To be honest, after several battles, Yu Dayou and others still have a certain understanding of the naval combat capabilities of several Western countries.
It is said that countries such as Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands can not become maritime powers casually. Without certain strength, how can they suppress other countries and become the strongest among them?
Therefore, it is not unreasonable to say that Spain can dominate the world and almost dominate the ocean. Even Yu Dayou admired the Spanish navy's combat effectiveness and military quality.
If under the same conditions, Yu Dayou really can't guarantee that he will be able to defeat the opponent. However, after several battles, the reason why the Ming Navy was able to win was that on the one hand, it had the advantage of having a large number of people, and on the other hand,
On the other hand, you also have the advantage of taking the lead in armament.
Even a fool can tell the difference between the damage that blooming bullets and solid bullets can cause to a battleship.
If a cannonball falls, the solid projectile will at most smash some decks. As long as the quality of the ship is not bad, it is unlikely that it will be directly smashed to pieces by a cannonball.
However, compared to solid bullets, blooming bullets are much more lethal. Not only do they cause great damage to the hull of the ship, but more importantly, they also cause considerable damage to the soldiers on the ship.
Almost all the equipment of the Ming Dynasty were explosive ammunition, so when fighting Spain, Spain was often defeated in one battle.
One thing cannot be denied, that is, the military quality of Spanish naval soldiers is definitely not bad, which means they suffer from insufficient equipment.
After suffering so many losses, even a fool will make progress, let alone a kingdom that is at its peak.
When the news of the Ming fleet was transmitted back to Spain, some descriptions of the Ming warships and artillery naturally appeared on the desks of powerful figures in the Kingdom of Spain. Any news that could improve the combat effectiveness of the warships would be appreciated.
It is eye-catching, not to mention that Spain suffered such a big loss from Ming Dynasty.
With the ability of Spanish craftsmen, now that they know the explosive bullets, it is not a problem to make them. It is just a matter of how powerful the explosive bullets can be.
In a hurry, the explosive bombs made in Spain have been sent to the navy. On the one hand, it is to improve the combat effectiveness of the navy. On the other hand, it is also necessary to collect data on the explosive bombs through some actual combat to facilitate domestic personnel.
A certain degree of improvement.
Under this situation, it is not impossible for Spain to catch up with the Ming Dynasty. Now that the Ming Dynasty has the advantage in armaments, it can beat Spain. Once Spain completes the upgrade of its naval warships, by that time, the Ming Dynasty will
It will not be that easy to enter the Mediterranean again.
The sound of rumbling artillery fire came, and the shells exploded one after another. From time to time, you could see streaks of smoke and fire rising into the sky, but it was the battleships that lit up the fire and floated on the sea.
A group of soldiers of the Ming Dynasty quickly blasted out the cannonballs. Amidst the gunfire, the Spanish fleet on the opposite side suffered great losses.
The Spanish fleet was really stunned by the Ming Dynasty's artillery saturation attack. Many naval generals believed that the generals who fled were not lacking in ability, but because the gap in equipment was too large.
The flagship of General Levi naturally attracted the attention of several warships of the Ming Dynasty, and the gunfire of several warships directly targeted the Spanish flagship.
Cannonballs are falling one after another. It is conceivable that when dozens of cannonballs are covering the ship, even if the sailors are very skilled in dodging cannonballs, it is impossible to dodge dozens of cannonballs.
With a rumble, several cannonballs hit the flagship. The shells that exploded immediately blew the entire flagship to pieces and almost fell apart.
Under the protection of several soldiers, General Levi crawled out from under the block of wood, looking very embarrassed.
Seeing the flames igniting around him, General Levi did not show any panic, but instead looked towards the Akito fleet opposite.
On the sea surface, a fleet of fleets flying the flag of the Ming Dynasty steadily pressed towards them, but the warships on their side were in chaos, and there were faint signs of collapse under the bombardment of the Ming Dynasty ships.
That is to say, the Spanish navy soldiers are tough enough, so they can persist until now. If they were ordinary soldiers, they would have fled in all directions on ships.
On the surrounding sea surface, the Spanish soldiers were fighting back hard, each of them puffing their mouths, and they seemed to be fighting to the death.
However, at this moment, there was a loud bang, and the flagship they had been paying attention to was actually submerged in a cloud of smoke. Just looking at the miserable appearance of the flagship, one could guess that the flagship was probably under the attack of artillery fire.
suffered heavy losses.
"No, General Levi!"
Seeing that the flagship suffered heavy damage, several nearby Spanish warships quickly turned around and rushed towards the flagship.
The flagship is different from other battleships. Once the flagship suffers heavy damage, it will inevitably have a great impact on the overall situation.
When those Spanish warships rushed towards the flagship, Yu Dayou's flagship naturally received Spanish attention. The cannonballs hit it one after another, which also caused the flagship to be devastated.
He slapped away a piece of deck debris that was shooting towards it, and saw that several dark holes on the flagship were punched out by the Spanish cannonballs.
