Li Daoxuan stood calmly at the forefront of the fleet, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the distant red walls of Fort Zeelandia.
The Dutch commander had just finished shouting his defiance, full of arrogance, full of bravado, the kind of confidence that only came from not yet understanding what kind of opponent he was dealing with.
Li Daoxuan listened quietly.
Then he smiled.
It was the kind of smile that made the people who knew him feel a faint chill in their spines.
"The Dutch officer," he said slowly, almost lazily, "has made a request that is truly difficult to refuse."
He paused, as if savoring the irony.
"In that case… let us reluctantly grant his wish."
The moment those words left his mouth, Jiang Cheng, who had been standing at his side, burst out laughing. Not loudly, not wildly, but with the unmistakable tone of someone who had just heard something extremely entertaining.
He stepped forward and raised his voice.
"By decree of the Dao Xuan Tianzun!"
His shout cut across the sea like a blade.
"Fulfill his request!"
The messengers did not hesitate.
One after another, they picked up the command and relayed it outward.
"By decree of the Dao Xuan Tianzun! Fulfill his request!"
The order spread from ship to ship, jumping across decks, echoing across masts, until dozens of immortal ships roared in unison.
"FULFILL HIS REQUEST!"
The sailors of Gao Family Village shouted with excitement, their voices filled with a kind of savage joy that only came before a decisive battle.
On the other side, the sailors of Zheng Zhilong's fleet blinked in confusion.
They had no idea what exactly they were supposed to fulfill.
But judging from the tone…
It sounded fun.
So naturally, they joined in.
"FULFILL HIS REQUEST!"
Two hundred ships. Thousands of voices. The sea itself seemed to vibrate.
After the shouting died down, the fleet fell into a brief, almost eerie silence.
Then suddenly, as if remembering something important, the entire fleet turned toward the forested coastline and shouted again.
"Friends of the Dadu Kingdom! Stay away from the battlefield! Move farther back!"
In the forest, Ganza Xia Alami stiffened slightly.
He raised his chin and replied, in his somewhat broken Mandarin:
"We… already… very far…"
No one paid him any attention.
Because Jiang Cheng had already raised his hand again.
"Landing operation. Northern beach. Begin!"
Several immortal ships immediately broke formation and surged toward the shore. They did not even bother to hide their movements. In fact, they landed right in front of the Dutch, in full view of the fortress.
The distance between the landing zone and the city was considerable.
Too far for muskets.
Too far even for most cannons.
Inside Fort Zeelandia, Peter frowned deeply.
"They're landing… there?"
He leaned forward, squinting.
"What are they trying to do?"
The Dutch soldiers around him exchanged uncertain looks.
On the beach, Gao Family Village soldiers moved with practiced precision. Crates were opened, equipment unloaded, and soon, rows upon rows of small, strange-looking cannon tubes were set up.
They were short.
Stubby.
Almost unimpressive.
But every single one of them was angled upward, pointing toward the sky rather than directly at the fortress.
Peter's frown deepened.
"At that distance… even proper cannons would struggle."
He let out a short, dismissive laugh.
"And they think those little things will do anything?"
In the forest, the warriors of the Dadu Kingdom were just as confused.
"What are those?"
"They look like bamboo tubes… but made of iron?"
"Why are they pointing them at the sky?"
Even Zheng Zhilong's seasoned sailors could not help but whisper among themselves.
"We've fought alongside them for a while now… but I've never seen them use these before."
"Are they for signaling?"
"No idea."
Then, without warning, everything changed.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The beach erupted.
The small cannon tubes fired simultaneously, their roar sharp and violent.
At the same time, the fleet offshore unleashed another wave of bombardment.
The sky itself seemed to tremble.
Peter's eyes widened.
"What?"
His mind barely had time to form the thought before reality answered him.
A shell came screaming down from above.
"BOOOOM!"
It struck the fortress wall and exploded in a burst of fire and smoke.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
In an instant, the entire upper section of Fort Zeelandia was engulfed in continuous explosions. Firelight flickered wildly, smoke billowed upward, and fragments of stone and wood flew in every direction.
Peter's face went pale.
"That… that's impossible!"
These weren't flat trajectories.
These were arcing shots.
They were being lobbed over distance, dropping directly into the fortress from above.
The accuracy was not perfect.
In fact, it was chaotic.
Some shells hit the walls. Some landed inside the courtyard. Others exploded just outside the perimeter.
But that did not matter.
Because there were too many.
So many that accuracy became irrelevant.
Inside the fortress, explosions erupted everywhere.
