Chapter 288 Three Battles to Determine the Lord and the Minister (Central)

The Portuguese fleet was still lined up in two rows, and penetrated straight towards the Ming fleet at an angle of 45 degrees left, trying to defeat them in one fell swoop while they had just changed the battle formation. The first fleet had changed the shape of a geese wing into a long snake formation. The second line was slowly adjusting the angle and was to be connected to the first line to form a parallel naval gun strike camp.

Adni stood at the bow of the ship of the commander ship, and immediately discovered their true intentions from the actions of the Portuguese fleet. The Ming army warships, which were evacuating the fire formation in a flat U shape, immediately adjusted the angle. The two sides drove parallel to the left through the burning fire ships in the middle, and began to shoot at each other with guns.

The shells were flying all over the sky. When the entire fleet left the fire ship area, nearly forty warships on both sides fired more than 6,000 shells, but the damage caused was minimal, and the fleets on both sides seemed to be completely unaffected.

Because they are too far apart, a distance of nearly 500 meters, it will not take much time for a soldier to run on foot, but the shells have lost most of their lethality when they fall from such a long distance. At most, an iron ball falls from the sky, and even the deck may not be able to be broken.

"Bite them!" Azeger noticed that the twenty Ming army warships were all five-masted giant ships, and the firearms were well-equipped. They were definitely the main warships of the Ming army, so he ordered the fleet to chase them.

After a violent attack, all the ammunition on the deck of both sides was reported, and the military commanders were hurriedly carrying ammunition out of the ammunition compartment, and both sides had an intermittent phase.

The Ming army mobilized a large number of warships from north to south, and there should be at least fifty of them that can be called heavy warships, and they will never be the only fleet in front of them. Azeger knew this very well and did not dare to be careless.

However, there is no shadow of any other ships on the sea level. Perhaps it is because the Ming army's dispatch and command have their own considerations, or they dare not take a single gamble and invest all warships. But no matter what, if we can take the opportunity to destroy the combat effectiveness of this fleet, we will no longer have to worry about the threat that the Ming army navy will pose.

The sails were filled with sea breeze, and the warship began to accelerate. The waves stirred violently against the bottom of the ship, and the warships almost jumped on the waves. In fact, the battle at sea is not like on land. When a large group fights decisively, both sides can concentrate their manpower and material resources, choose a suitable location, and fight to decide the outcome.

Due to the special conditions of the sea, sea breeze and sea fog, the situation of the two fleets working on the sea for half a month is often seen. However, the current financial situation of the Ming court cannot support the huge land naval forces gathered in the South China Sea to wait for battle, so how could Azeger's navy be dragged on?

Even if the supply issue is not considered, the "empty city plan" was transferred to the Far East, and this "empty city plan" can only be played for a while. Once Spain and other countries know the truth, how can they not take advantage of the situation? Various factors have made Azeger eager to fight, and this experienced veteran has also entered the battle.

After chasing for half an hour, Azeg's patience gradually disappeared. He could not stay away from Manraga. The left-behind soldiers could sweep all his mother into the sea when they sent a boat with a broom in the Ming Dynasty. He had to rush back.

Azeg was about to order to return, but at this time the Ming army fleet slowed down. Because they fled in front, the formation was a little scattered and needed to rearrange the attack formation. Azeg was overjoyed. The Ming army also lost patience. This was like a hunting game. Whoever couldn't calm down first would fall into the trap of the other party.

The word "return to the teacher" rushed to his mouth, but it turned into "rushing over and passing through them".

Azeger noticed that the Ming army was scattered. If he quickly approached the past, the guns of warships on both wings of the Ming army would be blocked by his own warships. Although his actions were a bit risky, he could fire guns on both sides at the same time.

Once the situation is in a close stalemate, with more than ten more land warships and naval personnel than the opponent, you can also jump into the hands of the army. Maybe... Maybe not only can you eliminate this Ming army, but you can also seize their warships and artillery to make up for the losses caused by the fire ships.

The traps one by one are Adeni, who is familiar with the combat habits of the Portuguese army, Cheng Qiyun, who is familiar with the psychology of the characters, Peng Shayu, who is seeking life in intrigue, and senior generals of the Navy and Army who are familiar with the art of military affairs, and seemingly uninspiring in their minds, but they often have bold and bizarre ideas and jointly set up by Yang Ling, who is aware of history.

In today's terms, it was a perfect plan jointly formulated by a super spy, a psychologist, a conspirator, a group of military strategists and half a political genius. Although Ezeg was an excellent commander, he could understand the Ming army's intelligence was extremely limited. How could he be the opponent of these people?

