When the Marines boarded the surrendered Spanish merchant ship and sent back the signal that they had obtained control, the ships of the Seventh Fleet burst into cheers.

Liu Yunwen sighed long and finally won. His body, which had been nervous for a long time, finally relaxed, and he realized that his back was wet with sweat.

"Commander, you're injured."

A young naval officer was born to report to the commander, but found that one of the commander's trousers was covered with blood, and there was still a pool of blood flowing on the deck where he stood.

Liu Yunwen lowered his head and realized that he had shed so much blood.

"Military doctor!" the officer shouted.

There are special military doctors on the warship, basically every ship has it. There is only one officer on an ordinary frigate, and some will have an assistant. On the cruiser, the military doctor may have two or three assistants. On the fleet's flagship, the Flying General Li Guang, who has 104 guns, has a medical team composed of two military doctors and four assistants.

The fleet even has a special medical ship with more than 30 medical staff on it, as well as many medical devices and medicines, specifically responsible for rescuing casualties.

The sweating medical officer ran over. During the battle, the medical officer was also the busiest time. Although the fleet had medical ships, during the battle, the medical staff on each ship had to provide emergency treatment for some emergency injuries, stop bleeding and bandage or even amputation.

The middle-aged military doctor's white robe was already covered in blood. He leaned over Liu Yunwen's legs and took a closer look.

"It's a thorn!"

During naval warfare, the solid bullets of the naval gun are line-killing, killing one line at a time. However, the wooden thorns splashing through the ship's side are different. It is explosion sputtering damage. The wooden thorns and pieces flying around the deck and cabin will mercilessly take away the lives of people around you.

During the battle, the Flying General Li Guang also rushed in front, and with its three-layer gun deck, it gave a heavy blow to the Spanish Navy. However, during the fierce firefight, the Flying General Li Guang also suffered a lot of shells, masts, sails, rigging, ship's side armor plates, etc., and even took a few shots under the water line. Fortunately, the carpenter on the ship and his assistant responded quickly, blocked the gap at the first time, and drained the water with a water truck.

Liu Yunwen was injured by the wooden stabs splashed when the ship was hit by the ship's armor during the battle, but he was too focused when commanding that Liu Yunwen didn't feel it at the time and did not realize it until this time.

"So injured?"

Several senior officers of the fleet who arrived asked worriedly. If this naval battle is so great, it would be unworthy if the fleet commander had an accident after the war.

Wooden thorns seem to be small, but they are very lethal, especially sometimes it is difficult to remove and clean. Many naval soldiers are injured by wooden thorns, and they are often disabled or even amputated.

"The commander is very lucky. Although he has shed a lot of blood, it seems serious. But it is just a thorn, not a ball of thorn, and it does not hurt the muscles and bones. It will be fine after disinfection and bandage it. "

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Yunwen couldn't help but smile. "I said I shouldn't be so lucky. I didn't die under the Spaniard's cannon, but died under a wooden thorn. Lao Hu, are there any statistics on the casualties of each ship?"

Lao Hu was the deputy commander of the fleet. The first thing after the war was to count the casualties and damages, let the carpenters repair the ship as soon as possible, and let the sailors discharge the incoming water. At the same time, let the communication ship send the wounded to the medical ship behind for treatment.

"We have lost a Class 6 frigate, three gunboats and two communication boats. So far, the number of casualties has reached 513. There are about 200 wounded people, all of which have been initially treated by military doctors from each boat, and the seriously injured have also been transferred to the medical ship."

After hearing this, Liu Yunwen sighed.

"We lost six ships and killed more than 500 brothers. Our victory this time is hard-won."

The head coach said on the side, "We are not a loss. We killed more than 1,000 Spain and captured more than 2,000 prisoners. Sink six of their warships, thirty-seven of them, and more than 100 of their fire attack ships."

The Seventh Fleet dispatched more than 100 ships and six were destroyed, of which only one of them was of level. The damage to the rest of the warships was not serious, so just repair them. More than 10,000 soldiers were killed in battle, and the death rate was only 20 to 1, which was already a very good record.

"They all died for the empire, and we want to hold sea burials for them." Liu Yunwen said.

The naval battles in this era are actually the same tactic as the army's queuing and shooting. After entering the range, they are fired volleys. In order to ensure firepower, they must try their best to get close and then line up to volleys.

In such close-up artillery volleys, although the ship can withstand multiple rounds of artillery fires and not sink, sometimes one round of close-up artillery fires can kill half of your sailors by killing one round of volley.

If the warship sinks unluckyly, all the people on the ship may fall into a catastrophe.

The navy looks glamorous, but it is actually very hard. It has been drifting on the sea for many years, and it has not eaten well but sleeps well. It has suffered heavy casualties in battle.

