At Tan Renhao's suggestion, the family went to Zhoushan City to enjoy a sumptuous dinner, and after dinner, Liao Hongpeng left first to visit his old comrades-in-arms, and Du Xing also returned to the naval base first. Tan Renhao accompanied his family around the city, went to the largest shopping mall in the city to buy a few sets of clothes for his wife, bought some toys for his son, and bought some daily necessities, before the family returned home.

"You take Xiaobao to sleep first." Tan Renhao shook his wife's hand, "You're also tired for a day, rest early, I'll come later." ”

"Who told you to wait? It's better to sleep in the study, so as not to disturb me and Xiaobao sleeping. Liao Yingyu knew what her husband said, she smiled strangely, and went to the bedroom with her son in her arms.

Tan Renhao shook his head with a smile and saw Du Xing running over with a few documents.

"What is this for?" Tan Renhao had a bit of a headache, and Duchenne was a little too positive, and he must have caused him a lot of trouble.

"Talk about big brother, I don't want to, this is ......" Duchenne put the documents on the coffee table in the living room, "I originally wanted to go to a few friends to find out about the situation, but when I met the chief of staff, he asked me to bring these things back, saying that if you are too idle to do these days, you can look at these documents." ”

"Well, it looks like the chief of staff really doesn't want me to live a quiet life." Tan Renhao shook his head, "Send it to the study and help me make a cup of tea." ”

Duchenne also felt very guilty, such an unfortunate thing happened to him, and it also made him offend the chief.

"By the way, don't go to the headquarters if you have nothing to do in the future, and don't cause me trouble."

Duchenne nodded immediately, he didn't want to cause trouble, this was trouble to find himself, and he didn't dare to refuse the request of the chief of staff, so he couldn't throw these documents into the trash can halfway.

Tan Renhao sat in the living room for a while, he didn't blame Du Xing, he just felt that the chief of staff was too much of a race against time. Originally, he was told to let him rest at home for a few days, but now he has sent so many documents, so how can he rest? Thinking of these, Tan Renhao could only sigh, he couldn't count the chief of staff.

When his parents and sister went back to the room to rest one after another, thinking that Liao Hongpeng might go to live at his old comrade-in-arms' house, not necessarily after coming back to sleep. Tan Renhao left the living room and went to the study. He had a headache when he saw the mountain-like folders on the number line. Every time he returned to the naval headquarters, nothing good would happen, and the chief of staff completely used him as a free coolie, which even made Tan Renhao have a "headquarters syndrome", every time he received a message asking him to return to the headquarters, he would have a bad premonition, and every time the premonition became a fact.

The brewed tea was already cold, and Tan Renhao went to change a cup, and then sat down on the chair. I watched the documents pile up for a long time. Tan Renhao reacted. With a long sigh, he picked up the top paper. This is a document related to the naval fleet, but not to him. Operational report of the Second Fleet of the Imperial Navy.

The Second Fleet was reorganized in the South Atlantic and sent to the South Atlantic Theater with the Fifth Task Force at its core, as well as the Sixth Task Force and the Theater Fleet that had previously been attached to the South Atlantic. In addition, in order to launch offensive operations in the South Atlantic, the Navy also sent five transport fleets to the Indian Ocean, a landing fleet that could deliver two Marine Divisions, and deployed a large amount of combat materials.

After the Second Fleet arrived in Cape Town, Jiang Zhongmin became the commander of the Supreme Fleet in the theater, responsible for the unified command of all combat fleets. Weng Yiming is still the commander of the theater of operations. He is responsible for planning combat operations and commanding marines, navy, and logistics units. This is the second collaboration between the two, and unlike the last one, this time the Imperial Navy is prepared, and its mission is not to defend, but to attack.

The Second Fleet, having reached Cape Town, did not immediately go north. At that time, the conditions for going north were also not ripe, mainly because the bad sea conditions in the South Atlantic limited the fleet's movements. In addition, the flotilla transporting marines, the flotilla of war supplies, and the landing flotilla necessary for launching an offensive did not arrive. The intelligence gathering work in the early stage of the offensive was not completed, and many conditions were not ripe. These have limited Jiang Zhongmin's hands and feet. This is also a good thing for Jiang Zhongmin, who also needs more time to strengthen the training of the fleet, especially for the unique climatic conditions on the South Atlantic side.