On the walls.
In the corridors.
In the open yards.
The entire place was turning into a storm of fire and noise.
In the forest, Ganza Xia Alami stared in stunned silence.
The earlier confidence he had felt… began to crack.
He watched as explosions bloomed unpredictably around the fortress, each one sending sand, stone, and debris flying into the air.
His eyes slowly lifted toward the sky.
Then toward the sea.
Then back to the battlefield.
His grip on his staff tightened.
A thought crept into his mind.
What if… one of those things… landed here?
He swallowed.
Maybe… just maybe… they were not far enough.
He wanted to give the order to retreat.
But…
His pride held him back.
If he retreated now, in front of his people… would they think he was afraid?
At that moment, one of the tribal chiefs spoke up cautiously.
"Sun King… should we move back a bit? Those explosions… they don't seem to follow any pattern."
Another added, "Yes… it feels like one could land here at any moment."
Ganza Xia Alami's eyes lit up.
Finally.
An excuse.
He nodded solemnly.
"You are right. A wise king must consider safety."
He lifted his chin.
"We shall reposition. But remember, we retreat with dignity. No panic."
The moment he finished speaking, he executed a flawless step backward, retreating more than ten meters in an instant.
The chiefs stared at him.
"…."
That was not dignified.
Not even a little.
A heartbeat later, the entire army of the Dadu Kingdom came to the same conclusion.
Dignity was overrated.
"RUN!"
Thousands of warriors turned and fled deeper into the forest, retreating a full li before finally slowing down.
Only then did they dare to turn back and watch again.
Meanwhile, inside Fort Zeelandia, Peter was having a complete mental breakdown.
Shells rained down without pause.
Explosions echoed endlessly.
Smoke filled every corner.
"What is this?! What is this?!"
He grabbed the nearest officer.
"When did the Ming acquire this kind of firepower?! This didn't exist before! It didn't exist!"
His mind raced back to past battles.
"The Battle of Penghu… how did they last seven months against this?!"
A soldier nearby suddenly shouted hysterically.
"It's fake! It has to be fake! These explosions are fake!"
Before anyone could stop him, he ran straight into the bombardment.
"I'll prove it! They can't possibly—"
"BOOM!"
He vanished in an explosion.
Peter froze.
"…Raise the white flag."
The adjutant blinked.
"But, sir… didn't you just tell them to come kill you?"
Peter's expression turned blank.
"I don't remember saying that."
"…Understood."
Moments later, a group of soldiers rushed out under heavy fire and planted a white flag atop the fortress.
It fluttered desperately in the smoke-filled air.
But outside…
The bombardment did not stop.
Not even slightly.
Because on the Gao Family Village side, the soldiers were faithfully carrying out their orders.
The Dao Xuan Tianzun had spoken.
They were to fulfill his request.
And his request was very clear.
Kill him.
Not accept surrender.
So naturally…
They ignored the flag.
A solid cannonball slammed into a section of the red wall, punching straight through it. Behind that wall was a hollow chamber, where a musketeer had been firing blindly through a loophole.
The impact shattered the stone.
Fragments exploded inward.
The musketeer didn't even have time to scream before he was crushed.
Explosive shells continued to detonate throughout the fortress. Even though the tight structure of European-style architecture limited the spread of shrapnel, sheer volume overcame everything.
Left side exploded.
Right side exploded.
Front.
Back.
There was no safe place left.
Fort Zeelandia had completely lost its sense of direction.
Time blurred.
Minutes felt like hours.
Hours felt like an eternity.
And then…
Silence.
The cannons stopped.
For a brief moment, the battlefield fell eerily quiet.
Then—
"CHARGE!"
Zheng Zhilong's ships slammed onto the shore, and Zheng Zhihu leapt forward, blade raised high, laughter booming across the battlefield.
"The walls are broken! Brothers, follow me!"
In the forest, Ganza Xia Alami's eyes lit up again.
"Our friends have begun their assault!"
He jumped to his feet, raising his staff.
"We cannot let them laugh at us! This is our island! We must be the main force!"
The tribal chiefs all turned to look at him.
Their expressions… were complicated.
"Sun King… maybe this time… we just assist?"
Ganza Xia Alami coughed lightly.
"…Fine. Assist. But with spirit!"
He pointed forward dramatically.
"Warriors of the Dadu Kingdom… charge!"
"CHAAAARGE!"
And so, with great enthusiasm and slightly questionable timing, the warriors of the Dadu Kingdom rushed into battle… ready to contribute in whatever way they could manage.