This is a half-moon fort, also known as the triangular fort, which was invented by the Genoese of Italy more than twenty years ago.

Stone and wood are not used much, and the main body of the castle is made of earth. However, the mud wall is so thick that ordinary artillery cannot collapse at all, and the obtuse angle design gives the attacker strong firepower to cover, which is equivalent to a weakened prototype version of the bastion.

Man Zheng was not a military genius, and the fatigue and paralysis tactics he used came from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

The Portuguese defenders suffered the loss of less reading, and they did not react at all at the first time. Half a month of harassment had already paralyzed them, and they were actually transported gunpowder to the fortress gate by the Sultan Guards.

"Boom!"

Three barrels of granular gunpowder blew up the castle gate in an instant. Two thousand Sultan's guards swarmed in, all shouting victory, thinking that the castle would only be taken in the blink of an eye.

Who knows, inside the gate is an open space, with the castle watchtower in front and the triangular city walls on both sides.

The Portuguese defenders fired simultaneously on three sides, and the Sultan's Guards were covered with unreserved fire. In just an instant, hundreds of people were killed by the Franc machine, and the two thousand imposing Sultan Guards collapsed directly, and after escaping from the castle, the number of people was counted, and only more than 1,400 remained.

"It's dangerous!"

Man Zheng asked about the battle situation, and called it a fluke in his heart, but fortunately he didn't let the Ming soldiers rush.

Ala Ude Din was already red-eyed, and said anxiously: "General, quickly send troops to attack together!" ”

Man Zhengcai didn't want to lose his troops in vain, and said with a smile: "Why attack hard? Surround the castle and starve them to death! ”

Alla Udeuddin hurriedly said: "Keep dragging it out, and the Franc Ji Tianzhu fleet will be killed!" ”

"Then surround the point and send reinforcements," Man Zheng said with a smile, "It's just that this time it's sea reinforcements, let's kill the Franco fleet with leisure." ”

Manzheng had already learned the truth about the Battle of Diu ten years ago through the wealthy Indian merchant Nina Chatu, and he despised the strength of the Portuguese fleet very much, believing that he could completely annihilate the enemy at sea.

The Battle of Diu was the largest naval battle in Asia at that time, and the purpose of the war was to compete for hegemony in the Indian Ocean.

On one side is the combined Arab fleet of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, Calikat Zamorin, and the Gujarat Sultanate.

On one side was the Portuguese Indian fleet.

The United Arab Fleet, led by the Venetian merchants, was armed by Egyptian organizations. Six Mediterranean galleys, six Carpla, dismantled from Italy into parts, transported to the port of Suez for assembly, equipped with state-of-the-art guns and guns. There were also more than eighty Arab dhows, with very primitive weapons, and a total of one hundred warships on all sides.

The commander of the combined fleet was Egyptian, and the main force of soldiers were mercenaries recruited by Venetian merchants in Italy, Spain, Greece, as well as Turkish mujahideen and Mamluk naval soldiers.

The Portuguese Indian fleet, on the other hand, consisted of only 22 large and small warships and more than 1,500 soldiers.

The Portuguese fleet was not only weak, but was also attacked by the Combined Arab Fleet. Lorenzo, the son of the Viceroy of India, was surrounded with five small warships, and only two warships managed to break through, and Lorenzo was seriously wounded and died.

The Portuguese governor of India, with the pain of losing his son, led the remaining warships to take the initiative. First of all, he attacked and destroyed the enemy's supply ports, and then attacked the enemy's cities along the way, and then returned to fight the enemy fleet in a decisive battle.

At this time, nonsense happened, the miserly Venetian merchants actually owed the mercenaries their salaries, causing a large number of European mercenaries to flee. Among the soldiers left behind, mainly Green Christians, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians, the tripartite religious contradictions were very fierce, and the Egyptian commanders could not coordinate at all.

The Calicuts, who had the largest number of ships, wanted to go to sea to meet the Portuguese fleet. The Egyptian commander, on the other hand, chose to hold on to the port and was busy building forts on the shore.

Regardless of military orders, the Calicut fleet took the initiative to meet the enemy forces. But they were all dhow boats, with no artillery at all, and rushed directly to the side, but because the side of the ship was too low to climb up, they were beaten by the Portuguese fleet and fled.

Then the teammates began to dig a hole frantically, and the commander, fearing that the foreign friendly forces would flee without a fight, ordered all the ships to enter the port, causing the combined fleet to lose its superiority in strength and mobility.

The Portuguese fleet rushed into the harbor and blocked the narrow channel, and the combined fleet, although there were many ships, could not deploy, so it was completely blocked in the port.

From then on, the Portuguese won maritime supremacy from Africa to the Indian Ocean!

