"Don't worry, General, that devil is no match for us at all." Captain Leonardo replied confidently.

For several years, China has been trying to buy warships from the Netherlands and the Spanish. It is said that many merchant ships that were robbed by British pirates were also bought by Duke Deng, which of course aroused Manila's vigilance. Although the Duke repeatedly claimed friendship and repeatedly stated that he purchased warships entirely to compete with the Qing court for the sea control of China's offshore seas, Manila was not confused by the smoke. The Qing court's navy could not even defeat ordinary merchant ships, and the Spaniards did not believe that they had to use battleships to deal with the Qing court. It is estimated that after the Duke bought those merchant ships, a little armed force would be enough, so no matter what the price the Duke offered, a warship in Manila would not be sold to him.

Perhaps because of the distance, Batavia sold two twenty-cannon warships to the Duke. According to Manila's information, this should be the largest ocean-going warship in the Duke's hands. In addition, he could have about 100 armed merchant ships. As for the imitation warships, Manila didn't care much about it, because in just a few years, the Duke could not build qualified large ocean-going warships.

There are thirty warships in Manila's fleet, the smallest is equivalent to the Duke's largest twenty-cannon warship, and there are ten warships with more than forty guns. As for General Mario's flagship, it is a sixty-cannon warship. In Europe, this ship may not be able to be incorporated into the battleship formation, but in East Asia it is an unquestionable giant ship, its opponent is Batavia's warships rather than the poor small ships and armed merchant ships of the Duke.

There is a rule for naval battles, that is, the strong ships and the cannons win. Mario's flagship can tear them to pieces no matter what the Duke's ships meet, no matter how many ships they are in their hands, they can tear them to pieces outside their range; the Duke's small warships and armed merchant ships have neither enough armor to match the Spanish, nor can they have a caliber gun that can match the Spanish people's caliber. Even if the Chinese army wants to approach the Spanish fleet and fight to the death, they do not have enough speed.

Although he was worried about the consequences of the war, no one doubted the victory of the naval battle in Manila. As long as he encountered the Chinese fleet, there would be a one-sided massacre. The order of the Manila Governor's Office was to annihilate the Chinese at sea and kill their army soldiers as much as possible. Apart from the Duke's flagship, do not let go of any Chinese ship.

In order to achieve this goal, after rejecting the Duke's ultimatum, the Spanish Governor sent small clutches to quietly follow the Chinese envoys on the ship. The huge Spanish fleet followed the Clippers and asked the Chinese envoys to bring all the Spanish fleets to the Duke. In order to avoid being discovered by the cunning Chinese, not only did the Spanish reconnaissance clutches disguised as merchant ships far away from the Chinese envoys leading the way, but even the main fleet was at the extreme distance from their Clippers. Now only the lookouts at the top of the mast can see the mast of the clutch. Now the Spanish fleet is only half sailing forward, and only when the reconnaissance clutch issued a banner saying that they would attack at full speed after seeing the dense forest of masts of the Chinese fleet.

Seeing General Mario still staring at the empty sea without moving, Captain Leonardo persuaded again: "General, go and rest for a while. We shouldn't encounter the Chinese fleet within two days."

"You must capture that devil alive." Mario clenched his fists fiercely. He wanted to put the duke in a cage and sent it to the Madrid exhibition, but he knew very well that this wish would not be fulfilled.

The Kingdom of Spain is already very weak, and it is impossible to draw troops from South America or the mainland to Asia. Therefore, the war must rely on Manila's own strength, and the Duke is the only one who can end the war - Britain has declared war on the Netherlands, and the excuse is that a painting by the Netherlands insults Britain, so it must destroy the Netherlands to seek justice for Britain's dignity - these gangsters are as shameless as the Duke, and this war has involved France, Spain, Denmark and other countries. Manila will definitely have to be

Concentrate efforts to ensure local security and deter the evil neighbors around them; in the ultimatum of the Chinese Parliament, they called Britain an ally of China. Today, the Netherlands can insult China with oil paintings, and tomorrow it can insult China. Therefore, it is necessary to declare war on the Netherlands to take the initiative. A few years ago, China declared no war on Britain. When did it become an allies with British hooligans? But they should indeed be allies. Such two groups of shameless hooligans are simply poured out of the same mold.

"Don't worry, general, we will definitely find the Chinese."

Although the Chinese envoys may have discovered the reconnaissance ship disguised as a merchant ship, the envoys could not not respond to the duke for a ship that could not be identified. All Spanish officers believed it. Their belief was that they must not allow Chinese fleets to sail around Manila and must annihilate the strong enemy at sea. This was the only chance for the Spaniards to defeat the strong enemy.

...

At the same time, the person who was called the devil by the Spanish was chatting with his generals.

When sending an ultimatum messenger to Manila, the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet was already anchored in the northern part of the Philippines, but landing here is not feasible because the journey from here to Manila is too long. The rugged rainforest trail on land will cause the Expeditionary Force to lose a large number of officers and soldiers and lose most of its combat effectiveness. For Deng Ming, the best strategy is to directly send 50,000 expeditionary forces to the city of Manila to land.

