Chapter 3: Rise of the Great Powers 222: Capture of the Philippines

Taishan and Ningyuan are two warships led by the Chinese fleet. With the wind power, the two warships were driven by the wind and rushed straight into the Spanish fleet.

At this time, the ships of the Spanish fleet had already faced the approaching Chinese fleet sideways. Compared with the Spanish warships that were waiting for battle, only bow guns were available at present, because the Chinese warships that rushed straight past could only face the two sides of the empty side before entering the enemy formation. Compared with the embarrassment of the Chinese fleet, there were dense bombing sounds of bombing on the honeycomb side of the four Spanish warships in the first row.

Nearly noon, the Taishan and Ningyuan rushed into the array of Spanish warships. Major General Gravela remembered the Battle of Trafalgar. These damn Chinese men actually wanted to use Lord Nelson's method to fight in two vertical formations when they rushed into the enemy's formation, and fired at the same time on the left and right sides.

In fact, the Chinese fleet's tactics are just a coincidence with General Nelson's tactics.

The Taishan was like a bull angered by a Spanish bullfighter and penetrated into the Spanish fleet obliquely. While the Taishan was hit on the front deck, the Taishan side finally roared. The Ningyuan, which was 1 nautical mile away on the other side, finally fired. At this time, both warships were already scarred and the deck was seriously injured. However, the naval officers and soldiers on the two warships were extremely brave. After forty minutes of striking, the Taishan had become an uncontrollable empty hull. Soon it was towed by the Huangshan behind.

Following the Taishan and Ningyuan were Huangshan and Jingyuan, and the two ships were about 50 meters apart from the front ship. The two ships also rushed into the Spanish warship array without hesitation.

Seeing the Ningyuan, which was slowly sinking into the sea, Major General Gravela sneered, and even the Chinese were at the level of the Chinese, Major General Gravela couldn't laugh anymore. The 22 warships that the Chinese fleet paused in the rear were not the troop transport ships he imagined. The power disparity on the battlefield was getting bigger and bigger, and the severe situation made Major General Gravela only describe it in one word, that is the wolf pack tactics. While the Chinese fleet was piercing and attacking, the ships in the middle were also divided into two groups to encircle from both wings. Another fleet rushed directly into the southern waters of the Spanish fleet, obviously trying to cut off the Spanish fleet's retreat to the Philippines.

Major General Gravela shouted to the adjutant: "Retreat.                                                                                                                     �

The adjutant shook his head helplessly and pointed at the fierce battlefield.

Following the Spanish naval officer's gaze, two more mid-range ships: Huashan and Weiyuan, inserted into the Spanish fleet. The two warships spewed out a large amount of thick smoke. The two Spanish warships located in front and behind Huashan were just on both sides of Huashan. The bombs unique to the Chinese exploded on the deck of Santa Ana. A large hole was blown out of the upper deck, and several nearby naval guns flew out from the deck. A stream of smoke filled the deck, and there was a choking smell of explosives everywhere.

"The Chinese are crazy." Looking at the panicked deck, Major General Gravela made an angry word from his teeth. The Santa Ana was in chaos during the bombing, and the shouts on the deck were mixed with the sounds of bombing from time to time. Before the chaos on the Santa Ana had calmed down, two more mid-range ships rushed into the Spanish ship formation, and bursts of screams fell on the sea. The water column sprayed up and the tall bow appeared. Major General Gravela felt another trembling of Santa Ana, and a deafening explosion came from the stern.

The artillery of the Santa Ana counterattack accurately hit the main sail of Hengshan, and several Spanish warships around also fired at Hengshan one after another. The thick smoke came out of Hengshan. Relying on the inertia of the warship, the warship still rushed forward. Soon Gravela discovered the warship that had lost its main sail. A golden dragon flag was raised from the tail sail.

As the flagship, the Santa Ana finally completely lost its combat effectiveness. When Gravela moved to the Fearless, all the crew members on the Santa Ana were killed and injured.

As soon as Major General Gravela arrives at the Fearlessness, the first order is: retreat.

After receiving the order from Major General Gravela, Colonel Black Wude led the remaining three Spanish warships toward the Philippines.

At this time, the sun was already west in the sky in Qingming Festival. Dozens of warships on the sea surrounded the three Spanish warships that were fleeing. Major General Gravela, whose arms were hanging with bandages, looked at the ten Chinese warships rushing towards him in front of him. He weakly asked the adjutant to raise a white flag on the main sail.

Although he was victorious, Ryan could not find the feeling of victory. The battle captured five Spanish warships and fled seven Spanish ships. But the Chinese fleet was sunk three. Two seriously injured. There are also some ships under slightly injured who are not included in this category. The casualties of both sides were the casualties of the Chinese navy, and the casualties of the Spanish Navy were about 2 ooo.

The only thing that comforted Ryan was to capture Major General Gravela, the commander of the Spanish Navy fleet. If this battle was not based on absolute numbers, Ryan could not guarantee that he could win this naval battle. Thinking of this, Ryan was more full of admiration for the current emperor. Looking back now, the emperor asked the Chinese navy to avoid the decision-making in the British fleet during the Opium War, which was indeed wise.

A month later, the Chinese navy, who had been resting, entered Manila again.

This time, the number of Chinese navy ships reached nearly 100. The vast Chinese navy on the sea was connected by the vast sea, occupying a large area of ​​sea, which made the civilian ships passing by were amazed.

A few days later, the fleet arrived in the waters outside the Manila port, and the remaining Spanish ships had already fled before the arrival of the Chinese navy.

The weather was a bit gloomy on the day of the 6th. Although it was not raining, the heavy clouds in the sky rolled around. The wind on the sea was a little heavier than usual, and the waves rushed to the beach one by one.

The time to board 6 was selected in the afternoon. Before boarding 6, Ryange had ordered the warships to blow up nearby Spanish forts, so the 6th Army had almost no resistance when boarding 6. A small number of undestroyed turrets were violently bombarded by the navy warships as soon as they shot.
Chapter completed!