“…Our heavenly Father, may your name be glorified; may your kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; please give us our daily bread today; please Forgive us our sins as we forgive others; lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen!
All nations in the world, universal authority, and all glory belong to you forever. Amen! "
As the flag of Saint André fluttered in the wind on the masts of 29 Spanish armed galenic ships forming a column, the officers and soldiers of the Spanish Armada Oriental were already in their respective positions and began to recite the "Father" in unison.
Although the glory of God's favored Spain has dimmed, and Spain's maritime supremacy has ceased to exist after the Battle of the Downs more than ten years ago, the Spaniards' determination to fight for their Heavenly Father has not wavered in the slightest.
And they still believe that their country is favored by Heavenly Father!
Because God's favor was still there, 29 Spanish warships dared to sail between the Big and Small Moshi Islands without hesitation with the help of a little moonlight, starlight and the sea breeze blowing from the northeast late at night on the third day of August in the ninth year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty. The water channel rushed into Dinghai anchorage, which had long fallen asleep!
Although when these Spanish warships passed through the waterway between the Big and Small Millstone Islands and rushed into the anchorage, the early warning rockets had already lifted off from the Big and Little Millstone Islands one after another and exploded violently in the darkness, turning into countless of sparks.
But in the eyes of Admiral Garcia and De Velasco, who commanded the Pacific Star and was the first to rush into the anchorage, these early warning rockets were just fireworks to welcome the Spanish fleet!
Because the suddenness of the surprise attack has been achieved, the Chinese warships have already furled their sails and dropped anchor, and most of the personnel are not on board. Even if they are still on board, they are sleeping soundly in the middle of the night and almost into the early morning. How can it be so easy? Just get up and get into fighting mode?
One after another, the Spanish warships rushed into the Dinghai anchorage through the waterway between the large and small Grindstone Islands.
After passing the waterway between the large and small Moshi Islands, Shenjiamen Pier appeared due north of the Spanish fleet. Although it was late at night, there were still lights flickering in the Shenjiamen port and commercial area, and there seemed to be a slight chaos. Someone must have seen the early warning rockets from the Big and Small Millstone Islands.
But it's already too late!
Because 29 Spanish warships have already released the fireships they carried. Although the wind is northeasterly, it is also the time when the sea water rises. The tide will bring the fireships to the Shenjiamen Pier where the Ming warships are parked.
This operation was carefully planned. When to raise the St. Andre flag, when to form a single column, and when to rush into the Dinghai anchorage, it was not only necessary to catch the Ming Dynasty navy by surprise, but also to catch Seize the opportunity and take advantage of the high tide to put the fireboat on the Shenjiamen Pier.
These fireships not only disrupted the movements of Ming Navy ships, but also provided lighting for gunboats.
After releasing the fire ships, the Spanish fleet's single column immediately disbanded, and all the warships began to fight in disorder.
Of course this was planned!
Although fighting in formation is a standard tactic in fleet artillery battles, most of the time the battle will be chaotic. Even in the Anglo-Dutch War between 1652 and 1654, the British and Dutch naval fleets were often disrupted. war.
The organization level of the temporarily put together Spanish Eastern Fleet is much worse than the current main fleets of the British and Dutch locals. It is simply impossible to maintain the queue at night, so let's just fight on our own!
Anyway, as long as the sneak attack is successful, are you afraid that you won't win?
Admiral Garcia and Captain Barbosa of the New Spain stood side by side on the stern of the New Spain, staring intently in the direction of the Shenjiamen Pier, with their hearts in their throats.
The surprise attack was a success!
But it's hard to say whether the Ming warships on the dock will go out for business... If they are not at home, it will be difficult to surprise them in the future!
In addition, the two of them are still looking forward to the Ming army's fort firing!
Of course, I don’t want to be hit by artillery shells, but I want to determine their position through the enemy’s muzzle flash. During the day, I can see twenty or thirty artillery fortifications with a telescope, but now I can’t see them. I don’t know where they are. Coast defense heavy artillery is always a bit worrying.
In addition, none of the 29 Spanish warships on the sea have their lights on, so the Ming army's forts should not be able to see them. Therefore, when the Ming army's fort opened fire at this time, it could only target the fire ships. And fireships are very small, how can smoothbore cannons be so accurate? So fighting is a waste of ammunition.
As long as the Ming army's artillery fires, it basically means that the level of the gunners is not very high.
But if the Ming army's artillery can keep calm and not fire...that would be worrying!
"Admiral, a Chinese warship has been discovered!" Captain Barbossa's slightly surprised voice rang out.
Admiral Garcia muttered in a low voice: "It seems to be a five to six hundred ton ship, I can't see clearly... Why is the fire ship not moving?"
Barbossa said uncertainly: "Maybe it's stuck on something?"
He didn't know that the Ming Dynasty's navy had a "fireproof ship's rope", nor did he know which naval officer who was familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" figured it out. It was a rope wrapped around a special iron hook, and the two ends were tied to a wooden buoy. on the top, and throw the middle into the water to hook the bottom of the fire ship. The buoy is anchored to the seabed, so once the iron hook rope becomes entangled with the fire ship, the fire ship will be unable to move forward.
However, these buoy ropes were not too far from the dock where the twelve Ming warships were parked, so by the firelight, Garcia and Barbosa could still see the outlines of the Ming warships.
These warships were all silent and did not react at all. It seemed that the surprise attack was really successful!
Barbosa excitedly shouted to Garcia: "Admiral, are we going to rush up and shoot arson bombs?"
The so-called arson bomb is a hot iron ball. The gunpowder is separated by a wooden board and stuffed into the gun barrel. It is then used to bombard enemy ships, using the high temperature of the iron ball to ignite the wood and cloth of the enemy ship.
"Wait, wait..." Garcia shook his head and said, "We are watching from behind and let other boats go. If there are really no sailors on those boats or there are not many sailors, we may be able to snatch them away Some of them."
The New Spain is so valuable, with a carrying capacity of over 1,000 tons, and is equipped with 54 12-pound short-barreled guns and 6 24-pound heavy guns. Looking at the data on paper, it is invincible in East Asia.
So Garcia didn't dare risk the boat.
Boom boom boom...
At this moment, the cannons of several Spanish warships fired!
They fired arson bombs, targeting two two-hundred-ton light Galen ships.
There seemed to be no sailors on the two Galen ships, and they did not react at all after being hit by arson bombs. The hot shells penetrated the ship planks and rolled inside the two "small boats", quickly igniting the wood on the ships, and the fire and dense Smoke came out from the hull of the ship, and in a blink of an eye it burned bigger and bigger, and was about to engulf the two wooden ships.
Two Ming army warships were on fire, and his Ming army warships still had no movement... It seemed that they were all empty ships!
"Colonel, it's really an empty ship... let's move in and grab it!" The first mate of the Pacific Star beside De Velasco could not contain his excitement.
Not counting the two warships that have been burned, there are still ten ships at Dinghai anchorage, all of which are 70% to 80% new and good ships. If Manila can be recaptured, the size of Spain's fleet in the east will immediately increase by one-third. one!
By then, will there be places along the coast of the Ming Dynasty that the Spanish fleet cannot reach?
"Okay!" De Velasco nodded heavily, and then raised his finger to point to a 600-ton Ming Army Galen ship, "That's it... Let's go to the Spanish Empire and seize it. I will take it myself." If people jump into gangs, Heavenly Father will protect us!”
The first mate also shouted: "God bless the king, God bless Spain!"
