Louis XIV stood on the high ground east of Lisbon, looking at the city of Lisbon, which was surrounded by Allied soldiers.
Not all of the one million European coalition soldiers are in Lisbon. Porto and Coimbra are now surrounded by the coalition forces. There are varying numbers of coalition forces attacking in each of those large and small cities. Louis XIV personally directed the offensive in Lisbon on the front line, gathering two troops
One hundred and seventy thousand soldiers tried to capture the Portuguese capital as quickly as possible.
But even 270,000 people are still very spectacular. The outside of the Lisbon city wall is covered with criss-crossing trenches. Looking from a distance, those complex war fortifications are as densely packed as ant nests, cutting the European land into pieces in winter.
, it makes people’s scalp numb.
Countless soldiers stood in a stalemate in the trenches.
The battle was not as smooth as expected.
There were flames everywhere on the battlefield. The explosion caused by the explosive bombs set the nearby villages and trees on fire, and everyone had burning objects in their field of vision. These flames formed a strong contrast with the snow on the ground, making the whole scene become
Very bright and eye-catching.
Another thing that adds to the atmosphere of the battlefield is the smoke that is diffused everywhere. The smoke ejected from the gun barrels covers the positions of both sides, like a fog of war.
In the suffocating smoke, a French knight held a white flag and walked near the outer city of Lisbon. He walked near the trench, shouted at the Portuguese there, and used Portuguese to recruit the southern European soldiers in the trench.
But what responded to him was the grenade brought by the Chinese. The Portuguese soldier still had the will to fight, and threw a bolt-type grenade at him. The explosions frightened the knight to immediately throw away the white flag and retreat to his own position.
After the knights ran back to the allied trenches, the European allied forces fired at the Portuguese in retaliation.
The trenches outside the city wall were dug by the Portuguese and were now being bombarded by allied artillery. From time to time, Louis XIV saw explosive shells flying through the sky and falling into the Portuguese trenches. As soon as those shells landed, they scared the nearby Portuguese soldiers.
The Portuguese in plaid military uniforms scurried away like the plague from these rattling cannonballs, but there were always people who were hit by the cannonballs.
The number of heavy artillery of the coalition is about 2,500. Although these artillery all use explosive ammunition, the density is still too low for the trenches outside Lisbon, which are dozens of miles long and have six or seven layers inside and outside. Another restriction is heavy artillery.
What matters is the shooting angle. It is difficult for a heavy artillery that is basically flat-firing to hit a one-meter-wide trench.
As for the cannons, which are the European version of mortars, only the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France have them. There are only more than 3,000 such artillery in the coalition forces outside Lisbon. At this time, these cannons were still responsible for the main attack mission.
It took about an hour for the artillery of the European Allied Forces to dissipate after firing ten times. In addition, the shooting accuracy of the Allied Artillery was very limited, so most of the artillery shells failed to hit the trenches and failed to truly destroy the Portuguese's trench defense lines.
Louis XIV suddenly heard a huge sound of cannons coming from the city of Lisbon, and then after more than ten seconds, he saw dozens of heavy artillery shells falling on his own position in front.
These shells once again proved the advancement of Portuguese weapons.
You must know that this Russian position is more than ten miles away from the city wall outside Lisbon, which is far beyond the range of European artillery. The Chinese artillery in Lisbon is obviously a rifled gun and can shoot to such an exaggerated distance.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
Li Zhi's rifled guns were all full of explosive shells, and huge sparks soon exploded on the Russian position, killing some Russian soldiers and Cossacks.
This rifled artillery return fire once again boosted the morale of the Portuguese soldiers, and the Portuguese cheered in the trenches.
Louis XIV frowned and looked at Lisbon in the distance with his telescope.
William II, the ruler of the Netherlands, sneered and said: "Great King of France, you once said that you would capture Lisbon in one month, but now it has been two months, and the Portuguese still refuse to surrender."
Hearing William II's sarcasm, Louis XIV raised his eyebrows.
