"Boom...boom...boom, boom, boom..."

Outside the Manila port in the early morning, bursts of gunfire can be heard faintly from the sea. In April and May, the sea is prone to fog in the morning, so it is only a blur from the land, except for the occasional firelight.

Outside of the flash, there is no scene of a naval battle.

However, many residents in Manila still managed to climb up the surrounding hills or places where they can see the sea, and stretched their necks to look towards the bay - even if they couldn't see the scene, they could just listen to the sound coming from the wind.

The sound of artillery is also good. It is the nature of the general public to watch the excitement, especially for wars. What's more, this kind of war, which is purely one-sided and has no danger, is definitely more attractive than those war movie blockbusters of later generations.

In the prisoner-of-war camp built against the Manila city wall, Frank and the others also pricked their ears to listen to the sounds coming from the sea...

"The sound of artillery has become intensive...it should be our fleet attacking!"

"A very fierce bombardment. The entire fleet seemed to be engaged in battle... I heard the gunfire of the flagship 'San Juan'... Yes, only the super cannon on the San Juan can make such a huge sound.

The British Queen's fleet will definitely retreat under such a fierce attack..."

In the crowd, the prisoner from the battle fleet was frothing and live broadcasting the battlefield to everyone - of course it was all based on his imagination and speculation. However, since this young man was a member of the fleet, he had fought several battles with the British on the ship.

, and traveled thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by ship, of course he is extremely familiar with his own fleet. Although he claims that he can even tell which ships' cannons are firing, it may be a bit of a boast, but he can tell from the intermittent sound of cannons.

It should be relatively reliable to judge the overall movement of the Spanish fleet.

So the Spanish prisoners present were listening attentively to the sound of artillery coming from the direction of the seaside, and at the same time they were also listening attentively to the live broadcast of this human radio. The young man was very eloquent. Although he was only facing the high wall like everyone here, he was still talking about a

The description of the naval battle was ups and downs and exciting. From his words, the prisoners in the prisoner of war camp seemed to be able to see with their own eyes the bloody battle between their fellow sailors and the powerful enemy...

However, the reality is far from being as romantic as the sailor behind the high wall imagined. In fact, at this moment, at the gun emplacement of the Qionghai, the artillery commander Lin Shenhe was yawning in boredom:

"Hey, it's so boring... Even target practice is more interesting than this..."

——The Spanish fleet in front will definitely not think so. The navy guy in the prisoner of war camp is right about one thing: in the early morning, when the Qionghai appeared in front of the Spanish fleet, challenging the naval officers and soldiers of this old European empire.

At that time, the Spaniards did not hesitate to accept the challenge. So by this time, all the Spanish warships that could move had already pressed forward and were shooting wildly at the Qionghai. Indeed, the entire fleet pounced on it. Even together with the

The officers and soldiers on the ship were all firing desperately, but the effect was extremely limited.

Most of the shells could not even reach the side of the Qionghai. Because Master Zheng controlled the distance very accurately, so that the Qionghai and the opponent's ship were always at a distance of four to five hundred meters. Although this distance was

The opponent's artillery is within the range of the enemy's artillery, but for the Spanish naval gunners who did not have a sighting system in this era and relied entirely on the naked eye and experience, whether they could hit the target completely depended on luck, and they had to be very lucky to be able to hit it.

And even if the gunners were very lucky and hit one or two shots, they would just add a few flat holes or white marks on the Qionghai's steel shell, which would have no effect other than making a sound for the people on board.

It can't even make people feel the vibration - the vibration when the artillery fire on the Qionghai is bigger than it.

If the young man who was telling an impassioned story in the prisoner of war camp had better hearing, he would have been able to hear that among the deafening cannons of their Spanish navy, there was another kind of cannon sound that he was not familiar with. It was not slow but always maintained.

It was ringing continuously - the distance of four to five hundred meters was exactly the standard distance that the Qionghai's gunners liked most when doing target practice. They took aim one by one and fired one shot at a time.

Shooting... It's like an armored warrior holding a spear is bullying an enemy who can only hold a dagger. Basically, he can only stab people, and others can't reach him. Even if he is accidentally picked up once or twice, he can't pierce the armor, and it doesn't constitute a threat.

What harm.

Among the Spanish captains, there are also those who want to get close to engage in boarding battles or set fire to fight, but the sailing ability of the sailboat depends entirely on the wind direction, and Manila Bay is a semi-enclosed bay, which is impossible under normal weather.

The sea wind was too strong. Master Zheng had accumulated a lot of experience in sailboat control over the years in the Ming Dynasty. At this time, he was driving the Qionghai against the wind in a hurry, making all the sailboats on the opposite side extremely uncomfortable.

