"As long as it is possible to destroy the enemy's forces and weaken their superiority, wherever they are, it is a gradual reduction of the invitation - who has decreed that the enemy must fight all the way to the home along the road we have laid out for them? Didn't the Americans use aircraft carriers to launch an air raid on Tokyo by surprise before the Battle of Midway? Stipulating the battlefield, route, tactics, and tactics for the enemy are all made up in a small dark room by stupid staff officers who are rigid and inflexible...... Tactics are flexible, and the Americans knew that our first punch would be on Pearl Harbor? ”

Kusaka couldn't help but be embarrassed: although the chief's words were referring to General Yamamoto's fifty-sixth high-level staff member Kuroshima Kameto -- this "immortal" staff officer who didn't like to bathe, often walked around naked, and smelled of rancid all over his body, had been sent ashore by Hori Tsukichi, but it seemed that he had recently developed a little bit towards a "stupid" staff officer.

"Why do I have to fight a designated war with the enemy at a given place and at a given time, why can't I catch the enemy's soft underbelly? Throughout the ages, it is a legend to attack the strong with the weak, and it is the art of war to attack the weak with the strong! There are very few people who can win with a weak attack, but there are not many who end up capsizing with a weak attack. Horikichi glanced at Kusaka and asked meaningfully, "Kusaka-kun, if there is a game of strong and weak battle that is gambling money, which side will you bet on?" ”

Caolu nodded convincingly: "The chief instructs, and the humble duty will always be remembered." ”

"It's a pity that we are on the weak side in terms of national strength and national strength, and this gap is much larger than the existing military strength comparison, so I resolutely opposed a war between Japan and the United States at the beginning -- this is like resolutely opposing betting on the side with a smaller chance of winning! But now that the bet has been placed. It's almost desperate, and there is no room for repentance, so I can only think of more ways to increase the chances of winning. Isn't that the starting point for implementing the Indian Ocean strategy and consolidating and leveraging the advantages of the trilateral axis? ”

Cao Lu hurriedly said, "Under the leadership of the chief." We still have a chance, didn't we win last time! This time the odds of winning should not be small, and the Germans are particularly good at land warfare, and I think it is only a matter of time before they take control of Egypt. ”

"I hope so." Horikichi nodded, then sighed, "Now I'm just doing my best to obey the destiny of heaven." ”

On the 17th, the fleet moved forward in fear. As a result, everything was uneventful, neither the British and American navies were detected, nor did they encounter merchant ships. The command department not only rejoiced. On the 18th, during the voyage, they came across a British-flagged merchant ship, apparently engaged in transport between Persia and South Africa, although the two cruisers quickly sank the stunned merchant ship. But Kusaka Ren still told Horikichi with a gloomy face, "Sir." The situation is not good, we intercepted the telegram signal sent by the enemy ship before sinking, although it is only the simplest 'SOS', but I am afraid that the follow-up will not be a small trouble. ”

Horikichi calmly comforted him: "This is good, several days later than I expected to be exposed - an hour late is good now, inform the fleet to be ready, and the reconnaissance plane is ready to go out at any time." ”

Seven hours later, it was dark. There was still no movement, and no warships came to investigate. There were no planes flying overhead, not even radio signals, and Horikichi was suspicious, and since the British were so careless, he was just as happy to accept the gift. In fact, the British escort command in the direction of Mombasa, Kenya, received this distress signal, and deduced the source of the signal and the ship that sent it in the following time, but because it was only a simple SOS signal, it was not particularly taken seriously, let alone the main force of the Japanese fleet.

The escort command simply assumed that the merchant ship had probably encountered a German or Japanese submarine, which was the most likely scenario - more than half a year earlier, the Sovereign-class battleship Ramii had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine after completing the occupation of Madagascar, and was damaged and returned to Britain for maintenance. The escort authorities reacted immediately, and since the area of the accident was too far from the land to send planes to inspect it for the time being, they simply reminded all transport ships to avoid enemy submarines, and at the same time informed the commander of the British fleet, Admiral Cunningham, of the discovery of suspicious targets and suspected submarines.

Cunningham was unsettled and uneasy when he received this telegram, and he had a strong sense of crisis, but he could not say what it was.

Before the arrival of this telegram, he still had a telegram from Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the Middle East theater of operations was now anxious to become an ant on a hot pot, and could send three telegrams a day to ask about the fleet's itinerary and location, and at the same time told Cunningham in frustration that Rommel had commanded the German army to approach Cairo from the north, west, and east, and that although the ground engagement had not yet begun, sporadic air raids had appeared, and he urgently begged the fleet to rescue him.

