At this time, the Minister of Military Command, Nagano Xiushen, was also very clear that he expected the military situation in the Central Pacific Ocean to become worse and worse, and with the very meager troops he had on hand now, there was no way to strengthen the defense of the Central Pacific with the army, and even the aircraft carrier fleet and aviation units were now lacking in personnel and fleets.

But even so, he ordered the new commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Koga Mineichi, to reinforce the Gilbert Islands by sending the 2nd Fleet under the command of Commander Admiral Kondo Take, Vice Admiral Hitoshi Kobayashi's 4th Fleet, and Vice Admiral Komatsu Teruhisa's 6th Fleet.

Because the Gilbert Islands were one of the Japanese defense points in the Central Pacific, the Japanese base camp paid so much attention to them, and also built very strong fortifications on the two atolls of Tarawa and Makin to resist the possible landing operations of the American army.

It is a pity that what the Japanese army did not dream of was that the US military did not play its cards according to common sense and carry out landing operations island by island, but adopted the 'island hopping tactic' advocated by MacArthur to carry out the attack.

But what is even more tragic is that the new commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Koga Mineichi, who has just taken office and has not yet burned the three fires, is the strategic vision and shrewdness and ability of Yamamoto Isoroku who was not ambushed and killed by the US P-38 fighter group, so he has always tended to be pragmatic, and he is more strategically conservative, his eyes are still more inclined to the US fleet once it breaks into the Philippine Sea through the Mariana Islands, or the Palau Islands, and New Guinea. He will immediately dispatch all the combined fleets to attack with all their might, and successfully defeat the American army in the first battle.

The reason why he thought this way was because he had always been deeply influenced by Admiral Togo's decisive thinking of "all the work in one battle" of the victory in the Tsushima Strait.

Therefore, when he received the order of Nagano Shushen, the Minister of Military Order, although he also arranged the deployment of fleet forces according to the order, his mind did not focus on the inconspicuous Gilbert Islands, but focused on the Mariana Islands, Palau Islands, and New Guinea and other islands in the southwest Pacific.

He also sent heavy troops to guard it to meet the attacks of MacArthur and Halsey's fleets at any time.

In this regard, the Minister of Military Order, Shusei Nagano, and Shitaro Shimada, the Minister of Military Orders, as well as King Hiroko Fushimi Palace, and Emperor Hirohito were also kept in the dark by him.

However, the next day, in the conference room in the east hall of the Imperial Palace, next to the emperor's study, the headquarters of the imperial meeting began in earnest, and all the ministers of civil and military affairs present were neatly dressed, sitting at two rows of conference tables covered with red checkered brocade with their waists, their hands on their knees, and their expressions nervous and worried.

Sometimes, though, they cast a look at Emperor Hirohito to see if the mood was changing for good or for bad.

Sitting to the left of Emperor Hirohito is the new Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and on the right is General Shigeru Honjo.

This person was the commander of the Kwantung Army, which ordered the invasion of the three eastern provinces during the September 18 Incident, and in 1938, he was the president of the Wounded and Sick Soldiers Protection Hospital, and until now in 1943.

High-ranking figures such as the Minister of Military Order, Nagano Shusei, the Chief of Staff, Sugiyama Moto, and the Sea Minister, Shigetaro Shimada, as well as King Hirokoshi Fushimi Palace, arranged their seats on the left and right sides and sat quietly, waiting for Emperor Hirohito's questioning.

"I talked to Chief of Staff Chief Sugiyama Moto, yesterday about the recent Battle of Munda Island, the disastrous defeat of the New Georgia Islands landing campaign, and the increasing disadvantages of the entire Pacific War for our empire, and today I would like to hear what you think, and make good suggestions, so that we can defeat the American army!"

When everyone was seated, Emperor Hirohito glanced at the audience with a gloomy expression before speaking in a worried tone.

As soon as the voice fell, the audience was silent, and the needle drop could be heard.

For a while, no one was willing to be the first to stand up and answer the difficult question of Emperor Hirohito.

For this reason, the new prime minister, Hideki Tojo, who had just taken office, stood up with bitterness and prepared to answer.

In this regard, all the ministers of civil and military affairs stared at him with very complicated eyes, and of course many of them stared at him with mockery and schadenfreude to see how he answered Emperor Hirohito's question.

"Your Majesty! On March 7, 1942, the 17th year of Showa (i.e., 1942), the empire made the most important battle goal, we want to hurt the British and American troops in the Pacific Ocean, let them come to the negotiating table to negotiate peace, especially the United States, which is blockading war materials and oil to our empire, and even more so let them defeat and conduct peace talks! ”

"However, in the more than a year since the victory in the attack on Pearl Harbor, there has been a huge contrast in the war situation in the entire Pacific, and our army, which was originally in sight of victory, has encountered unexpected battles one after another, especially after the death of Admiral Yamamoto 56, so I have held a joint meeting with the cabinet and the wartime base camp a week ago, and we have agreed on a new strategic direction for establishing an 'absolute defense circle.'"

When all the ministers of civil and military affairs looked at the chief of staff, Sugiyama Moto, he began to muster up the courage to say the lines that he had thought about N times in his heart.

"'Absolute defense circle'? What do you mean ......"

Hearing this, Emperor Hirohito's eyes lit up and he was very curious.

"That is, it was decided to establish the strongest defensive ring of the empire in places such as the Kuril Islands, Ogasawara Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the western part of the New Guinea Islands, and even Burma, in order to defend the empire's mainland and conduct a defensive war against the United States!"

Chief of Staff Sugiyama Motomo continued without thinking about it.

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