There was even a sound of shouting coming from under a cave entrance, but it was a team of Ming soldiers busy plugging the leak.
Compared to the embarrassed General Levi, although Yu Dayou was a little embarrassed, in comparison, General Levi was still more embarrassed.
Seeing that the Spanish fleet's flagship was directly destroyed, Yu Dayou couldn't help laughing and said: "Okay, okay, as the saying goes, a snake can't survive without a head. If the Spanish flagship sinks, then the Spanish fleet may fall into chaos..."
However, at the next moment, Yu Dayou couldn't help but frown, because not far away, a soldier came quickly towards Yu Dayou and said to Yu Dayou: "Sir, we have discovered the new Spanish flagship!"
"Huh? New flagship?"
With a bit of surprise, Yu Dayou reacted immediately, narrowed his eyes and said: "It seems that there are capable people on the Spanish side, who are actually prepared in this way."
In fact, it's normal to think about it. On the battlefield, as a flagship, it will naturally have to withstand several times more firepower attacks than other ships. Relatively speaking, the danger of a flagship is much greater.
Even though the flagship rarely charges into battle and is protected by its own warships, if it is really approached, there is still a high possibility that the flagship will be sunk.
Therefore, as long as the commander is not a fool, he must be prepared to face this situation. When the flagship loses the ability to command the army or sinks, another warship must take the initiative to take over the right to command the army.
This is the backup flagship.
For example, just before the war started, Lin Pingzhi and Jiao Yuan had already left Yu Dayou's flagship, and even Yue Buqun had gone to another warship.
This is Yu Dayou's preparation to prevent accidents. Once the flagship he is riding on loses the ability to command, Lin Pingzhi and Jiao Yuan will hoist the command flag and take over the command of the entire warship.
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Thoughts flashed through his mind, Yu Dayou's eyes flashed and he said: "Give me the order and watch and beat. No matter which warship dares to fly the flag, then give me a group fight. We must defeat it in the shortest possible time."
It was severely damaged and even sunk."
Following Yu Dayou's order, the warship that had just replaced General Levi's flagship and became the flagship of the new Spanish fleet fell into the siege of several Ming warships.
Such a new flagship had just hung out the flag and had no time to drink tea. Under the siege of several Ming warships, it was sunk.
General Levi, who had just climbed from the boat onto one of his warships, had not yet breathed a sigh of relief when he received news that the new flagship had sunk.
General Levi immediately said to the captain: "General Kundong, please immediately fly the flag and replace the Anthony as the new flagship!"
As the captain of a battleship, General Kundong couldn't help but narrow his eyes after hearing General Levi's words. General Kundong is not like other generals. He knows very well that once he hangs up his flag, he will definitely become a Ming Dynasty leader.
The focus of attack.
What will happen once you fall into the siege of the Ming fleet? Just look at the two flagships before and after.
Both battleships sank in the ocean, so once the battleship becomes the new flagship, it will most likely be besieged and sunk by the Akito fleet.
Taking a deep breath, General Kundong shook his head at General Levi and said: "Levi is sorry, the Black Rose is just a small battleship and is not suitable to be the flagship of the fleet at all, so I'm sorry, please forgive me.
I can’t obey your orders!”
Dumbfounded, General Levi looked at General Kundong in disbelief and said, "Kundong, do you know what you are talking about? Aren't you afraid of going to a military court?"
Kundong looked at General Levi with a solemn expression and said: "I am responsible for the life safety of all crew members on the ship, including the soldiers. I could not obey your orders and ruined the lives of everyone on the ship!"
General Levi couldn't help but get angry, pointing at General Kundong and saying: "You... you are committing murder. Do you know that once no ship steps forward to become the flagship and takes over the command, the army will fall into chaos?
I don’t know how many people will die because of this..."
General Kundong's eyes flashed with a trace of hesitation, but when he thought that everyone on the ship, including himself, might be blown to pieces because of his own impulse, all the hesitation disappeared, and General Kundong rushed to the scene without hesitation.
He looked at several of his subordinates and soldiers around him and said, "What are you doing standing still here? Why don't you ask General Levi to come into the cabin to recover from his injuries!"
Several soldiers could clearly hear the conversation between General Levi and General Kundong just now. Although these soldiers were not all General Kundong's cronies, they chose to support General Kundong without hesitation.
After all, no one wants to die, and they also know that once the Black Rose becomes the flagship, they will not be able to fish in troubled waters on the battlefield like they are now. The possibility of returning to Hong Kong safely by then is almost zero.
The Black Rose is most likely to sink in the deep sea.
General Levi stared at General Kundong. If eyes could kill, I'm afraid General Kundong would have been killed by him by now.
However, General Levi took a deep breath. Before being suppressed by several soldiers, General Levi turned to General Kundong with some pleading: "Kundong, since you don't want the Black Rose to take over as the flagship, then why don't you?
