Finally won

It was early morning on the third day of August in the ninth year of Hongxing.

When Admiral Garcia, the commander of the Spanish Eastern Armada, led his twenty-five Galenic sailing ships out of the Grindstone Islands, there was no joy of victory in his heart, but only frustration and exhaustion.

diffuse.

Although he was clearly the victor, Admiral Garcia's mood was the same as when he commanded the battleship to rush out of the Downs anchorage, or even more depressed.

Because at the end of the Battle of Downs, the outcome of the Thirty Years War was still undecided, and Spain was still the country favored by God. So Garcia, who was still young at the time, did not know that he would see Spain fall from the altar!

Now, except for King Philip IV, who is not very clear-headed (the disaster of incest marriage), who else doesn't know that the glorious era of the Spanish Empire has passed?

The Battle of the Downs marked the loss of Spanish maritime hegemony! The Battle of Rocroix marked the loss of Spanish land hegemony!

The victory of the Spanish Eastern Armada in the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage meant that Spain’s hegemony in the Pacific was on the verge of collapse!

This matter really made Admiral Garcia cry. He obviously won the battle, and the victory was quite beautiful. At the cost of the destruction of four armed Galen ships, he destroyed the Dongyang Fleet, the main force of the Ming Navy.

Half of the Galenic warships! In other words, all the Ming Dynasty warships staying at Dinghai anchorage were destroyed!

This is obviously a textbook victory of the first-class Western powers over the Eastern empire!

After the victory, the oldest empire in the East should shed tears and sign unequal treaties while paying indemnity and ceding territory.

But the problem now is that even if the Ming Emperor Zhu Cixi wanted to sign an unequal treaty, he would not be able to find Garcia as the winner for a while.

Because Admiral Garcia has decided to lead his Armada to "run away from home", he dare not return to Manila!

After winning the battle and destroying twelve armed Galenic ships of the Ming Dynasty at the cost of losing four armed Galenic ships, the Spanish Eastern Armada did not dare to go home!

How dare he go back? Although his fleet burned twelve armed Galen ships of the Ming Dynasty at Dinghai anchorage, the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense fort destroyed the Spanish navy with exploding shells fired by a mere twelve 24-pound guns.

Two galenic ships were damaged and three others were damaged. Two of them had to be abandoned because they were severely damaged and could not follow the main fleet to evacuate.

In other words, the Ming military used only twelve 24-pound cannons to fire two to three hundred explosive shells, causing the Spanish to lose four armed galenic ships, and another one was also damaged!

With only twelve cannons, the Ming Army's Dongyang and Nanyang fleets could not have fewer than 200 warships that could be equipped with 24-pound or 12-pound cannons, right?

Even if a warship is equipped with five 24-pound guns, there are still 1,000 24-pound guns. How should the Spanish Armada of the East fight?

Use solid bullets to fight explosive bombs? An armed Galen ship of several hundred tons will not necessarily sink if it is hit by dozens or hundreds of solid bullets (that is, iron balls). If it is replaced by 24-pound explosive bombs, two or three rounds

I can't stand it! The wooden boat will be destroyed even if it doesn't sink!

Heavenly Father! How should we fight this war?

While Garcia was praying to Heavenly Father in his cabin, Colonel Barbosa, the captain of the New Spain, had already knocked on the cabin door.

"Your Excellency, the losses have been calculated!"

"Come in!" General Garcia's voice was a little hoarse when he spoke.

Barbosa pushed open the door and walked in with a solemn expression, looking very worried.

Garcia glanced at him and asked, "How many people were lost?"

He doesn't care about the loss of ships now, because after the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage, the Spanish Eastern Armada will have to circle the main fleet of the Ming Navy for a long time, and it will be impossible to attack the important ports guarded by the Ming Dynasty sea and land.

In fact, the Eastern Armada has been reduced to a war-breaking fleet rather than a hegemonic fleet!

