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Chapter 1384 Lost
Bishop Barberini was prepared for this outcome. These cannons were secretly cast by the Republic of Venice, and the technology, craftsmen, and some raw materials came from the Ming Dynasty, which Venetian merchants obtained through various means.

As it turns out, even without acquiring the core technology or finding a true master craftsman, the cobbled-together cannon-casting technique still worked. If the two sides hadn't turned against each other so quickly, and had waited a few more years or decades, they might have been able to acquire the real technology. For businessmen, there's no such thing as a flawless egg.

Seeing that his plan was working, Bishop Barberini could not hide his joy. In order to take Suez Port in one fell swoop, he gritted his teeth and personally led the remaining 6000 main force to press forward, intending to launch continuous attacks on the defense line in three waves, giving the enemy no chance to breathe.

However, the sudden roar and violent explosion instantly plunged the bishop from the edge of heaven into the deepest hell. Yes, hell. Flames burst forth among the Venetian soldiers, but instead of bringing fragrance, they brought death.

Large numbers of soldiers were knocked down by the shockwave and shrapnel, and many were stunned, running around like headless flies or squatting in place vomiting.

The hail-like shells continued to advance, as if they had eyes, relentlessly bombarding the second, third, and fourth waves of attacking troops who couldn't escape in time.

"Almighty Heavenly Father...may Your name be known, may Your kingdom come, and deliver us from evil..."

Only then did he realize how insignificant and slow-witted humanity was; compared to the whistling cannonballs, even with two more legs, they couldn't escape. The ambitious Archbishop Barberini was completely dumbfounded; his mind went blank, and the only thing he could remember was the prayer.

"Boom...boom..."

A few minutes later, the shells announced to the world with a standard explosion that iron and fire are not under the jurisdiction of any god, and no matter how firm one's faith or what divine office one holds, it doesn't matter; they will still be bombed.

Well, the cardinal has already been hit several times and is definitely beyond saving. As for whether he'll go to heaven or hell after death, given the current circumstances, he's more likely to go to hell. After all, he's been blown to pieces, no longer holy, and going to heaven covered in blood would have a very bad influence.

"Commander, Commander, the people outside are terrified. There are at least eight or nine hundred of them. Should we go out and capture them all? I've heard that Europe has a tradition of paying ransoms. What if there are a few foolish sons of noble families among them? We'll make a profit!"

As the shelling gradually extended forward, the staff officer, who was huddled on the city wall and still dizzy from the shock, was the first to recover. He looked up and peered out, and immediately had a new idea.

"...Even if you earn it, you have to be alive to spend it. Just wait patiently!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Lie looked up towards the outside of the city. Indeed, some Venetian soldiers closer to the city walls had escaped the cannon fire, but they were probably terrified and were crouching in place, completely at a loss. Sending men out to capture them now would most likely be a waste of their time.

However, looking up again at the large black sphere floating above the city, any remaining hope vanished instantly. The warships anchored in the port were blind, relying entirely on lookouts on the hot air balloons to guide the bombardment points with flag signals. Sending troops out of the city at this time was far too dangerous.

Regarding the question of whether the enemy would escape, Gao Lie's plan was this: It would be best if they could escape! The Tianquan Guard's mission was to defend Suez Port; not to annihilate the enemy or lure them in, but simply to hold it, nothing more.

If the higher command requires the Tianquan Guard to launch a counterattack outside the city, a formal order will be issued. However, the Tianquan Guard will not leave the city to fight without receiving new orders. After suffering such heavy losses, the enemy outside the city will most likely retreat and regroup, and will not launch another large-scale attack in the short term. Enbird City, thousands of miles away, is experiencing a similar situation, but the process is slightly different. It is too far from the port area for the naval cannons to reach it, and the city defense task falls entirely on half of the Tuolong Guard and a Yuheng Guard commander.

The enemy seems to have gone mad these past few days, launching attacks day and night, taking turns to assault the city from the northwest, north, and northeast. Attempts to attack from the west and east were also made a few times, but due to the construction of bunkers in the south of the city and the dense defensive firepower, the casualties were too heavy, forcing them to stop.

However, the attacking forces from the three northern directions had already put a lot of pressure on the defenders. They had arranged supervisory teams behind them, and if the attacking soldiers retreated without orders, they would be subjected to volleys of gunfire from the supervisory teams.

Xiao Si was relieved to have obtained 50 cannons and dozens of boxes of grenades from Zhu Neng, and he was also grateful to Yan Busi for ordering the transfer of a thousand-household soldier from the reserve force; otherwise, it would have been hard to say whether they could have held the position.

Even so, the pressure was still immense, especially at night when visibility was limited. Several times, the enemy had sneaked up to the vicinity of the city walls before they were discovered.

At this distance, rifled guns had no advantage over smoothbore guns except for their rate of fire. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the defensive line was ultimately held only by relying on a barrage of grenades.

"Fire! Fire! Water, quickly fetch water!"

While men could take turns firing, cannons and muskets couldn't; they needed to be cooled down after firing a certain number of shots. When there was simply no time to cool them down, Xiao Si disregarded military regulations and simply poured well water onto the cannons. Even if they won the battle, these cannons would be rendered unusable.

"Commander Xiao, Commander Xiao..." In the midst of the busy work, loud calls came from below the city wall again.

“…Governor Zhang? Oh dear, what are you doing here instead of staying in the city!” If it were anyone else, Xiao Si wouldn’t have paid any attention, but this voice was too familiar and too impossible to ignore—Governor Zhang Yongling.

The first viceroyalty established by the Ming Empire in the southern tip of Africa had a name similar to the viceroyalties established by the Spanish in the Americas, and the management model was also similar, with the viceroy representing the emperor in exercising power.

It's not that the Spanish system was particularly advanced, but rather that it was relatively suitable. Regardless of the Spanish king's abilities, the Ming Dynasty and Spain were essentially the same, both employing a centralized system of government.

However, not all centralized power is the same. The Ming Empire was more purely centralized, with the emperor holding complete control over the country and being the sole commander of the national army.

Spain is somewhat chaotic, with the royal family trying to centralize power, while the nobles are trying to prevent the king from having absolute power, resulting in a constant tug-of-war between centralization and decentralization.

However, neither side can function without the other, and they cannot simply break up. The result is a hybrid system that combines both centralization and decentralization. The advantages of both systems are offset by each other, while the disadvantages are amplified, leading to frequent conflicts and extremely low efficiency.

(End of this chapter)