Off the coast of Monrovia, three aircraft carriers have turned to headwind sailing, and their speeds have also increased to about 30 knots. On the flight deck, the bomber was being towed onto a catapult, and the aviation crew and the pilot were gesturing in sign language. Jiang Zhongmin stood on the gangway of the flagship "Dongting Lake" aircraft carrier and watched the bombers on the aircraft carrier take off one after another. At this time, Jiang Zhongmin is no longer the Jiang Zhongmin who left the Pacific Ocean and went to the Atlantic. After tossing and turning on the Atlantic Ocean for more than a year, Jiang Zhongmin has endured a lot of hardships, learned a lot of lessons, and summed up a lot of experience.

"General, the Marines have sent a message that the British are launching a counterattack and hope that we can provide support as soon as possible."

"What is Task Force 6 doing?" Jiang Zhongmin turned around.

"It's already rushed, and it will be possible to provide artillery support to the Marines in about half an hour."

"Then let the Marines hold on a little longer." Jiang Zhongmin glanced at the group of bombers in the distance, "We will try our best to provide support, the Marine Corps must strive to take down the port area as soon as possible, and we can't delay it any longer!" ”

The staff officer nodded and returned to the command cabin.

The siege of Monrovia has been fought for twenty-four days, and it takes so long here that Jiang Zhongmin did not take into account, in his plan, it only takes six days to take Monrovia, and as a result, it has taken three times as long now, and it has not been able to completely take down the port area, let alone the city with more than 20,000 British Southern African Legion officers and soldiers.

There are quite a lot of factors that led to Monrovia's dangerous hard fighting, and in the past few days, Jiang Zhongmin has also been thinking repeatedly about why it took so much time to let the three marine divisions take turns to attack, and the fleet used up tens of thousands of tons of ammunition, but still failed to take this port city. Moreover, Monrovia is a port-type city, not a fortress-type city, and it belongs to the kind of place that is easy to attack and difficult to defend!

The first is that there is a problem with the planning of the campaign. If they had marched to Monrovia immediately after the capture of Asunción, the British would not have been able to respond in time, and it would have been impossible to gather heavy forces at Monrovia to resist the attack of the Imperial Navy. But this is not to blame Jiang Zhongmin, his plan was to quickly march to Monrovia, but the Germans came out halfway to stab Lou Zi, so that he had to withdraw to Cape Town halfway, missing the opportunity to march to Monrovia, so that the British army had enough time to adjust its defenses, and transferred the troops originally deployed on the Gold Coast to Monrovia. Fortunately, the British Navy has not moved south, because the British army has no way to return to Asunción Island, otherwise, Jiang Zhongmin will have to attack Asunción Island for the second time.

The second was that there was a problem with intelligence, and when he left Cape Town, Jiang Zhongmin did not receive any news of the British army assembling in Monrovia, but only learned that the British Southern African Army was assembling somewhere on the west coast of Africa. The British had several colonies on this side, and Monrovia was not the most important colony, nor was it the most critical, but as a result, the British army accurately judged the battle intentions of the Imperial Navy, strengthened the defense of Monrovia, and made Jiang Zhongmin hit the iron plate headlong.

The Marine Corps is also under-committed, and this is mainly a matter of intelligence. Jiang Zhongmin brought only three marines with a total strength of less than 50,000, while the British army assembled in Monrovia exceeded 60,000. The offensive forces are inferior to the defensive forces, and even if the superior strength of the fleet is included, this battle will definitely be extremely difficult, and if you have to wait for the second batch of marines, it will take about half a month just to transport the troops. This does not take into account the issue of the delivery of weapons and equipment and combat materials required by the additional troops.

The most important thing is the problem of logistical support, if the three marines and one main fleet are all brought into full play according to their maximum combat effectiveness, they will consume an average of about 50,000 tons of ammunition, fuel, food, fresh water, and other materials a day. At that time, Weng Yiming could only arrange a transport fleet to go to Asunción Island, and this fleet had about 30 10,000-ton ships, which could only transport 6 days of combat materials at a time, and it took at least 20 days for a fleet to go back and forth.