Please order the fleet to retreat for the sake of the glory of the Kingdom of Spain. Otherwise, if there is a complete defeat, the port may be lost. This is absolutely unacceptable to the kingdom. I don’t think you want to go to the guillotine when the time comes!
"
After saying this, General Levi turned around and walked into the cabin with the soldiers. He said everything he needed to say and did everything he needed to do. He did not expect General Kundong to do such a thing.
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Kundong stood there, with General Levi's words echoing in his mind. He breathed out slowly, and heard Kundong say to a soldier beside him: "Send the order and hang up the retreat flag!"
Although it is not a handsome flag, once the retreat flag is hung, it will inevitably attract warships from all over the world to follow suit.
After all, as the two flagships were sunk one after another, the morale of the Spanish warships was very low. Especially at this time, even a warship stood up and hung out the flag and had no intention of becoming the flagship. It is conceivable that the Spanish warships
The soldiers did not have high hopes for the upcoming battle.
In fact, at this time, the firepower of the Ming fleet had been reduced a lot, at least less than half of the previous artillery coverage.
Holding a spear in his hand, Yu Dayou stood upright on top of Jiapan and looked at the entire battlefield. Yu Dayou couldn't help but frowned when he heard the news from the messenger.
"What, you said there are not enough shells, and it can last for an hour at most!"
He was shocked. Although he had known for a long time that the remaining artillery shells would be difficult to sustain a high-intensity war, but when the war started, Yu Dayou forgot about it. Now that he learned that there were not many artillery shells left, Yu Dayou
All warships had to be quietly ordered to lower their firepower.
With the Ming Dynasty's firepower reduced, the almost collapsed Spanish fleet felt that it had escaped the hands of death.
"Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Several captains who had previously not supported the pursuit of the Ming fleet now saw that the situation was not good. In addition, the Black Rose took the lead in raising the flag of retreat, as if they had found an organization, and they seemed to be following suit.
The flag of retreat was raised.
Even though some bloody captains wanted to continue the bloody battle with the Ming fleet, they soon discovered that their companions around them had turned their ships around one by one and headed towards the port.
A captain slapped his hand on the railing and looked at the ships passing by. He wanted to kill the captains who took the lead in escaping. But now retreat has become the mainstream, with almost 60% to 70% of the captains escaping.
The ships turned around and retreated.
Even if these captains want to continue the battle, they also know that there are no nearby companions to help them attract firepower. If they share the firepower, once the surrounding companions leave, they will bear all the firepower of the surrounding Ming fleets.
With companions helping to share the load, things are going to be precarious, and they may be shot and suffer heavy damage at any time, not to mention that there are less than half of the battleships left at the moment.
When Yu Dayou learned that there were not many shells left, he hesitated in his heart whether to retreat.
After all, if there are not enough cannonballs on the ship, it will really be captured at that time.
Yu Dayou was extremely hesitant in his heart, whether to retreat or to persist. After all, the Spanish navy still had a numerical advantage. Even if many ships were sunk, the remaining warships could always exhaust them as long as they persisted.
Cannonballs on the ship.
Exhaling a breath, Yu Dayou made a choice in his mind. Just when he was about to order a retreat, suddenly the messenger shouted: "Look, my lord, retreat, the Spanish are retreating!"
Suddenly startled, Yu Dayou couldn't help but raise his head and stare ahead. Soon Yu Dayou saw the Spanish fleet that was busy changing directions, and he immediately realized that the Spanish could not hold on any longer.
"Hahaha, God is really helping me. Order all the ships to press on me!"
Even without Yu Dayou's orders, if all the captains couldn't even grasp this opportunity, they probably wouldn't be alive today.
When the last Spanish warship entered the port, everyone understood that the Spanish fleet was defeated.
In this battle, the Spanish fleet sank a total of thirty-three warships, while the Ming Dynasty sank seven ships. Although many sailors and soldiers were rescued, hundreds of soldiers and sailors were also killed in the battle.
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Although the Ming Dynasty won this battle, it was also a tragic victory. After all, after this battle, the most crucial artillery fire for the fleet was no longer enough.
The remaining artillery shells are not even enough to support an ordinary battle. Maybe after an encounter, the Ming fleet's artillery shells will be exhausted.
Looking at the port, Yu Dayou and others felt a bit unwilling to do so. Even though they knew that they could take advantage of Spain's new defeat and the morale of the army to be weakened, they could try to attack the port, but Yu Dayou still gritted his teeth and ordered a retreat.
In the port, the rather embarrassed General Levi was standing in the hall with a depressed look on his face, surrounded by a group of captains who looked dejected, and the Duke of Rose, who had a livid face.
Duke Rose slapped the table and stared at General Levi and said, "Levi, this is what you said about the Ming Dynasty's fleet being so powerful outside the country. They almost broke into the port directly..."
ps: I recommend a book, "Millions of Possibilities". If you are short on books, you might as well take a look.