Chapter 663 The Marquis of Santa Cruz

The Strait of Gibraltar shrouded in darkness was unusually quiet.

There was only the sound of crashing waves from the sea. Occasionally, whales and sharks jumped out of the sea, spitting out huge splashes of water.

The Spanish galleons on the sea, ups and downs with the waves, are very spectacular.

The Spanish Galleon, one of the most legendary sailing ships in history, as the epitome of Spanish maritime supremacy in the 16th and 17th centuries, is often associated with treasures, pirates, conquerors and the Armada.

The typical characteristics of a galleon are high chord, high poop, low foredeck, flat stern, and a protrusion at the bow, like the ram of an oar boat, where there is an independent gun emplacement.

The hull has a distinct equilateral trapezoidal shape, and this slope extends all the way to the poop.

The Spanish galleon has beautiful lines, and the stern is surprisingly exquisite. The aspect ratio of the entire warship is 4:1, which gives it an advantage in speed compared to the Clark sailing ship.

The tonnage of the galleon reached 300 tons, which allowed it to provide a stable launch platform for cannons, and the towering ship building also provided fortress-like cover for the soldiers on board, giving it an advantage in close combat. Below the fort is the cargo hold, and the ship building above houses the passengers and soldiers.

At this stage, only the large-scale building ships manufactured by Shanhai City can match it.

After the tsunami, there were disagreements within Spain as to whether to continue to encircle and suppress the Shanhaicheng ocean-going fleet. Some people think that since the port of Gibraltar has been recovered, let it go. The most important thing right now is to find the island of Atlantis and prevent other countries from getting there first.

Some people also think that whether or not Shanhai City's ocean-going fleet can be defeated is a matter that concerns the face of the whole of Spain. If the ocean-going fleet is allowed to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, it will pose a huge impact and challenge to the dominance of the Spanish Armada in the Mediterranean.

"The lost glory can only be baptized by blood!" Said the main battle faction.

"Maritime supremacy must be defended to the death, and we must not retreat a single step." They clamored like this.

I have to say that such clamor is very Spanish.

In the entire continent of Europe, perhaps there is no nation that likes splendor, luxury, and face more than the Spaniards. It seems that the character of the entire Spanish nation is painted with strong red and black.

It can be said that most of the gorgeous and exaggerated things in European aristocratic society were fueled by the Spaniards, including the famous stiff collar, rapier, short trousers, fencing jacket, lace and so on.

All of this is inseparable from the romantic knights in Spain.

Cervantes, the greatest writer in the Spanish literary world, in his novel "Don Quixote", through the protagonist Don Quixote, made a thorough irony of this so-called knight.

This gorgeous chivalry in Spain has even continued to modern times. The famous Spanish bullfight is the best embodiment of such a chivalry.

In Spain and even the entire Spanish-speaking world, bullfighters are regarded as brave and fearless men, highly respected and worshiped by the people of the country, and their social status is extremely high.

Gorgeous costumes, bloody assassination, is simply a replica of medieval knights.

That's why the Spaniards, who want to save face, can't stand the humiliation of Spain by players from other countries in the Mediterranean on the forum. Without too much debate, the main combat faction completely gained the upper hand.

The Spaniards decided to go up against the wind and defeated the Shanhaicheng Ocean Fleet in one fell swoop.

The Spanish joint fleet that set off this time covered almost all the main naval fleets of the Spanish coastal lords, and there were more than 600 main battleships—the Spanish galleons alone.

In addition, there are a large number of Clark sailing ships as frigates. There are even various sailing ships of various brands driven by adventurers alone, dotted in the joint fleet.

Spain this time, can be said to come out in full force.

The United Fleet is divided into five major battle groups, forming a huge arc on the sea surface, echoing each other from front to back, from left to right, and slowly approaching the ocean-going fleet under the command of the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

If Ouyang Shuo didn't come back in time, the ocean fleet might really suffer.

And everything was completely reversed on this seemingly ordinary night.

Taking advantage of the darkness and the sound of waves beating against warships, more than 4,000 "frogmen" wearing underwater breathing apparatus divided into four groups, came to the bottom of each warship of the Spanish fleet, and began to dig ships.

Afraid of alarming the Spaniards on board by the sound of chiseling, the "frogmen" moved very slowly, and had to precisely match the rhythm of the waves, breaking them one after another.

At this time, Spanish warships had already adopted advanced watertight compartment technology. Therefore, the "frogmen" need to cut at least two cabins at the bottom of the ship to ensure that the battleship sinks.

In this way, their workload is greatly increased.

