2 Grand Duke Qiangwei stood up suddenly and looked at the attendant with some expectation: "Where are they? Where are they?"
Grand Duke Qiangwei, who had been waiting for news of the battle, stood up and almost grabbed the attendant's collar and asked.
The attendant said with a somewhat nervous look on his face: "They... they are waiting for the Grand Duke in the hall right now."
Grand Duke Qiangwei took a step forward and strode towards the living room in the front yard.
Soon the footsteps of the Grand Duke Rose were heard. In the living room, a group of gray-faced Spanish generals showed a look of astonishment on their faces. They lowered their heads and did not dare to look at the approaching Grand Duke Rose.
Before entering the hall, Grand Duke Qiangwei was heard saying loudly: "Tell me quickly, how is the situation in this battle? What is happening to the Ming fleet with insufficient logistics? Have they been sunk..."
Walking into the hall, Grand Duke Rose's eyes fell on General Levi and others. Soon the excitement on Grand Duke Rose's face gradually disappeared. After all, Grand Duke Rose still had the ability to observe words and emotions.
The faces of all the generals looked as if their parents had died. This was not the look they should have after returning from a great victory.
"Does it mean that we have lost again?"
Grand Duke Rose glanced at General Levi, and finally looked at the naval commander he appointed, Si Dewen.
"Si Dewen, come and tell me what's going on?"
Si Dewen took a deep breath, with a bit of bitterness on his face, and said slowly under the gaze of Grand Duke Qiangwei: "Everything went well at first. Although it cost a little, we finally suppressed it with the advantage of numbers.
The Ming Fleet, just when we were about to sink all the Ming Fleet in one go, we never thought that the Ming Dynasty would send a wave of reinforcements to kill them in time. Not only did they rescue the surrounded Ming Fleet, but they also caused us great harm.
The threat..."
"What did you say? Reinforcements? The Ming Dynasty fleet actually has reinforcements. They are thousands of miles away. You told me that reinforcements are coming?"
Grand Duke Qiangwei almost jumped up and pointed at Si Dewen and cursed. No wonder Grand Duke Qiangwei reacted so fiercely. Si Dewen really couldn't imagine that even though they were thousands of miles away, the Ming fleet, which could be said to be alone, had reinforcements arriving.
.
Grand Duke Qiangwei really didn't know what to say other than sighing that God was not open to the eyes.
Although there is no saying in the West that it is up to humans to make things happen, but at this time, Grand Duke Qiangwei could only lament that people's calculations are not as good as God's.
After a while, Grand Duke Qiangwei, who had calmed down, sat there and looked at the dejected generals below. He coughed lightly and said, "Well, this was an accident. No one expected that the other side would have reinforcements. Now,
Let’s talk about the reinforcements.”
As he spoke, Grand Duke Qiang looked at Si Dewen and General Levi.
At this moment, General Levi took the initiative and said: "General Si Dewen is sitting in the rear and commanding the entire army. He may not be as aware of the situation of the Ming reinforcements as I am in the front, so why not let me explain it to you."
Grand Duke Qiangwei glanced at Si Dewen and saw that Si Dewen did not refute, so he turned to General Levi and said, "Tell me, what is going on with Mingren's reinforcements?"
With a somewhat dignified look on his face, General Levi said to Grand Duke Rose: "I hope the Grand Duke can immediately send a letter to the country and request the country to mobilize troops. Otherwise, the Strait of Gibraltar is very likely to be lost from our hands.
…”
"This is impossible, it's so ridiculous!"
When he heard General Levi say that the Strait of Gibraltar might be breached by Akito, Archduke Rose's instinctive reaction was to disbelieve it.
Spain has a lot of fortifications in the Strait of Gibraltar, and they have gathered more than 20,000 troops here.
It can be said that even if the Ming Dynasty storms the Strait of Gibraltar, it still depends on whether the Ming Dynasty can break through the defense of the Spanish army.
