In the early hours of December 16, 1942, the main force of the huge Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, after bypassing the Chagos Archipelago, a British Indian Ocean territory, passed through the waters between the islands and the Seychelles Islands, and slowly headed northwest at an economic speed of 14 knots.

"Where are you now?" The Musashi Commander Tower, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Horikiyoshi, asked.

"At present the center of the fleet is located at 62 degrees 60 minutes east longitude and 0 degrees 60 minutes south latitude...... The map is about 1,000 nautical miles south-east of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. ”

"I'm going to cross the equator!" Horikichi nodded in satisfaction, stood up from his position and ordered, "Cancel the radio silence and report to the German side as originally planned and with the specified cipher - they are probably in a hurry." ”

According to the predetermined plan of the Japanese-German joint operation, the main force of the combined fleet broke through to the main theater of operations no later than 15 December, and for the sake of maximum secrecy, the fleet's radio silence was maintained until the last moment. Along the way, they only received telegrams from all sides, and deliberately avoided merchant shipping routes, but the presence of the fleet was transparent to all sides - no one knew where the combined fleet was now, whether it was Japan or Germany. As the main force of the fleet advanced from the southern Indian Ocean to the central and northern Indian Ocean, the route of travel cut off all traditional routes, and it had entered the dense area of merchant ships, which could be exposed at any time by passing by other ships, but since he had reached the designated position, Horiyoshi was not afraid of this.

The situation in the Southeast Asian theater of operations continues to deteriorate, at the same time as the loss of Munda Island and the onslaught of Bougainville Island by the US military. The U.S. and Australian coalition forces sent more than 70,000 ground troops from Port Moresby to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese army on the front line of Lae, and the battle was very fierce, although the Japanese army had already reduced its strength and strengthened its fortifications. However, both the air force and the tanks were clearly inferior, and by the afternoon of the 15th, except for some of the outer lines of defense with strong fortifications, the rest of the troops had been lost. However, the Iron Fist No. 1 and No. 2 that Japan got from Germany played a huge role in the anti-armor war, and in the **** attack of the Japanese soldiers who were not afraid of death, the United States and Australia allied forces destroyed more than 90 armored vehicles and tanks under the Iron Fist in 5 days.

15th. The defense of Bougainville Island was again in a state of emergency, and after the first use of the Sakura missile, Halsey commanded the combined Anglo-American fleet for a second offensive. This time, they learned the lessons of the first attack, not only did the formation of the artillery fleet be stretched wide, but also deployed a large number of fighters in the air to keep an eye on Japan's secret weapons, and the sailors of the warships also picked up 20mm machine guns and stared intently at these terrifying killers who swept the sea.

After the first successful use. The Bougainville defenders were inspired. He immediately reported the news to Takijiro Onishi, who was in charge of the training of the special attack force, hoping to get more support. At this time, there were a total of 37 Sakura missiles deployed on Bougainville Island, which accounted for more than one-third of the special attack force cultivated by Onishi in the early stage, and there were 17 missiles left in addition to the 20 missiles that had been launched in the first round.

Facts have proved that attacking in small batches under the premise that the US military is heightened its vigilance and deploys high-density defensive firepower is very ineffective -- it is tantamount to taking the initiative to reduce the density of firepower saturation strikes. After the 17 Sakura missiles were released by the defenders in five batches, some of them were first shot down by heavy secondary and machine guns. At the same time, there were planes that rushed down and shot and even rammed without hesitation, and the Americans used all means to control the losses of the second time to a very small extent, except for one destroyer (to cover the battleship USS North Carolina) and one transport ship were sunk, the rest suffered almost no losses. After Bougainville unleashed all of its Sakura missiles, the Americans were finally able to attack with all their fears.

The top brass of the Combined Fleet received battle reports from the front every day, and they were all worried -- apart from the 24 Sakura missiles in Rabaul, there were not a single one in the direction of Bougainville and Lae, and the remaining fleet of the Mikawa Gunichi did not even dare to risk in the face of such a huge US fleet, so they could only shrink to Rabaul to exist in the fleet, and judging from the strength of the US counteroffensive, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before the two places fell.

"Sir, the German liaison submarine has sent us another telegram informing us of the latest central position of the British and American fleets -- they have just slowly crawled through the Mozambique Channel......" In order to grasp the progress of the Anglo-American Torch Plan implementation fleet in a timely manner, Dönitz arranged for two submarines to closely follow the entire Anglo-American fleet. Their task is only to accompany the advance and inform the intelligence, and the attack is strictly forbidden. Usually in the dark of night, submarines would surface to recharge their batteries and send telegrams, and then after dawn they would sneak underwater and follow - just as the underwater speed could keep up with the slow convoy of transports.

