staff proposed.

"You can give it a try, find a prisoner, and let them bring a letter of persuasion back to the Philippine Governor, so that he can recognize the situation and surrender as soon as possible."

"We will not accept any peace talks other than surrender."

From among the Spanish naval captives, an ensign officer was selected and asked to return to Manila in a small boat with a letter of surrender.

"Your Excellency the Governor, Marquis Liu Yunsheng, Commander of the Seventh Fleet of the Han Imperial Navy, requests His Excellency the Governor of the Philippines of Spain to immediately lead the defenders of Manila City to lay down their arms and surrender! If not, you will bear the consequences! (To be continued.) )