New Ming Empire mixed in America

The commander of the Spanish battleship had excellent command skills and successfully took advantage of the wind direction to temporarily widen the distance between the two sides.

But this situation only lasted for less than half an hour. As the boilers gradually heated up, the speed of the Pacific Fleet's ironclads gradually increased to its peak, and the distance between the two sides continued to close.

"We will be overtaken in a few hours and we can't continue towards Manila."

At this time, the governor's son no longer cared about his grace and roared angrily at the Spanish commander.

He found that the knowledge he learned at the naval school was of no help to the current situation.

At least there was no way to get rid of the Eastern warships behind them.

The Spanish commander's brows had been furrowed since just now. He was slightly disappointed with this young man whom he was originally very optimistic about, so he retorted:

"Are you kidding me again? If we don't go back to Manila, we won't be a match for the Orientals at all. At least with the forts in Manila, we still have a chance to compete!"

But the governor's son still insisted on his own ideas and said quickly and urgently:

"Didn't you notice? The purpose of the Eastern fleet's appearance here is Manila, otherwise they would not have chosen to bypass Mindoro Island!"

"We only need to adjust our direction now to avoid Manila's route. I believe they will not catch up!"

After finishing speaking, he stared at the Spanish commander closely, hoping that the other party would follow his advice.

Unfortunately, the commander did not agree in the end. He shook his head and said:

"Where can we go even if we avoid the route?"

The commander pointed to the west and asked: "Do you want to go to the Sulu native in the west?"

The Sulu natives in his words refer to the Kingdom of Sulu at this time. This small country is an emirate that includes the Sulu Islands, Palawan Island, etc. and the northeastern region of Sabah, Malaysia.

Previously, I wanted to merge with the Puppet Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately it was directly rejected by the Puppet Qing Dynasty court, which believed that it had a vast territory and abundant resources.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Sulu was in a state of hostility with the European colonists. After the British and French cut off their ties with the puppet Qing Dynasty, the conflict was expected to get out of hand.

"Even if we can reach the Sulu natives or the Dutch further west safely, do you think the Orientals will not detach a fleet to pursue us?"

The words of the Spanish commander gradually calmed down the feverish brain of the governor's son. Before he could understand the relationship, he heard the commander continue:

"There are only a few hours until dark. As long as we can survive this period, we can rely on the darkness to get rid of these Orientals!"

"Don't forget, Lubang Island is ahead. As long as we pass through the narrow strait of Lubang Island, it will be impossible for the Orientals to catch up with us!"

There is a very narrow strait between Lubang Island and Mindoro Island, and they can easily pass with only four warships.

But the Pacific Fleet has too many ships, not to mention transport ships accounting for the majority.

The reefs and ocean currents in the strait are the natural enemies of the fleet, not to mention the huge scale of the Pacific Fleet of the New Ming Empire.

At that time, it will not be easy just to let the entire fleet pass safely.

The Spanish commander did not believe that the Easterners knew the route here very well. It would be better if the opponent's warships could hit the rocks and sink a few.

As long as they use the strait to get rid of the Easterners, they will have time to choose whether to return to Manila Port or go to the nearest Balaya Bay to temporarily avoid the enemy.

The Spanish commander's ideas were not unsophisticated. He even calculated the wind direction when entering the strait.

But in the end, things went beyond his expectation, because the scout ship of the Pacific Fleet closest to them actually started to speed up.

And relying on its speed, it began to cut diagonally towards the channel in front of the four Spanish warships.

At the same time, the reconnaissance ship bombarded the Spanish warships with artillery on its side, and when it passed by them, it used several small-caliber cannons on the ship to fire shotgun shells at the sails.

"Are these Orientals crazy?" the Spanish commander's eyes nearly popped out.

Although the boilers on the four battleships he commanded were only auxiliary power, he also knew this aspect very well.

The black smoke emitting from the Oriental reconnaissance ship is obviously abnormal. This is a sign that the steam engine is overloaded.

"Aren't they afraid of boilers exploding? Madmen...these damn madmen!"

The Spanish commander watched helplessly as the Oriental reconnaissance ship that had just passed his flagship was hit one after another by solid shells from his own warships.

The iron armor on the side of the reconnaissance ship began to twist after resisting several cannonballs. With a creaking sound, several riveted pieces of iron armor finally cracked and fell off with another attack of solid bullets.

The open-air gun positions on the deck were hit one after another by solid bullets, and two of the three rapid-fire guns on the side were directly misfired.

But the scout ship's tactics were successful. They relied on their crazy actions to successfully destroy the Spanish battleship's sails with small-caliber artillery.

Although the sail was only hit a few times by shotguns, the Spanish commander clearly saw that the sail of his own warship was on fire.

As we all know, chain bombs are more effective against sails. This kind of cannonball has two solid bombs connected by a chain in the middle. After being fired, it will wind up when it encounters the cable that fixes the sail, relying on the huge kinetic energy to break the cable.

break.

But the Pacific Fleet's reconnaissance ship taught the Spanish commander a vivid lesson. It successfully ignited the sails of the Spanish warship by relying on special artillery shells with extremely close range.

Unlike ordinary shotguns, ordinary shotguns rely on small pieces of iron or smaller solid bullets to kill the enemy.

But now after the shotguns used by the reconnaissance ships are fired, small incendiary bombs fly out one after another.

Despite being injured, the scout ship successfully slowed down the Spanish battleship.

By the way, battleships usually form a long snake formation when sailing, not to mention that with only four battleships, it is impossible to form other battle formations.

The Pacific Fleet is different. It has a formation when sailing. After all, it is necessary to ensure the safety of the transport ships in the fleet and Li Mingqi's ship.

What's more, the speed of towing a transport ship carrying an airship is a bit slow. Without the protection of a warship, these two transport ships pulling an airship will definitely become a living target.

The Spanish commander's plan to delay the ship until dark failed. Changing the sails was not an easy task.

Especially at this critical moment, as long as he dares to lower the sail and start changing it, they will be overtaken by the ironclad ship as they mainly rely on the sail for power.

"Get ready to fight, we have no way out..."

The governor's son looked at the burning sails of the flagship and tore off his coat, revealing the dagger and revolver at his waist.

"I was the fencing champion in school, and short-range shooting is also my strong point..."

Pulling out the dagger, the governor's son played a few beautiful sword tricks. Then he began to tie the dagger to his hand with a bandage, so that the dagger would not fall out of his hands during the battle.

But after he finished preparing for the battle, he found that few Spanish naval soldiers on the deck were ready to fight.

The rest of the guys looked at the Spanish commander in silence, and the battle flag on the flagship that represented a fight to the death was not raised.

Just when he was confused, he suddenly heard the commander say hesitantly:

"Otherwise... let's... raise the white flag..."