Chang Jianxin arrived by seaplane after five o'clock. Zheng Guanhua went to the gangway of the aircraft carrier to greet Chang Jianxin, and told Chang Jianxin the general situation, and then took the commander of the third task force to Tan Renhao's cabin.

"Xiao Zheng, let's have dinner together in the evening, if there is any emergency, come and tell me immediately." After Tan Renhao sent Zheng Guanhua away, he invited Chang Jianxin in, and then closed the door.

"Zheng Guanhua told you the general situation, right?"

"He talked to me a little bit and said you think it's a trap set by the enemy." Chang Jiexin sat down, "I've also thought about it, and I think it's suspicious, but I can't be sure." If this is a trap, there are too many loopholes, and the British and French are too poor in acting. ”

"My initial thoughts were the same as yours, I was just skeptical, but I couldn't be sure, but Zheng Guanhua reminded me." Tan Renhao made a cup of tea for Chang Jianxin, "Think about it, if this trap is too perfect, is it even more suspicious?" ”

Chang Jiexin immediately frowned. "You mean it's a deliberate flaw left by the enemy so that we can be deliberately suspicious?"

Tan Renhao nodded, he didn't think about it completely, so he didn't rush to make a judgment.

"It doesn't make sense. If it is really a trap, then it should not make us suspicious, after all, as long as we doubt, then we will not be easily fooled. ”

"If that's exactly what the enemy intended, then it makes sense."

Chang Zhixin shook his head slowly, and then took out a cigarette. "Deliberately design a trap and leave a flaw. How can we make sense to be suspicious and not be easily fooled? ”

"If only that's part of the story. And the real trap is what makes us suspicious and takes the wrong action. That's totally explainable! Tan Renhao looked at Chang Jianxin, "Before you came, I thought about it. According to our plan, if it is determined that this is a trap set by the enemy, then what do we do next? ”

Chang Jianxin pondered. After a while, he said: "If this happens, then we will definitely revise the battle plan and will not rush to Cape Town." ”

"That's what I thought too." Tan Renhao clasped his hands, "Before we continue south, we will definitely figure out the situation first." In this case, we will have to stop halfway first, and in order to reduce the distance of the fleet and make use of Moroni as a support point as much as possible, the fleet will definitely operate in the waters near the island of Madagascar. And preferably in the southern part of the Mozambique Channel, and in the waters south of the island of Madagascar, isn't it? ”

Chang Jianxin nodded slightly. This is all normal, and the method is deployed cautiously. The fleet operates in this sea area, attacking and retreating. It is only natural to make a decision on the next course of action after determining the specific situation on the Cape Town side. Moreover, this also reflects a major feature of this combat operation, that is, the 1st Task Force and the 3rd Task Force cannot take risks, the cost of taking risks is too high, and the Imperial Navy cannot afford any of them.

As a result, Task Force 1 and Task Force 3 had to adopt conservative tactics.

"Chang, did you notice a detail?"

"Details?" Chang Jianxin was shocked, "What details?" ”

"You also received Jiang Zhongmin's telegram, right?"

Chang Jianxin nodded, and the two telegrams sent by Jiang Zhongmin were sent to the two task forces at the same time.

"One of the most curious details of this is the timing of the withdrawal of the British and French troops from Moroni." Tan Renhao paused slightly, so that Chang Jianxin could follow his train of thought. "If the information provided by Jiang Zhongmin is correct, then the British and French troops left Moronigang three days ago, that is, on the 19th. At this time, the supply fleet and landing fleet led by Jiang Zhongmin had already set off, and we were also at the departure point on the 18th. If the Anglo-French Joint Expeditionary Force had received information that we had left the port of Colombo, what would have been done? ”

Chang Jianxin glanced at Tan Renhao in surprise. "You mean, they deliberately withdrew after knowing that we were going to attack Moroni?"

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Although the scale of the landing fleet led by Jiang Zhongmin is not large, it is very eye-catching, and there are so many supply ships, auxiliary ships, these ships leave the port of Colombo together, what they are going to do, idiots can guess. Moreover, our two task forces then left the port of Colombo, and anyone could tell that we would first seize a stronghold as a support point for the fleet to the south, and the fleet would be tasked with capturing Cape Town. In other words, our combat operations have actually been completely exposed. ”

"If that's the case, then we'll have to admire the intelligence systems of the British and the French."

"Don't forget that during the last war, the British and French occupied Colombo and controlled it for a while, so they must have established their own spy network. Colombo has always been the most important military port of the Imperial Navy in the Indian Ocean, and it is the area that enemy spies take care of, and I would not believe it if Colombo did not have enemy spies. ”

Chang Jianxin smiled bitterly. "So, you mean that the British, knowing our whereabouts, deliberately set this trap and waited for us to drill it?"

"Yes, this possibility cannot be ruled out." Tan Renhao flipped out a nautical chart, "The time of the fleet's departure from port is basically certain, and the fleet's cruising speed is basically certain. The attack on Moroni is enough to prove that we have adopted a more conservative offensive tactics, so our course can actually be roughly determined. Well, it's quite possible that the enemy will deduce our approximate location, isn't it? ”

Chang Zhixin threw away the cigarette butt, and then immediately took out the next cigarette.

"Now the fleet has reached the northeast of the island of Madagascar, and it is only more than 500 nautical miles from Moroni." Tan Renhao marked the approximate location of the fleet on the chart, and then circled a sea area. "From the enemy's point of view, it's easy to tell.

We will certainly not take the route through the Mozambique Channel, but we will go south from the east of the island of Madagascar, and that way. Only then will there be enough sea area for the activities of the two fleets, especially the first task force. ”

When I saw Tan Renhao highlight the route of the fleet on the chart. Chang Jianxin also realized that Tan Renhao's speculation was reasonable.

