In addition to the loss of personnel, the loss of material was also huge, because the Netherlands sent fewer soldiers, so their ship was loaded with the most things. The sunken ship contained a large amount of coal, as well as gunpowder, medicines, and several cannons.

Fortunately, the two remaining transports also have these things. Originally, according to the idea of the "Europa Shipping Alliance", each ship was specially loaded with only one type of cargo, so that it was more convenient to load or unload the cargo. However, the French navy stipulated that each transport ship should be evenly loaded with supplies, so as to ensure that if a ship was shipwrecked, the entire army would not be paralyzed by a lack of certain supplies.

In addition, there was a lot of material loss on the transport ship that was hit hard. However, because it cannot be unloaded for the time being, the specific inventory cannot be carried out, but considering that the cannon is relatively strong, it should not be too badly damaged.

After this battle, the Combined Fleet reformulated its security strategy, first setting up lookout posts at the entrance to the bay to enhance its early warning capability. At the same time, it was stipulated that one of the three colonial cruisers must have one fire on standby every night.

Having lost a transport ship, the coal itself is strained. It is also not clear what happened to the coal on board another transport ship that was badly damaged. Therefore, some people have also raised the question of whether this will lead to a lack of coal for the fleet in the future and will not be able to return to Europe.

To this, Mr. Philippe Treville replied: "The value of these warships is insignificant compared to the friendship of Cape Town, and of France and the Netherlands. So as long as this war can be won, it doesn't matter whether these warships can return to Europe or not. Besides, in the future, Cape Town will be recovered, and France will open a shipping route to India for Europe. At that point, perhaps we will also build a port east of Cape Town to help our Dutch allies in Cape Town. Then these boats don't need to go back. If you have to go back, you can also send another coal ship to the country. ”

And so it was settled. However, the British warships have not been here since then.

Most of the French soldiers also left the bay, and the docks were gradually erected. After about twenty days, the dock was finally set up, and all kinds of supplies and vital artillery began to be unloaded from the ship. The military situation in southern Africa has been completely changed.

By this time, however, the French were not really on Cape Town, and the French had a battalion, but only two companies had actually gone with the Dutch militia to the vicinity of Cape Town—and of course they had brought with them all four cannons that were left. As for the remaining company, it went east with a few geographers and specialists in port construction. According to them, France needed to look a little further east for a bay suitable for the construction of a port.

However, there was no shortage of infantry on the Dutch militia side, so the French sent a company to conduct a geographical expedition, and Babbel did not think there was anything wrong with it. Among other things, having a French colony east of Cape Town would also take some of the trouble that Uncle Zuluhe had to bring.

At this time, the territory of the Cape Town colony was far less than that of the later South Africa, and the entire area of control was only about 100 kilometers around Cape Town, and the real core area was the river valley area near Cape Town. At this time, Dutch immigrants did not really care much about the highlands further east, and they had not yet shown any willingness to expand there. Historically, if it had not been for the policies of the British, who had had to leave the valley near Cape Town, they would not have had much desire to go to the Eastern Highlands.

It's just that Leon Bertier, as the battalion commander, actually decided to personally lead the expedition company and hand over the main force to Philippe to take charge, which was somewhat unexpected by everyone.

Leon also gave Philip an explanation. He told Philip that one of the members of the expedition was a disciple of "some great man" who was working on a research project that could win the Prometheus Prize. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he had to protect the scholar's safety.

Philip naturally knows who "a certain big man" is, and if he can become his disciple, it must be a big man, as for what his disciple is doing here, Philip knows, don't ask what you shouldn't ask.

So Philip went to Cape Town with two companies and four cannons, and with Babbel's militia, while Leon took that company and escorted more than twenty "specialists" to the east.

When the cannon reached Cape Town, the tide of the battle changed.

All four guns were breech-loading rifled steel cannons, far surpassing the much larger looking iron cannons on Cape Town's forts in terms of effective range and accuracy.

Generally speaking, the accuracy of the cannons on the fortress is better than that of the siege guns outside because they have been calibrated at targets within the firing range. However, this is generally based on the fact that there is little difference in performance between the two sides. However, the iron cannons on the Cape Town fortress were too far behind the rear-loading rifled steel cannons of the French army in terms of performance, so that they could only be beaten and could not fight back.

The breech-loading rifled guns, on the other hand, may seem small, but because of the new propellant and higher chamber pressure, they are far more powerful than the older cannons that look much larger than them, including the muzzle kinetic energy.

Of course, what is even more terrifying is that the accuracy of this thing is so high and terrifying that it can even hit the British gun emplacements with armor-piercing shells outside the effective range of the solid shells of the British iron cannons.

Of course, it is impossible to do it with 100 shots, but it is still possible to hit one shot with five or six shots. Of course, the British had enough cannons, and if they knocked slowly, they would have to knock for a while. But everyone can see that Cape Town will be difficult to hold.

However, the British still had a glimmer of hope that the British Navy would gain an advantage in battle and send reinforcements - they did not yet know the outcome of the naval battle in the North Atlantic.

Of course, the French outside the city used propaganda bombs to publicize to them the decisive victory of the French navy in the naval battle of the North Atlantic, but the British inside the city did not believe it.

Moreover, the British also knew that the French cannons, with special charges and shells, could not be supplied in South Africa, so they also hoped that the French would have a shortage of shells.

In order to lure the French into wasting cannonballs, the British even requisitioned wooden pillars from residents' homes in the city. They painted the wooden pillars with black paint and posed as cannons in order to attract French fire.

At first, this trick really had a certain effect, but I don't know what's going on, and the news of this matter still leaked. The French soon ceased to be fooled, and now they always let the Dutch militia feint with blasters, and only after seeing the artillery on the fort firing did they shell the firing emplacements.

The British suspected that the Dutch who were still in the city had sent a message to those outside the city. Therefore, it was proposed that all the Dutch people in the city, men, women, and children, should be killed. But the Governor, after considering the present situation, rejected the proposal, and kept them under close guard. And the Doge had something to say in private with a somewhat influential Dutchman.

Many of the British were rumoring that the Governor wanted to negotiate with the guys outside the city to get a better terms of surrender for everyone. This is a rumor, of course, but when it is spread, everyone will add: "Your Excellency the Governor is really a good man with a lot of foresight." ”