After Li Siming issued a battle order, a large rocket was immediately shot into the sky. It exploded in the night sky and emitted bright emerald green fireworks, dyeing the thick clouds green. Only a few rockets of this color were carried by the Ming army's flagship, and they were only launched when the Ming army began the general attack. Now that the flagships have joined the battle, it is time to launch it.

While the rocket was lifted off, several soldiers at the bow and stern of the ship turned on the searchlight switch at the same time. With a few loud bangs, several light columns suddenly cut through the dark night sky and shot straight out of the Ming army's hull. Although the mirrors of these lights all faced outside the ship, Deng Ming, who was standing behind the light, still felt that his eyes were blurred. The sudden light made Deng Ming's eyes narrow suddenly, and he subconsciously raised his arms to block it. It seemed that after a long time, Deng Ming felt a little adapted to the brightness in front of him.

Behind each searchlight is a cable with rubber insulation. Deng Ming tried his best to import rubber. Because of the stimulation of China's continuous purchase, the Spanish governor in South America also mobilized more people to search, but it was never able to meet Deng Ming's needs. Deng Ming planned to use rubber to make boots, tires, seals, gloves and waterproof equipment, etc., but now the import volume is pitifully small, and it can only be used in electricity-related aspects, and even the insulators required for wires are not enough.

Deng Ming knew that the Spanish were trying to plant rubber in the Philippines, but if they wanted to form a scale, it would probably take more than ten years later. During this period, Deng Ming still needed the Spanish Governor of South America to provide rubber raw materials for the Ming army.

"After we occupy the Philippines, we must immediately cease with Spain. I hope they can quickly realize the fact that they cannot compete with us in South China." Now the battle has begun, and the entire warship and even the entire fleet have forgotten other things and devoted themselves to the war. Only Deng Ming still thinks about the post-war problems - the Spanish fleet is right in front of us, and Manila is not occupied. As for seizing the entire Philippines, it will take a long time later, but Deng Ming cannot help but care about how the war should end. If there is no plan for how to end the war, it should not be provoked. Deng Ming has planned the war against Spain for several years, every time

All the generals of the expeditionary forces were told that the war against Spain must end as soon as possible after the capture of the Philippines, so any non-essential violent action should be avoided--the Spanish prisoners of war should be treated as kind as possible to avoid arousing unnecessary hatred. Even if they win, do not show the arrogance of humiliating the defeated party, and do not try to ask for any compensation. On the contrary, as long as the Spanish are willing to recognize the facts and ced the Philippines to China, then China should even consider giving some compensation - which can be compensated gradually for hundreds of years, or some preferential terms for maritime trade, or the national treatment of Spanish merchant ships in some Chinese ports.

...

Opposite the Ming army flagship, General Mario had already rushed out of his bedroom. Although his hair was white, his years of military career still gave him a body as flexible as a young man. After hearing the ringtone of the battle alarm, Mario jumped up from the bed, put on his military uniform, and ran quickly towards the door.

Although the cabin was very dark, Mario would never go to light candles stupidly, but instead, relying on his extreme familiarity with his warship, ran towards the position of the bridge on the deck in the dark.

During night battles, both sides would keep firing rockets, but the light was probably only enough for observers to glimpse the nearby enemy and us ships, providing convenience for the helmsman to control the direction. For most of the fighters next to the artillery, the fleeting light of fireworks did not help them much. Most of them could not see anything. A small number of crew members who could see the figure of the enemy ships were difficult to determine the enemy and us. Even if they were determined, they could not locate in such a short time, and it was even more difficult to judge the speed and direction of the opponent. In night battles, enemy ships seemed to teleport. When the previous fireworks were shining, they seemed to be stationary in some place, and when the next fireworks were shining, there was nothing in that place. The enemy ship seemed to suddenly jump to another position.

At this time, the captain needs to make judgments and estimates based on this flash, and guess whether the enemy ship is experienced in the word "zhi" or foolishly advancing in a straight line. If it is done by "zhi", the captain must also guess how big the corner of the enemy ship is; coupled with some intuition about the enemy's intentions, it constitutes a speculation on the route of the enemy ship. According to the captain's speculation, the gunner on the artillery deck will fire blindly to hit the enemy ship. However, the chance of hitting is not high, and even the most experienced captain may have guessed the intention of the enemy captain wrongly; and being hit is likely because of bad luck. Even a captain with the most experience in night battles may be confused by a rookie opponent.

