Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 629 The swan song of the Peruvian fleet ([-])

The sea breeze in early November has already brought a little warmth, especially in Peru, where the climate is already relatively hot. The sailors on the east coast who departed from Baleen Whale Harbor in fashion wearing thick coats have now put on summer short-sleeved navy uniforms.

Lu Ming sat at his own desk in the captain's room, and the orderly spread a large snow-white towel on the table, and then brought out tonight's supper.It was already two o'clock in the middle of the night, and Lu Ming felt a little hungry, so he decided to eat something before going to bed.When traveling abroad, the diet can’t be compared with that in China, but the kitchen still brought out the most sumptuous supper under the existing conditions: fresh grilled horse mackerel—this kind of fish is abundant from Chile to the coast of Peru, In the past two days, the naval officers and soldiers who rowed their small boats to monitor the movements of the Spaniards outside the coastline caught a lot out of boredom; in addition, cold noodles with sea bream and mushroom sauce, plus a small bottle of local red wine snatched from Chile - the taste is not bad.

Lu Ming first ate the fresh grilled fish in a slow manner. After eating, he picked up the porcelain sea bowl, poured some pepper powder, sesame oil and sour vinegar into it luxuriously, mixed it and ate it leisurely stand up.The orderly put a shade over the whale oil candle, which made the room brighter.

After eating supper, Lu Ming rinsed his mouth with clear water, then poured himself a glass of Chilean red wine, prepared to drink two glasses with the cool sea breeze at night, and then fell asleep.Unexpectedly, at this moment, a ball of fire suddenly lit up on the distant sea surface, and then there was a muffled rumbling sound.

"Where is the sound of the cannon coming from?" Lu Ming leaped out of the captain's cabin, then stood by the fence and looked towards the place where the noise came from.It was pitch black there, and it was hard to see clearly. Coupled with the fact that there was some fog on the sea at this time, it was even more unclear what was going on.

"Sir, that might be the traffic boat we sent there to send a signal." The adjutant Jiang Yaohui put away the binoculars, and then said in an uncertain tone: "We have sent a total of nine traffic boats to patrol that sea area for the first time. The movement of the Spaniards was discovered in a short time. Each small boat was equipped with a 4-pound small-caliber artillery. Once the Spaniards were found to have signs of leaving the port, they would fire warning shots. The sound and flames of the muzzles could be heard at night. It's far away, which allows us to react immediately."

Lu Ming nodded, but did not speak.And 10 minutes later, another area also sent out a signal. Although the fire from the gun muzzle was covered by the thicker and thicker sea fog, everyone still saw the looming orange flame. The sound of cannons coming.

There was no longer any doubt that the traffic boats cruising off the coast of Callao had spotted the Spanish navy going out to sea, and it seemed that there was more than one ship, because the gunfire was coming from two directions far apart.

"Enter the battle state immediately! Send someone to inform the other two warships in a small boat, and according to the night combat sailing regulations, gather their formation and follow the flagship to fight." Lu Ming decisively issued an order.Adjutant Jiang Yaohui did not hesitate. He immediately ran to the warning bell and rang the warning bell violently. Then the officers in various areas on the ship immediately blew the copper whistles hanging around their necks, and the resting sailors rushed out of the cabin They rushed out and rushed to their respective posts.

Half an hour later, the first traffic boat came back.An old navy sergeant leading the team reported to Lu Ming that he had spotted "at least three" Spanish ships off the coast of Callao, and he couldn't tell whether they were transport ships or warships because of the fog, and the Spanish ships had neither lights. There was no movement, but his intuition told him that the Spaniards were leaving the port in large numbers, so he immediately fired a warning.Ten minutes after he gave the warning, a traffic boat hundreds of meters to the south also fired a warning gun, which further confirmed his judgment.

According to the direction described by the non-commissioned officer, Lu Ming immediately ordered the ship to adjust its course and head straight to the north of Callao.And after the "August [-]th" was dispatched, the "Cadiz Rock" and the "East Coast Principle" also lit up all the lights on board, increased the output power of the steam engine, and rushed over after them.

It was difficult to tell the direction in the dark, coupled with the fear of running aground in unfamiliar waters, it took the three warships on the east coast nearly half an hour to drive there cautiously, and captured a Spanish ship on the spot.The Spaniards apparently also noticed the tall outlines of the ships on the east coast. At this time, the two sides were already very close, and everyone could even clearly hear the shouts of the crew on the other deck.

"Fire!" Seeing that the fog on the sea was getting thicker and thicker, Lu Ming was so anxious that he gave the order decisively.In the darkness, I don't know how many Spanish transport ships are fleeing quickly.Damn it, these bastard grandsons are really cunning enough to take such an opportunity to break out of the encirclement at night.At this time, you can't see clearly at sea, so don't worry about it, just catch one or the other, and beat them to death first.