But General Levi looked at Grand Duke Qiangwei and said, "If the Grand Duke knew how many reinforcements were coming from the Ming Dynasty this time, I'm afraid he wouldn't have said that!"
After being slightly startled, Grand Duke Qiangwei took a deep breath and looked at General Levi and said: "Thousands of miles away, how many reinforcements can the Ming Dynasty send?"
General Levi did not reply directly to Grand Duke Qiang Wei, but instead said to Sid Wen: "General Sid Wen, according to the general's judgment, how many reinforcements have come from the Ming Dynasty this time?"
Si Dewen was in the rear. Although he was not as clear as General Levi, he could still make a rough judgment.
After pondering for a while, Si Dewen said slowly: "According to my judgment, the Ming Dynasty has no less than a hundred battleships alone, plus hundreds of transport ships. To be honest, how many have come specifically?"
I really can’t say what the reinforcements will be.”
Grand Duke Qiangwei's expression froze, but at this moment General Levi nodded and said: "General Sidwen is right, the Ming reinforcements alone have hundreds of warships, among which new warships account for even more
Almost half of them, in addition to hundreds of transport ships, although I am not very sure how many of those transport ships are transport infantry, even if there are only a few hundred, that is tens of thousands of infantry
ah."
With a bang, Grand Duke Qiangwei slapped his hand on the table, stood up suddenly, looked at the generals, and said in a deep voice: "Are what General Levi and General Sidwen said true?"
All the generals looked at me, and I looked at you, and nodded slowly.
Grand Duke Qiangwei sat down with a gloomy face and cursed endlessly. Needless to say, Grand Duke Qiangwei was cursing the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty.
General Levi didn't care about the mood of Archduke Rose at the moment, and said with some urgency: "Please also ask the Archduke to send people to the capital as soon as possible, and implore His Majesty the King and the cabinet to dispatch troops, otherwise the Strait of Gibraltar will be in danger!"
The next day, a red sun slowly emerged from the sea, and a new day began.
In the Strait of Gibraltar, in the port, on the watchtower, several soldiers were monitoring the movements above the sea. Suddenly, a soldier shouted: "Look, there is something going on."
Soon, the telescopes in the hands of several soldiers were aimed at the black spots in the distance. In the telescopes, black spots appeared one by one on the sea. Based on their experience, they could conclude almost instantly that what was in the telescopes was
The black spots are simply the approaching ships one by one.
Suddenly the alarm bell rang, and soon the alarm bell rang throughout the port. The person responsible for the daily defense of the port was General Si Dewen.
The troops withdrew in embarrassment not long ago and returned home. Fortunately, the previous defeat had little to do with Si Dewen. Otherwise, Si Dewen would definitely be responsible for that defeat.
Because there was an early warning from General Levi, and Si Dewen himself judged that after the Ming fleet gathered reinforcements, it was very likely that it would launch an offensive against the port in the near future.
After all, the Ming fleet did not attack the port before because of the fleet's insufficient logistics. Now that logistics is no longer a problem, does it mean that the Ming fleet will still leave the port alone and not attack?
Anyway, if you put yourself in his shoes, if it were him, he would definitely launch a crazy offensive against the port with the momentum of victory.
Since it was an expected thing, Si Dewen didn't panic after hearing the warning. Instead, he made arrangements in an orderly manner.
On the one hand, they sent people to communicate with Grand Duke Qiangwei, and on the other hand, they made arrangements according to the usual warnings.
Soldiers were stationed in the forts built on both sides of the strait one after another, and the muzzles of each gun were aimed at the sea outside the port.
At the same time, the infantry troops stationed several miles away from the port will rush to the port as soon as they receive the news, and then guard the port to prevent Ming ships from approaching the port for landing operations.
It was just a matter of time. Si Dewen, who had boarded the watchtower, could clearly see through the telescope that the ships were rushing toward them like arrows from the bowstring on the sea.
