Fox of France

In fact, when the British ships were cruising in the harbor just now, there were militiamen nearby watching them out of the range of the British frigate's guns. Naturally, these Dutch militiamen also saw that the British threw away various supplies including lifeboats, and pushed the bow and stern guns into the sea. Of course, they also saw a column of smoke rising in the distance, knowing that this was a sign of the arrival of reinforcements. However, they had no way to get in touch with the reinforcements, nor could they slow down the retreat of the British. So I could only watch the British frigate escape the bay. But they are not completely unable to do anything, at least they sent personnel to report this matter to Babel and the others. Anyway, Babel and the others are not far from here now. They have just organized a horse team, brought in materials including fresh water, and set up supply points along the road to Cape Town. And stockpiled facilities for building docks there.

The combined French and Dutch fleets (though technically speaking, there were not even a single Dutch ship in the combined fleet.) entered the bay and anchored there. Then the skiff was lowered and some soldiers started to land. The first to land was an infantry squad of the Netherlands Army. They got in touch with the Dutch militia who welcomed them there, and then more Dutch and French began to use their own small boats one after another. landed.

At this time, Philip Treville and Babel also rode over to welcome the "liberator" from the European continent.

Major Léon Berthier, commander of the French Army, also went ashore in a small boat. And successfully connected with Philippe Treville. Before he came, he knew from Marshal Berthier that Mr. Philip Treville, an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, was in charge of the work here.

"Philippe Treville is a relative of Marshal de Treville, whose brother is now our ambassador in Vienna. He himself was once an important figure in the royal party, and after the royal party dissipated, he left some tendencies in the family. Relatives of the Revolution, well, I mean mainly Admiral Treville. On the contrary, it is said that because of the different attitudes towards the Revolution, he and his brother had a very bad relationship at the beginning. But in any case, they are Brother. It goes without saying that Treville is the admiral of the Navy, and his younger brother is also a new star in the political arena. And he himself, as a former royalist, after joining the Ministry of Public Security, he was Gained the power to be independent in such an important direction.

I know what you think, you will think that he must have gained reuse by betraying other members of the Royalist Party. If you think so, you are wrong. If Philip Treville could only do this, then he would never be reused, let alone be independent. Standing alone is a high evaluation of his ability. When you get there, work closely with him.

You will follow the route of the army in the future, but he will follow the route of the government. The credit you need is different, so there is no competition between you, and the Treville family will also be very influential in the future, and it is very beneficial for you to be friends with him. Do you understand me? Do things beautifully, and I will help you deal with the rest. "

Now that he had received such an explanation, Leon Berthier naturally intended to express his kindness to Treville. He told Philip that he had brought him letters from his uncle, Admiral of the Navy of Treville, and expressed his hope that they would We can work together, unite with sincerity, and make new contributions to France.

Then Treville introduced Babel, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch militia, to Major Leon Berthier. Just now, Babel had just received an official domestic order, and he was appointed as the interim governor of the Netherlands in Cape Town, responsible for the recovery of Cape Town.

The next thing is to arrange for people to go ashore and start rebuilding the pier.

In fact, the two British frigates did not run far just now. They sailed west for a while, and then slowed down. The two frigates began to distance themselves from each other, and using the principle of trigonometric functions, they began to locate the smoke columns. To determine the distance between yourself and those steamships. If the distance was approaching, they would prepare to turn to avoid the steamboats. If the distance between those plumes and them was increasing, at least they were safe now.

But the British are not just looking for safety, they also want to win.

"Steam warships are indeed much stronger than sail warships. Under normal circumstances, sail warships are almost powerless against steam-powered warships, but steam warships also have a huge weakness. If we can properly By taking advantage of this weakness, it is entirely possible for us to create a miracle, a miracle of defeating a steam warship with a sail warship that is an era behind."

