Chapter 287 Three Battles to Determine the Lord and the Minister (Part 1)

The Ming army was ready to stop. When the showdown was held at the negotiating table, the Indian Governor's army had already arrived at Mantaga, and Azeg also found out and was eager to try.

In order for the fleet to arrive in time, the Indian fleet can be said to be marching day and night. Although the driving force comes from the endless sea breeze and does not require human power, the continuous sailing day and night still makes the entire army exhausted.

When the army arrived, Azeger looked at the spectacular fleet and almost cried bitterly. Twenty warships, twenty in total! These are almost all the main battleships of the Portuguese Navy that controls the Indian Ocean.

Governor Albkrk is taking risks and betting on this game with him. This god of war, who has been taking risks all his life, has given him absolute trust and once again demonstrated his determination to win the Far East.

This is almost the entirety of Portugal's troops stationed in India. If it fails and suffers serious trauma to the fleet, Albukirk's political life will end there and he will even be impeached and tried.

The Royal Portuguese Navy will not only be defeated in the Far East, but will also become powerless in the entire Indian Ocean. This power gap will soon be filled with the forces of the Spaniards, Arabs and Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, on July 14th of the Chinese people, the legendary days when ghosts appeared, the ghosts mentioned by the people of Fujian and Guangdong were not idle. They dispatched troops and carried arms, and more than 40 warships were ready to go. Azeger must fight to the death for his ideals, futures, and General Kerke's trust.

When the news that the Ming army had already attacked was reported back through the news speedboat, Azeger, as the theater commander, immediately ordered all warships to set sail and fought to the death with the Ming army in the sea outside the Mansaka.

Their warships, plus the Ming army's warships, were unable to launch a decisive battle in the Mansaka Strait. Moreover, if the Ming army took the opportunity to rush ashore and seize the land first, they would be forced to fight against the enemies on sea and on land.

The Ming army is not the palace guards of Mantaga. It is not easy to regain the lost land at that time. Only by fighting to the death at sea and annihilation of the main force of the Ming army's naval forces in one fell swoop, so the Ming army can only retreat to land, the South China Sea and the East China Sea can become their own water paradise.

In order to facilitate the power of sidewalk guns and quickly mobilize the artillery fire of each ship in coordinated combat, the warships still adopt the shape of a geese feather that is gathered horizontally at a certain distance. More than 40 warships lined up in three rows of geese feather wings. Each row was about three nautical miles apart and met the Ming army.

The warships ranked first were the Japanese, Spanish pirate merchants and mercenaries. The combat power of these miscellaneous armies was uneven and their ability to cooperate with each other was even worse. The meaning of putting them at the forefront was self-evident. Azeg was not a fruit seller.

This "United Nations" fleet has a Portuguese warship in the center command. The captain is Louis, a captain of the Royal Spanish Navy.

Diego, a warlike soldier, was an Azeger's beloved general, and a nobleman, and his father was a jazz.

Diego, wearing a straight military uniform, climbed up to the watchtower and looked into the distance. At this time, the sun was sufficient. The only thing that was not conducive to combat was that the wind was blowing from the direction of the Ming army at this time, so the Ming army's ship speed was faster than theirs.

However, Diego didn't care much about these. This was the scene of their decisive battle. Instead of a boat racing place, once the two armies fought, it would be useless to sail quickly. His sailors and helmsmen could make their warships fully utilize their combat effectiveness through subtle adjustments.

Diego saw the Ming army's battleship clearly, and at this moment, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise: "Oh my God, is this the Ming army navy that made the commander worried and even transferred all the main naval forces of the Indian base to fight?"

There are many ships in many places. There are more ships parked in the most prosperous trade port that Diego has ever seen all the way east. However, these ships are large and small, uneven, and some can even see their sails are broken, and the formations of the ships are uneven and irregular. In this case, the rear ship may even break the masts of their friends.

Diego can swear to God: He is in the Holy.

When studying at the Ferrancisco Maritime Academy, no genius professor ever told him that he could use such a formation to launch an attack on the enemy. Is this the navy of the most powerful country in the East?

Louis.

