open sea

Chapter 769 Longevity
The Ming army was not the only one hit by the storm.

The Spanish fleet sailing from the Viceroyalty of Peru to Acapulco to reinforce Bernal was also hit by the storm.

However, they are more familiar with the climate on the west coast of the New World, and their losses are much smaller than that of the Ming army.

This is due to the commander of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Unlike the noble generals like Bernal, Ricard of Peru is a naval admiral who was born as a captain.

Admirals are in power, which is extremely rare in Spain and in the whole world.

Although the Age of Discovery began a long time ago, and Spain and Portugal were close to carve up the world, in fact, there were not any navies in this era, including Ming, Spain, Portugal, England, and France.

Needless to say, the Ming Dynasty, without Chen Mu, there would be no navy, and the country's strategic center of gravity was still placed in the north even under the circumstances of the Japanese invaders. The former Zheng He fleet was also a fleet dominated by land forces.

The Spanish navy is more like a reduced version of Zheng He's fleet with enhanced firepower. The combat idea is roughly the same.

England, there is nothing to say about England. Its ship combat concept is naturally advanced in the eyes of future generations, but in this era of immature artillery technology and unstable power, it is actually comparable to Spanish tactics in terms of combat power.

In fact, there is no distinction between these two representative combat ideas. Technology and tactics come from needs, and the needs of the two countries are the important factors that determine this choice.

Spanish warships need to travel between the old and new continents to maintain colonial rule, require a large number of soldiers, and lack evenly matched enemies at sea. Warships are also transport ships to a certain extent. They must transport silver and gold as well as marine soldiers, taking into account land and sea. The Clark ship It naturally developed into a Western-style Galen ship as tall as a city.

England's warships have two purposes, one is for business and the other is for robbery. There are few people and small ships, and the country is weak. Naturally, it is necessary to avoid conflicts and casualties. They rely on fast ships and more mid-range artillery battles to decide the outcome. After the robbery, they run away. Developed as a high-speed English galleon.

None of them can be called a navy. In this era, the entire Western world does not have a regular navy. The distinctive feature is that in naval battles, the commanders of various countries are not admirals.

But if you go back a few decades, the Ottoman Empire has an independent navy, and the commander is Barbarossa Hayreddin.

The Western Army's squadron of four warships was docked at Devil's Island. They were familiar with sea routes and docked a week earlier than Chen Ju. The ships and the army carrying nearly a thousand seas were not damaged.

They didn't come here to avoid the storm. Squadron Captain Pals received an order to sail northwest via Devil's Island, round to the California peninsula, which is the boundary peninsula of the Ming Dynasty, and use the upper wind to attack the Ming fleet from behind.

The commander of Peru, Ricardo, was a naval general, so when thinking about tactics, he would naturally focus on naval battles instead of thinking about winning the war from land.

However, because of this sudden storm, the squadron that was supposed to sail to the dividing peninsula at this moment is stranded here, and is preparing to return to Guayaquil in a few days——Facing the storm, the squadron captain Pars knew his Commander Ricard will not take any risks, and will definitely return to the nearest shelter.

The whole army should have taken a short vacation, as for Bernal of the Governor General of New Spain?

May he live long!

A new boss suddenly changed, and he was still close to a self-supporting superior. If it weren't for the support of the West India Committee, Almansa sent a letter to Li Cardard to lead troops to fight with the Ming army.

Is it his turn to call the shots?
Pals was fishing for eels on the repaired boat, when he saw two big boats approaching from a distance, which immediately aroused his cautious heart, and he stood up and shouted: "Height anchor, a boat is coming!"

This is Devil's Island. Except for the occasional broken antique pottery that belonged to the Incas decades ago, there is no sign of human beings on the island. There should be no ships, especially at this time-New Spain and the Ming Army Time to fight!
The foresight of the captain of the squadron gave the soldiers from Peru a good start. Although one moment they were still holding the fishing net and carrying the fishing rod, the next moment they ran to their respective combat positions, and the heavy anchor that was stuck in the sea was slowly retracted. From then on, the sound of the iron chain turning was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart.

The advantage of Spanish warships lies in boarding battles, and boarding battles have high requirements on the morale and discipline of soldiers.

But it was still too slow. The recovery of the anchor was too slow. From the discovery of the two warships to the discovery of the pennant of the Ming Dynasty flying on the warships, the anchors had not been retracted by a third, and Pars was very anxious. At this speed, when they ate the shells from the broadside guns of the open ship, the anchor had not yet been confiscated.

The anchor was confiscated, let alone avoiding the shelling, and even being able to meet it with the ship's cannon.

"Quick, cut off the main anchor! Quick!"

Faced with such an order from the captain of the squadron, the captain of the Western Navy with strict military discipline did not dare to disobey... They are not English pirates, and they will be executed directly if they resist any order from the commander.

But the captain still reminded: "The coast of Devil's Island is an open sea where there is no shelter from wind and waves. After losing the main anchor, our ship will not be able to moor here again."

"It doesn't matter that much. Those two ships look very big, but the Ming ships carry less sailors. As long as we can connect with them, we can win. There is always a way after we capture their warships."

The naval officers in the Viceroyalty of Peru generally have a clearer understanding of the combat power of the Ming army. Most of the more than [-] people who escaped in the Linlai naval battle returned to Peru, and it happened that there were more monks in Peru. Apart from praying to the gods, the greatest energy is put on research.

They study Indians, Ming Dynasty people, Ming army, and warships. They love research and study everything.

Accompanied by the loud sound of the ax slashing and the winch snapping, the heavy anchor was pulled off the deck quickly while the winch fell, and the main anchor winches of the four warships broke through the freeboard guardrail one after another and sank into the sea.

The first to move was Pals' flagship, a Western-style galenic ship called the Pita.

The Pita has a load of 120 tons. Eight six-pound bronze guns and twelve small Francois are installed in the middle and rear of the ship's side. There is a bronze shotgun with fifty-pound shells on the bow and stern, and three more. The door mortar gun, a tower-like huge ship, according to the regulations of the Spanish Navy, has a constant tonnage of 170 seven crew members and [-] five soldiers. At the same time, it also transports [-] troops because of the war.

The number of passengers is horrendous.

Although the remaining three ships moving slowly were slightly smaller than the Pita, they were all ships of more than [-] tons, and they also carried more than [-] people.

No one is more shocked than Liang Bozhen, the captain of the Ming army who is holding a telescope. The mirror reflects the battleship of the Western Army four miles away. Even without a telescope, the huge ship shape can make people feel like facing a sea monster The power and influence, but the most impressive thing is the densely packed battle array of soldiers on the deck.

I'm afraid their deck can only accommodate one person!

Liang Bozhen looked back at his empty deck. Except for the gunners, sailors, and shipwrights, he suffered huge losses in the storm, and there were no gunners. It looked too shabby.

Accompanied by the sound of the wooden wheels rubbing against the deck as the cannons were pushed into the gun positions, the small flag officers on the left and right reported loudly that the loading was complete, so he slowly swallowed the saliva in his dry throat, and then looked at the Xijun ship with pity in his eyes .

"A ship like this, going down with one shot...would kill a lot of people?"

(End of this chapter)