On the morning of March 10, Bai Zhizhan returned to the imperial capital.

Although the combat operation to enter the Khowaii Islands will not begin until June at the earliest, some general direction issues will definitely have to be decided immediately.

First of all, it is necessary to abandon the combat operation of attacking Guandao.

During the period when Bai Zhizhan went to Puzhou and Jidao, Liu Changxun had already made adjustments to the deployment after consulting Xue Yuanzheng.

During the invasion of the Khowaii Islands, the naval shore-based aviation will be the main force to bomb and blockade the island.

In fact, combat operations began on March 5.

In order to increase its bombing efforts, HNA also borrowed more than 100 heavy bombers from the Army Air Corps to form its own long-range fighter unit.

In addition, the expansion of airports on the island and nearby islands began.

According to the plan drawn up by the naval command, 500 bombers could eventually be deployed on the islands such as Saijima, which is roughly the same number as the number of long-range fighters.

Of course, it is not clear whether it will be necessary to deploy so many combat aircraft at that time.

In addition to aviation, the command of the Navy arranged for submarines to participate in the battle.

However, the task of the submarine forces is not to disturb the route to Guan Dao, but to lay mines outside the Apra military port on Guan Dao.

If all goes well, the submarine force will be able to deploy thousands of mines near the Apra military port in March.

Although the density of mines is not large, it is enough to blockade the port.

Bombers can also be arranged for mine-laying missions as long as needed.

To say, this was also learned from the Nuland army.

Not long ago, Nuland Army bombers laid a large number of mines in the Xunfeng Strait and the Longyan Strait, rendering the straits unusable.

To say, the mine-laying and blockade are enough to fight the defenders across the island.

According to the information provided by the Sixth Bureau, after the loss of the island, the Nuland army strengthened its deployment on the island of Wei and the transit island, and also sent an additional engineering unit to the fortress of Tuke, but it has not increased the number of troops to the island, and even the military supplies sent to the island are less than in the past.

Although there is no way to prove it for the time being, there is reason to believe that the Nuland military has lowered the importance of Guan Island.

Some intelligence analysts have pointed out that the Nuland Navy may have withdrawn some of its combat forces from Guandao to strengthen the defense of other islands.

The strongest evidence is that the Guandao freshwater plant has not been at its maximum capacity.

Although it had a lot to do with stopping the construction of fortifications, according to the information obtained from the reconnaissance, the capacity of the freshwater plant was not enough to meet the daily needs of 40,000 people.

If anything, Guan Island is too close to Sai Island.

Based on the previous battles, the Nuland Navy must have realized that without sea and air supremacy, it would not be able to hold an island-type fortress at all.

In addition, the tactical flexibility of shore-based aviation is very poor compared to carrier-based aviation.

Although theoretically, because heavy bombers and long-range fighters can be deployed at land airfields and long-range patrol planes can also be deployed in ports, the combat effectiveness of shore-based aviation surpasses that of carrier-based aviation, actual combat has repeatedly proved that the range and number of flights only partially enhance the combat effectiveness during defense, but they cannot solve the most fundamental problem, that is, the initiative is always in the hands of the attacking side.

In naval warfare, which is dominated by aviation, the initiative on the battlefield is more important than anything else.

Whether it is on the Guia Ocean or on the Fanyan Ocean, the side that has the initiative on the battlefield has achieved the final victory without exception.

The initiative has been lost, and no amount of troops can be put in to make up for it.

To bring into play the value of shore-based aviation, a powerful fleet is also needed.

To put it simply, only a strong fleet can adopt active defensive tactics and hope to defeat a strong enemy in defensive operations.

The problem now is that the Nuland Navy simply does not have a fleet at its disposal.

The Sixth Bureau has long found out that the "Endeavour" is already at the New City shipyard and is expected to be fully repaired by the end of the year. The Leke, which had been battered in the Battle of the Guia Northwest, would not be repaired until July, and then it would have to be tested and delivered to the Nuland Navy in October at the earliest.

That is, in the next few months, the Nuland Navy will have 2 small aircraft carriers available.

Of course, counting the ones that have already been built, there are only 3 ships at most.

Due to performance limitations, 3 small aircraft carriers may not be able to withstand 1 large aircraft carrier.

This is also the key to the Nuland Navy's abandonment of the island.

After the capture of the island by the Imperial Navy, the island became the salient of the Nuland Navy in the Guia, and it was only a matter of time before it fell.

As the saying goes, take a step back and open the sky.

If you retreat to Wai Island, at least you will not worry about being attacked by shore-based air forces, and the Imperial Navy's attack on Wai Island will definitely be dominated by a task force.

To the south, the fortress of Tuk is more defensive.

To sum up all this, in fact, by abandoning the pipe island and shrinking the defensive line, the purpose of shortening the length of the defensive line and increasing the density of defensive forces is achieved.

Of course, the main thing is to rely on the island base group in the rear.

At the very least, in the vicinity of the fortress of Tuk, the Nuland army has taken advantage of the control of more than a dozen islands in the past few months to establish a strategic line of defense with the fortress as the main axis.

In fact, this is also the key to Bai Zhizhan's reluctance to go south.

Even with the acquisition of 4 large aircraft carriers, the Imperial Navy was not strong enough to storm the strategic fortress of the Newland Navy with only a fleet.

At least from a tactical point of view, the capture of the forward base before the capture of the fortress of Tuk would require the capture of an island nearby, also guarded by Nuland troops.

Isn't this the same as attacking the island?

Once the island is defeated, there will be no need to attack the fortress of Tuk.

Don't forget, the purpose of the Imperial Navy's strong attack on Seidao was actually to prepare for the attack on Guandao, but it turned out that there was no need to attack Guandao after taking Seidao.

The point is that the Nuland army must have learned its lesson, and it will definitely cling to the islands near the fortress of Tuke, causing more trouble for the Imperial Navy.

Relatively speaking, on the side of Wai Island, it is more beneficial to the Imperial Navy.

Of course, from Bai Zhizhan's personal point of view, as long as the conditions permit, he must directly attack the transit island, and there is no need to waste time on Wei Island.

The reason is simple.

In nature, Transit Island is actually very similar to Koh Wih.

Geographically, the transit island is the westernmost island of the Khowaii archipelago, but it is about 2,000 kilometers away from the main island in the eastern part of the archipelago, and the nearest island capable of building an airport is also a few hundred kilometers away.

To put it simply, the transit island is also an isolated island.

Since they are all isolated islands, why do you still attack Wai Island?

If you want to say that, after the transit island is laid, it will be a direct blockade of Wei Island.

At least from a tactical point of view, there is no essential difference from abandoning the island, which is to cross the place where the Nuland army is defending to reduce the difficulty of the battle.

In the words of the Army, it is to avoid the real and make up for the false.

Of course, it can be said that it is to attack the enemy's shortcomings with one's own strengths, and avoid unnecessary consumption as much as possible.

Of course, compared with the attack on Wei Island, because the distance of the attack is longer, and because the defenders on the island have greater support from the rear, the combat must be more difficult. However, there will be no essential differences, and there are no difficulties that cannot be overcome.

It's just that how to fight depends on the actual situation.