Azeger commanded the warship and rushed forward. Sure enough, he immediately roared in half of the Ming warship. The guns on both sides of the side roared. Azeger continued to issue an order in the trembling of the deck: "The Giant, the Lion, and the Earl followed my ship forward, completely cutting off the contact between the two winged enemy ships, and not allowing them to merge."

"The Storm led the fleet to occupy a favorable position to support each other, breaking the masts of enemy ships with chain bullets, jumping to help fight with hand-to-hand combat. The six warships on the tail wing were led by the Fearless......"

The orderly order suddenly stopped. Azeger's mouth opened and could not close, and his chin fell down in surprise. The Ming army once again exceeded his expectations. They did not bother to cooperate in the battle. The warships that were rushed backed up and then pulled up the sails and fled to their own lives.

They drew an irregular m-shaped figure on the sea with Azeger's fleet as the center, fled to the rear of Azeger's fleet, and showed that they wanted to converge in a V-shaped shape to block their retreat.

"Can their warships and firepower stop us from returning?" Although Azeger was full of doubts, a fleet had just been wiped out by the Ming army's tricks, so he didn't dare to be careless anymore.

The Ming army warships on both wings were exposed to the side of his fleet and were within the range of artillery attacks. All the Portuguese commanders did not need the commander's orders and immediately ordered the warships to seize the opportunity to launch a fierce artillery attack. Although the Ming army was also launching a counterattack. However, due to angle issues, the counterattack was obviously not very effective.

The warships were pounding in the waves, and the Portuguese fleet poured out grape bombs and chain bombs, trying to strike the canvas and masts of the Ming army. The Ming army hit their land ships with solid bombs, and shot out countless iron nails and sharp iron sheets, forcing their soldiers to lie down and avoid them in order to reduce the attack.

The Ming army warships finally completely escaped to the rear wing of Azeger. Due to Azeger's decisive rushing in, they caught them off guard. Although they escaped in time and reunited, four of the twenty warships had severely damaged sails and their maneuverability was greatly weakened. One of the two warships was broken, and another warship was opened by the Giant on the side of the ship.

Azeg was furious. He drew out his commanding sword and shouted, "Turn the bow of the ship and don't let them escape, this area will become their cemetery!"

"General Azeger, discover a large number of Ming warships!" The sailors on the lookout battle suddenly shouted wildly. Hearing this, Ezeger hurriedly climbed the bridge and looked into the distance, and saw sails like clouds, and a large area of ​​Ming warships rushed towards him from the front and the upper left.

The boat was very fast, and it could be seen that they were all slightly smaller warships. Moreover, the ship land types were strange. If Azeger knew the Eastern ship type, he would recognize that it was a ship of various uses such as small blessing ships, wave ships, bird ships, mandarin duck ships, broad ships, and Cangshan ships.

"Want to attack again?" This was Ezeg's first impression. Seeing the speed of the ship coming, he knew it was too late to detour to the upper left, so he immediately ordered: "The 'Defferves' led the ship to entangle the Ming army warship, and the other ships turned to the right and circled behind the Ming army fleet. I want them to suffer the consequences!"

The huge fleet began to move to the right, and the entire fleet took half an hour to move positions to redeployment, so he ordered the "Defferves" to entangle the Chinese warships in case they took the opportunity to escape.

However, the Chinese warships did not flee. When countless warships appeared in the distance, Han Wu and Adni ordered five severely damaged warships to cross the ships on site and turn into a water fortress. They used guns and Portuguese ships to fight positions. The other fifteen warships lined up in a row, and instead of retreating, they blocked the Portuguese warships in a fan shape.

The two sides' attacks were extremely fierce this time, and they were too close to each other. They were completely within the shooting range of various types of artillery. Water columns rose up in the sea, and the strands of wood were smashed by the hit ship's side and deck. Both sides were fighting for time regardless of the cost.

The warships in the distance were getting closer and closer, and the transfer formation of the Portuguese ship had not been completed yet. Azeg gave up his roundabout combat plan and ordered the warships to penetrate into the Ming fleet. If the Ming army set off fireboats again, the warships on both sides would be destroyed at the same time.

The fleet turned again, and the Ming fleet that suddenly appeared suddenly had already surrounded the troops. The warships were chasing, the waves were flying, and the small warships like wolves quickly penetrated into the Portuguese fleet with their flexibility and speed, and the gloomy murderous aura filled the entire sea area.

