Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 464 The Firepower of San Diego Bay

Just as the remaining members of the Xinhua Exploration Team were disappearing into the mist of the Coastal Mountains, stepping on pine needles to evade Spanish pursuers, San Diego Bay, dozens of miles away, was being torn apart by artillery fire.

Two Xinhua "Haiyan-class" patrol ships suddenly entered the bay at 11:20 a.m., with all the gun ports on one side of the ship opened, revealing rows of dark gun barrels.

This action immediately threw the two hastily converted Spanish armed merchant ships anchored on the shore into a panic, prompting them to hastily raise their sails and anchor, attempting a desperate resistance.

Meanwhile, the more than one hundred Spanish soldiers and civilians on the shore were in complete disarray, clearly unprepared for the rapid arrival of the Xinhua warship.

Just over ten days ago, they had captured the temporary camp built by the Xinhua exploration team, killing and wounding more than ten people. Major Torres, who was leading the team, led more than two hundred soldiers to pursue and kill all the remaining Xinhua personnel who broke through the encirclement.

They would then fortify Fort San Diego and garrison the site to defend this northernmost Spanish colony.

As for the captured Chinese immigrants, they were naturally sent to Mexico City as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Chinese immigrants.

The Spanish believed that Xinhua would not react for at least two months after learning of the complete annihilation of their exploration team.

After all, this place is more than 2,000 kilometers away from their headquarters on Qiming Island, and it would definitely take a lot of time to go there and back.

Unexpectedly, the new Chinese arrived so quickly.

However, they seem unaware that the so-called exploration team has been driven out by our Spanish army and is being hunted down.

Although the two Xinhua warships made a show of force, they did not launch an attack. Instead, they launched a small boat and sent an envoy ashore.

They stated that they would bring back all members of the exploration team and dismantle the makeshift camp before returning to the Bay of San Francis, thus avoiding a military conflict with the Spanish.

After hearing the Xinhua's request, the Spanish officer Captain Fernández hesitated for a moment before immediately refusing it and ordering the two Xinhua warships to leave San Diego Bay immediately and not to infringe on the territorial sovereignty of the Kingdom of Spain.

As for the Xinhua exploration team personnel remaining on shore, after review and screening, they will negotiate with the Xinhua people through diplomatic channels. Only after reaching an agreement through negotiation will all these people be "repatriated" to Xinhua.

Therefore, at this point, there is absolutely no room for negotiation if they want the person back.

Besides, even if we were to hand over the person, we couldn't do it!

Aside from a dozen or so corpses, the rest are still on their way, and it's uncertain whether they can all be captured.

However, after being refused, the Xinhua people did not give up and asked to visit the detained exploration personnel to confirm whether they had been properly taken care of and whether they had been subjected to inhumane treatment and humiliation.

Unsurprisingly, the Spaniards rejected the offer once again.

If we allow the Xinhua News Agency to investigate in person, wouldn't everything be exposed?

Why don't we immediately turn hostile and start a fight?
Despite the Spanish's repeated obstruction and evasion, they resolutely refused to allow the new Chinese to go ashore and investigate, thus learning that their exploration team had been attacked by the Spanish and that there were many casualties.

But after more than two hours of fighting, the Xinhua News Agency discovered something amiss and confirmed that the exploration team had been wiped out by the Spanish.

The fact that the small oar-powered sailboat carrying the exploration team was damaged on the shore, with its tilted hull, broken mast, and the camp in the distance clearly showing signs of artillery fire, all confirmed that the Spanish had launched an attack on the new Chinese.

The Spanish "started" the war!

The two Xinhua fast patrol ships immediately hoisted their scarlet battle flags and, with their superior maneuverability, changed course and rapidly approached the two Spanish armed merchant ships on the shore, preemptively occupying the "T" attack position.

The sailing system of the "Haiyan-class" cruiser adopts a "puller block + wheel" design. Each mast is equipped with 6-8 sailing crew members who operate the ropes using the lever principle. A single person can pull the sail ropes weighing hundreds of kilograms.

This allows the "Petrel-class" ships to complete a turn in one or two minutes, while Spanish merchant ships would need at least five minutes.

"Full ship combat configuration! Port side gun crews to change ammunition!"

The Xinhua warship managed to cripple the enemy's power in the very first round of shelling!

Captain Zhou Yuefeng of the "Haiyan" ripped open his uniform collar. Through his binoculars, he saw the Spanish armed merchant ship "Santa Isabel" clumsily turning around. The sailors on deck were running around shouting and trying to get the ship moving.

Three hundred meters away, Sun Huaijin, the young gunnery officer on the "Seagull," was using a quadrant to measure the distance: "Enemy ship's bow exposed, wind direction northeast..."