With so many factors, it's no surprise that the battle turned out to be the way it is. Monrovia will definitely be able to take down, the two Marine Divisions sent by Weng Yiming are about to arrive, and the third transport fleet has also departed from Cape Town, after more than 20 days of fighting, the British army has suffered more than half of the casualties, and the intensity of the counterattack is getting weaker and weaker. As long as they hold out a little longer, the Marines will be able to take Monrovia. Jiang Zhongmin was not worried, but what worried him was that a few days ago, he received a telegram from the Navy Command that the First Fleet was rushing to the battlefield, and a new combat order had been sent, probably now in Cape Town, and was being sent by the transport fleet.

For the officers and men who were fighting on the front line at this time, it was definitely good news that the First Fleet came to support, but for Jiang Zhongmin, it was definitely not good news.

Previously, the First Fleet had been circling in circles in the Caribbean, and Jiang Zhongmin was also very aware of the arrangements of the Navy Command, if the First Fleet was entangled in the Caribbean Sea and could not get out, then the Second Fleet would still be the dominant force in the Atlantic. But the problem is that now that the First Fleet has set off, maybe it will be able to arrive in the next few days, and with the arrival of the First Fleet, the Second Fleet will no longer be the main force, and the command will not continue to be in the hands of Jiang Zhongmin.

If you look at it from a fair and objective point of view, Jiang Zhongmin is indeed quite aggrieved. The Germans gave him problems, the British gave him problems, and he had not been given priority care before, and it was already quite good to be able to open up the situation in the South Atlantic. On the contrary, the First Fleet, which operates in the Pacific and the Caribbean, has always been the object of priority care of the naval command, and it will hardly worry about material and troop matters, let alone that it will not have a combat mission. Now that the First Fleet has completed its mission and is coming to grab the Second Fleet's job again, can Jiang Zhongmin not feel aggrieved?

Grievances are grievances, Jiang Zhongmin also knows that it is impossible for him to change the principal's arrangement, and he can only blame himself for his bad luck and his lack of courage. If it had been possible to reach Monrovia earlier, perhaps the current Second Fleet would have advanced to the Strait of Gibraltar, and even if the First Fleet rushed over, it would not have gained much. Moreover, with the First Fleet coming to support, it is not a big problem to take Monrovia, and it can also quickly enter the Cape Verde Islands and speed up the north, which is also a good thing.

"General, a telegram from the First Fleet."

"So fast?" Jiang Zhongmin looked at the communications staff officer in surprise. According to the order of the naval command, the First Fleet would not contact the Second Fleet during the voyage, and now the telegram sent proved that the First Fleet had reached the vicinity of the battlefield and would not be too far from the Second Fleet.

"I just received it, they are about 300 nautical miles to the northwest, and they will be ready to fight tomorrow morning at the latest." The communications staff officer handed the message to Jiang Zhongmin. "In addition, the First Fleet asked us if we needed support, as well as a detailed air support plan, so that they could arrange combat operations as soon as possible."

"I'll give you orders later." Jiang Zhongmin waved his hand and let the staff officer leave.

He didn't look at the telegram, which would not have been very detailed. Originally, Jiang Zhongmin thought that the US aviation deployed in the Little Andres Islands, as well as the mines deployed in several straits, would pose a threat to the First Fleet and slow down the First Fleet's arrival on the battlefield. U.S. military aviation did not play a role at all. Moreover, the First Fleet did not follow the normal course, but avoided the course where the US military laid mines.

Jiang Zhongmin glanced in the northwest direction, and the efficiency of the First Fleet was higher than his. At the beginning, when the Navy Command set up three main fleets, Jiang Zhongmin knew that his second fleet was sent to the rear, and this was not only a question of troops, but also a question of the quality of the officers and men of the fleet. The First Fleet is undoubtedly the most powerful, and the first three task forces of the Imperial Navy were all assigned to the First Fleet, while the Second Fleet was ostensibly the second-ranked, but in fact, there were only two task forces, and they were two task forces that were not ranked at all.

