On the vast sea, a large fleet was cruising slowly.
Judging from their speed, this fleet does not have any purpose. Such speed can only be seen on patrol fleets. However, the word "fleet" is used in patrols, which is considered rare.
Yes.
This fleet is not small in size, with four tall main battleships, plus three slightly smaller escort ships, all Spanish sailing ships. Such a force can be regarded as an extremely powerful force in this far east. At least,
Before they sailed from Spain, the nobles of the kingdom thought so.
However, seeing the posture of the fleet at this moment, I am afraid that the jaws of these nobles will drop to the floor. This is an invincible Spanish fleet. It is just like the Turks who are trembling in front of the fleet. In the Mediterranean, those Turks are
With this kind of virtue, even on the vast sea, the fleet is like a frightened rabbit, ready to run away at any time at the slightest sign of trouble.
However, neither the Spanish officers nor the soldiers in the fleet, not even the Portuguese advisers, felt that there was anything wrong with such a gesture.
"Caution is the key to victory!"
Leon chewed his father's words in his mouth, as if they were spoken to himself and to the officers around him.
"Colonel, we will arrive at the scheduled patrol point after dark. Do we need to return?" Beside him, a young officer looked at the chart and asked him for instructions.
"No!" Leon shook his head firmly: "You know why I came here, and just returned without success. Those old stubborns in the fleet will not give us a second chance!"
He looked at the chart and said, "We will go all the way to Qiongzhou in the Ming Dynasty and then return to Luzon! With any luck, we can find the Ming fleet that has been harassing us!"
"But the Commander ordered the fleet not to approach the Ming Kingdom again without his orders!" The officer next to him, who should be his adjutant, after hearing his order, reminded his commander with all his heart: "The fleet
It will take some time to restore combat effectiveness. During this period, your Excellency the Commander probably does not want us to overly stimulate the Ming Dynasty!"
"I know!" Leon said lightly: "My father said that caution is the key to victory, but he did not say that with caution, there is no need for courage. Don't worry, I will not take the initiative to fight with the Ming people.
The guards are going to war. If the harassing fleet is nearby, we can approach the mainland of the Ming Dynasty and maybe be able to lure them out. In this case, after we deal with them, we can buy more time for the entire fleet!"
The adjutant responded and hurriedly issued the order. Leon slowly sat down in his captain's cabin.
He had seen part of how powerful the Ming Dynasty's navy was, which forced Lyon to admit that there was still a long way to go before he could conquer the largest empire in the East and the expedition fleet like he conquered India. If he didn't
Unexpectedly, this expedition was the end of his father's military career, Lord St. Anzi. After this, his father might seek a position as Lord Admiral of the Navy in the Imperial Admiralty. Perhaps, it would also be possible to become Minister of Finance.
, however, it is impossible to continue to lead such a powerful fleet.
And he, Leon, will be the new leader of this fleet. He knows that although most of the young and strong officers in the fleet have been united by him, there are still some old stubborns who cling to their outdated ideas.
He must use his beautiful record to dispel all the doubts of those who do not think highly of him, and then, under the spotlight, become the new commander of the fleet.
Withdrawing from the Ming Kingdom's homeland, the fleet suffered great losses. Although the news returned to Lisbon was an epic victory, he did not think so. Victory, maybe this time it was the fleet that won, but
, without completely annihilating the Ming Dynasty's navy, no matter how many times such a victory comes, it will not be gratifying. The worst result is that the Ming Dynasty's ships will fight more and more, and the ships and soldiers of the fleet will fight more and more.
In the end, even the ability to conduct landing operations will be lost.
This is the territory of the Ming people. Their losses will be replenished several times faster than the expedition fleet. If the expedition fleet wants to replenish ships and soldiers, it will be a long and distant process, not to mention that the kingdom must summon
If a fleet of this size encounters a failure in the east, the kingdom will probably not receive any reinforcements. The east is not all the expansion directions of the kingdom, and the rulers of the kingdom will not move them just because of the expansion strength in one direction.
All the national power is poured into this direction. Anyone who can do that is a gambler and will definitely not be a wise and courageous king.
Therefore, like a wounded giant beast, the Spanish expedition fleet, after baring its fangs and biting an opponent no weaker than itself for a while, needs a safe place to lick its wounds and wait for its physical strength to recover, instead of counting on the distant
Come to the lair to support your companions.
The commander-in-chief of the Ming people obviously also saw this. They very cunningly sent harassing fleets to attack any place where the expedition fleet was not guarded, and extended the time for the expedition fleet to recover its physical strength as much as possible.
This point drove the fleet command crazy. The Spanish Expeditionary Fleet had a clear understanding of the power of the Ming capital ships in the Battle of Quanzhou. This was a ship that was only slightly inferior to them in terms of firepower.
They sacrificed flexibility and speed, but their sturdiness was outrageous. In a frontal battle, at least two main sailing ships were needed to defeat the opponent, and if it was
If you want to sink or capture the opponent, you may have to add another one.
After withdrawing from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, almost all the ports along the way were attacked by Ming Dynasty battleships, so that if the expedition fleet wanted to find a safe repair dock, it had to look far away and trek thousands of miles to Manlajia.
Relaxing guard is strange to say. This kind of huge capital ship is definitely not a flexible ship if they have no auxiliary ships. Their draft is also deep, so if there is no fixed resting place, their most likely possibility is
Starting from the Ming Dynasty, they harassed and harassed again and again until they needed supplies, and then returned to the Ming Dynasty.
Lyon's squadron sailed in the name of patrol, but almost everyone in the fleet knew that the fleet's target this time was the elusive Ming Dynasty harassing fleet.