The sky was overcast, the stars and moon were dark, and it was a dark night.

Ye Na flapped her wings and flew out, and quickly turned into a small bright spot in the night sky. Zhou Qingfeng stood in the turret of a fortress cannon and looked out from the observation window. His celestial eye has always been a sharp weapon for spying on secrets, but it is not very useful in Goa, "probably too far away from the Central Plains, lacking a cultural and demographic base." Or maybe these white-skinned pigs have a specialty in hiding their heads and tails. ”

Without willing support, no matter how strong an individual is, his strength is limited. The only thing Zhou Qingfeng could rely on was the army and equipment that he had spent a lot of effort to develop. At this moment, he personally commanded a heavy artillery, and the telescope in his hand followed Ye Na's figure, searching for his target.

Compared with the small ship that was killed by one shot last night, the armed merchant ship of several hundred tons is much larger and more dangerous. I can't see it with the eye of the sky, and I can't even do it if I'm afraid of the rocket, so Zhou Qingfeng asked Ye Na to go out and take a closer look. If it gets close enough to enter an artillery battle, it will be a great threat to the fortress standing by the river.

The high walls of the fortress are a meter thick and are also strengthened by magic. But in the face of shelling, it is still worrying. Zhou Qingfeng originally thought that the Portuguese would attack first from the land, so he asked Wen Ruolan to give priority to pulling up a second stone wall on the east side of the fortress, and increasing the thickness of the high wall to three meters by filling the earthwork in the middle. In this way, the ability to resist heavy artillery bombardment is much greater.

But no one expected that He Zhuo's tentative surprise attack would win an overwhelming victory, which also made the Portuguese much more cautious. Instead of continuing the attack from the land direction, they came first from the water.

"I only knocked out one of their boats last night, and they dared to come." The high wall on the north side of the fortress where Zhou Qingfeng was located did not have time to be strengthened. Due to the ability of the migrant workers to dig up the earth, the wall is still only one meter thick, and it can be broken by continuous heavy artillery bombardment.

The field of view in the telescope was too small, and Zhou Qingfeng quickly lost Ye Na's figure. He had just lowered his hand and stared at it when he suddenly noticed a bright light burst out on the surface of the river about two kilometers away, and a huge cross appeared.

"These white-skinned pigs, I knew they wanted to sneak over and sneak attack." Zhou Qingfeng's spiritual link quickly linked the gun commanders of the three fortress heavy cannons - because it was a hexagonal fortress, any point within the fortress firing range could be targeted by the three guns. "Aim for me at that broken cross. No, aim under the cross. Loaded with oval round-headed solid bullets. ”

Two kilometres away, Father Merlot of the Goa Inquisition was holding a staff and chanting the name of 'Jehovah'. Together with several Ruling Priests, he rose into the air with gritted teeth to slay Ye Na who flew from the sky - this female warrior with powerful holy powers is an unforgivable heretic, more hateful than a heretic!

"The Lord says that he will strip you of the splendor of the past." Father Merlot's staff shone brightly, and he wanted to cut off his opponent's abilities. It's just that Ye Na, who was flying in the sky, slashed with two swords, not only splitting the light of judgment of the opponent's combined attack, but also flying up and dropping a ball of flames.

It was an arsonite bomb that also emitted a huge amount of light.

Father Merlot, of course, did not allow this to fall on the deck of his ship. He swung it casually, and a force field exploded the volley of arson bombs. But with this strong light, the black shadow that originally shrouded and protected the ship quickly dispersed, exposing the huge hull.

"It's about two thousand two hundred meters." The gun commander in the turret estimated a distance with the help of the river topography seen by the strong light - the optical rangefinder is a simple principle, but the requirements for lenses and craftsmanship are too high, and the 'revolutionary army' has not been able to handle it.

Two thousand two hundred meters was already beyond the effective range of the fortress guns, and the accuracy of rash fire was very poor. Zhou Qingfeng in the turret took a deep breath, and only shouted faintly behind him, "Jia Gang, you go and keep an eye on those two ships, be careful." ”

There seemed to be no one behind Zhou Qingfeng, but a clear 'yes' was heard, and then a gust of wind left from the turret. Zhou Qingfeng ordered again: "Let the hot air balloon on the watchtower be lowered, and the fire on the hanging basket is serving as a lighthouse for the enemy to show the way." ”

Having just banished Ye Na, the shadow of magic once again shrouded the two armed merchant ships. Father Merlot at the bow of the ship stared at the slowly descending and fading 'Demon Eye' not far away, and was also very distressed - the enemy was not the ignorant natives of the East, but more shrewd than the Europeans. Now that both sides are in darkness, no one is having a good time.

The two boats were still moving slowly along the current, but the captain came running over and complained: "The dark environment is very dangerous for us. This is the mouth of the river, which is only a few hundred meters away. Our boat has a deep draft and can easily run aground. ”

A cannon weighing several tons falls halfway through, which is a big trouble. Ships of several hundred tons ran aground, and that was not a joke. But Father Merlot refused to give up, and he turned back and said, "I know you can measure the depth of the water and avoid running aground. It's nothing more than slowing down the ship, we are already very close to the fifteen-hundred-meter artillery range, and we can't give up easily. ”

"That's the maximum range of naval guns, and the effective range is much shorter."

"For a target like a fortress, the maximum range is sufficient."

Had it not been for the Governor's compulsion, the captains of the merchant ships would not have been willing to take their precious ships into battle. But now the priest of the Inquisition has ordered him not to do it, so he can only bite the bullet.

