Yongxia Bay is extremely large. The distance from Yongxia Port to Chenmei Island, which guards the entrance of the bay, is a hundred miles.
It was already midnight when the joint coast guard fleet arrived at the mouth of the bay.
The Combined Fleet, which was familiar with the Luzon waters, did not stop at Chenmei Island overnight. Instead, under the command of the lighthouse, it sailed out of Yongxia Bay under the cover of night and disappeared into the pitch-black sea.
At the same time, 300 kilometers away in the deep ocean, a large fleet weighed anchor and set sail. This was the Royal Marine Armed Merchant Fleet led by Chen Huaixiu, with a total of 140 large and medium-sized armed merchant ships.
The reason for using Royal Shipping instead of South China Sea Shipping is naturally for the sake of confidentiality.
Their mission was to replace the Combined Fleet and sail south to Borneo, approaching Brunei Bay. These latest armed merchant ships had similar sails and hull designs to the new warships, but the materials and workmanship were completely different, and they only had a few guns.
The cost of building a battleship is enough to build 100 merchant ships of the same tonnage...
After careful camouflage, such as being painted gray-blue like the coast guard ships and having a row of realistic gun ports painted on the side walls, these 140 armed merchant ships do not look very similar to the coast guard warships, but they do look exactly the same.
At least during normal navigation, it is difficult to see the subtle difference between the two without close observation. In order to prevent the pirates from getting close and being exposed, there is also a destroyer squadron from the Taiwan Garrison to provide escort for them and not allow any ships to approach.
A day later, the South China Sea pirates hired by the Spanish and cruising near Mayit Island discovered a huge fleet flying the Coast Guard flag heading south.
They followed the fleet from a distance and saw it arrive at Palawan Island three days later.
Six days later, the fleet arrived in Borneo.
Because the Spaniards had withdrawn all their warships in advance, they encountered no resistance at all, and Chen Huaixiu's "fleet" blockaded Brunei Bay.
"Sister-in-law, how about we make our fake play real?" Standing next to her was her brother-in-law Shen Teng. The child who was almost poisoned to death by mercury back then was now half a head taller than her.
This was Shen Teng's first time going out to sea with his sister-in-law. As a young man, who wouldn't want to be the protagonist and be in the limelight? Looking at the Brunei City in front of him, he couldn't help but feel itchy. "Let's just take this place down."
The 20,000 sailors, tens of thousands of guns, and hundreds of cannons on these 140 ships filled the young man, who had never seen the difference between an armed merchant ship and a real warship, with confidence in their strength.
"Xiao Teng, this is a war, and military orders are as heavy as a mountain." Chen Huaixiu said calmly: "Our mission is to stop here, not to cause trouble."
"Oh." Shen Teng nodded, not daring to say any more nonsense.
~~
On the other side, the real Combined Fleet had quietly moved north, and after seven days of sailing, it circled to the east side of Luzon Island.
Then ride the wind southwards towards your real destination.
The Luzon Sea was full of blue waves. On the 01st ship Kaiyuan, on the 02nd ship Chixiao, on the 03rd ship Juque... on the 101st armored cruiser Tamra, on the 102nd armored cruiser Fengshan, on the 103rd ship Keelung...
On the 128 warships of the Combined Fleet, 128 captains, with their different accents but all powerful and sonorous voices, read out the Commander-in-Chief's handwritten letter to all the officers and soldiers on the ship - "For Our Future Generations"!
"My soldiers:
I'm sorry to communicate with you in this way.
In order to completely annihilate the powerful Spanish fleet, the theater of operations formulated a strategic deception plan to make the enemy believe that our target was Brunei, so that they would enter our preset battlefield - Leyte Gulf.
You all understand the principle that all is fair in war, and you also remember the Coast Guard's confidentiality system, so you shouldn't blame me for telling you the truth only now.
But I still want to apologize to you solemnly and give you the real order again—"
The coast guard officers and soldiers who had been sitting neatly on the deck listening to the instructions, all stood up in unison.
All I heard was the captains shouting in a sonorous voice:
"Go to Leyte Gulf! Intercept the Spanish expeditionary fleet and strike the invaders head-on while they are coming from afar! Destroy the enemy at all costs and in all possibilities! Never let any enemy ship invade our people!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
From the warships one after another, responses like thunder and sea roared one after another, and then became one, shaking the sea and sky!
When the officers and soldiers quieted down, the captains continued to read loudly:
"My soldiers, brothers, comrades!
In the past ten years, we have worked hard, pioneered, and built something from scratch!
We fight the wind and waves, resist the cold and heat, train hard, and grow from weak to strong!
We risked our lives, braved arrows and stones, and fought to the death with stubborn enemies to fight for sea power!
We have been victorious in every battle and have finally become the ruler of the Ming Dynasty and the patron saint of millions of overseas Han people!
Looking back now, it seems that all these steps have been leading up to today, allowing us to step onto the stage to compete with the world's strongest navy!
I have repeatedly told you what the Chinese nation is; I have also said many times that I will promise you an unprecedented beautiful new world! If we win this battle beautifully, our Chinese nation and our descendants will truly have a smooth path to the promised land!
