Chapter 182: Battle of Surat [2]

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the port city of Surat. Diogo Barbosa's group, along with the Qutb army, were making their way to cut the port off by Land from the Marathas.

Scouts of the Portuguese were ahead scouting for any Maratha groups lying in wait for the Qutbs. The information about the Qutb's loss in Nadiad had yet to reach Barbosa.

He seemed focused on the mission of taking over the port. He wanted to complete the mission and rest as soon as possible. He heard that fighting the Marathas on land would be hard.

The group had muskets and was training to shoot them in ranks. Although the muskets didn't work in close combat. Most of the group members knew sword arts and spear arts to take close quarters combat as well.

This was instilled in them during the training period.

The deaths of their spies still lingered. They knew the enemy would be anticipating their arrival.

When Diogo arrived close to the Port. He could feel the ground shaking from the roar. He looked ahead onto the port, seeing the debris fly as the cannons of the ship blasted the port buildings and docks.

He also noticed many ships were burning and a Carrack was already sunk. He cursed beneath his breath.

'What the hell is that idiot doing? He lost a second-rate ship to catapults?' He thought as he shook his head in disbelief.

"They seem to be distracted. Now is our chance to take them out." He mumbled.

He looked at his vice commander and nodded.

The vice commander went and whispered something to the Qutb army commander. They all began to set out to fight the Maratha and wipe them clean.

Diogo Barbosa was confident of winning against the Marathas using the muskets. They were great weapons and they could easily pierce many soldier's armor. This made them effective, and coupled with this was the shooting in ranks.

The Portuguese musket wielders often learned to fire at the charges with neat formations and at the same time.

Little did Diogo Barbosa anticipate that his worst nightmare was yet to happen.

As soon as the army was closing in on the gates of the port city.

Diogo could hear faint neighs of horses and vibrations of the ground shaking. He turned back to see a dust storm.

In front of the dust storm was a man charging, brandishing his sword. He recognized the flying flag behind the man. It was the Marathas and they had a whole army with them.

Diogo quickly realized they were in a bad position. They were facing the front and the army was charging at the back.

"Get inside the city." He roared to the Qutb commander and his group better. They quickly approached the gates to get inside the city.

But to their horror, the Gates were shut down before they could even make it. The Marathas soldiers stationed near the gates did their job in shutting down the gates before the Portuguese could even make it.

"What the fuck!!" Cursed Diogo.

He was trapped.

He had no time to open the gate by force. So he took a rather risky decision.

"Form a defensive line in front, Qutbs." He barked out orders to the commander.

The Qutb soldiers quickly formed a defensive line facing the charging enemy.

"Musketeers! Get ready!"

The soldiers prepared their rifles.

The Maratha soldiers clash against the rigid defensive line set up. Although it seemed to be the first time in war for the Qutb soldiers. They help up against the terrifying charge.

Despite having more numbers than the Marathas. They were being pushed back as each soldier of the Marathas fought with their life. They clashed without a care in the world. Some soldiers were swinging their swords even with a missing arm and leg.

"Part ways!" Diogo ordered. "Fire!!" He roared.

At the order the Qutb army parted it's way and an intense ringing sound was heard in his brain as the musketeers shot a volley of shots at the charging soldiers of Marathas.

The Marathas soldiers fell like flies to the chain of shots by the Musketeers.

"Reload!!" Diogo screamed. "Put a shield wall. Hold! Defensive formation."

The commander of the Marathas yelled, despite the barrage from the muskets. The soldiers charged without hesitation. Their comrades fell but this didn't deter them in the slightest.

A sickening thud was heard as the horses charged right in the shield wall, pushing them back.

They fought vigorously like a horde of undying soldiers pushing through the shield walls when impaled with spears. Some soldiers were swinging their swords till their last breath.

The Qutbs were obviously getting pushed back by the sheer determination of the Maratha soldiers.

Diogo made his group rotate to the sides and assume positions.

"Fire."

The mercenaries unleashed another volley of shots, taking the lives of tens to hundreds of Marathas. They didn't even stop for a moment at their shots. They continued to press on the Qutbs, hacking them to death.

For the first time in his life, he saw a bizarre scene on the battlefield. The men were ready to protect their homeland at all costs. This was an unreal sight, as even in close-knit communities in Africa, people didn't rebel or fight like this.

The Maratha commander's attention changed towards him. His eyes bloody red, his veins bulging out with fury. He was missing an arm.

"Kill those bastards first." He roared as he charged at Diogo.

Diogo used his musket to shoot the commander down before his lance could reach his neck.

The commander fell down from his horse and, despite being shot in the chest, crawled towards him and gripped his leg tightly before closing his eyes forever.

'We killed the Commander. This should be easy.'

"The Commander has died with honor. Don't spare any one of these bastard. Keep fighting till our blood runs dry." A soldier roared.

"JAI BHAVANI!! WE SHALL PROTECT OUR MOTHERLAND!!"

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"JAI BHAVANI!! WE SHALL PROTECT OUR MOTHERLAND!!"

The death didn't demoralize the Maratha. In fact, it improved their morale as they became more aggressive. They charged at the mercanries who were reloading their muskets and hacked their necks like butter.

Diogo watched his comrades get hacked by the madmen in the Maratha army.

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He didn't have the time to put up a good strategy, nor did the distance allow them to use their muskets now.

They had completely lost the momentum of the battle.

The battle was over.

He had lost to the Marathas.