After a hearty breakfast, Yamamoto Isoroku immediately convened a high-level meeting of the United Fleet. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"The main force of the Combined Fleet will attack, go to Truk, we will occupy Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in one fell swoop, and completely destroy the will of the Australian allies to resist."

Two hours later, the main forces of the Combined Fleet poured out, and the First Mobile Fleet, with the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Hiryu as the core, and the First Fleet with the battleships Yamato, Nagato, and Mutsu as the core, left the port one after another, and headed for Truk Harbor.

When the main forces of the Combined Fleet departed, the victory of the 2nd Mobile Fleet spread rapidly through newspapers and broadcasts in the Japanese mainland and the occupied territories.

"The Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Army, under the command of General Tabun Yamaguchi, completely annihilated the US NB-14 fleet, sank the US Navy battleships USS Washington, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and sank the escort aircraft carrier Sangamon・・・・・・"

When the main force of the Combined Fleet attacked, Yamaguchi Tabun was deploying troops in the distant South Pacific Sea.

The second motorized fleet was divided into three fleets.

The first fleet, with the USS Zuifeng as the core, led three destroyers, continued to roam the waters where naval battles had just broken out, and the duty of this fleet was to cooperate with the submarine force to find out if there were other U.S. fleets in the nearby waters.

The second fleet, with the battleship Hiei and the wounded battleship Kirishima as the core, led one light cruiser and five destroyers to escort the captured American ships back to Truk Harbor.

The main force of the Second Mobile Fleet, with the aircraft carriers Zuizuru Shozuru and Xiangho and the battleship Musashi as the core, returned to the waters near the Fiji Islands.

Three days after the total annihilation of the US NB-14 fleet, 150 nautical miles northeast of the Fiji Islands, 12 Type Zero fighters and 12 Type 97 torpedo attack planes rushed out of the deck, assembled over the fleet, and flew to the Fiji Islands.

For a week, on the island of Viti Levu in the Fiji archipelago, engineering units had repaired the occupied American airfield.

Yamaguchi immediately dispatched 12 Zero fighters and 12 Type 97 torpedo attack planes to the airfield according to the original plan, and Viti Levu was transformed into an unsinkable aircraft carrier.

After completing the most crucial step, the 2nd Mobile Fleet continued to roam around the Fiji Islands, monitoring the nearby waters for the presence of a U.S. fleet.

However, with the collapse of the NB-14 fleet, the United States immediately suspended the transportation of the U.S.-Australia route, and all the convoys that had already departed turned around and returned to the U.S. mainland, or transported supplies to other U.S. bases in the Pacific.

For most of the month, the 2nd Mobile Fleet did not find new prey, but only fought a few anti-submarine warfare as a pastime for boring life at sea.

On October 17, exactly a month after the breakup, Tabun Yamaguchi finally waited for Nobutake's Second Fleet.

While tankers in the Second Fleet were refueling the warships of the Second Mobile Fleet at sea, Nobutake Kondo boarded the aircraft carrier Zuizuru in a speedboat.

"Yamaguchi-kun, congratulations on a great victory for the Empire, Commander Yamamoto has arrived at Truk Harbor with the main force of the Combined Fleet, and is waiting for you to return, to reward you in person."

"Go back now? Who will complete the following tasks? Yamaguchi asked in surprise.

"The following mission is completed by the First Mobile Fleet led by Nagumo with me, and his fleet will arrive here tomorrow."

"Sao Ga, the following matters, please leave it to you and Nanyun seniors." Yamaguchi said.

At ten o'clock in the morning of the next day, the 1st Mobile Fleet led by Nagumo met with Yamaguchi Tawen on time.

After friendly greetings from both sides, Yamaguchi Tabun led the fleet on the way back.

A day later, the Second Fleet, commanded by Kondo, with the support of the First Mobile Fleet led by Nagumo, launched a landing operation against American Samoa.

Samoa is located a thousand kilometers east of the Fiji Islands, and according to the FS plan, after the successful capture of Samoa in the landing battle, the landing Japanese troops will carry out devastating damage to the island for a month, and then withdraw from the island and make every effort to consolidate the defense in the Fiji Islands.

