On April 29, 1637, the Executive Committee held an important meeting, and the topic of the meeting was to discuss the plan for a sneak attack on the Gambia submitted by the Joint Staff Headquarters.

The lengthy and controversial meeting process will not be described in detail. After the meeting entered the voting process, Ma Ganzu, Peng Zhicheng, Wang Qinian, Xiao Bailang and Shao Shude raised their hands to agree with the military's plan. However, there were only five votes, not more than half, and according to organizational principles, it could not be passed.

At this time, a dramatic scene came. Bai Siwen, who had been clearly expressing his opposition position a while ago and actively acted as the key figures of the opposition's connection, raised his right hand without changing his expression in everyone's eyes, whether surprised, contempt or mocking.

The conference room was so quiet that even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard, and the proposal was approved!

Just as the Executive Committee’s administrative building was staged, two "Yangwu"-class rapid cruise ships were finally modified in accordance with the opinions of the Navy Department in the dock of the Dayu River Naval Shipyard one kilometer away.

First of all, the Navy decided to remove some artillery after discussion. The equipment of the 36 artillery is not very suitable at present, especially for the "Yangwu" class that highlights high speed. Too many artillery will only limit its maneuverability. Moreover, for the fly-scissor ship with a relatively small load capacity, 36 artillery is too luxurious. After modification, the number of artillery of the "Yangwu" class has been reduced to 28, and the number of personnel has been reduced to 110 people.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the newly hung main sail of the "Yangwu"-class fast cruiser. I saw a huge double-headed eagle - a yin and yang fish pattern on the lower sail of the middle mast, and the dazzling purple pattern looked so beautiful.

In fact, this is just a canvas woven with dyed cloth and white cotton cloth. Of course, its density is definitely much larger than that of ordinary civilian cloth. The chemical department has used the aniline component in coal tar to react through strong oxidizing agents. Under laboratory conditions, the first artificial synthetic dye in the East Coast Republic of China - aniline purple.

This purple dye and the second dye in trial production - Magenta is more than one level stronger than the currently expensive natural dyes. Not only is it bright in color, it is also highly dyed fast, and it is not easy to fade when soaked or exposed to the sun. It can be imagined how huge the dye will have when it is launched on the market. Of course, the chemical department has only produced some finished products under laboratory conditions, and large-scale industrial production is still far away. The Executive Committee does not dare to let go of production and sale, for fear of attracting coveted attention.

Part of the aniline purple produced in the laboratory was used by the General Administration of Textile Industry for dyeing experiments. It was found that the cotton cloth was not easy to adhere, and only silk, wool, linen and other fabrics could be effectively dyed. The dyed linen was required by the Admiralty to blend with the cotton cloth. Two canvases were woven into the two middle-mast lower sails hanging on the "Yangwu"-class fast cruise ship.

Such a cool canvas caused heated discussion among the navy once it was hung, and even the army soldiers resting on the dock were whispering.

"Will the Navy be too arrogant? In this way, the British knew it was us at a glance. Didn't they say they wanted to attack?" Army Lieutenant Jiang Zhiqing said to Chang Kaisheng next to him while tidying up his clothes.

"Sneak attack? How to sneak attack?" Chang Kaisheng gave his deputy a blank look and said: "The British have a very strict entry system. No matter which country you hang, they must be inspected and allowed to enter their ports. In other words, it is almost impossible to sneak into the port. The so-called "sneak attack" is nothing more than taking advantage of the British's failure to react to come to the door."

"Yes, that is, there are still tough battles to fight." Jiang Zhiqing echoed, "The Navy's delicate and expensive guys will definitely not fight hard with the British man's fortress. It depends on our army to solve the problem."

"Of course." Chang Kaisheng smiled confidently, brushed his new khaki uniform dyed with indigo. Then he looked at the naval ships on the sea with pride and said, "It's been nearly a year since I took a break. Even the natives didn't have to fight. I'm suffocating. I've been suffocating. I've been suffocating. I heard that the British strongholds are full of gold. Then, brothers, don't let their feign diarrhea be, and we can defeat the British in one go. If we steal the gold, we can even get more points from the navy."

The two were chatting, and three sharp copper whistles sounded on the pier, which was a signal to gather to board the ship.