Sea burial is the traditional destination of the sea crew members after their deaths at sea. In the Han Empire's navy, this also became a glory for the imperial navy soldiers.

From the Five Tiger Generals of the Navy to ordinary soldiers of the Navy, and even Marines' military dogs, they are entitled to this kind of treatment after their death.

All ships tried their best to retrieve the bodies of the fallen soldiers. Even if they were fragments, they had to buy one or two pieces of them. Even if they sank into the sea and the bones were gone, they would take out one or two pieces of clothing to hold this grand ceremony.

To be eternal with the sea, this is the ultimate destination of every Imperial Navy soldier and their eternal glory.

The fleet is anchored at sea.

Fleet Commander Liu Yunwen, who had bandaged the wound, personally presided over the grand sea burial ceremony.

All officers and soldiers from each fleet gathered on the deck.

At this time, all the officers changed into the most formal officer uniforms, and the sailors also changed into military dresses, and everyone was full of solemnity.

There were no monks, Taoists or priests on the warships of the Han Dynasty. The ceremony was presided over by the captains of each ship. The entire ceremony was when soldiers who died in each ship held a sea burial ceremony on the flagship.

At dusk.

There was still smoke from fighting at sea that had not yet dissipated. Liu Yunwen stood on the deck and read the list of the fallen soldiers aloud.

In addition to all the members of the Flying General Li Guang, the officers on the other ships also came to attend the ceremony.

Liu Yunwen read out the names of each fallen soldiers, as well as all their ship numbers and ship positions, and each person will add a few comments on them later.

The military doctors and their assistants on each ship will work together with the sailors on the ship to make final appearances for the fallen soldiers, clean them up, and put them in the most formal military dresses.

The soldiers buried in the sea would not have coffins, but would sew them together with sails. According to tradition, they would sew a few shells inside so that their bodies could sink to the bottom of the sea.

After reading a list of more than 500 dead soldiers, they were buried.

On the deck, the navy relied on the trumpet began to play the rest trumpet.

"Rise the gun!"

The head coach, wearing a straight military dress, held a navy triangle hat in his hand and shouted loudly.

A team of marines walked to the side of the ship with guns and picked up the rifles in their hands.

"put!"

A bang bang gunshot sounded.

The Marines stepped forward with the second shot, raised their guns and fired at the sky again. Then there was the third shot, and they fired twenty-one rows of guns in a row, and saluted them.

After twenty-one shots, the bow gun of the Flying General Li Guang also began to fire, and the other ships followed suit, and another twenty-one sounded.

In the smell of gunpowder in the air, two men carried the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the side of the ship.

On the body bag sewn by the sails, there was also a nine-headed dragon flag of the Han Navy. The board was placed on the side of the ship, and the captain of the dead soldier replaced his family. He took the folded naval flag from the sailor. This flag will be handed over to his family with the relics of the sacrificial soldier in the future.

Among the more than 500 soldiers killed this time, the highest position was a Navy right lieutenant, who was the deputy of the sixth-level frigate. He was killed on the spot when the warship was hit.

"salute!"

Liu Yunwen took the lead in saluting.

In everyone's attention, the two sailors raised the back end of the flip plate high, allowing the bodies of the fallen comrades to slide into the sea.

The body bag sewn from the sails fell into the sea, with shells inside it, so it quickly sank into the sea.

One canvas bag after another slid into the sea, and the atmosphere of the fleet was very heavy, which was the price of victory.

After the funeral on the first day, the Seventh Fleet held several funerals in the next few days, and many seriously injured people were unable to survive.

The final number of casualties in the Battle of Manila Bay reached 578. Dozens of seriously injured survived, but they all had disabilities of varying degrees. Some were blinded, some had broken hands, some sawed off their legs, and some were even unlucky. Although these people survived, they had to retire.

"The Manila fleet has been completely wiped out. What should we do next?"

Liu Yunwen just said lightly, "Of course, we will continue to block the Port of Manila."

Although the Manila fleet was finished, the fortress in Manila Port was still strong, and their shore defense cannons were still unscathed. Liu Yunwen did not intend to use the fleet to challenge these fortresses, or use the Marines to attack the fortress.

Continue to surround, victory will always belong to them.

"Maybe we can send someone to persuade the surrender." The Chief of Staff suggested.

"You can try it out and find a prisoner and ask them to bring a letter of surrender back to the Philippine Governor, so that he can recognize the situation and surrender as soon as possible."

"We do not accept any other peace talks except surrender."

A second lieutenant was selected from the Spanish Navy prisoners and asked him to row a small boat back to Manila with a letter of surrender.

"His Governor, Marquis Liu Yunsheng, commander of the Seventh Fleet of the Han Empire Navy, asked His Governor of the Philippines, Spain to immediately lead the defenders of Manila City to lay down their weapons and surrender! Otherwise, you will be responsible for the consequences!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!