Only half a day later, the temporary fleet of nine warships, led by the Graflan, met the Warren, who was in charge of reconnaissance on the perimeter.

It's just that when the captain of the Warren, Neves, boarded the flagship of the fleet, his face was very unpleasant. He was still more than ten steps away from Bes, so he hurriedly saluted and said hurriedly: "General, my ship has been attacked by the Spaniards!" ”

"What?" Beth frowned, "Tell me the details." ”

"At about nine o'clock in the morning, I spotted a Manila auxiliary warship in the southern sea, and guessing that their main fleet might be nearby, followed from a distance.

"I didn't expect that guy to be very cunning, first took me to the upwind direction, and then took advantage of a reef to obscure my vision, and suddenly turned around and pounced downwind.

"My boat was still headwind, and the maneuvering was too slow, and the Spaniards quickly rushed up and fired from the starboard side as I turned to the north."

Beess's ship had been on the left side of the Warren and didn't see the starboard side, so he looked at Neves and said, "What about the damage?" ”

The Spaniards fired more than 30 shots, then gave up the attack and left in a southeasterly direction.

One of the shells pierced the officer's chamber at the stern of the ship, but there was no one there, and only one scribe was slightly wounded. Two more shells hit near the starboard gun window, and the ship's ribs were broken, but fortunately they did not penetrate. ”

"Shot the ribs of the Warren? So at least a six-pounder cannon? Bess asked. Although the Warren was only a lightly armed merchant ship, its owner had a special hobby, and its hull planks were close to the thickness of a warship of the same class, and it was difficult for small-caliber guns to damage it.

"Yes, General, it should be a six-and-a-half-pounder cannon." Neves said, "That's a twelve-gun brig. ”

Bess stroked the hilt of his sword, looked down in thought, and after a moment, he turned to the first mate and asked, "Cesario, when will Mr. Marten's fleet return?" ”

"If the journey goes well, it should be the next few days."

Bess grabbed the chart on the table, unfolded it a few times, and frowned even deeper, "Neves, are you sure you're a Spaniard?" ”

"That's right, General. A common Manila auxiliary warship, I could clearly see the flag it was flying and the faces and uniforms of the Spanish sailors on deck. ”

"The Spaniards must have learned of Marten's itinerary from the spies, and their target was probably him. They drove the Warren away for fear it would discover its intentions. ”

Cesario was surprised: "Mr. Marten's fleet has just returned from Japan, and it must be full of silver for the sale of goods......"

"This group of Spaniards is simply insane!" Bess immediately shouted an order, "Raise the flag, all ships are full sails, and we must meet our merchant ships before the Spaniards!" ”

"Yes!"

The next morning, shortly after Bess set sail, the lookout on the mast was heard shouting downward, and then Berthman hurried into the command room and said to the fleet commander: "General, the Spaniards have been discovered!" ”

"What about our merchant ships?"

"It doesn't seem to be around here yet."

"It's fine."

Bess boarded the bow deck, carefully observed the Spanish fleet in the distance with a telescope, and said coldly: "Raise the flag, beat the drums." The herald turned to a column and prepared for battle. ”

"Yes!"

Cesareo hesitated, "General, are we going to war with the Spaniards?" ”

"They must be driven away from the vicinity of Toban!" "I don't know what the Manila authorities are trying to do, but it's clear that they're baring their fangs, and I can't sit idly by and watch the merchant ships of the Grand Officers put themselves in danger!" ”

……

"Mr. Major, the Helan people are obviously going to seize the wind......

"I don't need you to remind me, I saw it." Alamo said with a strained face as he held the binoculars.

Since they accepted the commission of the Ming Dynasty, they have also met the Helan fleet several times during the days when they were "wandering" in the southwest waters of Dongfan, and both sides have always maintained restraint in tacit understanding. But right now, it seems that Helan people are going to play for real.

The other side had nine warships, and although it seemed that he also had seven ships in his hands, the Helan people not only had the Grafflan, an absolute workhorse of 36 guns, but the other ships were mostly serious warships with 14 to 24 guns, unlike his side, where five were armed merchant ships.

Seeing the Helan people aggressively putting on a posture of a decisive battle, Alamo finally sighed and ordered: "Order, all full sails, avoid due south." ”

"Yes!"

Soon, the Spanish fleet quickly fled, and several Helan warships chased after it.

"Sir, if we leave like this, will the Ming Kingdom say that we are in breach of contract?"

"No, they will be very grateful to us." Alamo shook his head and said, "That auxiliary king originally wanted us to hold back the battleship......"

As he spoke, there was a roar of cannons on the sea behind him, which was the threatening fire of the warship of Helan. Of course, the two sides were more than ten nautical miles apart, and the shells simply could not threaten the fleet in Manila.

"You see," he smiled wryly, "we've been dancing with the Helan people, who are even hundreds of nautical miles away from Dongfan by this time. ”

In the era of sail warships, when the technology of the two ships is not much different, if one side is determined to escape, it is not easy for the other side to catch up.

Just like the Warren before, although it was only an armed merchant ship of less than 100 tons, Zhang Guoxuan commanded the "Zhang Qian" of more than 130 tons to open fire in the case of a sneak attack, and chased it for a long time, but in the end it was only slightly injured.

"General, we damaged the Hongyi warship the previous time, and we have completed the orders of His Royal Highness the Auxiliary King," Zhang Guoxuan's adjutant wore a Spanish Navy uniform, looked at him from the side, and said, "Can we return here?" ”

Zhang Guoxuan put away the binoculars, shook his head and said, "It's just an itch in the boots, who knows if Hongyi will endure it."

"Continue to look for their fleet, and look for opportunities to 'tease' again."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the lookout shout: "North and west, three boats have been found, about fifteen nautical miles away!" ”

Zhang Guoxuan hurriedly looked through the binoculars, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but hook up a smile, "God help me, it's Hongyi's merchant ship!" Then he turned and ordered, "Put away the banner of Ezebaziah first, and go up with full sails!" Drum and get ready for battle! ”

"Yes!"

Marten never imagined that there would be a non-Dutch warship more than a hundred nautical miles away from Dayuan, so until Zhang Guoxuan raised the Spanish naval flag, he always thought that Dayuan had sent a warship to meet him. I want to talk about "The Rise of the Ming Dynasty 1646" with more like-minded people, pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~