As Scrooge had predicted, the Spanish warships that rushed out of the San Diego military port were intercepted by the American fleet, and a "tragic" naval battle immediately began. However, this "tragedy" should be talked about separately, the Spanish fleet was beaten "badly", while the American fleet was happily "fierce".

The Spaniards had four decent armored cruisers in their fleet, and although the reciprocating steam engines were not at all comparable to the American steam turbines, the 6,800-ton cruisers were at least one or two thousand tons better than their cruisers in Asia, with no armor protection at all, or even simply wooden hulls. And in their ranks even included a battleship with a displacement of up to 13000 tons! In addition to these five capital ships, the Spaniards had three destroyers with a negligible displacement of 750 tons. If such a fleet were to be placed in Manila, it would be a great headache for Admiral Dewey. And now they are in the Caribbean, facing the Atlantic Fleet, the main force of the United States.

The American fleet opposite the Spaniards had three battleships, and to the worst of all, they were all of the latest models. Although because Congress was stingy and always liked to deduct military spending, the displacement of these three battleships was not much larger than that of the battleship "Queen Isabella I" in the hands of Spain, only 17,000 tons. Far less than the latest dreadnought-class battleships in the hands of the British, which have a displacement of more than 20,000 tons, it is really not enough. Of course, this situation made both Scrooge and Morgan happy. Because it means that when the time comes, you can use this as an excuse to knock out these newly built battleships and replace them with newer and stronger ones. And that's big business again.

However, compared with the old-fashioned goods in the hands of the Spaniards with a maximum speed of only 15 knots and still using the first and second main guns, the battleships with the Americans' speed of up to 20 knots and the unified 12-inch long-barreled guns were absolutely overwhelming. Not to mention, in addition to three battleships, the Americans had in their fleet five armored cruisers with a displacement of 10,000 tons. Although these cruisers were called cruisers, because of the technological advantages brought about by the development of the times, their combat effectiveness was actually stronger than the so-called battleships of the Spaniards. And the speed of up to 25 knots also makes it easier for them to seize advantageous attack positions.

In such a situation, there is hardly any suspense about the outcome of this naval battle. The American fleet, with the help of the entire fleet of 20 knots, easily seized the T-head of the Spaniards. That is, the American fleet flanked the Spanish fleet in the direction of its advance. At this time, all the guns on the ships in the American fleet could fire unhindered, on the contrary, the tail guns of the Spanish battleships were completely useless, and even if they could use the bow guns, they would be blocked and interfered with by other ships in the formation. As a result, the gap in firepower between the two sides has been widened again. As a result, an hour after the start of the naval battle, the Spaniards' flagship "Queen Isabella I" was hit by at least fifteen 12-inch armor-piercing shells, the entire superstructure was smashed, all the turrets were destroyed, and one shell also entered the power compartment, and the battleship lost more than half of its power. Now this warship, at best, can barely float on the water. Several other cruisers were also scarred.

The cruiser Amilette Oquindo was hit by several 12-inch and 11-inch shells, one of which was 11-inch armor-piercing shells that pierced the armor of the ammunition depot, causing a fire. In order to prevent the ammunition depot from exploding and sending the entire ship into the sky, the captain had to order the depot to be flooded. This avoided the danger of the ammunition depot exploding, but also completely deprived the ship of firepower.

The situation with the cruiser Viskaya was also terrible. All it had left was one turret with firepower, and all the others were dumbfounded. Fortunately, his powertrain is still intact.

The condition of the Cologne was probably the worst, it did not receive many shells, but it was extremely deadly, first one shell landed on the stern of the ship, blowing up the entire steering gear, and then because it could not turn, it was hit twice. Thunder. Today, the boat has tilted nearly 20 degrees, and the inclination is rapidly increasing. The captain had already given the order to abandon the ship, and the sailors were busy jumping into the sea and swimming as far away from the ship as possible.

The last cruiser, the Asturias, was in the best situation. He lost only one main turret, and although there were quite a few shots in other parts, but, in general, at least he had no problems sailing.

Major General Servera knew that the outcome of the battle was irreversible. So he ordered the fleet to disperse and break through.

However, how could the Spanish fleet, which was lower and smaller in number, succeed in breaking through even if it was scattered? And even if the damaged ships break through, where can they go?