Diego resisted the feeling of laughter: we were on guard. All that was waiting for was such a ragged navy, who looked stupid and seemed no different from those backward native tribes.

Diego was leisurely instructing the fleet to slow down the sails. He turned sideways and more than ten warships scattered across the sea and set up attack formations.

"Their tactics are stupid, but there is no doubt that they are brave. Why are foolish people always braver?" Diego murmured in a superior and compassionate noble tone, looking at the Ming fleet still rushing towards his muzzle, and habitually stroked the clan and school badges on his chest.

The school badge that graduated from Maritime Academy was the youngest beautiful female instructor in the school. Yali, who was conferred the army by the king and promoted to captain because of his special contributions.

Baron Adney wore it on his chest with his own hands.

The year he graduated was the year when Adni came to teach in school. When he first saw Adni, he became fascinated by this noble, beautiful and elegant noble girl.

He almost decided to reconsider it for three years. If it weren't for his father, Sir Louis, who was holding a sword and demanding a duel with him, would have done so.

"It's a pity that her family actually supported the conviction and became a sinner of the empire from a nobleman. Alas, Miss Adni is still alive now. Perhaps she has now become one of the dozens of wives of a fat native chief weighing 300 kilograms, giving birth to several children for him. At this time, she was wearing a skirt made of leaves and animal skins, sitting in front of a nest at the foot of a mountain to bask in the sun."

Diego sadly cut a cross on his chest for his short crush, then gracefully took off his military cap and waved it forward, chanting like a recitation: "Fire the cannon, my soldiers, send these foolish poor people back."

A series of dull gun sounds were heard, and the muzzles were spraying with flames, and water columns rose from the Ming army fleet in front of them. The unexpected lineup of the Ming army surprised Captain Pedro and Miyamoto Hiro, who had a confrontation with the Ming army, but they didn't have time to think more. As Diego ordered the artillery, they also rushed to attack the approaching Ming ships.

The dense artillery fire caused more waves. Some Ming army warships had been hit, and some small warships with multiple shells were even blown up. However, the Ming army's warships did not make a counterattack and still rushed over without hesitation.

"Do they want to use these broken ships to sank us? Or are they preparing to risk huge casualties and jump to the gang in close combat?" Diego's eyes were a little confused. While ordering the fleet to continue to attack with fierce artillery fire, he also briefly reported the battle situation to the back team in flags, asking them to pay attention to the sea surface on both wings to prevent the Ming army from raiding from the flanks.

Many ships of the Ming army had been shot, some of which had been penetrated into the bottom of the bilge, and had obviously leaked and sank, and they still rushed over. Behind these dense ships, large warships of similar size to the Portuguese fleet began to appear.

"That is the main force of the Ming army." Diego stared at the main warships of the Ming army that appeared from a distance and were neatly formed, and a sense of caution surged in his eyes.

That was the official fleet led by Han Wu and Adni. Adni stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the Portuguese fleet in the distance still posing as a shelling stance, and couldn't help but sigh: "I think even Commander Da Gama here, I'm afraid he will suffer a great loss in the first battle. For us, it's impossible to imagine using so many ships to conduct a one-time attack, which is too imaginative."

Han Wu also noticed that the Portuguese army still did not change its formation. He couldn't help but smile easily and said, "This kind of tactic can only win unexpectedly, but once it is seen, it will be worthless. But at present, it seems that we have succeeded."

He looked back and said, "Order, accelerate, change the formation while advancing, lead the Majesty, and walk the sickle line."

Adni's delicate body shook and repeated: "Scythe? The weapon of death..."

Han Wu looked at her strangely and said, "What are you talking about? Scythe..." He slowly drew a curve in the air. At the same time, he said, "It's just a family life for mowing grass."

Diego frowned in the distance, and was also analyzing the Ming army's strategy: "What's wrong with these models of different types of ships in different places? They weren't they specifically used to consume our shells, right?"

If too many shells are fired, it is indeed necessary to clean the barrel and cool the barrel, which will relatively delay the time of the shelling. However, the Portuguese army has so many warships, and now only uses one side gun, so the impact is extremely minor. Will this be the destination of the Ming army?

