Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 315 Chongming Sand Attack and Defense (Part 7)
The rumbling sounds of explosions came one after another, the rising flames illuminated the dark night sky red, countless masts became huge torches, and the flying sparks were like flowers dancing in the sky... Such a beautiful scene was so great that even Rajafuto, Yagyu Kanbei and even Alfonso could see tears in their eyes.
What is even more touching is that when building their own sailing fleets, neither Rājasthān, Philip, nor Tokugawa Yoshinao considered the possibility of their warships being struck by lightning. Later, China once fell from the top of the world's nations to the bottom, so except for the Chinese themselves, other countries basically did not mention China when studying the history of modern science and technology. The first time Western mines were used in actual combat was during the American War of Independence.
Therefore, the travelers who were obsessed with steam engines and smokeless gunpowder did not pay attention to the cheap and poorly maneuverable mines. As a result, the three-nation combined fleet docked here had no experience in dealing with lightning strikes or relevant regulations.
So, facing this scene, hundreds of ships suddenly became a mess: those that were not hit by mines were weighing anchor and preparing to sail out of this hellish place. Those that were hit by mines, some were busy saving themselves, while others issued orders to abandon ship. Some warships on the periphery at this time hurriedly lit torches - but there were no searchlights in those days, how far could a bunch of torches see?
Fortunately, the Three Kingdoms coalition forces were all trained by time travelers. In this chaotic moment, they at least did one thing: they did not fire randomly.
However, just because they don’t fire, it doesn’t mean that no one else will fire.
The Palma was a second-class battleship with a displacement of 600 tons of the Spanish Manila Fleet. On that night, it was at the outermost edge of the entire combined fleet and was responsible for tonight's vigilance.
The captain of this warship was the son of a Spanish baron named Fernando, who was only 23 years old that year.
During the daytime battle, Alfonso arranged all the second-class warships to watch the battle outside, and as a result, young Fernando shouted and screamed in the telescope all day. Then at night, the young man, who had been excited all day, was sleepy. Although he was assigned the task of being on guard, he asked the first mate to be on duty and went to sleep himself - after all, the Spanish military discipline was still strict at that time, and he was not brave enough to leave his warship and go to sleep on the shore.
When a huge explosion sounded, he was awakened from his sleep. When he hurriedly ran to the deck, what he saw was naturally flames all over the sky and continuous explosions.
"It's terrible!" As the second son of the baron, he had no right of inheritance. If he wanted to have a better life in the future, the best thing would be to join the army, gain military merit, and create his own title. But now? Your boss asked you to be in charge of guarding the perimeter, and that's how you guard?
"Garcia! You stupid pig! How did you manage to be on duty?!"
"Captain, this is not my fault! I have arranged for people to patrol the watchtower and the deck, but in this dark night, we didn't see anything."
"Idiot! Light up your torches quickly, stick your head out and see what's on the sea near us!"
"Captain, this will expose our position on the sea!"
"What are you afraid of? The Ming people's coastal defense artillery can't reach here! And there are no large warships of theirs nearby! We must have been attacked by those small sampans with a displacement of less than one ton and carrying explosives. Light up the torches, find these damn rats, and shoot them to death with volleys!"
"Well, as you wish, Captain."
As a result, when the Palma's lights were just turned on, Fernando and Garcia heard bursts of thunder in the sky.
"That sound? Is that a twenty-four-pounder? Oh, damn! Take cover!"
Although he was the son of an aristocrat and had some aristocratic manners, he still had the basic qualities of a naval officer. Just the sound of the howling wind and thunder made Fernando keenly feel that his ship was about to be hit by a cannon.
Sure enough, not long after he lay down, he felt the entire ship tremble violently, followed by a huge explosion coming from under the deck, which hurt his eardrums.
"Damn it, which captain in the rear is firing recklessly?"
"Captain, the shells are not coming from behind us, but from the front."
"In front? How is that possible? Didn't they say that the big ships of Ming Dynasty are not in the port right now?"
No one answered his question. What everyone could feel at this moment was more whistling sounds passing through their heads, followed by two huge vibrations that shook the entire ship.
"Captain, the Ming people, there is no doubt that they have warships nearby."
"Quickly put out all the torches!"
Unfortunately, it was useless to put out the torches now. The cabin under the deck of the Palma, which had been hit by three cannon shots, had already started to catch fire. The fire was slowly growing, and it looked particularly abrupt in the dark night!
Not only that, he was so bright that he not only illuminated himself, but also illuminated several warships nearby!
"Damn it! Didn't we send out a lot of patrol ships to scatter around the fleet? How come we didn't receive any warning when the Ming fleet returned? When the sun rises tomorrow, I will definitely go to find His Excellency the Viscount and ask him to hang all those captains who neglected their duties!"
After complaining, Fernando seemed to feel less guilty about his dereliction of duty. He quickly stood up and said, "What are you all standing there for? Weigh the anchor! Lookout tower, observe the exact location of the fire on the opposite side. Helmsman, prepare to turn. We are going to let those shameless guys who can only attack by surprise have a taste of our power!"
…
In fact, the patrol ships of the combined fleet were very dedicated, at least more dedicated than Fernando. They were scattered five or six nautical miles to the east, south, and west of the fleet station, nervously watching the sea, and indeed found no trace of the Ming warships.
The ships that bombarded the Palma that night were five new ships that had just been launched from the slipway of Changsha Shipyard and had not yet completed outfitting!
"Eunuch Wang, the torches on the enemy ships have all gone out, which means the villains have reacted. It's possible that shells will be fired at us soon. Is this what I mean?"
"Hahaha, your name is Du Youning, right? You are a student of Fangshan School, just like Zhang Hong on Nansha Island. You also voluntarily gave up the imperial examination and wanted to become a general."
"My father-in-law has a good memory."
"It's not that I have a good memory, but I followed the Crown Prince to Fangshan School every day in my early years, and I remember all the outstanding ones. However, since you are a student of Fangshan, you naturally know that since we are on board, there is absolutely no reason for us to escape!"
"Eunuch, that's what you said, but these warships haven't been outfitted yet. If they are unfortunately hit by a cannon, there is a possibility of a huge fire. So..."
"It doesn't matter. Although I don't know much about military affairs, I know that we are powerless to challenge such a huge fleet of bandits with just these five semi-finished warships. Our mission is to open a gap in the outer bandit warships to facilitate the retreat of the brothers who have infiltrated the deep of the bandit fleet. Alas..." At this point, Wang Chengen also sighed: "I don't know how many brothers I can get back."