It was when he clearly saw the fleet rushing towards the port that the look on Sidwen's face became extremely solemn.
Even though he had been mentally prepared, when he saw so many ships rushing towards the port like overwhelming numbers, Si Dewen was extremely shocked for a moment.
There are more than a hundred ships spread out on the sea. As they get closer and closer, an invisible pressure naturally hits them.
Having already seen the power of the Ming fleet in battles, especially the terrifying momentum under the saturation firepower of the Ming fleet, Si Dewen was filled with butterflies in his heart when he saw the Ming ships one after another.
Down.
At this moment, there was the sound of rapid footsteps, and several generals were seen hurrying up to the watchtower.
The watchtower is not big, but it is enough to accommodate a few people. General Levi clenched the telescope in his hand and looked at the approaching ships. His expression looked extremely solemn and he said: "It seems that this time the Ming Dynasty is coming.
Not good."
It doesn’t take General Levi to say anything, even a fool can tell that the Ming fleet’s arrival is not good.
The sound of the horn was heard, and groups of Portuguese soldiers were seen entering the positions in various places in the port in an orderly manner.
At the same time, ships one after another also raised their sails and sailed out of the port to meet the Ming fleet.
The pride of the Spanish naval fleet made it impossible for them to endure the result of being blocked in the port and violently attacking. They would rather sink outside the port than stay in the port and be bombed to pieces.
Of course, there is no other choice. The result is the same anyway. In this case, why should we die in the port?
There was a loud bang, and one of the leading ships fired the gun first, splashing a column of water on the water.
Just seeing this scene, General Levi couldn't help but sigh: "Sure enough, the Ming fleet, which has received logistical support, will not abandon its own advantages and choose to fight us in close combat. After all, the Ming fleet had insufficient logistics before, so it gave
This gives us the opportunity to attack at close range."
The Ming Dynasty fleet is like a tiger descending from the mountain, and the dozens of new warships headed by it are even more terrifying with fierce firepower.
The firepower of dozens of new warships alone is almost comparable to the firepower that an entire fleet of hundreds of ships could output previously.
The shells fell like a heavy rain. It is conceivable that under such circumstances, the Spanish fleet hurriedly sailed out of the port to meet the Spanish fleet. In just a blink of an eye, several warships were hit, sunk directly, or burned down.
A fire broke out.
Seeing this situation, Sidney and Levi couldn't help but punched the railing of the watchtower and said angrily: "Damn it, if you can, come close and hit me!"
Of course, these are just angry words. As a qualified general, he naturally knows that as long as he can win on the battlefield, no matter what method he uses, only a fool would give up his own advantages and use them.
As the Spanish warships sailed out of the port one after another, but just as they left the port, what was waiting for them was the Ming fleet, which had already opened its fangs.
Cannonballs fell like death one after another. The closer the distance, the higher the hit rate. Even if the Spanish fleet counterattacked frantically, relatively speaking, the Ming Dynasty's artillery fire was naturally sharper, especially the explosive shells.
The destructive power is far greater than that of solid bullets.
The Ming fleet sank one warship, and Spain had to sink at least four. It's not that the Spanish navy was not qualified enough, it was just that the equipment gap between the two sides was a bit large.
If the Spaniards had replaced the equipment of the Ming Dynasty, their combat effectiveness would not be much worse.
Whenever a Spanish fleet rushed out of the port, it would be covered by a barrage of artillery fire. Unless you were lucky enough, otherwise, after a round of bombardment, the battleship would have already turned into a sea of flames. It was just luck that it did not sink on the spot.
Seeing these situations through the telescope, General Levi, Si Dewen and others looked at each other, and everyone's eyes showed a look of despair.
It is probably unrealistic to rely on the fleet to block the Ming Dynasty's attack. If this continues, in half a day at most, not a few of the hundreds of ships in the entire Spanish fleet will survive.