The former training officer of the First Battalion of the New Army, the current commander of the Guinea Task Force, and the Army Captain Zhu Liang loudly ordered the troops to gather together to board the ship. A group of intern staff from Dingyuan Army Officers School were passing orders to the company below and platoons.

The scale of the army dispatched this time was quite large. According to the re-determined military system, the army dispatched a company of regular troops and a company of security troops, plus some supplies, engineering, artillery and other troops, with a total number of more than 400 people. Among them, the infantry company was equipped with 9 musketeers (144 people), and 1 grenadier platoon (16 people), plus officers, cooks, gunsmiths, military doctors, military judges, messengers, etc. The standard organization of each company is 172 people. The army of two companies is 344 people, plus a platoon of artillery platoon (4 light artillery pieces), 22 people, 16 engineers, 16 baggage platoon and detachment personnel, with a total strength of 410 people.

The army soldiers entered the South China Sea Transportation Company's "Yingzhou" and "Penglai" transport ships in sequence, including some supplies, gunpowder, and even horses. The two ships also carried a large amount of supplies, including boxes of canned products.

These canned foods are made of glass, and all the foods inside are sterilized by high-temperature steam, and then sealed with corks. There are many varieties of canned foods, including canned fruits, canned vegetables and canned bacon, which are very popular among sailors and army brothers. Especially sailors, who have been floating on the sea for many years, they often cannot eat fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat products for a long time and can only eat some mashed meat that has deteriorated and maggots, which greatly affects morale. With these canned foods that can be stored for a long time, their sea journey will no longer be so difficult.

Due to the improvement of preparatory preparations, the Army's boarding operation was very rapid. After the Army boarded, two "Yangwu"-class rapid cruise ships guarded two transport ships, one on the left and one on the right, pulled their anchors away from the dock of the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard, and headed towards the Zhenhaibao Naval Base. There, the remaining four Navy warships had been simply repaired and maintained, and were waiting for them to set off together.

Just as they set off, the proposals in the conference room of the Executive Committee’s administrative building on whether to approve the military operations have not even entered the voting process, which is a great irony.

Early in the morning of May 2, four ships arrived at the dock of Zhenhaibao Naval Base on time. At this time, the captain of the battleship "August 10", the commander of the naval task force, commander of the joint naval and land combat, and the Navy Major Lu Ming were presiding on a confidential military meeting. The participants included all lieutenants or above officers from the four battleships in the port.

"This operation is a joint naval and land combat. The naval combat mission is to strike. It annihilates the possible merchant ships or warships in the enemy docks, and covers the army to land and attack the enemy's fortress. After the army captured the fortress, the main force of our naval fleet entered the Gambia River, shelled the British merchant stations, and once again covered the army to capture the merchant stations. Unfortunately, due to insufficient intelligence, the plan for this operation can only be so rough. I hope you can carry forward the spirit of our navy, fight bravely, command flexibly, and strive to capture the enemy's stronghold at the minimum cost to shock the enemy to the greatest extent." Lu Ming sat in the chairperson's position and spoke calmly.

“How many ships are there in the British stationed in Hanoi, Gambia?”

"This number is not necessarily." Second Lieutenant Sangkai replied in place of Lu Ming, "because there are often passing British or other merchant ships docking there for supply or trade. But generally speaking, the number of ships there is rarely more than five at the same time, and most of these five ships are merchant ships."

"So is this fortress very strong? How many defenders are there? How well are the military preparations?"

"The news of the fortress was also indirectly conveyed by the Portuguese." Sankai continued, "The fortress is a mixed brick and wood structure with a small area and a low wall. There are about 'no more than one hundred' British soldiers, as well as some black indigenous servants. Are the weapons? Most of them are clamps or cold weapons. Maybe there are one or two iron cannons, but in short, there are not many."

"What did I hear?" Zhu Liang, the army commander who had just walked into the captain's room, said dissatisfied. "Such vague information is full of uncertainty, uncertain words like "probably", "some", etc., how can our army fight? One hundred British soldiers plus some black servants, and then defend the castle, it will be a big trouble. Maybe it's just because of your vague information that my brothers need to fill in with their lives."

Hearing Zhu Liang's tone, the navy present couldn't help but frown. Although they were also very troubled by the vague information, the army's accusations in person at this moment made them feel a little bit of a shared hatred for the enemy.
Chapter completed!