The fourteenth day of the winter month in the seventh year of the Wanli reign.

All the warships of the combined fleet safely passed through the San Miao Strait and anchored at the location of Tacloban Port in later generations.

This natural sheltered harbor facing the Leyte Gulf has an anchorage depth of 7-12 meters and is large enough to accommodate all warships.

What’s even more interesting is that it is at the deepest part of the Leyte Gulf, like a appendix of the Leyte Gulf. Unless the Spanish sent ships in to search, they would not discover that there was a huge fleet hidden here.

But in the Spaniards' perception, this section of the strait is not navigable. They have nothing better to do than to sail against the wind for a whole day to come here to take a look.

To be on the safe side, the Military Intelligence Agency set up several observation posts on Leyte Island and Sanmiao Island, always watching the Leyte Gulf with high-powered telescopes. If a ship really came, there would be enough time to deal with it.

In order to capture the whereabouts of the Invincible Fleet as soon as possible, the theater staff designed a "Skynet" system.

This skynet starts from Sanmiao Island and the east coast of Mindanao Island, and extends into the depths of the ocean to form a huge chessboard with a length and width of 500 kilometers.

The staff numbered each square on the chessboard in advance, and intelligence officers dressed as pirates to patrol the corresponding areas. In this way, whether the Invincible Fleet entered the Leyte Gulf or went south to Mindanao, it would be discovered by us at the first time.

Each reconnaissance ship carried carrier pigeons, and once the enemy was discovered, they would be immediately released back to the pigeon house on Sanmao Island.

The Military Intelligence Department can grasp the movements of the enemy fleet at the first time, and when the enemy approaches within 100 kilometers of the Leyte Gulf, it can notify the Combined Fleet to weigh anchor.

The combined fleet waited in full force for one, two, and three days, but never received any intelligence of the enemy being found...

Although the fleet was conducting various training and exercises every day to keep officers and soldiers in the best condition, anxiety began to spread among senior commanders.

Because according to estimates, the Invincible Fleet should appear within the reconnaissance range on the day they took up their positions, which means it should be 500 kilometers away from Leyte Gulf.

As time passed, the commanders' confidence in annihilating the enemy in Leyte Gulf began to waver...

~~

Inside the operations room of the Kaiyuan armored battleship, the flagship of the Combined Fleet.

Fleet commander Wang Rulong, police commissioner Ma Yinglong, deputy commander and assault fleet commander Lin Feng, and commander of the upper-wind fleet Xiang Xuehai, all four of them were staring at the sea chart with red eyes.

"Lao Wang, commander-in-chief, we must leave the port urgently and rush to Hele Island!" Xiang Xuehai's face was full of anxiety, his eyes were bloodshot, he slammed the map table heavily, and roared in a low voice: "If we are lucky, we can intercept them in the Sulu Sea!"

"Don't be so loud. Come, have a mint candy to get rid of your bad breath." Ma Yinglong peeled a piece of candy for him. This guy had a bad breath because of his anger.

"Ah Feng, what do you think?" Wang Rulong looked at Lin Feng. The battle plan was drawn up based on her plan. Of course, he had to respect her judgment.

"According to the theory, they should have been under Skynet's surveillance three days ago." Lin Feng's beautiful eyes were filled with bloodshot, and she was obviously in great anxiety.

"There has been no movement so far. Could it be that they were blown off course by the north wind and went directly into the Sulu Sea from the south of Mindanao?"

"Old Ma, what do you think?" Wang Rulong asked Ma Yinglong again.

"That's what I think." Ma Yinglong whispered, "Did the strategic deception fail? Did the Spanish still expect us to wait for them in the Surigao Strait? So they took a detour?"

Seeing that the three people agreed, Wang Rulong closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said:

"If we go to Hele Island now, our whereabouts will be completely exposed. And even if we encounter the enemy, we will never be able to wipe out the enemy in the open Sulu Sea."

"That's better than waiting here!" Xiang Xuehai said in a muffled voice: "If the Spanish land intact, that would be the biggest disaster!"

Wang Rulong still shook his head, picked up a tamarind from the table, peeled it, put the tamarind inside into his mouth, and chewed it slowly. Since he quit smoking and drinking, he relied on eating this thing to refresh his mind.

"Let's wait a little longer." After eating a few tamarinds, Wang Rulong clapped his hands and made up his mind: "I think you are overthinking. The Spaniards are simply late. The Invincible Fleet has been drifting on the sea for so long. It's normal for something to go wrong and delay them for a few days..."

"What's your reason?" the three asked in unison.

"It's simple, human nature." Wang Rulong said slowly: "Whether on the sea or on land, it's always people who fight. So if you learn to analyze people's hearts, you can grasp the enemy's movements."

The three nodded and listened to him continue.

"The Spaniards had gone through a long transoceanic voyage and did not receive any supplies in Guam, so they must have been in a very bad state when they set out again. The captains must have used the tactic of 'looking at plums to quench thirst' and advertised that there were delicious food, fine wine and beautiful women waiting for everyone in Cebu in order to calm their men."

