The weather in the Indian Ocean has not improved, and the storm has not left, but has become more raging. Starting the next day, the fleet sent several reconnaissance planes each day to collect meteorological information, and the weather forecasting officers in the fleet submitted three reports a day to make predictions about weather changes for the next three days. And these reports are not exactly the same, and there are even many contradictions in addition to constant revisions.

The harsh climate has caused many more problems than you think, and it is also much more serious. Tan Renhao basically didn't have much hope for the weather forecast, not to mention that at that time, even fifty years later, there was no way to accurately predict the weather changes in the next three days. Weather forecasting itself is gambling, otherwise the weather forecasting officer would not have revised the weather forecast most times a day.

"Judging from the current situation, the weather will still not improve in the next three days." Zheng Guanhua also looked anxious, "This is the latest cloud and sea state map, our range of activities is limited to the waters near Tromland Island, if we continue to go south, I am afraid that the aircraft carrier will not be able to let the plane take off." ”

Tan Renhao listened as he marked several ranges on the chart. The weather was beyond his grasp and could not be changed, which gave him even more headaches. Now the problem is getting worse, if the weather is too bad for Task Force 1 to fight south, then he will have to stop here and wait until the weather improves before heading south.

When several ranges were marked, Tan Renhao's thinking became much clearer. If Task Force 1 could only be in the vicinity of Tromland, then at most carrier-based bombers would fly to the waters of the Masklin Islands, that is. At most, Task Force 3 will operate in this area. What if the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet was south of the Mascrean Islands, or south of the island of Madagascar? Let Task Force 3 go south? This is obviously impossible. If the 3rd Task Force escaped from the cover of the 1st Task Force, it would not have to worry about being hit by British aircraft carriers. Faced with twice as many enemy battleships and battlecruisers as its own, Task Force 3 had no chance of victory.

What to do? Drag it out? Dragging it down is only good for the enemy. If there had been a contradiction between Britain and France before, a delay of a few days would in fact give the British a precious opportunity to solve the problem.

Similarly, if Task Force 1 and Task Force 3 were confined to the waters east of the island of Madagascar. Then the British and French fleets could choose other routes, such as going north from the Mozambique Channel, or passing through the middle of the Indian Ocean, and then they could appear in either direction of the fleet, and the situation would be complicated.

At this time, the weather forecasting officer walked in and handed Zheng Guanhua the latest weather forecast. After Zheng Guanhua read it, he did not rush to hand it over to the commander. Tan Renhao was still looking at the chart and pondering.

When Tan Renhao had just left the Military Academy and reported to the Fifth Fleet, he must have been an idealist. They have hope for everything, and they think they can do it, and they are full of illusions. Also full of **. But now, Tan Renhao is definitely a realist, although there is a little bit of ideal color in it, but he no longer has any blind illusions. War is a harsh reality. Years of training have changed him a lot. Similarly, in the bloody battlefield and in the fight with the enemy, Tan Renhao also grew into an excellent fleet commander. And as a good commander of the local fleet, when commanding the fleet to fight, he has to take into account all the factors that can have an impact, and no one can ignore the weather factors.

"Talking about the general, the new weather forecast."

Tan Renhao took the report handed to him by Zheng Guanhua, and after taking a look, he shook his head with a wry smile. "Looks like we're going to have to slow down."

"Need to change the route?"

"Not for now, the next time you contact Task Force 3, let them act according to the backup plan." Tan Renhao sat down, "Also, did you receive any news from Jiang Zhongmin?" ”

"I haven't received it today, so they're probably dealing with Moroni's side." Zheng Guanhua hesitated for a moment, "Perhaps, General Jiang Zhongmin will send a telegram soon." ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "I'm going down there and there's news, send someone to call me."

In the past few days, whenever Tan Renhao has time, he will go around the various departments on the battleship to learn about the situation of the officers and men, and he has even inspected several other battleships. Tan Renhao was not worried about the situation of the officers and men of the fleet, but felt that he should do so. Before, this kind of work was in charge of Hao Dongjue, but now that Zheng Guanhua has been replaced, judging from Tan Renhao's observation during this time, Zheng Guanhua is indeed very good at staff work, but he lacks Hao Dongjue's affinity, and the relationship with grassroots officers and soldiers is not very good.

This is a good thing and a bad thing, but the problem is that the commander can't be out of touch with the officers and soldiers under him, so Tan Renhao can only do these things by himself.

"General!"

"General!"

Along the way, people kept saluting Tan Renhao, and Tan Renhao also kept returning the salute, and from time to time he stopped to chat with the officers and men, asking about the life on the battleship, the situation in the department, and so on. Most of the officers and men will not be surprised that at least 60 percent of the officers and men of the 1st Task Force have served for more than three years, and many of them served here when the 1st Task Force was formed. These veterans are very respectful, adore their commanders, and at the same time know their commanders very well.

It took more than an hour to talk about Renhao after going around the battleship, and in this more than an hour, he also relaxed, and at the same time, his brain was much more flexible. This is probably the reason why he has often visited various departments of the battleship these days. Changing the environment and thinking differently are all good ways to improve your thinking skills. When he returned to the command cabin, Zheng Guanhua was still busy, and he was calling an officer to find Tan Renhao.

"The telegram I just received, from General Jiang Zhongmin." Zheng Guanhua walked over directly and gave the telegram to Tan Renhao. "Moroni's situation has stabilized, and General Jiang Zhongmin is restoring order over there. Other than that. According to the plan, General Jiang Zhongmin is organizing the Marine Corps to prepare for the establishment of a seaplane activity base on the western coast of the island of Madagascar. A fleet of seaplanes has already arrived in Moroni. In just a few days, our seaplanes will be able to carry out reconnaissance patrols in the Mozambique Channel. ”

"What's the weather like over there?"

