Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 348: The Decisive Battle on the East China Sea (V)
"Your Excellency the Baron, the Ming fleet is forcing a turn. If this continues, we will collide with it!"
The commander of this battle line appointed by Alfonso was a baron named Rubio. After receiving the reminder from the navigator, he quickly raised the telescope and observed carefully, then he turned around and asked: "If we turn now, is it too late?"
"We can dodge this Numancia, but the same cannot be said for the subsequent ships in this battleship line. And."
The navigator produced an atlas from somewhere and drew something on it: "Besides, even if we dodge it, we will lose the T-head position!"
"Damn it!" Rubio cursed loudly, his face becoming ferocious. "His Majesty's soldiers will never fear any challenge from the enemy. Notify all ships to prepare for collision. No matter what the battle situation is, we will gut the Ming warships first."
"As you command, sir!"
Knock, knock, knock ~ Kara, Kara ~
With a loud and tooth-grinding collision, the side of the Moon II in Wang Mengxiong's battleship was hit by the bow of the Spanish Numancia. As the bow of the Numancia began to break and collapse, the entire hull of the Moon II was almost disintegrated!
"Brothers, this ship is no longer viable. Grab your weapons, jump onto the other ship, and kill those red barbarians!"
"I obey your orders! The Ming Dynasty is mighty!"
Following the order from the captain of Yue No. 2, hundreds of Ming army soldiers who had been prepared first threw a circle of wooden-handled grenades in the direction of the collision between the two ships, and then jumped forward together!
What greeted them were sparse flintlock bullets, which caused them a small number of casualties.
Then, the sailors on both sides fought each other with various weapons such as broadswords, rapiers, daggers, etc.
"Captain, Moon 2 has collided with the enemy. Oh, Moon 3 has also collided with the enemy ship behind."
"Okay! Order the brothers below deck to fight one last round, then come up and prepare for boarding!"
At this moment on the western end of the battlefield, the two battle lines were like two straight lines that had been parallel for a long time. Because of the angle adjustment, they quickly moved closer and almost overlapped!
During this process, the battle distance between the two sides, which had originally been 400 to 500 meters, was rapidly reduced. When Zheng Wei on the Moon 6th ordered his ship to fire the last round of salvos at the nearest enemy ship, the distance between them was less than 100 meters.
At such a close distance, the power of the bombardment was of course at its maximum, and the hit rate was naturally close to 100%. So the 6th of the Month naturally caused great damage to the enemy. However, the Spanish were not fools, and they would certainly shoot once at this distance. As a result, the 6th of the Month was hit by more than 20 shells in this short moment, and half of the hull was almost broken apart.
"Huh, we finally made it." Looking at the port side of the ship that had completely lost its shape, Zheng Wei tightened the bandage around his waist and stepped hard on the wooden board under his feet: "Brother, although we have only been together for more than three months. But, I will always remember that you are the first battleship I commanded."
After whispering this, Zheng Wei raised his head and said, "Brothers, charge!"
"The Ming Dynasty is mighty!"
…
"Your Excellency, Lord Viscount, Mr. Rubio's battle line collided with the Ming battle line."
"Fernando, I saw it all."
Putting down the telescope in his hand, Alfonso wanted to maintain his aristocratic demeanor, but he couldn't help himself in the end.
He slapped the side railing hard and cursed loudly: "Rubio, you idiot!"
After hitting the railing several times in a row, he stretched out a finger : "The warships of the Ming Dynasty emitted so much black smoke after being hit, which fully proves that the wooden boards of these warships of the Ming Dynasty were not completely dried! Such warships, as long as he has the patience to slowly entangle with them, will sooner or later fall apart! In a battle, what's wrong with occasionally losing a T-head? Is it a disaster? Wouldn't it be better to take advantage of the enemy's temporary superior firepower and get rid of this disadvantage through maneuvering? Ah, now it's good, the fleets of both sides are entangled together, even if we arrive, we are powerless... Oh, God, I really want to bomb these two fleets to hell together!"
"Your Excellency, you can't do that. Baron Rubio's uncle is the Duke of Osvalles, the Prime Minister of His Majesty the King."
"Maldita Sea!" After cursing this Spanish version of 'Damn It', Alfonso reluctantly ordered: "Order the sailors to adjust the sails. We will go straight west first, then south, so that we can hit the right side of the Ming fleet."
"As you command. Hey, sir, there's a report from the lookout."
"Sir, at the six o'clock direction, five kilometers away, a large number of Ming warships have been spotted."
"What?" Alfonso raised the telescope in surprise. After careful observation, he began to mutter to himself : "I understand, I understand."
"You, sir?"
"Fernando, haven't you figured it out yet? Look what's coming from the south? Thirty-five first-class warships! Together with the batch we saw three hours ago, the Ming Empire has deployed a total of 75 first-class warships in this battle !"
"Sir, how is this possible? If the Ming people had so many warships, why did they avoid fighting us last year? Or how could the Ming people launch fifty ? This is impossible! Even if the shipyards in the kingdom and all the colonies did nothing but build warships, they couldn't do this!"
"Hey, Fernando, you are such an honest man. Didn't I just say that many of the enemy's warships had their planks installed without being dried in the air?"
"Ah?... So that's how it is. Sir, what you mean is that the Ming people built such a large number of warships with shoddy workmanship just to have a decisive battle with us. And then..."
"Yes, we have all been fooled. If we could have seen through this conspiracy earlier and endured the naval blockade for three to five months, the advantage would have returned to us."
"So, sir, what do we do now?"
"Well, I need to think about this."
And on the other side.
"Marshal, a large number of warships have been spotted ahead. One of our fleets is engaging in a boarding battle with some of the enemy's warships. The enemy also has a fleet to the north. We can confirm that the fleet to the north consists of 17 first-class warships."
"Damn it, we've gone so far but still can't get around it. The width of this battlefield is too wide."
Li Guozhu was helpless: he started from the east side of the Ryukyu Islands, sailed west for an hour, at least 10 kilometers, and then turned north. Even so, he still failed to completely bypass the battlefield.
"Never mind. Look at the flags over there. Is that Admiral Wang's battle line? It's already a boarding battle. The situation must be critical. Let's pull them out first... What's going on?"
"Marshal! The enemy ship has sent out a communications ship."
"Communication ship? Our warships should not slow down, lower the small boats to receive them and see what they want to do."
After a while, a captain climbed onto Li Guozhu's ship and said, "Marshal, it has been confirmed that the enemy is the Spanish Manila Fleet. Their commander asked his subordinates to send you a message that they, the Spanish, are withdrawing from this battle!"
