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Chapter 1674 The first shot

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

    All the warships of the combined fleet safely passed through the Sanmao Strait and anchored in what will later be known as Tacloban Port.

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

    What¡¯s even better is that it is in the deepest part of Leyte Gulf, like a section of the appendix in Leyte Gulf. Unless the Spanish specially send a ship to search, they will not find that there is a huge fleet hidden here.

    But in the Spaniards¡¯ perception, this section of the strait cannot be sailed. They would only sail for a day against the wind and come here to take a look when they were full.

    To be on the safe side, the Military Intelligence Bureau has set up a number of observation posts on Leyte Island and Sanmao Island, always watching Leyte Gulf with high-power telescopes. If a ship does come, there will be enough time to deal with it.

    Where did this happen?  In order to capture the whereabouts of the Armada as soon as possible, the theater staff office designed a 'Skynet' system.

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

    The staff officers numbered each square on the chessboard in advance, and intelligence agents dressed as pirates patrolled the corresponding areas full-time.  In this way, no matter whether the Armada enters Leyte Gulf or goes south to Mindanao, it will be discovered by us as soon as possible.

    Each reconnaissance ship carries homing pigeons. Once the enemy is discovered, they will be immediately returned to the pigeon house on Sanmiao Island.

    The Military Intelligence Department can immediately grasp the movements of the enemy fleet, and when the enemy approaches within 100 kilometers of Leyte Gulf, it can notify the combined fleet to pull anchor.

    ??The combined fleet waited like this for one, two, and three days, but never received any information that the enemy was sighted

    Although the fleet is carrying out various training and exercises step by step every day, the purpose is to keep the officers and soldiers in the best condition.  But restlessness began to spread among senior commanders.

    Because it is estimated that the Armada should have appeared within the reconnaissance range on the day they took their position.  That is, it is only five hundred kilometers away from Leyte Gulf.

    As time passed day by day, the commanders¡¯ confidence in annihilating the enemy in Leyte Gulf began to waver involuntarily

    ??~~

    The battle room of the Kaiyuan armored battleship, the flagship of the combined fleet.

    Fleet Commander-in-Chief Wang Rulong and Police Commissioner Ma Yinglong.  Lin Feng, the deputy commander-in-chief and commander of the assault fleet, and Xiang Xuehai, the commander of the superior fleet, all looked at the 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 slapped the map table hard, and roared in a low voice: "If you are lucky,  We can also intercept them in the Sulu Sea!"

    "Don't be so loud. Come on, eat a mint candy to relieve your breath." Ma Yinglong peeled off a piece of candy and gave it to him.  This guy has terrible bad breath because of his anger.

    "A-Feng, what do you think?" Wang Rulong looked at Lin Feng. The formulation of this battle plan was based on her plan.  Of course you have to respect her judgment.

    "Ordinarily, they should have entered the surveillance range of Skynet three days ago." Lin Feng's beautiful eyes were also covered with bloodshot eyes, and she was obviously feeling great anxiety.

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

    "Lao Ma, what's your opinion?" Wang Rulong asked Ma Yinglong again.

    "I think so too." Ma Yinglong whispered: "Did the strategic deception not work? The Spaniards still expected that we would 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:

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

    "That's better than waiting here!" Xiang Xuehai muttered: "If the Spaniards are allowed to land intact, that will be the biggest disaster!"

    Wang Rulong still shook his head, picked up a pickle from the table, peeled off the shell, put the tamarind inside into his mouth, and chewed it slowly.  Since quitting smoking and drinking, he has been relying on this stuff to refresh himself and clear his mind.

    "Just wait." 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 Armada has been floating on the sea for so long, what's the point?  It's normal for the situation to be delayed for a few days"

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

    "It's very simple, human nature." Wang Rulong said slowly: "No matter what?As they have practiced countless times before, they formed three columns in Leyte Gulf and sailed overnight to Homonhon Island at the mouth of the bay.

    That¡¯s where tomorrow¡¯s planned attack will start.

    Then the fleet quietly anchored, because even the coast guard fleet did not have the ability to maneuver on a large scale at night.

    ??~~

    At about 6 o'clock in the morning on the 22nd, the fleet began to turn so that it could occupy the windward position of the Armada in a roughly parallel direction.

    It took two hours for so many warships to complete their turn to the southwest and regroup.

    They had just completed their formation when the avant-garde of the Armada suddenly appeared.

    The 20-square-kilometer Homonhong Island is not big, but it is enough to block three columns of the coast guard fleet.

    So the Spanish galleon "Immaculate" sailed past the cashew-shaped Homonhong Island, and suddenly discovered this swarming warship.

    The crew of the "Unsullied" were frightened.  The captain quickly ordered the firing, 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 started like this.

    ps. Look, let¡¯s take a shot, right?  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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