When the gap between ideals and reality is too great, it can be difficult to accept.

Knowing that one of his cavalry squads had been destroyed in a battle with the enemy, Governor Cordino and Archbishop Xavier in Goa City were unable to sit still. They hurried to the middle of the purge army that had stopped halfway through, wondering what had happened.

Under the treatment of the priest, the injured Anthony quickly recovered his health, but he was immediately interrogated repeatedly by several city bigwigs, and his head was as big as a fight. All he could provide was that he was met head-on by the enemy's musketeers, and then he was blinded.

"It's hard to imagine that these Eastern devils are armed with muskets that can be used on horseback." Governor Cordino crouched in front of several bodies that had been dragged back. He dug open the wound of the corpse with his own hand with a knife and found the projectile steel ball embedded in the flesh, "This is a projectile made of steel, not lead." ”

Steel is much harder than lead. For short-barreled shotguns, which are already lacking in range, the use of steel balls as projectiles can help improve armor-piercing penetration. As for the problem of wearing out the chamber, it would be nice to wrap the projectile in a paper case.

Governor Cordino struck the steel ball with his blade, and after a long time of slashing, he heard the sound of the bell, and his blade actually cracked, but the steel ball projectile was unscathed—the onlookers were still wondering what His Excellency was trying to do? When I saw the results, I was amazed. It's okay to use steel as a projectile, but this steel is too good.

"These Eastern devils can be extravagant to such an extent that they use such good steel to make projectiles?" Archbishop Xavier also found things tricky, and his job was to ensure Portuguese rule in Goa. But he knew that his advantage was in leading technology and force, and that religion was just a means to fool people.

A small steel ball can see a lot of problems.

The army had to stop. The troops did not expect that the fighting would come to a standstill, so that thousands of people did not think about eating, drinking, and lazing. The Portuguese felt that the enemy was right under their noses, and that the march of a few kilometers would not take long. Set off in the morning and return to the division in the evening.

Now 3,000 native soldiers are suffering under the sun, and 1,000 Portuguese soldiers are complaining. In response to this situation, the governor of Kodino took Lord Muhammad and asked, "I remember that you said that a group of oriental merchants appeared in the city, what are they here for?" ”

"They wanted to trade and bought some slaves and horses from me, but there were not many of them. Yesterday when they asked to make a trade again, I refused. However, they say that there are a lot of goods to trade, and hopefully you will acknowledge their existence. "Lord Muhammad hunched his waist and described the eastern merchants in as peaceful terms as possible.

The cavalry duel just now also frightened the Arabs, they had always felt that the European cavalry was already powerful enough, who would have thought that these Eastern cavalry that suddenly appeared were even more ruthless. No one dares to speculate on what the next war will be.

"You send someone to negotiate with those Orientals immediately, I want to know what they want to do?" Governor Cordino pressed the unhappiness in his heart and wanted to know more. In fact, at present, the position of the liquidation troops can already be seen clearly with telescopes, and the hexagonal fortress and the heavy artillery on the fort are not easy to gnaw on.

Lord Muhammad sent his steward to run away with a white flag, and the latter soon returned and said: "The king of the easterners has said that they want to occupy this place for trade. He also said that what you can't get on the battlefield will not be obtained in negotiations, and that you should give up your illusions and start fighting quickly. ”

In fact, Uncle Zhou's words were much more ugly, and he said that he would use the corpse of the white-skinned pig to pave his way forward. However, the governor of Cydino was angry enough to hear the butler's words, and he roared and scolded: "This is the territory of the Kingdom of Portugal, and no one can occupy it casually. Tell the Orientals that if they want to trade, they have to get our consent. ”

The steward could only run away again, but he quickly came back and said, "The king of the easterners says that he does not approve of the power of His Excellency the Governor. He also said that it was not too early, so let's go to war. ”

The Portuguese generals were furious, but Lord Costa, who was in charge of the army, suggested to the governor: "We should perhaps take a break, for the enemy has fortifications and heavy artillery, which is very bad for us." We still have 2,000 native troops all over Goa, and about 5,000 native troops. In addition, two armed merchant ships armed with artillery were parked in the harbor, which could be shelled from the sea. ”

"You mean to delay the war for a few days?" Governor Cordino rolled his eyes, "Costa, maybe you're right. These Orientals are so strange that they may be waiting for us to die. We cannot act on their command. Let's stabilize our troops first and gather more troops. It's a good idea to use the guns on the battleship. ”

Naval artillery is generally much heavier than army artillery. The large-caliber long-barreled heavy guns of the capital ships are all behemoths, and their walls are very thick, and they often weigh five or six tons. There are no capital ships here in Goa, but there are armed merchant ships of several hundred tons on the docks, and the guns on board are quite powerful.

Lord Costa continued, "I sent several ships close to the fort last night, and their fort guns had a very long range, and they wrecked one of our ships. In order to break through the opponent's defenses, it is necessary to use not only the heavy artillery of merchant ships, but also the heavy artillery of fortresses. ”

"You mean those two forty-eight-pounder long-barreled guns in our harbor?" Governor Cordino hesitated, "That's the latest product of our cannon foundry, and it has a range of half a mile. But they're just too bulky. ”

The caliber of the 'forty-eight-pounder' shell was more than two hundred millimeters, and the barrel reached three meters. The 'Half Mile' is even more than 3,000 meters, although this is the maximum range of the elevation angle adjusted to the limit, and there is no accurate head, but the power is indeed amazing.

