When the battle reaches this point, even if they meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. The two sides have no formations, they just tangle together and fight each other. One side bombards them with heavy iron bullets from cannons, and the other side responds with exploding shells.
In comparison, the Ming army's cannons were smaller, so they were more numerous and had more intensive firepower. However, the Spaniards also had an advantage, that is, they were more skilled in handling ships and their cannons were more accurate than the Ming army.
"General Hao, this can't continue like this. One of our ships has been sunk, and two other ships have been seriously injured!" The assistant officer looked at the surrounding battle situation and reported anxiously to Hao Tong.
Hao Tong frowned and hesitated. At this time, if the order was given to allow each ship to use well-charged shells to fight back, the lethality could be doubled and the situation of the battle would be quickly reversed. But in this way, Su Hao and Deng Zilong made a decision
The strategy of showing weakness and luring the enemy failed. This is a consideration of the overall situation and the small situation.
If it were Su Hao who was in charge, he might have decided to win first. He didn't want to see the soldiers suffer casualties because of the overall situation he set. But Hao Tong was different from Su Hao. He was used to it on the battlefield.
A man of life and death, in his past war career, he has also experienced the choice of sacrificing some soldiers in order to achieve overall victory. In his opinion, such sacrifices are completely worth it.
"Hao Tong, we must persevere and not give up." Tu Wenhuan reminded from the side. The old man had been knocked unconscious by the boat, but his mind was still awake.
"Mr. Tu, please go down and rest quickly. This place is dangerous!" Hao Tong said to Tu Wenhuan, "Don't worry, I will follow General Deng's instructions."
Tu Wenhuan shook off the soldiers who came to help him to the cabin and said to Hao Tong: "Hao Tong, I just noticed that the boat over there is the flagship of the enemy chieftain. To capture the thief and capture the king, we can start with theirs.
Start with the flagship."
"What a great idea!" Hao Tong felt his eyes light up and immediately ordered: "Concentrate your firepower and get close to the enemy chief's flagship to attack!"
The flag was waved, and several surrounding open ships rushed towards the San Martin on which Waldo was riding, despite the rain of bullets. The artillery on each ship was replaced with shotgun shells, and the left and right sides of the San Martin were instantly blocked.
"Oops! What's going on!" Waldo, who was commanding on the bridge, felt a black fog flying in front of his eyes, and then he was hit by four or five grains of iron sand, which made him scream in pain.
The gunners on the ship did not escape the bad luck. Dozens of gunners were hit by iron sand at the same time. Some were blinded. Some had their hands beaten to pieces and could no longer operate the artillery. For a time, the artillery of the San Martin
Half of them went silent. The Mingchuan took advantage of this opportunity and rushed to a place only a hundred steps away from the San Martin.
"Boom! Boom!"
Firing at such a small distance was like putting a bayonet on a cannon. Four explosive shells hit the St. Martin from four different directions at the same time, and the entire ship immediately burst into flames from bow to stern.
"Quickly put out the fire! Hurry and call for rescue!" Waldo ordered randomly while asking someone to pour water on himself to eliminate the burning sensation of the flames.
"Boom! Boom!"
The Ming army's artillery was still roaring relentlessly, and several more shells landed on the strings of the San Martin, and the cabin began to leak water everywhere.
"Mr. Waldo, retreat quickly. The San Martin can hardly hold on any longer." The staff officer suggested to Waldo anxiously. The San Martin is an 800-ton ship and is not easy to sink. But the Ming army
Desperately concentrating firepower on it, it had been hit by more than a dozen bullets in succession, and the cabin was seriously flooded. Only a large number of sailors desperately scooping water out barely managed to prevent it from sinking.
"No, if we retreat at this time, we will be completely defeated!" Waldo still persisted.
"Mr. Waldo, we have failed. I see Chinese reinforcements have arrived." the staff officer reminded.
"What did you say? The Chinese still have reinforcements?" Waldo was stunned. He was stunned by the Ming army's shotguns just now, and he didn't notice the changes in the sea situation for a moment.
Seven or eight hundred paces away, a Ming army fleet composed of six warships was riding the wind and waves towards the battlefield. On the leading flagship ship, an old general held a steel knife in his hand, as steady as Mount Tai, and was calmly giving orders.
: "Go forward at full speed and fire when you reach 500 steps!"
"retreat!"
At this time, Waldo also knew that he had been ambushed by the Chinese. The two sides were fighting at a fever pitch, and the other side suddenly came with reinforcements. How long could he sustain it? Even if he tried his best to eliminate the opponent in front of him, he would still be the weakest person in the crossbow.
, and could not compete with the Ming army coming for reinforcements.
Escape was easier than attacking. After receiving the order to retreat, the Spanish warship threw away the excess items on the ship, including the unfired cannonballs. The hull suddenly became lighter, and with the help of the sea breeze, it quickly escaped from the battle. Val
Two more light ships were ordered to confront Deng Zilong's fleet and block it, giving the remaining six ships time to escape.
If Deng Zilong used all his strength to stop him, he would actually be able to keep Waldo. But this battle had been determined in advance to be a defeat, not an annihilation battle, so Deng Zilong just put on a menacing look and left a few points behind when he struck.