"We must prepare for the worst. I will go and beg the Grand Duke to order all the troops to be mobilized to defend the strait and port to the death."
With that said, General Levi quickly descended from the watchtower and headed straight for Grand Duke Rose's residence.
A fierce naval battle was going on outside the port. Although it was still several miles away from the port, the rumble of the cannons could be faintly heard in the port, so Justice Rose was listening to the report of his attendants.
When General Levi arrived, Grand Duke Rose stood up and grabbed General Levi and said: "Levi, is the Ming fleet coming to attack the port?"
Levi nodded slightly and said: "Grand Duke, the Ming Dynasty is coming fiercely. We are worried that the fleet alone will not be able to stop them for too long. I am sure the Grand Duke will mobilize troops and horses to station in the port, just in case!"
Grand Duke Qiangwei immediately said: "I will dispatch troops to the port."
While speaking, Grand Duke Qiangwei looked at General Levi and said solemnly: "Levi, tell me, with our current strength, can we defeat the Ming army, defend the port, and defend the Strait of Gibraltar?"
Levi's face showed a bit of embarrassment when he heard this, and he slowly shook his head at Grand Duke Rose amid the ugly look on his face.
Although Levi didn't say anything, his attitude showed everything. If Levi was confident, he probably wouldn't shake his head in silence.
Understanding what Levi meant, Archduke Rose couldn't help but angrily punched the void and gritted his teeth and said: "If you can't hold it, you have to hold it. What significance does the Strait of Gibraltar have to Spain, even if it's me?"
If I don’t tell you, you should know that once we lose the Strait of Gibraltar, we will all have to go to court-martial.”
Losing the Strait of Gibraltar, a strait that can be called the throat of the Mediterranean, would have a huge impact on Spain's status as a naval power and its economy.
Spain is known as a naval power with few rivals. If it fails, even such an important place as the Strait of Gibraltar will be occupied, what kind of face and reputation will Spain have?
Staring at General Levi, Grand Duke Rose suddenly said: "I will hand over all the command of the army to you, Levi, are you sure that you can guard the port and the Strait of Gibraltar for my Kingdom of Spain?"
General Levi stood solemnly and said suddenly: "Long live Spain!"
With Grand Duke Rose's order in hand, General Levi strode away.
After General Levi left, Grand Duke Rose sighed and shouted: "Here comes! Prepare the carriage quickly, I am going to move reinforcements to His Majesty the King!"
With Grand Duke Rose's order, coupled with General Levi's reputation and prestige in the Spanish army, everyone naturally obeyed General Levi's orders. Soon General Levi commanded most of the infantry troops stationed outside the port.
They were all mobilized and stationed in the port, setting up three lines of defense and preparing for a battle for the port with Ming Dynasty.
The sound of artillery fire from the direction of the port was shocking. At this moment, a carriage, surrounded by a group of cavalry, left the port and left.
In the port, the ships of the Spanish fleet sailed out of the port one by one, but they quickly sank outside the port. In just over an hour, a large number of ships sank on the sea outside the port.
As many as ten battleships.
So many warships sank, and the hulls of many ships were piled together and even exposed on the sea.
When the last battleship slowly sank, the rumbling sound of shelling finally stopped, and in the port, many people couldn't help but shed tears when they saw the entire Spanish fleet wiped out.
The sound of artillery fire from the direction of the port was shocking. At this moment, a carriage, surrounded by a group of cavalry, left the port and left.
In the port, the ships of the Spanish fleet sailed out of the port one by one, but they quickly sank outside the port. In just over an hour, a large number of ships sank on the sea outside the port.
As many as ten battleships.
So many warships sank, and the hulls of many ships were piled together and even exposed on the sea.
When the last battleship slowly sank, the rumbling sound of shelling finally stopped, and many people in the port couldn't help but shed tears when they saw the entire Spanish fleet wiped out.
