While building the raft continued, the Mughal army was not idle either. They were practicing using rafts on the seashore far away from Mumbai so that they could become more familiar with paddling quickly in the sea.
There weren't that many soldiers who knew how to swim, so those who couldn't swim were forced to either learn to swim immediately, or simply let them sit in the middle of the raft so that they could adapt to the ups and downs of the raft in the sea.
It can be said that the Mughal Empire's army was really mobilized and in full swing, and their morale was unconsciously improved. Even Max had to admit that the Mughal Empire's army was much stronger than the soldiers of the Safavid Dynasty.
Phillips couldn't help but feel a little worried when he saw this scene. Although he knew that reinforcements could arrive at any time from behind, looking at the training situation of the Mughal Empire army, he was really worried about whether Bombay could wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
But when he saw Li Dingguo's calm look without any reason, he felt a lot more relaxed. Seeing Li Dingguo arranging defense in an orderly manner, his heart dropped to his stomach.
Five days later, Darashiko was impatient again. At this time, nearly 200 rafts of his army have been prepared, and the number of troops delivered at one time can reach about 2,000. This force should be able to easily capture an island.
Therefore, he notified Max's side in Britain that he was scheduled to launch an attack at noon.
This time, Max didn't say anything. He thought there were enough rafts. He mobilized his fleet and divided it half on both sides of the island closest to the coast to cover the two wings of the raft and not give the Ming warships a chance.
Whether it was the mobilization of the Mughal Empire's troops or the mobilization of British colonial warships, they were all blatant, allowing Li Dingguo and others to see at a glance that they were about to launch an offensive.
So, Li Dingguo immediately asked Phillips: "If a battle breaks out later, if all the warships come together, can they defeat the British fleet on one side?"
After hearing this, Phillips looked at the place where the battle was going to take place, then shook his head and said: "If you don't believe it, our warships are useless because there is not much terrain and space, so we can't expand."
Li Dingguo frowned slightly after hearing this, but then relaxed it. Judging from his appearance, it seems that if he can be defeated, it would be best. If he cannot be defeated, then that's it, and it doesn't matter much.
But at this time, Phillips said: "But if we attack, because the British warships have to cover the rafts behind them and cannot maneuver at will, it is a rare opportunity to try to hit a dozen."
Li Dingguo listened, thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, I will ask the navy to prepare, but you must also be prepared. When the opportunity is right, I will order the attack."
At this time, Phillips was not unhappy because Li Dingguo was giving orders. Even he himself was not aware of this. He immediately agreed and went to prepare.
………………
Along the coast, there was a lot of noise.
The Mughal soldiers who had had lunch began to board rafts to prepare for the attack. The follow-up troops were waiting on the coast and would join the attack when the rafts returned after delivering a batch. As for those soldiers who were not assigned the offensive task, they also gathered at the seaside and cheered.
Seeing this scene, Dara Shiko finally felt high-spirited again. In this battle, he would surely be able to capture Bombay and eliminate the Ming army, right?
Everything was ready, and all eyes were on him.
Under the spotlight, Darashiko held his head high, chest puffed out, pointed at the seven islands on the sea, and shouted: "Attack!"
"Woooooooo..." The attack horn sounded immediately. The Mughal soldiers at the seaside rowed hard and began to attack.
There are nearly two hundred rafts. Each raft can transport ten soldiers. There must be space between the rafts. It can be said that this sea is almost entirely filled with rafts.
As usual, there was no movement from the Ming army, which made the morale of the Mughal soldiers much higher. They felt that the Ming army might be like the previous two times, and there would be no movement until they landed. So they rowed more vigorously.
All the Mughal troops on the shore gathered at the seaside to cheer on their soldiers. It could be said that the noise could be heard far away.
Soon, the first raft had passed halfway, but there was still no movement from the Ming army. This made the Mughal soldiers on the raft row more energetically, and the landlubbers on the raft felt a lot more relaxed.
However, just when they thought the Ming army would make any movement after they landed, they heard the sound of "boom, boom, boom...".
When they saw gunpowder smoke rising from the island, they saw that the raft on the side was smashed to pieces by cannonballs. All the soldiers on the raft fell into the sea. Those who were unlucky enough to be hit by cannonballs were bruised and bloody. dyed the sea red.
"Boom boom boom..."
"Wow, wow, wow..."
There were too many rafts, and the Ming army's shelling, almost every ten times, could destroy five or six rafts. Suddenly, the sea was full of broken rafts, floating human heads, and broken corpses.
