Chapter 1323
Attack Focus
Chapter 1323 Attack Focus
Gaining the upper hand, the Haihan Fleet did not rush to launch a second wave of offensive, but took advantage of the situation to distance itself from the Spanish Fleet. This made Luis Pinto also heave a sigh of relief, and he could calmly gather the fleet together and maintain a relatively tight formation.The two commanders had already understood the situation on the battlefield at this time. The Haihan warships were fast, maneuverable, and strong in firepower. If they fought against them with traditional battle line tactics, the advantage of the Spanish fleet's large number of ships would hardly be brought into play. Coming out, on the contrary, it will give the opponent a situation of fighting more and fighting less in the battlefield situation, and cannibalize the ships of the Spanish fleet little by little.
Since the radical method does not work, it can only be changed to a relatively conservative tactic.Regarding the current situation, the two Spanish commanders unanimously chose to group together and shrink. This will not only reduce the defensive area, but also will not leave the opponent with the opportunity to cut their own formation.Moreover, it was dusk at this time, and the sea would soon be plunged into darkness. The Spanish fleet had to maintain a high degree of vigilance, lest the Haihan fleet, which was eyeing a tiger a few nautical miles away, launch a surprise attack under the cover of darkness.
For the Spaniards, the Haihan Navy is not the primary target of this trip, their attack target is Sanya or other ports on Hainan Island, and the Haihan Navy is just a stumbling block that hinders them from carrying out their mission, and it was not even before that The focus of preparation.After suffering a small loss in the first rendezvous of the confrontation, the commanders actually gave up the idea of "attacking Sanya and teaching the Haihan Navy a lesson by the way". They realized that the strength of this opponent may be far higher than their own before the battle. It is impossible to take it away in one wave.And if the fight continues at sea, the longer the delay, the more unfavorable it will be for the Spanish fleet fighting away.
In such a situation, it would be irrational to continue to fight with the Haihan Navy. The Spanish commander decided to gather his formation, ignore the surrounding Haihan fleet for the time being, and continue marching towards Sanya.This place is only a few tens of nautical miles away from Sanya. As long as the fleet can successfully enter the port, the turmoil it will cause to Haihan society will be greater than the damage and sinking of several Haihan warships.Moreover, according to intelligence, there is only a small Victory Fort in Sanya Port with fortifications, and a large area of the city is completely undefended. This is simply a sumptuous meal for looters.
Of course, before that, the Spanish fleet had to break through the coastal defenses of Sanya.The difficulty of this test may be no less than letting them kill the current Haihan fleet.According to the information sent back to Manila before, Haihan built a large number of forts in the key areas of the two major ports in Sanya. It is just that these forts have never actually performed combat missions after they were built. It remains to be seen whether they are decorations or real ones. Battle-tested.And the Spanish fleet preparing to attack Sanya this time may have to act as the first warrior to eat crabs.
Until the night fell on the sea, the two sides tacitly maintained a safe distance of about five nautical miles, and did not engage in another battle.However, after nightfall, the fleets of both sides implemented blackout at the same time, and dozens of ships sank into the darkness without a sound.
Playing hide-and-seek in the dark requires both luck and brainpower.However, the current situation is a little unfavorable for the Spanish fleet, because Haihan has already made it clear that its destination is Sanya. As long as the route to Sanya in this sea area is guarded, there is a high probability that it will be intercepted on the way. opponent.Unless the Spaniards repeat their tricks and go around in a big circle on the sea, but the significance of doing so is to increase the time on the way in vain, it seems that it will not have much effect, because the Haihan Fleet will not care about anything , Just retreat to Sanya and wait for the Spanish fleet to come to your door.
However, Tao Donglai, the commander of the Haihan Fleet, did not order the fleet to rush to the front to intercept, nor did he choose to rush back to Sanya to defend.
