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Chapter 1231: The Foundation of the British Empire
In the current scenario, the advantage of a small and flexible ship is more prominent. Since the naval guns themselves do not have a large firing range, if you want to aim, you must rely on the hull to find the direction. Therefore, as long as the Ming Navy does not sail side by side with the enemy, even if the rear-loading cannon is replaced with a front-loading one, it will still have a great advantage.

Hong Tao once again divided the fleet into two formations, each of which performed serpentine maneuvers in front of the Spanish fleet, using the ship's speed and turning advantages to force the opponent to find it difficult to aim sideways. At the same time, there would always be one of his formations that could find the opportunity to fire each shell accurately.

However, this tactic requires a very high degree of coordination and tacit understanding. Since the two formations often have to cross each other, the sailors will become overly tired over time, and if one ship goes to the wrong position, it may cause a collision.

Fortunately, the Ming Navy would be pulled out for training for a few days when they had nothing to do, and they would do this kind of tactical formation drills. With the help of sails and ship types, there would be no major problems within at least three or four hours.

In fact, it didn't take that long. Fifteen minutes after the battle began, the victory finally came. The lead ship in the Spanish fleet was hit by multiple shells at the waterline, taking on more and more water, and had to lower the sails and stop the ship to save itself.

At this time, the Spanish commander probably saw something was going on, and planned to use his own tactics to retaliate. He also divided the fleet into two groups, one on the left and one on the right, in order to make the Ming navy lose sight of one while focusing on the other.

"Hey, this is going to be fun! Give the order to continue the attack from the front. The flagship formation will be responsible for the north."

Seeing the enemy change their formation, Hong Tao smiled even more happily. This change was exactly in the Navy's training outline, so there was no need to practice it on the spot. They could fight the same way they trained in normal times.

Moreover, if a single formation attacks from the front, they no longer have to worry about whether they will collide with their own formation. Even if the firepower is reduced by half, it will be easier.

In this way, more than 30 large sailing ships played a game of chase on the sea south of the Galapagos Islands, cursing at each other as they ran, but instead of using words, they used iron lumps to spray each other.

The Spanish fleet had an absolute advantage in numbers, more than three times as many. However, the speed of the ships was too slow, and they could not catch up with the Ming navy that was twisting and turning in front of them. Most of the warships had dozens of cannons, but they had never had a chance to fire after almost an hour of fighting.

If we can't catch up, will we give up? The answer is no. When the Spaniards slowed down, the Ming navy also slowed down; when the Spaniards turned, the Ming navy immediately accelerated and went around. They were always following them from the side and front, firing a barrage of shells from time to time, specifically targeting the leader.

The situation of another formation a few kilometers away was similar. The four small warships were like machetes in the sea, darting around without giving any aiming angle, and when they saw an opportunity, they would open their bloody mouths and bite fiercely.

The Spanish fleet commander had to make another change as he watched two more leading three-masted sailing ships withdraw from the battlefield.
This time, the method he adopted was more effective. Everyone turned the bow of the boat and headed for the islands under the oncoming shells. As long as they could cover the distance of more than ten kilometers, they would no longer be a sitting duck.

The waterway in the archipelago is less than ten kilometers wide, with reefs and shoals on both sides, and the width that can be safely navigated is less than three kilometers. Even the most maneuverable sailing warships dare not circle around in such sea conditions. Reducing the battlefield area can indeed limit flexible positioning tactics.

"Let No. 113 stay behind to rescue people, and the rest of the ships will re-form and follow the flagship, keep to the right side of the waterway, turn every 500 meters, shoot at 300 range, and don't get too close." Hong Tao didn't have a good way to deal with this change.

Fortunately, the internal waterway map of the archipelago has been made these days, so at least there is no need to worry about running aground on the reef during the day. The rest is just a matter of waiting and seeing who can outlast the other.

At this time, too many people on the ship became a burden. In addition to the small number of personnel and low consumption, the Ming Navy also had supply ships parked in the bay on the west side of the main island, so they could afford to waste time. "Bang, bang, bang... bang, bang..." Two hours later, the mast lookout suddenly sounded the alarm. Another large fleet was discovered 2 kilometers ahead, heading due south, that is, coming towards them.

"Hey, this is going to be exciting! I want to see how so many large sailing ships meet in the waterway. Tell all ships to speed up and increase their firing rate. Don't let them sit idle!"

Hong Tao could probably guess who was coming, but the enemy certainly didn't know that the southern squadron was forced to retreat back into the archipelago. Continuing to exert pressure at this time might cause the enemy commander and lookout to focus too much energy on the back and fail to notice the oncoming friendly forces in time.

Sailing ships have a large turning radius and a longer braking distance. When two large fleets sailing at full speed meet head-on and one of them fails to notice in time, it will be a big show.

But Hong Tao was soon disappointed. The two Spanish fleets heading towards each other did not fall into chaos because of dodging.

They were a little late in discovering each other, but their rich sailing experience and strong psychological quality immediately showed their effect. The two fleets actually did three plus two in a short period of time and passed each other.

Not only did they avoid the danger of collision, but they also steered towards the tails of their respective ships, forcing the Ming Navy to make an emergency turn to barely avoid a possible close-range combat.

This approach should be the optimal solution in this situation and sea conditions. Even if Hong Tao were to be the commander of the Spanish fleet, he would not be able to do better.

Although two Spanish warships on the outermost side ran aground in shallow waters due to unfamiliarity with the waterway, it was still harmless. As long as the formation was not scattered, they would not be attacked and could be pulled out with other ships when the time came.

"Tsk tsk tsk, did you see that? We are not the only navy with the best technology in the world. Stop saying nonsense like "the best in the world" in the future. Being modest brings benefits, while being arrogant brings harm."

Faced with this situation, Hong Tao went from watching the fun to taking the opportunity to teach his subordinates a lesson, focusing on criticizing Bai Fan, the deputy chief of naval staff who came with the ship, because he was the one who talked a lot of nonsense these days, with a shallow face that said he was the best in the world.

"Your Majesty, it will be dark in three or four hours. There are three wide waterways here, north, south, and east. It may not be easy to block them with only our dozen ships. Should we arrange to lay mines immediately?"

Bai Fan was smart. He didn't bother about the two stranded Spanish warships. He immediately changed the topic and started discussing how to fight, thus smoothly avoiding the embarrassment of admitting his mistake.

According to the plan, most of the main force of the Spanish fleet on the west coast of America must be destroyed in the waters near the archipelago, and they must not be allowed any chance to escape back.

(End of this chapter)