It's not that Ouyang Shuo never thought about sending ten thousand "frogmen" out, but it was difficult to do. A red horse boat has limited transportation capacity and frequently arrives at enemy fleets, making it easy to be detected by the Spanish fleet.

Second, while having more people is easier to handle, it also greatly increases the chances of exposure and mistakes. Once the Spanish fleet perceives their actions, the effect will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, after overall consideration with Zheng He, Ouyang Shuo and Zheng He finally selected four thousand capable men.

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When the sun rose from the sea level again, the thrilling night finally passed.

Four thousand "frogmen" successfully completed the task and left quietly from the bottom of the sea. And just twenty miles away from the Spanish fleet, the Shanhai City Ocean Fleet approached slowly, like the messenger of death.

Chaoyang, especially red.

Red is coquettish, red makes people flustered.

The first afterglow of the rising sun leaped across the sky, dyeing the sea blood red.

Overnight, the bottom cabin of the Spanish battleship was flooded with water and began to sink slowly. When the sailors on board entered the cabin for routine inspection, they were stunned by the flood of water in the cabin.

"Oh, God!" the sailor was bewildered.

Almost at the same time, all major fleets sounded the alarm.

In the first battle group of the Spanish Combined Fleet, a Spanish galleon flagship in the middle, a bald, small-headed old general with a white curly beard and wearing Spanish plate armor walked out of the cabin.

The old general's attire continued the typical Spanish aristocratic style, with stiff collars, rapiers, short trousers and other standard Spanish aristocratic attire. Whether it is the few hairs on the top of the head or the thick beard, they have been carefully groomed and meticulous.

Obviously, this is a typical Spanish nobleman.

The old general's name is Alvaro de Bazin, who is also the first Marquis of Santa Cruz. He is called the "father of soldiers" by the Spanish soldiers and is the most capable naval veteran in Spain.

When it comes to the Marquis of Santa Cruz, one has to mention the most glorious period in Spanish history, and one has to mention the strongest king in Spanish history-Philip II.

Philip II was the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After Charles V announced his abdication, he inherited all parts of the Habsburg Empire except Austria and Germany, where the family originated.

The younger brother of Charles V, Ferdinand I, the Holy Roman Emperor, inherited the title of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the titular highest position in Germany, while the sources of military and economic power of the Habsburg Dynasty-Spain and Nigeria Teresa, all attributed to Philip II.

This also laid a solid foundation for the rise of Philip II. It was during the reign of Philip II that Spain ushered in the most powerful era in history.

During this period, Spain even forcibly annexed its neighbor Portugal.

Spain's status as a maritime power was established during this period.

Under Philip II, Spain's national power reached its peak, and historians call this period the Habsburg dynasty, dominating the whole of Europe.

Philip II had several admirals under his command, including the Spanish military god, Fernando, Duke of Alva, known as the "Blood Butcher"; Don Juan, Philip II's half-brother, Alvaro, Marquis of Santa Cruz and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.

The white-bearded veteran Alvaro who appeared on the deck was the Marquis of Santa Cruz under the command of Philip II in history, and he led his troops to capture Portugal.

In 1583, in the Battle of San Miguel, Álvaro led his army to defeat the French fleet commanded by Elma de Chateau and executed all the prisoners of war.

After the war, Álvaro became the commander-in-chief of the Spanish fleet.

In 1585, the Marquis of Santa Cruz suggested sending a naval expedition to invade England. Unfortunately, the expedition was not yet ready, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz died on February 9, 1588.

The death of the Marquis of Santa Cruz became a symbolic event of the Spanish Armada turning from prosperity to decline.

...

The Marquis de Santa Cruz is the only historically famous general to appear in the Spanish wilderness.

The other famous admirals were either not yet born, or lived with Philip II in the palace of Madrid, Spain, and were not accepted by the player lords.

Therefore, Álvaro was appointed commander-in-chief of this combined Spanish fleet without dispute.

"What happened?" The veteran's eyes were sharp, not angry.

"Commander, our battleship is leaking and is slowly sinking." The first officer looked panicked.

"Why is the water leaking? Can it be blocked? How many warships are leaking? How about other formations?"

Alvaro's heart jumped, and he asked a series of questions. Looking at the red sunrise in the distant sky, Álvaro frowned, feeling more and more uneasy.

"Report to the commander. After investigation, the water leak was caused by someone cutting open the bottom of the cabin. There was too much water, and the hole was too big to be plugged. And it wasn't just one battleship that was leaking, almost every warship was leaking. Others The situation of the formation has not been reported to the headquarters yet." The chief mate's face was pale.