Mobile reading

Chapter 318: Showdown with Solomon

Taking Midway, the iron-blooded President Roosevelt ordered the start of a counteroffensive. Under the cover of the naval fleet, the US military marched towards the Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, located northeast of Australia and east of Papua New Guinea. There are more than 990 islands with a total land area of 28,450 square kilometers.

Due to the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Japanese army lost its sea and air supremacy in the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the war, and also lost its strategic initiative, and was forced to stop its strategic offensive and abandon or postpone its attack on Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia.

However, the Japanese army did not realize that its strength had been greatly weakened, and the strength and morale of the American army had greatly increased, and they still decided to continue the attack on the South Pacific islands.

The Japanese army planned to build an air base on Kuah Island first, and then send out air forces to cover the attack on Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea, and after gaining a firm foothold on the island of New Guinea, it would gradually advance to the southeast and attack Australia, an important base of the Allies in the South Pacific, so as to regain the strategic initiative.

Yinlong believed that the U.S. army would soon achieve victory, and Hu Zhiyong said disapprovingly: "The naval battle and the battle to seize the island will take at least four months, and before 1043, Southeast Asia will not change much." ”

"Our business in Southeast Asia has almost completely stopped, and the loss for three years is not small!" During the war years, people's primary concern was livelihood. Pay special attention to the seven things of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, chai, rice tea!

Hu Zhiyong is building commerce and industry, and if he hadn't been prepared for it a long time, he was afraid that his millions of people would also go hungry. Yinlong lamented that the best sellers in Hong Kong are weapons and food, and only large households and peaceful areas will buy their electronic appliances, plastic products, machinery and other products. The only thing that hasn't changed is that the school is still the most prosperous.

"Don't worry." Hu Zhiyong smiled faintly: "Jeju Island and Myanmar are both grain-producing places, and Isabella is enough to maintain the food ration problem of 300,000 people in Phoenix." ”

The wartime economy of the United States deprived Hu Zhiyong of the opportunity to import grain. In order not to let the previously stored grain rot, it had to be sold in large quantities. He suddenly thought of a place - Thailand!

Agriculture is a traditional economic industry in Thailand, with an agricultural population of about 15.3 million people. The country has a large arable land area, accounting for 41% of the country's land area. The main crops are rice, corn, cassava, rubber, sugarcane, mung bean, hemp, tobacco, coffee beans, cotton, palm oil, coconut, etc.

Hu Zhiyong would not send troops to drive away the Japanese army, but he could expel the natives of Cambodia and Burma and go there to secretly do the grain business. It is important to know that more than 7 million tons of rice are sold in Thailand every year. Since Hu Zhiyong took control of sea transportation, the islanders have not been able to transport grain out.

"Inform Huang Jinshan and Hou Dashun to send someone to Thailand to buy grain!" Hu Zhiyong immediately ordered that this matter must be acted upon quickly.

"Yes!"

Hou Dashun received the telegram and immediately discussed with Huang Jinshan. The old regiment leader said with a sad face: "The order given by the young master is not clear, did our grain purchasing team send troops to protect it?" ”

"Old Commander, it's not that the young master's order is wrong, it's that he gave us the full strength to make our own decisions!" Hou Dashun sneered: "Thailand is an Axis power, even if we take him, it will be a just war against aggression!" ”

"Okay, let's send troops in two hands, and occupy the southern grain-producing area of Thailand first!" Huang Jinshan was happy, the days were too comfortable, but the whole body was uncomfortable.

"If you want to do it, do it big, capture the current king alive, and force him to surrender unconditionally!" Hou Dashun made up his mind and took advantage of Hu Zhiyong's failure to re-order the territory of the liberated areas to continue to expand!

Burma and Cambodia sent 600,000 troops at once, and the Japanese army immediately panicked. They have only two brigades in total here, and they mainly occupy the four cities around Bangkok. Seeing the helicopters and tanks swarming from the sky and underground, the Japanese army abandoned their ally, the king of Thailand, and retreated to the northwest with their heads in their hands.

Hou Dashun entered Bangkok and said to the king in the palace: "I'm sorry, you colluded with the Japanese army and killed you instantly!" Now for you a chance, bookmark the unconditional surrender. ”

Hou Dashun's aggressive momentum and gaze like sharp arrows frightened the King of Thailand, and he picked up the surrender document and looked at it, and his whole body was suddenly like a sifting chaff. The powerful Japanese army did not dare to fight with these people, and if he did not surrender, he could only lose his head before the little devils!

"The country is still yours, we will not garrison and occupy your land!" Hou Dashun raised the surrender letter in his hand: "Remember, be your king well, we will do fair business with you!" ”

The Burmese army and Cambodian troops came and went quickly, and the King of Thailand was surprised: "They are all gone? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, they have all withdrawn from our borders, and only a large number of merchants are buying grain." The prime minister took a cunning step forward: "Your Majesty, we must take the initiative to do business with him, and our crops also need to be sold." ”

"Go, these people are drunkards, not for drinking, just for business!" The king was not a fool and quickly concluded the intentions of those men.

Burma was suddenly recovered, and Hu Zhiyong was depressed and did not laugh. Fortunately, Hou Dashun retreated in time, otherwise, his overall plan would have been disrupted. Now that Burma had signed the instrument of surrender, new ideas came to his mind.

Hu Zhiyong thought of this, and a smile appeared on his face. He doesn't have to do anything now, cold treatment! When the opportunity is ripe, he will quickly attack the development of mineral deposits in Thailand!

