In fact, the war atmosphere deliberately created by the military is the same as the task that Liu Shang is currently performing, which is aimed at calming the people's minds. Of course, with so many coastal fortifications and troops deployed with great effort, if any fish really slipped through the net and broke through the naval blockade and attacked the port, then these defensive measures would certainly have a certain effect. Not to mention the use of artillery, the thousands of muskets of the coastal defense forces alone were enough to bomb a hornet's nest of the enemy who landed in small groups.

Liu Shang also saw the scene of the war-torn area when he was in the Ming Dynasty, once he heard that a war was going to break out, the first reaction of the people in a radius of dozens of miles nearby was to pack up and flee quickly. Even if you can't escape too far with limited ability, you must at least escape into a nearby city first. But he did not see a similar scene in Sanya, and despite the official warning of war, the local people did not seem to have any intention of fleeing, let alone flocking to seek refuge outside Shengli Fort.

For the upcoming war, the people's mood is relatively stable, and it seems that this is just an extra conversation after dinner. Moreover, according to Liu Shang's knowledge, the question that most people are concerned about is not the outcome of the war, but such as how many prisoners will be escorted to the streets of Sanya City in the end, such as how many prisoners will be escorted to the streets of Sanya City to parade in the streets, etc.

During this period, there were also some well-known business people who sent food, medicine, and other materials to the garrison troops in the name of the labor army. However, Liu Shang suspects that the statements made by these high-level people in society are more or less hinted and instructed by the authorities, and they consciously do some superficial work to stabilize the mood of the local people. Most of those who are worried about the war situation are foreigners or new immigrants who have just arrived in Sanya, and these people do not have a sufficient understanding of the strength of the Haihan and will be worried about being affected by the war. Therefore, the tough posture made by the Haihan military in Sanya still played a certain role in stabilizing the people's will.

On 17 September, Tao Donglai and Johnson each led a fleet to meet the Spanish fleet that was about to arrive in this area, while the military and political affairs of Sanya were temporarily taken over by Yan Chujie and Ning Qi.

For the Haihan military, this is the first time in recent years that it has carried out a combat mission in its own waters, and the opponent is an old maritime empire like Spain, and when the two powers meet, the victory or defeat of this battle will most likely determine the future hegemon of the South China Sea. Tao Donglai and the others certainly have great confidence in victory, but they do not dare to be careless at all, after all, if you talk about the experience of naval warfare, the enemy they face this time may be better than the Haihan Navy. If you leave your opponent with an opportunity to take advantage of, it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve a complete victory.

At the same time as the Haihan fleet left the port, the Spanish fleet had already come to the ocean about 100 nautical miles southeast of Sanya. After getting rid of the tracking of the Haihan reconnaissance ship, the fleet has been at sea for more than a day, and the last leg of the voyage is basically entering the final sprint stage before launching an attack.

Pinto had put his previous unhappiness behind him, and those small sailing ships could not prevent his fleet from attacking Sanya, as long as he could break through the outer defenses of the port and achieve landing, Pinto thought that he would still be more sure that he would defeat the local defenders and capture the legendary Victory Fort, which contains a lot of wealth and advanced manufacturing technology.

Unfortunately, his wishful thinking did not work out, and after a day of silence at sea, Pinto once again received news from the lookout from the mast, and found several sail shadows on the distant sea, which seemed to be very similar to the Haihan reconnaissance ship he had encountered before.

Fearing something, Pinto thought in his heart that it was just a miscalculation on the part of the lookout, but it was not long before he knew that his luck was bad, and the few sails that appeared on the sea were small sailboats identical to those he had seen the day before.

However, the ships encountered this time did not seem to have the intention of accompanying them, and after confirming the identity of the Spanish fleet a few nautical miles away, they immediately turned north, and at the same time sent a signal flare from one of the ships that shot straight into the sky. Bright orange fireworks rose on the surface of the sea, flew into the air and exploded with a thud, leaving a large cloud of orange smoke in the air. In the current fine weather, the presence of this warning smoke can be noticed at least twenty nautical miles away. It is clear that the adversary is transmitting warning signals to the rear by such means.

Fortunately, the wind on the sea was not small at this time, and the smoke did not stay in the air for long before it was blown away by the wind. After Pinto saw this scene, instead of panicking because the opponent noticed the movement, he put his mind at ease and the opponent used this means to report to the rear, obviously did not have the magical communication technology that Louis said, and the few small sailing ships that had been tracking the fleet all the way the day before yesterday should have been just playing tricks. At this time, even if the news of the attack of the Spanish fleet was transmitted back to Sanya through the signal flares on the sea, it would probably be difficult for the local people to organize decent defense means in time.

However, Pinto soon realized his omission, why did the Haihan reconnaissance ship appear in this sea area? You must know that in order to avoid exposing the route and targets, the Spanish fleet had spent more than a day making a big circle at sea, and the route it was traveling was no longer the original plan. If Haihan had sensed some signs in advance and sent a reconnaissance ship to search for the sea, it should have been the main target of the sea area of the route when the reconnaissance ship was last encountered, how could there be spare strength to deploy so many fast sailing ships in the southerly seas?

Was it a coincidence? Pinto certainly had such expectations, but he did not dare to be too lucky, after all, the other side was very resolute in releasing the flares, and it was obvious that the Spanish fleet was regarded as a threat, indicating that the task of these ships was to guard the sea. And this place is still at least about 100 nautical miles away from Sanya, so how can Haihan's daily maritime defense range be so large? Or is it that the adversary has long been vigilant and has made similar deployments in all directions in the waters near Sanya?

