New Ming Empire mixed in America

The merchants' protest continued into the afternoon, leaving Governor Birmingham without a fresh steak for lunch.

Outside the Manila port, a clipper docked in a panic at the newly repaired pier.

The captain and the sailors on the ship rushed to the pier with all their belongings, and then ran desperately towards downtown Manila.

Regarding the strange behavior of these people, the police and staff in the port area cast a surprised look.

But this was just the beginning. Within the next two hours, three merchant ships hurriedly returned to the port.

It also included a merchant ship that had just set sail in the morning, and the captain of this ship was very popular.

Seeing her hurried look, the police from the port area took advantage of the time when the other party was loading things into the carriage and stepped forward to inquire about the situation.

"What happened? Weren't these goods just loaded on the ship this morning? Why are they being taken off the ship again now?"

The captain who was directing the loading of the truck looked up and saw that the person asking the question was his old friend. He could successfully find the porter. This old friend can be said to have a lot of power.

So he looked around and said softly: "I advise you to find a safe place to hide. The Eastern fleet is coming..."

After hearing this, the port district policeman couldn't help laughing.

"The Eastern fleet? Don't be joking. A few days ago, the governor's son set off with his battleships to cause trouble for the Eastern fleet you mentioned."

"And I heard that there were still four main battleships going out. Not to mention the Eastern fleet, even the fleet that brought the British to the Qing Dynasty might not be able to defeat them easily."

After finishing speaking, the port area police patted the ship owner on the shoulder and advised: "Those rumors are all false. If they are true, how could the governor let his son go to sea?"

Unfortunately, his comfort had no effect. The captain still had that nervous expression and said, "I saw it!"

"As soon as we went out to sea, we saw the Eastern fleet from a distance. They were busy arresting merchant ships around them. I was far away, so I ran back."

Having said this, the ship owner lowered his voice a little lower and said into the ear of the port police:

"Those Easterners have at least hundreds of warships, and they are a mass of darkness on the sea. Please take leave as soon as possible and leave the port to hide for a while."

"I also saw the four battleships led by the governor's son. They have become prisoners of the Easterners..."

After saying this, the ship owner ignored the policeman and continued to instruct his employees to speed up loading.

Hearing what his old friend said, the port district policeman still didn't believe it.

Some time ago, news about the Oriental fleet was flying all over the sky. In the end, when the governor gave a speech, he said it was a rumor.

He also sent his own son to join the navy on sea patrols. The governor has done this, and the news flying around is definitely a rumor.

But now the reminder from his old friend made him hesitate.

But soon he no longer had to worry about whether the news was true or false, because the bell of the lighthouse in the port area rang.

Everyone knows what this sound represents. If there is no danger, the lighthouse watchman will not let the bell ring.

At this time, the ship owner who heard the bell didn't care about the goods that had not yet been loaded on the truck. He jumped on a carriage and urged the driver to leave.

After thinking for a moment, the port policeman turned around and ran towards the stables.

He planned to hide near the stables first. If the port area really couldn't be defended, he would ride out of here on horseback.

Anyway, he was employed. The worst he could do was return to Spain and continue looking for a job. He couldn't risk his life for a colony.

The Spanish defenders were not as free as they were. After hearing the siren, the defenders immediately gathered towards the port area.

At this time, the Spanish steam gunboats left behind in the port area also started to move towards the waters off Manila.

Their mission is to set up defenses in the open sea. If the enemy's ships are relatively few, they will directly defeat the enemy in the open sea.

If there are many enemy ships, they will also retreat to the port area to cooperate with the forts for defense.

At this time, no one expected that a huge fleet would appear in the direction of the open sea, so after hearing the siren, the order in the city was relatively good.

As a relatively prosperous area nearby, Manila Port serves as a transit point for the Ryukyus, the Puppet Qing Dynasty, the Dutch, and European ocean-going merchants. It always encounters some unsighted pirates several times a year.

However, usually the pirates just do one thing outside the port and then leave. No one has ever been brave enough to enter the port and fight with the coastal defense artillery.

"Are those pirates? Did the guy who reported the message get kicked in the head by a donkey?"

On a gunboat, the captain used his binoculars to look at the fleet appearing on the sea level, and cursed for a while.

They had some luck when the fleet first appeared. After all, the first one to appear was the Pacific Fleet's reconnaissance ship.

As the warships behind them appeared in their telescopes one after another, the captains of these gunboats felt a chill in their hearts.

"Turn around, let's go back to the port! Move quickly, you idiots!"

Along with the shouting and cursing, the gunboat began to turn and wanted to hide back in the port.

But the two scout ships that were already approaching would not be polite to them.

When they first saw these Spanish gunboats in battle formation, the faces of the naval soldiers on the reconnaissance ship were filled with joy.

"We should just put some distance between us and the fleet. If we were farther away, maybe we would have towed these gunboats by now."

The Pacific Fleet naval officer on the reconnaissance ship patted the railing on the side of the ship with some annoyance.

"It can't go any further. This is already the limit of communication. We can't let those communication ships leave the fleet and rush ahead for us reconnaissance ships."

The adjutant comforted him and then ordered the scout ship to speed up.

But the reconnaissance ship has been sailing at its maximum speed since it saw the Spanish gunboat. If it wants to speed up now, it must imitate the two reconnaissance ships that were damaged before.

Seeing the Spanish gunboat turn around and start fleeing into the port, the two reconnaissance ships fired a few shots from a distance, and then watched the other side run into the bay.

They did not dare to chase into the port area, and the forts arranged in the harbor were not something that the scout ship could provoke.

But this was enough. This time they lured out all the warships in the port area, and the task of detecting the number of the opponent's warships was completed perfectly.

The port of Manila began to become chaotic with the return of the steam gunboats.

The news that a ship with more than a hundred ships appeared in the outer sea spread instantly throughout the port area, and then the news was passed to the city.

The Governor of Birmingham, who was fighting wits with businessmen in the temporary Governor's Mansion, also received this news that almost fainted him.

Because the telegram sent back from the port clearly marked the news that four Spanish warships were discovered in the enemy fleet.

And those four warships were the warships that his son traveled with!