Tao Donglai made such a choice because he actually had some fears about the Spanish fleet.Tao Donglai doesn't have much confidence in winning the encounter with his opponents in the dark. For the current Haihan Navy, the subject of night naval battles still has many insurmountable technical difficulties. The combat effectiveness will also be greatly reduced.However, Haihan's current situation does not require the fleet led by Tao Donglai to fight desperately with the opponent. It is the most beneficial strategy to fight the opponent slowly.Moreover, there is another fleet commanded by Johnson in Victory Harbor waiting for the Spaniards to appear. At that time, there will be an interception before, and there will be pursuers behind.
The Spanish commanders were not aware of Haihan's plans, they just subconsciously chose the most favorable path to complete the mission, but Luis Pinto did not know what would happen to their upcoming destination Such difficulties arise.If they had the foresight, maybe they would choose to temporarily change the attack target.
The Spaniards spent a restless night at sea, but fortunately nothing happened that night, even the sea conditions were ideal, and a new day ushered in without any waves.Judging by the fleet commander's speed and charts, this sea area should be less than [-] nautical miles away from Sanya. In a broad sense, it can be regarded as the doorstep of the Haihan people.
But the crew at the lookout didn't see the shadow of the sail on the sea, but they could already see the outline of the undulating land on the coastline in the distance—if the Spanish fleet didn't go in the wrong direction, it should be the coastline of Hainan Island.The goal of this trip is ahead, and the days and nights at sea have finally come to an end.
But facing such an extremely stable environment, the two commanders of the fleet did not feel relaxed because of this, but became more and more nervous.Yesterday and the day before yesterday, they encountered Haihan's reconnaissance ship and armed fleet successively in two different sea areas farther away from Sanya. This shows that Haihan has expanded his sea defense line to an extremely large range.Since even the outer areas have been tightly controlled, could it be said that the Haihan people have deployed all the troops to the outer waters because of the tight control on the outside and the loose control on the inside?
No, the Spanish commander did not believe that the Haihan Navy, which can respond flexibly in naval battles, would make such a low-level mistake.The previous performance of the Haihan Navy has clearly reached the level of a professional army. Even if its main force is exhausted, there should be ships responsible for reconnaissance and warning in the waters so close to Sanya.
Besides, Sanya is known as the number one port in the South China Sea, and there are at least hundreds of ships entering and leaving the port every day. How could it be possible that there is not even a single fishing boat in this sea area?The only reasonable explanation is probably that the Haihan people have blocked the port in advance, cleared the sea area, and prohibited any non-military ships from moving here.
If you think about it further, why Haihan cleared this sea area at this time, the answer becomes terrifying.The two Spanish commanders came up with the same answer: Haihan intentionally emptied the sea ahead of time, just to wait for the Spanish fleet to appear, and use this place as a battlefield for the two sides to decide the outcome.
If it was just the Haihan fleet they encountered yesterday afternoon, Pinto and Louis felt that they could handle it. Although the Haihan warships did have obvious advantages in terms of performance, the Spanish fleet was not weak. What kind of loopholes do they take the initiative to sell? They believe that it is impossible for the Haihan people to let those dozens of ships fight against the huge Spanish fleet.
But is the armed force of the Haihan Navy just seeing that fleet yesterday?No matter how much the Spaniards looked down on Haihan, they would never underestimate the strength of Haihan's navy to such an extent.You must know that the coastlines actually controlled by the Haihan Navy in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea are thousands of miles long. It is conceivable that the size of its navy is huge, and it is obviously impossible for the naval forces staying at the capital's fortress ports to have more than a dozen battle lines. Boat.
Since Haihan sent some of the navy he could fight to the periphery to intercept the Spanish fleet, the probability of playing an empty city plan at home is naturally extremely low.The most likely scenario is that Haihan still has a naval fleet of unknown size hidden in the port of Sanya.And if the Spanish fleet attacked Sanya rashly at this time, it would inevitably run the risk of falling into the trap.
Whether Haihan was spreading doubts, or setting up the battlefield in an upright manner, the Spanish commanders thought for a long time and still could not come up with a definite answer.And the fleet is getting closer and closer to the coastline, and can even see the entrance channel of Victory Harbor.
