For the sake of victory, both sides had their own plans.
When Zhou Qingfeng only left the cannons to defend the fortress and sent out a surprise attack on the enemy's rear, the Portuguese army not only used the ships on the surface to attack, but also tried to sneakily attack the fortress at night with the advantage of their cannons.
The Portuguese had been in Goa for more than a hundred years. Even though they didn't have a lot of soldiers, they had accumulated a lot of cannons. Lord Costa ordered four 24-pounder cannons to attack during the day, and at night, he brought over a dozen lighter 12-pounder and 6-pounder cannons to join the cannons.
What excited Lord Costa the most was that the priests in Goa had finally done something good. After learning that the soldiers needed the cannons to boost their morale and confidence, the priests in the city all volunteered their strength.
Under the command of Archbishop Xavier, they actually strengthened the lowly natives for the first time. Two Port Stronghold Cannons that would normally take a day or two to be in place were transported to the ship in half a day. The Portuguese were amazed that it was a miracle from God.
When the two extremely heavy 48-pounder cannons rolled over the ground, everyone could feel the power of the cannons through the slight tremors under their feet. The natives tried their best to strengthen the road, and even came up with a good idea to use the precious teak as a road. Through pieces of tough teak, the two big cannons appeared at the frontline as fast as possible.
Hooray …!
When the two heavy cannons carried the blood and sweat of the slaves and advanced towards the fortress, the morale of the Portuguese army was instantly boosted. They didn't even care about shouting and yelling together. They were extremely excited that their side had such powerful equipment.
When the cannons on the surface started, the Portuguese army's artillery on land immediately advanced towards the fortress under the protection of the infantry and cavalry. Even though the 48-pounder cannons had a maximum range of three thousand meters. But at this distance, the projectiles didn't have much power anymore.
When He Zhuo and Wu Daimen tore apart the Portuguese army's defensive line in the south and launched a surprise attack, Lord Costa decided to move the cannons forward to two thousand meters before opening fire. If the enemy didn't have much of a reaction, he hoped to move forward to one thousand five hundred meters and unleash the full power of the cannons.
"Forward, forward!" The Portuguese army's artillery kept whipping the natives who were moving the teak to make them work faster. The cannons on the surface were getting more and more intense. The two armed merchant ships with twelve cannons on their sides were actually unable to suppress the three cannons on the stronghold. The two sides fought back and forth, and it was difficult to determine the victor.
The intense cannons made the Portuguese army very uneasy. It meant that the enemy was very strong. The only thing they could do was to try their best to push the cannons forward. The cannons could be pulled by horses, but the speed depended on how fast the slaves could lay down the teak.
The cannons were very heavy, and it took a lot of energy. The teak of them were of of of of of their strength. Some of the slaves would fall to the ground from exhaustion as they ran, falling along with the other slaves carrying the goods. The cannons were of of of of the of of of of the slaves.. and of the of the Portuguese army of of the of of the violent.
When the cannons were two thousand meters away from the fortress, the fortress was still firing at the armed merchant ships on the water. Lord Costa clenched his teeth and asked to move forward another five hundred meters. After all, apart from the two forty-eight pound cannons, there were still a bunch of medium and small caliber cannons that hadn't entered the effective range.
Zhou Qingfeng, who had already descended the hot air balloon, did not notice the Portuguese army's actions. He only had the militia left in the fortress. All the soldiers were sent out for night raids. Dog Meat wasn't with him either. He was now single-mindedly focused on sinking the two armed merchant ships that were shooting at him in the northern river, because those two ships had caused him to be truly enraged.
In a dark situation, the cannons depended on probability. The advantage of the high accuracy of the cannons of the Revolutionary Army couldn't be fully utilized. The current situation was that the defense of the fortress was strong, and the firing rate of the three cannons at the same time was high. The armed merchant ships had more cannons. They would stop firing from time to time.
The two sides had already fought more than ten rounds. The fortress had taken more than a hundred cannons. There weren't many casualties, but the walls and internal buildings were badly damaged. The north side that was directly facing the fire of the merchant ships was badly damaged. The reinforced high wall had been hit by more than twenty cannons, and more than half of it had collapsed. Wen Ruolan had to hastily pull up a few temporary stone walls from the inside to barely hold on.
Zhou Qingfeng's turret was also hit by a few cannons. The strong impact caused a huge tremor. The soldiers in the turret were dizzy. They relied on Zhou Qingfeng's spiritual power to recover and continue to reload.
Zhou Qingfeng sat steadily at the observation window of the turret amidst the continuous rumbling sounds of cannonfire. The people around him kept reporting the damage. Even with Wen Ruolan on the front line, he couldn't move his head. He only stared at the enemy's constantly flashing cannons. Every flash meant a hot iron ball was flying towards him.
"How come these two ships can't be sunk?" Zhou Qingfeng felt inexplicable. If the enemy was not in the water, he would have already released the Heavenly Crystal to destroy the enemy's ship. But now he could only use the military formation to strengthen all the cannons. He had to figure out how to deal a more fatal blow to the enemy.