When he arrived in the South Atlantic, Jiang Zhongmin also believed that he had finally gained a precious opportunity to dominate the combat operations in this theater. But who would have thought that the battle in the South Atlantic would turn out to be the way it is now, and it is not the enemy that is shackling the hands and feet of the Second Fleet, but the weak logistical support capability. After more than a year, Jiang Zhongmin has been desperate again and again, and has seen hope again and again, until now, when the First Fleet rushed to the battlefield, he finally understood that hope has always been far away from him, and the moment he returned to the navy, hope has never been close to him, from the beginning to the present, he is just a supporting role on this big battlefield, everything he has done, has only played a foiling role.

The more he thought about it, the more angry Jiang Zhongmin felt, and the telegram in his hand was crumpled into a ball by him and thrown into the sea. When he was in school, he thought that Tan Renhao was not an idle person, so Jiang Zhongmin never looked at Tan Renhao, a classmate from a poor background, like other students from famous families, but Jiang Zhongmin did not expect that Tan Renhao would surpass him and become the number one general of the Imperial Navy. Even a few years ago, Kang Jung-min still didn't think of this. Now, he also has to admit that in this year-long exam, he lost the battle, defeated by a classmate from a civilian background, perhaps, the gold sea lion medal at that time should have belonged to Tan Renhao.

The strong wind generated by the battleship at high speed made Jiang Zhongmin gradually calm down, the war is not over yet, then this game is not over, who can guarantee that there will not be dramatic changes in the end? Every cadet of the Naval Academy has learned one thing in school, that is, tenacity, without tenacity, it is impossible to become a good naval officer, let alone a naval admiral. This is also the centuries-old tradition of the Imperial Navy, never give up in adversity, never lie down in setbacks, and only perseverance and tenacity can have the last laugh.

"General, the First Fleet has sent another telegram asking about our battle plan."

Jiang Zhongmin turned around, "How far are they from us now?" ”

The communications staff officer hesitated, "About 300 nautical miles, the First Fleet is approaching at cruising speed. ”

"Arrange a seaplane." Jiang Zhongmin breathed a sigh of relief, "Also, send a copy of our battle plan to the plane, and I'll go to the First Fleet in two hours." What is the Chief of Staff doing now? ”

"The chief of staff didn't go to rest until ten o'clock in the morning, do you want me to wake him up?"

Jiang Zhongmin glanced at his watch, it was only twelve o'clock. "No, you and the navigation staff and the aviation operations staff are temporarily in charge of the fleet's operational affairs, and in the evening, go and wake up the chief of staff."

The communications staff officer nodded, in the past twenty days, no one has had an easy time.

"Alright, go and help me prepare the seaplane. Also, contact the First Fleet and tell Admiral Tan Renhao that I will personally visit you. ”

The communications staff officer left quickly, and Jiang Zhongmin turned around again and looked towards the sea in front of him.

There have been ups and downs in the navy several times, and after so many years, the edges and corners on Jiang Zhongmin's body have basically been smoothed out, and he has learned an extremely important truth, that is, in the army, no one is insignificant, whether it is a marshal or an ordinary soldier, no one is important enough to be indispensable, and at the same time, no one can really control their own destiny.

Jiang Zhongmin once fought against fate, and once bravely faced unfair treatment, otherwise he would not have returned to the navy, would not have started from the position of chief of staff of the fleet, and would not have become the deputy of a rising general. He has never given up the struggle against his fate, he is unwilling to be an ordinary general forever, and he is unwilling to be a supporting role forever, not the protagonist on this big stage.

Thinking of these, Jiang Zhongmin's mood churned again, he was fighting against fate, and he got up again and again, but how long could he still fight? And, how many more opportunities will he be able to get? In many cases, he felt that he was not tormented by fate, but that he was being tricked by fate, and he was like the monkeys in the shadow puppet play, forever controlled by ropes, unable to move freely.

Jiang Zhongmin forced himself to calm down, if he thought too much, then he would be in danger, he knew this very well, didn't Fan Peikun do all the tricks, but in the end, he was calculated by himself? Perhaps, the most important thing is to keep a normal heart.