Horikichi smiled and nodded, "What about another fleet?" ”

"The other fleet suddenly increased its speed and headed north, and then lost its intelligence tracking, and now it is only known that the overall speed of the lost track was as high as 19-20 knots, and the submarines were far from being able to catch up, considering the critical situation in Egypt, they thought that these guys were going directly to Egypt - I roughly estimated that the enemy's fast fleet should be in the area off the coast of Somalia, the exact location is unknown, and I estimate that the distance is at least 800-900 nautical miles."

"When will I be able to enter the Fleet Scouting Circle?"

"Based on the current relative speed and course, it may take another 3-4 days...... It will be around the 20th. ”

Horikichi nodded in understanding, and then began to close his eyes in his position.

Although it was rude to disturb the other party while the chief was resting, Kusaka Ren still mustered up the courage to open his mouth - this question had been bothering him for several days.

"Sir, you don't seem to be worried about the situation in the Solomon Sea?"

"Worried...... Why should I worry? Horikichi opened his eyes and asked, "Isn't the war a long time ago predestined -- after the gradual resistance, the troops moved to Rabaul, exchanging space for time, and gradually depleting the sharp spirit of the Americans." ”

"But?"

"If they can resist the main force of the U.S. fleet and hold so many islands, what do you need to unite the fleet for? What's more, even the British have invested a lot of capital ships this time, which shows that the British and Americans are determined to attack - wouldn't it be more beneficial to the Indian Ocean strategy? ”

"But if Britain and the United States are allowed to advance like this, I'm afraid the next target will be Truk." Cao Lu said worriedly.

"Your understanding of strategy is still very poor." Hori Tsukichi sighed and reminded the chief of staff, "Let me ask you, what is the essence of the military command department's preparation for more than ten years, and it has always fought against the United States?" ”

"What is it?" Cao Lu was stunned for a moment, and then replied reflexively, "It's a nine-stage battle, a gradual reduction and invitation strategy......

Horikichi nodded: "Finally, you haven't forgotten this." ”

"Yes...... What does this have to do with the current situation of the war? Cao Lu Ren asked strangely, "I haven't seen the official case of the Nine-Stage Operation, but I know the general idea...... The main force of the nine-stage operation is the joint fleet's fleets fighting against the US fleet, and now that the main force of the combined fleet is not there, the fleet of the Mikawa Gunichi is hiding in Rabaul and shivering, how can it assume the responsibility for the gradual reduction? And after the Battle of Pearl Harbor, wasn't the nine-stage operation abandoned? ”

"So......" Horikichi shook his head helplessly, and sighed with hatred, "You should have a little bit of your own thoughts, don't listen to the wind and rain, let alone follow the clouds, what others say is what you say, and you will give up when others say to give up, what is the value of the chief of staff?" ”

"Pice the sir!" Cao Lu took a step forward and asked sincerely, without the slightest unhappiness of being criticized.

"Pice the sir!" A bunch of staff officers on duty who were listening with their ears pricked up on the side also stood up straight, and cast their eyes on the commander with a reverent face, who had begun to replace Isoroku Yamamoto as the idol of his subordinates after leading his fleet to win the Battle of South Solomon and save the morale that had fallen to the bottom after the defeat at the Battle of Midway.

"Look." Horikichi strode to the map, "The combined Anglo-American fleet is now fighting on the front lines of Munda and Bougainville, and Lae is the first stage of gradual reduction - we have sunk 2 of their battleships, 1 heavy cruiser, several landing ships, or some other auxiliary ships; The second stage is Rabaul, where we can use the air force and Sakura missiles to continue to weaken the enemy's combat strength and superiority, and restrain their spirit; As for the third paragraph......"

Cao Lu Yi thought that he would say the direction of Truk, but the commander suddenly turned around and gave himself a dumbfounded answer - he first patted the mark representing the Combined Fleet on the combat chart, and then roughly surrounded the sea area north of Mozambique to the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula with both hands, and said: "This is the third section!" We are trying to eat a few more aircraft carriers and a few battleships of the US Atlantic Fleet, and then, if we have spare power, we can pull out the nails around the Indian Ocean, such as Madagascar, South Africa, and Ceylon. ”

Immediately, he let go of his hand, returned to the map, and pointed at the Atlantic region with a slightly regretful tone: "If it weren't for the poor supply of the fleet, I would not be able to bear the heavy task of long-distance voyages, and I would even like to take the fleet around the Cape of Good Hope to sweep around the east coast of the United States -- now that the main force of the enemy's Pacific Fleet is in East Asia, its Atlantic Fleet is not strong, and the main force is completely lost in the third stage, and the main force of the British fleet cannot be lightly moved to deal with the German and Italian navies, how many troops can they draw to deal with us?" How many places can you raid on the East Coast of the United States? Not to mention land, just attacking the merchant fleet can hurt them! ”

"I understand...... "Grass Deer Ren gasped and suddenly realized, "The chief is using the global ocean as an inviting battlefield!" (To be continued.) )