On March 5, a day and a half after the fleet had reached Moroni, the Imperial Marines occupying Moroni made an important announcement, which immediately caused a huge stir in Moroni. The announcement reads: Any Moroni resident who wishes to travel to the Empire, or Colombo, can report to the Marines' civilian office and then return to Colombo with the Marines and leave Moroni.

On the same day and night, the warships moored outside Moroni also began to move.

On the morning of the 6th, the Marines stationed in Moroni began to dismantle the barracks and assist the Moroni residents who were willing to go to Colombo to board the transport ship, and their personal belongings were being loaded onto the transport ship. The warships in the anchorage were moving more frequently, more than a dozen destroyers were swimming in the direction of the open sea, and the huge battleships and aircraft carriers began to anchor one after another.

"The news that Jiang Zhongmin just sent is that the landing fleet is returning one after another, and those seaplane activity bases on the island of Madagascar have also been dismantled, and the first batch of seaplanes will be transferred back tonight." Zheng Guanhua told Tan Renhao the news sent by Jiang Zhongmin. "In addition, as of now, there are about 800 residents who are ready to move to Colombo, and the Marines are arranging for the relocation of these people. I'll probably be able to finish all the preparations tomorrow afternoon. ”

"Is there any news from Task Force 3?" Tan Renhao looked in the direction of Moroni, the sun had already risen overhead, and on the beach in the distance, the Marine officers and soldiers were transferring the supplies in the barracks to the landing craft and dinghy, and the beach seemed very busy.

"Wait for the new general to let the two destroyers that were damaged in the storm release dozens of tons of heavy oil, according to the plan. We should send out the telegram in the evening. ”

"Go according to the plan." Tan Renhao glanced at Zheng Guanhua, "Is our warship and the radio station on the ground in place?" ”

"Deploying. I'll go to the shore later. ”

"Take care of your own safety and bring a few more Marine officers over. Let them all have their weapons ready. Tan Renhao patted Zheng Guanhua on the shoulder, "Xiao Zheng, if you can successfully eradicate the enemy spy personnel this time, your credit is the greatest, and I will record this matter in the fleet's combat log." ”

"Talk about the general. It's all something I'm supposed to do. ”

"Okay, I won't delay your time, deploy as soon as possible, find the enemy spy as soon as possible, then we can defeat the enemy fleet as soon as possible!"

Less than an hour after Zheng Guanhua left the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier and went to the secret detection radio station set up on the island, two destroyers damaged in the storm in the Third Task Force had a serious leakage, and dozens of tons of heavy oil oil leaked out of the destroyers and floated on the sea. Then. The two destroyers, which were undergoing emergency repairs, immediately left the anchorage, and a fire broke out on the battleship.

Seeing the two destroyers on fire in the distance, Tan Renhao smiled bitterly. Chang Zhixin is still so serious about doing things, this drama is a little too much, this is a precious asset of the Imperial Navy, I'm afraid these two destroyers will not be able to participate in the later combat operations. It will definitely take a month or two to repair when I go back.

"General, there's a telegram from Task Force 3."

Tan Renhao took the telegram, and the content of the telegram was that the place had been agreed on a long time ago, and Chang recommended a new request to end the combat operation and let the fleet return to Colombo. And this is also the signal of the beginning of the action, Tan Renhao only watched it once, and then laughed.

"Call back Task Force 3, the fleet will set sail tomorrow and return to Colombo."

"Back to Colombo?" The communications staff officer glanced at Tan Renhao in surprise.

"Yes, the weather conditions are not suitable for the fleet to fight, and many warships have been damaged, I have discussed with the new generals who are always recommending them, return to Colombo first, and then the fleet will go south to Cape Town after the weather begins to improve at the end of the month." Tan Renhao told the lie that he had made up a long time ago. He was not suspicious of the communications staff officer, but there was no need for more people to know that this was a trap they used against enemy spies.