"Here we come! A fleet appears ahead!"
The news from the observation position on the mast finally reassured the commanders. Although this situation is not ideal, it is better to have an opponent appearing in front of them than to hide somewhere and prepare to attack themselves situation is much better.Now that the Haihan Fleet is ready to fight at the gate of the house, it seems that they are going to fight a tough battle with peace of mind.
The fleet that sailed out of Victory Harbor was not larger than the fleet that they encountered yesterday, and it also consisted of more than a dozen ships. At first glance, it was even possible to recognize it as the fleet from yesterday.However, the Spaniards have been sailing at sea for a long time and have accumulated rich sailing experience. They have their own way of identifying ships. Even sea ships of the same specification and shape can be identified by the subtle differences in their hulls and sails.
Of course, the details need to be close to a certain distance before they can be identified, and Spain can now identify the difference between this fleet and yesterday's fleet mainly through the statistics of the appearance of the ships.Although the fighting time between the two sides was not too long yesterday, the Spanish sailors have also made a rough count of the ships that Haihan fought, including the main characteristics of the hull exterior, such as the estimated size of the hull, to apply the intelligence of the Haihan battleship. By grading, you can roughly grasp the configuration of the fleet's combat ships at all levels.
And the fleet sailing out of Victory Harbor is quite different from yesterday's fleet in terms of ship configuration. In this fleet, there is no "Exploration Class" warship with the smallest tonnage, but the same number of warships. But the "expedition-class" warship whose hull is nearly twice as large.Moreover, in this fleet, there is also a warship whose shape and tonnage do not match the known information. This dark warship is sailing next to the largest flagship. I still don’t understand what it is for a while. such an arrangement.
In yesterday's brief confrontation, the Spanish fleet could be said to have played very uselessly. This breath has been suppressed until today when they face the enemy again. No one is required to mobilize. The crew also want to vent this bad breath on the battlefield.At the commander's order, the Spanish fleet greeted the opponent in a belligerent posture.
Pinto and Louis naturally did not forget that the Haihan fleet they encountered yesterday was in a state of disappearance at this time, but their current idea is to destroy the fleet guarding Victory Harbor as soon as possible, or wait until the fleet is gone. When they rushed back from the open sea, the opponent's number of combat ships would not have much disadvantage.At that time, the Spanish fleet coming from afar will have no capital to fight with the opponent, and can only try to escape from the battlefield.
Only by defeating this fleet can the Spanish fleet go one step further and attack Sanya, which has already entered the field of vision.In other words, this is likely to be the last stumbling block in front of the Spanish fleet. Only by destroying this fleet can there be hope of completing the mission.And all enemies blocking the advance of the Spanish fleet will surely be reduced to powder under the attack of strong ships and guns-at least the Spanish sailors firmly believe in this.
But the Spaniards didn't know that their opponents also had similar thoughts. Any enemy who dared to challenge Haihan's authority would be completely destroyed under the heavy artillery of Haihan's army.And those who had such thoughts were not only the sailors and soldiers on the dozens of battleships, but also the thousands of people who were watching on the high places along the coast outside Victory Harbor at this time.
Liu Shang never thought that when a country was facing foreign invasion, the government would be in the mood to organize the people to watch the battle near the battlefield.Of course, this default battlefield is relatively safe for the audience on land, at least the Spaniards will not be able to attack the land for a while.However, the bold idea of letting the public watch naval battles is probably only the Haihan people who have the courage to turn it into reality.
Of course, not many people who climbed to these high places to watch the battle were real ordinary people, and most of them were people with certain social status in Sanya.And there are also some famous foreigners among them, such as envoys, business representatives, overseas students, observers, etc. in Sanya, almost all of them have been invited by the Haihan official to participate in this grand watching event.If he hadn't already understood Haihan's military strength, Liu Shang would probably think that Haihan's move was too arrogant, but now he would only feel sad for the invading Spaniards, these guys who came from afar didn't even know about them What kind of predicament will you face.