Two days ago, General Ted sent information about the German-Italian combined fleet collected after aircraft reconnaissance: The main force of the German-Italian fleet after the combined forces included 4 battleships \ battlecruisers (3 Italian Veneto-class battlecruisers, 1 German Dunkirk-class battlecruiser), 5 heavy cruisers, including 2 Italian ships (respectively the Zara-class Gorizia and the Taranto-class Trieste), 3 Germans, and about 30 other light cruisers and destroyers.

He attached great importance to Ted's telegrams, and because he was in a hurry, he selected all the high-speed capital ships into a fast column, which had one aircraft carrier: the American Raider; There were 3 battleships, the USS Massachusetts (South Dakota-class) and the USS War-Weary and USS Malaya (both of the Queen Elizabeth class), 3 heavy cruisers: the USS Augusta, Tuscaloosa, and Wichita, respectively, and the other light cruisers and destroyers were roughly evenly distributed between the two fleets.

After receiving the exact information on the formation of the German and Italian fleet, he felt that his strength was insufficient, and that it was too late for the slow fleet to come up, so he telegraphed to the London side to temporarily mobilize two battleships (both of the Sovereign class) Revenge and Resolve, which had been serving as escorts in the waters near Kenya, to join the fleet, and now his fast column had one more aircraft carrier than the German-Italian fleet -- although it was not strong in combat, and one more battleship -- although it was an old ship, it had two less heavy cruisers, After comprehensive consideration, he thought that he was now worthy of fighting the enemy, and he should be especially careful of the enemy's three battleships, except for the Massachusetts, which could steadily eat any of the enemy's battleships, and the other battleships in his hands were not necessarily the opponents of the Italian battleships.

After receiving the traces of suspected discovery of enemy submarines, he could not help frowning, because the fleet often neglected anti-submarine in order to gain time along the way, so he immediately ordered to increase the intensity of defense against submarines - because thinking consciously or unconsciously in the direction of submarines, the British missed a good opportunity to discover the enemy first.

"How's the war going in Egypt?" After entering the night, Horikichi habitually asks any of the Kusaka.

"The Germans have taken control of the whole of Alexandria and the Canal Zone, and are gradually building an encirclement of Cairo, where it is reported that the British army in Cairo is about 5-60,000."

After hearing the news of the control of the Canal Zone, Horikichi had a bright eye in his eyes and hurriedly asked, "What about the canal...... Did the British sabotage? ”

"There is no definite information, but I don't think so, the British fled too quickly, and the fleet was captured by the German and Italian navies - the British had neither enough time nor large enough ships to block the canal."

Horiyoshi nodded happily: "It's better not to, the equipment and supplies that Germany gave us are still counting on going through the canal." ”

"Do you really think the Germans will give us so much?" Cao Lu scratched his scalp embarrassedly, "I always thought that those conditions were for the lion to open his mouth, but I didn't expect the Germans to agree without words." I usually feel that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is weak and incompetent, and it is a burden, but this errand is really good. ”

"Yes...... If we could have shown our strength, the Germans might have given more - and we would have paid for the extra. ”

"Where's the money?"

"India...... Haven't heard of thousands of tons of gold? Horikichi laughed, "Don't worry that the German Führer will pay his debts, so many countries in Europe are watching him." He is a figure who wants to do great things, to establish a new European order and to achieve imperial hegemony - the European Union is much more reliable than the slogan of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and will not bother with us about this little thing. And these things are astronomical for Japan, what are they for Germany? It's just a drizzle! ”

"This ...... I don't believe it, I always think the envoy is a bit of a braggart. ”

"Don't believe me?" Hori Yiji smiled meaningfully, "Germany has more tanks in a month than we have in a year, and the aviation industry is several times stronger than ours, not to mention other chemicals, metallurgy, steel, and coal." The German Army conquered France in a month, how long will we fight? The army will fight a country like China, and it will not even be able to win. The Germans, perhaps, only had a navy worse than ours, so they kept courting the Italians. ”

Caolu showed a look of longing: "I really look forward to completing the task as soon as possible and getting the materials and equipment in hand...... This trip was worth it. ”

Hoffman, who was still on the island of Crete with the "Führer's ......," received a report from Joddell, "We have again received a telegram from the Japanese fleet, that they have arrived in the theater of operations in the spirit of joint operations, and are now moving towards the final area of operations, and will carry out operations as originally planned—the only drawback is that the British and American fleets have not yet been discovered." ”

Hoffman stood up excitedly: "Good! Not surprisingly, Egypt basically won the battle, and now it depends on whether the Japanese can seize the opportunity. Don't interfere with their actions, just ask them to complete the set goal, but be sure to let us know in time. (To be continued.) )