The communications officer did not ask any more questions, and immediately went to send the telegram.

That night, the Moroni harbor was unusually busy, and after Tan Renhao gave the order for the fleet to return to Colombo, dozens of warships in the two task forces, as well as the supply fleet and landing fleet commanded by Jiang Zhongmin, also began to prepare for sailing. In the middle of the night, the first seaplanes originally deployed in the northern part of Madagascar returned to Moroni, and after refueling, they set off again, and they were to return to Colombo after refueling on the way, rather than operating with the fleet. In the middle of the night, the landing ships that had been going to establish a base for seaplane operations on the island of Madagascar also returned to Moroni and began to receive Moroni's marines and civilians who would accompany the Imperial fleet to Colombo.

The "retreat" was carried out in an orderly manner, and everyone except for the more than 200 officers of the Navy and Marine Corps who participated in the counterintelligence operation believed that the fleet would withdraw to Colombo, and that Moroni would be abandoned, and even the barracks in Moroni would be demolished. At that time, many officers in the fleet did not know the specific situation, and there were still many people, especially the officers of the fleet air force, who were in a mood, and a group of officers led by An Shile originally wanted to ask Zheng Guanhua about the specific situation, but they did not find Zheng Guanhua, so they could only come directly to Tan Renhao.

"This is a joint decision between me and Chang Jianxin and General Jiang Zhongmin." Tan Renhao still did not tell them the real situation, "The weather situation will not improve until the end of March, and it is very likely that there will be good weather suitable for aircraft carrier operations until mid-April." Therefore, we withdrew to Colombo for the time being, waited until the weather improved, and then headed south to Cape Town. ”

"But there's no need to give up Moroni!" An Shile was very puzzled, if he was in front of Zheng Guanhua, he would definitely be noisy, but in front of Tan Renhao, he would be much more honest.

"If the storm moves north, Moroni will also be affected. And after the fleet retreated, this side could not be held at all. Tan Renhao sighed. You've seen the two destroyers on the ground during the day, and most of the ships are in very bad condition right now, except for Colombo where there is infrastructure to repair the ships. Take advantage of this opportunity. We can also get the ship serviced until the weather is good. The fleet goes south, and then the victory over the enemy is even more certain. ”

"But ......"

"Colonel, if you have any questions, let's come back to Colombo and ask." Tan Renhao stood up, "The training work in the past few days has been temporarily canceled. The Chief of Staff will arrange a reconnaissance mission for you. ”

"So what is the Chief of Staff doing now?"

Tan Renhao glared at An Shile, who had talked a little too much, and then left the aviation operations center.

The few officers who had the courage to go to the commander of the fleet were also very puzzled, and it was clear that there were many things that he did not know.

The next day, on the afternoon of the 7th, Task Force 3 left its anchorage outside Moroni just before dusk, and the convoy and landing fleet were also at anchor. The last departure point was Task Force 1. By eight o'clock in the evening, all the warships had left their anchorage outside Moroni and quickly disappeared into the night.

Tan Renhao could only wait patiently for news, and the officers who remained on the island of Grand Comoro were disguised as civilians. Follow their plan. When the fleet was preparing to retreat, Zheng Guanhua and these officers were responsible for setting up a detection station on the island. At that time, the attention of enemy spies must have been focused on the fleet. So Zheng Guanhua's actions are very secretive. And the fleet will go into radio silence after departure, and it is not necessary that it will not be able to send a signal. Zheng Guanhua and they would not send a signal to avoid being intercepted by enemy spies, so Tan Renhao didn't know what was happening on the island at all now. He could only wait patiently.

"General, the cruiser has left the formation and is maneuvering to the predetermined position, and will be deployed in place in about two hours." The communications staff officer was on his way back before the fleet departed, and he was also a participant in the operation.