Or, is it a wolf pack tactic? Use these small boats to fight with a large number of casualties and close combat. Create opportunities for the main warships behind? What opportunities? Indiscriminate attacks? Diego laughed at his ridiculous ideas. As a general who has received regular Western-style naval combat training, Diego really couldn't think of any other purpose to send so many warships.

At this moment, a large number of Ming army warships had approached within thirty feet. At this time, the decks of some ships were clearly visible. There was no one on them. No wonder they resisted the artillery fire and never resisted. This strange phenomenon made Diego, who originally wanted to order the fleet to raise sails to sail sideways and form a triangle attack with the rear formation fleet, was stunned.

At this moment, Ming army warships burned one after another, and the wind ignited very quickly with the fire. It seemed that a large amount of flammable materials were filled on the ship and the objects that were regularly fired. Although I had never seen a large number of warships used to perform fire attack tactics, Diego finally understood the Ming army's intention: it turned out that Yang Ling was not a seller of fruits.

More than a dozen Portuguese warships that fired horizontally were too attacked. Diego decisively ordered to stop the artillery attack. All warships turned to face the Ming ships, and used the narrow hull. Although there were many Ming army fire ships, there were still spaces between the hulls for passage to accelerate and rush over.

It was too late to move to both sides. As a soldier, he could not tolerate not even seeing an enemy, but was chased by a bunch of fire ships. The warships that the Ming army used to attack were still a long distance away, and were walking in an arc at this time. He had time to get rid of these fire ships and set off the attack formation again.

The Portuguese ship quickly turned the bow and rushed towards the Ming ship that was spitting flames and the burning masts and canvas were "cracking". The first row of burning fire ships had passed by. At this moment, a "bang" sound was heard, and one of Miyamoto's ships was hit by the Ming army's fire ships. The hull shook for a while and continued to sail forward.

"What a bunch of idiots!" Diego cursed, but then he widened his eyes in surprise.

The fire ship that had just hit Hiro Miyamoto's warship was on the other side of the ship. He could only guess that it had collided with the Ming munitions. However, he did not understand the details. But now he clearly saw that a fire ship on this side also turned and collided with Hiro Miyamoto's warship as if it had life.

Another "bang" sound, the burning fireboat hit the fast-moving warship, and the impact of the hull made the fire more intense after a pause. Moreover, as the warship moved forward, the fireboat actually moved closely to its hull. Since the sails were burned out at this time, the fireboat was unhindered, and the flames burned Miyamoto's ship. There were also raucous flames on the shore board, and the crew members who wanted to put out the fire could not even get close to the past.

Diego could no longer call the Japanese a fool, because his ship, all the other warships that quickly passed through the middle of the fire ship, suffered the same misfortune. First, he felt that the bottom of the ship was stagnant like resistance, and then the fire ships on both sides rushed over like fire shooting stars, crashing heavily on the boat board and starting to burn the warship.

"There must be underwater iron chains between the fire ships. These fire ships are connected to each other. My God is simply a net, retreat. Go back immediately!"

The sailor and the helmsman nervously adjusted the warship, and a strange scene appeared on the sea. Three-masted warships dragged the burning wooden ships on both sides slowly moving backwards. In front of them, more fire ships of all sizes were rushing over one after another, chasing them......their bows.

In the distance, the large Ming army's warships were approaching quickly, and a row of warships were about to enter the best shelling position at the bottom of the arc in turn. Diego was extremely anxious. While notifying the second echelon to come forward to respond, he went around from both wings to confront the Ming army. While accelerating and retreating. However, the damn fire ships were like conjoined babies, biting his boats to the ground.

A sailor avoided the most burning part of the ship, which was soaring to the sky. He used a long pole to push the fire boat hard. After the skin that was scorching by the flames, he finally dropped the burning pole and retreated in despair and said, "Captain Diego, countless long iron nails were installed on the side of the ship. When it hit, it was already deeply nailed into our ship, and there was no way to separate it."

"What?" Diego stared at his eyes and screamed. This unreasonable way of playing cards made him feel at a loss like a recruit.

