February 22, morning, off the coast of Da Nang Bay.

British Vice Admiral Edward, who commanded the Second Squadron of the Spanish Armada Fleet. Russell suddenly found himself encountering a group of crazy "silver players" - it was the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Navy commanded by Chen Shangchuan and Co Tangtan!

Edward. Russell Ke is a well-known figure, he is a very prominent admiral and surrenderer in British history - he is one of the seven British "Pincy Kings" who introduced William to England, the British call them the Immortal Seven, and they are the great heroes of King William.

It was under his operation that the mighty British royal navy lay down en masse and played dead when the Dutch invaded. Because Britain did not have the "King of Pingxi" to be crowned, William III wanted to directly promote him to be a naval marshal.

However, the British "King of Zhun Pingxi" is relatively thin-skinned, and he always feels that the most effective record of a naval marshal is actually a surrender. This is a bit unreasonable!

Russell discussed with William and gave him a chance to make meritorious service, and after making meritorious service, he would be a marshal, which would be justified. And William felt that it was not safe to keep his "great hero" in Europe against the powerful French navy - what if he came to lure Louis into England again? So William III asked him to lead a British expeditionary fleet to the east and join the Spanish Armada to confront the "weak" Ming navy.

He can't beat Louie, can't he beat Daming?

However, Admiral Sabala did not "cooperate" much, and this time he did not arrange for Vice Admiral Russell to lead the assault formation to attack the Ming fleet in Da Nang Bay, but asked him to lead the second detachment to patrol outside Da Nang Bay and fight his hands.

And in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, the strength of the second detachment of the Spanish Armada sent to Russell is also quite strong. In total, it had one British third-class battleship, two "water-filled" Spanish second-class battleships (in fact, only equivalent to the British and Dutch third-class ships), four Dutch or Spanish third-class battleships, fifteen fourth-class ships that came to Spain, twenty somewhat outdated Spanish galleons, and more than twenty armed merchant ships from the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. Although most of these ships have been painted in previous battles and are now wounded, the number and tonnage are there, and even in Europe, this is a maritime force that should not be underestimated.

Of course, this sea force with wounded lanterns is also quite expensive! If they were all sunk, then William III and Juan. Jose will be very distressed! Therefore, his task is mainly to put on a show with the majestic fleet outside the bay of Da Nang, and to frighten the ships of the Ming Nanyang Fleet, which may come to relieve the siege of the Da Nang Navy.

According to reliable intelligence, although the Ming Nanyang Fleet has some gunboats that have just been launched and imitate Western battleships, it lacks excellent naval officers and sailors, and is a rather immature maritime force. It did not have the strength to be tough with the Spanish armada, so Russell only had to scare the Chinese with the fleet.

But now, Edward. Russell, however, wanted to strangle alive the commander of the Dutch East India Company, who told him this reliable information, Nobel. The words of the profiteers are really not credible!

"Admiral. They are still accelerating, they must be crazy, they actually used two columns to attack our big column, this is to send the T-shaped position to us! ”

A British naval lieutenant's somewhat excited voice suddenly sounded and interrupted Edward. Russell's thoughts.

Russell stood on the stern of his flagship ship, looking at the two assault formations of the Ming Navy composed of more than 30 warships, cruisers, gunboats, and gunboats each approaching his large column, and his face was so blue that he was about to drip water.

Where are these "some" battleships that have just been launched? These are clearly a lot of brand-new, good-looking warships!

Where is this a "rather immature" sea force? They were quite sophisticated in their ability to take advantage of their opponents' spins and take advantage of the tailwinds to launch assaults, and their formation was very good!

What's even more terrifying is that this sea force is still quite brave, daring to send out T-shaped positions in exchange for breaking through and cutting off enemy columns, dragging the naval battle into a melee!

And this kind of fighting style of launching a surprise attack against the enemy's dense side-firing firepower regardless of casualties actually refers to the ability to build and repair ships with the enemy! After all, the solid or chain bullets fired by the cannon have limited lethality against the wooden hull, and it is not so easy to sink. And a wooden sailing ship that has been beaten and bruised all over its body, even if it loses its repair value in the end and is scrapped directly, can often hold out until all the crew members have boarded the sampan to escape, and then slowly sink.

Therefore, as long as you are willing to lose, the tactic of sending T-shaped positions in exchange for close-range melee is feasible, and in the close-range melee, a considerable number of ships have already gone into battle with injuries, and some of the crew are suffering from scurvy, the second detachment of the Spanish Armada may not take advantage of anything!

Edward, who immediately figured out what the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Navy wanted to do. Now, in addition to cursing the Dutch for their unreliable intelligence, Russell can only drop rockets and ask Admiral Zabala for help in Da Nang.

