Commander Silva is worthy of being a commander of the Spanish Navy. His plan is obviously based on his previous experience in fighting English pirates.
Sailing on the sea is different from human actions. You can advance at a moment's notice and retreat at a moment's notice. Especially in the Fengfan era, turning a ship requires a series of extremely complex operations, and the steering angle is so large that it is even more difficult to turn around. Not only does it require cumbersome operations, but more importantly, it is also quite time-consuming.
Commander Silva judged from his observations that the "Light Cavalry" was faster than his own fleet, so he believed that it was impossible to pursue it. But this situation is not unfamiliar to him. When he was serving in the Caribbean, he encountered pirate ships running faster than his warship many times, and he gradually learned and figured out some corresponding countermeasures.
As an outstanding nobleman and dedicated royal naval officer, he even put himself in the shoes of the pirates and studied the tactics of the pirates in order to find ways to deal with the pirates' harassment and robbery.
Any kind of hunting campaign begins with the discovery of prey. To achieve this goal, pirates mainly use two methods: using confirmed intelligence, or searching freely.
In the first case, having obtained from their spies the necessary information as to the movements of a certain ship laden with valuables, the pirates set out to sea and laid an ambush in a suitable place with a view to intercepting it. This method is the most effective, as a surprise attack will always demoralize the enemy ship's crew.
Silva believed that this was not the reason why the Jinghua battleship appeared here and encountered his own fleet. The reason is not complicated: although the Big Treasure Fleet sails at the same time every year because ocean currents and wind directions have to be taken into consideration, it stands to reason that the other party, as the largest merchant in Manila, must be able to judge the arrival time of the Big Treasure Fleet, but there was an accident this year. My departure time was more than twenty days later than in previous years.
If he said that the Jinghua battleship had been waiting for him at sea for more than twenty days, Silva would never believe it. What's more, he has already judged that there is a "Ming Kingdom Fleet" behind this ship. It is impossible that the entire fleet has been waiting at sea for more than 20 days, right? From this point of view, it should not be an ambush in advance.
In addition to relying on intelligence to set up ambushes, pirates also often use "free hunting" methods. The Caribbean was a bustling trading area in this era, and it was not too difficult to detect traces of merchant fleets or solo ships.
After all, although the sea is vast and boundless, there are always navigation channels for sailing. These channels are all "roads" that have been forged. They are safe and fast. Regular ships will definitely choose to use navigation channels.
When the pursuit began, the pirates almost always won in such pursuits because their ships were lighter, more nimble, and faster. Of course, generally speaking, pirates rarely attack large treasure fleets. They usually choose ordinary merchant ships or lone treasure ships.
In addition, pirates adhered to a strict set of rules that would help them succeed in battle.
First, they always managed to approach the pursued ship from upwind, a practice that gave them great maneuverability before the battle began. Once a firefight occurs, the wind will blow the smoke of gunpowder and fire to the enemy's side, which will cause trouble for the enemy's firing and sailing work.
Secondly, the pirates tried their best to attack the enemy ship from the stern, because in this case, only the stern gun could fire at them. In order to engage the ship's broadsides, the enemy had to turn the ship around, and during this time the pirates had time to get close to the enemy ship.
In addition to these main rules, pirates also used many other methods to win naval battles. For example, they always have spare oars on their ships, which allows them to sail to a certain distance from the enemy in calm weather. Within this distance, enemy gunfire will most likely not cause damage to the pirates. Any losses because even light artillery using grapeshot had a long time between firing two shells, so the enemy might not have time to reload the gun after the first shot.
What Commander Silva didn't know was that although Jinghua's high-speed reconnaissance ship did not have a spare propeller, the design concept was the same as the "spare propeller", and it was even a standing, more advanced propeller.
Continuing with pirates, after catching up with an enemy ship, the pirates use hooks and "cat claws" to hook its stern. The first thing to do is to try their best to jam the rudder of the ship being attacked. After losing its maneuverability, it would become an easy trophy for pirates. They boarded its deck and inner cabin and began to engage in boarding battles.
Pirates often use various tricks during their operations. For example, before engaging in a boarding battle, that is, when they were only a few meters away from the enemy ship, the pirates who had been hiding behind the high ship's side stood up with a loud cry, pretending to launch an attack.
