Wang Rulong had no way of knowing that while he was sending out all his small boats and sending orders to the coast guard fleet overnight, the Spanish fleet's flagship, the San Felipe, was passing by the Kaiyuan.

The Spanish flagship had one-third of its sails destroyed in the rocket rain that morning, and its two masts were on fire, burning the fleet command flag and the flag of the Marquis of Santa Cruz to ashes.

The flagship's speed was greatly reduced. In order to avoid dragging down the center army, the Marquis had to temporarily transfer the command to the Royal Sovereign, leaving the San Felipe behind.

This is also the reason why Lin Feng couldn’t find it.

However, it was a blessing in disguise. The San Felipe had hardly engaged in combat during the entire day, so the crew was fully staffed and the hull was intact. The carpenters and sailors were busy repairing the masts. The sailmaker was cutting spare sails and directing the sailors to hang them up again.

After all this work, the San Felipe finally restored its power.

This was the only good news the Marquis of Santa Cruz heard on the worst day of his life.

At that time, he was having dinner with the nobles in the luxurious senior officers' restaurant on the stern deck.

The nobles would not eat in the dark, which was too inelegant. They ordered their servants to cover the windows of the dining room with thick velvet and light spermaceti candles in silver candlesticks.

The warm, flickering candlelight illuminates the tablecloth with tassels and gorgeous patterns, as well as the expensive gold, silver, and porcelain tableware, making it look extremely luxurious and glittering.

The food was as rich as possible, with various hams, cheeses, sauces, fish and meat marinated with precious spices, served with white bread and wine. Against the backdrop of tableware and plating, it at least looked tempting.

There is also violin accompaniment.

But the nobles present were all gloomy, and some muttered in a low voice: "Son of a bitch, last supper."

Everyone then realized that, including Governor Francis, there were exactly 13 people dining at the table. Their already depressed mood became even worse.

"Judas!" Suddenly someone glared at the embarrassed Governor Francis. "Are you a spy for the Ming people?!"

"That must be the case!" The arrogant nobles immediately found a scapegoat and said, "He must have defected to the Ming people and deliberately led us into an encirclement!"

The nobles all have the ancestral skill of shifting the blame, and Xiao Fu's broad shoulders are the perfect person to take the blame.

"My God, how can you slander someone's innocence?" Francis knocked over the salt shaker with his elbow, leaned back, and looked terrified and uneasy. "My whole family is in Madrid, and I will go back to inherit the title after I step down as governor! How could I be Judas?!"

"What a quibble! You've been the governor of the Philippines for three years. Don't you know that the Ming navy is an opponent of another level? We can't deal with it at all?!" The nobles held their knives and angrily accused him, "You are deliberately concealing the truth and want us all to die in the Far East!"

"I've reported that the Ming people's rockets are very powerful. I've also reported that they learned from the Portuguese and attach great importance to long-range firepower. Artillery technology has improved rapidly in recent years!" Francis said aggrievedly: "I have suggested many times in the letters sent to the Vice King and the Marquis that they must strengthen their firepower..."

"But you didn't tell me that Ming's warships are made of iron!" The nobles sneered, "If you had reported this earlier, His Majesty would never have let us fight like hell!"

"This..." Francis was speechless and said aggrievedly: "We didn't know about this beforehand."

"You've been here for three years, and you don't even know what the enemy's warships are made of?!" The nobles said indignantly, "And you still say you're not Judas!"

"All right!" The Marquis of Santa Cruz, who had remained silent, finally couldn't help but knock on the silver plate with his spoon to stop the nobles from being unreasonable. "Keep your manners, gentlemen."

Then he looked at Francis and said, "But Mr. Governor, you do owe us an explanation."

"We investigated their warships, and they are indeed made of wood..." Francis said with a look of astonishment, "I really have no idea when they added armor. Damn it, why don't they sink?"

"Could it be that they know the magic of turning wood into iron?" The nobles sneered.

"When was the last time you fought?" The Marquis tapped the plate again and asked in a deep voice.

"..." The Governor was unable to speak and said, "Since I took office, we have kept our distance from each other and there has been no serious fighting between the two sides. There have been a few limited frictions, but I have never seen them so fierce."

"There is something fishy going on!" the nobles said angrily, "And you still say you are not Judas!"

"Forget it." The Marquis put down the spoon and sighed, "The defeat is already decided. It's too late to say anything now. Let's leave the task of accountability to the prosecutors in Madrid."

After a pause, he forced himself to say, "The most urgent thing is to escape from the strait under the cover of night."

The Marquis gave an order in a deep voice: "Pass my order, all ships abandon their baggage and sail at full speed. You must escape into the Bohol Sea before dawn, and then choose whether to go to Cebu or Zamboanga!"

"Sir, do you want to divide the troops?" the nobles asked hurriedly.

"Only by dividing our forces can more people escape danger." Marquis Santa Cruz stood up and said to the nobles:

"Everyone, tomorrow I will hoist the flag again to attract the attention of the Ming fleet and try to buy more chances for the fleet to escape!"