About 1200 meters away, the decks of the two Portuguese merchant ships were in a mess. The cannons had been completely destroyed by the cannons. The hull of the ship was repeatedly hit, and there were several big holes on the hull. It was just that the hundreds of tons of ship had its natural toughness, and it had not been completely destroyed.
On the deck, the captain fell under the mast and was dying. His thigh was pierced by a broken piece of wood, and he was losing a lot of blood. Father Merlot on the ship was trying to save the captain's life, but a crew member hurriedly ran up and shouted, "Captain, several cannons hit us below the waterline. The cabin is full of water, and we are stranded."
Being shot below the waterline was one of the worst situations for a ship. This meant that at least dozens of hundreds of tons of water were poured into the ship. What was even worse was being stranded, which meant that the ship could no longer move and could only stay in place as a target.
Boom …. Another cannonball came from the direction of the fortress and directly hit a gunpowder can on the deck of the ship. The explosive gunpowder completely opened the broken deck of the ship and caused a fire. The raging fire made the shadows that originally covered the ship completely ineffective. There was really no hope.
"Captain, we have to leave." The crew anxiously waited for the captain's orders. The captain's authority was very great. If he did not want to abandon the ship, the crew must fight to the death. "The enemy's firepower is too fierce. We have lost four of the six cannons on our side. The cabin is full of wounded people. We can no longer persist. "
The hundreds of tons of ship had been hit hard, and it was really difficult to continue fighting. The injured Portuguese captain could only nod and weakly whisper, "Abandon the ship, we have tried our best. The eastern fortress is too strong, we really can't break it. "
In the darkness, the Portuguese did not know how they were fighting. They only knew that the other side had three cannons from beginning to end, and they had been firing very steadily. No matter how hard they tried, it seemed that they could not do anything to the other side — they did not know that Uncle Zhou on the other side was also gritting his teeth and holding on.
The order to abandon the ship was given, and the sailors on a merchant ship fled. Father Merlot's robe fluttered even though there was no wind. He picked up the seriously injured captain and was about to fly away with the other priests back to Goa City. But as soon as they moved, there was a burst of laughter in the darkness. A gloomy voice said, "I thought you would not escape even if you died."
Father Merlot did not understand Chinese, but he knew that it must be a challenge from the devil. Several priests hurriedly shouted the holy name and released holy light to judge the devil. But just as they focused their attention in the direction of the cold voice, someone suddenly swung a two-handed sword and swooped down from above.
The sharp light of the sword broke through Father Merlot's defense in one blow. The high-ranking priest of the Goa Religious Court of Inquiry gritted his teeth and shouted, "May the Lord have mercy and protect me against …" Before he could finish, another light of the sword pierced through his back, and even the captain he was holding was pierced.
The other priests suddenly lost sight of one thing, and when they were about to turn back to fight against Ye Na, who was holding a big sword, Jia Gang, who was hiding in the darkness, immediately found an opportunity to attack. This ghost, who had turned into a skeleton, had always existed as a spellcaster. But at this time, he flung the hooded robe that wrapped around his body, and with a swift and agile posture, he reached out his sharp bone claws and pierced a priest's chest with one blow, pulling out his beating heart.
An armed merchant ship was destroyed and sank, and the other ship, which was less damaged, quickly stopped and retreated in a hurry, not daring to attract any more firepower. After confirming that there was no sound of explosion in the direction of the water, Zhou Qingfeng breathed a sigh of relief. But just as he relaxed, before he could even let out a sigh of relief, he immediately felt an even stronger tremor coming from the wall.
There was no need to think too much. It was the enemy's heavy artillery, and the kind with an especially large caliber.
"Damn it, where are they attacking us now?" Zhou Qingfeng was a little exasperated after the artillery battle for half the night. His vision was limited in the turret, and he couldn't see where the enemy was attacking from. When he came out of the turret, he found that the enemy was coming from the east of the land.
"Are these Portuguese stupid?" Zhou Qingfeng was so angry that he laughed. "The artillery battle on the water was so intense, but they didn't cooperate on land. Now that they've retreated on the water, they're actually attacking on land."
The east wall of the fortress was strengthened to three meters thick during the day. After surviving the artillery battle in the north, Zhou Qingfeng was not afraid of the artillery from the east. Just as he steadied himself and rushed to the turret in the east, Lord Costa, who was 1,500 meters away, was also full of confidence.
The Portuguese army was limited by battlefield communications, and they couldn't synchronize their attacks on the water and land. But the two forty-eight-pounder cannons in position gave them a lot of confidence. When the two big guns violently recoiled in the loud noise, the Portuguese soldiers who were watching the bombardment all cheered loudly. If they were not forced into a corner, the Portuguese would not easily use these two big guns to suppress the enemy.
After firing, the heavy cannons abruptly recoiled, and the soil on the ground was stirred up by the cannons. Dozens of cannoneers had to be pulled by horses to return them to their original positions. Near these two heavy cannons, a large number of lighter cannons were also firing continuously, pouring bullets at the Easterners' fortress.
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