"Waring in the South Ocean is different from being on both sides of the Yangtze River. Here is everything." Deng Ming once again emphasized to the empire generals who had first embarked on an expedition to the country that controlling the water surface of the Yangtze River could bring a mobile advantage to the Ming army, but this advantage in the Philippines was magnified by more than ten times: "If the naval battle fails, even if our huge army can land safely, it is just a group of savages struggling for survival; and if the Spaniards lose their fleet, they will be dispersed into separate armies of different ranks, and can only watch us take their strongholds one by one. We don't even need to surround their fortresses, they will have to surrender to us because of the cut off of food and grass."

The disadvantages of the Imperial Navy were very obvious. In recent years, Deng Ming had to say all the good things, the Spaniards and the Dutch refused to sell large warships to him. In addition to the lack of equipment, personnel training was also a problem. The Imperial Navy had no rivals near China's coast, but even if the equipment was the same, they lined up to fight the Spaniards on the sea, and the fleet would probably not be an opponent. However, if there was not such a big gap in strength, the Spaniards would probably not tolerate the cultivation of the Chinese reclamation group in remote areas of the Philippines. If Manila believed that the Chinese fleet could threaten them, then relying on trade profits and providing food alone would not paralyze them.

"The only way to seize the power of sea control is to fight the fleet to destroy the Spanish fleet in the naval battle, so that our army will become the master of this sea area." Deng Ming brought more than 400 ships this time, of which 220 merchant ships have been transformed (including those purchased and imitated, and there is no intention of banning the sale of merchant ships in Spain and the Netherlands). On average, each ship was equipped with ten cannons. There were also a large number of slower ships, which did not even have equipment, but just simple transport ships.

In theory, it is not a good time to launch a war against Spain and the Netherlands. At least before the Chongming Shipyard can produce warships against Spain and the Dutch giant ships, China seems to be unable to shake the enemy's sea control. But Deng Ming can no longer wait. The British-Dutch war has attracted the attention of major European powers to their homeland. Besides, Deng Ming has reached a secret agreement with Britain. If he wants to re-dividend the sphere of influence in Asia and cut a large piece of cake in it, Deng Ming not only needs to show strong strength to the enemy, but also to his allies. Besides, with the rapid rise of China's maritime strength, the Spanish and Dutch in Chongming, and more and more intelligence spying in Zhoushan. In order to paralyze them, Deng Ming also allowed them to visit China's shipyard at will, saying that China has nothing to hide from his friends. If the Spanish and Dutch feel that China has the power to compete with them, it will most likely change its attitude towards the Chinese colonial group.

It is precisely because no one believes that Deng Ming dares to challenge the Europeans' sea control in Asia that now is a good time to launch a war, and it can also help the reclamation group to gain better development space - there are already many armed farmers, and they cannot tolerate the sea area and cities continue to be controlled by the Spanish.

Deng Ming also has his own killer weapon, and all Chinese shells are equipped with the latest delay fuses. This alchemy fuze adopts the principle of acid corrosion. The fuze on the shell will detonate the shells within the range of 30 to 60 seconds after being triggered. This fuze technology will give the Chinese army's shells greater lethality. However, due to the caliber of the cannon, Chinese warships still have to get close to a very short distance before they can accurately hit the shells on the Spanish ships; if they want to expect to cause huge damage to the Spanish giant ships, they need to rush within a hundred meters to shoot at the opponent's artillery porthole, otherwise the Chinese small cannons will not be able to penetrate the hull armor of the Spanish giant ships.

"telegraph!"

A report came from outside the door.

Deng Ming took it and read it. The original infinite telegraph was extremely efficient, not only with a very long time to communicate, but also had high requirements for the weather.

At the end of the telegram, the messenger reported that there was a suspicious ship following it. Deng Ming sneered here. If there was no radio, the messenger would have to struggle between not completing the mission and ensuring the safety of the main force. However, now the messenger's ship has no pressure at all. It can lead the Spanish main fleet to continue circle around the sea, and then lead them to the preset battlefield of the Ming army.

"The Spaniards have rejected the Imperial Parliament's ultimatum!" Deng Ming announced to everyone, which was completely expected. In the ultimatum, the Imperial Parliament demanded that Manila relax the right of waters on the pretext of fighting against the Netherlands; it also protested Spain's judicial injustice against the Chinese, and asked Manila to give the Chinese consular judgement power; in addition to these two major items, there are many requirements, and it would be strange if Manila could agree.

All the generals present stood up and looked at Deng Ming solemnly.

"According to the orders of the Council, Huang Ming was in a state of war with the Kingdom of Spain." A soldier sent the document that had been prepared long ago. Deng Ming raised it up and said loudly: "The Council orders: Spain attacks allies, slaughteres our expatriates, and is hostile to the imperial government, and should be attacked."

"Abide by the order!" the generals replied in unison.

"From now on, the Spanish army will be freely attacked, and the property of the Kingdom of Spain and his supporters will be regarded as enemy property and confiscated." Deng Ming then issued a further order as the commander: "The resister will kill, and the surrender will be exempted from death."
Chapter completed!