Meshi Pasha was not surprised by the failure of the first attack. In fact, he had fully expected it.

"If Rhodes, known as the Mediterranean's number one fortress, could be easily breached, then what do I need this army of 70,000 for?" he thought.

He didn't care about the loss of 800 soldiers in this attack. After all, they were all cheap mercenaries, easily bought with money. Their deaths didn't matter. And it saved the Sultan a considerable amount of military expenses.

More importantly, through this probing attack, Meshi Pasha discovered one trump card of the Hospitalier Knights - Greek fire. Although it was a powerful and terrifying weapon, its destructive power could only be fully utilized when used on water. This meant there must be a way to neutralize it.

That was enough for now.

As for the small number of casualties, Meshi Pasha didn't care at all. After all, he was leading a massive army of over 70,000 soldiers. Besides the elite Ottoman New Army and soldiers provided by local lords, Meshi Pasha also brought with him a large number of technical units - the empire's proud engineers and artillerymen. They would use shovels and cannonballs to break through the impregnable walls of Rhodes.

Of course, Meshi Pasha's own strategy was indispensable.

Thinking of this, Meshi Pasha took a sip of his wine, even though drinking alcohol was forbidden by religious law. But Meshi Pasha was of Byzantine descent, and the blood of the Palaiologos family in his veins made him unable to resist the temptation of wine.

As for religious law, hah! With Meshi Pasha's position in the Ottoman court, who dared to question his actions?

Putting down his cup, Meshi Pasha's gaze fell on the map of Rhodes in front of him. He had purchased this map from a Bavarian named George Mason for the price of sixty gold Florins. George was a famous artillery master in Europe, and he had also designed part of the fortifications of Rhodes.

After paying a sufficient price, the money-minded German happily drew a defensive map of Rhodes from memory and handed it to Meshi Pasha.

Meshi Pasha's gaze focused on the castle marked at the top of the map - St. Nicholas Tower. This castle served as a lighthouse for Rhodes and was located on a reef outside the city, connected to the city by an artificial breakwater.

In Meshi Pasha's view, the key to capturing Rhodes lay in completely cutting off its port from the outside world. If the port could not be blockaded, then aid from European countries would continue to flow in. This would render any siege meaningless. Therefore, the port of Rhodes had to be completely sealed off, with the key being St. Nicholas Tower, standing isolated in the sea.

As the main force of the Knight Order was attracted by the feigned attack at St. Peter's Gate during the day, the Turkish engineers had successfully built a floating bridge that led to St. Nicholas Tower.

This bridge demonstrated the superior engineering skills of the Ottoman engineers, with a surface wide enough to allow six horses to pass side by side.

Thinking of this, a satisfied smile appeared on Meshi Pasha's face. It seemed that capturing St. Nicholas Tower was only a matter of time.

The next morning, Meshi Pasha ordered a force of 5,000 troops, consisting of 1,500 Bashibazouk mercenaries, 3,000 feudal lord's troops, and 500 elite New Army soldiers, to attack St. Nicholas Tower from the front through the floating bridge. He also deployed twenty warships to attack from the sea, forming a pincer attack from both land and water.

As usual, Meshi Pasha ordered artillery bombardment of the castle.The Turkish army's giant trebuchets launched stone projectiles the size of seven or eight palms onto the walls of St. Nicholas Castle. The bombardment lasted for two hours, causing one section of the wall to collapse due to the sheer impact of the stone projectiles. Seeing that the bombardment had achieved some success, Meshi Pasha ordered an attack.

At the forefront of the assault were the Bashibazouk mercenaries, still being used as cannon fodder in this battle. To prevent them from retreating due to fear, the newly recruited Turkish soldiers armed with muskets were positioned in the center, ready to suppress any mutiny from the Bashibazouks.

Seeing the Turks launching their attack, the knights inside the castle also began firing cannons to hinder the enemy. One cannonball even hit the center of the floating bridge, but the Ottoman engineers fearlessly repaired it, quickly restoring the bridge.