"Your Highness, you and I know very well that the rifles used by the Portuguese now are Li Zhi's breech-loading guns. The rate of fire of this rifle is four times that of our Mini rifles. If we rush up, it will cause huge casualties. We are now
The advantage is the number of artillery, and the only way is to use artillery to blast the Portuguese until they give up their position."
Louis XIV waved his hand and said: "Our artillery power has an absolute advantage. The morale of the Portuguese on the opposite side is close to collapse. As long as the bombing continues for one month, at most one and a half months, the Portuguese will definitely surrender."
After hearing Louis XIV's words, the surrounding European nobles began to whisper.
Although Louis XIV's tactics were time-consuming, they were generally feasible.
Other tactics were completely impossible. The Portuguese soldiers' breech-loading guns were too powerful, and several tentative charges by the Allies were beaten back by the intensive firepower of the new rifles.
Although Li Zhi did not sell Gatling guns to the Portuguese, nor did he sell the most advanced magazine-loaded breech-loading guns, the eliminated breech-loading guns without magazines were basically dumped to Portugal at cost prices.
After losing thousands of warriors who rushed into the trenches, the European Allied Forces did not dare to continue charging into the trenches and risking their lives.
Louis XIV decided to use artillery to bombard the trenches on the opposite side. The Portuguese only had more than 20,000 soldiers in Lisbon, and the total number of cannons and small cannons did not exceed 1,000. They were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers.
The King of Switzerland kept his hands on his two-handed sword. At this time, he couldn't help but said: "I support the French King's tactics. As long as we persist, the Portuguese will surrender soon. We really have no other way now."
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Queen Christina of Sweden said: "Your Highness William, you need some patience. The Portuguese will fail within one or two months, and we will soon punish the cowards who betrayed Europe."
William II snorted coldly when he saw that the nobles were all on the side of Louis XIV.
"However, according to information from Dutch merchant ships, Li Zhi's reinforcements are coming."
Christina said softly in French: "Your Highness William, we shouldn't be afraid of Li Zhi's reinforcements. He can bring more than a hundred thousand people at most, and there are more soldiers ready to go in our rear. Europe is so big, we just need to gather another hundred thousand soldiers."
Thousands of people are not a problem. As long as we persevere, victory will definitely be ours."
After a pause, Christina said: "If Li Zhi sends hundreds of thousands of people, they are just here to die."
William II was a little uncomfortable with the words of the Queen of Sweden. Christina was a beautiful woman, and the daughter of the great monarch Gustavus II. As a conceited Dutch ruler, he was refuted by a beautiful and noble woman.
, which made William II feel very shameless.
With a sneer, William II said: "However, according to the intelligence from the Netherlands, Li Zhi himself will also personally conquer Europe."
Hearing William II's words, the nobles around him couldn't help but be stunned, and they were a little unable to react.
Li Zhi wants to personally conquer Europe? What is Li Zhi doing? Is he sure of victory? Is he prepared to use hundreds of thousands of people to deal with more than two million European coalition forces?
Louis XIV frowned and shouted: "This is impossible! Your Highness William, are you kidding?"
William II glared at Louis XIV and said: "The Dutch intelligence system does not need the French to doubt it. The exact news that Li Zhi personally conquered Europe came from India. I am afraid that in two months, Li Zhi will bring it with him
His yellow reinforcements are on the walls of Lisbon!"
Everyone was stunned.
What did Li Zhi want to do? Conquer Europe with hundreds of thousands of people?
Even the extremely confident Louis XIV couldn't understand the logic and looked at William II in surprise.
After a long time, Christina's laughter broke the silence of these nobles.
The queen from Northern Europe covered her mouth and smiled: "The emperor of China was dazzled by victory after victory. Any great empire will collapse one day. I think what William II said is good news. If we were killed in Lisbon
Emperor of the yellow race, China's expansion is over! We in Europe will rule the world again."
The nobles looked at each other and finally agreed with Christina.
William II also didn't understand why Li Zhi came to Europe and was silent.
Louis XIV regained his composure.
"Your Highness Christina is right, Li Zhi will definitely die here when he comes. Lisbon will soon become the cemetery of the Han Emperor!"