Azeger took a long breath of air conditioning. The last time it seemed like a "wolf pack tactic", it was actually a "fire-burning camp". This time it mistakenly thought it was a "fire-burning camp", but the Ming army seemed to use the "wolf pack tactic".

While Azeger ordered the fleet to counterattack in annoyance, he signaled the ships to prepare for close combat. On the side of the ship and the deck, black gun barrels sprayed with flames and thunder. The sound of rumbling cannons on each warship continued to be heard from the sound of rumbling cannons on each warship.

Experienced Portuguese warships used dense artillery fire to ensure that the waters on the right were not surrounded by the Ming army, so that if they could not confront each other, there could be a way for the fleet to break through and return. Various warships plowed the sea water, rolled over and over, just like a huge catfish stirring the small pond, at least in this fighting sea area, there was no calm water surface.

In naval battles, generally speaking, the side that is at a disadvantage in terms of number of ships always tends to protect their ships and not easily be damaged. Therefore, they tend to enter the battle on the downwind side of the enemy ship. In this way, once the war is unfavorable, they can quickly leave the war with the wind.

Azeger led all the main forces of the Portuguese army in the Indian Ocean, and he was even more unwilling to fight with the Ming army. If there was a tragic victory, Portugal would inevitably fall into revenge from the Ming Dynasty and the Spanish countries' struggle for the Indian Ocean. The victory and defeat of the two sides was unpredictable.

The current situation is: the Royal Portuguese Navy followed the Dagama trajectory and easily defeated Arab merchants in the Indian Ocean, establishing a trading empire that stretched from East Africa to Manlacia. It guaranteed Portugal's monopoly on the rich spice trade in the East Indies.

Spain conquered Mexico and Peru, and the plunder of the Indians caused precious metals such as gold and silver mines in the Americas to pour into Spain's vaults.

The war that took place outside China's South China Sea would have the potential to change this balanced situation and directly affect the European power structure thousands of miles away. Whether it is Governor Aerbukrk or Commander Azeger, they are all aggressive soldiers after all, and they have relatively less political considerations, but now the battle is at a disadvantage. Azeger finally realizes this terrible consequence.

"Even if Malacca is lost, we must try our best to preserve our fleet!" Although the main fleet of the Portuguese army has not suffered any major trauma so far, and has even caused great damage to the Ming army during the confrontation, this idea continues to surge in his heart.

But he didn't want to retreat immediately in the current situation. Hiroshi Miyamoto and Pedro both repeatedly said that the Ming army and the local melee ability was very low. They lacked fighting skills and the courage to fight. They always rely on an absolute number of soldiers to win, and the navy was even worse than the army and the close combat.

He did not make any mistakes in this information. At least Yang Ling did not have the time and energy to improve the navy's close combat ability during this period. However, today's main offensive force was the "Pengjiaban" people, and it was also the first battle after Wang Meiren surrendered to the court.

Although Yang Ling treated Wang Meiren well, he not only did not weaken his team and arranged his own confidants, but also promoted Peng Shayu and him to the admiral of the navy after accepting the summons. However, the newly surrendered must have a anxious mood to show his feelings.

At the same time, the tactics of maritime melee are precisely the skills that the East China Sea group, who are used to plundering and attacking, are best at making a living, so after repeated analysis, Yang Ling and Cheng Qiyun boldly handed over this task to them. And the power is completely decentralized.

Of course, the twenty main battleships of the Ming army navy were not joined on the outside, and the twenty main battleships of the Ming army were not vegetarians. In addition to being responsible for blocking the retreat of the Portuguese ship, their other mission was to supervise the war.

The smoke of gunpowder spread on the sea, the horns of drums roared, and the sound of cannons roared. The smoke of gunpowder spewed out from the side of the Portuguese ship and spread rapidly. The battleships were like monsters spewing thick smoke, destroying enemy ships with artillery fire, while trying to overturn them with swing. However, their movement space was too small, and the sailors who operated the boats were very skilled, so they easily avoided it. The result of the swing made their artillery miss their heads.

Some Ming army warships had approached the Portuguese ships, and they lifted hooks and hooked the ships one by one. The officers and soldiers began to fight hand in hand on board. These soldiers who had just changed from pirate flip cards to officers and soldiers still maintained their wild and fierce nature. The muskets on the Portuguese ships made them fuzzy with blood and throwing axes to split their heads and chests, which instead aroused their greater wildness.

