The flagship did not convey the command. The ships did not know how to fight. Should they follow the predetermined battle formation or fight separately? Should they first destroy the small gunships of the Ming Army? The captain did not know what to do.
Speaking of which, this was the fault of the pro-war faction.
This Spanish coalition fleet was formed by warships transferred from all over Southeast Asia. Most of them were from other organizations and cooperated with other warships. They did not fight near the Philippines and were not familiar with each other.
This time, the battle was quite urgent. Other than the commander-in-chief and the flagship, the second and third commanders were not confirmed.
Other than the commander-in-chief, there were no other commanders appointed. If the commander-in-chief died and the deputy commander-in-chief also died, what should they do?
It was too urgent and they did not have time to appoint a commander before they set sail. Originally, they thought that the Ming Army navy would not be so strong and they could handle it, so they did not pay much attention. In the end, no one expected that a few gunships of the Ming Army would rush into their core circle and attack the flagship, causing it to be riddled with holes.
The warships that were further away from the flagship did not know what happened to the flagship because they did not have binoculars. They could only rely on the crew members with good eyesight to look from the top mast.
However, no matter how good a person's eyesight was, there was a bottom line. It was impossible to see everything that should be seen. Therefore, other than a few warships around, the other warships did not know that the flagship had been attacked.
Besides, they could not protect themselves. The Ming Army gunships rushed into their formation and fired everywhere. It was not easy for them to deal with the Ming Army gunships. Once they were bombarded at close range, they would be dizzy and unable to move. Therefore, it was very difficult to fight.
Right in front of them, the main force of the Ming Army had already sunk four Spanish warships. After getting rid of the obstacles in front of them, the main force began to rush over and attack the Spanish fleet. The Spanish fleet was not ready, or it could be said that they could not prepare. There was still no news from the flagship.
"Captain? What should we do? There are no instructions from the flagship! The firepower of the China people is too strong. We cannot continue like this! "
Many captains had encountered their own subordinates trying to persuade them like this. On one hand, there was no order. On the other hand, they had the previous order to deploy the battle formation. With the passage of time, the battlefield was ever-changing. If they continued to execute the order to deploy the battle formation, it was estimated that many warships would be sunk by the Ming Army before they could reach their predetermined positions!
The captains of many warships were very conflicted. However, the firepower of the Ming Army did not weaken at all. The sound of cannons stimulated their nerves. Under such circumstances, the captains of a few warships hardened their hearts and gave up the idea of listening to orders. They were prepared to fight on their own and leave the formation to look for opportunities.
It was fine if one or two battleships did this, but after one or two battleships did this, the other battleships did not know what was going on and thought that the flagship had given the order to fight freely, so all the battleships did the same. The battlefield was in chaos, and the Spanish battleships began to fight on their own, no longer sticking to battle formations.
Wang Wei's sharp eyes discovered the strange movements of the Spanish fleet. After thinking for a while, he knew that they seemed to be planning to start a counterattack. However, the scale of the counterattack was not large, and there did not seem to be much coordination between them.
He did not know that the other party's flagship had been attacked. He thought that it was a tactic to deal with the Ming Army's gunships, so he felt that it was not good. The gunships' energy and tonnage were smaller than the other party's big ships. Now, they had the advantage in speed. Once they were caught and fought alone, the gunships would be at a disadvantage. Therefore, they had to catch up and support those gunships as soon as possible.
Of course, small ships were at a disadvantage against big ships.
They had more cannons, and their hulls were stronger. The Ming Army's gunships were not as big as their big ships, and their endurance was not as strong. Because they were modified ships, they were not as strong as the big ships that Xiao Ruxun had produced in the Myanmar Navy shipyard. Therefore, it was still a little difficult for them to withstand a few cannons.
After the Spanish navy began to fight on their own, their firepower also began to increase. They began to look for their own targets and gave up on fighting in formation. In this way, the Ming Army's gunships became the main target. The Spanish warships, which were liberated from the battle, suddenly increased their energy. This caught the Ming Army's gunships somewhat unprepared.
After a few rounds of shooting, a few gunships were shot. One gunship was hit by two solid bullets. The stern of the gunship was smashed, and there was a hole in the hull. The Ming Army immediately began to repair and then moved faster to avoid the Spanish's shooting.
At this time, speed was indeed a lifesaver. Once the speed of the Ming Army's gunships increased, the disadvantage of the Spanish's large and clumsy warships was shown. The Ming Army's gunships did not face them head-on, so they could only choose to chase.
Their cannons could not accurately aim at the Ming Army's gunships. The speed of the Ming Army's gunships was too fast. There was still a little time before they could shoot after aiming and igniting. If they moved quickly during this time, they could still avoid the bullets. Moreover, whether they could hit accurately was also a problem.
Even so, the more cannons and firepower on the Spanish warships still put a lot of pressure on the Ming Army's gunships. Therefore, when the Ming Army's gunships discovered that the Spanish warships had begun to counterattack, they also tried to find ways to evade and not directly face to face with the Spanish big ships.
After fighting with the pirates, the Ming Army's navy also learned a lot of pirate-style tactics. Although they looked a little wretched, they were still quite useful when used.
Pirates cherished their lives very much. Generally, if they did not have absolute confidence, they would not rush forward and fight fiercely. However, as an army, they had to have this spirit. When the two were combined into one, it was mobile warfare.
They moved and shot at the same time, not stopping.
Moreover, they also discovered that the Spanish big ships would chase them. Therefore, they left their original formation and did not continue to nest together. Instead, they separated.
This made the eyes of the Ming Army's gunships light up. Almost at the same time, even without a unified command, the Ming Army's gunships began to try to leave the battlefield and attract at least one Spanish big ship to follow closely.
This tactic was very successful. The Spanish fleet, which originally had an absolute advantage in terms of numbers and did not know how to deal with the Ming Army's main fleet, dispersed!
Wang Wei was overjoyed. Just as he was about to order the whole army to attack, a signal for the main force to attack came from the Southern Town Warship not far away. Moreover, another three big ships joined the attack.
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