"Let's take a look at the weather now." Tan Renhao turned out a weather forecast, "This is a rough forecast for the weather in the next three days, the storm in the southern Indian Ocean has not abated, and the impact has been extended to the southern tip of the island of Madagascar." Even the Masklin Islands are under influence. And the fleet will either bypass the Masklin Islands. Either it passes between the Mascrean Islands and the island of Madagascar. Moreover, by the time it reaches the waters near the Maskelin Islands, the combat effectiveness of Task Force 1 will definitely be affected. If the weather gets worse, then Task Force 1 won't even be able to get bombers out of the way! ”

Chang Jianxin gritted his teeth. "At that point, only Task Force 3 will be left to fight.

Moreover, in harsh climatic conditions, our performance superiority in fire range and radar will not be brought into play, and the artillery battle will definitely be carried out at close range, so that the number of main guns and battleships will be the decisive factor. And that's where we suffer the most. ”

"On top of that, it's the densest concentration of islands in the southeastern Indian Ocean." Tan Renhao rummaged through the table for a while and found a larger chart. "The Mascrean Islands are about 350 to 450 nautical miles from Madagascar. In addition, there are more than a dozen other small islands within 500 nautical miles of the vicinity. There are several rivers along the eastern coast of the island of Madagascar. It can be said that this is the most suitable place for ambushes in the entire southeastern Indian Ocean. ”

"Do you suspect that the Anglo-French fleet is ambushing here?"

"It's very likely." Tan Renhao rubbed his temples vigorously a few times. "I haven't asked Zheng Guanhua yet, but according to the current weather conditions. When we reached the waters near Tromland, the seaplanes were out of service, and some of the seaplanes would have to be transferred to Moroni. And when it reached about 200 nautical miles north of the Masklin Islands, even the reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carrier could not be used at full efficiency. To make matters worse, the chances of finding an enemy fleet in the Storm Zone are quite slim. If the weather changes, it will be even worse, and even if the weather doesn't worsen, we won't have many favorable conditions. ”

"Then we can only rely on the radar on the battleship to search the surrounding seas. And the radar detection distance of the battleship will not exceed 25 nautical miles, if the British battleship has a device to detect the radar signal, then the signal from our radar can be detected hundreds of nautical miles away, roughly determining our direction! Chang Jianxin sighed, "It's not in a dark room, we are looking for a mouse with a flashlight, and before our flashlight shines on the mouse, the mouse will definitely see us first!" ”

"Here's the problem, and the U.S. Navy certainly has a device for detecting radar signals, so we can't rule out that the British Navy has a similar device. In addition, the British Navy was the first to install radar on warships, and in several skirmishes with the German Navy, they had already learned how to use radar in adverse weather conditions. Tan Renhao also sighed, "So, it is very likely that we will not be able to find the British, and we will have to be forced to turn on the radar." Although the detection devices located hundreds of nautical miles away could not receive the radar signal, as long as the British and French fleets were close to us, then the trouble came. ”

I often recommend a new cigarette to light a third cigarette. "I have read the combat report of the Fifth Task Force, at that time they turned on the radar, and thought that the British and French Expeditionary Fleet was still far away in the port of Cape Town, so they did not realize the danger, the French Expeditionary Fleet was able to intercept the Fifth Task Force, in addition to their submarine discovering the Fifth Task Force, it must be that the radar signal of the Fifth Task Force was discovered by the detection device on the French battleship, so the French Fleet was able to maneuver in place in time!"

"Yes, I'm skeptical about that, and if that's the case, then we're in trouble."

"But the problem is that the British have to make sure that the weather doesn't get better, and if the weather improves, then our bombers will keep the British from eating and walking. Judging from the changes in the weather in previous years, it was only a matter of a day or two that the weather improved, and the change was very fast, and at that time, if the British and French fleets were very close to us, they would not even want to escape from the bombers. Chang Jianxin hesitated, "Moreover, there is a very critical point, they must choose a suitable time to leave the port of Cape Town, otherwise, they will not be able to deploy in time!" ”

"Perhaps, some of the information we received was simply false." Tan Renhao had already thought of this question, "Although the intelligence officer has officially sent this information back by our spy personnel, who can guarantee that these spy personnel have been controlled by the British and French expeditionary forces?" If this is false information, then there is no doubt that the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet did not return to Cape Town at all, or had already left Cape Town long ago! ”

Chang Jianxin hesitated slightly, he originally thought that this possibility was not great, after all, the spy personnel were specially trained, and they were all some dead soldiers who regarded the interests of the empire as more important than their own lives. But it is not unreasonable to talk about Renhao's analysis, the empire once deceived the Americans with false intelligence.

In addition, the battleships and battlecruisers in the British and French expeditionary fleets had a speed of about 30 knots, which were fast warships, and there were also three aircraft carriers of the British Navy. If all these factors are taken into account, then the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet does not need to be too close to the island of Madagascar at all. They could have deployed a few small warships with radar signal detection devices in front, and once they were sure that we were nearby, it would not be too late for their main fleet to kill us. Tan Renhao considered it more comprehensively, "What's more troublesome is that we don't have a radio listening station on the nearby islands at all, even if the British fleet uses a radio to contact, it is difficult for us to receive it, and the monitoring radio on the battleship cannot determine its distance, only its approximate location, let alone the type of radio station!" ”

"Looks like we're really going to have to think about it!"

Tan Renhao stood up. "Let's go eat first, and after we've filled our stomachs, we'll think about what to do."

Chang Jiexin also stood up immediately, he had already F4U, just waiting to talk about Renhao's words.