Even under such adversity, there were still a few Spanish ships that performed well, either because of their fast speed or good shooting skills. Unfortunately, it is not a good thing to stand out at this time - Lin Shenhe led the gun crews to pick out the hard ones.

Usually, one turret is used to fight a ship, but if it is found that the opponent is brave, or the shooting is more accurate, or the ship has strong maneuverability, all of them will receive special attention... Not long after the war started, these fleets

The elites were sent to the sea, leaving a group of inferior ones there to fire guns and cannons indiscriminately, creating a lot of smoke in vain, and further blocking the Spaniards' own sight...

"Is this the largest country in the West? Its navy looks mighty and majestic, and its artillery fire is amazing. Isn't it really good at fighting?"

In the lower cabin of the Qionghai, Shi Kefa and a group of three people were huddled in front of a narrow string window, scrambling to get through the observation window that was mostly covered by armor plates, leaving only a few narrow slits.

Inside, they were watching this unprecedented sea battle. They were very nervous at first - Shi Kefa, his staff master, and the boy and boy, together they had probably seen more ships than today.

They have been there many times, and they are all so huge and huge that it is nothing to see from a distance, but when they borrowed the telescope from Zhao Lide, they could clearly see the ratio of sailors to the hull of the other party's ship... Even after boarding the Qionghai a few days ago

, they had already received a very strong shock on this big steel ship, and the three of them were speechless again.

When he thought that Shorthair had to use only one boat to challenge such a huge fleet, the young man from the Shi family felt a little weak. Although he had already killed three of the opponent's boats, at that time, they used a surprise attack at night.

Tactics... The Chinese are always superstitious about "sneak attacks" and "night battles". They probably feel that it is not unusual for a small number to win a large number in this situation. But if it is broad daylight and the two sides face each other in a dignified formation,

It's all about quantity advantage.

The little book boy wanted to get off the ship early before the war started, but Shi Kefa ignored the kid's nonsense and sat calmly in front of the observation window, holding a telescope and observing the opponent's battle formation carefully.

The fearless spirit that left his name on it. As for the staff gentleman, he followed the proprietor anyway and was quite calm.

Only after the war started did they understand where the Qionghai's confidence came from - the artillery fire fired from the opposite fleet covered the sky, but to this side it seemed like just holiday fireworks and no threat at all. They initially

He carefully followed Zhao Lide's reminder to buckle up the armor plate on the porthole, but after a while he couldn't help but quietly opened a crack, then half-opened the window... and finally opened the window completely to take a look. Anyway, there is still a layer outside.

The fixed iron grid and solid armor plate are mainly used to prevent stray bullets, and are not needed at the moment.

From the first moment when the boy covered his ears and huddled in the corner of the bed, shivering, to later he took up his position in front of the window and refused to give up, it didn't take much time. Shi Kefa and his staff were both men of literary temperament.

, although the sight in front of me was shocking, after taking a few glances, I still couldn’t help but started talking while stroking my goatee...

Shi Kefa felt that those Westerners were nothing more than that, and his staff had always spoken in the tone of his master, but this time he shook his head and said disapprovingly:

"That is to say, the iron ship under our feet is too magical. It does not need to rely on the power of the wind to walk, and its skin and bones are all made of fine steel. Its own artillery is also amazing. It just suppressed those big Western ships and couldn't use it... If it were me, Daming,

With the Navy here, I'm afraid the situation is going to be very bad."

What the master said made sense, but Shi Kefa touched his beard and said slightly displeased:

"My brother's words are wrong. Isn't this Qionghai Town Navy our Ming Dynasty Navy? - The flagpole on top of this iron ship is currently hoisting our Ming Dynasty flag."

Hearing what the boss said, the master could only smile and say nothing more - any more words would be politically incorrect. But at the same time, he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, showing his disapproval.

In the past few days since I came to Hainan, I have had close contact with their shorthairs more than once or twice. The attitude of the people in Qionghai Town towards the Ming Dynasty has been clearly revealed - many times, including in the courses taught by Mr. Zhao.

, more or less, it always shows contempt for Ming Dynasty. Even the staff man who never went to class and just helped organize notes can detect this. He doesn't believe that his boss would not feel it.

These people don't want to be enemies of the Ming Dynasty, but they are definitely not afraid of them. If the Ming Dynasty wants to dictate to them and use other people's troops as the Ming Dynasty army, it is better to ignore them. If they really want to anger them,

I'm afraid they will be like these Westerners in front of me, and it's easy to be beaten to pieces.

——When he saw another Western ship being shot through the porthole and sinking into the sea in a blaze of flames, the staff master couldn't help but have this thought in his mind. {Thanks to Piaotian Literature
Chapter completed!