But he couldn't have imagined at this time that the first detachment of the Spanish Armada was now also in trouble because of a group of "Silver Circle players" who traded ships for ships!

Admiral Zabala now has no way to withdraw the main forces of his detachment from the front!

Because the warships of both sides were mixed together in the narrow waters, and many of the ships and gunboats belonging to Spain, England, and Holland had damaged their masts and sails, and it was difficult to maneuver. What's even more terrifying is that they were also hit by arson shells from shore artillery, and the blazing arson shells continued to spit out from the shells of more than 200 cannons, turning the Spanish, English, and Dutch warships and gunboats that were mixed up with the Ming warships on the water into fireships!

At the same time, the officers and men of the Ming battleships and the armed Galen ships on the surface were still struggling to resist the attacks of the Spaniards, English, and Dutch—many of them were infantry under Qiu Hui and Zhu Qipao, or unemployed sailors hired from the Shang town of Huining, and the rest were brave and skilled Ming naval officers and men. In terms of numbers, individual qualities and armament, they all have an absolute advantage!

Moreover, these soldiers of the Ming army also have a great advantage that those Westerners do not have - they don't care whether their warship will be burned or not!

They were in their own harbor, very close to the coast, and it was a big deal to abandon ship and escape. And if the Westerners lose their warships, they can only be taken prisoner.

Therefore, the Ming officers and soldiers who carried out the gang jumping battle not only did not think about fighting fires at all, but also set fires everywhere. In order to facilitate the arson, Qiu Hui and Zhu Qipao's men even brought a kind of "oil bomb" on board the ship, that is, light oil from Borneo and Malacca was packed into a porcelain bottle, stuffed with strips of cloth, lit a fire and thrown out. This is a common tactic used by the pirates and indigenous sailors of the South Seas!

If you don't think about capturing the enemy's ships, this tactic is quite good in gang jumping.

Looking at the sea of fire on the battlefield of the naval battle ahead, the brains of Admiral Sabala and his deputy, Rear Admiral Nobel, were blank!

They already know they've been fooled. Got on a pretty extravagant dang!

But they were reluctant to abandon their troubled ships and retreat. If we retreat now, I'm afraid that only a third of the ships will have to withdraw!

"Admiral. Lieutenant General Russell's distress rocket! ”

The staff officer's shouts once again dragged the two out of their shock.

He turned his head to look at the eastern sky, only to see that the sky was constantly bursting with firelight and clusters of black smoke rising. It looks like a lot of ships have been set on fire!

"Admiral, that's Lieutenant General Russell's distress signal, he seems to be in trouble too, we are still," Major General Nobel reminded, "we have lost the battle in Da Nang Harbor. If Lieutenant General Russell's detachment were also defeated, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of the Netherlands would be fine."

Admiral Zabala glanced at the blazing battlefield again, and sighed helplessly: "Withdraw. Evacuate Da Nang first and go to Lieutenant General Russell! ”

"Yes"

When Admiral Zabala withdrew from Da Nang Bay with the remnants, most of the scarred ships, he was once again shocked by the madness and extravagance of the "Silver Player"!

At this time, about ten nautical miles away from the entrance of Da Nang Bay, more than 100 warships, gunboats, armed merchant ships, and gunboats on both sides had already become a mess! The battle line was completely non-existent, all the ships were fighting on their own, about a third of the ships were burning, and black smoke was billowing everywhere. Many warships have crashed together, and they have been killed! There are also some brand-new fourth-class ships of the Ming Navy with "Sun and Moon Sails" chasing the ships of Spain, the Netherlands, and England, and it seems that they still want to ram. It's not cost-effective to hit an old ship with a new one!

And the worst thing is that the 20 old Spanish galleons, all of which are decades old, "old shipboards, old masts", where can they afford to be beaten and rammed by the Ming Dynasty cutting-edge fourth-class ships that do not talk about "ship morality"? The boats are all emitting black smoke, and they are still staggering, and they look like they are sinking!

There is no doubt that the second detachment commanded by Lieutenant General Russell has been overwhelmed by the opponent, and it is no wonder that he constantly releases distress rockets

But weren't the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Dynasty full of inexperienced officers and sailors? How can you still play so well?

Admiral Zabala's brain is dying!

How could there be so many good officers and sailors in the Ming Navy? Could it be that they. Hidden strength? Or did the tyrant Louis XIV send enough naval officers and sailors to the Ming to help?

"Admiral. Let's join the fight! ”

Nobel, the commander of the navy of the Dutch East India Company, said with a pale face: "We must save Vice Admiral Russell's fleet, or the Kingdom of Spain will be finished!" ”

Spain is going to finish. No, Spain is finished!

