In the war on the southern front, with the participation of the most famous generals of this period, Turenne and Grand Condé, who historically helped Louis XIV establish a powerful France, the coalition immediately changed its strategy and no longer occupied Portugal step by step. Territory, but go straight to the dragon's lair.
According to the results of the discussion between these two famous generals, they believed that the reason why the Portuguese resisted so resolutely was because behind them, there was the presence of the Portuguese King.
As long as the coalition forces capture Lisbon and capture Theodosio, the Portuguese will lose their spiritual leader and lose their will to resist.
Based on such a guiding principle, the British, French, Spanish and other armies were directed towards Lisbon. Except for necessary cities that had to be captured along the way, they did not care about other places.
As a result, Portugal's local harassment of the coalition forces seemed insignificant.
Likewise, when the multinational coalition's troops reached Lisbon, it took far longer than Theodosio's expectation, which severely damaged his confidence in waiting for the Ming Empire's reinforcements to arrive.
The Portuguese near Lisbon all retreated into Lisbon, preparing to defend their capital and their last stronghold.
However, the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable.
On the sea, in addition to the British, French, Dutch and Spanish fleets, there was also a Swedish fleet, led by its famous general Carl Gustav Wrangel.
Obviously, this fat piece of Portuguese meat has attracted too many people who want to eat it.
As a result, the number of multinational fleets blocking Lisbon reached 600. This is a unique event in the history of European wars.
On land, the army of the multinational coalition finally arrived. Outside the city of Lisbon, there were dense crowds of people, and the total number of troops was about 200,000.
Faced with so many enemies, the Portuguese in Lisbon despaired. In the history of Europe, no country has ever been able to defeat so many enemies. Not to mention, Portugal was just a small country before this!
Theodosio had never had a good night's sleep. If he hadn't been young, he would have been crushed by the pressure.
He knew he couldn't collapse.
For this reason, he took the Ming merchants who stayed in Little Nanjing to patrol the city and appeared in the streets and alleys to encourage his people and give them confidence.
The reason why he had the Ming merchants by his side, with their unique oriental faces, was to consciously remind his people that behind Portugal, there was the powerful Ming Empire. As long as they persist and defeat the powerful Ottoman Empire army, the Ming army will surely be able to defeat their enemies as well.
I have to say that the effect of what he did was really effective.
The Portuguese all pinned their hopes on the suzerain country to come to the rescue. For this reason, they cheered up and repelled many attacks by multinational coalition forces.
Knowing that the Portuguese had white gunpowder, the range of their artillery was farther than that of the multinational coalition. Therefore, the multinational coalition did not try to maximize the power of the artillery like the Ottoman Empire's artillery. Instead, they would rather stay farther away and have less power. However, they continued to cause damage to the city walls of Lisbon and maintained their influence on Lisbon. pressure.
After several strong attacks failed to work, generals such as Grand Condé and Turena immediately changed their tactics and began to attack Lisbon through siege strategies such as digging tunnels and building earthen hills.
The Portuguese did not have the powerful offensive power of the Ming Dynasty army, and could not attack outside the city. They could only watch the enemies outside the city threaten Lisbon step by step.
On the port side, the multinational fleets did not attack. However, showing up outside the range of coastal defense artillery in a show of force every day is also damaging the morale of the Lisbon defenders.
The situation is really getting more serious day by day.
For this reason, Theodosio was so worried that he did not know how much hair he had brushed off when no one was around.
Leaving aside the fact that we don’t know when the Suez Canal will be dug, even if the Ming Dynasty navy can come to the rescue, but look at the many warships on the sea, there are more than a hundred steam paddle-wheel warships alone. This battle, Can you still win the battle?
Unless the Ming Dynasty's own navy can come, can they defeat so many warships from outside, right?
But, is this possible?
It's obviously impossible! Even if Ming Dynasty had this intention, it would be too late!
"Boom boom boom..."
The roar of artillery has almost become a normal sound in the sky above Little Nanjing. The multinational coalition's offensive is steady and progress is being made every day.
Seeing that they could not prevent the multinational coalition forces from destroying the city of Little Nanjing, as the mountains outside the city got closer and closer to the city of Little Nanjing, the Portuguese who defended Little Nanjing became more and more desperate.
Theodosio was prepared to die for his country because he could not escape. Even more because he knew that if he couldn't be caught, he would definitely be humiliated and eventually burned on the stake. Rather than die fighting for Portugal, it would be more like a king's death!
