New Ming Empire mixed in America

Seeing those businessmen who still didn't know what was happening and were still shouting loudly, Governor Birmingham's patience reached its limit.

"Drive these people away, and then gather all the troops to set up defenses in Manila City!"

After finishing speaking, he walked towards the room next to the office, where several telegraph machines were placed.

News of the attack on Manila port must be notified to nearby defenders.

In addition to asking people to come for support, he also ordered the cities on the coast to pay attention to defense, lest the enemies attacking Manila port suffer setbacks and then choose other coastal cities to attack.

He moves very quickly, but the Pacific Fleet is not slow either.

Manila Bay is much larger than San Francisco Bay. It is a natural shelter and a high-quality harbor.

The bay resembles an almost circular shape, and there is a natural gap toward the open sea.

There are several coastal defense artillery emplacements at both ends of the gap.

Generally speaking, a fort can accommodate two large-caliber coastal defense guns, and there will be some small-caliber coastal defense gun positions near the fort to defend it.

Within Manila Bay, in addition to the forts at both ends, there are also more coastal defense guns set up at the Manila port.

Usually relying on these coastal defense guns, Manila Bay is no different from a turtle shell.

But today was different. After rendezvousing with the reconnaissance ship, the Pacific Fleet only stayed for less than an hour before launching an attack.

The lead armored ship rushed directly beyond the maximum range of the coastal defense artillery, relying on the range advantage of the naval gun to pour shells towards the location of the fort.

As for whether they were successful or not, their purpose was to test the number and location of the coastal defense guns here.

At this time, the second-level and third-level iron-clad battleships as the main force in the rear had begun to adjust their firing positions, and sailed near the iron-clad ships to make final preparations for shooting.

Supply ships carrying reconnaissance balloons also began to release reconnaissance balloons. They will guide the battleship's bombardment.

As for why the airship was not dispatched... Li Mingqi said that the cost of dispatching an airship once was too great, and there was no need for a big killer like an airship to bomb this place.

With the reconnaissance balloon taking off, the Pacific Fleet finally made final preparations before the bombardment.

The battleship, which had adjusted its muzzle, shook violently, and then several shells flew in the direction of the fort.

The observer on the reconnaissance balloon transmits the coordinates that need to be adjusted to the fleet based on the impact point of the artillery shell.

It was not until the third calibrated firing that the artillery shell finally hit the fort, blowing a large hole in the sandbags and stone walls piled outside the fort.

The next step is to prepare for the salvo. After the calibrated firing is completed, other warships will make final adjustments based on the coordinates of this calibrated firing.

The two second-level iron-clad battleships and four third-level iron-clad battleships of the Pacific Fleet have all pointed their sides in the direction of the fort.

The two-story gun deck of a third-level ironclad battleship can accommodate thirty new naval guns, and there will also be several smaller naval guns on the deck as backup.

A salvo will send more than 150 shells around the fort.

At this time, envoy Lanfang was standing respectfully beside Li Mingqi, holding a telescope in his hand to observe the direction of the fort.

"Dear Your Majesty, embankments have been built on the outside of these forts, and there are sandbags outside to provide buffers. Why do you insist on bombing these forts?"

Envoy Lanfang was very puzzled by Li Mingqi's approach of letting the battleship attack the fort. If he were in command, he would definitely rely on the speed and armor of the battleship to directly pass through the narrow area of ​​Manila Bay.

Instead of fighting against the fort like now, when the Pacific Fleet was calibrating the firing, he had already seen the two ironclad ships in front being hit by the shells fired from the fort more than once.

Although they have exceeded the maximum range of coastal defense guns, it is still very dangerous to be hit by solid projectiles at the extreme distance.

The fort is different from the battleship. The fort is fixed, and the area near the fort is ready for shooting.

The turret can easily gain the upper hand when firing, and its hit rate is much better than that of a battleship.

He had just seen a solid bullet hit the turret of an ironclad ship. The deflected solid bullet bounced twice on the deck before falling into the sea.

And his heart also jumped following the solid bomb just now.

Even if it has excellent defense, damage will inevitably occur if it is hit several times by solid bullets from the turret.

With these thoughts in mind, he had more doubts.

"Don't worry, you'll know after you see it." Li Mingqi was not worried because the armored ship was hit several times by the turret.

Not to mention the thick hull armor of the ironclad, the power of the shells after hitting the ironclad at the extreme distance is not much, and it cannot cause any damage to the armor at all, except for wiping off a few pieces of paint.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Mingqi finished speaking, the warships of the Pacific Fleet began their first salvo.

More than a hundred shells roared towards the fort, damaging not only the coastal defense artillery nested behind the embankment, but also some coastal defense artillery positions hidden around it.

The embankment made of cement and stones could not stop the power of the shell explosion, and many holes were torn out by the shock wave in the sandbags and stones.

After just one salvo, the vicinity of the fort was covered with large and small shell craters.

Several unlucky coastal defense artillery positions were directly hit by artillery shells. Except for the base of the coast defense artillery being blown down, few members of the Spanish artillery crew survived.

Countless shrapnel and steel balls swept through the coastal defense artillery positions, and the Spanish defenders who were carrying the shells and controlling the coastal defense artillery screamed and were beaten into pieces.

Blood quickly covered the ground in this position, and the broken limbs even flew out of the position and landed around the artillery shell warehouse.

A round of volleys made the Spanish defenders feel as if they had seen the end of the world, except for the guy who was killed on the spot.

Some of the Spanish defenders who survived by chance left their positions and ran to the rear, crying.

They had never seen such a bombing scene before, and the continuous explosions just now rang in their ears.

Pieces of soil mixed with corpses and the remains of fortification buildings flew into the air, and the sweeping shrapnel made everyone terrified.

The shock wave of the explosion directly killed some defenders hiding behind the embankment. All this quickly brought the morale of the Spanish defenders to a low point.

At this time, Ambassador Lanfang held up the telescope, opened his mouth to the maximum, and a series of impossible words were squeezed out of his throat.

I thought that this salvo would not have much impact on the fort. After all, everyone knows the power of solid ball bullets.

But the power of the Pacific Fleet's artillery shells almost made his eyes pop out.

You can't even see it during a naval battle. Even if the shell explodes when it hits the sea, it will cause a big splash of water.

But now after the cannonball hit the land, its power was finally fully displayed in front of the Lanfang envoy.

The huge shell crater, the destroyed embankment, and the corpses of Spanish soldiers blown into the air.

All of this had a huge impact on his outlook on life.

This was different from any artillery battle he had been exposed to before, or in other words, it was not the same level of shell power at all.

"Is foreign technology so powerful now?"

Messenger Lanfang finally said this.

Because he did not believe that the Xinming Empire had such industrial strength, he believed that these advanced artillery and shells were purchased by the Xinming Empire from foreigners.

If this is the case, then the Dutch who are fighting them are probably not regular Dutch troops.

When he thought of this, a look of despair appeared on Messenger Lanfang's face.

"No, this is the industrial strength of the Xinming Empire!"

Li Mingqi laughed beside him, pointed proudly at the Pacific Fleet which was undergoing the second salvo, and said:

"I dare say that our cannon-casting technology is the best in the world, and those foreigners' garbage can't compare with ours!"