Naval battles were won and lost before the sun set.

The two British battleships were battered in just one hour, one sank on the spot, and the other washed up on the river beach and ran aground. Naturally, the two merchant ships that were playing soy sauce did not escape, the British merchant ship also ran aground and sank in the shallow water of the river, and the Dutch merchant ship wisely chose to surrender after receiving more than a dozen shells.

After the naval battle, the sky was already getting dark. However, they still took advantage of the last rays of the sky to carry out a round of shelling of the wall of the British trading post on the bank of the Gambia River. Dense shells hit the masonry city wall, causing considerable damage. In particular, where the 32-pounder long-barreled heavy artillery bombarded the bricks, the bricks were clearly dented inward, and it seemed that only a few more rounds of shelling would destroy them.

Taking advantage of the naval bombardment of the merchant station and the suppression of the British, the army brethren rushed forward one after another, seized the favorable terrain, and built improvised fortifications to block several roads outside the city walls, so as to prevent the British from escaping at night.

The last glimmer of light on the horizon was also engulfed in darkness. The battleship "10 August" dropped its tail anchor and stayed on the river opposite the merchant station, firing a salvo with its starboard guns without stopping, not giving the enemy a chance to breathe.

The masonry of the city fell, and no one dared to come forward. The two 18-pounder shells hit a short distance from each other, and the brick wall there had formed a noticeable depression that seemed to pierce the entire area with a few more shells.

The Gambia River at night is cool. Lu Ming, commander of the Guinean task force, was sitting in the captain's room of the "10 August" reading documents, while the orderly took small scissors and cut the wick of the candle to make it brighter. These are high-quality candles imported from Russia. It burns with little odor and smoke. Better than the products of the Bright Candle Factory, it is not a grade.

A short but fierce naval battle over the river during the day was over. The four ships of the task force relied on their superior firepower to completely crush the desperate counterattack of two British ships, and achieved the glorious result of sinking one and forcing the other to run aground. And the battleship, which ran aground on the bank of the river, is now under the control of sailors on the east bank.

As for the two British and Dutch merchant ships, the fleet did not even spend much effort. A British merchant ship that had fled in a hurry to the upper reaches of the river unfortunately ran aground and is now half-sunk and half-stranded in shallow waters, and the frigate "Beagle" has sent personnel to the wreck area in a small boat to rescue the British crew members who have fallen overboard. On the one hand, it organized people to salvage the materials on the sunken ship.

The Dutch merchant ship that had returned from Batavia had chosen to surrender after determining the situation, and their ships were now also under the control of the navy of the Republic of the East Coast. After inspecting the entire cabin, the officers who boarded the ship were pleasantly surprised to find a large number of processed teak planks neatly stacked in the cabin of the Dutch flute. This high-quality wood native to Southeast Asia is not deformed under the sun and rain, fire-resistant, resistant to insect bites and ants, and also resistant to corrosion.

The harvest of this batch of high-quality timber alone is already worth the ticket price of this operation. More than 100 Dutch and English sailors were captured scattered and scattered, plus some of the sailors captured during the voyage, and these 200 were now tied up and thrown into the bilge. Their next destination will be the lime mines on the banks of the Dayu River and the iron mines of Changshan Fort.

"Commander, the artillery of the army has entered the position. Barbed wire has also been erected at important intersections, and they are asking if they can launch an attack at night. Lu Ming's adjutant, Admiral Lieutenant Sang Kai, walked in and whispered in his ear.

"Any active night military operations of the Army will not be permitted." Lu Ming said without hesitation, "There are too many unexpected factors for the night attack, and it is difficult for us to grasp them. In the event of a failed attack, our losses will be very serious. Now we have limited capital on hand, and we can't afford any loss. Just keep it as it is, just guard the main junctions, and let the British flee the remaining jungle trails. After all, our aim was only to destroy the British trading post here, to deter them, to create favourable conditions for the secret peace talks that the government was holding with them, and all other purposes were secondary. ”

"I see." Sang Kai nodded, and then continued to report: "Just now, two ship-accompanying agents from the General Intelligence Agency of the State Intelligence carefully interrogated the captured enemy sailors and officers, and learned that the British also have two small strongholds in the upper reaches of this place, which seem to be used for smelting gold, should you send someone to serve it?" ”

"You go and negotiate with the army, there shouldn't be too many people guarding these two strongholds. Let the army draw 4 platoons, and the frigate 'Beagle' will cooperate with their actions. Take those captives to identify, and when you reach the ground, you will make a tentative attack, and if it goes well, take it, and if it doesn't go well, don't force it, and wait until dawn. Be careful, be sure to keep the casualties under control, every soldier is precious! Lu Ming thought about it for a while and said carefully.