"Go according to the plan." Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, "The fleet is preparing to return to Moroni tomorrow, and there is news in the evening, so come and inform me immediately." ”

The communications staff officer nodded, and then watched Tan Renhao leave the command cabin. The operation is proceeding according to plan, and from the previous estimates, the enemy spies on the island should have sent the first telegram at this time, although the warships responsible for monitoring the ground have not yet been deployed in place, but the three radio stations located on the island should have received the signal and judged the approximate location, Zheng Guanhua will be responsible for deploying the marines participating in the operation to the vicinity of the signal. Then, the 1st Task Force will return to Moroni tomorrow afternoon, so that the enemy spy personnel will send a second telegram tomorrow afternoon, or tomorrow night, and the use of nine warships and three radio stations on the island will be enough to measure a relatively accurate position, and the officers and men of the Marine Corps who are deployed in place will also immediately launch an arrest operation to eradicate the enemy spy network in one fell swoop!

After reaching about 50 nautical miles northeast of Gran Comores, the fleet did not continue to sail northeast, but circled the nearby sea. The 3rd Task Force maneuvered to the south of the 1st Task Force and began patrolling on standby. The supply fleet and landing fleet commanded by Jiang Zhongmin were to the north of the First Task Force, and they were also put on standby. Now, they all have to wait patiently, Zheng Guanhua will not send a message until the enemy spy is caught, so no news is the best news now.

When the sky lit up again, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin. Nothing happened during the night, although some officers and soldiers already felt that something was wrong, and there were already people below who were talking in private, but Tan Renhao didn't care so much, there were still more than ten hours, as long as the operation in these ten hours was successful, then the fleet would have no worries.

At this time, Zheng Guanhua, who was lurking on the island, had already deployed the marines in place. The first step of the plan has been successful. On the night the fleet left Moroni, an airwave signal appeared on the island, which lasted only about three minutes before disappearing.

In these three minutes, Zheng Guanhua has calculated the approximate location of the radio signal.

The telegraph was sent from the city of Moroni, because only three radio stations were receiving the signal, and all three were relatively close to the place where the radio waves were emitted, and the distance between them was not very large, so the calculated position was not accurate. That night, Zheng Guanhua let the Marines disguised as locals enter the city and secretly deployed them near the location of the radio signal. Now, he had to wait patiently, and when Task Force 1 returned to Moroni, he would definitely have the enemy spy send another telegram, and when the time came, the deployed marines would be ready to act.

At half past three o'clock in the afternoon of the 8th, the first batch of cruisers and three destroyers, disguised as wounded, arrived at the anchorage outside Moroni. The four battleships were cleverly camouflaged, and from a distance, it looked as if they had been hit by a torpedo, and the battleships had sunk a lot, and they were still emitting smoke.

In order to achieve the camouflage effect, these four battleships were injected with hundreds of tons, even thousands of tons of seawater, and some flammable materials were also ignited on the battleship, giving people the appearance of having just been hit. Then the other warships of Task Force 1 arrived, and the destroyers were all patrolling in the direction of the open sea, dropping a few depth charges and a few more guns from time to time, creating a tense atmosphere.

Perhaps, this kind of method is not biased against real admirals or officers, but Tan Renhao is still very sure, the British and French spy personnel are certainly not soldiers, and they will not know much about the situation after the warship is damaged. And he wanted to convince the hidden spies that the first task force had been attacked by enemy submarines on the way back, and that the battleships had been damaged, and that the fleet could not return to Colombo immediately, so it could only temporarily return to Moroni and wait for rescue. And this is definitely important information, and enemy spies will not delay this important information!

The so-called acting was in place, and dozens of "wounded" on the four warships were sent to the beach, and more than a dozen medical officers went to the beach, and tents were set up to make a temporary field hospital. In addition, dozens of bales of plasma were wasted and dozens of military uniforms were torn. After this busyness, even the residents of Moroni found that the fleet was in trouble, and the casualties were not small!

Looking at the dozens of "actors" on the beach, Tan Renhao suddenly laughed, in order to deal with a few enemy spies, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the fleet were busy for several days!