The Merchant Army's column was composed of the Tiankui and Tiangang, plus three cruisers. It entered the Spanish fleet in one fell swoop. At this time, the Spanish fleet had no formation at all and could only fight on its own, with the two sides staggered.
After getting together, the ships in the column fired their starboard and starboard cannons at the same time, bombarding the enemy ships on both sides desperately. As for the Thunderbolt rockets, they also fired box after box.
The Spanish fleet had no intention of fighting at this time and only wanted to get away from the battlefield as soon as possible. Therefore, some ships fought back symbolically, while some simply ignored the fight and just filled all the sails.
, advancing with all their strength, trying to break through the merchant army's ship array.
Because the distance between the two sides was closer at this time, with several warships only a few dozen meters apart, the artillery strikes were also powerful. The sides of two warships were hit continuously by cannonballs, causing a large hole to open, and a raging
Seawater poured in, and they were immediately unable to move. However, ten warships finally rushed to the Merchant Army's ship formation, but by this time, every warship was already scarred, and many of them were on fire.
At this time, Shang Yi also issued an order for each ship to fight on its own, so the warships of both sides started a melee to find their own targets. There are currently about thirteen warships in the Spanish army that can fight independently.
Four ships, and the warships of the Merchant Army’s Third Squadron
Finally arrived at the battlefield and all entered the battle. The total number of Merchant Army warships was about forty, which was almost three times the number of the Spanish fleet. Each Spanish warship had to deal with at least two to three Merchant Army warships at the same time.
Some will even fight four ships.
When fighting two against one, Shang Yi required in [Naval Regulations] that the warships must be diagonally distributed, one on the left and one on the right, one in front of the other, and at least one ship's bow must be in line with the enemy's.
The bows of the boats are in the same direction, which can not only effectively attack the opponent, but also control the opponent and prevent it from having a chance to escape.
Although many warships had some confusion when enforcing this regulation, the merchant army had an absolute advantage in the number and tonnage of warships. Therefore, the entire war soon became completely one-sided. Spanish warships
They were either sunk or surrendered. Only three warships were lucky enough to finally break out of the melee and flee south.
After giving the order to fight separately, Shang Yi focused on the Spanish fleet's flagship, the Saint Louis, and therefore ordered the Galaxy to immediately approach the Saint Louis.
The St. Louis had already gotten rid of the entanglement of two Merchant warships and rushed to the edge of the battlefield. But at this moment, the Galaxy had already approached Long, and the flagships of both sides were almost racing together.
They scrambled to advance. At the same time, they also fired their artillery and launched a bombardment.
At this time, the battle had been going on for three hours, and it was already dusk. After a long and fierce battle, both flagships had left many traces of shell hits, but neither of them had any injuries.
It maintains most of its combat effectiveness. In terms of firepower and resistance to strikes, Silver
The River is naturally much stronger than the St. Louis, but the St. Louis is not completely powerless to fight back. But although Sanchez is complaining in his heart, he certainly knows that the strength of the Galaxy is by no means something that his own ship can compete with. But
At this point, there was no choice but to fight and walk at the same time.
Fortunately, the only ship chasing the St. Louis was the Galaxy. Therefore, Sanchez also ordered that while using artillery fire on the opponent, he tried his best to speed up the ship in an effort to get rid of the Galaxy and leave the battlefield. Because the St. Louis In other aspects, it is not as good as the Galaxy. It is only superior in terms of speed. This is also their only hope of escape.
It is a pity that among the fighters in the front, one of the Saint Louis's mizzen masts was cut off by a chain bomb, and it could only hang one sail, which affected its speed. At the same time, one sail on the mainmast and the foremast had been burned. When the flames started, Sanchez was afraid of affecting the speed of the ship, so he did not put it down, but it was also a future trouble. However, the Galaxy had five masts and all sails. Under the circumstances of the increase and decrease, the speeds of the two sides were roughly the same.
The two sides drove three to four hundred meters away and launched several rounds of artillery fire at each other. They were both hit by numerous bullets. The St. Louis was beaten black and blue. At the same time, two masts were severed by chain bombs, and two other ignited sails were also damaged. It made an emergency landing, so its speed also dropped significantly.
Although the Galaxy was also seriously damaged and one of its masts was broken, it was still much better than the St. Louis. After all, these were not two warships of the same class. Finally, the Galaxy surpassed St. Louis, in front of it, blocked the way of the St. Louis semi-diagonally. And at the same time, two more cruisers of the Merchant Army rushed over, one to the left and one to the right, blocking the way of the St. Louis. Both roads are firmly blocked.
Sanchez also knew that the situation was over, and was about to follow the example of the Matador, ramming his opponent and dying together with the enemy. At this moment, an adjutant beside him suddenly pointed at the Galaxy and said: "Commander, look, their What's the semaphore?"