(End of this chapter)
Gaining the upper hand, the Haihan Fleet did not rush to launch a second wave of offensive, but took advantage of the situation to distance itself from the Spanish Fleet. This made Luis Pinto also heave a sigh of relief, and he could calmly gather the fleet together and maintain a relatively tight formation.The two commanders had already understood the situation on the battlefield at this time. The Haihan warships were fast, maneuverable, and strong in firepower. If they fought against them with traditional battle line tactics, the advantage of the Spanish fleet's large number of ships would hardly be brought into play. Coming out, on the contrary, it will give the opponent a situation of fighting more and fighting less in the battlefield situation, and cannibalize the ships of the Spanish fleet little by little.
Since the radical method does not work, it can only be changed to a relatively conservative tactic.Regarding the current situation, the two Spanish commanders unanimously chose to group together and shrink. This will not only reduce the defensive area, but also will not leave the opponent with the opportunity to cut their own formation.Moreover, it was dusk at this time, and the sea would soon be plunged into darkness. The Spanish fleet had to maintain a high degree of vigilance, lest the Haihan fleet, which was eyeing a tiger a few nautical miles away, launch a surprise attack under the cover of darkness.
For the Spaniards, the Haihan Navy is not the primary target of this trip, their attack target is Sanya or other ports on Hainan Island, and the Haihan Navy is just a stumbling block that hinders them from carrying out their mission, and it was not even before that The focus of preparation.After suffering a small loss in the first rendezvous of the confrontation, the commanders actually gave up the idea of "attacking Sanya and teaching the Haihan Navy a lesson by the way". They realized that the strength of this opponent may be far higher than their own before the battle. It is impossible to take it away in one wave.And if the fight continues at sea, the longer the delay, the more unfavorable it will be for the Spanish fleet fighting away.
In such a situation, it would be irrational to continue to fight with the Haihan Navy. The Spanish commander decided to gather his formation, ignore the surrounding Haihan fleet for the time being, and continue marching towards Sanya.This place is only a few tens of nautical miles away from Sanya. As long as the fleet can successfully enter the port, the turmoil it will cause to Haihan society will be greater than the damage and sinking of several Haihan warships.Moreover, according to intelligence, there is only a small Victory Fort in Sanya Port with fortifications, and a large area of the city is completely undefended. This is simply a sumptuous meal for looters.
Of course, before that, the Spanish fleet had to break through the coastal defenses of Sanya.The difficulty of this test may be no less than letting them kill the current Haihan fleet.According to the information sent back to Manila before, Haihan built a large number of forts in the key areas of the two major ports in Sanya. It is just that these forts have never actually performed combat missions after they were built. It remains to be seen whether they are decorations or real ones. Battle-tested.And the Spanish fleet preparing to attack Sanya this time may have to act as the first warrior to eat crabs.
Until the night fell on the sea, the two sides tacitly maintained a safe distance of about five nautical miles, and did not engage in another battle.However, after nightfall, the fleets of both sides implemented blackout at the same time, and dozens of ships sank into the darkness without a sound.
Playing hide-and-seek in the dark requires both luck and brainpower.However, the current situation is a little unfavorable for the Spanish fleet, because Haihan has already made it clear that its destination is Sanya. As long as the route to Sanya in this sea area is guarded, there is a high probability that it will be intercepted on the way. opponent.Unless the Spaniards repeat their tricks and go around in a big circle on the sea, but the significance of doing so is to increase the time on the way in vain, it seems that it will not have much effect, because the Haihan Fleet will not care about anything , Just retreat to Sanya and wait for the Spanish fleet to come to your door.
However, Tao Donglai, the commander of the Haihan Fleet, did not order the fleet to rush to the front to intercept, nor did he choose to rush back to Sanya to defend.
