Zhao Hao led his advance fleet from the Houbihu base and braved the extremely severe weather in the South China Sea, sailing south day and night for seven days and nights in strong winds and heavy rain. He finally arrived at Manila Bay late at night on the eighth day after receiving a letter from a carrier pigeon.

The Spaniards never expected that the Ming people would be so desperate for a mere 30,000 compatriots that they would dare to go south to Luzon at this season. As a result, the Spanish stronghold on Corregidor Island at the mouth of the bay, which monitored the exit of Manila Bay, was unaware that the advance fleet broke into Manila Bay under the cover of darkness.

The mouth of Manila Bay is 19 kilometers wide. The artillery batteries set up by the Spanish on Corregidor Island were not enough to hinder the fleet's entry and exit. In order to save time, Zhao Hao ordered the advance fleet to ignore the small enemy forces on the island and head straight to Manila!

That night, the sky was extremely dark, the wind was strong, and the stars and the moon were hidden, which caused great trouble to the fleet's advance while covering their tracks. As a result, not only did the observation post on Corregidor Island fail to discover them, but even the colonial navy fleet stationed in Cape Sangley did not realize that a fleet consisting of fifty large and small warships and eight thousand marine officers and soldiers had already broken into the gate they were guarding.

In fact, the Spanish had their own fault. In order to prevent the merchant ships gathered in Manila from spreading the news that the Spanish massacred the Chinese, Governor Sander issued an expulsion order on the day of the incident, ordering the navy warships to forcibly expel all merchant ships and cargo ships away from Manila Bay. Even fishing boats were not allowed to go out to sea to fish, otherwise they would be sunk!

So the advance fleet sailed a full hundred miles in Manila Bay until it arrived at the mouth of the Pasig River at noon on the ninth day, without encountering even a single ship. The marine officers and soldiers who had just arrived in Luzon felt a little guilty, wondering if they had taken the wrong route.

But Zhao Hao knew without checking the map that the fleet had taken the right path, because corpses kept floating in from the Pasig River.

Judging from their attire and skin color, the dead included overseas Chinese and indigenous people. When they were fished out, they all had shocking wounds on their bodies...

Apparently there was a fierce battle going on up the river.

Xu Kezheng and his team, who served as guides, also confirmed that the boat had not deviated from the route. Not only did they know the Pasig River estuary, they also recognized the identity of the deceased and immediately burst into tears.

Jin Ke immediately ordered the fleet to drop anchor and release reconnaissance balloons.

At this time, the sea surface was dazzling with white light, providing excellent cover for the balloon to take off, although it would also greatly affect the scouts' line of sight. However, it was less than ten miles away from the stream and the royal city, and the cruel battlefield upstream could be seen clearly without a telescope.

Looking 25 miles away, you can vaguely see four large Spanish sailing ships and several small and medium-sized ships, all still safely anchored in the cape naval port.

Everything is OK, let's start the action!

The Marines, who had been waiting for a long time, boarded twelve inland support boats under the personal leadership of Commander Wu Da.

These twelve 'dragon boats' are not capable of ocean voyages and are towed by twelve paddle boats with cables.

Because of its outstanding performance in the previous Battle of Nan'ao and its indispensable role in the naval battle, the Ryukyu Galleon Fleet has been officially incorporated into the Coast Guard Fleet. It is usually trained and equipped by the Coast Guard Naha Base, and is led by Zheng Yu when going into battle, and obeys the orders of the headquarters.

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The twelve Avenger inland support boats carried 720 Marines. In order to deliver the greatest possible combat power to deal with various emergencies in the ravine, in addition to the captain who commanded the voyage, even the rowers were played by Marines.

It is easy to have problems when playing as a guest. As a result, the two support boats were stranded in the mud of the lower reaches of the Pasig River because the Marines were too aggressive. Although the Marines dragged the support boats back to the channel in just half an hour, they were too late for the show to start...

Therefore, at the first moment, only ten "Avengers" appeared in the stream, but it was enough to turn the tide of the battle.

Jin Ke led the remaining destroyers, frigates and galleys to wait at the mouth of the river to prevent the Spanish fleet from attacking.

Because the Houbihu base in Kenting could not berth large warships such as battleships and cruisers, the largest warship in the advance fleet was only the flagship "Zhenwohao".

With the rapid evolution of the Coast Guard fleet, the behemoth that once swept across Kyushu and rushed straight into the Kanmon Strait has been downgraded in the fleet sequence and can only be downgraded from a battleship to a third-tier destroyer.

The Spanish galleons were huge ships that could cross the Pacific Ocean and carry hundreds of tons of cargo. Their size was even more exaggerated than the Duke of Goa. If they really faced each other, it would be difficult for these little guys to gain any advantage over the other side.

Fortunately, Major General Bamond, the commander of the Spanish Philippine Fleet, firmly believed that the Ming fleet would not appear in Manila before October. Therefore, he followed the navy's principle of "not going out to sea unless necessary" during the typhoon season and did not send the fleet to cruise Luzon. He even reduced routine patrols to once every two days.

