The sea breeze in early November has a little warmth, especially in Peru, where the climate is already hot, the east coast navy people who are fashionable in thick coats from the Port of Balewhale have now changed into short-sleeved naval uniforms in summer... Read the latest and most complete novels

Lu Ming sat at the captain's desk in the captain's room. The orderly man put a large piece of snow-white towel on the table and brought tonight's midnight snack. It was already two o'clock in the evening. Lu Ming felt a little hungry, so he decided to eat something before sleeping. When he went out, his diet was naturally not comparable to when he was in China, but the kitchen still took out the most abundant midnight snack under the existing conditions: fresh roasted horse mackerel - there are many fish along the coast from Chile to Peru. In the past two days, the naval officers and soldiers who were rowing a boat outside the coastline to monitor the Spanish movements and caught a lot of them in boredom; in addition, the snapper mushroom sauce mixed with cold noodles, plus a small bottle of local red wine snatched from Chile - it tasted pretty good.

Lu Ming first slowly ate the fresh grilled fish, after eating, he picked up a large porcelain sea bowl, poured some pepper, sesame oil and sour vinegar into it, and then started to eat it leisurely. The orderly man added a lampshade to the whale oil candle, which made the light in the room brighter.

After having the midnight snack, Lu Ming rinsed his mouth with clear water, then poured himself a glass of Chile red wine, preparing to take a drink of the cool sea breeze at night, and then went to sleep after two drinks. Unexpectedly, at this moment, a fire suddenly lit up on the sea surface in the distance, and then a dull sound of rumbling.

"Where did the cannon sound come from?" Lu Ming rushed out of the captain's room, then stood by the fence and looked at the place where the movement was made. It was pitch black and it was not clear. In addition, there was some fog on the sea surface at this time, and he was even more confused about what was going on.

"Sir. That may be the traffic boats we sent there to send signals." Adjutant Jiang Yaohui put away the telescope and said in an uncertain tone: "We sent a total of nine traffic boats to patrol the sea so that we could immediately discover the Spanish's movements. Each small boat was equipped with a 4-pound small-caliber cannon. Once the Spaniards were found to have signs of leaving the port, they would fire the gun to warn. The sound and fire from the muzzle could be far away at night, which allowed us to react immediately."

Lu Ming nodded without saying a word. Ten minutes later, another area also sent a signal. Although the firelight at the muzzle was blocked by the increasingly thick sea fog, everyone still saw the faint orange flame, and of course the sound of cannons followed.

There is no doubt that the traffic boats patrolling the coast of Kaya Russia discovered that the Spanish Navy went out to sea, and it seemed that there was more than one ship, because the sound of gunfire was emitted from two far apart.

"Enter the combat state immediately! Send people to inform the other two warships on a small boat, and follow the night combat navigation regulations, gather the formation and follow the flagship." Lu Ming gave the order decisively. Adjutant Jiang Yaohui did not hesitate, but saw him immediately run to the alarm bell. The alarm signal was ringing violently, and then the officers from various areas of the ship immediately blew the copper whistle hanging around their necks. The sailors who were resting rushed out of the cabin and rushed to their respective posts.

Half an hour later, the first traffic boat came back. An old naval officer in the team reported to Lu Ming: He found "at least three" Spanish ships off the coast of Kaya Russia. Due to the fog, he could not see whether it was a transport ship or a warship. Moreover, the Spanish ship neither lighted nor made any noise. However, his intuition told him that the Spaniards were making a big move out of the port, so he immediately issued a cannon to warn. Ten minutes after he showed his warning, a traffic boat hundreds of meters south also issued a warning cannon sound, which further confirmed his judgment.

According to the direction described by the non-commissioned officer, Lu Ming immediately ordered the ship to adjust its course and headed directly toward the north of Kayao. After the dispatch of the "August 10", the "Cadis Rock" and the "East Coastism" also lit up all the lights on the ship, increased the output power of the steam engine, and rushed over immediately.

It was difficult to distinguish the direction in the darkness, and fearing that the reefs and stranded in the unfamiliar waters, it took nearly half an hour for the three warships on the east coast to carefully drive there and captured the figure of a Spanish ship on the spot. The Spanish obviously also discovered the tall outline of the ship on the east coast. At this time, the two sides were already very close, and everyone could even hear the shouts of the crew members on the other side's deck.

"Fire the cannon!" Seeing that the fog on the sea became thicker and thicker, Lu Ming, anxious, gave a decisive order. In the darkness, there were countless Spanish transport ships that were escaping quickly. Damn, these turtle grandsons were really cunning, and they actually chose such an opportunity to break through at night. At this time, they couldn't see clearly at the sea, so they didn't care. They caught one or the other and fought to the death first.