The Mughal soldiers on the raft that were not hit all panicked after seeing this scene. Especially those landlubbers, their legs and arms are trembling.
Max nearby saw this scene, but his expression did not change at all. This situation is normal. It's not surprising that the raft was hit by an iron bullet. However, relatively speaking, those rafts that were hit accounted for only a small part. The Ming army's shelling could not prevent a large number of rafts from landing on the island.
However, Dara Xiko did not see it that way. His face was livid. He did not expect that the Ming army would bombard him. He was afraid of an accident and immediately sent an order: "Send the supervising team over quickly. If the raft dares to escape, , kill everyone!"
Not to mention, although the Ming army's bombardment was indeed effective, there were too many rafts, and a large number of rafts were still slowly approaching the island.
Seeing this, Li Dingguo turned his head and looked at the British warships on both sides, and found that they were just watching and had no intention of participating in the action. They had been guarding against the Ming warships from attacking.
Under such circumstances, he did not order the navy to attack. Instead, he continuously sent orders to the infantry and made slight adjustments to the previous deployment according to the situation on the battlefield.
Finally, a raft came to the shore, and the Mughal soldiers on it breathed a sigh of relief and immediately rushed to the beach with shouts.
This time, the Mughal Empire army had obviously learned its previous lessons. The first soldiers they washed ashore were archers and musketeers. If the Ming army fought in the same way as before, they would also be able to effectively kill the Ming army.
But this time, the Ming army did not appear immediately, which caused the Mughal Empire to gather more soldiers on the beach. After the number was almost the same, they began to charge.
But at this moment, behind the large rocks, the heads of Ming army soldiers suddenly appeared. They just lay there and shot. After the shooting, the gun was sent back, and someone took the gun away. At the same time, a loaded gun was put into his hand, so that he could shoot again without getting up.
"Bah, bah, bah..."
"Bang bang bang..."
Amidst the sound of muskets and the sound of bowstrings, the Ming army suffered no losses at all. However, the Mughal soldiers on the beach were shot and fell to the ground one after another.
There were many casualties, and they also followed the example of the Ming army and lay down on the ground. However, they soon discovered that while lying on the ground, they could not shoot or shoot arrows.
The wind on the sea can blow away the smoke from the flintlock gun immediately. On the Ming army's side, they fired continuously, firmly suppressing the soldiers of the Mughal Empire on the beach. It was not until their shield soldiers came up that the situation of being passively beaten eased slightly.
At this time, the raft had returned and began to pick up the next batch of soldiers. The soldiers on the beach began to advance slowly in front of the defensive formation formed by shields.
Max, who had been paying attention to the war on the flagship, couldn't help but be speechless when he saw this. He found that the Mughal Empire's army did not know much about the power of firearms troops. Therefore, it was suppressed at first, and now it used shields to cover it instead of rushing into the crowd of Ming soldiers as quickly as possible. It was absolutely Not a good solution!
Sure enough, just as the Mughal soldiers were getting closer and closer under the cover of their shields, suddenly, from behind the rock where the Ming army was, several particularly long gun barrels stretched out, and with a "pop" sound, the guns The sound is extremely loud.
On the side of the Mughal soldiers, the shield looked like paper, and it immediately shattered to pieces. The soldiers behind all screamed and fell to the ground. Their bodies were all covered with tiny holes, and they were swollen. blood.
"Bang bang bang..." The guns equipped by the Ming army were much more maneuverable than artillery. At this time, they came into play again, causing many casualties to the Mughal soldiers.
However, although the Mughal soldiers in front were killed and injured, more and more soldiers landed on the seaside. Many of the soldiers who came ashore later belonged to the Royal Forest Army. They had experienced many battles and were not comparable to the local soldiers. After the cannon fodder in front attracted the firepower of the Ming army, they immediately realized that they were definitely no match for the Ming army in shooting at the seaside. The only way was to attack as soon as possible.
So, they organized their troops and started running as hard as they could, screaming.
"Bang bang bang..." I have never heard the sound of the Ming army's muskets. The rows of Ming army shooting points were firing almost non-stop.
During the charge of the Mughal soldiers, people fell every second, and there were countless corpses lying on the beach.
Dara Xiko was staring at the island in the distance, looking a little nervous and a little angry, and finally shouted involuntarily: "Come on, rush on..."
He believed that as long as he rushed over, with the continuous flow of troops from his men, he would be able to overwhelm the Ming army on the island and win the final victory.
However, he was obviously dreaming.
Miaoshuwu
