Wang Rulong had no way of knowing that while he was sending out all the boats to send orders to the Coast Guard fleet overnight, the Spanish fleet's flagship San Felipe was passing by the Kaiyuan.
In the rain of rockets that morning, a third of the Spanish flagship's sails were destroyed, and two masts also caught fire, burning the fleet command flag and the flag of the Marquis of Santa Cruz to ashes.
The speed of the flagship was greatly reduced. In order to avoid dragging down the Chinese army, the Marquis could only temporarily transfer command to the Royal Power, leaving the San Felipe behind.
This is also the reason why Lin Feng can't find it.
But it was a blessing in disguise. There was almost no fighting on the San Felipe throughout the day. Naturally, the crew was intact and the hull was intact. Carpenters and sailors have been busy repairing the mast. The sailmaker took the time to cut the spare canvas and then directed the sailors to hang it again.
After so much work, the San Felipe has finally basically regained its power.
This was the only good news the Marquis of Santa Cruz heard on the worst day of his life.
At that time, he was having dinner with the nobles in the luxurious senior officers¡¯ dining room on the stern.
Nobles would not eat in the dark, that would be too ungraceful. They ordered their servants to cover the windows of the dining room with thick terry cloth, and then lit whale oil candles in silver candlesticks.
The slightly swaying warm candlelight shines on the tablecloths with tassels and gorgeous patterns, as well as the expensive gold and silver porcelain tableware, making it glowing and very luxurious.
The food is as sumptuous as possible, with various hams, cheeses, sauces, fish and meat marinated in precious spices, served with white bread and wine. Against the backdrop of the tableware and presentation, at least it looks very tempting.
There is also violin accompaniment.
But the nobles present were all gloomy. Someone muttered in a low voice: "Son of a bitch, the last supper."
Only then did everyone realize that, including Governor Francis, there were exactly 13 people present at the table. The originally low mood couldn't help but get worse.
"Judas!" Suddenly someone glared angrily at the embarrassed Governor Francis. "Are you a spy from the Ming Dynasty?!"
"That must be the case!" The loud-mouthed nobles immediately found a punching bag and said, "He must have defected to the Ming people and deliberately led us into the encirclement!"
Nobles have ancestral blame-shifting skills, and Xiao Fu¡¯s broad shoulders are perfect for taking the blame.
"My God, how can you accuse someone of innocence out of thin air?" Francis knocked over the salt shaker with his elbow and leaned back, his face full of fear and anxiety. "My whole family is in Madrid, and I will go back to inherit the title after I step down as governor! How can I be Judas?!"
"Sophistry! You have been the governor of the Philippines for three years. Don't you know that the Ming Dynasty's navy is an opponent on another level? It is not something we can deal with?!" The nobles took their knives and angrily accused him: "You He is deliberately hiding it and wants us all to die in the Far East!"
"I have reported that the rockets of the Ming people are very powerful. I also reported that they learned from the Portuguese and paid great attention to long-range firepower. Artillery technology has made rapid progress in recent years!" Francis said aggrievedly: "They are all sending letters to the Vice-President and the Marquis. I have suggested many times that we must strengthen our firepower"
"But you never said that the warships of the Ming Dynasty are made of iron!" The nobles sneered: "If the report had been reported earlier, Your Majesty would never let us touch eggs with stones!"
"This" Francis was at a loss for words and said aggrievedly: "We didn't know this beforehand."
"It's been three years since I came here, and you don't even know what the opponent's warships are made of?!" The nobles said angrily: "You still say you are not Judas!"
"Okay!" The Marquis of Santa Cruz, who had remained silent, finally couldn't help but knock the silver plate with a spoon and shouted to stop the unforgiving nobles. "Keep your appearance, gentlemen."
As he spoke, he looked at Francis and said, "But Mr. Governor, you do owe us an explanation."
"We have investigated their warships, and they are indeed made of wood" Francis said with a ghostly look on his face: "I really don't know when the iron armor was added. Damn it, how come they don't sink?"
"Could it be that they can turn wood into iron?" The nobles laughed.
"When was the last time you fought?" The Marquis knocked on the plate again and asked in a deep voice.
"" The governor said uncontrollably: "Since I took office, I have always kept my peace. There has never been a serious fight between the two sides. There have been a few limited frictions, but I have never seen them so violent."
"There is indeed something fishy!" the nobles said angrily: "You also said you are not Judas!"
"That's all." The Marquis saidMeiling, who looked tired, quickly led the officers and soldiers on the poop to stand at attention and salute.
"Take a break." Wang Rulong nodded and said to Mei Ling, "Will you be at the helm for a night?"
"Well, don't worry." Mei Ling said with a bitter smile: "The commander-in-chief is on my ship, how can we make any mistakes?"
"Haha" Wang Rulong smiled perfunctorily and asked in a deep voice: "Where are you?"
"According to the speed and duration, it is almost near the entrance of the strait." Mei Ling scratched his head and said: "But there is inevitably an error, so we have to wait for the fog to clear before we can be sure"
"The day lily will be cold." Wang Rulong ordered in a deep voice: "Raise the balloon!"
The Beidou team immediately started preparations upon hearing the order.
Meiling said bravely: "Commander-in-Chief, once this balloon rises, our position will be exposed."
"So what?" Wang Rulong said proudly: "If the red-haired ghosts are capable, just kill me. Then I will thank them!"
"Okay." Mei Ling said to Niu Boyi in her heart, so she stopped talking and quickly ordered people to strengthen the defenses of the poop command platform.
ps. Keep going, this battle will be over tonight (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com