If you count it, John had more time than Edward. Since the fortress navy would not call for reinforcements until after it had been attacked, and the battle was likely to be over when the reinforcements arrived, John's purpose here was only to ensure that they would not be disturbed by the reinforcements while they were collecting the spoils of war and repairing their preparations.

But it's not an easy task either. Compared to facing the fortress's strong fortifications and dense firepower, it is only known which one or even several fleets are more difficult to clash head-on at sea, not to mention that the three pirates attacking the fortress still have each other's support and help, while John has to face an unknown number of enemies alone. "It seems that it is still a test of whether I am qualified to join them. John read silently.

However, this is a foreseeable fact, pirates are not open to charity, but individuals can come in and participate. If it weren't for Edward, it is estimated that he would have faced several waves of pirate provocations when he came. John saw that the ship had arrived at the target sea area and prepared to go up to the lookout to see if the environment was suitable for an ambush.

The strait is not very wide, and if you stand on one side of the strait, you can see the situation on the other side with a telescope. Fortunately, there were some islands scattered in the strait, so John decided to park the ship behind a relatively large island and send a man to the opposite side of the island to observe the boat.

The waiting time is always long, especially when the communication is not circulating, and only when the wolf smoke rises from the fortress will the expatriate reinforcement fleet return to the defense. While John sent a crew member to the island to observe if there was a fleet coming this way, he himself stood on the lookout and looked in the direction of the fortress to see if there was a war on that side, and if there was wolf smoke rising.

It stands to reason that the war should have started by now, after all, almost half a morning has passed since the agreed time. John was holding a telescope, and even with his eyesight, he could only see a faint trace of smoke rising from the fortress's position. Even so, John put all the sailors in position when he saw the wolf smoke, after all, when the wolf smoke rose, no one knew when the naval reinforcements would arrive. In case the naval fleet has arrived, and your side is not ready, then obediently tie your hands and capture, at least there is a glimmer of hope for survival.

Soon, as soon as the sun was rising overhead, the sailors who had been sent to the other side of the island hurried back: "Captain, George! Here we are! Over there, I saw four ships, and in them there was a galleon, and if it was right, it should be the Spanish fleet!"

Hearing this, John threw him a piece of roast meat and stood up himself: "Do you hear me, our prey has appeared! Hurry up and eat your own things, but don't be killed by hunger in the middle of the battle!"

"Roar!" the sailors roared, and after eating their quotas in three or two, they picked up the sailors' knives or boarding axes around them and walked back to their seats on the ship, ready for battle.

John stood on the lookout, the entire ship had been covered by the island, only a little bit of the lookout had been missed, and John's battleship had not been discovered by the Spanish navy until now.

At this time, Quartermaster George also came up and said to John, "Captain, I think we can strike first and take them by surprise, at least not let them form a battle column, that would be too bad for us." John put down his binoculars and asked, "Do you have any good idea?" George looked hateful: "Captain, we have mortars, you just installed mortars not long ago!" "Mortars?" John's face was a little confused, and then as if he remembered something, he clapped his hands: "Yes, then use that." ”

George looked stupid and took the telescope from John's hand: "You need to observe the mortar, captain, don't make trouble, go down and let them prepare the artillery and the things that need to be used in the broadside battle later." ”

John was not angry when George snatched the things in his hand, touched his head and pulled the cable next to him and slid down, and said to the sailors below: "Prepare mortars, wait a while and follow the orders of the quartermaster to fire, while the others prepare to lower the sails and all kinds of guns, the bow guns prepare chain shells, the broadside guns prepare cannonballs, and the stern put powder kegs who are ready to light and throw them down!"

Hearing John's orders, the sailors began to move on their own, and the most nervous were the sailors standing at the anchor position and the mortar position, after all, they needed to be ready immediately after the battle order was given.

George stood on it, carefully observing the voyage of the fleet, until the flags of the opposing battleships could be seen clearly, George shouted: "Mortar ready! 20 degrees to the east, height 75!" The mortar crew below heard the order and began to debug, and when he was in position, he shouted: "East 20, high 75, finish!" George waited for the order to return and continued to look at the opposite direction: "East 23, high 76, ready to shoot!" The mortar gunner hurriedly corrected and replied: "The correction is complete, the arquebus setting is complete!" Hearing this, George ordered to shout, "Ignition!"

John saw the mortar gunner set the mortar on fire, and the arquebus became shorter and shorter with the sound of "zizi" until it burned into the barrel, and then the mortar made a loud "boom" and threw all the shells in the barrel into the sky.

Seeing that the mortars had been fired, the sailors hurriedly pulled up the anchor that was originally used to fix the ship from the bottom of the sea, and at the same time lowered the sails completely, and rushed out from behind the island in the sea breeze, rushing directly towards the naval queue.

John stood on the deck and looked at the ship opposite. There were four, as George said, and at the fore the flagship was a brig, much larger than John's present ship, and behind it were three small sloops, which appeared to serve as escorts. Seeing this, John had a plan in his heart: it seemed that only by finding an opportunity to kill or throw off the small ship first could he carry out a general attack on the flagship.

Of course, the Spanish navy was not incompetent, and they had already discovered John's ship as soon as it was half of its hull leaking out of the rear of the island. However, I don't know if it was because of absolute confidence in their fleet, they did not scatter or turn, as if they could sink John with the fire from the bow of the ship.

This is exactly what George wanted to achieve, to completely attract the attention of the enemy with his own ship outside of range of fire, and then use long-range mortars to directly attack their decks, burn their sails, make them incapacitated and mobile, and detonate the powder kegs on their decks with mortars if they had the opportunity. The response of the opposing navy is the most ideal, as long as the current speed and direction are maintained, in a few seconds, the mortar shells falling from the sky will make them realize what a pirate attack is.