The "August 10th" double-deck battleship had 30 artillery guns on the side of the side of the ship. At this time, fired at the order of the gunman. The scene was magnificently like a gorgeous oil painting. Orange-red flowers bloomed one after another at the muzzles, and the whistling projectiles hit the transport ship without any fighting back, creating terrifying wounds. The Spanish sailors on the transport ship cursing the East Coast people in despair, while using muskets or several small-caliber copper cannons to fight back weakly. Unfortunately, their heroic behavior was destined to be futile, because most of the projectiles they fired fell into the sea.

The "August 10th" passed by the side of the transport ship and did not stop, but continued to plunge forward to the front right, because she discovered a new target - that seemed to be a four-masted battleship. This discovery made Lu Ming a little excited. Among the many ships in Peru, there was only one four-masted ship, which was the flagship of the Peru fleet, the "San Lorenzo" of the Peruvian fleet! Chase and kill her!

The "San Lorenzo" also found the figure of the "August 10". The large warship, which had been passively avoiding war, did not dodge anymore. Instead, it turned along the southeast wind and tried to fight the "August 10" battleship with side fire. How could Lu Ming make her do it? The "August 10" turned left and turned lightly westward. After sailing for a while, it rushed to about four or five hundred meters away from the "San Lorenzo". The guns on the starboard side opened fire one after another under the order of the officer, smashing the bow of the "San Lorenzo" into a mess.

The "San Lorenzo" can only use two artillery guns on the bow of the ship to meet the enemy at this time, and cannot exert its own firepower at all. It is extremely depressed. However, it is extremely difficult for her to turn quickly when the southeast wind is blowing. She can only watch the "August 10" battleship, which has almost already dropped most of the sails, slowly clearing her bow over and over with all the side guns.

Twenty minutes later, the Cadiz Rock rushed up and prepared to cook the San Lorenzo with the "August 10th". However, Lu Ming immediately sent someone to take a traffic boat to send an order: search for the Spanish transport ships everywhere, and attack immediately once discovered. If the enemy is willing to surrender, he can send the army carrying on board to take over. If he does not want to surrender, he will sink all the people who are not willing to surrender.

Fifteen minutes after the "Cadis Rock" received the order and left, the "East Coast Magic" also slowly leaned over. She had just sunk the Spanish transport ship, and then hurried to the side to meet with the flagship. Unexpectedly, when she was only a few hundred meters away from the flagship, two Spanish ships suddenly broke out in the thick fog on both sides. One of them was a three-masted warship, which was almost certainly the "Countess Alfonso" with a full load displacement of more than 800 tons and 40 artillery (mostly small and medium caliber); the other one was very confusing. This was a double-masted warship. It seemed that it was one of the two ships that were injured by the East Coast people a while ago and retreated to Kayao.

The two ships showed their courage at this time. Instead of retreating a little, they crossed over from left to right, and then fired with side guns. Captain Bombay, the captain of the battleship "East Coast Magic", saw this situation and immediately ordered the right rudder to travel to give priority to escape the possible double-clamp rings that the enemy might have formed. At the same time, they used the port gun to attack the seemingly weak double-brig warship to deal with an enemy as soon as possible and avoid falling into two-line battles. However, in this way, their purpose of merging with the flagship as soon as possible and attacking the Spanish transport ship was to fail, which would inevitably increase the success rate of the Spanish transport ship's escape.

In this way, the sea area seven or eight nautical miles northwest of Kayao fell into a melee under the darkness and sea fog. The three warships of the East Coast, equipped with 44 artillery, were not entangled, and were still searching for Spanish transport ships and attacking them. The other two battleships were trembling. Although they had a great advantage in the battle, they were unable to completely eliminate the enemy for a while, which undoubtedly created good conditions for the escape of the Spanish transport ship.

At five o'clock in the morning, the battleship "East Coast Magic" finally successfully sank the Spanish brig warship that had been entangled for a long time. At the same time, it got rid of the "Countess Alfonso" warship that followed closely. It bit another Spanish transport ship full of cargo and very deep draft about one nautical mile east of the flagship. This small and medium-sized cargo ship with a cargo tonnage of no more than 200 tons was slowly sailing at a speed of less than 3 knots. After being bitten by the main warship of the East Coast and being hit by more than ten shells, they decisively fired the white flag and then welcomed the East Coast Army to board the ship and take over the ship.
Chapter completed!