It was not until the messenger from Fort Santiago rode to the cape base overnight that Major General Bamende learned that the Ming reinforcements had already entered Manila!

He hurriedly sounded the alarm, recalled the drunken naval officers and soldiers, urgently resupplied the warships, prepared enough small boats, and barely completed combat preparations overnight.

At dawn the next day, when the Spanish fleet was about to weigh anchor and set sail to reinforce Manila, it received an urgent report from Corregidor Island saying that a powerful fleet of thirty warships had been discovered last night, sailing into the bay and was now almost approaching the cape.

At first, Bamende thought that this was the same as what the messenger from the royal city said, but then he thought again, that was not right! The fleet attacked the royal city yesterday at noon, how could it have just passed the bay last night?

So most likely, these are two different fleets!

Major General Bamende was a little panicked, but not too panicked. After all, the Ming fleet that defeated the Portuguese navy was just a legend, and after he left Europe, the so-called "warships" he saw in America and Asia were all as fragile as paper in front of the death assault of the sailing ships.

So Major General Bamende quickly calmed down and ordered the fleet to change course, no longer heading straight for Manila, but to move slowly along the east coast of Manila Bay towards the mouth of the Pasig River.

Because the wind is blowing from the east today, his fleet can always be upwind. Once they discover the enemy fleet, they can immediately set sail and attack at full speed!

At about nine o'clock in the morning, the Spanish reconnaissance boat finally discovered the fleet coming from the bay mouth on the dazzling white sea.

Although they were driven away by the enemy warships when they tried to conduct closer reconnaissance, at least the purpose of early warning was achieved.

On board the 600-ton Santiago, flagship of the Spanish Philippine Fleet.

Upon hearing the news, Commander Bamond and his flagship commander, Colonel Oakende, went to the high stern deck, put their hands on the pergola and looked in the direction where the local fleet was coming.

The dazzling white light on the sea made the two of them quickly shed tears.

"I heard that the Chinese have a magical tool that can easily bring distant scenery to the front." Colonel Okende took the handkerchief offered by his attendant to wipe his eyes and said with admiration: "We should find a way to learn it."

"It's either a rumor or witchcraft." Commander Bamende didn't care.

In the Spanish Empire, which had a strict hierarchy, only people of noble status and family background could serve as fleet commanders. It was said that this would make those nobles and soldiers who were ambitious and seeking fame obey. It would also prevent sailors who were poorly paid and lived in poor conditions from rebelling.

Bamond was born into the oldest and most prestigious family in the Habsburg dynasty, but this nobleman who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth was inevitably lacking in military affairs and common sense.

"It is said that the Portuguese have already obtained the real thing." Colonel Okende was there to help him fill in the gap.

"I'll ask the people in the church to help me find out." When Commander Bamond heard that the mice in Lisbon had been found, he immediately became interested.

"Yes, General." The colonel responded, narrowed his eyes, and continued to look at the sea with difficulty.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer, and the Ming Dynasty fleet finally emerged from the rippling white light.

The sun and moon flags fluttering on the mast clearly show their identity.

The two men saw that the warships of the Ming fleet were all similar in style, with only obvious differences in size.

"These ships look so familiar..." Commander Bamond frowned and said, "They look like Portuguese galleons, but they are different."

"The hull is of the galleon style, but the sails are still of the Ming style." Okende looked more carefully than the commander and could see more things.

"But it's a little different. In addition to the Chinese sail, it seems that the fore-and-aft sail and the triangular sail are also installed as auxiliary sails."

After a pause, he analyzed: "And their sails are not made of bamboo strips, but white canvas. They are really beautiful... This shows that their shipbuilding technology has reached a very high level."

"But their poop and forecastle are too low, so our musketeers and spearmen can easily gain the advantage of being high above in boarding battles." Bamende seemed to be proving that he also understood naval warfare.

"They may have learned the Portuguese tactics, avoiding boarding and using artillery fire to meet the enemy." Colonel Okende frowned and said, "It will be difficult for us to win quickly."

"Haha, Colonel, you are too cautious!" Bamende said unconcernedly, "Naval battles ultimately depend on boarding to decide the outcome. We have the upper hand, our ship is large, and we are well-rested. What else do we have to worry about?!"

As he said this, his face darkened and he gave the order: "Raise the sail immediately and approach the enemy ship!"

"Yes, sir." Anyway, at most he could not gain any advantage, and it was impossible for him to suffer a setback. So Colonel Okende said no more and quickly passed down the order.

On the four Spanish galleons, countless sailors worked together to open the sails one by one, and the huge ships slowly moved westward, gradually getting faster and faster!

Meanwhile, the Ming Dynasty fleet seemed a little panicked and actually began to turn its ships around, trying to escape the clutches of the sea beast!