Among the three newly formed main fleets of the Imperial Navy, the Second Fleet was the weakest, which even Jiang Zhongmin did not deny. But in the same way, the Second Fleet is the fleet with the greatest degree of freedom, and after arriving in the South Atlantic, Jiang Zhongmin became the commander of the Supreme Fleet, and even the Navy Command did not give him too many restrictions, and Weng Yiming was not in charge of the affairs of the fleet. It can be said that when Nie Renfeng made this arrangement, he wanted to give Jiang Zhongmin a space to play freely, so that Jiang Zhongmin could get more opportunities on the front line. This is also Jiang Zhongmin's last chance, Tan Renhao's actions in the Pacific Ocean are obvious to all, and victory is only a matter of time, if Jiang Zhongmin can't grasp this opportunity, then he can't become Tan Renhao's competitor.

Jiang Zhongmin is very aware of this powerful relationship, the principal has already followed him too many opportunities, and he has missed too many opportunities. Therefore, he attaches great importance to this opportunity. Without the threat of the enemy's expeditionary fleet, and even the enemy's defenses are fragile, this is the best opportunity to gain victory. Maybe any general at that time would have made a difference in Jiang Zhongmin's position, so Jiang Zhongmin couldn't make a mistake.

At the beginning of May, the weather in the South Atlantic began to improve, as evidenced by a number of submarines heading north, and the closer you get to the equator, the better the weather conditions become. On 4 May, Jiang Zhongmin left Cape Town with two task forces of the Second Fleet and embarked on the road to the north. The first thing he was going to attack was the Namibe Fortress, which had been established by the French and was now controlled by the British army.

It is a fortress with a history of more than 300 companies, and at first, it was only a safe harbor built by adventurers of the Tang Empire for merchant ships to dock, and later it also became a den for pirates. And the French colonizers who really made Namibe a fortress. After the French Expeditionary Force defeated the pirates, it took more than a decade to establish it as one of the largest French fortresses in Southwest Africa, and ruled for nearly two hundred years. It was only after the defeat of the French in the war that the British sent an expeditionary force to take control of the fortress from the French, and as a result, skirmishes broke out between the two armies, and the French army had to surrender to the stronger British army.

Namibe is not a fortress that must be captured. Jiang Zhongmin just wanted to test the combat effectiveness of his fleet here, and for the Fifth Task Force and the Sixth Task Force, Namibe was indeed a good place for military training. The enemy's defenses were not very strong, not many combat aircraft were deployed, and they were far from the large rear. Whether it's a bomber or a battleship, Namibe can be used as a place for military training.

And that's exactly what happened. Task Force 5 bombed Namibe on the morning of 8 May, and fighter jets were dispatched. In the afternoon of the same day, Task Force 6 went to the shore and repeated rounds of shelling of the fortress, which was no more than two square kilometers, and knocked out thousands of shells before leaving. It wasn't until five days later that the Imperial Marines landed on the beach near Namibe, and the British defending the fort numbered less than 500 men surrendered to the Imperial Marines with only a slight resistance.

On the day that the Marines captured Namibe, Task Force 5 bombers dropped bombs over Matadi. This is Jiang Zhongmin's second "military training" location.

Matadi is on the mouth of the Congo River, the longest in southern Africa. It was previously a French colony and is now controlled by the British. The bombing continued three rounds, and hundreds of warplanes in the fleet dropped thousands of ground bombs. Hundreds of rockets were also used. I am afraid that the British never dreamed that the Imperial fleet would kill so quickly, and as a result, when the Sixth Task Force went up against the current that night and reached the artillery position, the British Expeditionary Force had already raised the white flag on the highest tower of the fortress, and also issued a surrender statement through the international channel, voluntarily surrendering to the Imperial Navy.

The fleet did not move on and waited for a day at the mouth of the Congo River, after the arrival of an infantry battalion of marines. Jiang Zhongmin withdrew his sailors from the fortress. On the third day, on the morning of May 16, the main forces of the Marine Corps arrived. Jiang Zhongmin left one Marine Regiment in Matadi, and arranged for two destroyers carrying two battalions of Marines up the river to sweep the British strongholds along the Congo River.