However, they immediately took cover again, and the enemy shooters, enraged by these actions, fired a volley. Due to the reload time issue, this is equivalent to self-disarming. The enemy did not have time to reload their muskets, and the pirates took advantage of this and launched a real attack.
This is what pirates do when they encounter other ships unexpectedly at sea: without hesitation, they immediately hoist on the mast the flag of the country to which the encountered ship belongs.
According to the law of the sea, the other party should answer this gesture with a salute, so the other party's captain did the same, firing the shells from his own cannon in vain. The pirates assessed the situation and either rushed forward to engage in a boarding battle, or continued on their original route.
Note: The "law of the sea" mentioned in this paragraph is not a specific law, but such as the Law of the Sea of Rhodes in Italy in the 79th century, the Amalfi Table in the 10th century, the Law of O'Neilan in the 12th century, and the Collection of Maritime Laws in the 14th century Waiting for the default rules that evolved from the "rules" familiar to European sailors. The real "law of the sea" should only begin to be determined by international treaties after the 19th century.
One of the hallmarks of a pirate ship is its large crew. This is due to tactical requirements, because Silva has long understood that boarding battle is the main tactic of pirates. It required a large number of soldiers, so the pirates, despite all the inconveniences and self-restraint they had to endure, still tried to get as many people on board as possible before each expedition.
However, they are never redundant. The losses in board battles can sometimes reach almost half of the ship's personnel, so the pirates will never be dissatisfied with the number of people.
The above-mentioned characteristics often displayed by pirates also made Silva more convinced that the warship flying the book sword flag in front of him was not a pirate.
It challenged the treasure fleet with a single ship, which was not in line with the habit of pirates to fight with more and less; it did not have the upper hand, and was almost in a headwind. If it were not a Chinese-style hard-sailed warship, it would be considered powerful if it could run 3 knots; Although it made a move to approach the fleet, it did not continue to approach with all its strength after the calibrated firing. It seemed that it preferred to be at a relatively safe distance and rely on the advantage of long and heavy guns to fly kites; it did not change itself. Instead of the flag on the ship, he used a strong semaphore to express his identity without hesitation.
Various performances prove that this is a warship with an official nature. Whether this officially represents the empire is unclear for the time being, but it at least represents the current dominant maritime force in the South China Sea in its tough words against the Castilian Navy. claims, and even issued warnings of war.
Oh, not only did it give a warning, it even fired a gun range. For Commander Silva, this is a knife that has been stretched out in front of him.
Silva has both studied and seen the fighting methods of pirates. Regarding the high-speed battleship in front of him, he believes that it is very similar to a pirate ship. Although its combat method seems completely different from that of a pirate ship, one thing is certain. : When your own side has no speed advantage, if the opponent is determined to escape, then you really have nothing to do.
However, it cannot be said that there is nothing we can do against such an enemy. When a pirate ship faces a treasure ship, unless it is unable to fight, it will definitely keep a close eye on it until they find a flaw.
The same should be true for the Jinghua battleship in front of me. It will not give up the "search" just because it leads the team to Manila. It will definitely bite hard and not make it easy for itself.
Silva knew the tactics he wanted to adopt. When he was pretending to go to Manila, the fleet and the Jinghua battleship behind him could not form a file, that is, they could not use the stern of the ship to face its bow, but should run in an arc. , let your fleet be at an angle with them.
When the degree of the oblique angle became smaller and smaller, the treasure fleet, which had been prepared for a long time, suddenly increased its steering force and accelerated with full sail, approaching the battleship Jinghua. At this time, the treasure fleet will also be in a grouping and outflanking situation, so that no matter which direction the enemy ships turn, they will not have time to break out of the encirclement.
Silva's move was indeed beyond Luo Yuan's expectations. He discovered through the telescope that the Spanish treasure fleet, which had been approaching menacingly just now, turned away without hesitation after a round of calibrated shots by himself.
This action surprised him: Although the Spanish treasure ship was named "Treasure Ship", it sounded like a simple cargo ship, but in fact it was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
That was a 1,200-ton military Galen. In the words of the master, they were "capable of running rampant among hordes of pirate ships" in the distant Americas. They were by no means helpless transport ships.
