The Sun and the Lion

For Ahsan, preparing for the decisive battle was not just about raising military supplies and collecting intelligence. First, spies sent him good news.

"Your Excellency, the pirate leader Demogi you are looking for is now in Cannanor, and his minions are gathered together. It just so happens that the Franks have withdrawn their warships to Cochin. If our army takes this opportunity to cut off this beast, He has no support from the Franks."

Originally, Demoji's base was not far from Goa, but with the Battle of Anjadeep Island and the continuous increase of Safavid troops, the privateer leaders who sensed the threat voluntarily abandoned their original nests and moved south to the affected areas. Activity continued in Portuguese-controlled ports.

With the funding of Portugal and Vijayanagar, the powerful privateers intensified their attacks on horse merchant ships, forcing the merchant ships to be more armed. The Goa consul repeatedly conveyed the community's voice: "I beg you to dispatch warships to destroy these abominable parasites." Bug!"

If he can be eliminated, Portugal will lose a valuable informant. Demoji can provide the deputy king with a large amount of intelligence about India, and act as an intermediary to connect Portugal with the Hindu regime.

After a discussion, Ahsan, Hussein and other participating officers all agreed that now was the time to strike the enemy again, and he simply ordered the deployment of troops to launch an attack during the meeting.

Ahsan had no intention of personally commanding the raid, so he appointed his trusted officer Qadir to lead the squadron. He had a total of six ships under his command, including the flagship Karak, four Karavels, and a heavy oar. sailboat.

Time was tight. The fleet operating in late spring needed to complete its mission before the arrival of summer when sea conditions were worse. Kadir did not waste half a second. All supplies were loaded within one day, and it took less than three days to sail along the coast. to destination.

Kadir first sent a galley disguised as a merchant ship to enter the harbor for reconnaissance. If the intelligence was correct, then there would be fourteen galleys and two thousand mercenaries here. And for the convenience of deployment, they did not berth in the commercial port with the merchant ships, but Resting in the Portuguese military port, there was only one small boat cruising back and forth at the entrance and exit for warning.

The galleys that went out for reconnaissance reported back that there were indeed dhows and galleys parked at the military port near the Portuguese fortress, but there were no carracks and caravel ships. The number was not different from what the spies reported. It seemed that the intelligence was correct.

What he was most worried about was Fort Sant'Angelo, which was right next to the port. The Portuguese defenders inside must be equipped with artillery, and they didn't know how many they had. He could only pay attention to the position of the fleet and try to get as far away from the fortress as possible.

The next step is how to attack. One option is to just break in and start a bombardment, but Kader has another idea - since the enemy ships are all anchored in the harbor at this time, and they don't know that an enemy attack is coming, then maybe it can be done Take advantage of the night to do something small.

It was a pity that there was not enough fire oil and flammable materials in the cabin, otherwise he could lower the boat and set fire to the enemy ships at night. The night attack plan was rejected in this way.

"Well, it's noon now, and there's still a long time until dark. Instead of hiding until dark and being careful about being discovered by merchant ships, it's better to be caught off guard."

Under the command of Kader, with the galley taking the lead and towing the heaviest flagship, the six ships lined up in a row and rode the wind into the waters of the harbor. The fortress defenders who first discovered something was wrong immediately opened fire, but the long distance made it impossible for the cannonballs to miss. No accuracy, just a small splash.

The galley's bow gun fired first at a dhow, but also missed. The two shellings caused chaos in the entire port. No one expected that the war would suddenly burn here again.

Cutting off the heavy rope connecting the galley and the flagship, Kader immediately used semaphores, drums, and horns to convey messages, asking the warships in the rear to follow the flagship closely and prepare to approach and shoot the enemy ships.

The galley soldiers who were the first to approach the enemy ship could clearly see how the mercenaries under Demogi's command boarded the ship in panic to resist the enemy attack. The musketeers and swivel gunners fired wantonly, and many Indians who were still on the rowboat People were beaten to death like this.

Under the command of the captain of the galley, the rowers adjusted their direction and rowed desperately towards the largest ship. The huge impact and the sound of breaking wood shocked everyone's eardrums, and the sudden pause tested the sailors' patience. balance.

The angle of collision easily opened a large hole in the fragile hull of the merchant ship. Seawater continued to pour into the privateer's largest ship, and soon flooded the bottom cabin. The sudden increase in weight tested the ship's buoyancy and damage control skills. The white papers were handed in quickly, and neither of them passed the test of the sea.

By the time the oarsmen allowed the ship to retreat into open water, the five warships in the rear had already entered the predetermined position and began to bombard these warships that had not yet anchored.

At this time, Demoji, who was in his palace in the city, suddenly received a report of an attack. He immediately asked his close associates who came to report: "Who is it? A Rumu person? What is the situation now?"

Without waiting for his cronies to explain to him in confusion what had happened, he ran to the port as quickly as possible to find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuａ.com and then witnessed his ship being shelled and executed without any chance of fighting back. He saw the flag on the mast. You understand what's going on.

"Bah, they are Persians. The horse dealers are here to trouble me!" Demogi gritted his teeth, and then said bitterly: "Don't even think about getting on the ship. Gather all the brothers who are still alive and go to the Franks' castle. Get out of the way."

After saying that, he ran to the moat of Fort Sant'Angelo and called the door: "I am your ally! I need to talk to your commander!"

Rodrigo opened the door for his allies, and the Portuguese garrison commander was very frank: "Don't blame me, I can't help. There are only more than 200 people in the whole fort, and there are only a dozen cannons. It is really impossible to sink these Muslim warships."

"I came to you to discuss countermeasures. The Persians must have planned this action for a long time. If only the ships were damaged, that would be it. But I am very worried that there will be another Cannanor riot."

Rodrigo glanced at the inland city and the Iranian warships on the sea, and then turned back to Demoji: "You mean, they are connected and colluded?"

"This is just my guess, I have to be careful."

This made Rodrigo feel like his head was pounding. He really didn't want to go through such a battle to defend the city with a huge disparity in numbers. Now that all the Indian pirate fleets had been wiped out, no one could smuggle supplies for the fortress garrison. He could only wait until A spice fleet from the mainland or reinforcements from the deputy king arrived.

He said to Demoge: "Fort Sant'Angelo is not large enough to accommodate all your men. If you insist on taking refuge in the fortress, then I can only take you and some of your men. And there are insufficient reserves in the fort. I hope you We can organize manpower now to transfer as much military supplies as possible from the warehouses in the city here, and do as much as we can before the situation gets out of control."