It's just a pity that Portugal was not brought into power in Europe!
However, the changes in world affairs are always so unpredictable. Just as Theodosio did not expect that European countries would send so many armies and navies to besiege Lisbon.
On this day, he was leading his people to repulse another attack by the multinational coalition forces outside the city.
Regardless of fatigue, Theodosio patrolled the city, supervised his men to repair the damaged city, rescued the wounded, and moved the corpses of those killed in battle down to the city.
Seeing the despair on the faces of each of his men, at this time, he could no longer provide effective comfort or boost their morale.
According to this situation, it is estimated that Xiao Nanjing will not be able to hold on for a few more days, right?
Just as Theodosio was thinking in frustration, he suddenly heard huge cheers coming from the port.
This kind of cheering has not been heard in Little Nanjing for countless days.
The same is true. No matter who it was, after hearing the cheers, they couldn't help but turn their heads and look in the direction of the port. Everyone's face had a very surprised expression. Everyone wants to know, what happened at the port?
Could it be that the more than 30 steam paddle-wheel warships hiding in the port made great achievements and won a naval battle?
However, this is impossible!
While they were guessing, they heard several horses galloping towards them, shouting loudly as they ran: "The reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty have arrived, the navy of the Ming Dynasty has arrived, the suzerain country has come to save us, God has come to save us..."
These knights were driving their horses along the main road of Little Nanjing, shouting wildly at the same time. The excitement spread throughout Little Nanjing through the shouts.
When the Portuguese heard this, they all cheered up: Are Ming reinforcements arriving? Is this true? Just when Portugal needed help the most, the Ming army finally arrived?
The Portuguese, who were under siege by the multinational coalition, were already in a desperate situation. Suddenly they heard such good news. It can be said that many people went crazy. They either cried with joy, had sex with anyone, or went crazy. He screamed, venting the despair in his heart, and wanted to spit out the despair. One by one, they shouted and screamed, enjoying the joy of surviving a desperate situation!
"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"
"Long live His Majesty the Ming Emperor!"
"..."
The cheers suddenly became the loudest in the sky over Little Nanjing, drowning out all other sounds.
Outside the city, the coalition soldiers who were transporting earth materials to the hill, the soldiers who were preparing for war, and even the soldiers who were digging tunnels all stopped what they were doing, and turned to look at Lisbon with surprise and curiosity. Inside the city.
Such a huge cheer, even if you can't hear it clearly, you can still feel the emotion contained in this huge sound!
Therefore, all the people outside the city, including Dacondai and others who rushed out of the camp to check the situation after hearing the news, couldn't help but look at each other: What happened to the Portuguese in Lisbon? Crazy?
They naturally knew that Lisbon was completely surrounded. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of troops on land, there are more than 500 warships on the sea alone. It can be said that the Portuguese in Lisbon will never cheer like this!
Later, they finally heard it clearly, and it seemed that the Ming Empire army came to the rescue.
However, regardless of whether the coalition forces have an army or a navy, with such a large number of troops, how many Ming troops can they defeat the coalition forces? Where does this confidence come from?
Thinking of this, Dakondai and other army generals did not order an attack for the time being. After all, the morale of the Portuguese in the city was so high at this time that an attack would have no effect and would only increase casualties.
They were not idle, and immediately rode their horses around Lisbon and ran towards the sea, wanting to see exactly how many reinforcements came from the Ming Dynasty.
Theodosio actually thought about this issue, and even thought about it more.
After initially being overjoyed to hear that reinforcements had arrived, he became uneasy.
First of all, the Ming army arrived much earlier than he expected, which made it even more impossible for the Ming navy to arrive. If the Ming navy does not come in large numbers, even if the Ming army uses all white gunpowder, it will not be able to hold up so many warships from the fleets of many countries!
Moreover, the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty have arrived, which has indeed given little Nanjing hope. The cheers today are the best proof.
But once the expected reinforcements arrived, they ended up being defeated, which would be a fatal blow to little Nanjing!
How many reinforcements have come from the Ming Dynasty? Can they win?
These two questions deeply tug at Theodosio's heart. He didn't care about anything else and immediately rode out of the city and rushed to the port to see the situation.
Not long after, he arrived at the port, climbed up to take a look, and suddenly felt chilled in his heart.
He saw that there were indeed warships of the Ming Navy on the sea in the distance. However, he also saw clearly that the number of warships of the Ming Navy was too few. How could he win?
