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Chapter 1381 Red Sea 3
"...Are all those weapons on that big ship? Muskets and cannons?"

Iskandarani looked in the direction Gao Lie was pointing, but his view was completely blocked by houses; not a sliver of seawater could be seen. This was the west side of the city; the docks were on the east side, and even standing on the city walls, one couldn't see the sea.

But the obstructed view did not affect his imagination at all. In fact, the Ming warships in the port had been docked for almost a month, with several ships coming and going frequently, making it difficult not to see them.

"You were there when the ship was being unloaded; besides guns and cannons, there were even more powerful things. Alright, hurry up and go on patrol; I need to find a safer place for the command post!"

Gao Lie wasn't lying; the two flotillas in the port area were mobile arsenals, specifically prepared for Suez City. To ensure the safety of weapons and ammunition, the Naval Staff made special arrangements, prohibiting all supplies from being concentrated on shore, but instead dividing them into three parts.

The first batch was carried and temporarily stored by the combat troops; the quantity was relatively small, based on the amount used that day. The second batch was stored in a place within the city; the quantity was slightly larger, but not so large as to affect the course of the battle.

The third type of cargo, the largest quantity, is kept on armed cargo ships, ready to dock at any time to unload and replenish the city's warehouses. However, they never unload too much; they would rather dock once a day than find it troublesome.

There is only one reason for such a regulation: a blatant distrust of local power. They would rather risk occupying a large number of ships than rely on others and have their fate firmly in their own hands.

"Get moving quickly! Bandage the wounded first, send the seriously injured to the ship to recuperate, and the rest of you hurry up and pack up!" Where is safe? Apart from naval warships, Gao Lie thinks the original site of the command post is a good option.

This spot is located inside the corner of the city wall, the most fortified position, but also a blind spot for artillery fire from outside. If it weren't for the towers above, it should have been perfectly fine before the city wall collapsed. So, we didn't go anywhere else; we just cleaned up the fallen rubble, set up the small tent, and that was it.

Without the tower, there would be no more artillery shells, and the tower's remains could serve as natural cover. Climbing up the stairs and crouching behind it to peek out would provide a more direct understanding of the battlefield dynamics than simply looking at the flag signals on the hot air balloon.

"Why haven't you opened fire yet?" That's exactly what Gao Lie did. He led two staff officers up the steps to the city wall, lay down behind the broken walls of the tower, and peered through binoculars. He quickly discovered the problem.

Outside the city, the Venetian army was advancing slowly in neat formation, pushing heavy cannons, to the steady beat of the drums. They had already entered firing range, but the Tianquan Guard's cannons had not fired.

“…Not enough range…How about we have the ship’s guns do a saturation attack first?” The staff officer pointed to the area below the city wall, a hint of embarrassment on his face, but he quickly recovered.

Land warfare operations are largely inseparable from warships, and naval guns don't require much consideration of weight; besides being numerous, they also have long range, large caliber, and sufficient power. Accustomed to using naval guns to fire at shore, the importance of line-of-sight artillery is less emphasized.

"Cover up? Cover up who? If we cover up, will anyone even come close? You idiot! Stay hidden, just hold on a little longer and it'll be about time."

But Gao Lie not only scoffed at the suggestion but was also furious. If he hadn't thought the city wall was a bit too high, he would have kicked the staff officer off the wall long ago. What a terrible idea!

"Thump thump thump... Thump thump thump..." As if hearing the commander's complaints, a dozen low, muffled thuds came from inside the city within a few minutes. The 100mm field guns had opened fire.

"Thump thump thump... thump thump thump..." The first wave of shelling wasn't very accurate; it seemed to have missed any high-value targets and didn't affect the enemy's advance. But less than three minutes later, the second round of shelling began, this time with a significantly increased number of shells, and a cloud of dust rose from the buildings near the city wall.

"Hmm, well done! Signal the commander to keep it up, focus on the artillery, and let the infantry in."

Compared to the first volley, this time the accuracy was significantly better; at least two Venetian cannons could be seen being hit even through binoculars. Whether they were destroyed or not is unclear, but judging from the distance of the explosions, at least personnel were injured.

"...Sister Commander said you should stop worrying about the artillery. If we had followed her method, the enemy's artillery would have been destroyed long ago, and we wouldn't be in such a passive position now!" Before long, the staff officer brought back the artillery commander's reply, which was truly scathing!

"Nonsense! If we had blown up their artillery long ago, who would be foolish enough to fill the craters? His brain is only that of an artillery commander at best; he hasn't improved at all. The commander has wasted his time!"

Gao Lie was not angry at his subordinate's frankness, but laughed instead. This artillery commander's surname was Jie, and his given name was Jie Gui. He was only 22 years old, but he had served for 8 years and had accumulated merits as a fifth-rank military general, which was higher than the honorary titles of most commanders.

But what gave him such confidence wasn't entirely his resume, but his adoptive father. The surname "Jie" is rare; it seems there's only one family with it in the navy—the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Jie Ji.

That's right, Jie Gui is Jie Ji's adopted son and eldest son. Besides him, there are eight other brothers who have neither father nor mother, and are even from different clans. Some have been in the military for many years, while others are still studying at military academies or modern schools. However, they will all join the military sooner or later, and it is highly likely that they will form a family with ten soldiers!

If you were to ask Jieji what she did with all those children, probably only the emperor could give a definitive answer. This eunuch-turned-general was not unique in the Ming army, but those who could accumulate enough merit to reach the rank of second grade were extremely rare, even among ordinary people.

From the time he became the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Jie Ji began to adopt sons. Jie Gui was a Burmese orphan he adopted in Salim harbor. He always kept him by his side and carefully taught him. At the age of 14, he joined the navy and after two years of training, he officially joined the Marine Corps Command and served in several Marine Corps Guards.

Whether it was due to her sister's excellent education or not, her sister also achieved some success in artillery skills. Before the age of 20, she won several awards in military skills competitions held by the Marine Corps Command and became somewhat well-known in the Navy.

Gao Lie believes that Jie Gui is only famous because she became famous early, and in terms of intelligence, she is far from being as good as Jie Ji. She probably will never have the chance to bring glory to the family in this lifetime.

For example, in this battle deployment, the requirement I put forward was to bring the enemy closer to the battlefield and inflict more casualties. To this end, the staff officers specially moved the field artillery from the city walls to the ground below, and changed from direct fire to rappelling.

When the design was first made, no one expected that the Venetians would have so many cannons with such a long range. However, taking a few more rounds of shells did not cause much damage to the overall battle situation. In fact, it made the enemy lower their guard.

As a result, Jie Gui kept spouting nonsense, as if someone was deliberately preventing the artillery from showing their faces. If Jie Ji had also been spouting so much nonsense at Chaoyang Gate back then, she probably would have been shot dead by Wang Chengen long ago.

(End of this chapter)