The Spaniards calculated well, but they misjudged the strength of the Ming army.

Ancient naval battles were difficult to fight. When the strength was not much different, it was difficult to determine the winner in a short period of time.

This group of colonists thought that the naval battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch would take several days to determine the outcome.

Little did they know that before they even arrived at the battlefield, the Ming army's battle to regain Taiwan had already ended and they had defeated the support fleet from Batavia.

When they were still more than ten nautical miles away from Taiwan, they had not heard the sound of artillery.

"Reporting to the captain, the fleet is only a dozen nautical miles away from Taiwan, and there is no sign of a naval battle."

After hearing the scout's report, Spanish Fleet Commander Raulte picked up his telescope and looked in the direction of Taiwan for a while, then shook his head:

"The Ming fleet is too young. They probably haven't crossed the strait yet. We ordered the fleet to slow down and anchor about eight nautical miles away from Taiwan. Let's watch the fun first."

"yes"

The ordering soldier turned around and went out.

Raulte picked up the teacup...

Five Spanish warships stopped advancing and were cruising slowly within a dozen nautical miles of Taiwan.

They were waiting for a fierce exchange of fire between the Netherlands and the Ming warships.

Half a day passed, but there was still no movement. When the Spaniards were getting tired of waiting, a soldier came to report:

"Reporting to the captain, a Ming fleet has been spotted ahead and we are required to leave the Ming waters quickly."

Lauter took another slow sip of tea before saying:

"The Ming Dynasty warships? If they don't recover Taiwan, why are they here to expel us?"

"Captain, the specific situation is unknown. They are indeed asking our Spanish fleet to leave immediately."

Rault smiled coldly:

"It's a joke. The Spanish Royal Warships come and go in any sea area at will. Why do they let us leave? Tell them and say that we are sailing freely on the high seas."

"yes"

The messenger agreed and turned around to go out.

Soon, the Spanish warships issued semaphores, asking the Ming warships not to interfere with their free navigation.

Zhu Chenggong's order was to expel unknown warships, but those warships had already approached Taiwan, and now it was not as simple as expulsion.

Shi Lang and Huang Fei were discussing how to defeat the enemy ship on the Hongwu, when the scouts came to report:

"Two captains, this is the Spanish Royal Fleet. They are raising flags and asking not to interfere with their freedom of navigation."

Huang Fei frowned:

"The Spanish warships should have come to watch the show. It's a pity that they arrived late. We ordered them to withdraw from the Ming Dynasty waters immediately, otherwise they would be fired and sunk!"

The soldiers of the Ming army soon came to report:

"Captain, the Spanish fleet ignored us at all. They said they were sailing freely and asked us not to interfere."

"Snapped……"

Shi Langteng stood up, slammed the table, and cursed:

"It is simply unreasonable to order the fleet to prepare for battle!"

Ridiculously free sailing.

The freedom of navigation that the United States often enjoys in the South China Sea in the 21st century was originally learned from the Spanish.

Although Shi Lang didn't know what free navigation meant, he would never allow the Spaniards to show off their power in the Taiwan Strait.

Huang Fei chuckled:

"General Xiao Shi, what should we do if the Spaniards can't understand our language?"

Shi Lang smiled proudly:

"If you don't understand our language, don't you still know cannonballs?"

Domineering, Shi Lang's words made all the generals feel domineering.

…

The soldiers on the Spanish warship once again saw the semaphore of the Ming warship.

"This is Ming Dynasty's territorial waters, get out of here right now, otherwise it will sink directly..."

The Ming army's semaphore left the Spanish observation post speechless.

"It looks like there's going to be a war. Is Akito so strong now? It's better to report to the captain first!"

The Spanish scout reported to the captain again:

"Captain, the Ming warships sent out flags telling our royal fleet to get out..."

"Hmph, can the semaphore still sink my royal battleship?"

Rault didn't take the Ming army's warning seriously at all.

If the Dutch warned them, Spain would still have some scruples.

But when the Ming warship issued a warning, it could be completely ignored.

Taiwan has been occupied by the Dutch for decades and has not yet been recovered. What strength can the Ming Navy have?

Rault stood up, opened a bottle of red wine, poured himself half a glass, then swung the glass and took a sip:

"Warn them to keep their distance, not to get too close to our Royal Fleet, and be careful of accidental fire from the Royal Battleship."

This guy is very arrogant and loves to show off, and he really takes it to the extreme.

The soldiers who came to report were deceived by their commander and said hurriedly:

"Captain, the Ming warship seems to be an iron-clad warship, so we'd better be careful."

Ironclad battleships? Almost all the large battleships of the Dutch fleet have a small amount of armor, which seems to be of little use in battle.

The wooden sail battleship's armor defense strength has been increased, but it has also increased the burden on the sails.

If the armor is too thin, it will have little effect, but if the armor is too thick, new problems will arise.

At that time, the naval guns were on the left and right chords, and the rudder had to be turned when a shelling hit occurred.

Sail battleships are thickly armored and not only slow but also clumsy.

As the commander of the Spanish fleet, Raulte was familiar with armor, so he was not surprised at all when he heard that Ming warships were armored. He waved to the soldiers:

"Get out of here and execute the order immediately."

"yes"

The commander was unable to get in, and the soldiers had no choice but to turn around and leave.

When the Ming army saw the flag signaled by the Spanish fleet, their lungs exploded with anger, and they hurriedly reported to Shi Lang and Huang Fei:

"Two commanders-in-chief, the Spanish fleet refused to leave, and asked us to keep our distance and be careful of being accidentally injured by their artillery fire."

Shi Lang was furious:

"It's too arrogant, it will sink them directly."

Huang Fei chuckled:

"Wait a minute, there are only five warships and we can't let them escape. First use arrows and incendiary bombs to kill the sails of the Spanish warships, then close the door and beat the dogs!"

Shi Lang heard this and gave Huang Fei a thumbs up:

"Yes, let their warships lose their ability to move, and we will catch a turtle in a jar!"

…

The two walked out of the command room and quickly came to the deck, raising their binoculars to look at the Spanish fleet.

There are five battleships in total, two first-class battleships, three second-class battleships, and the flagship is Barcelona.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The soldiers on the mast of the Spanish battleship are still waving signal flags in a arrogant manner. The meaning is very clear, to keep the Ming warships at a distance.

Shi Lang was young and energetic, and they were very angry at that time. He looked at the heavy cannon at the bow of the ship and said:

"Send the order to use the bow heavy artillery to bombard the mast of the Spanish flagship Real Madrid."

"Here!"

The artilleryman took the order and was about to turn around when he suddenly stopped:

"Shoulder the mast?"

Shi Lang's eyes widened:

"What, is it difficult?"

Just kidding, shelling a mast is not only difficult, it is simply impossible to reach the sky. You must know that it is not that easy to attack a battleship, let alone a small mast!

The artillery commander was about to explain, but when he saw Shi Lang's wide-eyed eyes, he hurriedly swallowed back his words, saluted Shi Lang and Huang Fei in a hurry, and then ran to the heavy gun at the bow of the ship.
To be continued...