Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 495: Battle of Manila Bay
"Maldita Sea!" At the same time that Li Guozhu shouted the Spanish national curse, on the ironclad ship Castile, the commander of the Spanish expeditionary fleet, Duke of Alva, also uttered the Spanish national curse.
"I didn't expect the Chinese fleet commander to be so cautious. So many warships were gathered outside the harbor entrance. This way, we can't keep them inside."
"Sir, even so, the Chinese transport fleet must be unloading in the harbor at this moment, so the Chinese fleet dare not leave at this time. We have effectively locked them down."
"Okay, give the signal, deploy the entire fleet, and prepare for battle! God bless, our Casti's engine can survive this battle."
In early June 1621, in order to save the Philippines, or to prove to the colony that the mainland would never turn a blind eye to the isolated overseas colony, Philip formed a large expeditionary fleet as reinforcements for the Philippines. There were two ironclad ships, thirty warships of 1,200 tons and 600 tons, and more than a hundred transport ships of various types.
In early August, the fleet arrived at the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, where it resupplied and undertook simple repairs with the help of the British who had just colonized the area.
Then the fleet crossed the Indian Ocean in late August. In the waters near Ceylon, the commander, Duke of Alva, carefully hid his main force and sent transport ships disguised as merchant ships to Ceylon to gather information.
As an important transit point in the Indian Ocean, Ceylon Island is naturally very prosperous in trade and the news is very well-informed. Therefore, the Duke of Alva easily learned that the Ming Dynasty had declared war on Spain, and not only Shalian, but also Malacca had been taken by the Ming Dynasty.
After clarifying his own situation, Alva made up his mind not to take the Strait of Malacca. Instead, he first went south along the outer side of Sumatra Island, then went north through the gap between Sumatra Island and Java Island, then crossed the Java Sea, took the Sulawesi Sea between Kalimantan Island and Sulawesi Island, and directly appeared in the waters near Mindanao Island south of Luzon Island.
This route is, of course, much longer than the Malacca Strait. It's like driving in Beijing in the future, and you insist on taking the Fifth Ring Road and then turning back when you can get to a place by taking the Fourth Ring Road. However, taking this route almost perfectly avoids the Ming Dynasty's reconnaissance fleet and the merchant fleets of various countries along the way: there are no ships on the sea, so why would businessmen go to the outer channel instead of the closer one?
However, although this route has achieved the goal of covering our actions. And the whole route is basically close to the coast, which can avoid most wind and waves and facilitate the acquisition of supplies. However, this journey is too far, so when the fleet staggered out of the Sulawesi Sea, the engine of the Casti, which had been barely working normally after simple repairs at the Cape of Good Hope, began to get upset again. Even those ordinary sailing warships, because there are too many derivatives on the bottom of the ship, the warships that can usually reach a maximum speed of 15 knots have generally dropped to less than 12 knots. Many warships have problems with cracks in the bottom of the ship, slight water leakage, and damp gunpowder.
The ships were in such a state, and the people were even more troublesome: the expedition lasted nearly half a year, and except for the harm to local African women near the Cape of Good Hope in August, the more than 20,000 sailors and seamen on the more than 160 ships had not really relaxed for a long time. From the commander to the ordinary sailors, everyone was irritable and had all kinds of unhappiness on their minds.
Therefore, the commander of this expeditionary force, Duke Alva, was very clear: either they would start a decisive battle with the Ming army as soon as possible after entering the waters of Luzon Island, or they would find a place to rest for ten days or half a month, take good care of the ship while resting, and then fight the Ming army.
However, Manila was now under siege, and all other Spanish colonies in Asia had been cleared by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this second path was not easy to take.
The only option is to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army as soon as possible.
Thanks to the fact that the entire Philippines was a colony run by Spain for many years, although Manila was besieged, the Spanish expeditionary fleet quickly contacted the Philippine fleet led by Viscount Alfonso shortly after arriving in the waters near Mindanao. Then the two sides decided: the Ming army had besieged Manila for almost two months, and it was estimated that the mainland would transport supplies to it on a large scale again. We simply waited for the other party's transport fleet to go south again and intercepted it midway.
The plan was good, but the engine room of the Casti... In short, the plan of interception midway failed. Alva and Alfonso quickly implemented plan No. 2: block the Ming fleet in Manila Bay!