"Much better than on our side. It is more suitable for large patrol aircraft activities. ”

Because of the island of Madagascar, the Strait of Mozambique is much less stormy. Otherwise, Jiang Zhongmin would not have immediately set up a seaplane activity base and used water planes to monitor the situation in the strait.

Tan Renhao carefully read the telegram and said, "That's it." We have to know the situation in the Mozambique Channel at all times, and if we don't go south, maybe the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet will go north through the channel. ”

"If the enemy had known that we had seaplanes deployed here, they would not have taken this route."

"It doesn't matter, at least, we can narrow down our search and not have to worry about the safety of the right." Tan Renhao put down the telegram, "By the way, when will the submarines that came to the Indian Ocean arrive?" ”

"It was confirmed that it would arrive at the end of February, and it has probably arrived at the port of Colombo by now. But if it is to be deployed to our side, it will take at least ten days. ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, in a bad weather environment. Submarines are the best reconnaissance tool, and this has been proven many times in the Pacific Ocean. Often, reconnaissance aircraft are unable to detect the fleet on the surface of the sea in bad weather. Especially when the storm is raging, and the clouds are too dense and the lowest altitude of the clouds is too low, reconnaissance aircraft are of little use. On the contrary, in bad weather conditions, submarines are difficult to detect by surface anti-submarine warships, but the submarines themselves are relatively less affected by the weather. Therefore, in the Pacific theater, the Imperial Navy will let submarines carry out reconnaissance missions at this time to make up for the lack of intelligence.

By the time Tan had rushed to the Lion City, the Navy had already decided to send a submarine group of twenty-four submarines to the Indian Ocean, and assigned it directly to the South Atlantic Theater Command (by this time the South Atlantic Theater Command had been transferred to Colombo). The problem was that the submarine group did not depart from the port of Hainan Island until Tan Renhao led the First Task Force to Colombo, and stopped in the Lion City for a few days along the way before heading for Colombo. The submarines themselves are slower than the battleships, so these submarines are deployed in place much later.

"General, there's news from Task Force 3 that they'll turn around in the evening."

Tan Renhao glanced at the communications staff officer. "We're also going to turn as planned, and besides, we don't need to contact Task Force 3 at night if it's not necessary. Early tomorrow morning, the fleet will be put into a state of readiness. ”

The communications staff officer immediately wrote down these orders, and then went to several other important staff officers, who did not give this order to him alone.

Tan Renhao came to the chart table, and at the same time called Zheng Guanhua over. "Tomorrow the fleet will reach the waters northeast of Korromland, and Task Force 3 will reach the waters south of Cosmoland early tomorrow morning. That is, from tomorrow we will have the possibility of coming into contact with the enemy fleet. According to the backup scenario, we will be on standby here, while Task Force 3 will continue south.

You have to decide on a reconnaissance plan, and in addition, you have to keep a close eye on the weather, the fleet cannot enter the storm zone, and you must ensure that you can keep the bombers ready to take off at any time. In addition, it is necessary to keep a close eye on the movements of Task Force 3, to maintain contact with Task Force 3, and to notify Task Force 3 immediately if any danger is detected. ”

"I have already drawn up a reconnaissance plan, and early tomorrow morning, we can arrange for the first batch of reconnaissance planes to leave."

"It is enough to leave one batch of bombers." Tan Renhao smashed his fist on the chart table, "As long as we are given a chance, then the British will not be able to eat and walk around." We should try to arrange our reconnaissance operations as carefully as possible, especially within 200 nautical miles of us, and we must not make any mistakes. ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded immediately, judging from the information obtained now, the bombers carried by the three British aircraft carriers flew so far at most. Although the aircraft carriers on these three British aircraft carriers together may not be as good as those on a "Lake" class aircraft carrier, they are a threat after all, and the only way the enemy can threaten the 1st Task Force outside the range of artillery.

Tan Renhao's eyes fell on the chart, and while he was thinking, he circled several key areas on the chart, and at the same time discussed some details of reconnaissance work with Zheng Guanhua. In the past, Hao Dongjue was directly responsible for the reconnaissance work of the fleet, and Tan Renhao only needed to give orders, and did not participate in specific planning and deployment at all. Now, Tan Renhao is not doubting Zheng Guanhua's ability, but feels that he should also adjust his work methods and adapt to the new chief of staff, after all, Zheng Guanhua is not Hao Dongjue, and it is impossible to completely replace Hao Dongjue.

It took more than an hour for Tan Renhao and Zheng Guanhua to discuss the details of the reconnaissance work, and then Tan Renhao asked Zheng Guanhua to make specific arrangements. And he also went to the officers' cafeteria for dinner. As always, Tan Renhao was in charge of being on duty during the day, while Zheng Guanhua was in charge of being on duty at night, and both of them were on duty from afternoon to evening.

After dinner, Tan Renhao tried not to let himself think about the battle of the fleet, and in the case of limited intelligence and little change in the situation, it was useless to think more.

This is probably a little change in Renhao, if in the past, he would definitely have trouble sleeping at this time.

He didn't notice these changes in Tan Renhao's body, but the people around him noticed it. Especially after defeating the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and sending Spruance back to Pearl Harbor, Tan Renhao has undergone a lot of changes. These changes are detailed, for example, he rarely shows an impatient side, and he is more measured when commanding fleets, and he is never prone to risk-taking. In addition, he began to come into contact with the rank and file of the fleet and would take his time to deal with his own affairs. These changes are all based on one foundation, faith. Before the victory over Spruance, Tan Renhao had always had a psychological shadow, and now, he has defeated his most powerful enemy, and at the same time, he has also overcome his own psychological shadow.