This last possibility was very risky for the Spanish fleet, Pinto was still suspicious when he thought about it, but a few small ships in the distance had already turned back to the north, retreating to a distance that the fleet could not catch up with, and apparently had no intention of putting any resistance on the Spanish fleet here.

After a brief exchange of opinions with Louis through the flag signal, the two still decided to kill directly in the direction of Sanya.

Nervous, the Spanish fleet continued northwestward, but both commanders gave orders to their subordinates to bring all ships into combat condition. Although there is no clear indication that Haihan will set up an ambush ahead, the closer he gets to his destination, the more uneasy he feels.

Although the Haihan reconnaissance ships did not take any hostile actions against the Spanish fleet after this, this unease continued throughout the fleet, and everyone gradually realized that a battle could start at any time, and even the sailors who were usually the most fond of joking had already shut their mouths. At this juncture, the only thing the crew and sailors can do except constantly wipe their knives and guns is to pray to the heavens that they will have good luck in surviving.

Pinto was fully equipped after lunch, and although the battle on the ship would not require armor to cover his whole body like a knight's face-to-face fight, the armor and helmet to protect his vital points still had to be put on to avoid being injured by various stray bullets and explosive fragments in the melee. In addition to a knight's sword, his sidearm also included a flintlock handcuff made by skilled craftsmen in Spain, which although it did not have a long range, it was also a weapon to save the enemy's life in close combat.

"Let's see how many enemies I can take out this time with my old fellow!" Pinto has fought all over the world for many years, and he is also a decisive man, even in the face of strong opponents, his mind is still firm, and he has not been greatly affected by the repeated appearance of the previous Haihan ships. He knew very well that the task of his trip was to inflict as much damage on Haihan as possible, first, to avenge the revenge of taking the Taipei stronghold back then, and second, to curb the rapid development of Haihan. When it was time to be ruthless, he would never be merciful to anyone.

In the afternoon, when everyone in the fleet thought that the day was safe and the battle would begin after arriving in Sanya tomorrow, a reconnaissance ship sailing at the front of the entire fleet hung a conspicuous red flag on the top of the mast, which indicated that there might be an enemy attack ahead. Pinto and Louis received the alarm at about the same time and immediately ordered the fleet to enter combat mode.

After a rush of chickens and dogs, Pinto saw the shadows of sails in the distance on the bow deck, heading in the direction of his own fleet. Obviously, this time it will not be the kind of small sailing ship that slips around in the distance, and it is very likely that it will be the legendary Haihan Navy.

As the distance between the two became closer and closer, the red and blue sails hanging from the mast of the sailing ship in the distance were already clearly visible, and it was indeed the fleet from Haihan. Pinto noticed that there were not many ships in the fleet opposite, and it seemed that there were only a dozen of them, but the size of the hull did not suffer, and the largest ship was almost twice the size of his flagship, the Valentine. Being able to build such a large warship, this kind of engineering construction ability has already reflected Haihan's maritime armed strength from the side. Before setting off, Pinto had also heard all kinds of rumors about the strong firepower of the Haihan fleet, and he did not dare to hold it up at the moment, but still gave a signal to let the Manila fleet led by Louis separate from the American fleet under his command, and tried to sandwich the opposite Haihan fleet in the middle for artillery bombardment.

Pinto believed that no matter how strong the firepower of the Haihan battleship was, the ship would be so big after all, and the number of naval guns that could be deployed on the ship would not be much higher. The two fleets of our own camp together have more than 40 combat ships, while the other side only has more than 10 ships.

Before the fleet departed from Manila, the two commanders had repeatedly deduced the various naval tactics that might be used, so the fleet commanded by Louis also quickly cooperated, and the two fleets were divided to the left and right, leaving a gap of several hundred meters in the middle, just in line with the oncoming Haihan fleet in a column.

"The Spaniards are thinking simply, with such a big pocket, do you expect us to step into it with one foot?" Tao Donglai had already confirmed the other party's movement in the telescope, and immediately ordered to adjust the course.

This Spanish warship was not as fragile as the pirate ships that the Haihan Navy had fought with before, not only had a large number of artillery on board, but also had a large number of experienced military personnel. What's more, with the fleet led by himself, the ships are already more than half less than the opponent, and the total tonnage gap is at least more than one-third.

Although Tao Donglai is not from the navy, he has also put a lot of effort into the tactics of sail warships, and he has already had a set of tactics in his heart. After some adjustments, the Haihan fleet turned left from the southeast course on the sea about two nautical miles away from the Spanish fleet. Judging by the relative speed of the two sides, the Haihan fleet was able to align its side at the Manila fleet and sweep through its bow. If the distance between the two sides was close enough, then the ship at the forefront of the Manila fleet would probably eat a whole round of sideside shelling of the Haihan fleet.

The reaction of the Haihan fleet did not surprise the Spaniards, and this was a relatively normal countermeasure. However, Louis noticed that the maneuverability of these Haihan warships was very good, and the trajectory they drew in the sea showed that their turning radius was very small, which was obviously better than their own warships, which was not a good sign.

Louis also immediately gave the order, and the Manila fleet also turned in the same direction with the opponent, so that after completing the turn, it could move parallel to it and would not suffer in the side firepower. And Pinto's American fleet also turned to the back, trying to bite the tail of the Haihan fleet in the back.

Although the two sides have not fired a single shot, they have already made two rounds of moves before the official engagement, and they have a preliminary understanding of the enemy's strength.