By then, the Indian plains will be our granary, Australia will have our pastures, and the South American plateaus and the western prairies of North America will have our cattle. Gold from Japan, Peru, Luzon, and the islands will flow to the Ming Dynasty. Indians will grow cotton for us, and Siberia will provide us with endless wood. Our sugarcane, spice, and rubber plantations will be spread across the South China Sea Islands. In this beautiful new world, our descendants will never be hungry and will always enjoy abundance! Our nation will also usher in the greatest revival!
This is also what my heart desires, and I will not regret it even if I die nine times!
The nation and the people need us to give everything! In order to protect our people and to give our nation a prosperous future - please do your duty and fight bravely!
Glory belongs to the great Coast Guard Fleet!
Sincerely,
salute.
Zhao Hao on October 30th, the seventh year of the Wanli reign
~~
Zhao Hao's handwritten letter had an extremely shocking effect, and all the coast guard officers and soldiers who participated in the battle were infected by the commander-in-chief's lofty ambitions.
A sacred sense of mission filled their hearts, making them like possessed, willing to sacrifice their precious lives for future generations and for that new world.
The coast guard officers and soldiers wrote blood letters requesting to fight, expressing their determination and courage to fight to the death!
The combined fleet is in great strength and full of vigor!
Specific combat missions were also issued at this time, and each ship had its own clear mission.
The commanders began to lead their subordinates to study the geography, sea conditions, hydrology, and wind direction of Leyte Gulf, Surigao Strait, and Bohol Sea in a hurry to ensure that they had a good understanding of the relatively unfamiliar sea area. No matter what happened or what difficulties they encountered, they could resolutely use their strengths to overcome the enemy's weaknesses! Overwhelm the enemy and destroy the enemy!
On the tenth day of the last month of the seventh year of the Wanli reign, the combined fleet arrived at the Dongmen Strait, and the lighthouse on the Strait emitted the message "Congratulations on the triumphant return".
The patrol detachment stationed here had already cleared all the unidentified ships in the strait, assisting the joint fleet to pass through the strait silently and enter the Samar Sea.
On the 11th, the fleet arrived at the entrance of the Sanmao Strait, which was controlled by the Sulus.
Yazid was originally ordered to lead the Sulu pirates to occupy this place. On the pretext of looking for a place to settle down, he expelled the Leyte and Samar people living on both sides of the strait.
These indigenous people were relatively submissive, otherwise they would not have converted to Catholicism so early. They were unable to defeat the ferocious Sulu pirates and could only ask for help from the red-haired dads in Cebu.
And the Spaniards did not act rashly as Zhao Hao had said.
Poor Governor Francis had to maintain two strongholds in Cebu and Brunei at the same time, and prepare supplies for the Invincible Armada. His hair was almost pulled bald. How could he have the energy and manpower to take care of these trivial matters?
After Ye Qide had the situation under control, Luzon Port Authority and Luzon Construction sent out 5,000 construction teams, who, with a series of chipping and blasting, cleared the blocked section.
Because the Spanish were not punctual, they arrived a month later than scheduled. The construction workers also widened several narrow waterways to ensure the safe passage of the 2,000-ton giant ship. They also built docks and warehouses at the entrance of the strait so that the war zone could store supplies and provide the last supply for the joint fleet.
Although repeated sea trials had been conducted in the Sanmiao Strait, in order to ensure that the bulky battleships and cruisers would not encounter any accidents during the passage, the theater of operations allocated 40 Swordfish-style paddle-sailed assault speedboats as tugboats to tow the 36 main battleships one by one.
These Swordfish were originally used for offshore patrols, so they did not follow the combined fleet in a large detour. After leaving Yongxia Bay, they headed south separately, cooperated with the Dongmen Strait patrol team to clean up the sea surface, and then hid in Sanmiao Bay. All officers and soldiers disembarked at the dock to rest and recharge their energy for the arduous mission.
On the 12th, the Combined Fleet completed its final supply.
At this time, half of the destroyers and frigates had already passed through the 20-kilometer-long choke point.
The Luzon Port Authority had already set up two rows of conspicuous buoys in the strait in advance to mark a safe waterway.
The 333-ton frigate was light and maneuverable, and it easily passed through the strait along the waterway.
By the time a 500-ton destroyer passed through, it seemed a bit cumbersome and it was difficult to stay on course.
This is normal, the winds in the straits are strong and the waves are big in winter. It is indeed difficult to ask a sailing warship without independent power to always stay on course.
However, this did not pose a problem for the high-spirited coast guard officers and soldiers. They lowered the lifeboat, connected it to the warship with cables, then rowed and towed their warship through the strait on time.
But the battleships and destroyers were too heavy, especially the armored battleships, and all the lifeboats could not be towed even if they were deployed together.
Therefore, a large warship must be towed by two Swordfish to pass through the strait safely.
For fear of missing the opportunity to fight, the coast guard soldiers also used lifeboats to help. As a result, it took only one day to tow all 36 battleships to the other side of the strait.
Prior to this, Luzon Port Authority estimated that it would take two days...
P.S. Don't worry, the battle will start tonight. If you don't fire, you're not a human being...