"Yes......" Sang Kai replied, and then hesitated for a moment before saying: "The statistics of each ship have come out just now, in the naval battle in the evening, the four battleships participating in the battle were hit by more than 300 bullets, 31 people were killed in battle, and 58 people were wounded, of which 7 were officers; In addition, there are still 19 people who are sick, and 5 of them are seriously ill and have been isolated and recuperated, but I am afraid that they will not survive for long. ”

After Sang Kai finished speaking, the two of them were a little silent for a while.

At this time, on the shore, the two main roads around the British trading post had been tightly sealed by army soldiers on the east bank, and the barbed wire fence with bells was a temporary infantry bunker. Army riflemen led vigilant wolfhounds and hid in bunkers, waiting for an enemy who did not know whether they were alive or dead to come and take the bait.

Next to the infantry bunker was a dug artillery bunker, and two guns were already in place. There were a lot of shells next to the bunkers: solid iron balls, grapeslet shells made of lead, explosive shells made of thin cast iron shells, and of course shotguns wrapped in iron sheets filled with nails, broken iron pieces, gravel, glass shards, etc.

The river breeze at night brings cool moisture, and the bells on the barbed wire gently sway with the river breeze. A few hundred meters away on the river, the battleship "10 August" had already sailed away, and now the battleship "Common Market" was shelling the British trading post. The clusters of orange-red flame flowers blooming one after another in the battleship gun window in the night looked so dazzling and shocking.

"It's spectacular!" Anda fifteen looked at the battleships on the river with fascination and muttered to himself, "Japan does not have such powerful warships. ”

The wolfdog, which was cruising behind the barbed wire, suddenly barked heartbreakingly.

"Platoon commander, there is a situation!" The soldier with the wolfdog shouted loudly, and at the same time led the wolfdog and ran quickly into the nearby infantry trench, taking his rifle off his back.

Anda fifteen leaped into the infantry trench and stared carefully ahead. I saw that there seemed to be a lot of shadows moving rapidly in the night ahead, but due to the distance and the dim light, it was impossible to see it for a while.

"The whole platoon has it, three salvos from the left front!" Anda 15 shouted, "Get shot...... Charge ...... Reload ...... Raise your gun...... Ready, set! ”

As the brass whistle from Anda Fifteen's mouth fell, fifteen muskets fired a volley to the left front. The soldiers of the security company who had completed the salvo did not wait for the commander's order, and immediately took out a round of paper shell ammunition from the cowhide ammunition bag hanging on their bodies, bit through the body of the bullet with their teeth, poured the propellant into the barrel, and then took out the lead bullet inside, stuffed it into the barrel, and then pounded it with a strip. Having been trained countless times, they perform this movement mechanically, as skillfully as if they were doing ordinary things like eating and drinking.

After the first volley, several screams were heard in the darkness from the left front. Soon, the soldiers fired a second and third salvo. Their shooting led to several other platoons of soldiers, who soon joined in the firing under the organization of the officers, and more screams could be heard in the darkness, and then there was silence.

The soldiers who had finished shooting waited for a long time for the company commander to give the order to attack, but instead the heralds brought the latest orders asking them to hold their positions and not to attack without permission.

The shelling of the river continued, and by this time the "Common Market" had already moved away, and the "Red Trout" continued to move forward, using starboard guns close to the enemy's walls and carrying out a non-stop bombardment. Although it was not clear in the night, Anda XV could imagine that the walls of the British's city should have been crumbled by this time. Perhaps, by the time the next morning, the wall facing the river will be overwhelmed and collapse.

In the second half of the night, a shootout also broke out on the positions of the regular army companies on the other side. Even, both army artillery guns were fired. The rumbling cannon sound made Anda 15 secretly stunned, the British actually carried out such a large-scale assault? Although the local army company was drawn from two platoons, the remaining more than 100 riflemen with two cannons were still not easily matched by the British. As a result, the fierce battle lasted only a short time, and soon fell silent again.

The first rays of sunlight on July 22 rose from the eastern horizon. The soldiers of the Army, who had been in the field all night, cheered and saw clearly that the British had collapsed along the river, and that the protrusion on which the two guns had been placed on the wall had gone.

The soldiers had reason to rejoice, because they could finally storm the castle, which was said to be stuffed with gold, and take everything the enemy for themselves, instead of lying in the hot and humid outdoors with mosquitoes and reptiles as they had done last night.

PS: I haven't come back from a business trip yet.,This chapter is a blank code.。 Brothers, subscribe to vote (to be continued......)