The double-decked battleship "August 30th" had [-] cannons on the side of the ship. At this time, it fired for the first time under the order of the gunner. The scene was as magnificent as a gorgeous oil painting.Blossoming orange-red flowers bloomed one after another at the muzzle of the gun, and the whistling bullets hit the defenseless transport ship, creating terrifying wounds one after another.While the Spanish sailors on the transport ship cursed the people on the east coast in despair, they counterattacked weakly with muskets or a few small-caliber copper cannons. Unfortunately, their heroic actions were doomed to be futile, because most of the projectiles they fired were They all fell into the sea.

The "August [-]th" did not stop after passing by the side of the transport ship, but continued to slant forward to the front right, because she found a new target - it seemed to be a four-masted warship .This discovery made Lu Ming a little excited. Among the many Spanish ships in Peru, there was one four-masted ship, and that was the flagship of the Peruvian fleet, the "San Lorenzo"!Go after her and kill her!

The "San Lorenzo" also spotted the figure of the "August 500th". I saw that this large warship, which had been passively avoiding the battle, did not dodge any more at this moment, but tried to use the side of the ship after turning along the southeast wind. The firepower challenged the battleship "August [-]".How could Lu Ming let her get what she wanted? The "August [-]th" turned to the left and lightly turned to the north by west. At the place, the artillery on the starboard side opened fire one after another under the order of the officer, smashing the bow of the "San Lorenzo" into a mess.

At this time, the "San Lorenzo" could only meet the enemy with the two cannons on the bow, completely unable to exert its own firepower, and was extremely depressed.However, with pure sail power, it is extremely difficult for her to turn quickly when the southeast wind is blowing. She can only watch helplessly as the battleship "August [-]th", which has almost unloaded most of its sails, slowly uses all The broadside guns cleaned their own bow over and over again.

Twenty-ten minutes later, the "Cadiz Rock" caught up and prepared to take care of the "San Lorenzo" with the "August 10", but Lu Ming immediately sent someone to take a transport boat to deliver an order: Search around Spain Human transport ships, as soon as they are found, attack immediately. If the enemy is willing to surrender, they can send the army on board to take over. If they do not want to surrender, they will all be sunk.

Fifteen minutes after the "Cadiz Rock" took the order to leave, the "Easternism" also slowly approached. She had just sunk the Spanish transport ship, and then hurried to this side, ready to meet with the flagship. confluence.Unexpectedly, when only a few hundred meters away from the flagship, two Spanish ships suddenly appeared in the thick fog on both sides, one of which was a three-masted warship, which was almost certainly a full-load displacement of more than 15 tons The "Countesa Alfonso" with two guns (mostly small and medium-caliber); and the other one is very difficult to think about. This is a two-masted battleship. One of the two ships returning to Callao.

The two ships showed their courage in a rare way at this time. Instead of retreating half a step, they double-teamed from left to right, and then fired with side cannons. Captain Huang Yang, the captain of the battleship "Donganism", saw the situation, and immediately ordered to sail with full starboard to give priority to getting out of the encirclement circle formed by the enemy. Attack to take out an enemy as quickly as possible and avoid getting stuck on two fronts.However, in this way, their purpose of rendezvousing with the flagship as soon as possible and attacking the Spanish transport ship was defeated. This will inevitably increase the escape success rate of the Spanish transport ship significantly.

In this way, the sea area seven or eight nautical miles northwest of Callao fell into a mess under the cover of night and sea fog.Except for the "Cadiz Rock" battleship equipped with 44 guns, the three warships of the East Coasters were not entangled and were still searching for and attacking the Spanish transport ship. The other two battleships were all trembling.Although they had a great advantage in the battle, they could not completely wipe out the enemy for a while, which undoubtedly created good conditions for the escape of the Spanish transport ship.

At five o'clock in the morning, the battleship "Easternism" finally successfully sank the Spanish brigantine that had been entangled for a long time, and at the same time got rid of the battleship "Countesa Alfonso" that followed it. About one nautical mile to the east, another Spanish transport ship with a full load and an extremely deep draft was bitten.This small and medium-sized cargo ship with a cargo tonnage of no more than 3 tons was driving slowly at a speed of less than [-] knots. After being bitten by the main battleship on the east coast and hit by more than ten shells, they decisively raised the white flag. Then greet the East Coast Army to board and take over the ship.

After thinking about it for a while and realizing that the cargo on board was all precious copper nuggets, Captain Huang Yang, the captain of the battleship "East Coast Doctrine", decided to escort the transport ship to the flagship "August [-]th" first. Get closer, and then make plans for the next step.

(End of this chapter)