Before the words were finished, a burst of orange-red light suddenly erupted from the bow of the Spanish ship, and a 6-pound shell whistled through the space between the two ships, creating a towering column of water on the sea behind the "Seagull".

"The Western barbarians have opened fire!" the sailors on the watchtower shouted hoarsely.

Zhou Yuefeng sneered and ordered the signalman beside him, "Fire! ...Let them see what professional artillery fire looks like!" The shockwave from the simultaneous roar of the fourteen cast iron cannons made the "Haiyan" ship shudder violently.

The carefully prepared chain shot stretched out in the air into a deadly chain, spinning as it hurtled toward the "St. Isabel".

Amidst the cracking sound of splintering wood, the mainmast of the Spanish merchant ship slowly tilted like a reed snapped by a giant, its sails tangled and crashing onto the deck, slamming four sailors who were operating the sails onto the deck.

"Charge! Second round, grapeshot!" Zhou Yuefeng stepped onto the still-trembling deck and headed towards the starboard side.

Through the billowing smoke, he saw the Spanish using machetes and axes to cut the cables tangled around the helm.

These temporarily recruited merchant sailors, who weren't even wearing uniforms, clearly began to panic after the first wave of attacks.

"boom!"

A fireball suddenly erupted on the starboard side of the "St. Isabel," and the prematurely detonated superimposed shells shattered half of the gun port.

The sailor, engulfed in flames, screamed and jumped into the sea, splashing up a few sprays on the azure surface.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the "Seagull" at the rear also cut into the battlefield like a black shark.

This warship, designed in the style of a clipper ship, has an astonishing length-to-width ratio of 4:1 and can maintain a speed of 5-6 knots even in crosswind conditions.

As the clumsy Santa Catarina finally completed its turn, the Seagull had already completed its T-shaped tactical maneuver, unleashing a storm of fire from its three 12-pounder guns and four 8-pounder guns on the starboard side.

The dull thud of solid cannonballs piercing through the ship's planks mingled with the crisp cracking of human bones.

A shell pierced the upper deck and slammed into the sterncastle, the flying splinters pinning several sailors to the bulkhead.

“My God! They’re slaughtering our soldiers!” Captain Fernandez slumped on the lookout tower at Fort San Diego, watching through his binoculars as the warship flying the red flag carried out a textbook maneuver attack.

The two warships of Xinhua were like black sharks in the sea, exceptionally agile and incredibly fierce.

Whenever Spanish sailors struggled to climb toward the spare cannons, they would use their superior maneuverability to seize advantageous attack positions, and then a new volley of shells would accurately cover the deck.

A sailor whose leg had been broken by a cannonball was dragging his mutilated body through a pool of blood, leaving a scarlet trail three zhang long behind him.

Around 3 p.m., the dying Santa Catarina suddenly displayed extraordinary courage and launched a suicidal charge.

Taking advantage of the rising tide, the battered merchant ship prepared to ram the port side of the "Haiyan".

When the lookout spotted them, the two ships were less than fifty yards apart.

"Hard to starboard! Full sails!" Zhou Yuefeng's knuckles turned white as he gripped the rope.

With a sickening creak of twisting wood, the "Haiyan" made a sharp turn almost skimming the rocks, the spray from its stern deflecting the ram of the Spanish ship—ultimately only grazing the stern railing.

In the instant the two ships passed each other, more than ten flintlock muskets fired simultaneously from the battle mast of the "Haiyan," clearing a fan-shaped blank area on the other ship's deck.

"Prepare for boarding action!" the Spanish captain shouted, drawing his sword, only to see the Xinhua sailors retreat to the inside of the ship's side with cold smiles.

The next second, the dark muzzle of a 12-pound long-barreled cannon on the bow of the "Haiyan" suddenly roared, and countless shrapnel shells rained down on the deck of the "Santa Catarina" more than ten meters away, turning a group of Spanish sailors who were preparing to board the ship into sieves.

A sailor with a bullet hole in his chest stumbled into the gap between the two ships and was instantly crushed in two by the ships that were constantly being squeezed together.

After the secondary mast of the Santa Isabel was broken, the surviving Spaniards finally raised the white flag.

The Spanish, watching from the shore, were horrified to discover that the two professional warships hadn't even given their armed merchant ships a chance to board.

The "Seagull" maintained a precise distance of one hundred meters, using crossfire to turn enemy ships into floating coffins.

At 3:20 p.m., the Santa Catarina also raised a white flag and ceased its futile resistance.

As the smoke cleared, the Xinhua Fleet launched small boats to retrieve prisoners. Zhou Yuefeng stood on the bullet-riddled sterncastle, scanning the fleeing soldiers and civilians on the shore with his monocular binoculars.

"Give the order," the captain's voice was as cold as polar ice, "the fleet is approaching the shore, prepare to bombard the Spanish fortress!"
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(End of this chapter)