Waldo, Kevin and others commanded the remaining troops and escaped from the Ming army's interception. They were like a lost dog and disappeared without a trace after a while. However, the two ships responsible for the blocking mission were finally retained by Deng Zilong.
It landed and sank into the sea amidst intensive artillery fire.
"Commander Deng, the last general was incompetent and failed to win a complete victory. He broke three ships. Please punish him."
Hao Tong took a small boat and boarded Deng Zilong's boat. As soon as they met, he knelt down on one knee and apologized to Deng Zilong.
Deng Zilong held each other's hands and said with a smile: "There is no battle without losses. Besides, you are not completely victorious in this battle. You are tied up and can fight like this, which is already very good."
Tu Wenhuan stepped forward and reported: "General Soldier, in this battle, our troops were hit by artillery shells on ships and those who sank and fell into the water. A total of 130 people were killed, 80 were injured, and 3 ships were sunk. Our troops sank Hongyi."
12 ships, the general led the troops to sink 2 Hongyi ships. Our department salvaged the Hongyi crew members who fell into the water, and captured a total of 340 people. There were countless floating corpses of Hongyi on the sea, and my subordinates did not let the soldiers go to fish them out."
"Why are you fishing for this?" Deng Zilong waved his hand, "We don't rely on counting heads to calculate merit."
Tu Wenhuan smiled and said: "My subordinates think so too, but these prisoners are still of some use. Instead, I said that these people can be incorporated into our team in the future."
"Let Hongyi serve as our soldiers?" Deng Zilong was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, "Since he changed what he said, there must be a reason for it. I am old and can't keep up with the ideas of their young people."
The Ming army rescued those comrades whose ships had sunk into the water, salvaged the bodies of the fallen comrades, and then returned to the sea. In this battle, the Ming army deliberately concealed its strength and still won 14 to 3.
The victory was achieved at the cost of only 3 ships and 14 Spanish ships were sunk. The record was not unsatisfactory. Although Hao Tong said that he had failed to live up to his high expectations, he was still quite proud in his heart.
"Congratulations to General Deng for winning the first battle!"
Su Hao led everyone at the dock to welcome the returning fleet. Seeing that most of his warships were intact, but a group of Spanish prisoners were taken off the ship, Su Hao could naturally guess the outcome of the battle.
"It's such a pity that Hongyi lost 6 ships." Deng Zilong said half regretfully and half show off.
"Haha, I just left them alive to deliver the message. Won't they still be the food in General Deng's bowl sooner or later?" Su Hao said with a smile.
Deng Zilong said: "It is precisely because I thought of this that I did not attack with all my strength. Otherwise, how could I let them escape?"
Deng Kui came up to Hao Tong and whispered: "Old Hao, congratulations. After this battle, the commander-in-chief can report to the court and promote you to the rank of general, right? You don't need to salute when you see me in the future.
Already."
Hao Tong snorted and said, "Don't be complacent. When I annihilate the European combined fleet and achieve great success, I can at least become the deputy commander-in-chief. By then, I still don't know who will salute whom."
Deng Kui said: "You are the only one who can make meritorious deeds? General Su said, you are dealing with the European navy at sea, and we will deal with the European army island by island. By then, my contribution will not necessarily be less than yours. I take it for granted."
I have been serving as a general longer than you, so if you want to promote deputy general, I must be promoted first."
"Then let's give it a try." Hao Tong said without anger, "The matter of who will be the deputy commander first can be put aside for now. I come back from a narrow escape, why don't you treat me to a drink?"
Deng Kui said: "We have been prepared for a long time. When the two commander-in-chiefs finish their training, we old buddies are going to knock you down."
"I'm not sure who will get down first!" Hao Tong said.
On the other side, Tu Wenhuan was handing over the captured Spanish prisoners to Su Hao. While handing them over, he asked: "Instead, do you really plan to let these red barbarians serve as our soldiers?"
Su Hao said: "Why not? The Hongyi people are very experienced in navigation and naval warfare. They are no worse than our soldiers."
Tu Wenhuan said: "But, they are Hongyi after all, how can they be willing to do things for our Ming Dynasty?"
Su Hao said: "Mr. Tu doesn't know. Most of these European soldiers are poor people with no means of living. To put it harshly, they are gangsters who only serve as soldiers to make money. For them, those with breasts are
Mom, as long as we can pay them, it doesn't matter who they serve as soldiers."
"Really?" Tu Wenhuan still didn't understand. In his opinion, Europeans and Asians even looked different, and they were a typical "non-my race". How could these people be willing to serve the Ming Dynasty?
Su Hao smiled and said: "Let's wait and see, Mr. Tu. However, I have to find a few missionaries to brainwash them first. After the missionaries finish chatting with them, naturally some people will be willing to work for us."
"What should I do if I refuse to serve?" Tu Wenhuan asked again.
Su Hao said: "What's so difficult about this? We have opened so many mines in Luzon, but we are still short of miners. If they don't want to be soldiers to feed themselves, just let them be miners for the rest of their lives."
"This... I really have a bad heart when I change it." Tu Wenhuan laughed. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!