The only trouble is that this cannon does not fit into the current dirt roads. Not only is this thing heavier, but the gun carriage is heavier. If there is a pothole in the ground, it will sink into it, or even tilt it crookedly. And then the artillerymen will be dumbfounded, and there is no way to take it.

In response to the Governor's concerns, Lord Costa explained: "Those Easterners must have been prepared to challenge us. I think we'd better be more prepared as well.

Tonight we sent armed merchant ships to bombard them with heavy artillery on board, so that the enemy would not dare to come out casually. At the same time, we mobilized troops from the surrounding area overnight to prepare for the ensuing battle, and asked the indigenous soldiers and slaves to repair the road and flatten the ground. A few thousand people working together, a day or two should be enough to repair the road and pass heavy artillery.

Actually, I have a guess that this fortress that suddenly appeared is not very large, so it does not have many troops inside. Otherwise, with the arrogance of those Orientals, they should take the initiative to attack us. ”

Lord Costa has served in Goa for many years, has fought many battles with local kings, and still has some command experience. His words caused Governor Cordino to nod his head repeatedly, indicating that he was willing to listen to his subordinates.

"Very well, Lord Costa, you have given you carte blanche to handle the current war. Lord Xavier should do his best to help you. It is all for the glory of the Lord, and we must not tolerate these heretics defiling our territory. ”

The real-life blow cleared the minds of the Portuguese, who had to resort to a squeeze tactic and build a defensive line outside the enemy's fortress to encircle it. Since Panjim itself was a land cut off by rivers, Zhou Qingfeng occupied a corner of the sea, which made the siege easier for the Portuguese.

At present, there are indeed not enough troops in the fortress. When Xu Bing transformed the space-time island, he stuffed people as much as possible, and it was already crowded with 1,500 people. Among them, there are more militias engaged in construction than soldiers fighting.

Zhou Qingfeng could directly pull out and fight an infantry battalion of more than 600 people. So he didn't even think about going to siege the city. After all, there are more than 300,000 people in the whole territory of Goa, and there are tens of thousands of people in the city, so there is no point in killing a few hundred people.

After He Zhuo's cavalry raid ended, Zhou Qingfeng also sensed that the enemy had changed his tactics. He ignored it at all and continued to improve the fort's defenses. For example, Wen Ruolan led people to pull up a stone wall outside the fortress, and the migrant workers filled the earthwork inside the two stone walls, lifting the original one-meter-thick wall to three meters. All of this greatly strengthened the fortress's ability to withstand enemy shelling.

Since Panjim is surrounded by water on three sides, and only an area about six kilometers wide to the east is connected to the land, it is not difficult to besiege it as long as there are enough men. Under the observation of the telescope, a large number of indigenous Indian laborers were driven to build a defensive line, and it was clear that the Portuguese did not want to fill his fortress with their lives in the face of Zhou Qingfeng's artillery fire.

Zhou Qingfeng said that the Portuguese really ran to carry the two heavy guns they used to defend the port. In order to transport these two cannons, the Portuguese even sent a large number of natives to build roads, and the work was in full swing. His response to this was to arrange a few rockets in the direction of the road, and when the enemy had worked so hard to transport the artillery, he would shoot a covering shot.

Another thing that surprised Zhou Qingfeng was that the two armed merchant ships of the Portuguese left the port, and they left the dock and sailed along the Mandovi River, very carefully. Before dark, they dropped anchor on the river three kilometers from the fortress. When it gets dark, they disappear from view.

"Dashuai, do you want to shoot a lighting rocket?" Wu Damen followed Zhou Qingfeng's side and asked.

"No need to shoot rockets." Zhou Qingfeng stood on the fort facing the river, his eyes full of searching. He opened the Eye of Heaven, but he still couldn't see anything. This surprised him a little, so he pointed in the direction where the enemy's armed merchant ship had disappeared and shouted: "Ye Na, fly out and see, where is the Portuguese ship?" ”

In fact, the task of flight reconnaissance is the most convenient by the flat hair, but the flat hair is now acting as an autopilot, but I am afraid that it has just returned to Tianjin, and it is really far away when it comes back. At the moment, the only one who can fly short distances is Ye Na. The long-legged girl prayed silently, and her wings fluttered behind her and flew out of the fortress, but the light of her wings could not be concealed at all in the night.

Zhou Qingfeng shouted, 'Pay attention to safety', Ye Na only responded with a 'Got it', and flew out with her cultivation as a high strength. And when she flew down the river for about two kilometers, two black shadows suddenly appeared on the surface of the water, shrouded in thick smoke. She was about to circle around the shadow, but there were bursts of praise to God in the shadow......

The shadow broke, revealing two armed merchant ships that had disappeared earlier. At the bow of the ship, several priests in robes were holding their staffs aloft and shouted at Ye Na flying through the air: "Heresy, you will be punished by God. ”

Before Ye Na could leave, a large cross that shone with cold light was pressed down in the air.