Large numbers of Turkish soldiers surged onto the islets beneath St. Nicholas Castle. Taking advantage of the knights' inability to repair the damaged walls in time, the Turkish soldiers rushed through the cracks.

This time, the heavy armor of the Hospitaller knights did not provide as much advantage. The Turkish soldiers were equipped with armor that was no inferior to theirs, and all the new Turkish soldiers were professional soldiers trained from a young age. Their level of expertise in battle was not inferior to the seasoned Hospitaller knights.

The Bashibazouks and the feudal soldiers surrounded the Hospitaller knights with absolute numerical superiority, while the Turkish new soldiers leisurely cleared out the surrounded knights one by one. Meanwhile, the musketeers of the new soldiers gradually occupied higher ground, setting up their muskets and constantly shooting towards the Hospitaller knights. Every new soldier musketeer was an exceptional marksman. Every shot fired would bring down a Hospitaller knight.

The tide of the battle gradually turned in favor of the Turks. More and more Hospitaller soldiers were surrounded and eliminated by the Turks. They gradually lost most of the outer defenses of the castle and had to retreat to the central tower for a final stand.

...

Meshi Pasha put down his telescope, a victorious smile appearing on his lips. He knew that it was only a matter of time before these stubborn Hospitaller soldiers were dealt with. Soon, the Turkish army would fully control St. Nicholas Castle, fulfilling his plan to completely block the port.

At this critical moment of imminent victory, a messenger hurriedly ran over.

"Report, sir! An enemy cavalry unit is coming to reinforce St. Nicholas Castle!"

"What?" Meshi Pasha frowned and immediately picked up his telescope.

He saw about fifty cavalrymen, led by a red-haired knight, rushing from the breakwater towards St. Nicholas Castle.

"Are these infidels out of their minds?" Meshi Pasha disdainfully put down his telescope. "Order the artillery to fire towards the direction of the breakwater."

"Yes!"

The Turkish artillery quickly went to work. In no time, shells from cannons and stone projectiles from trebuchets poured towards the breakwater.

Just as the projectiles were about to hit the breakwater, the leading red-haired knight shouted:

"Holy Baptism!"

A pure white holy light shot out from the blade of the red-haired knight's sword, gradually forming a barrier that enveloped the entire breakwater.

The projectiles were deflected by the barrier, falling into the sea and causing huge splashes.

"Incredible." Meshi Pasha's face, usually in complete control, showed a surprised expression for the first time. "Red hair... It must be the Grand Commander Rocha. Could it be... this is the power of the Holy Knights?"

Meshi Pasha fell into contemplation. He had always believed that the so-called "Holy Knights" were nothing more than political propaganda by the Crusaders, not worthy of belief. But today, seeing it with his own eyes, he didn't expect that this was an actual power of magic.

"I never expected that the young Grand Commander would possess such formidable strength."

Meshi Pasha thought of the strange and talented individuals who served the Sultan in the Ottoman court... but that was something he would never know.

...

After the cavalry led by the Grand Commander joined the battle, the defending forces inside St. Nicholas Castle fought like they were injected with a stimulant, launching a furious resistance.The red-haired knight rode on a white steed, wielding a cross-shaped longsword, slashing through the enemy ranks as if in a realm of her own. The cavalry behind her followed suit, charging into the enemy and engaging in battle.

The Turkish soldiers who had been besieging the castle for a long time were already exhausted, caught off guard by the sudden attack. They quickly lost their formation and began to retreat from the fortress.

Seeing this situation, the remaining defenders of Nicholasad rushed forward to counterattack.

The Turks, having witnessed the "miracles" of the holy knights before, and now being attacked from both sides, had lost their will to fight. They scattered in the direction of the floating bridge.

Faced with this unexpected turn of events, the Turkish front-line commander naturally felt a sense of reluctance. He was not willing to give up the victory that was supposed to be within reach.