However, who are Li Guozhu and Yan Siqi? When they transported Cao Wenzhao and others to land for the first time, they were not familiar with the sea conditions, so the entire fleet rushed into the bay. When Cao Wenzhao landed, they circled Manila Bay by themselves, and everyone was shocked and sweating: Damn, this bay is almost completely closed, not to mention the entrance and exit, and it is so narrow! This time, their luck is really good. If all of our side enters the bay, and the other side suddenly appears outside the bay, wouldn’t it be like closing the door to fight the dog?
It was precisely because of their caution that the Spaniards were unable to completely block them in the bay.
However, as Alva's adjutant said, although the main fleet of the Ming Dynasty's navy was not blocked in the bay, more than 300 transport ships in the bay were unloading! The Ming Dynasty's fleet was actually now firmly stuck at the mouth of the bay: during combat, it could maneuver, but the range of maneuver was extremely small!
"Is Zhenquan not back yet?"
"Commander, we have sent a speedboat to pick them up, but..."
"It's too late. Pass the order and start forming the battle array immediately. Sun Guozhen, Inukai Dongji, Zheng Wei, Du Youning!"
"I will be here in the end."
"With Zhenquan away, I will personally command the Fengyang. My plan is that the Fengyang will not be included in the line, and I will maneuver according to the positions of the two enemy ironclad ships. The four of you will lead four rows of warships. Maneuver in turns. No matter what, there must be at least two rows of warships guarding the bay entrance."
"Commander, is it too dangerous to fight two enemies alone? Otherwise, how about I take charge of the Fengyang?"
"Nonsense! Zhenquan can fight with me here, but what right do you have, Zheng Wei? Hurry up and get on the Chongqing and prepare for battle."
"...Yes, I will obey your orders. Take care, Commander!"
"Okay, stop standing here stupidly and follow the orders."
"Yes, Commander. Take care!"
The main fleet of the Ming Dynasty was composed of the elite main forces of the North Sea, East Sea, and South Sea fleets. There were a total of Ironclad Ship I, 40 1,200-ton sailing warships, and 60 600-ton warships. After the two Spanish fleets merged, there were Ironclad Ship II, 50 1,200-ton warships, and 60 600-ton warships.
In general, judging from the number of ships, the Spanish had a slight advantage. However, the ships of the Spanish expeditionary fleet were in very bad condition. The Ming army was unable to maneuver due to the transport fleet behind them. Therefore, both sides faced great difficulties.
According to Li Guozhu's plan, the former veteran of Funing Town, Sun Guozhen, and the Japanese general Inukai Dongji each led 20 first-class battleships, while Zheng Wei and Du Youning, who were born in Fangshan, each led 30 second-class battleships to form four battle lines. When the war began, Sun Guozhen and Inukai Dongji led two first-class battleship battle lines to charge forward. Zheng Wei and Du Youning had to take advantage of this time period to complete the turn: turn the hull sideways and block the bay!
After seeing the fleet moving quickly and orderly in the command cabin of the Fengyang, Li Guozhu nodded with satisfaction. Then he took a deep breath and shouted at a copper pipe in the command cabin: "Weigh anchor! Boiler pressurization, ten knots!"
Soon a clear response came from the copper tube: "Weigh anchor, pressurize, ten knots!"
After hearing the response from the engine room, Li Guozhu raised his head again and said to the helmsman beside him: "Left rudder fifteen, take the ten o'clock direction, and move forward!"
"Yes, port fifteen."
Following Li Guozhu's order, Fengyang took the lead and headed towards the opponent's huge fleet.
"Hey, the enemy's ironclad ship's route, ah, their commander wants to let the ironclad ship fight alone and not interfere with the battle of the sailing warships? Interesting, interesting."
Putting down the telescope, the Duke of Alva said, "Your Excellency, the last time I came to the Philippines was ten years ago, and I have almost forgotten the sea conditions around here. So, I decided to hand over the entire sailing fleet to you for command."
"Thank you for your trust, sir. Are you going to have a knight duel with the other side's commander?"
"Hahaha, even though it's two against one, but that damn Casti's engine room... this can barely be considered a fair knight duel! Well, the first ironclad battle in the history of world naval warfare, which commander wouldn't want to go down in history for this?"
"I understand. I wish you in advance that you will become the first commander of mankind to win a duel between ironclad battleships."
"Thank you, I'm sure of that!"
After watching Alfonso disembark, the Duke of Alva also shouted into the copper pipe: "Full boiler pressure, starboard fifteen, full speed ahead!"
At ten o'clock in the morning on November 27, 1621, on this plane that had been transformed beyond all recognition by time travelers, the first showdown between mankind's ironclad warships took place hundreds of years ahead of schedule!