Saying these words made him cough again. After panting for a while, he continued:

"If we ignore the shortcut to Cebu and take a longer detour to the newly opened Brunei, the sailors will mutiny. Since the marquis is known as the 'Father of Soldiers', he will not take such a risk. Currently, Leyte Gulf and Surigao Strait are under the control of the Spanish, so unless they are sure that we are ambushed here, the Invincible Fleet will not easily go south."

"What you said makes sense." Xiang Xuehai frowned and said, "But are you sure they didn't notice our movements?"

"I believe in your promise." Wang Rulong glanced at him and said, "Are you going to question me?"

"Of course I don't dare!" Xiang Xuehai almost jumped up and hit the ceiling like a cat whose tail was guessed.

"Relax, I'm just kidding." Wang Rulong laughed, "But you have to trust your comrades. With the unprecedented organizational and executive capabilities of our group and the theater, it's impossible for the other party not to be fooled."

"That's right. We even used a fake fleet. How could the Spaniards not be fooled?" Xiang Xuehai finally nodded.

In fact, what Wang Rulong really believed in was the intuition he developed amidst the sea of ​​blood and corpses. But this was even less convincing...

~~

In any case, at Wang Rulong's insistence, the combined fleet waited for another two days.

On the morning of the sixth day, he was receiving cupping treatment in the infirmary.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor, and then the door of the infirmary was pushed open heavily. Ma Yinglong waved a piece of paper and said breathlessly: "We found them!"

"Oh, where is it?!" Although Wang Rulong looks calm all day long, he is actually under a lot of pressure, otherwise he would have come for cupping.

He was afraid that if the matter dragged on for too long, the fake fleet in Brunei Bay would be exposed.

Wang Rulong supported himself on the medical bed and tried to get up, but he forgot that his back was covered with bamboo cups. How could he get up?

"It hurts, it hurts..." He grimaced and said to Chen Shigong, the deputy director of the Coast Guard General Hospital on board, "Pull it out for me!"

"No, the time has not come yet." Chen Shigong ignored him and was busy flipping through the Song Dynasty edition of "Essentials of Surgery".

This Wang is simply the shame of his life. Over the years, Wang Rulong's health has been getting worse and worse. Some people have been saying behind his back that he, the attending doctor, is the vice president of the Shanghai Police General Hospital because his master is Li Lunming...

He is obviously proficient in surgery, and he is even better than his master...

Wang Rulong had no choice but to take the paper and lie on the operating table to look at it.

"You're right, the Spanish are coming to Leyte Gulf!" Ma Yinglong rubbed his hands happily and said, "Good things take time, and beautiful women are hard to find!"

"You're still full of yourself." Wang Rulong grinned and said, "Hurry up and notify them to come to the meeting!"

"I've already notified them." Ma Yinglong said with a smile, "Just focus on the cupping. It won't be delayed!"

~~

The combined fleet swept away the gloom of the past few days, and the coast guard officers and soldiers who had been suffocating, and made preparations for war again as quickly as possible.

Once the enemy's intelligence was started, the follow-up news came back one after another. In the next two days, the intelligence officers in Skynet continuously sent the Spanish fleet's course, speed, composition, formation, status, etc. back to Sanmiao Island, and then quickly passed it on to the fleet.

On the afternoon of the 21st day of the winter month, the Spanish fleet was only 100 kilometers away from Leyte Gulf.

Wang Rulong ordered to weigh anchor and the fleet sailed into the Leyte Gulf in formation, completing the formation before dark!

The first to enter the Leyte Gulf was the Windward Fleet led by Xiang Xuehai, which consisted of 4 battleships, 8 cruisers, 10 destroyers, and 12 frigates.

Then there was the assault fleet led by Lin Feng, consisting of 6 battleships, 10 cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 18 frigates.

Next was the reserve fleet led by Wang Rulong himself, consisting of 2 battleships, 6 cruisers, 10 destroyers and 16 frigates.

The remaining 4 destroyers and 10 frigates formed an interception fleet, commanded by Xin Fei, responsible for intercepting the fleeing enemy. So this fleet did not participate in the formation.

The three squadrons formed three columns in the Leyte Gulf as they had practiced countless times before, and sailed overnight to Homonhon Island at the mouth of the bay.

That is the starting point for tomorrow's attack.

Then the fleet quietly dropped anchor, because even the Coast Guard fleet did not have the ability to conduct large-scale maneuvers at night.

~~

At about 6 a.m. on the 22nd, the fleet began to turn so as to occupy the upper hand of the Invincible Fleet in a roughly parallel direction.

It took two hours for so many warships to turn southwest and re-form formation.

As soon as they completed the formation, the vanguard of the Invincible Armada suddenly appeared.

The Homonhong Island, with an area of ​​20 square kilometers, is not very big, but it is big enough to block three columns of the Coast Guard fleet.

So the Spanish galleon "Innocent" passed the cashew-shaped Homonhon Island and suddenly discovered the dark warships.

The crew of the Immaculate was terrified. The captain quickly ordered the cannon to be fired, not to hit the enemy ship, but to remind the warships behind him to prepare for battle...

The first shot of the Battle of Leyte Gulf was fired in this way.

ps. Look, there was a shot, right?