As a commander, he has dealt with various enemies, waving scimitars, riding horses, holding arrows, and hiding in the grass with oil paint on his face. As for naval battles with European countries and Eastern countries, large and small, including India, he has also experienced many, but such a confrontation is the first time he has encountered it.

One thousand three hundred and four years ago, a general who commanded a hundred thousand troops, held a sharp sword and roared in grief and anger at the burning fire around him. Then he was so angry that he left the hundred thousand troops like the Kitchen God and fled in a panic. The general was called Xiahoudun.

Louis Diego was even more unfair than Xiahoudun. At least Xiahoudun's enemies had 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers besides fire, but now, with these fire ships alone, will they burn more than ten warships of my warships?

"Boom!" An explosion sounded on the side of a ship, and the side of the ship was burning with fire broke open. It was because the fire ship was burning too fiercely, and the cannon gun placed next to a cannon on the fire did not have time to take it away, causing an explosion.

"What should I do?" The people on all the ships ran in panic. The fire was too fast and too fierce. People could not stand on the side of the ship, they could not extinguish, and they could not get rid of the fire ships. Could it be that more than ten warships with nearly three hundred cannons, with such strength, could they completely overthrow the powerful naval power of many small countries and be destroyed by some broken fire ships?

Diego suddenly became anxious and came up with an unconventional solution. He ordered loudly: "Scroll sideways, rush Miyamoto's warship with all his strength, use his flanks to smash the fireboat!"

The warship moved in the direction and then collided towards Hiro Miyamoto's ship. With a "bang", the hulls of the two ships shook violently. The crew members on the Miyamoto ship did not receive a warning. The collision was immediately "turned" by Captain Diego, and they had an intimate contact with the deck, ship side, mast, cable posts, etc.

The fire ship itself was not strong enough. After it was knocked out, it cracked apart with a "squeak" sound. Another impact was made, and the hull was completely broken. Some of the broken fire ships were still stuck to the side of the ship to burn, but the fire was much smaller.

Seeing this, the other warships began to collide with each other. The iron chains of the fire ships were still connected, and the collision dragged more fire ships over. If you were not careful, you might be nailed to somewhere. Except for Diego, who first used this method, left and right, and left the battle group, the impact of other warships only attracted more fire ships to nail to their bow and side.

At this time, the Ming army's warships approached, and the warships were swaying sideways, drawing beautiful arcs, just like a military parade. Rows of black muzzles, "boom boom boom boom", and the shells were densely packed like rain.

They were like a mess with the "United Nations Army" who was playing "bumper ships". The more they were entangled, the tighter they became. The fire ships were all entangled between the ships and had lost their ability to move.

Their ships were congested with each other, and their hulls were entangled by fireboats. The fire on both sides of the ships was burning. Some of them were seriously damaged. Under the violent impact, the remaining artillery also collided with the cannon mounts and rolled everywhere and could not be used for combat.

This is the strangest example in the history of naval warfare. When one side's warship platoon attacked, the other side did not fight back with one shot. Diego looked ahead sadly. The more than ten warships belonging to Spanish pirates, Japanese pirates and native mercenaries had turned into a pile of rags, which was ten times more broken than the Ming army's broken ships he had just seen.

The ship's side burned by fire and cracked by shells became the best burning object. Even without a fire ship, it could not be extinguished.

"My fleet is over!" Diego lamented.

"Hehehe..." Peng Shayu smiled with his eyebrows and his hair and beard were red with a red flag on his head, which looked like a Fire De Star Lord. Although he couldn't see the battle situation here, the rolling smoke from the sea told him: The task was done.

If the fire attack fails, it is impossible for the scattered fire ship to form such thick and concentrated smoke. Although the fire attack plan was repeatedly discussed and replenished and improved by many generals and staff members, he was the original advocate.

In the first battle, the fire of the camp was burned, so this song naturally couldn't escape his success.

When the Diego ship, which had lost its combat power, retreated two nautical miles away, the second echelon, which was not good, was already in a zigzag shape, decisively abandoned the rescue of the Diego fleet and directly intercepted the sickle and turned the string.
Chapter completed!