But whether it is a correct judgment or a lucky strike, this kind of strike is often not fatal, and it is even more difficult to be continuous like during the day. Because when the shelling is carried out, the fired warship will expose its position, so in the next second of the shelling, the warships will often maneuver at a high angle to avoid the firepower of enemy ships hidden in the darkness around them. During the entire night battle, the captain and observers will be nervous and quickly identify (guessed) the enemy and us based on the fireworks and the firelight emitted by the surrounding muzzles, evaluate the threat of many targets to the ship, command counterattack and avoidance - especially today's night encounter, due to the lack of unified command, the battlefield will be even more chaotic.

Mario's responsibility is to ensure the safety of the flagship, let the friendly ships around him identify themselves, and under the same premise, take other ships in the fleet into control and command as much as possible, judge the scale and combat intentions of the enemy, and carry out appropriate countermeasures.

Just as Mario held the railing and rushed towards his bridge post in the dark, a strong light suddenly appeared around him. In a blink of an eye, General Mario felt the whiteness in front of him, and his head seemed to suddenly turn dizzy.

When General Mario covered his eyes with his hands and stumbled into the guardrail beside him, the whistling sound of shells sounded in his ears. After the Ming army turned on the searchlight, one of them quickly searched for the bridge of the Spanish warship and the helmsman's position. When it finally set at the vital position of the helmsman's ruling plate, the fierce and strong light made the Spanish helmsman lose his usual calmness. When he released his hand that should have firmly grasped the helmsman to block the strong light, several shells rushed towards the direction indicated by the searchlight.

Another searchlight swayed between the observation basket on the mast and the bridge. Captain Leonardo, who rushed to the post before General Julio, and the second lieutenant on duty and several officers were shaken so hard that he could not open his eyes and could not issue any orders. A shell was poured over, and an officer on duty was hit by flying wood chips and fell out with a scream. A moment later, another explosion sounded, and the second lieutenant and several other officers covered their wounds and fell on the deck and moaned loudly. Captain Leonardo was lucky to be not seriously injured, but was also rolled off the bridge by continuous explosions. Until now, he was still blurred in front of him and could not see anything.

There was also a searchlight beam patrolling the side gun deck of the Spanish warship. The gunners inside were also panicked when they first encountered strong light. Almost all the people gathered on the gun deck forgot to fight and just stared at the bright light surfaces. Every time the light beam shot into the cabin from the cannon window, it would cause loud exclamations from the Spaniards around them.

The Ming army's shelling continued for a while. Whether it was General Mario who was hiding next to the stairs and feeling that his eyes had adapted, Captain Leonardo on the deck, or the senior gun captains in the cabin, they should have been able to easily distinguish the eighteen-pound and twelve-pound eagle guns that were shooting at them. The number sounded about ten, and the position was quite close. But now no one among them had the heart to distinguish the sound of cannons in their ears, and their minds were guessing what the sudden bright light was.

"We are shrouded in lightning?" General Mario was completely confused.

"Sea Monster, this must be a sea monster, right?" Captain Leonardo screamed in horror. Although he had never seen it with his own eyes, the stories of various sea monsters have been widely circulated among sailors for many years. No one dares to admit that he is a witness to sea monsters, because few people can escape from all kinds of evil sea monsters.

"Maria, is the gate of hell open?" A gun captain in the cabin completely forgot to urge the soldiers to fight, but took out the statue of the Virgin hanging around his neck with sweat and muttered to himself.

Behind the Spanish flagship are several Spanish warships. There are no Chinese warships that are too close to each other, nor are they immediately fixed by the Chinese searchlights. However, the captains and officers who rushed to their posts on these warships did not issue any orders, and their gunners were unable to prepare for the war in an orderly manner, but looked east with the officers.

In the direction of the Ming army fleet in the east, a huge kite was being raised into the sky by the Ming army. This kite was specially made by the Ming army, with a grim devil painted on it. A warship was specifically responsible for the kite. The boat was not armed, but it was equipped with a lot of searchlights. After seeing the green rocket, the boat released a balloon, dragged the kite higher and fully expanded, and then used the searchlight to illuminate the grimace from bottom to top.

There are also two searchlights installed on the devil's eyes. As the balloon is blown by the wind, the light columns shot out from the devil's eyes swept around the sea.

The quality of the Mingjun searchlight was not very good. Although it was only turned on for a short period of time, several of the lamps had malfunctioned. Although the two lamps hung on the big kite were carefully inspected, due to the violent swing, one of them seemed to have poor contact problems. The light flashed and turned off at times.

However, in the eyes of the Spanish, this one-eyed devil seemed even more strange and terrifying. It shone brightly at one glance, while the other eye flashed. Whenever the blind eye suddenly shone, another pitiful soul might fall into the devil's control.

"Jesus Christ, save us." Many officers and soldiers kissed the cross wildly, fell on the deck and prayed desperately.
Chapter completed!