But the truly powerful lethality was the Portuguese army's small Folang machine cannon. This small cannon used shotguns in melee combat. With a loud "boom", countless steel balls and iron sheets flew across, shooting countless soldiers boarding the ship.

The Ming army's muskets, crossbows, and artillery on the combat ships were also desperately suppressing the Portuguese ship's counterattack. Some of the Franchise men who were hit by the Ming army's shotgun flipped into the turbulent sea, while some rolled on the deck with their bloody faces. The rumbling artillery fire could not suppress the shrill screams.

The defect of firearms is that their firing speed is slow, and several warships climbed at the same time from different angles, making them even more careless. Officers and soldiers took advantage of the fire of artillery and muskets to jump onto the Portuguese ships, and then were killed or suppressed by counterattacking Portuguese soldiers.

Three Portuguese ships have entered hand-to-hand combat in full swing. More and more soldiers rushed to the deck and fought desperately with the Portuguese officers and soldiers who were swarming up on the deck, in the cabin, and beside the corridor. Cold knives and axes slashed the opponent's body, and blood flowed across the deck like water, sticky and slippery.

Dead corpses, axes, and steel knives were thrown everywhere, swords and axes were flying, blood was splattering everywhere, and cold lights of cold weapons were flashing everywhere on the deck and the cabin. When fighting in close combat, the advantages of the Ming army appeared. The Cold War weapons in Western Europe were mainly knives, swords, axes and muskets. However, because the Ming Dynasty was too large and there was not enough steel to cast weapons, they mainly used spears.

Some of these long spears were made of flexible white wax poles, with only one iron spear head added on them, and some were a bamboo spear from beginning to end. The first thing the Portuguese soldiers had to attack was to fight melee and have enough combat space. The Ming army holding the spear could overlap. They only needed to stand ten feet away from their opponents and all entered the attack from a 90-degree angle on the periphery. It was a matter of time before the Portuguese sailors retreated step by step, and it was already a matter of time before the warships were mastered by the Ming army, and some people began to surrender.

Azeg finally made up his mind to get rid of the Ming army's return to Manraka. The gap torn by the right wing with fierce artillery fire became his only passage for escape. While the fleet attacked the Ming army with artillery fire, he turned to the right wing. This was the downwind, and he was confident that he would escape back to Laga.

The Portuguese fleet, which was truly affiliated with him, only lost three ships, and still had the strength to regroup and fight again. If it fails, it will sweep the gold, silver and treasures accumulated by the Mantaga Palace for centuries, and lead the fleet back to India, and accumulate strength to make a comeback in the future.

Azeger was calculating hatefully while giving orders.

Adni stood at the bow of the ship and saw the movement of the Portuguese fleet. She turned her head and looked at Han Wu. Han Wu was also staring at the movement of the Portuguese army. An excited light appeared in his eyes and waved his hand and ordered: "Ming. Let Admiral Peng withdraw his troops and attack our fleet!"

The Ming army fleet posed a gaze of reluctance. In front was Han Wu's main fleet, behind was Peng Shark, Wang Meiren's "wolf pack". At the front, Azeger's warship puffed up his sails and quickly left the battlefield with the smallest arc.

"Boom" There was a loud noise in the distance, the waves raised high, and the hull tilted. The 'squeak' sound from the board seemed to be heard. Immediately afterwards, a high column of water emerged from another sea, and another ship swayed violently.

The Portuguese fleet did not know what had happened, but was still moving forward at high speed. Adni sighed, turned his head silently, and walked towards the cabin. Behind him, Han Wu shouted loudly: "Switch the rudder and drive sideways!"

Adni knew that such a situation was inevitable. The fleets of both sides formally fought and the fierce attacks of wolves tactical attacks were all for the sake of preparation for this moment, and for Azeg to enter the minefield. The poor fleet, the invincible fleet from the West, controlled the powerful armed forces in the entire Indian Ocean, are now doomed to failure and can never turn over.

Such an ending is inevitable. Even if General Dagama or Governor Kerke personally commanded it, the ending will be the same. It is only because there were no weapons like mines in the world before this, so this would be enough.

Azeger really didn't know what happened. The powerful explosion force made the hull almost fall. There was no ship at the angle where the naked eye could hit this angle, and the explosion point came from underwater. He really couldn't guess what weapon it was.

The fleet slowed down, and the explosions continued to sound one after another. Azeger finally realized a fact: no matter what weapon the Ming army used, it was obvious that this was a bomb located in the water and waiting for his fleet to collided.

