Fighting in the pitch-black night was a huge risk for any ancient army. Lord Costa was willing to take a small risk, hoping to use the cannons as a weapon to launch a surprise attack and achieve good results. Similarly, the Imperial Guard also wanted to use the night battle to make use of their individual advantage.
All the soldiers participating in this expedition were carefully selected, all of them undergoing intense combat training on the chessboard and on the training field. There were quite a few night battles. Furthermore, the Imperial Guard had two advantages in night battles. One was the large number of excellent officers. Thanks to the universal basic education, all of these selected officers had grasped the most basic military skills.
The second advantage … was' dog meat '.
Dog Meat was small in size, had a sharp nose, and was fast. It could run around the battlefield without any hindrance. Behind it, 500 soldiers of the Infantry Battalion charged out of the fortress silently and quietly towards the Portuguese's position.
The Panjim region was an open field with good visibility during the day, making it difficult to ambush them. At night, the Portuguese wanted to advance along the northern road and transport cannons. Wu Daimen led the infantry battalion through the wasteland in the south, advancing on foot and relying on Dog Meat to open the way to the enemy's line of defense.
In the dark of the night, Dog Meat's sense of smell was put to great use. Just by smelling it, it knew where the enemy was, and where its own people were. The Imperial Guard behind it communicated with each other through the military link, sharing information as a whole, distinguishing between friend and foe, and gaining a certain level of night vision.
About four kilometers away from the fortress, Dog Meat ran into the enemy's line of defense. Since Lord Costa didn't have enough Portuguese army, there were still many native soldiers on the line who only used spears. These soldiers wouldn't enforce strict light control, and instead lit a large number of bonfires on their own line of defense to provide light.
If it was completely dark, the native soldiers would lose their ability to move, and even fall into disarray.
To Zhou Qingfeng, using native soldiers to defend his flank was an extremely stupid decision. These useless soldiers with no training would only cause trouble for the main force. But for the Portuguese, the use of indigenous soldiers was a way to save money and effort and effectively increase deterrence, just because the local king's army was worse.
On the frontlines, a few native soldiers were conversing in the local Konkani language. They had to be very careful in their conversation, not because they were afraid of a night attack by the Imperial Guard, but because the priests of the Religious Court of Inquiry hated the natives speaking in their own language. The Portuguese were systematically destroying the language, writing, and history of the natives, forcing them to speak Portuguese.
While the natives were chatting, a priest came over with a few Portuguese army soldiers to patrol. They immediately stood still by the bonfire like frightened little animals, staring blankly at him. Seeing their dark faces illuminated by the firelight, the patrolling priest showed an expression of extreme disgust. Usually, the Portuguese might be more tolerant of the natives, but today they were not in a good mood.
"Guard your posts well. Don't just look at me like an idiot." The priest scolded angrily. There were many churches in Goa, with one to two thousand clergy members. These people were now mobilized to guard against the infidel army from the east. In just one day of battle, the Portuguese army had suffered more casualties than in the past few years. This made the Portuguese in Goa angry.
The priest scolded a few words, turned around and left. He knew that these natives were particularly stupid, and probably did not even understand what he was saying, so he was not in the mood to talk nonsense. But as soon as he turned around, a flying arrow shot at his back, piercing through the robe that was enchanted with powerful defensive magic and shooting the priest to the ground.
This sudden change shocked everyone around the bonfire. The Portuguese army soldiers behind the priest were immediately shocked and angry. Some of them went to help the priest, some turned around and scolded the natives, and some had already determined that it was the native soldiers who attacked, and immediately swung their swords at them.
The native soldiers were also dumbfounded. They shouted and waved their hands, trying to explain that this had nothing to do with them. But soon, another arrow shot out from the darkness behind them, and penetrated the forehead of a Portuguese army soldier. Then, a 'Silencer' shrouded the area around the bonfire. No matter how loudly the Portuguese army and the natives shouted, everyone felt that their ears had become silent.
Just when the Portuguese army and the native soldiers were in a panic, a whole row of spearmen suddenly rushed out from the darkness. The sharp iron spears only took two or three neat stabs, and all the people around the bonfire were stabbed to death. The whole process was quick and clean. The spearmen who launched the attack were full of iron and blood, without the slightest hesitation.
In the darkness, He Zhuo, who was holding a pulley bow, stood out. She glanced around in front of the bonfire, and again waved to the back. So more and more soldiers rushed in like a tide under the leadership of Wu Daemon, further expanding the gap in the enemy's line of defense.
"Quick, go deep into the enemy's territory," Wu Daemon said simply, and hundreds of soldiers quickly moved forward in units of companies.
Each company had at least two or three children recruited from Goa as guides. They were all little beggars brought by young Santos, so they were very familiar with the geographical environment here. Although most of them could not speak Chinese, after a few full meals and the intense reward, they gladly accepted the mission that Santos relayed, which was to lead these Easterners to attack the church in Goa.
The recruited children were all bathed, had their hair cut, and changed into new clothes. Those who suffered from illnesses could even get treatment. A set of ritualistic process gave them a sense of belonging to the Imperial Guard.
These children were the real bottom of the society in Goa. Usually, no one cared about their life and death, and they were filled with hatred for the Portuguese rulers. To be able to be put in an important position by the Imperial Guard was a new life for them.
