Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.

Let’s talk about the sea.

At five o'clock in the morning, the lights on the Duke of Goa, which was on guard outside Shen'ao Bay, were still bright.

In the senior officers' dining room on the stern, Commander Domingo received a report from the front that all troops had landed smoothly without being blocked by the Jiangnan Group. He felt relieved and smiled to Lin Hongzhong and the sea lords beside him: "It seems that the Jiangnan Group is just as I expected, good at naval battles but not good at land battles."

"Of course!" Lin Hongzhong also laughed happily, "Although the Ming court doesn't care who stirs up trouble at sea, anyone who dares to lead an army on land will be executed soon."

"That's right." The sea masters echoed, "Does that kid surnamed Zhao know what an army officer looks like?"

"Okay, everyone, go back and have a rest." Domingo looked at the messy and garbage-filled high-end restaurant and felt distressed. He didn't want to see these rude and vulgar guys again.

But Lin Daoqian is an exception. This handsome man with elegant manners is a true gentleman.

The sea masters also ate and drank their fill, and each of them took a number of cigars and several bottles of wine from him, then stood up and said goodbye with satisfaction.

Their fleet was still in Shen'ao Bay. It was low tide and the water level had dropped drastically. The sea owners had deep-drafted, pointed-bottomed boats and could easily run aground if they were not careful.

So they had to take the barge back first, and when the tide came in, the tide would naturally carry their boat out. Anyway, there were two large sailing ships guarding the bay, so it was very safe.

The ships of the sea lords were in such a state. The two large Western sailing ships, the Oriental Beauty and the Pena, which were currently stationed in the bay, dared not move at all. They dropped anchor and waited obediently for the tide to rise.

Therefore, at this time, in the huge Shen'ao Bay, apart from a few small sampans responsible for keeping watch cruising around, there were only two caravels, the Duke of Goa and the Legares.

~~

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard fleet weighed anchor at three o'clock and, with the help of the ocean current, slowly sailed towards Shen'ao Bay, 10 kilometers away.

There was not a breath of wind in the foggy day, and the sails of the sailboat were useless. All we could rely on were the two oars - for a capital ship of six or seven hundred tons, even if the two oars were broken, it would not provide much power.

Therefore, the fleet's speed was incredibly slow, only 5 kilometers per hour.

It was five o'clock in the morning when we arrived near Lieyu Island outside Shen'ao Bay.

After counting, it was found that two medium-sized ships, 207 Qiang Ri and 210 Mo Diao, were missing, probably due to heavy fog.

Four other small ships and two speedboats also temporarily lost contact. This was normal. Sailing at night was difficult, and the sea was thick with fog, with no reference points. They could only rely on a compass and a speedometer, and use a ruler to calculate their approximate position on the nautical chart.

Usually when the Coast Guard fleet sails at night, the leading ship should hang double or four tail lights to guide the following ship. However, in order to make full use of the concealment of the fog and prevent the Portuguese patrol boats from discovering them in advance, Wang Rulong implemented a strict light control, not even allowing navigation lights to be hung. Therefore, most of the ships were able to reach the assembly point because of the captains and navigators' strong skills and good luck.

The scouts who had arrived early for reconnaissance had been waiting there for a long time. After joining the fleet, they immediately went to the Zhenwo Ship and reported what they had discovered.

I heard that the red-haired devil's large sailing ship had finally separated from the pirate ship. In addition, two of the four large sailing ships were in the bay, and two were inside the bay, not together.

Wang Rulong patted Ma Yinglong's shoulder excitedly, unable to suppress his excitement and said, "This is a godsend opportunity!"

"Yes, you have been waiting for this moment, right?" Ma Yinglong grinned and said, "But we didn't think that the four boats would separate, did we?"

"Yeah." Wang Rulong nodded and said, "I really didn't expect that the always cautious red-haired ghost would be so arrogant!"

"It's not that I'm too arrogant, it's that you're too crazy." Ma Yinglong said with a wry smile: "Only a madman would risk flying at night in this foggy day, let alone fighting."

"I'm not crazy." Wang Rulong corrected him seriously: "The fleet has been training on Nan'ao Island for a month and a half. They know how to move with their eyes closed. Those idiots who fell behind, wait and see how I'll deal with them!"

"Let's talk business first. How are you going to fight? Which plan are you going to use?" Ma Yinglong asked, changing the subject. In fact, according to the regulations, rewards and punishments for officers and soldiers should be proposed by police officers and decided and implemented by the police department. Of course, now is not the time to worry about this.

"Plan G!" Wang Rulong thought for a moment and made a decisive decision: "We will divide our forces. I will take four battleships to deal with the two ships outside, and you will take the rest of the ships to charge in and block the ships inside. Don't let them come out to cause trouble!"

"Other ships are easy to deal with, but I'm afraid we won't be able to stop the two large sailboats in the bay for long." Ma Yinglong said worriedly, "Once the tide starts to rise, we won't be able to stop them."

"It doesn't matter. There are still two hours before high tide. That's enough time." Wang Rulong said firmly.

At this time, the captains of each ship also gathered on the flagship to receive the final combat orders.

After Wang Rulong announced the implementation of Plan Geng, Ma Yinglong and the other captains left first.