But what kind of foolish war is this?

What made Man Zheng feel despised was the Portuguese Indian fleet, which actually had only more than twenty ships. As everyone knows, after ten years of painstaking operation, the Portuguese and Indian fleets have nearly 100 warships.

At the end of January of the 15th year of Zhengde, Berio, the younger brother of the Portuguese Indian governor, led the Indian fleet to attack Malacca, wanting to defeat the Ming fleet and recapture the port city.

Among them, there were nine large Karak warships (ranging from 800 to 1,200 materials), eighteen small Karak warships (ranging from 400 to 800 materials), 37 Caravel warships (ranging from 100 to 200 materials), and more than 40 small warships and armed merchant ships of various types, totaling 105 warships.

The combined fleet of the Ming Dynasty and Malacca had only 28 warships, 17 armed merchant ships, and 23 Malacca galleys, totaling 68 warships.

"How can there be so many ships?" Manzheng had a headache, and he found that he had underestimated his enemy.

The commander of the Portuguese Indian fleet, Berio, also held a clairvoyant mirror and frowned: "The Chinese main ship is also too big, right, their shipbuilding technology has reached this point?" ”

When Man was drinking with Simon in Hangzhou, he took advantage of the other party's drunkenness to get a lot of information.

At this moment, he saw at a glance that the main force of the other party was the nine large Karak warships, and instantly remembered the weakness of this kind of warship - the building was too high, which affected the operation of the sails, the mainsail and foresail were not easy to be forced, it was easy to be dragged by the wind, the change of direction was relatively slow, and the flexibility was very poor. In addition, the bow of the ship is too heavy, and it is easy to lean forward in strong winds, which may even lead to capsizing accidents. The most fatal flaw was that the hull was too fragile to withstand the attacks of large artillery, and it was almost destroyed by the larger ships.

The port of Malacca was calm, and the Portuguese fleet took advantage of its strength and formed a formation to begin semi-encircling and firing from a distance.

Man Zheng said to the prince of Malacca: "Those small boats under two hundred materials will be handed over to you to deal with, and immediately rush over to receive the shipside when you receive the order." ”

As the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Johor, Ala-Ude-Din is not a waste bale. Historically, he has been defeated and defeated again and again, and fought to the end with the powerful Portugal, forcing Portugal to choose to negotiate peace with him, acknowledging the Kingdom of Johor he founded and not looking for trouble.

"I can't handle the big boats, but leave the small boats to me!" Alla Udeuddin said in high spirits.

After the combined fleets of the two countries dispersed the formation, Man Zheng directly ordered the whole army to charge.

This frightened the enemy commander Berio, how could anyone fight such a naval battle not tentatively cruise and attack?

The huge treasure ship was used as an arrow, attracting a lot of enemy firepower, but it didn't hit a few shells in a row.

Seeing that the distance was getting closer and closer, Berio did not dare to fire on the spot, and ordered the fleet to move sideways, running away while firing the artillery, and divided into two groups to flank the combined fleet of China and Malacca.

Ignoring the enemy forces on the left flank, Manzheng rushed straight to the Portuguese main ship on the right flank. In addition to the more than a dozen Portuguese warships captured, the rest of the Chinese and Malacca warships can all paddle forward, and they can run faster on the calm battlefield. At a speed visible to the naked eye, they quickly approached the Portuguese main ship.

This situation also occurred in the Battle of Diu.

At that time, the Calicut fleet rowed and charged, and the Portuguese fleet could not outrun at all, and the artillery battle instantly turned into a broadside battle.

It's a pity that the Calicut warship was too short, and it couldn't climb up when it successfully took overboard, and was beaten condescendingly by the Portuguese with a firecracker.

But the Ming warships were very high, and once the overboard was successful, it was equivalent to a melee victory, because the number of soldiers in the Portuguese warships was very small!

This is the best way to deal with the Karak warship, and in the windless offshore waters, paddle to carry out a forced assault. There is a great chance of receiving the broadside, there is a great chance of grabbing the ship, so the Portuguese fleet will never be able to win the Ming fleet with comparable strength in the offshore waters.

Last time in Hangzhou, Man Zheng did not charge at the first time, causing Simon to flee for three days and three nights, and this time he will not make the same mistake again.

"Turn around and sail into the depths!" Berio was so frightened that he turned around and ran.

This order led to the beginning of confusion in the formation of the Portuguese fleet. The nimble Caravel sailboat actually ran to the front, leaving behind the main Caravel.

Seeing this, Berio ordered the Caravel galleon to slow down and return for cruising fire, while covering the retreat of the main force, and by the way, try their luck to see if they could sink the enemy.

