The Ming fleet gathered in Sun City and completed pre-war supplies in less than three days. As Zhu Qingyan expected, after Xie Zhongyuan convened a meeting of captains of each ship, the ships were ready to set sail and fight.

The next day, as soon as the sun rose, the Ming fleet set sail and headed towards the south in a mighty manner.

North America in this era is already very different from North America in the original era. With the emergence of the Ming Dynasty, the sphere of influence in North America has undergone great changes.

The Spanish Kingdom, which originally occupied the largest area in North America, has now become the smallest one. Not only did it lose most of North America's land in the war for land, but from a geographical point of view, later generations took Los Angeles as the point, and the northward area, including Los Angeles, was already in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming Dynasty was a latecomer, it developed rapidly in the northern part of the New World, and it came from behind in just over a decade.

Although the Ming Dynasty stopped continuing to develop eastward due to the previous war and turned northward, even so the Ming Dynasty's territory in New Ming is basically similar to France and belongs to the country that occupied the most North American territory.

The third place is Britain, whose colonies are mainly in the east, which is close to the Atlantic coast. Since Britain came a little later, the fertile territory of Central and North America was basically occupied by Spain and France, so the British could only start from the northeast.

Of course, if history has not changed, then according to the normal historical trend, the next step is that Britain and France compete for North American colonies. The final victory was the British. After North America defeated France, Britain became the overlord of North America. Unfortunately, the overlord of Britain did not last long. Then the outbreak of the American War of Independence broke out, causing the British to lose a large area of ​​North American territory and created a new country - the birth of the United States.

At that time, the British power retreated north to Canada, and the best places in North America were replaced by the new United States.

Later, with the beginning of the expansion of the United States and the so-called opening of the west, wars started with Mexico. Several wars successively obtained large pieces of territory from Mexico in the North American, thus greatly reducing the power of the Spanish Kingdom colonies.

However, at this time, nearly half of California, Arizona, New Mexico and other territories are still in the hands of the Spanish. If Spain calculates in the New World in North America and Central and South America, it is still the country with the most territory in the entire New World.

The direction of the Ming Navy's attack was very clear, which was to directly extend the west coast south, then cross the California Peninsula, and attack Manzanillo, the main western port of New Spain in Mexico.

Manzanillo is an important port of New Spain in Central and South America. It is not only the location of Spain's naval home port in the Pacific colonial Pacific of Central and South America, but also an important transportation hub.

Manzanillo has a very good geographical location, and is the center of the sea route from North and South America and even to Asia. Manzanillo can reach the hinterland of Mexico by moving inland. If you continue to move east for hundreds of miles, you can rush to Mexico City, where the New Spain Governor's Mansion is located.

As a member of the Ming Navy, Zhu Qingyan had a firm belief in victory in this battle. Because in terms of strength or other aspects, the Ming Fleet could not be the defeated side.

The fleet sailed for two days and arrived at the California Peninsula. The California Peninsula is the "arm" extending to the Pacific Ocean by Central and North America. It is the Gulf of California inside. From a geographical perspective, it belongs to the barrier between China and North America.

"So beautiful!" Zhu Qingyan couldn't help but sigh in his heart as he looked at the beautiful scenery in front of him.

The California Peninsula has many coral reefs, clear sea water and pleasant climate, which is the first time she has come to this place.

However, now is not the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The huge fleet sails south from more than ten nautical miles west of the peninsula. After passing the peninsula, the fleet will turn east and continue to move forward. At most, it will reach the Manzanillo waters in two days.

In order to ensure that the fleet was sailing correctly, the Navigation Commander did not continue to let Zhu Qingyan take over his command, but took over the Navigation Commander himself. However, he did not put Zhu Qingyan aside, but instead paid attention to his "female apprentice" while giving orders one by one. When he saw Zhu Qingyan's expression was concerned and thoughtful, and understood the intention of the orders he issued, a hint of relief appeared in his eyes.

"Captain! The watchtower sent a signal saying it was a flagship emergency communication!" Just as everything was moving in the direction of the navigation, the sailor who was the messaging suddenly shouted at the bridge behind.

The captain quickly took a step forward, raised his telescope and looked at the mast lookout. On the observation deck, the flag bearer who was watching waved the flag in his hand and sang the flag. The captain looked at it for a few glances and immediately became severe. He put down the telescope in his hand and said to the navigation chief: "The flagship commands to adjust the route, and the entire fleet will prepare for combat!"

"I understand! Adjust the course and prepare for the battle!" The Navigator repeated the orders and quickly issued a series of new orders.

At this time, the captain also sounded the alarm bell on the ship, and waves of rapid and crisp ringtones immediately spread throughout the warship. All sailors (gunners) rushed out of the cabins and headed towards their respective posts.