At the command of Azeg, more than 30 warships sank into the seabed "silence" and the sails were all put down. Their warships were moored on the spot. The surroundings were blue water, and the waves were gently undulating, but who knew where and where there were bombs? In their eyes, the entire sea area became a terrifying place of death, which made them unable to move.

Five warships were hit, including Azeger's command ship. Since the explosion point was underwater, all the warships hit now face the same problem: sea water began to invade, and even without the Ming army's obstruction, it would be a problem whether such warships could return to the port safely.

The Ming army's warships carefully bypassed the sea area and watched the tiger-like sight at their upper vents. The Portuguese warships could not retreat, but looked forward, left and right in their eyes as fearless as they were trapped in the minefield.

Several adjacent Portuguese warships signaled each other and began to approach slowly, set up springboards, and took several generals to the intact "Earl" and began to urgently discuss countermeasures. This area is still within the range of Ming warship gun shooting, and the Ming army is moving towards the best attack position.

No one can come up with an effective solution. There are monsters that will explode everywhere under the water and cannot rush out. Until now, they have not seen what those things look like. It is not possible to stick to the same place. The Ming army cannot wait until the wind changes and let them exit along the same route.

The fierce quarrel made all the angry captains and gentlemen almost smash the conference table of the "Earl". At this moment, with a "boom", the Ming army fired.

Azeger had no time to discuss it. He led the generals to rush to the deck and to the wind vent on the side of the ship to look up. Beside him was a soldier hanging on the side of the ship. Half of his head was cut off by shrapnel, his brain was overflowing, and his blood was condensed into a black color.

Another corpse sitting on the ground was even more terrifying. It had been shot out of recognition. His face was covered with shrapnel everywhere. A caltrop on his forehead was deeply trapped in his bones. This was a shrapnel unique to the Ming army artillery.

As the entire army was in despair, no one restrained the bodies of his comrades. Azeg had long been accustomed to blood. He pushed away the soldier's body expressionlessly and quietly stared at the Ming army's warships.

These enemies have only had a short head-on confrontation with him so far, and they have been using conspiracies. Azeger's navy also used strategies, but usually used strategies to cooperate with frontal combat. Until now, the Ming army has used frontal combat to cooperate with strategies and regarded traps as main combat weapons.

Azeger was dissatisfied, he really dissatisfied from the bottom of his heart. He hoped that he could be defeated like a knight, but the Ming army did not give him this opportunity.

The Portuguese army's naval guns also began to counterattack one after another. Azeg looked around his fleet and asked in a daze: Should my fleet be sent to the Far East? How should I rush out?

At this moment, he noticed that the Ming army camp had changed again. Thick smoke was emitting from rows of warships. It was not gun smoke. The black and thick smoke was pressing down on the sea dough and rolling in the wind. Azeger choked on the wind and immediately squatted on the ground to cough. The soldiers on the warships in front were already crying and snotted by the continuous thick smoke.

Two guards helped him stumble back to the cabin, and put a wet towel on his mouth and nose. It was another unconventional way of fighting! Azeg was furious and all the warships were shrouded in smoke. Although the sea breeze kept blowing away, the subsequent smoke continued to blow.

The thick smoke was spicy and choking, and it also carried a foul smell, which made people almost suffocate. They could no longer see the location of the Ming army warships. The gunners could only wipe their tears while staring at their swollen eyes and shooting blindly.

Using the main fleet as bait and wolves tactics to drive away, the ones that were really used to destroy the Portuguese fleet were mine warfare and chemical weapons. Azeger knew that he could no longer hold on. There were too many warships in the Ming army. If each ship carried items to make poisonous smoke, his fleet officers and soldiers would be smoked to death.

Azeger gritted his teeth and issued the final order: "Order the fleet to break through forcibly, with a 30-degree angle on the starboard side, and take the five warships that were shot as the pioneers, and make a way out!"

The Portuguese naval fleet set sail again in the rolling smoke. The soldiers shed tears, snot, closed their eyes, groped and raised their sails, and set off to the right side of the Ming army with their heart-wrenching coughs.

The thick smoke blurred the soldiers' vision, making it impossible for them to accurately follow the five battleships in the mines ahead. At the same time, the mouth of the water was fixed with an iron anchor, and the large-cage mines implicated in the water with ropes and bamboo rafts would occasionally hook the bottom of the warship like swaying water plants. Many movable mines that were semi-sinked in the water with small tanks had limited lethality, but had a great psychological deterrence. Under their continuous explosion, the panicked Portuguese ships began to collide with more large mines.
To be continued...