On June 13, the 15th year of Wanli, the Spanish authorities in Manila fired the first shot at the Ming Dynasty sealing fleet entering Manila Bay.
It should be said that the navy soldiers at the lowest level, from Xiao Chongye to Xie Jie, were unprepared for the "pilot ship" in Manila suddenly firing at them.
After the Ming Dynasty's navy was first established, he and Ling Yunyi went to Japan for an armed parade and fired two cannons at the Kagawa family's sampan in the Bungo waterway. Apart from that, they did not experience any real naval battles for many years. Although they had done so over the years,
I have done some work in clearing up pirates and assisting customs law enforcement, but I have never come face to face with an enemy ship - none of the pirates dared to fight the navy's hard steel.
As for the warships guarding the harbor, they did not encounter any situation where warships from other countries rushed in carelessly. Firstly, there was no such a strong navy around the Ming Dynasty; secondly, the Ming Dynasty must have built forts where the port was built, and before the navy was dispatched,
The sound of cannons blaring from the fort is enough to make even the most unruly "sea merchants" obediently obey the guidance of the pilot ship.
From the beginning of its formation, this navy did not have much perceptual knowledge of serious naval battles, and almost all of its combat skills came from exercises.
They have not experienced the baptism of blood and fire, so they cannot forge the habit of waiting for the enemy like the veterans of the Nine Borders; at the same time, because the salary is higher than that of the frontier soldiers, they do not have much desire to fight; what's more, they are in Manila at this time
On the wide ocean at the entrance of the bay, there is neither a military port nor a fort. The fleet never imagined that they would be attacked by a small "pilot ship".
Yes, that "small ship" with only 1,200 pieces of material was regarded as a pilot ship by the Ming Dynasty's sealing fleet. Although they still had nearly a day's journey from Manila Port, this "pilot ship" appeared too early.
But in the minds of the people on the fleet, when the Chinese Empire came to the lower country, it was right for the barbarians to go out to welcome them and pilot them as early as possible.
But the sound of the St. John's cannon shattered their narcissistic dream, leaving everyone shocked and dumbfounded. Although it was unclear why the ship attacked the blockade fleet, the exercises over the years were not in vain. As several years passed,
A sharp cry was heard, and a dull drum beat sounded on the Shandong, bang! Bang! Bang!
As the drums beat, Captain Rodriguez of the St. John saw hundreds of sail ropes on the Ming Fubo ship being pulled by extremely complex operations, and the sails on the giant mast rotated slowly.
The bow of a huge warship deflected to its left, making a "non-hostile" gesture.
The beard at the corner of Rodriguez's mouth curled up. As expected, the Seris people were like sheep.
Their compatriots living on the north bank of the Passi River have long told themselves that the Saris people are inherently weak in character. Although they have stronger force than the colonists, a group of sheep dare not resist a lone wolf.
The Fubo continued to turn to the left, and the sailors on the ship jumped on the rope-covered deck, waving their arms and making gestures. Rodriguez seemed to hear their angry shouts, and his beautiful mustache curled up.
's higher.
He raised his arm, held the monocular telescope sold to him by the Siris merchant at a high price in front of his eyes, and looked towards the Fubo ship with a smile. Then his smile solidified. He took off the telescope and shook his head.
, as if to shake the scene he just saw out of his mind.
He let out a long breath and resolutely put the telescope on his other eye. He held his breath and looked at it carefully for a while. Well, it was unmistakable. The starboard side of the giant ship was densely packed with square portholes.
There is a thick, black cannon in each porthole.
"Dios mío! Dios mío!" His voice suddenly rose an octave, as sharp as a castrato in the choir. After calling my God continuously, bone-chilling fear gripped Rodriguez.
His heart was so damaged that he was unable to issue any orders to his ship.
Due to the favorable wind, the St. John was like a moth flying into the flames, rushing headlong into the death barrage.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom boom boom!" First there was a sound, a school shot. Then there was another sound, still a school fire. Then there were continuous white smoke rising from the starboard side of the Shandong, and the empty
There was dense thunder on the ocean.
The St. John is a typical "Carrack-type sailing ship". Its bow and stern are both very high, which is helpful for observation and gang-hopping operations; at the same time, the two jibs at the bow and stern give this sailing ship extreme strength.
The large power allows it to travel at extremely fast speeds when there is a tailwind.
Now these features have become its nightmare. The huge bow is almost at the same height as the gun muzzle on the third deck of the Shandong. This allows the gunner behind the gun window to aim with almost no calculation. At the same time, the extremely fast downwind speed
This makes the ship quickly grow in size in the eyes of the gunner, thus saving a lot of cannonballs.
When the St. John was ten feet away from the stern of the Shandong, only some horrific stumps and broken arms were left on the deck. The huge bow and four masts had completely disappeared, making the Karak look like
Zoomed in on a windsurfing boat.
But the flying iron balls still did not let go of it, and continued to hit the remaining hull like a giant's fist, causing sawdust to fly and the warship riddled with holes to make crackling and shattering sounds.
In the era of sailing warfare, it was very difficult to sink enemy ships with solid iron ball shells that could not explode, because water is 800 times heavier than air, and the kinetic energy of round shells decayed rapidly after flying hundreds of meters, making it difficult to penetrate the hull of a ship below the waterline.
Make it lose its buoyancy.
But the St. John was very lucky. It encountered the fleet battle line in this time and space for the first time. As the Shandong passed by its left side, the huge blockade ship followed closely behind, followed by the other two Fubo ships.
They drew a straight track on the left side of the St. John in a direction of about 35 degrees due north and west of Manila Bay, as if they were being inspected by Mr. Rodriguez, who was favored by the Lord.
As the four giant ships passed by, the remaining hull of the St. John was first shattered into pieces and turned into a pile of tattered wood chips floating on the sea. As the waves rolled, the pile of wood chips gradually dispersed and finally disappeared into the white surface of the sea.
in the bubble.
The unknown St. John disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed in this world. Except for the few survivors who were floating on the sea holding wooden planks and crying heartbreakingly, there was no trace.
The Spaniards knew what had just happened.
The good luck of these guys who survived the hail of bullets ended here, because the enraged sealing fleet even forgot to fish them out and ask for confessions. The proud Ming envoy could not tolerate the offense just now - under Xiao Chongye's repeated urging
Next, the sealing fleet did not delay for a minute, directly adjusted the sails and course, and headed straight for the city of Manila with great momentum.