In this case, there is not much difference between twenty-nine and twenty-five warships. But the number and morale of the crew and sailors are very important. Long-term tug of war at sea will consume the lives of the crew (scurvy),

Excessive casualties and diseases will cause crew members to flee!

"Four hundred and two people were lost, of which 175 people on the Manila were all missing, and all 125 people on the San Diego (the 300-ton galen that rescued the Manila) were also missing. The Pacific Star lost 33 people, including serious injuries.

11 people, the San Michele lost 41 people, of which 15 were seriously injured. The Acapulco (a 500-ton Galen) lost 28 people, and 8 were seriously injured."

Admiral Garcia sighed: "I think those who fall into the hands of the Chinese will be treated humanely, right?"

Colonel Barbossa shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Admiral Garcia sighed again: "Where are we going now?"

Barbossa said: "Admiral, according to the original plan, we should attack the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyu Kingdom's defenses are relatively lax, so we will definitely win again!"

"What happens next?" General Garcia asked again.

“Shouldn’t we return to Manila after that?”

"Return to Manila?" Admiral Garcia shook his head, "Colonel, do you think they won't load the explosives on the warship?"

"This," Barbossa thought for a moment, "isn't it too dangerous to board the ship with explosive shells?"

Spain also has explosive shells, but they do not have wooden holders and wooden tube fuses, so the shells will roll in the barrel when fired, and are easy to detonate in advance (there is a certain probability of exploding directly in the barrel), and the shooting accuracy is insufficient (although the wooden holders are

It is not as good as the tail fin of a cannon shell, but it plays a great role in stabilizing the trajectory and improving accuracy), so putting this thing on board is more dangerous to yourself than to the enemy. Once an accident occurs, the entire artillery deck will become a inferno.

Therefore, Western navies in this era did not dare to put explosive bombs on battleships. They were afraid that they would explode first without killing the enemy on the battlefield! Once wooden ammunition holders and wooden tube fuzes appeared, it was only a matter of time before the explosive bombs were put on ships.

Once the explosive bombs are on board, maritime warfare will enter a new era. Battleships like the New Spain equipped with dozens of cannons will be completely useless.

Because no one dares to equip so many artillery pieces with explosive shells. Who dares to imagine that the two or three gun decks are all filled with explosive shells waiting to be fired? If there is a sudden explosion, the whole ship will be broken into pieces!

In contrast, the Wanshi Big Bird Ship of the Ming Dynasty is more suitable for installing a small number of 24-pound heavy guns that can fire explosive shells. Because fewer sailors are needed to operate the Big Bird Ship, and the cost of building the Bird Ship is relatively low, it is most suitable for large numbers.

The equipment is used for ship-to-sea tactics. There are 200 ships, each equipped with five 24-pound cannons. A total of 1,000 cannons are used to fire bombs. It is scary to think about it!

"This possibility cannot be ruled out!" Garcia took a breath, "At least until the danger is eliminated, if the main force of the fleet cannot return to Manila, where else can it go?"

"Either go to Guam," said Barbossa, "or go to the coast of Japan."

Garcia thought for a while and said: "Let's go to the Ryukyu Kingdom first. Then when we get to the Ryukyu Kingdom, don't touch the Japanese. We will only detain Chinese officials and businessmen and use them as hostages to exchange for our people."

By the way, immediately send a ship to Japan to contact Caballero, inform him of the results of the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage, and then ask for his opinion."

"As you command, General!"

Garcia's decision to lead the Eastern Armada to run away from home and wander was undoubtedly the right one, because at the same time, Admiral Zheng Jiangong of the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Fleet was leading thirty Big Bird ships and three 800-ton Galen warships.

There were 1,000 fusiliers on their way to Manila.

If Garcia returns with the fleet now, he will be able to bump into Zheng Jiangong's fleet. The 30 Big Bird ships have 120 24-pound short-barreled guns that can open shells!
Chapter completed!