Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 312 Taking the Spanish Fleet Lightly

The single column of the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army Navy maneuvered in a circle, basically maintaining a distance of about 3000 yards, and at this distance, the Spanish artillery could not wipe the Ming warship at all.

Meng Hui is a very rigorous commander. He does not allow any mistakes. The formation he leads also shows the training level of the Ming Navy very well. In terms of formation and gunnery, no one can match him.

Zhang Fengming pointed to the relatively large Spanish warship and said: "That one seems to be the Spanish flagship, which one should we do first?"

Meng Hui nodded and said, "Notify all ships to concentrate their firepower on the enemy's flagship."

Large and small artillery shells hit over immediately, almost instantly, and the flagship of the Spanish Navy, the Prince of Asturia, was riddled with holes.

"Ahhhhh! My hand!"

"Oh God!"

The sailors on the ship were struggling. Sergio had never seen the horrors of a battle, but the scene he saw now was really hell-like—there were no ships with damaged shapes at all, and they were everywhere. The shattered holes, the wailing sailors with broken limbs, the battered human corpses, and a Spanish flag was burning.

fear!Fear made his whole body tremble, and he even forgot how to command.

The captain of the Prince of Asturias was dead, but luckily the first mate was still alive. He grabbed Sergio and shouted: "Colonel! Wake up, we must surrender. This The battle is too stupid for us to win!"

Sergio regained consciousness a little, and immediately shouted: "Change ship, go to Qiangsheng!"

Sergio and a group of sailors desperately put down the boat and rowed to another battleship, and then the Spanish naval colonel immediately gave an order.

"Break out, break out separately!"

He didn't care about the life and death of Manila. This damn sea battle was completely different from the war he fought in Europe. The opponents were so tough that it didn't make sense. Whether it was the speed of the ship or their cannons, they were so incomprehensible.Sergio wanted to leave Manila Bay quickly, no matter how he might be punished by the Spanish Empire later, but at least he would survive.

But this move is equally ridiculous. How could several sailboats with a speed of less than 10 knots escape from the pursuit of the Ming Dynasty's steam-armored sailboats?
This naval battle quickly turned into a hunting operation by the Ming Navy against the defeated Spanish Navy. After several Spanish warships were intercepted and sunk in succession, the remaining Spanish ships became more honest and fought obediently. The white flag surrendered to the Ming Navy.

After all, Sergio did not escape the end of surrender. In the end, it was the first officer who led a group of angry sailors to say that Sergio was kidnapped and raised the white flag.Anyway, this time Sergio's fate was better than that of the captain from Cuba, and he was not stabbed by the sailors.

The process of the entire naval battle was clearly seen by Governor Salcedo on the shore of Manila Harbor.When he saw that the last Spanish warships that were fighting in the corner all raised their white flags, Salcedo knew that Manila was cold.

"Even if the situation can be sustained on land, if the sea route is controlled by the Chinese, then Luzon will become a complete isolated island, which will not bring any benefits to Spain, and will trap us all to death here!" Sa Elcedo couldn't imagine it at all.

"But at least we can maintain a relatively good situation on land, and we won't be completely defeated by the Chinese. At that time, we still have bargaining chips to negotiate with the Chinese!" Salcedo's eyes lit up, and the defeat in the naval battle did not let the He was extremely flustered.For European colonists, this strategy of fighting for peace is their regular routine.

Salcedo quickly thought of a question: "There are still many Chinese in Manila, yes! Arrest them all. They may become spies of the Chinese army and even resist us. This is absolutely unacceptable. Moreover, if necessary, they can be used as hostages to give us more bargaining chips!"

Salcedo immediately ordered his soldiers to search the city for Chinese businessmen and Chinese.

It's just that he didn't know that the local Chinese had already made relevant preparations.

In the house of Chen Baoquan, a wealthy businessman in Manila, a group of Chinese people are preparing intensively.Standing next to Chen Baoquan is a middle-aged man who is a little thin but has particularly bright eyes.

"Lord Che, the brothers have pulled out the weapons they hid earlier and formed teams to protect Chinatown. The old, weak, women and children have already left the city through our tunnels and arrived at our pick-up point outside the city."

The skinny middle-aged man nodded and said: "The Spaniards are coming, so we must not take it lightly. But as long as we persist for a little while, the Ming army will land, and then we can catch all the Spaniards."

He is not an ordinary person, but one of the deputy commanders of Daming Jinyiwei, Che Quzhi.Long before Bai Mingxiu was ready to attack Luzon, Daming Jinyiwei had already planted hidden lines in Luzon through various means to manage the layout.Although this Chen Baoquan is a native of Luzon, most of his family is still in Zhangzhou, Fujian.Moreover, Chen Baoquan's brother has also worked in Fujian and became a civil servant.

Taking advantage of the relationship of people like Chen Baoquan, Daming Jinyiwei gradually began to build an organization under the eyes of the Spaniards.Moreover, this kind of organization is different from ordinary intelligence networks. Because it needs to respond to the siege of the Ming army, Jin Yiwei cultivated local Chinese armed forces, and even sent part of the arms in through smuggling.

Chen Baoquan said: "Brother Che, all the houses of the big families in Chinatown have been remodeled, with shooting holes and lookout points. If the Spanish side plans to attack by force, our brothers can let them eat a pot."

Che Quzhi said: "Don't be too careless. The Spaniards may attack us with artillery. The only thing we can rely on is hand grenades. But as long as we are stable, it is not a problem to persist for a day or two. It is really not possible. Guide everyone to retreat from the tunnel in an orderly manner.”

Che Quzhi's goal was very clear. He did not expect the improvised local Chinese armed forces to cause much damage to the Spaniards, or even directly capture the city of Manila.He just needed the organized Chinese to protect themselves and create a little blockage for the Manila authorities.

Almost all the young men in Manila were organized. Not all of them were issued rifles. In fact, those who were issued rifles were not very good at using them. The Jinyiwei people had only secretly trained them a few times before.The ones who can really fight are actually the secret soldiers who received training from the Royal Guards in the mainland and then came to Manila disguised as laborers. They are not many in number, only more than 100 people, but their strength is on par with the real Ming Dynasty Restoration Army.

(End of this chapter)