Chapter 58 of 100

Chapter 58

14 min read3,430 words

This chapter is scheduled for release because I have to go on a business trip, which will take one or two days. I will update the chapter for Monday when I return.

Lieutenant Falcao, boarding the "Lima Bishop" from the "Cadiz Rock" via a small boat, watched in terror as water spouts frequently erupted around the boat, caused by the falling cannonballs. He was constantly praying to God, begging for the Tartan cannonballs not to hit his small boat.

Another round of cannonballs came, with over twenty iron balls of various sizes whistling through the air and landing in the sea. These cannons had been calibrated extensively, each one having a firing table based on a large amount of live ammunition data, even taking wind speed into account. Therefore, the accuracy of these cannons was terrifyingly high.

The poor "Lima Bishop" was hit again on a large scale, with the stern area being the hardest hit. Two cannonballs struck the gun deck of the stern castle, one of the stern guns was shattered, and the army soldiers on the gun deck suffered heavy casualties, with six or seven people injured by the cannonballs and splintered wood. The triangular sail on the mizzenmast was hit again, the sail was torn to shreds and completely unusable. The stern open deck was hit for the second time, the control bar of the steering compartment was damaged, and two helmsmen were injured...

In short, the "Lima Bishop" was finished. When Lieutenant Falcao finally managed to board the deck of the "Lima Bishop" after much hardship, the captain told him this. The 500-ton warship was now immobilized, becoming a real target ship. The boatswain was directing the sailors who could still move to lower the lifeboats and prepare to abandon the ship. The gunners had lost the will to fire, all of them crowded on the deck. The conscientious ship's priest was giving the last rites to the dying soldiers, and there was a general atmosphere of panic and unease.

Diego Garcia's face was pale, and his hands holding the monocular were slightly trembling, whether from holding it for a long time or from the intense emotional turmoil, or perhaps both. He had only intended to test the firepower of the Tartan batteries, but he never expected to pay such a high price. The "Lima Bishop" frigate was severely damaged, no, it was more than just severely damaged. The warship was now completely immobile, and even if the Tartans did not attempt to attack it again, Diego Garcia would order it to be sunk to prevent it from becoming a trophy for the Tartans and disgracing the kingdom.

Damn Captain Torres! How did he come to the conclusion that the Tartans only had 18-24 cannons? Did he get this bullshit information from some babbling drunk in a bar? This was negligence! Diego Garcia cursed in his heart. These damn Tartans even had 32-pound cannons, which the kingdom's navy rarely equipped, and they were clearly long-barreled heavy cannons! This heartbreaking fact almost made the fleet commander lose control. It seemed that he had to end this quickly and not lose any more warships. Diego Garcia summoned an officer again to pass on the order. The once confident operation ending in such a fiasco was a great joke for the Tartans, truly frustrating!

Major Carlos watched the scene before him with a complex expression. He was happy that Diego Garcia, the descendant of a swineherd, had been humiliated, but he was also shocked by the superior performance of the Tartan cannons. The 32-pound, 24-pound, and 18-pound cannons had a much longer range than the current Spanish naval cannons. The cannonballs still had such strong penetration power after flying over a kilometer, indicating that the barrel length-to-caliber ratio of the enemy cannons had reached an astonishing number.

How did they achieve this? When did the Tartans have such advanced casting technology? How could the cannons withstand the high chamber pressure generated by the gunpowder explosion in the breech with such long barrels? Major Carlos was not an ignorant person; on the contrary, he had spent his youth in Italy and received a good education. He did not believe that the Tartans, who occupied the vast territory from Ukraine to the East, had such fine casting technology. Could it be Turkish technology?

However, this was also hard to explain, as the Turks would never spread such leading technology to the Tartans. Therefore, there was only one explanation: the so-called "Tartans" occupying this land were not real Tartans; they must have come from a technologically advanced country or region. But where was this country or region? Could it be in the East? That didn't make sense, as the kingdom's fleet sailed the world, and the technology of the Easterners was not as advanced as the kingdom's. Could there be an unexplored continent or new world? After much thought, Major Carlos gave up on this question because he was about to face a more frustrating fact. If the "Tartans'" naval cannons were so excellent, their field artillery must be equally outstanding, and it would be his turn to face the bombardment of these field artillery. Truly frustrating!