Tao Donglai made such a choice because he actually had some fears about the Spanish fleet.Tao Donglai doesn't have much confidence in winning the encounter with his opponents in the dark. For the current Haihan Navy, the subject of night naval battles still has many insurmountable technical difficulties. The combat effectiveness will also be greatly reduced.However, Haihan's current situation does not require the fleet led by Tao Donglai to fight desperately with the opponent. It is the most beneficial strategy to fight the opponent slowly.Moreover, there is another fleet commanded by Johnson in Victory Harbor waiting for the Spaniards to appear. At that time, there will be an interception before, and there will be pursuers behind.
The Spanish commanders were not aware of Haihan's plans, they just subconsciously chose the most favorable path to complete the mission, but Luis Pinto did not know what would happen to their upcoming destination Such difficulties arise.If they had the foresight, maybe they would choose to temporarily change the attack target.
The Spaniards spent a restless night at sea, but fortunately nothing happened that night, even the sea conditions were ideal, and a new day ushered in without any waves.Judging by the fleet commander's speed and charts, this sea area should be less than [-] nautical miles away from Sanya. In a broad sense, it can be regarded as the doorstep of the Haihan people.
But the crew at the lookout didn't see the shadow of the sail on the sea, but they could already see the outline of the undulating land on the coastline in the distance—if the Spanish fleet didn't go in the wrong direction, it should be the coastline of Hainan Island.The goal of this trip is ahead, and the days and nights at sea have finally come to an end.
But facing such an extremely stable environment, the two commanders of the fleet did not feel relaxed because of this, but became more and more nervous.Yesterday and the day before yesterday, they encountered Haihan's reconnaissance ship and armed fleet successively in two different sea areas farther away from Sanya. This shows that Haihan has expanded his sea defense line to an extremely large range.Since even the outer areas have been tightly controlled, could it be said that the Haihan people have deployed all the troops to the outer waters because of the tight control on the outside and the loose control on the inside?
No, the Spanish commander did not believe that the Haihan Navy, which can respond flexibly in naval battles, would make such a low-level mistake.The previous performance of the Haihan Navy has clearly reached the level of a professional army. Even if its main force is exhausted, there should be ships responsible for reconnaissance and warning in the waters so close to Sanya.
Besides, Sanya is known as the number one port in the South China Sea, and there are at least hundreds of ships entering and leaving the port every day. How could it be possible that there is not even a single fishing boat in this sea area?The only reasonable explanation is probably that the Haihan people have blocked the port in advance, cleared the sea area, and prohibited any non-military ships from moving here.
If you think about it further, why Haihan cleared this sea area at this time, the answer becomes terrifying.The two Spanish commanders came up with the same answer: Haihan intentionally emptied the sea ahead of time, just to wait for the Spanish fleet to appear, and use this place as a battlefield for the two sides to decide the outcome.
If it was just the Haihan fleet they encountered yesterday afternoon, Pinto and Louis felt that they could handle it. Although the Haihan warships did have obvious advantages in terms of performance, the Spanish fleet was not weak. What kind of loopholes do they take the initiative to sell? They believe that it is impossible for the Haihan people to let those dozens of ships fight against the huge Spanish fleet.
But is the armed force of the Haihan Navy just seeing that fleet yesterday?No matter how much the Spaniards looked down on Haihan, they would never underestimate the strength of Haihan's navy to such an extent.You must know that the coastlines actually controlled by the Haihan Navy in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea are thousands of miles long. It is conceivable that the size of its navy is huge, and it is obviously impossible for the naval forces staying at the capital's fortress ports to have more than a dozen battle lines. Boat.
Since Haihan sent some of the navy he could fight to the periphery to intercept the Spanish fleet, the probability of playing an empty city plan at home is naturally extremely low.The most likely scenario is that Haihan still has a naval fleet of unknown size hidden in the port of Sanya.And if the Spanish fleet attacked Sanya rashly at this time, it would inevitably run the risk of falling into the trap.
Whether Haihan was spreading doubts, or setting up the battlefield in an upright manner, the Spanish commanders thought for a long time and still could not come up with a definite answer.And the fleet is getting closer and closer to the coastline, and can even see the entrance channel of Victory Harbor.