Admiral Zabala has already understood that this Spanish Armada has followed in the footsteps of its predecessors, "being invincible" and this defeat, Spain will completely lose its sea power in the Pacific.

And the Ming who captured the Pacific Navy will continue to send troops to New Spain, and after receiving enough support from the Ming Dynasty, the Aztec Republic will definitely drive the Spaniards out of North America, and there may even be an Inca Republic in the future!

And without the silver and gold of the New World, the Kingdom of Spain would be completely bankrupt.

"Admiral. Enemies, enemy reinforcements! ”

Nobel suddenly let out a frightened scream.

And reinforcements?

How many navies does the Ming really have?

Admiral Sabala followed the direction of Nobel's finger, raised the telescope, and then saw the hard sail hanging high. That's the hard sail of the old lock boat!

It seems that there are quite a few of them!

It turned out that on the second day after Chen Shangchuan led the main force of the Nanyang Fleet to leave Guangzhou Bay, more than 20 old lock ships belonging to the Nanyang Trading Company and the Guangdong Trading Company, which had stayed in Macao and Xiangshan Island, also formed an expeditionary formation and went south to support the Nanyang Fleet

"Heavenly Father, are you going to abandon Spain?" Tears were already glistening in Admiral Sabala's old eyes, "Quick, hurry, let's launch a round of attacks, rescue Lieutenant General Russell's detachment, and then retreat to Batavia first."

"Yes, Admiral!"

"General, this is the military report of Grandpa Liu, the director of the Navy!"

Li Zhongshan stood up from behind the public case suddenly, rushed over in a hurry, and took the military report from Zhou Chang's hand. Zheng Zongming and Zhu Shunshui, who were sitting on their knees under the public case, glanced at each other. They all came to talk to Li Yat-sen about the progress of the peace talks with Japan. Seeing Li Zhongshan's eager appearance, he was also a little nervous.

As the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shangshu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zuo Shilang, who were also responsible for presiding over the Beijing Peace Conference, of course they knew what the ownership of sea power in the western Pacific meant for the ongoing peace talks.

Spanish Armadada. But Japan, Spain, England, the Netherlands, and Portugal are the last hope of the "great powers" of the East and the West!

If the Ming Dynasty can't win at sea, then these "powers" still have chips to continue playing.

If the Ming Dynasty also won at sea and defeated the Spanish Armada, then the "great powers" would become "weak countries", and Japan, with a population of 20 million, would become a fish and meat at the mercy of the Ming Dynasty.

If we look at population alone, there are only two superpowers in the world today, the Ming Dynasty and India, with India being the first and the Ming being the second! Under India and the Ming Dynasty, there were the three "second-class powers" of France, Japan, and the Ottoman-Turkish Empire!

Although the Ming Dynasty was a first-class power and Japan was a second-class power, the population advantage of less than five times was not enough for the Ming Dynasty to easily destroy Japan. As long as Japan can obtain advanced weapons and technology from Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, and Portugal, which are Western maritime powers, Japan, with a population of 20 million, will continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, it was difficult for the Ming to cross the ocean and commit an army enough to conquer it in Japan.

However, once the Spanish Armada collapsed and the Ming Dynasty became the master of the Pacific Ocean, then Japan, an island country, would be completely blockaded by the Ming Dynasty, and Japan, which lacked iron ore and saltpeter, would not be able to resist the blockade, embargo, and division and collapse of the Ming Dynasty.

The dismantling of Japan, a "small state" with a population of more than 20 million that was on the side of the Ming Dynasty and had not been very obedient to the Celestial Empire since ancient times, was very important for the absolute dominance of the Ming Dynasty in East Asia.

But can the Ming Navy defeat the Spanish Armada? It seems to be a bit hanging!

Li Zhongshan took the military newspaper, hurriedly opened it, read it at a glance, and read it carefully. Then he breathed a long sigh of relief and said to Zheng Zongming and Zhu Shunshui: "Win. The Ming Navy won! On 21 and 22 February, more than 100 warships of our ocean-going fleet and the Nanyang Fleet defeated the Spanish Arma in the waters of Da Nang Bay and its vicinity, and the Spanish Armada, losing more than 70 warships of various types, and the remnants were fleeing to Batavia, and our Nanyang Fleet was pursuing the fleeing enemy! ”

He paused, and then said: "Go and inform the missions of the nations that the Ming Dynasty will soon implement a blockade and embargo against Japan. Without the approval of the Shogun's Office, no sailing ship of two masts or more was allowed to enter the ports of Japan! ”

(End of chapter)