The water was howling, the ship was moving silently, and Father Merlot was staring ahead from the bow. Although he couldn't see anything, he knew that he was getting closer and closer to the devil's lair. He was going to order the adjudicator priest next to him to fly out to determine the location of the enemy's fortress, such as going ashore and lighting a fire or something, but as soon as he turned around......

On the outside of the bow of the ship, there was a pool of turquoise glowing water, and this glowing water was so faint that it was impossible to see it if you didn't look closely. It is especially difficult to find on the hull of a ship that is a lot higher than the water. But this glowing body of water kept following, like a bone appendage.

"This must be the devil's tactic." Father Merlot was about to raise his staff to expel this anomaly, but he saw three bright spots shining at the same time more than a thousand meters away. Seconds later, the thunderous sound of cannon was accompanied by a whistling blast of cannonballs. Three shells hit the side of the hull, two went close to the water, but one hit the underside of the bow.

With a bang, Father Merlot felt a violent tremor beneath his feet, and the wooden bow of the ship cracked, and he could no longer stand still. He had to let his body fly, and when he turned his head to look at the hull beneath his feet, there was a large hole under the bow - the sturdy hull made of Goan teak could not withstand the critical blow.

"Shoot back!" The captain was conscientious, and immediately commanded the damage management and fired back after being wounded. Although it was only an armed merchant ship and not a specialized warship, there were still a dozen heavy guns on the side of the ship - a merchant ship without artillery in these days was almost like running naked, just waiting to be robbed.

According to the light of the shelling in the direction of the fortress just now, the two armed merchant ships immediately returned the color. Three fortresses shelled them, and at once a total of twelve large-caliber heavy guns on the side took aim and opened fire quickly - both sides were within range of their guns, and now it was up to them to see who could shoot more accurately and deliver more ammunition.

"Don't worry, boys." One captain raised his command knife and shouted to the sailors on deck, "We have twelve guns, but our opponents have three. We're so much better than them.

You're all the best gunners and you're sure to get the best salvo at the fastest speed. Come on, let me see what you're capable of. After the fight, I invite you to the tavern for a whole night of rum drinking, sleeping with the prettiest women, and having a good time. ”

The sailors were very vulgar in those years, but the long life at sea gave them good discipline. The captain's words carried great authority and encouraged all the sailors to work hard.

On the side of the fortress, the artillery crew after the shelling was rapidly reloading. The rate of fire of the 200-millimeter fortress heavy artillery is naturally slower, and the burst rate of fire is only three rounds in two minutes, and the sustained rate of fire will be reduced to two rounds in three minutes.

With the help of Jia Gang's instructions, Zhou Qingfeng fired first. But when the enemy's counterattack was lit up, he knew that he had made a slight mistake in his judgment, and the enemy's ships were twenty meters to the right of the turquoise water. Considering that the enemy's ships were still advancing, he ordered the muzzle of the gun to be turned two squares to the right.

Before waiting for the second salvo to be prepared, the enemy's counterattack came. More than a dozen cannon flames lit up one after another on the surface of the water, and the whistling cannonballs met in the darkness - although they couldn't see it, everyone's scalp was numb, and they knew that this deadly thing existed. The artillery of the Guards has been formed for so long, and it is the first time that it has fired at enemy artillery.

Also a few seconds later, the walls of the fortress were bombarded by twelve heavy artillery projectiles. The reinforced wall at a distance of one meter continued to shake violently. Some projectiles hit the bottom of the wall in the form of ricochets, and some of the projectiles with higher trajectory hit the wall directly on the battlements. Some even jumped directly over the walls and shot into the interior of the fortress, destroying many buildings.

Zhou Qingfeng did not link the military array to build a city defense to defend it. Because for the power of heavy artillery, the little power in the fortress is too weak, and it is better to carry it by the fortress itself.

"Go on." Zhou Qingfeng stood at the observation port of the turret, turned his head and said to the slightly hesitant gunners: "Don't care about me, just sink the enemy's ship." ”

As soon as the shelling began, Father Merlot on the armed merchant ship was worried. The navy will not easily fight against the fortress guns, because the disadvantages are too obvious. He landed again on the deck, and was relieved to hear the captain's loud encouragement, and he hastened to pray to the sailors, to calm their hearts, to improve their strength and reflexes, and to try to make the artillery battle go smoothly.

But less than a minute later, while the sailors on the merchant ship were still struggling to reset the guns, a fire broke out on the opposite fortress, and a few seconds later shells and cannons followed. This time the shelling was more accurate, and all three fortress guns were aimed at a merchant ship - two of the three shells hit the hull and directly into the hold.

"Hell, how did these Oriental cannons hit so fast?" Father Merlot had just cast his magic when he felt another tremor beneath his feet. He could even imagine what was going on inside the cabin, which must have been a lot of broken wood chips and a lot of bloody casualties.

Compared with the fast fight, the captain was more surprised that the opponent could hit so accurately?

It's a hell of a night, and a 600-ton merchant ship won't last long if it hits like this. The captain immediately changed his tactics and shouted, "Stop firing, let's change our bearings." Father Merlot, get rid of the monsters that are staring at us in the water. ”

The artillery battle on the water gradually became fierce, and Lord Costa on land also watched the battle with a telescope. When the artillery of the fortress was focused on dealing with merchant ships, he immediately ordered his artillerymen: "Lean up and make a fire raid, and teach those orientals a hard lesson." They are going to fight and are afraid of us like the natives of Goa. ”