After saying the words that were held in his heart, Bai Zhizhan was suddenly refreshed and much more comfortable.

Of course, spitting won't solve the problem.

When Bai Zhizhan and Li Yunxiang returned to the commander's bridge, Li Mingbo was about to look for them.

A telegram just sent from the command of the Navy.

Because the convoy was in trouble and did not arrive at the confluence area on time, the combat operations of landing on Shoudao and Wangdao would be postponed by one day. The home fleet will be adjusted accordingly, and the arrival and passage through the Watchman Strait will be postponed to the night of the 28th, and it will be on standby in the waters east of the Asahi Sea.

Simply put, postpone the day overall.

And that's not all.

Because the Third Air Task Force had not been in contact with the rear and had not acted according to the original plan, the two fast battleships that had planned to join the Third Air Task Force from the Asahi Sea had already turned around after dark and returned to Asahi along the same route.

The two fast battleships were to join up with the home fleet in the early morning of the 28th and follow the home fleet to the Watchman Strait.

However, if necessary, the White Stop War can send a report to the Navy Command at any time, and the Navy Command can make adjustments to the combat operations of the two fast battleships according to the situation, such as allowing them to enter the Guia Ocean from the Watchman Channel in advance, or to perform other tasks.

There is nothing strange about it, the two fast battleships were originally assigned to the Third Air Task Force to act as the chief of guard for the two "Imperial Capital"-class aircraft carriers. If Bai Zhizhan did not take Zhou Yongtao's advice, then in the evening, he would be able to meet these two fast battleships.

At the end of the message, one more thing was mentioned.

When the two fast battleships were sailing north at full speed, they were suspected of being ambushed by a narrow submarine. The point is that it is highlighted under "suspected".

That said, the content is not very credible and is adopted at the discretion of the commander.

Bai Zhizhan sighed, but he couldn't show it.

"It's not early, except for those on duty, let's go back and rest. Rest your spirits up, and tomorrow you can continue to fight the enemy! ”

Under Li Mingbo's greeting, the staff officers who had their turn to rest left one after another.

Because carrier-based aircraft cannot be dispatched at night, the aircraft carrier task force is very quiet at night compared to the main fleet.

Of course, there must be a duty watchman.

"Grandma's, this is too ruthless, it's just a draw from the bottom of the kettle!"

"We can't say that, and the responsibility lies with ourselves." Bai Zhizhan glared at Li Mingbo, who was full of complaints. "In the afternoon, we didn't expect to send planes to Foot Island to report the realignment, otherwise the two fast battleships would not have returned."

"But now, we don't even have a decent air defense battleship here, and we were expecting to be covered by those two fast battleships!"

In fact, Li Mingbo's complaint is not unreasonable.

Don't forget that in the evening, Bai Zhizhan sent four heavy cruisers and four light cruisers to the Shuangche Strait, and only six destroyers remained to cover the aircraft carrier. Because two destroyers had to be sent to explore the path ahead, searching for submarines that might be lying in ambush on the course, only four destroyers remained with the aircraft carrier. In fact, the destroyer's anti-aircraft firepower is the same as if it was not.

If I want to say that, after taking out the two "Xianghe", there is no need to worry about being bombed for the time being.

At that time, when making this arrangement, Bai Zhizhan did not expect that the two fast battleships would turn back at night.

"I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

Hearing this, several people all looked at Zhou Yongtao.

Because of his lowest status, when Li Mingbo complained, Zhou Yongtao carefully read the message.

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhou Yongtao did not explain much, but walked quickly to the chart table and turned out a map of the West and the East.

After staring at the chart for a while, he nodded thoughtfully.

Li Mingbo was already very impatient, and even Li Yunxiang was a little angry, but Bai Zhizhan looked like he knew it well, and seemed to have guessed Zhou Yongtao's thoughts.

"The telegram mentions one thing at the end."

"That suspected submarine attack." Bai Zhizhan said it directly.

Zhou Yongtao was stunned for a moment, and then said: "All along, we have used fast battleships as air defense warships, specifically to provide air defense cover for aircraft carriers. What if it wasn't suspicious, it was actually ambushed, but it was just a stroke of luck that it happened to avoid a torpedo fired by a narrow-minded submarine? ”

"You mean, the Samui Navy will think that we have already headed north overnight to return to Xuhai?"

Zhou Yongtao didn't say much, and nodded to indicate that Li Yunxiang was not wrong.

"Those are just two fast battleships that have not yet been listed, and the submarine has not found the aircraft carrier, can you convince Takano that we will return like this?"

"It's not about returning home, it's about rushing back to support the home fleet."

Li Yunxiang tightened his brows, looking still unlikely.

"There's one more key point." At this time, Bai Zhizhan spoke. So far, the Navy has not known that Liu Xiangzhen has returned home. If the special group returns to Chengjiang Port at cruising speed, it will not arrive until tomorrow at the earliest, on the night of the 27th. ”

Li Yunxiang's gaze turned to Bai Zhizhan, and Zhou Yongtao showed a look of sudden realization.

Apparently, he didn't think of this at first.

"What if the Task Force doesn't return? Then, on the 28th, it will definitely be able to enter the Guia Ocean from the Shuangche Strait. Because the Fifth Air Force had already been wiped out by us, and the Third Air Force could not arrive in time, the Sayoi Navy could not prevent the Special Task Force from entering the Guia Ocean. With the special group here, it makes sense that we will go back to Xuhai to support the home fleet and provide air defense cover for the home fleet. From the point of view of time, as long as he did not receive the news that the special group had returned this evening, Takano would make such an inference. ”

"From the point of view of seizing the islands in the north and south of the bean islands, such a deployment is foolproof." Zhou Yongtao added.

"Don't forget, the landing on Shoudao and Wangdao has been delayed by a day, so by tomorrow night at the latest, Takano will connect these things." Li Mingbo also enlightened at this time. "As long as he is suspicious, then the first thing to do is to kill the Watcher Strait at full speed."

"He doesn't have to wait until tomorrow night, he'll make that judgment before noon tomorrow."

"Before noon?"

Bai Zhizhan smiled and said, "Don't forget, our cruiser detachment will be able to rush to the Shuangche Strait tonight, and it will definitely encounter the first main team." If our carrier-based aircraft hadn't appeared over the first main Sentai tomorrow morning, Takano would have concluded that we had returned to Asahimi. ”

Now, Li Mingbo figured it out.

As long as the Third Air Task Force is guarding the east side of the Shuangche Strait, there is no reason not to launch a strike after discovering the first main force.

"Xiao Zhou is not wrong, this is not necessarily a bad thing." Bai Zhizhan smiled and said, "Next, it depends on whether Gao Ye will take the bait." ”

"I think it's better to send a plane back right away and reassign those cruisers."

Hearing Zhou Yongtao say this, Bai Zhizhan immediately laughed and pointed at him.

This kid is not ordinary bad, he is simply a pit that kills people and does not pay for his life.