More importantly, the Spanish military Galen is no secret to Jinghua. Jinghua and many Daming maritime merchants have seen their fleet in Manila Port and the dozens of cannons on their ships. It can be said that the firepower of these six large treasure ships is far more powerful than his "Light Cavalry", especially the close combat artillery, which is stronger in more than one level.
In this case, the other party actually backed out without saying anything?
Luo Yuan couldn't help but sneered: "I came to lure the enemy, but he also wanted to lure me? Humph, it's interesting. It seems that the master is far-sighted. The Spaniards are indeed not comparable to the pirates we faced in the past. I even doubt that they They were even more powerful than the Portuguese during the naval battle off Bondulang.”
The naval battle off Bondulang was when Gao Jing was exploring the sea outside Champa in southern Annam. He encountered the Folangji fleet flying the flag of the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar. The other party put up a threatening posture for unknown reasons. , a naval battle broke out to force Gao Jing's fleet away from the sea area where the incident occurred.
In this naval battle, Gao Jing did not gain much advantage. One armed transport ship was sunk, one was severely damaged and abandoned, and many others were damaged. However, the other side did not gain much either. Four warships suffered heavy losses, and one surrendered after being surrounded.
Later, the battle report was submitted to Gao Jingshi, and Gao Jing was still awarded victory. But in fact, Gao Pragmatic tended to think that the performance of his own fleet was slightly inferior to that of the Portuguese. It was just because the fleet led by Gao Jing had a relatively obvious numerical advantage. He had more than 20 ships of different sizes at the time, while the opponent only had seven large ships and none. Small boats, so in the end it was the Portuguese who took the lead in evacuating the sea area where the incident occurred.
The battle has been studied over and over again within Jinghua, especially within the Liangyang Fleet and the two major shipyards in the north and south. The overall view is that the Portuguese are skilled in naval warfare and have sufficient experience in "fighting more with less". They are also very able to take advantage of their own warships. They are an enemy that is difficult to deal with.
But now Luo Yuan met the Spanish treasure fleet, and he judged from just one encounter that it was not a confrontation that the fleet was more difficult to deal with than the Portuguese. This difficulty was not only due to the fact that the opponent's military Galen was larger and stronger than the Portuguese ships at that time, but also because the opponent's commander was quite experienced at first sight.
Luo Yuan even thought that the other party might have seen through his mission of luring the enemy, which was even more powerful. Of course, Luo Yuan didn't know that Silva was used to the pirates' methods when he was messing around on the Atlantic route, and he had an extremely strong sensitivity to high-speed ships like the "Left-wing Hussar".
The first mate of the "Light Cavalry" couldn't help but become a little worried when he heard what he said, and asked: "Captain, should we pursue him?"
This time Luo Yuan did not answer immediately, but thought for a moment before saying: "Chase, but don't be in a hurry. Let's chase a little slower. When we get some distance away, the Dengzhou can see our flags, but the Spaniards can't see the Dengzhou." When the number is called, report the situation to the Dengzhou number first, and then catch up."
The first mate asked: "How to report?"
"Let's just say that the other side is very cautious. I'm afraid they have seen through our strategy of luring the enemy." Luo Yuan said in a deep voice: "Our ship recommends that the Dengzhou immediately send a signal to the rest of the ships in the formation and ask them to advance at full speed to outflank. Our ship will take the initiative Step forward and hold your opponent back."
The first mate was stunned for a moment and then said hesitantly: "Let's go aboard and fight with them?"
"Why, are you scared of six against one?" Luo Yuan squinted his eyes and glanced at the Spanish treasure fleet in the distance, and snorted softly: "We have to take advantage of our speed and blast around the Spaniards, hitting them Although it is good to hit, missing the target may also anger them.
As long as we suddenly slow down for a while during the fight, the Spaniards will definitely think they have an opportunity, and then rush close to capture our ship. When the time comes... it will depend on how good our engineer brothers are. .
As the old saying goes, wealth can be found through risk. Now that the other party is so cautious, how can we succeed if we don't take some risks? I can’t bear to let my child catch the wolf, but I can’t believe that the other person is so angry that I’ve harassed them so much that they even flipped the table. Are they bastards? "
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