"Here we come! A fleet appears ahead!"
The news from the observation position on the mast finally reassured the commanders. Although this situation is not ideal, it is better to have an opponent appearing in front of them than to hide somewhere and prepare to attack themselves situation is much better.Now that the Haihan Fleet is ready to fight at the gate of the house, it seems that they are going to fight a tough battle with peace of mind.
The fleet that sailed out of Victory Harbor was not larger than the fleet that they encountered yesterday, and it also consisted of more than a dozen ships. At first glance, it was even possible to recognize it as the fleet from yesterday.However, the Spaniards have been sailing at sea for a long time and have accumulated rich sailing experience. They have their own way of identifying ships. Even sea ships of the same specification and shape can be identified by the subtle differences in their hulls and sails.
Of course, the details need to be close to a certain distance before they can be identified, and Spain can now identify the difference between this fleet and yesterday's fleet mainly through the statistics of the appearance of the ships.Although the fighting time between the two sides was not too long yesterday, the Spanish sailors have also made a rough count of the ships that Haihan fought, including the main characteristics of the hull exterior, such as the estimated size of the hull, to apply the intelligence of the Haihan battleship. By grading, you can roughly grasp the configuration of the fleet's combat ships at all levels.
And the fleet sailing out of Victory Harbor is quite different from yesterday's fleet in terms of ship configuration. In this fleet, there is no "Exploration Class" warship with the smallest tonnage, but the same number of warships. But the "expedition-class" warship whose hull is nearly twice as large.Moreover, in this fleet, there is also a warship whose shape and tonnage do not match the known information. This dark warship is sailing next to the largest flagship. I still don’t understand what it is for a while. such an arrangement.
In yesterday's brief confrontation, the Spanish fleet could be said to have played very uselessly. This breath has been suppressed until today when they face the enemy again. No one is required to mobilize. The crew also want to vent this bad breath on the battlefield.At the commander's order, the Spanish fleet greeted the opponent in a belligerent posture.
Pinto and Louis naturally did not forget that the Haihan fleet they encountered yesterday was in a state of disappearance at this time, but their current idea is to destroy the fleet guarding Victory Harbor as soon as possible, or wait until the fleet is gone. When they rushed back from the open sea, the opponent's number of combat ships would not have much disadvantage.At that time, the Spanish fleet coming from afar will have no capital to fight with the opponent, and can only try to escape from the battlefield.
Only by defeating this fleet can the Spanish fleet go one step further and attack Sanya, which has already entered the field of vision.In other words, this is likely to be the last stumbling block in front of the Spanish fleet. Only by destroying this fleet can there be hope of completing the mission.And all enemies blocking the advance of the Spanish fleet will surely be reduced to powder under the attack of strong ships and guns-at least the Spanish sailors firmly believe in this.
But the Spaniards didn't know that their opponents also had similar thoughts. Any enemy who dared to challenge Haihan's authority would be completely destroyed under the heavy artillery of Haihan's army.And those who had such thoughts were not only the sailors and soldiers on the dozens of battleships, but also the thousands of people who were watching on the high places along the coast outside Victory Harbor at this time.
Liu Shang never thought that when a country was facing foreign invasion, the government would be in the mood to organize the people to watch the battle near the battlefield.Of course, this default battlefield is relatively safe for the audience on land, at least the Spaniards will not be able to attack the land for a while.However, the bold idea of letting the public watch naval battles is probably only the Haihan people who have the courage to turn it into reality.
Of course, not many people who climbed to these high places to watch the battle were real ordinary people, and most of them were people with certain social status in Sanya.And there are also some famous foreigners among them, such as envoys, business representatives, overseas students, observers, etc. in Sanya, almost all of them have been invited by the Haihan official to participate in this grand watching event.If he hadn't already understood Haihan's military strength, Liu Shang would probably think that Haihan's move was too arrogant, but now he would only feel sad for the invading Spaniards, these guys who came from afar didn't even know about them What kind of predicament will you face.
(End of this chapter)