In the end, the Spanish fleet could only end up in total annihilation. In this battle, the losses of the American army were extremely small, only one person was killed and two were wounded.

The destruction of the Spanish fleet officially declared the defeat of Spain. Because it was no longer possible for Spain to send a new support fleet to Cuba.

The day after the destruction of the Spanish fleet, the Spanish envoys in Cuba arrived at the American barracks. After receiving assurances from the Americans that they would be treated "according to humanitarian standards", the Spanish troops in Cuba raised the white flag to the American troops. During the entire negotiation process, only Spaniards and Americans participated in the negotiations. The Cuban rebels knew nothing about this. So the next day, they were surprised to find that the American flags had been flying over the areas controlled by the Spaniards, and those key positions in Cuba had also fallen into the hands of the Americans.

……

Now the days of the Spanish army in Asia are becoming more and more difficult. After the defeat of the fleet by the Americans, the Filipinos, who had already been basically suppressed, suddenly came back to their senses. And those Filipinos also got a lot of weapons from those Americans. These damn Yankees are like those monkeys supplying weapons!

Although Filipinos are stupid monkeys, it is not easy for monkeys to have guns in their hands. Although the Americans gave the Filipinos a bad gun either. Most of them are old colors, and many of them even use black. Fire. MacDonald of Medicine 1857. But that's what kills people, too. To make matters worse, the Spaniards were too few in number and too scattered. In the past, when the Spaniards still had a fleet, most of the bases could travel between them by sea. Today, the sea route has been completely cut off. As a result, the Spaniards, who were scattered in other areas, had little to no supply. For safety, the Spaniards had to voluntarily shrink to several larger strongholds. As a result, the rebel army led by Aguinaldo "liberated" most of the Philippines with almost no effort.

"Sir, climb the hill ahead and you'll reach Bacolod." A Spanish soldier said to their company commander, Frank.

"Ah, that's great." Frank said, then he turned back and shouted to the group of Spanish civilians who followed, "Citizens, all right, we're going to Bacolod." ”

"Great! That's great! ”

"Ah, it's finally here, I'm still worried...... Oh my God! ”

Suddenly there were all kinds of voices in the crowd.

Bacolod is the largest city on the island of Negros in the Philippines and one of the earliest colonies established by the Spanish in the Philippines. After losing their supremacy of the sea, the rebels began to raid the smaller towns, which became very unsafe, and the Spaniards in the other strongholds on Negros had to concentrate on the larger ones. This is the case with the team that Frank is carrying. With a company, Frank escorted about a hundred civilians to Bacolod.

In the past, they could have gone to Bacolod by sea, but now it is not safe to go by sea, and it is easy to encounter American patrol boats. So, they had to trek by land. Fortunately, the journey was not far, and they were not attacked by those Filipino rebels along the way. Unbeknownst to them, however, a group of combined Filipino and American forces were lying in ambush in a nearby forest.

In the grass near the road, there were several very terrifying things hidden - broadsword anti-infantry directional mines. These weapons of mass destruction, which were particularly suitable for guerrilla warfare, were not provided to the Filipinos, but were directly charged to the Americans. Of course, the Americans declared that this was all for the Filipinos, because this thing would be too lethal in case it exploded. Filipinos lack training and don't know how to maintain such dangerous things, so for the safety of Filipinos, this thing cannot be directly handed over to Filipinos for use. As for the real reason, who would put such a weapon suitable for guerrilla warfare in the hands of someone who is destined to turn his face in the future?

……

As the Spaniards approached the ambush, an American soldier detonated his broadsword. The flying steel balls immediately knocked down the more than 30 Spanish soldiers who were on guard duty at the outermost, and then the Filipinos fired indiscriminately, rushed out of the woods, and pounced on the Spaniards. And behind them. The American soldiers fired at the Spaniards with sniper rifles and MacDonald light machine guns.

But in the blink of an eye, Frank's company was crushed. Then, a horrific scene happened, and after killing the Spanish soldiers, the Filipinos rushed at the Spanish civilians with their weapons held high, and a massacre took place.

"Sir, aren't we going to stop them?" An American soldier asked the officer next to him.

"Of course!" The officer glanced at the reporters with their cameras and said, "Let's stop them!" ”R1058