So the commander dodged a musket shot from a soldier beside him, aimed his own musket at the captain of the Hospital Knights who was slashing through the crowd, and fired.

Bang!

The horse neighed.

The bullet hit the captain's mount.

As the captain fell from her horse, she caressed the eyes of her beloved steed.

Quickly, she got up and joined the battle once again.

She looked up at the direction from which the bullet had come.

Then, gripping her longsword tightly, she charged in that direction.

The heavy cross-shaped longsword spun in the hands of the red-haired knight as if caught in a whirlwind.

Bloody splatters spattered on the Turkish soldiers who tried to stop her, like blooming flowers of death.

Then, the knight leaped. She jumped onto the ten-meter-high platform where the commander was standing.

"It's impossible, this can't be!"

The musket slipped from the commander's hand as he took a few steps back, his face pale.

The captain calmly approached.

She raised her sword and swung it down.

The commander's head fell cleanly with a powerful blow.

The red-haired knight turned her head towards the direction of the floating bridge, where more than half of the Turkish soldiers had already escaped to the other side.

She raised her longsword high above her head.

"Sacred light, shatter the darkness!"

The cross-shaped sword once again radiated a holy glow.

The captain of the Hospital Knights soared to an incredible height, holding her sword high, and struck heavily on the floating bridge.

Boom!

Dazzling sacred light enveloped the cross-shaped sword, shattering the floating bridge into pieces.

"You have no way to escape now, surrender."

The red-haired knight stood with her back against the ocean, facing the retreating Turkish soldiers.

Naturally, the Turkish soldiers would not accept the surrender offer from the infidels.

So, the few hundred Turkish soldiers trapped on the islet launched their final battle.

......

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Inside the command tent, Meshi Pasha angrily threw his wine cup to the ground.

In this battle, Meshi Pasha lost more than two thousand soldiers.

If only it were the Bashibazouks who suffered casualties, it would be acceptable. But three hundred men out of the five hundred newly recruited soldiers were injured or killed!

It should be noted that these new soldiers were carefully selected from the Christian population of the empire from a young age. It took ten years or more to train each of them. They were professional soldiers who were not allowed to marry and had sworn lifelong allegiance to the Sultan. They were the most valuable military force of the empire.

But today, in this battle, more than three hundred of them were lost! Meshi Pasha felt his heart bleeding.

......

Meshi Pasha gasped for breath heavily, taking quite some time to finally calm down.

"Rocha de Vilarei, she really is a formidable enemy."

Meshi Pasha completely regained his composure.

"It seems that we must deploy that thing."

Meshi Pasha called in the guard from outside.

"Notify the artillery commander to bring out that 'big guy'. Tell him I will personally go and inspect later."

"Yes!"

......

At the artillery camp.

"It is truly incredible. Every time I see this 'big guy,' I am greatly amazed."

Meshi Pasha caressed the massive barrel of the cannon.

In front of him was a gigantic cannon, five meters long, with a caliber of 762 millimeters, weighing seventeen tons. It was a terrifying weapon specially cast by the Hungarian genius artillery designer, Urban, for the grand goal of capturing Constantinople.Meshi Pasha, under the orders of the Sultan, brought the Urban cannon to Rhodes Island to test the power of the giant cannon on the island's fortress in preparation for future conquest of Constantinople.

"That Hungarian boasts that he can blast open the walls of Constantinople," Meshi Pasha surveyed the body of the bronze monster. "Let me test it out first on the fortress of Rhodes."

Meshi Pasha shifted his gaze to the Saint Nicholas Tower on the opposite shore.

"However, there is an urgent matter at hand."

Meshi Pasha commanded the artillery commander:

"Abdullah."

"Here, my lord," the artillery commander responded respectfully.

"Tomorrow, you will survey the positions for the cannons on Mount Saint Sittafa."

A sharp glint flashed in Meshi Pasha's eyes.

"Prepare to shell the Grand Captains Palace."