unclear

Chapter 1435 Each Fights Their Own Way
The moment the door closed, two streams of tears slid down his cheeks. He had done his best, but he couldn't stop his country from sliding into the abyss. Regardless of the extent of the losses, this defeat would be beyond the reach of Spain's treasury.

Leaving aside distant issues, the domestic struggles for independence between Portugal and the Basque Country alone were enough to throw Spain into chaos, making its disintegration inevitable. With Spain's decline, it faced formidable competition from France and England, as well as its arch-rival, the Netherlands, leaving it surrounded by powerful rivals and with a bleak future.

The reasons why the once mighty British Empire declined so quickly are numerous. But one of the culprits was undoubtedly the Ming Dynasty in faraway Asia.

Ever since the fall of Manila and the loss of the Viceroyalty of the Philippines, the Kingdom of Spain has never had an easy time. Now, with the seizure of the Viceroyalty of Peru, the new Viceroyalty of Spain is in grave danger, a situation more damaging than that of European countries over the past century.

However, with enemy warships and ports right before their eyes, the inability to exact revenge was a profound disgrace for a soldier. Yet, Tropp and Blazer's words made perfect sense: a will to die alone was insufficient for victory. The disparity in strength between the two sides was too great; simply gaining more allies wouldn't turn the tide.

That evening, two of the warships anchored and patrolling near the landing site suddenly turned on their navigation lights. It wasn't a mistake; they stayed on until the early hours of the morning.

Several bright spots suddenly appeared on the dark sea, strikingly conspicuous regardless of whether there was a moon or not. Almost simultaneously, the hot air balloons in the port area and the lookouts on the control tower noticed the anomaly and immediately reported it to their superiors.

"What does this mean...? Are they trying to lure us into a sneak attack? Or are they provoking us?"

Upon receiving the report, Zhu Neng and Xiao Si immediately gathered in Command Tower No. 1. After clearly seeing the outlines of several mast lights through the binoculars, they were immediately plunged into deep confusion.

Generally speaking, warships anchored near enemy waters would implement blackouts to prevent nighttime attacks, making it impossible for the enemy on shore to locate them. Such a blatant exposure of their position suggests only one possibility: to guide friendly forces on shore for nighttime ferry operations.

However, no large-scale ferry boats were found on the sea. If it was a small-scale operation, it could have been carried out during the day, and there was no need to risk being attacked by doing it at night.

As the saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire," and the only word Zhu Neng could think of was "trap." He believed it was a trap set by the enemy to lure the port defenders into a surprise attack.

"This is too stupid... Never mind it, notify every household to increase nighttime patrols and monitor closely, use all the flares, throw one every time you drink a cup of tea, let's just do what we can!"

Xiao Si's imagination wasn't as strong as Zhu Neng's; after racking his brains for a long time, he couldn't come up with any new tricks. He simply gave up trying to figure it out; let them do whatever they want, he remained unmoved. Anyway, the rescue fleet had arrived, and various supply ships were surely not far behind; let them use whatever tricks they had up their sleeves!

The next day, a thick fog rolled in again. As is customary, the attacking side prefers this kind of weather, so when the first wisp of fog rose, the sentries immediately notified officers of all ranks, and everyone went into combat readiness.

Sure enough, just as dawn broke, the enemy's attacking troops crawled across the beach. Yes, crawled, so they could take full advantage of the fog; if they ran, they would stir up the fog and alert the defenders to fire.

Why not attack at night? Is darkness less concealing than fog? Indeed, unless the weather is exceptionally overcast, nights at the beach aren't particularly dark. Especially on the sand, with the moonlight reflected from the water, visibility is still over a hundred meters. But regardless of fog, the attackers couldn't easily get too close to the defenders. The beach was covered with fishing nets and hooks, and fist-sized iron lumps were buried beneath the sand. Anyone accidentally caught in a net or hook could easily trigger an explosion with the slightest pull.

"...It's only been a few days, how come he's getting more and more cowardly?" Inside the rocky fortress, Zhang Yongling stood behind the lookout post, looking at the several piles of firelight not far away, muttering to himself.

To be fair, the European coalition forces were quite strong, especially the soldiers attacking the beach. They did not flinch in the face of crossfire from the trenches and bunkers. They would launch a major attack as soon as there was fog. If the defending forces did not have many advanced weapons and fortifications to rely on, they would have been unable to hold out long ago.

Even so, they were still pushed back several hundred meters, causing war-weariness among the Xhosa soldiers. If they held out a few more days, who knows, one of them might desert and then they would all scatter. The physical abilities of the Black soldiers were truly remarkable; they were agile and strong, but unfortunately, they were somewhat lacking in mental fortitude and had an extreme lack of discipline.

He had already planned that if the Xhosa people did not intend to defend their homeland to the death and abandon their positions to flee, he would ignite the propellant in the gun emplacement and perish with the position.

Once the explosion occurred here, Xiao Si behind should have known what had happened. He would definitely not allow the defeated Khosa soldiers to enter the position. This also set the tone for the future management of Enbird Port: not a single Khosa person would be spared!
However, things didn't go as planned. The European coalition didn't launch a fierce attack using the fog as cover. They merely probed a few times, detonated a few grenades, and then withdrew before the fog had even lifted.

If they don't come, they don't come; time is on our side anyway. Yesterday I heard a small rescue fleet appeared on the sea, which means the main force is just a few days away. The Europeans' morale is probably low because they know reinforcements are arriving, and they're not ready to fight anymore.

Once the sun had fully risen and the fog had completely dissipated, the land battles in the east and north of the port essentially ceased. Under the dense firepower of the defenders, a daytime attack would be tantamount to suicide, so the European coalition chose to launch their attacks at night or in the foggy early morning.

In stark contrast to the land battle, the naval battle had just begun. The Ming fleet, which had disappeared overnight, suddenly reappeared to the west and south of the allied fleet, its numbers multiplied, clearly indicating that it had made contact with the original fleet and rearranged itself.

The Ming navy was now in the lead, and the captains of the allied fleet were cursing under their breath while secretly filled with envy and jealousy. Their speed was incredible; the Ming warships, with their sails fully extended and with the wind at their backs, were like marlin chasing sardine schools, cutting through the waves. From detection to entering firing range, it took less than 15 minutes.

What does 15 minutes mean? The English fleet cruiser squadron, which was sailing from east to west in the south, didn't even have time to turn before they had to engage the enemy at half sail.

"God, there are at least 12 sections! Quickly order the Atas to clear the way! That damned bastard, that drunkard, he'll be in hell sooner or later!"

The commander of this squadron was so enraged that he jumped up and down behind the wheel, cursing the captain of the lead ship to a terrible death. With this ship blocking their way, the ships behind couldn't accelerate, and it was too late to change formation.

(End of this chapter)