More than a dozen children acted as guides, and led the Imperial Guard troops quickly towards the direction of Goa City. After breaking through the native soldiers' line of defense, the entire troop did not hide their tracks anymore, and only sought to move quickly. Now, the night was their best ally.
The troops that launched the night attack even included a cavalry and artillery platoon, and the Arabian stallions that they had just bought were used to carry the artillery. There was no one in the Imperial Guard who disliked the Arabian stallions that were taller and heavier than the Mongolian horses. This was because with their existence, both the cavalry and the infantry would have greater mobility on the battlefield.
In the process of breaking through the line of defense, Wu Damen felt nervous and inexplicably excited at the same time. The line of defense formed by the native soldiers was rather thin, and lacked depth. If there were no Portuguese army officers to command them, they would not have the initiative to fight. With the help of Dog Meat to scout the way, He Zhuo led the raid, and after clearing two to three campfires, they did not encounter any more obstacles along the way.
Other than a small number of Portuguese army patrols, the native soldiers stayed where they were like idiots. Some of the native soldiers clearly saw the Imperial Guard penetrating, but they only stared blankly. The Imperial Guard did not have the time to care about them, so they were dumbfounded. They did not shout or shout, and did not even know to report to the higher-ups. Until the Imperial Guard disappeared into the darkness, they only acted as if nothing had happened, and continued to chat by the campfire.
"No wonder the Grand Marshal said that the natives here are natural slaves. What's the use of these soldiers!" Wu Damen could not help but mock in his heart.
Hundreds of Imperial Guard soldiers began to split up. Some of them were going to Goa City to destroy the church, and most of them were carrying explosives. Because Zhou Qingfeng judged that the colonists' church should provide some kind of support effect to the Portuguese. He Zhuo was the one to carry out this task. Wu Damen personally led the cavalry artillery platoon in the night wasteland and turned north. Their target was …
After the Portuguese army stopped advancing during the day, the scouts in the hot air balloon locked onto the enemy's several camps. One was the headquarters, one was the artillery camp, and one was the logistics stables. Zhou Qingfeng wanted to destroy all three places. In a situation where there was a lack of manpower, the only way to achieve this goal was the cavalry artillery platoon.
In the previous battle in Zhenjiang, the cavalry artillery's performance was average, not outstanding, but not terrible. It was effective, but it was not able to seriously damage the enemy's vital points on the battlefield. This time, the cavalry artillery platoon came out again. Zhou Qingfeng even gave them the stallion he bought at a high price to use, just to better carry the 1617 modified cavalry artillery.
Previously, because the Mongolian horses had poor carrying capacity, the cavalry artillery was too light in weight, causing its power and range to be too small. This time, the weight of the new cavalry artillery was doubled, and the design was changed to a 100mm short barrel with a large caliber. The effective range was increased to at least 500 meters. On the current battlefield, very few sentries were placed more than 500 meters away from the camp, which gave the cavalry artillery platoon the possibility of killing in one shot.
According to the enemy's camp layout that he observed on the hot air balloon during the day, Wu Damen hurriedly ran to a position about 300 meters away from the Portuguese army's temporary camp. At the moment, he was less than 800 meters away from the Portuguese army's commander-in-chief, Lord Costa. This was like touching the tiger's butt.
He estimated the time to break through the enemy's defensive line had been about ten to twenty minutes. The entire battlefield was still only filled with artillery battles in the direction of the river. There was no movement on the ground at all. Wu Damen did not know whether to scold the native soldiers for being too stupid or to sigh at his own good luck. Either way, he had already chosen his target.
Lord Costa's headquarters was in the middle of the camp, too far away from the cavalry artillery. The cannons were in a mess, and there seemed to be some movement. The quietest place was the back of the enemy's camp, the temporary stables of the Portuguese army's cavalry. A large number of horses were casually stacked on both sides of the road, cared for by native servants.
The enemy's cannons and stables were both within the cavalry artillery platoon's range of fire. Which one should he attack first?
Just as Wu Damen was weighing who to attack first, Anthony, who had just suffered a defeat during the day, was choosing his new mount in the stables. He had injured his leg during the day, and although the priest had treated it, it was still aching, so he had to rely on the horse to move around. His original mount had already died in battle, and now he needed to choose a new one.
Inside the stables, a few native servants were waiting for Anthony's arrival. They bowed and led the noble young master to a fine Arabian horse. "This is a horse sent by the Arabians. It's only three years old, very docile and strong."
"It really is a good horse." Anthony reached out and touched the horse's mane. It was very smooth and smooth. The horse's temperament was also very gentle. It didn't resist humans approaching it, and even took the initiative to approach it. "Those damned infidels are always hiding good things, and they won't hand them over until we teach them a lesson."
Anthony was referring to Muhammad and the Arabians, but in his heart, he was thinking about the enemies in the east. He shuddered at the memory of facing the cavalry's shotgun muzzles on the battlefield. Then he thought about how his companions had all died in battle, and he was the only survivor. He couldn't stop praising the Holy Mother and God in his heart.
"Good horse, good horse, really good horse." Anthony exclaimed in admiration as he wondered how much such a horse would fetch if it were to be resold in Europe. He circled around the horse, and was about to try riding it with his hand on the saddle. … …
A cannonball left the barrel of a cannon three hundred meters away, whistling as it flew towards where he was. The cannonball hit the ground and made a beautiful ricochet, crashing through the stables in a straight line, destroying the fence and injuring the horses.
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