After the 1st Mobile Fleet under Nagumo's command cooperated with Kondo's 2nd Fleet to land in Samoa, it continued to monitor the US-Australia route.

However, none of this had anything to do with the 2nd Mobile Fleet, which arrived at the port of Truk after almost three days of sailing.

Yamaguchi Tawen was the first to step off the battleship, hurriedly walked up to Yamamoto Isoroku, saluted, and then stretched out his hands and shook Yamamoto's hand tightly.

"The commander actually came to greet him in person, and Yamamoto was flattered."

"This is the reward that the heroes of the Empire deserve, Yamaguchi-kun, do you know what you have received for the Empire?"

Seeing that Yamaguchi Tawen looked confused, Yamamoto said to Minoru Genda: "Staff Officer Genda, you came to tell General Yamaguchi what he got for the empire?" ”

Minoru Genda said: "After counting, we caught nearly 3,000 infantry on the captured US military transport ship, and they belonged to the 25th Infantry Division of the US Army. There are also 330 tanks, 300 planes, 3,350 trucks of jeeps, as well as a large amount of food, gasoline, tires, medicine, ammunition, radio, and so on. In addition, on the escort aircraft carrier Santi, we also found the SC type air search radar and SG type sea search radar used by the Americans, which have much higher performance than our Type 21 and Type 22 electric reconnaissance. ”

Yamamoto continued: "After we studied the radar of the Americans, we could imitate it. There are also American aircraft, which, after we study, can also study targeted tactics and make targeted improvements to the performance of our fighters. ”

"It looks like we're going to have one great victory after another soon." Yamaguchi said.

"Yes, but a series of future victories will begin with this victory."

After looking forward to victory, Yamaguchi followed Yamamoto and the others out of the harbor and sat down in the conference room.

Yamamoto said with a smile: "At the strong request of the Army, we will postpone the attack on Port Moresby and shift the operational focus to the Solomon Islands, with a focus on Guadalcanal." Genda-kun, you can tell you about the situation there. ”

Minoru Genda walked to the map, pointed to the map and said, "We first occupied Kuah Island and tried to build an airfield on it, but in August of this year, the U.S. military suddenly landed on Kuah Island, occupied the airfield that we were almost about to build, and renamed it Henderson Airport, which seems to be in honor of a U.S. major who performed valiantly during the Battle of Midway."

Now, the U.S. military is using this airfield to control air supremacy in the waters near Kuah Island, which seriously limits the supply of our army units on the island. ”

Yamamoto said: "We can only use the high speed of destroyers to transport supplies to the troops on the island at night, but the U.S. fleet patrols the nearby waters at night, and everything is done in secret, to put it mildly, we are carrying out rat transport."

Now, everything is different. At the tactical level, the Americans cut off our supply lines near Kuah Island, but at the strategic level, we cut off the supply lines between the United States and Australia. However, this time will not last long, and we must deal with the American forces on Kuah Island in one fell swoop before the Americans can mobilize new troops and reopen supply lines. Yamaguchi-kun, do you have any good suggestions? ”

Yamaguchi Tawen stared at the chart for a while, and then said, "On the way back, I thought about something, our previous actions, there was the shadow of Lord Diablo. Now that Germany has declared war on us, Diablo still has his heart set on the Empire, but he can't help us at any time, and the most important thing is that the soldiers of the Empire must have the confidence to win the war on their own, and they can't always rely on external forces.

I have devised several tactics to maximize the strength of the aircraft carrier group, and there is one tactic that can solve the problem of Kuah Island. To hell with the rat transport, we're going to get supplies to Kuah Island in the open, and then smash that airfield. ”

"Very well, Yamaguchi-kun, as long as you can solve the problem, don't hesitate to mention what you need."

"I need the full cooperation of the combined fleet, especially the battleship forces, and I also need the cooperation of the army side."

Yamamoto said: "There is no problem with the combined fleet, I will coordinate with the army, as long as you can win." Tell me, what's your plan? ”

Yamaguchi's tiny eyes shone with a cold glow.

"I've heard that the Army has a tactic called Plate Charge, also known as the Pig Assault Tactic. My plan was to do a naval version of the onboard assault. ”