Wang Rulong called the captains of the four battleships, Xiang Xuehai, Haierdi, Rong Sheng and Xin Fei. After Rong Sheng sent Zheng Yu south, he refused to return to Naha and insisted on returning to the 103 ship to finish the battle first. Wang Rulong also considered that he had more experience than the trainee captain, so he also pleaded with Zhao Hao. Mr. Zhao nodded in agreement.

"Brothers, in this first show, you four will play the leading roles." Wang Rulong said in a deep voice.

"Just wait and see." Xiang Xuehai and the others were ready to fight. They were all old brothers, so there was no need to waste time talking.

"How do we fight?" Haierdi asked impatiently.

"What I'm thinking is, we will enter the position in a side-by-side column, and after seeing the enemy ships, we will adopt a double-ship tactic and attack from both sides!" Wang Rulong had already made up his mind. After saying this, he looked at the four captains with a hint of provocation and said, "What do you think? Do you dare?"

"Dare, so dare!" Rong Sheng grinned.

"It's already this time, there's nothing to be afraid of!" Xin Fei smiled nonchalantly.

"Then go ahead." Wang Rulong saluted the four people solemnly and said, "The yellow sand has been through a hundred battles and the golden armor has been worn!"

"We will not return until we have conquered Loulan!" The four men saluted him solemnly and hurried back to their respective warships.

~~

The helmsman turned the rudder, and the oarsmen rowed desperately. The warships of the Coast Guard Fleet split into two teams at a very slow speed. One team followed Ma Yinglong in a horizontal formation to the south and entered Shen'ao Bay. The other team followed Wang Rulong in a side-by-side column to the west.

In the naval battles of the Age of Exploration, maintaining formation was crucial. The side that did it better could better exert the power of artillery, and the warships could better support each other, so the hope of victory was naturally greater.

Therefore, since its establishment, the most important training subject for the Coast Guard Fleet is to sail in various formations and switch formations during navigation.

Because the most ideal tactic is to engage the enemy in a "T-shape", fleets usually sail in a horizontal line when entering a position, with the bow and stern connected.

What Wang Rulong called "shoulder-to-shoulder column" required all the warships to line up in a column and enter the position in parallel. This would solve the problem of the flagship being fired upon in a horizontal column, and there would be no defect that if the leading warship could not move, it would hinder the movement of the warships behind.

However, Wang Rulong valued the fact that this formation had a large search range and could find enemy ships at the first opportunity, unlike a line formation, which could only rely on the flagship to find the enemy. In this foggy night, it would be easy to pass by the enemy.

However, this formation is very difficult to arrange, because all warships must maintain the same speed. Once there is a speed difference, the formation will be messed up. When sailing in silence, there is a lack of communication tools and visibility is extremely poor, which makes it even more difficult to maintain this formation.

Fortunately, the four captains are all veterans who have been working together for many years. Relying on their tacit understanding, they can maintain a good formation without having to deliberately observe and adjust.

All the lookouts went up to the observation tower, opened their eyes wide, and carefully searched for enemy ships in the thick fog.

More than 300 officers and soldiers on the four warships have all taken their positions, staring straight ahead.

While searching for the enemy, you must also try to hide yourself as much as possible so as not to be discovered by the enemy.

So the more than 300 people did not even dare to cough, and the rowers stopped rowing, relying entirely on the ocean currents to carry the warship silently and slowly to the west.

The speed was shockingly slow, and it took a full forty minutes to travel more than one kilometer.

Suddenly, a black shadow like a small hill appeared in the milky white fog right in front!

Almost all the lookouts spotted the enemy at the first opportunity! They immediately slid down from the mast, reported to the commander first, and then quickly passed the news to all officers and soldiers on the ship.

The four warships immediately transitioned from a side-by-side column to a double-ship tactic - after entering the position, the warships lined up in two rows and attacked the enemy fleet in the middle from the left and right. In this way, two ships faced one enemy ship, achieving a two-on-one attack! Give full play to the firepower advantage of the team.

Usually this tactic is only used to bully the weak, because it has a huge flaw - the Western sailing ship has two rows of gun positions on both sides of the ship. If you attack them from both sides, won't it give them the opportunity to open fire?

But the reason why a famous general is a famous general is because he sees things differently from others! Wang Rulong firmly believes that his choice is correct!

Because there are only four warships, it is not difficult to transition from the side-by-side column to the double-ship tactics. The two outermost ships only need to slow down, and after they have staggered their positions, they can turn the rudders inward and follow behind the front ship.

For some reason, even after the formation was adjusted, the enemy still didn't notice their presence.

In fact, it was a coincidence that Domingo was about to send the sea masters off the ship. In order to quickly send these plague gods away, the Portuguese summoned all the patrol boats around to the flagship. The drunken sea masters shouted loudly on the deck of the Duke of Goa. The noisy scene made the Portuguese look sideways and involuntarily neglected to be vigilant around.

It was not until Ship 102 appeared dozens of meters to the left of the Duke of Goa that the Portuguese sailors on the small boats exclaimed.

"Ataque!"

That cry was like an order, and the two rows of artillery on the front right side of the 102 fleet roared at the same time!