When Prime Minister Churchill heard the Secretary of the Admiralty's report, he was extremely sad and sighed that "I have never suffered such a blow".

The British Chief of Staff, General Brooke, summed up the loss as follows: "This means that we have lost our sea supremacy from Africa eastward through the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the Americas. ”

The victory in the naval battle enabled the Japanese army to successfully establish an air base in Malaya, grasp air supremacy, and effectively support the army's operations.

Under the cover of air superiority, the Japanese army quickly advanced from north to south along the Malay Peninsula. The 25th Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yamashita Fumi, took control of the southern part of the Malay Peninsula in one fell swoop.

At this time, Lieutenant General Yamashita was still not very satisfied with the results of his subordinates.

Therefore, he arranged the 5th Division on the main road and the Guards Division on the west coast, and adopted the tactics of echoing the 18th Division from the east bank and accelerating the pursuit.

This method of warfare is called "electric drill warfare" by Yamashita .

On January 11, the Japanese 5th Division stormed Kuala Lumpur.

On 30 January, British forces on the eastern and western shores of the Malay Peninsula retreated to the southern tip of the peninsula.

On the 31st, all British troops retreated to Singapore. In this way, the Japanese army occupied Malaya in just 54 days.

Lieutenant General Yamashita also received the nickname "Malay Tiger".

On February 8, 1942, after several days of thorough preparations, Yamashita finally gave the order to attack Singapore.

That night, the Japanese 5th and 18th Divisions began to cross the river at the same time and engaged in fierce battles with the British on the riverbank.

On the 9th, the Japanese army entered the Tianluo airfield. On the night of the 9th, near the Krankey River on both sides of the aqueduct bridge, the Guards Division also landed successfully.

At this point, the Guards Division of the 25th Army attacked from the north, the 5th Division from the west, and the 18th Division from the right flank of the 5th Division along the south bank and from three fronts towards the center of the island.

On the 10th, the troops under the mountain had advanced to the heights of Bukitima. It is the highest high ground in Singapore and could kill the entire island if occupied. The commander of the British army, General Percibal, was determined to fight the Japanese army to the end.

The well-trained Japanese elite troops were really opponents of Britain and the United States.

Fierce battles on the heights of Bukitima, including white-knuckle battles, continued until the next day.

The Guards Division managed to force diagonally into the high ground from the east side of the water source, and finally captured the Bukitema Heights, but the 25th Army was also heavily defeated.

On February 15, under the powerful Japanese offensive, General Parsibal was forced to surrender unconditionally due to lack of water and shells.

In this battle, the Japanese and British each suffered 10,000 casualties. Of the 138708 British defenders, 100,000 were captured.

In this way, the "Gibraltar of the East," which Britain had painstakingly operated for 20 years, and Singapore, the world's famous fourth-largest military port, fell into the hands of the Japanese army, and the gateway to the Indian Ocean was opened.

This victory was the largest land victory in the history of the Japanese army.

In Japan, the government of Hideki Tojo proudly announced that every household would receive two bottles of beer, one pack of red beans, and three bottles of alcohol.

In an instant, the name "Yamashita Fumi" spread throughout Japan.

Even the war history textbook of the German Army Military Academy added a paragraph about the battle in Malaya.

Just as the battle broke out in the Malay Sea, the Japanese army that had fanned south from the mainland archipelago was like a burst of water, and it was unstoppable to the Philippines, the country of a thousand islands.

In the Philippine Islands, Admiral MacArthur, the commander of the U.S. Far East, has about 130,000 troops. Among them, there are nearly 20,000 US troops, more than 110,000 Philippine troops, 45 warships, and more than 200 aircraft.

The commander of the Japanese army that invaded the Philippines was Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma. Its main force is the 14th Army of the Army, which has 2 divisions and 1 brigade. The 3rd Fleet and the 11th Air Fleet of the Navy and the 5th Flight Group of the Army are supporting the operation, with a total of 43 combat ships of various types and more than 500 aircraft.

On 8 December, Japanese planes continued to bomb the US Clark Air Force Base near Manila, blowing up 18 B-17 planes and 55 P-40 planes on the airfield.

In just a few minutes, more than 100 US planes were easily destroyed.

After three consecutive days of air raids, the Japanese basically destroyed MacArthur's air force, and the US Asian fleet had to flee south to the Java Sea in a hurry.

At the same time, the Japanese landed at Apari, Vigan, and Legazpi on 10, 11, and 12 December, occupied the advance airfield, and advanced in the direction of Manila.

The untrained US-Filipino forces were unable to stop the Japanese attack.

Just as the Japanese army began to advance towards the South Seas, Zhou Lin was summoned to Yamada's office.

When he heard the call, Zhou Lin felt that this trip must be related to Nanyang.

Sure enough, Yamada announced the order of the base camp to Zhou Lin: order Zhou Lin to return to the South Seas and control Zhoujia Island and the surrounding seas. Prevent U.S. forces from sending reinforcements to Manila.

Zhou Lin asked puzzledly: "Chief, with the strength of Zhoujiadao, how can I stop the US military from reinforcing Manila?" ”

Yamada said: "If the U.S. military wants to increase its troops to Manila, it must pass through the strait in front of your Zhoujia Island, and you can use those coastal defense artillery to seal the strait and make it impossible for them to cross." ”

"What if the shells are finished?" Zhou Lin's cannon was not short of shells.

"The imperial army has already delivered artillery shells to Zhoujiadao, as well as a batch of anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, which are enough for you to fight for a day. As long as you hold out for a day, the Imperial Army troops will arrive and join you in annihilating the American reinforcements. Yamada cheered Zhou Lin up.

There was no way, Zhou Lin had to accept Yamada's order.

However, he proposed to Yamada that 2,000 troops should be transported from Phoenix Mountain.

After Yamada reported to the base camp, he was immediately approved.

Because Zhou Lin's strength increased, it was the strength of the imperial army in Nanyang that increased.

So, Zhou Lin notified Wu Yong of Phoenix Mountain and asked him to arrange all the brothers who went to Nanyang in the second batch, and two days later, they went to Nanyang by boat through Yueyang.

This time the cargo ship was not an American freighter, but a Japanese troop carrier.

On December 13, ten troop carriers carrying 2,000 soldiers of the Zhou family army and more than 10,000 family members left Yueyang and headed for the South Seas.

On December 15, Zhou Lin took Xiangjun, Yulan, Li Shiba, and Wu Mingtao to board the Japanese sea plane and fly to the South Seas.

This time, it was Yamada who asked Zhou Lin to take Wu Mingtao with him, because he also hoped that Wu Mingtao would decipher the code of the US military.

Xiao Lin also left on the same plane, and he also went to carry out the order.

Zhou Lin knew what the base camp and Yamada meant: let Xiaolin monitor himself.

On the evening of December 16, Zhou Lin and others got on a speedboat and landed on Zhoujia Island.

Cui Haitao and Fang Long led all the management personnel and officers above the battalion level on the island to welcome Zhou Lin back to the island on the dock.

They were also greeted by Kobayashi's family and Miko's family, who were the ones who greeted Kobayashi.

In the conference room, Zhou Lin listened to Cui Haitao and Fang Long's military reports.

"Has the U.S. military given us warships and a division of American-style equipment?" Zhou Lin thought of the conditions that the United States had promised him.