Thirty-four Caravel battleships, nimbly shuttling around the battlefield, constantly shelling enemy ships. But they were too small to have more than 200 ships, and the power of the guns on board was very small, except for one unlucky Malacca galleys, which was unfortunately sunk in pursuit.

The treasure ship that Man Zheng was riding on didn't pay attention to it at all, paddling Zhang Fan and biting the enemy's main ship.

At the beginning, the thirty-four Caravel warships also tried to gather fire to attack the Daming treasure ship. But after fighting for a while, they directly chose to give up and attack other enemies, and they didn't even have the desire to fire at the treasure ship.

"Boom!"

A Ming warship was hit, several oarsmen were killed, and the charge slowed down slightly, but it was not affected much.

Ning Botao and Dai Zhiquan's two bird ships were the fastest, and they had already crossed the treasure ships as they ran, and rushed towards the two 800-material Karak warships respectively. Although their bird boat was only 400 materials, the side of the boat was not much shorter, and there were more soldiers, so it was perfectly feasible to swing and jump the gang.

Rows of hooks flew out, and ballistas fired arrows with ropes. The arrow, larger than a spear, plunged into the hull of the enemy ship, and countless ropes dragged the ships together.

"Kill!"

Ning Botao and Dai Zhiquan jumped almost at the same time, and the two took the lead, jumping onto each other's deck with a volley of firearms.

Although the Great Ming Bird ship is half smaller than the enemy ship, its combat strength is twice that of the other side. Countless Ming sailors rushed over, and after paying more than 20 lives, they easily occupied the deck, and then pursued and occupied the entire enemy ship.

"Kill them all, leave no prisoners!"

While ordering a massacre, the two men left a small number of soldiers to occupy the enemy ship and returned to the bird boat to continue the pursuit.

Malacca oars were not so powerful, they were fast in the near sea, but they could only bully enemy ships of the same size. But the enemy ships were also maneuverable, and it was difficult for them to engage the broadside, but they themselves were constantly sunk in pursuit.

In the blink of an eye, six of the twenty-three Malacca galleys had been sunk by the enemy.

The armed merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty were slightly better, but they did not achieve any results, but they were sunk by the enemy. However, in the process of shelling, they also sank a 100 enemy ship, and the firepower of the armed merchant ship was quite good.

Man Zheng aimed at the local main ship, and didn't even care about catching up with the deputy ship, only firing a salvo when passing by. The Portuguese lieutenants were also firing their guns, and both sides played at close range, each with at least ten shells hit. The sailors of both sides died without mentioning it, and the treasure ship continued to move forward covered with scars, but the enemy's auxiliary ship was flooded in the cabin, and the sailors frantically carried out drainage operations.

The main ship that Berio was riding on was getting closer and closer to the treasure ship.

Seeing that he couldn't escape, Berio suddenly ordered the nearby ships to swing sideways and fire at the treasure ship.

The Karak sailing ship had a weak steering ability, and after receiving an order from the main ship, most of them did not have time to aim. However, the treasure ship was hit more than 40 rounds at close range in a short period of time, the shipbuilding was directly bombed into a sieve, and many cabins leaked seriously.

"It's not sinking?"

Berio was incredulous and muttered to himself, "The Devil's Ship, this is the Devil's Ship!" ”

"Damn, I almost killed Lao Tzu!" Man was lying in the captain's room, covered in a cold sweat, and his lieutenant had been blasted to the upper body.

Man Zheng got up and shouted: "Keep paddling, don't stop, ballista fire zipline!" ”

The same panicked sailors of the treasure ship got up one after another to operate. The ballista fired arm-thick arrows that hit at least a third of the Portuguese main ship, and more than a dozen ropes connected the two ships.

"Haha, it's time to take the ship!" Man Zheng drew his knife and rushed down.

The fatal mistake made by the Portuguese Indian fleet was that it should not engage the Ming Naval Division in the coastal waters. If the battlefield is changed to the deep sea, it is really difficult to distinguish the winner from the loser, and the probability of defeat of the Great Ming Naval Division is higher.

However, if Portugal wants to retake Malacca, it must win offshore.

Malacca was able to overtake Singapore as the node of the ancient East-West shipping route precisely because the nearby sea was calm and never suffered from any major storms.

In this kind of sea area, how do sail warships fight large galleys? Unless the firepower and hull are crushed, there is no need to fight at all, and Portugal can only bully the weak in the offshore sea!

Since the side of the treasure ship was much higher, Manzheng didn't bother to take the gang. Directly ordered the soldiers to shoot from a high position with muskets in their hands, and beat the sailors on the deck of the enemy ship so that they did not dare to raise their heads.

After three consecutive volleys, Man Zheng ordered: "Jump gang!" ”