The entire warship suddenly became busy, and everyone was ready, but Zhu Qingyan was still standing next to the navigator but didn't know what he should do.

Similarly, the Navigation Commander did not give Zhu Qingyan any instructions, as if he had not seen Zhu Qingyan beside him at all.

"Sir! Please give me the combat order!" At this time, Zhu Qingyan couldn't help but speak to the navigator.

"Give orders? What orders do you want?" The navigator looked up at Zhu Qingyan and asked back, "You are my assistant. Wherever my position is, your position is! Take over my job at any time when necessary. This is what you should do. Are you planning to go to the artillery room and carry shells with your shirtless like those men? Do you make a fuss!"

The words of the Navigation immediately made Zhu Qingyan blush. She originally wanted to play her role at this time, rather than standing by and doing nothing.

But the navigator's rhetoric asked Zhu Qingyan, who had just heard of "combat preparation", was like a basin of cold water pouring her head, which immediately calmed down.

That's right, her position is not elsewhere, but here.

Because she is the assistant of the navigator, although it seems that she doesn't need anything to do now, once the war starts, if the navigator gets an accident, then Zhu Qingyan's responsibility will be extremely serious. She must immediately take over the post of the navigator and take charge of the navigator's driving of the warships on behalf of the navigator.

"I'm sorry, sir..." Zhu Qingyan quickly apologized to the Navigation Chief, but at the same time she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

It was a pity that I finally started the war, but I became a spectator on the warship and could not directly participate in the battleship.

In the army, orders are orders. Not to mention that the navigator doesn’t know Zhu Qingyan’s identity, even if he knows who Zhu Qingyan is, he will say that with the navigator’s personality.

Immediately afterwards, the navigator didn't care about his female apprentice and focused on commanding the warships to adjust their course. Soon the entire fleet adjusted the original one-line snake formation to the Yanxing attack formation.

With four first-class battleships as the core, the entire large fleet formed four small fleets. In addition to the main first-class battleships, each small fleet also includes two to three second-class battleships and about five other battleships.

As for supply ships and transport ships with limited mobility, they were covered by several cruise ships and ordinary warships to retreat to the rear to avoid the impact of the war zone.

At this moment, looking down from the air, the Ming fleet in the north was divided into four arrows and heading towards the south. To the south, a Spanish fleet consisting of fifteen warships and nine armed merchant ships was sailing towards the north.

The gap in strength between the two sides is obvious. Not to mention the number of warships, the size of warships alone is not equal.

The Ming Dynasty warships had four main first-class warships, and there were also many other second- and third-class warships. In the Spanish fleet, the main flagship was only the Ming Dynasty second-class warships, while the rest were third-class warships and ordinary warships, and even armed merchant ships.

Especially the latter, although armed merchant ships are also equipped with cannons and can fight when necessary, regardless of cannon equipment, firepower and ship protection, such armed merchant ships are still careless against pirates. However, if you want to compare with regular warships, even third-level battleships, to put it bluntly, armed merchant ships are almost a living target for being beaten.

"Rise the flag! Turn west!"

On the flagship of the Spanish fleet, General Godoy was dressed neatly, and the gorgeous clothes of the navy general made him look so majestic. Unfortunately, the bottle in his hand destroyed his image, but he didn't care at all. He picked up the bottle and drank a big sip of wine in his mouth, and then yelled at the captain.

The battle flag was raised, and the Spanish fleet began to adjust its course, and the entire ship turned to the west.

At the same time, the Ming fleet in the distance also began to adjust its course to the west. Seeing this scene, General Godoy couldn't help but curse inwardly. The commander of the Ming fleet was just as excellent as him, and he adjusted his course at the most appropriate time and began to gain the upper hand.

In the naval battle of sailing warships, victory relies not only on strong ships and powerful guns, but also on excellent command. In particular, the wind direction is extremely important in naval battles. Even in later naval battles in the early 20th century, seizing the upper hand can take the initiative in naval battles, thereby suppressing the opponent to a certain extent.

Just like now, both sides made adjustments almost at the same time after discovering each other. On the one hand, they adjusted from a cruise formation to an offensive formation, which made them desperately seize the upper hand.

At first, the distance between the two sides was relatively far, and only a few black dots were seen, but as time went by, the positions of both sides began to get closer and closer. Compared with the offensive formation of the Ming Dynasty's four-team division, Spain did not divide the troops, because General Godoy knew very well that his fleet was not as strong as the Ming Dynasty. Only by concentrating his strength could he have a weak chance of winning. Once he divided the troops like the Ming Dynasty fleet, the size of the Spanish fleet would probably not be able to withstand it in a few rounds.
Chapter completed!