He looked around at everyone and said, "If there are those who are unwilling to fight to the death, I will not force them. You can all leave on the speedboat that delivered the letter. It is also a risky mission and will not affect your reputation or that of your family!"

Although the nobles of this era disdained the medieval system, the spirit of chivalry still existed as a social principle. And who could openly retreat in front of the greatest warrior in Spain?

The nobles were obviously terrified, but they still had to hold on and said, "Honor, sacrifice, bravery, and mercy are our unswerving creeds until death!"

"Well, let's toast to the sacrifice." The Marquis of Santa Cruz raised his glass. "God bless Spain!"

"To the sacrifice." The nobles followed suit and raised their glasses to drink. "God bless Spain!"

~~

Immediately afterwards, the Spaniards also sent out small boats to convey the order to as many of their own warships as possible.

As a result, the sea surface was filled with the sound of splashing sounds that night. It was the sound of soldiers from both sides throwing their loads into the sea.

The crews on both sides were unaware that the other side's commander had given the same order. When they heard the thumping sound, they thought it was their own ship.

Sailing at full speed at night in unfamiliar waters is already very dangerous. It is obviously safer to move forward in a team at this time, so that we can have someone to take care of us in case of any problems.

With the same idea in mind, the ships followed the sound and moved closer to each other, but none of them wanted to reveal their whereabouts, so they formed teams silently and moved forward silently...

More and more small fleets like this gathered together, and gradually formed into several large fleets. The largest fleet was more than ten miles apart from head to tail, and had more than twenty ships.

Everyone rushed forward like this, chasing each other and sailing at full speed all night.

That night, countless ships hit reefs, ran aground, got lost, or even sank...

The next morning, the sky gradually brightened, but the sea was shrouded in morning mist, and it was still unclear what was happening two or three hundred meters away. The commanders of the ships had no idea of ​​their exact location, or whether they had sailed out of the Surigao Strait.

However, all the captains became nervous and ordered their subordinates, who were exhausted all night, to cheer up and prepare for battle.

Everyone who makes a living on the sea knows that once the temperature rises, the fog will turn into dew and fall, and the vision will instantly no longer be obstructed.

Who knows if an enemy ship will suddenly appear nearby?

~~

On Kaiyuan.

After a night's rest and a high-calorie combat breakfast, Wang Rulong regained his energy.

He asked the orderly to help him put on his neat woolen police robe, put on his black naval leather boots that were polished to a shine, and finally put on his helmet with three gold stars on it.

He now concurrently serves as the deputy chief police commissioner of the Coast Guard, and his rank is finally on par with Jin Ke.

The orderly brought a mirror, and Wang Rulong adjusted his collar and looked at himself in the mirror, his cheeks sunken and old. He couldn't help but sigh and said, "If I didn't have this police uniform, what would be the difference between me and a sick old man?"

His orderly was his youngest son, Wang Duoyu. Old Wang had been seriously ill in recent years and refused to retire and go home, so his wife had to ask Jin Ke to transfer his youngest son to his side to take care of his daily life.

"Father has indeed aged a lot over the years." Wang Duoyu felt sad and forced a smile, "But fortunately, after this battle, I can go home and hug my grandchildren."

"Hehe..." Wang Rulong twitched his lips, nodded with a half-smile, and said, "Yes, it's time to leave. If you stay here any longer, you'll be annoying."

"That's not the case. Everyone is worried about your health." Wang Duoyu took Wang Rulong's golden sword from the wall and hung it on his father's belt.

"Hmph..." Wang Rulong snorted coldly, holding the hilt of the sword in his hand and strode out of the cabin.

When he arrived at the poop, the coast guard on duty shouted:

"The commander-in-chief has arrived!"

Meiling, with a tired look on his face, quickly led the officers and soldiers on the stern deck to stand at attention and salute.

"Take a rest." Wang Rulong nodded and said to Meiling, "Will you personally steer the helm for the night?"

"Well, I'm worried." Mei Ling said with a wry smile: "The commander-in-chief is on my ship, how dare there be any mistakes?"

"Haha..." Wang Rulong smiled perfunctorily and asked in a deep voice, "Where are we?"

"According to the speed and time, we are almost at the entrance of the strait." Mei Ling scratched his head and said, "But there will inevitably be errors, so we have to wait until the fog clears to confirm..."

"The daylily will get cold if that happens." Wang Rulong ordered in a deep voice: "Raise the balloon!"

Upon hearing the order, the Beidou team immediately began to prepare.

Mei Ling said with a stiff face: "Commander-in-chief, once this balloon rises, our position will be exposed."

"So what?" Wang Rulong said proudly, "If the red-haired devils have the guts, just kill me. Then I will thank them!"

"Okay." Mei Ling thought to himself that you are Niu Boyi, so he stopped talking and quickly ordered people to strengthen the defensive fortifications of the stern tower command platform.

ps. Keep going, the battle will be over tonight...right?