Sanchez took a closer look and found that according to the flag language of the Spanish Navy, the signals sent by the other party exactly meant "stop the ship" and "ceasefire", and they were still being sent out repeatedly. Obviously, this was to ask the San Luis to surrender, but the physiological Why did the fleet use the flag of the Spanish Navy? Sanchez was also puzzled. Is this a coincidence? Or was it taught to them by the prisoners of the expedition fleet?
But Sanchez soon concluded that this was no coincidence, but that the other party did understand the Spanish Navy's flag, because the other party then flew a "lower sails" and "lower anchor" flag. The meaning of surrendering the San Luis had already been It's very obvious.
Sanchez looked at his men. Most of them understood these flags. The expressions on each person's face were very complicated. Sanchez was different from Francis. When he knew that he would lose, he did not think that he would die in battle. It was an honorable thing, not to mention that the other party clearly wanted to let him go when he asked him to surrender. Therefore, he also issued an order and responded with a signal to the other party, "Received, execute immediately", and then ordered that all the remaining sails should be sailed. lowered it, put all the guns back into the cabin, closed the string windows, and raised the white flag.
The St. Louis chose to surrender, and at this time on the battlefield, the battle was basically over. Among the other major Spanish warships, the Columbia was attacked by the flagship of the Third Squadron, the Tianquan, and two cruisers. After resisting for a few minutes, the Columbia also knew that the situation was over. After the Merchant Army persuaded the merchants to surrender, they also hoisted the white flag and surrendered.
Another 600-ton battleship, the Crusader, was besieged by two cruisers and two frigates. It was beaten with hundreds of holes and three of its four masts were broken. Captain Morey shouted "Stop the ship" on the Merchant Army's battleship.
", after the signal of "ceasefire", the ship was still ordered to fire an artillery attack. As a result, under the repeated bombardment of four warships, the ship's side cracked, seawater poured in, and it slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.
Only the Santiago and two other warships, after working together to sink and damage one warship of the Merchant Army, finally broke out of the encirclement and fled south, intending to join the transport ship and retreat to Manila.
In the end, except for the three escaped warships, the battle on the sea was all over.
At this time, the sea was full of burning warships, with fragments of warships and canvas floating on them. Under the rays of the setting sun, the blazing fire reflected dozens of miles of sea red. At the same time, there were countless merchant soldiers who fell into the water. Spain
The soldiers struggled in the water and called for help, but every warship of the Merchant Army burst into cheers.
The Merchant Navy won the final victory in its first battle since its formation.
At this time, under the coercion of the other two cruisers, the St. Louis and the Galaxy joined forces and built a springboard. Sanchez took the main officers of the St. Louis and boarded the Galaxy, and tied them up. At the same time, there were also soldiers from the Merchant Army.
He set off on the St. Louis, took over the entire ship, then raised the sails again, and followed the Galaxy back to his group.
Shang Yi also ordered to regroup immediately and rescue the soldiers who fell into the water, including the Spanish soldiers. They should be rescued first. At least this is a good labor force.
At this time, Sanchez, the commander of the Spanish fleet, was also brought to the ship building and in front of Shang Yi. After meeting Shang Yi, especially when he saw Alessandra next to Shang Yi, Sanchez could not help but change his face.
He said: "Lieutenant Gonzalez, why are you here? Could it be that you surrendered as a physiological man?"
Alexandra said calmly: "That's right, Sanchez, I have surrendered to the Chinese."
Sanchez said: "So how is the expedition fleet doing now?"
Alexandra said: "Is it difficult for you not to notice? Isn't the ship you are on now the flagship of the expedition fleet? The expedition fleet has been completely wiped out."
Sanchez was quite excited and said loudly: "Lieutenant Gonzalez, why did you betray the empire, why did you do this."
Alessandra said calmly: "Why should I do this? You should be very clear. Philip IV captured my father, destroyed my family, and sent Joaquin to Asia to get rid of me.
, do you still want me to continue to serve the empire?"
Sanchez was startled for a moment, then finally lowered his head and said, "So you know everything. So how is Count Joaquin?"
At this time, Shang Yi said: "Don't worry, he is fine now, and there is also Count de la Pena, the commander of the expedition fleet. You will meet soon."
Sanchez couldn't help being surprised when he heard that Shang Yi was speaking Spanish. Then he looked at Shang Yi carefully again and said, "Are you the commander of the physiological fleet?"
Shang Yi nodded and said: "Yes, you started this war first. You are the aggressor, so you must pay the price for your actions. China is not Africa, the United States, or Manila."
, any attempt to invade him will definitely end in failure. Commander Sanchez, now you can only hope that your Philippine Governor Coquilla can admit failure and compensate us for our losses. Otherwise, you will only be able to spend the rest of your life.
I spent my time in China to atone for my sins.”
These words coincided with the great victory of the Merchant Army, and they were righteous and powerful. After hearing this, Sanchez could only remain dejected and speechless.