The force penetrated deep into the Congo River for nearly ten days, marching nearly 1,500 kilometers against the river, uprooting a dozen British strongholds along the way, and shelling Kinshasa on the third day, but not taking the city. The sweep also largely cleared the British of influence in the Congo and Kung River valleys. Afterward. Weng Yiming also sent an expeditionary force deep into the heart of the Congo River, which was not a conquest force, but more like an expedition. Later, many of the great discoveries in the heart of Africa were laid by the force, and the route of the army's march was built as a road, which would be the largest transportation artery in the interior of the Congo for decades.

Because the flotilla carrying the fleet's ammunition, as well as heavy fuel oil and aviation gasoline, did not arrive at the scheduled time, the second fleet stayed on the Congo River for two more days than expected. It was not until 17 May that the fleet was restocked with ammunition and fuel before continuing north. At this time, the British strongholds along the route received the news, and the British Expeditionary Force also deployed more than 100 aircraft from Lagos to the field airfields along the way.

This did not deter Jiang Zhongmin, and the plane could not pose a threat to the Second Fleet. Jiang Zhongmin's main purpose was not to seize strongholds, but to uproot enemy fortresses along the way, and to take the opportunity to train the officers and men of the fleet. What made him even more of a headache was the speed with which the Marines followed up. Weng Yiming has been in charge of logistics in Cape Town, and even handed over the command of the Marine Corps to Jiang Zhongmin. Large quantities of war materiel are still being hoarded in warehouses in Colombo. In addition, the landing fleet is also full of problems, until now, the fleet has always been supporting the marines, and the landing fleet has remained in Cape Town and has not caught up.

This was one of the major problems for the Imperial Navy in the Atlantic. The long logistical supply lines and the transportation voyage of tens of thousands of nautical miles have greatly limited the speed of the troops' advance and the number of troops that the Marine Corps can put in. Judging from the statistics of the Imperial Navy at that time, in order for a fleet or Marine Corps officer to fight on the front line, it was necessary to arrange at least four logistics support personnel in the rear. The Second Fleet has about 30,000 officers and men, and the expeditionary marines need at least two divisions to fight on the front line, which is more than 30,000 officers and men. This would require at least 250,000 logistical support troops and at least 400 transport ships to transport war materiel. Not to mention how much material needs to be consumed along the way, it is extremely difficult to command and arrange these logistics support troops.

The trouble did not stop there, and by 20 May, the day after the fleet under the command of Jiang Zhongmin bombed Sao Tome, the German "Far Eastern Fleet" reached Cape Town. This fleet was only slightly smaller than Task Force 6, with more than 10,000 officers and men, and also needed a lot of ammunition and fuel. All of this had to be provided by the Imperial Navy. It can be said that the busiest person at that time was not Jiang Zhongmin, who was on the front line, but Weng Yiming, who was organizing logistics work in the rear.

The Imperial Marines did not go to capture São Tomé, and at this time Weng Yiming and Jiang Zhongmin both realized how much trouble they had to go north along the way, the enemy's resistance was still secondary, and the biggest trouble was logistics and supplies, as well as the number of marines needed to occupy the fortresses and strongholds along the way.

On the 22nd, Jiang Zhongmin led the fleet back to sail. Before Tan Renhao returned to Zhoushan, Jiang Zhongmin returned to Cape Town, and immediately submitted a new expeditionary plan to the Navy Command with Weng Yiming. Obviously, both men abandoned their previous battle plans, knowing that going north along the way would be a difficult task.

This new battle plan was at the back of the document, and Tan Renhao was not in a hurry to read it. He repeatedly thought about the combat operations of the Second Fleet in the South Atlantic, and Jiang Zhongmin did not make mistakes, the main reason was not that he commanded well, but that the enemy did not make any decent resistance. Of course, the real trouble is not the resistance of the enemy, but the unique geography of the South Atlantic. After thinking about it for a while, even if he hadn't seen Jiang Zhongmin's new plan, Tan Renhao could roughly guess Jiang Zhongmin and Weng Yiming's new ideas.