"Boom! Boom!" The fourth round of Tartan cannonballs came so quickly. The crew of the "Lima Bishop," crowded on the deck and preparing to abandon the ship, suffered greatly. Two 18-pound cannonballs cut a bloody path through the dense crowd, then crashed into the deck, finally exhausting their kinetic energy. More cannonballs hit the upper deck and the side deck. The thick and hard planks on the starboard waterline, under the assault of the 32-pound cannonballs, finally split open. As seawater rushed in, the "Lima Bishop" began to list to the right, exacerbating the chaos on the deck. Some people began to fight for the chance to escape, and even the officers could not stop them. As more and more seawater flooded the lower compartments, the ship's list to the right became more pronounced, and many desperate sailors jumped into the sea, at least in the sea they would not have to endure the rain of Tartan cannonballs.

To the north, the "Inquisitor" warship had already weighed anchor and raised its sails, preparing to withdraw. However, after seeing the dire situation of the "Lima Bishop" about to capsize and sink, the captain refused the fleet commander's order to retreat immediately. Instead, he stopped and launched a large number of lifeboats to save the crew of the "Lima Bishop" from drowning in the cold sea. The brave actions of the "Inquisitor" saved the lives of dozens of Spanish naval personnel, but it also placed them in a dangerous situation.

The 24 cannons on the main battery then turned to bombard the "Inquisitor." In a short time, this new warship, launched only ten years ago, was hit by over a dozen cannonballs, causing casualties among the crew on the deck. At a critical moment, luck favored them. The 8 32-pound heavy cannons on the main battery needed to cool down after continuous firing. The "Inquisitor" took advantage of this short break to quickly turn and, with its heavily damaged hull, withdrew from the battlefield.

Due to intelligence errors, the kingdom's navy's six main warships engaged in a cannon duel with the Tartan batteries. The ratio of cannons was 174:32, but in reality, since only the cannons on one side could fire at the same time, the ratio was about 2.5:1, and the caliber was inferior to the enemy's. Therefore, it was not surprising that the outcome was so dismal. Diego Garcia quickly adjusted his mood. The remaining six main warships gathered outside the range of the Tartan batteries' cannons, then sailed south with a large number of transport ships and armed merchant ships. Only a few small coastal warships remained in the outer sea of the Big Fish River for patrol.

"Did they run away?" Li Yi, seeing the "Lima Bishop" slowly sinking with only a small part of the mast still visible above the water, asked in surprise, his face flushed with excitement.

"They probably didn't run away," Wang Qian said thoughtfully. "They are likely looking for a landing site to the south. This time, they are really coming. Judging by the number of transport ships, they must have brought nearly two thousand people. Ha, two thousand soldiers are not a large force in Europe at this time, but in the New World, they are a formidable force, especially in the remote and desolate La Plata region. The Spanish really think highly of us, crazy! Truly crazy!" By the end, Wang Qian's face was full of bitter laughter.

The latest movements of the Spanish were immediately reported to the Executive Committee and the Army Department. The Army Department immediately dispatched a large number of cavalry along the coast to try to track the Spanish fleet. However, after sailing along the coast for a while, the Spanish fleet turned and disappeared over the horizon. Peng Zhicheng speculated that the Spanish were deliberately staying away from the coast to prevent the穿越者 from discovering their landing site. They must still be lingering nearby, waiting for the right moment to land.

Based on this judgment, Peng Zhicheng deployed all three cavalry units, expanding the search area to find the Spanish as soon as possible. Two days later, Leonid Fyodorovich of the First Cavalry Unit finally discovered a large number of Spanish troops landing near Rocha.

The Spanish troops landing were in chaos. Artillery, cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, over a thousand people were gathered on the desolate beach near Rocha, shouting and neighing, in a state of confusion. Of course, the Spanish were not unprepared; some cavalry and gauchos were scattered on the periphery to guard against sudden attacks during the landing, which could cause significant casualties.

---