Major Johnson, the commander of the British fleet, said to his officers in the war room,

"Then what is the weakness of steamships? The weakness of steamships is that once they turn off the boiler, they cannot move in a short period of time. There is a long period of time between the ignition of the steam engine and the output of power. For a long time, the steamship had no power, and it was just a dead fish floating on the sea. If it was a normal military port, the observation equipment attached to the military port, and the protection of the fort, their weakness would no longer be a weakness. But now, In Saldanha Bay, "

"Commander, how do we know if the enemy's steamship has turned off its steam engine?"

"It's very simple," Major Johnson said. "As long as the steam engine is running, it needs to burn coal continuously. And as long as the coal is burning, we can observe their black smoke from a safe distance. Once we notice that Sa The black smoke from the Saldanha Bay no longer means that they have shut down the steam engine, and at that time, we can return to the Saldanha Bay and create a miracle."

"What if the French never turn off their steam engines?" asked an officer.

"I guess those Dutch people are now planning to build a pier that can land cannons under the cover of the fleet. How long will it take to build such a pier?" Johnson asked.

"About a month?" someone replied.

"However, under special circumstances, it may be faster, let's say twenty days." Qiao Sen said, "Even if the French steam warship is the best in terms of voyage, the coal in its coal bunker is not enough to support such a consumption."

"Sir, if the French are prepared, they may have replenished coal in Central Africa on the way here." An officer said.

"It's very possible, but it's not enough to sustain them for more than 20 days." Qiao Sen said, "Besides, we stay in this area. If they don't turn off the flames, we have nothing to lose."

After another hour, the British discovered that the smoke column on the other side of the Saldanha Bay had disappeared. Obviously, the French underestimated the enemy too much. They didn't even expect that after seeing a few columns of smoke, they fled in panic, and even the British navy, which pushed all the cannons into the sea, dared to kill a carbine and come back.

However, the British can't rush over immediately, because the sun has not yet set. Although they are downwind and can run to a high speed of 10 knots in the process of rushing towards the Gulf of Saldanha, if they rush over now , was seen from a distance by the lookouts who might have been arranged at the entrance of the bay, and the French still had time to rekindle the fire.

So they had to wait patiently, until the sun went down, and took advantage of the night to rush into the bay.

The sun gradually set, and the two British frigates set up their full sails and began to approach the Saldanha Gulf quickly.

The French army has basically gone ashore at this time, but the cannons are still on board. Even because of the hard voyage, many crew members also went ashore. For example, many crew members from the ships from the "Europa Shipping Alliance" went ashore.

However, the navy still has basic discipline. When it gets dark, the personnel of the French navy basically return to the warship.

This day is the first half of the moon, and the moon rose early, which is not a bad thing for the British, because if there is no moonlight, it is not easy to find a few boats in such a large bay; but the moon It's not all good for the British-the British use sailing ships, which have taller masts and are full of sails, which are obviously easier to see in the moonlight.

So, it was the lookouts of the French navy who first spotted the approaching British warship.

The distance between the two sides was already very close, when the French colonial cruiser "Tradewind" which first spotted the British warship. However, it was too late for the Tradewind to light the boiler and pressurize it. Captain Edmondo was woken up and immediately ordered the gunners to enter the combat position. Now his ship can only be used as a floating fort.

The colonial cruiser has no armor. Although her outer hull is made of metal, it is quite thin. Even spherical shells fired by old-fashioned iron cannons can penetrate it. She has three main advantages over the British sailing frigate, one is that it has greater speed and control performance. But this advantage no longer exists. On the contrary, the British army has an overwhelming advantage in this regard. The second is that her artillery has lighter power, greater range and accuracy, but because of the problem of night vision, everyone's combat distance must be very short, so this advantage is also discounted. As for the third advantage, they are equipped with semi-armor-piercing incendiary bombs specially used to bully wooden ships. Now the only thing Captain Edmondo can really count on is this semi-armor-piercing incendiary bomb.