The food problem was solved, and both Hu Zhiyong and Yinlong were relieved. He hurriedly ordered Liang Chengfu to increase the development and utilization of the grain industry on Hainan Island. In order to get wheat, Li Hansheng, who was in the United States, was sent to Canada to sign a 60-year wheat monopoly contract.

No food, no stability, no business, no life, no work, no wealth, the experience summed up by the ancestors in the previous life, Hu Zhiyong has a deep understanding at this moment.

Although the U.S. military won a great victory in the Battle of Midway, which stabilized the situation in the Central Pacific, it was still relatively passive in the South Pacific. When the Japanese occupied Rabaul in January 1942, Admiral King, Chief of Naval Operations, proposed to occupy Tulagi Island in February to halt the Japanese advance and protect maritime communications between the United States and Australia.

On 4 July, US reconnaissance planes discovered that the Japanese army had already built an airfield on Kuah Island, and if the Kuah Island airfield was completed, Japanese planes taking off from this airfield would be able to reach the islands of Espírito Santo, Efate, and New Caledonia, seriously threatening the sea lines of communication between the United States and Australia. The Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately changed the operational objectives of the first phase of Operation Lookout to Kuah and Tulagi.

U.S. Lieutenant General Gormley launched an offensive on August 7. The number of troops participating in the battle was divided into three parts, the first was the landing transport formation under the command of Rear Admiral Turner, consisting of 23 transport ships and 11 destroyers, which was responsible for sending the 1st Marine Division to Kuah Island and Tulagi Island.

The second is the cover formation under the command of Rear Admiral Krachley, consisting of eight cruisers and eight destroyers, which are responsible for directly covering the landing convoy. The third is the task force under the command of Vice Admiral Fletcher, which has a total of 3 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship, 6 cruisers, 16 destroyers, and 3 oil tankers, which are responsible for sea and air support and cover. Air support is also provided by 300 shore-based aircraft in the Southwest Pacific Theater.

The real battle for islands in the Pacific Ocean has finally kicked off according to the trajectory of history. At this time, he received another order from the Germans for three of his divisions of self-propelled rocket artillery.

At the same time, the German army gave priority to ordering 5 million pieces of winter clothing, and Hu Zhiyong thought from this incident: "The battle for Leningrad is about to be staged!" ”

In Jeju Island, the garment industry is the most prosperous business. Countries visited the styles and fabrics in which they designed their military uniforms, and won a large number of orders. Since the four 20-storey buildings were not yet completed, the women workers had to live in four floors temporarily.

Hu Zhiyong visited the underground hangars, fortifications, and anti-nuclear strike buildings, and said with great satisfaction: "As long as there are these, people and the invading enemy will not want to capture Jeju Island!" ”

Su Xiqing sighed at such fortifications, his troops had almost become engineering units, and had been fighting here for two years. The young master's words of approval made his eyes moisten.

"This will be the main battlefield!" How could Hu Zhiyong not understand that the unconditional obedience of the soldiers to orders does not mean that they have no ideas in their hearts.

"Young master, you sold fishing and commercial transportation to private individuals, will we suffer economic losses in doing so?" The key to Ho Chi Yong's landing on the island was to transform commerce into private hands.

"I can't monopolize it alone! Not only the fishing and commercial fleets, but also the commercial, agricultural and sideline product processing plants, and machinery manufacturing industries all need below. Hu Zhiyong said to the officers at all levels: "When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is over, you will all be assigned to be the bosses of the enterprises you deserve." Remember, you have to take the time to learn business management. ”

Hu Zhiyong now controls only various research institutes, the chemical industry, metal smelting, crude oil, electric power, railways, telecommunications, etc., and everything else must be decentralized, and all shares have been worked out.

All the soldiers in Tianhua are very excited, they will receive shares according to their contributions and positions, which is equivalent to getting a lot of financial resources out of thin air. Everyone is not stupid, the young masters of large enterprises are willing to give it to them, can they work hard?

At 9:35 a.m. on 24 August, the reinforcement group arrived in the waters north of Malaita Island and was discovered by US planes, and the "Cactus" air squadron on Kuah Island immediately took off eight "Dreadnought" dive bombers to attack, and the main transport ship of the Japanese reinforcement group, the "Kinryu Maru," was sunk, and the flagship cruiser "Shentong" and one other destroyer were damaged.

Soon after, B-17 bombers from Espírito Santo also arrived to help in the battle, sinking the destroyer Mutsuki. In view of the lack of air cover and the fact that most of the troops transported had already been lost, the Japanese command in Rabaul had no choice but to order him to return.

In this naval battle, the ratio of the main forces dispatched by Japan and the United States was: aircraft carriers 3:2, seaplane carriers 1:1, battleships 3:1, cruisers 16:4, destroyers 30:11, the Japanese army was almost half more than the American army, but the Japanese army sank an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, and a destroyer, damaged a seaplane carrier and a destroyer, and lost 90 aircraft.

Only one US aircraft carrier was damaged, and 17 aircraft were lost. Not only did the attempt to annihilate the US aircraft carrier group not materialize, but also the purpose of reinforcing Kuah Island was not accomplished. It can be said that the Japanese army was completely defeated in this naval battle.

Hu Zhiyong, who was on Jeju Island, listened to the reconnaissance section chief's report on the battle. He was secretly thinking, "The U.S. military is about to make a move on Papua, should I occupy it before them?" ”

This book is from Product&Book#Net