After the relevant tasks were arranged, Tan Renhao asked the fleet commander and chief of staff to go back, and he left Huang Xiaotian alone.

"Let's go down there." Tan Renhao called Huang Xiaotian to leave the shipyard, "Let Hao Dongjue worry about aviation operations, you know his ability, we don't need to worry about it." ”

"General Hao is much better than me in this regard, and I'm afraid he is the only one who can arrange the combat operations of fifteen carrier-based aircraft groups at the same time." Huang Xiaotian can be regarded as half of Hao Dongjue's student, even if his military rank is above Hao Dongjue now, he respects Hao Dongjue very much. "At the beginning, when I was a staff officer in the First Task Force, I admired General Hao's aviation command ability, and to be honest, I don't think it is possible to reach his heights now."

"Xiaotian, you don't have to be so polite. Hao Dongjue can't be idle, as long as he is idle, he will guarantee that he will cause you a lot of trouble. Tan Renhao walked to the flight deck. The difficulty of this combat operation is relatively large, and I have nothing else to worry about, mainly because of the coordination of our two main fleets. ”

Huang Xiaotian nodded slightly, in the past, there would be a big problem for the two task forces to cooperate in combat. For example, in several battles in the Central Pacific, several coordinated operations between Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 went wrong. In the "Battle of the Coral Sea", if it weren't for the agreement between Huang Xiaotian and Tan Renhao in advance, and Huang Xiaotian accurately understood the actions of the First Task Force, I am afraid it would be impossible to win the final major victory. Now, the two of them each commanded three task forces to fight, and with so many fleets operating together, the problems that might arise in terms of command were probably unpredictable for either of them, and the slightest mistake could result in a fiasco, rather than a complete victory.

"At first, you seem to have some doubts about my arrangement." Tan Renhao stopped, "Now we can discuss it in detail. If you have any comments, please feel free to say so. ”

Huang Xiaotian hesitated for a moment and said: "I mainly think that mobile defense will increase the difficulty of coordination between fleets, and it is definitely necessary to use short-wave communication radios, if the US Fifth Fleet is near us at that time, then our communication signals may be intercepted, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

"I've taken that into account as well. Our shortwave communications stations can be intercepted within 350 nautical miles, if the performance of the U.S. military's listening stations improves. It's a little farther away. Tan Renhao touched his chin and thought for a while, "But the problem is that if we still follow the previous tactical arrangement, then there will inevitably be a fleet that will be exposed to the surveillance of the US military for a long time, and this will become the key target of Spruance, if Spruance judges the approximate location of the covering fleet, this will be extremely unfavorable to us." ”

Huang Xiaotian sighed, no one wants to be a victim, I'm afraid this is also an important reason why Tan Renhao made a mobile defense arrangement.

"In addition, high-intensity combat operations that last more than ten days before and after will make the officers and men of the fleet . The pilots were extremely tired. And there will be a loss of the combat capability of aviation of all fleets. Even if we can get a timely replenishment of combat aircraft and pilots from the rear, it is impossible for us to keep the fleet at peak at all times. Tan Renhao leaned on the gun mount next to him, "The most troublesome thing is." Spruance is an opponent who doesn't often play the way we expect, and you should already know that. Often, we think that we have seized the hole in Spruance, but in fact it is 108,000 miles away, and by the time we react, he has already completed the attack, and even walked away, without giving us any chance at all. ”

"I know that, if Spruance was so easy to deal with, it wouldn't be able to stop us now."

"Herein lies the problem. Let's take a closer look. Tan Renhao squatted down. Draw a few dots with your fingers on the flight deck at your feet. "We'll definitely have to operate west of Kauai, and Spruance is most likely to have his fleet appear to our north, and try to stay out of the patrol range of our carrier-based reconnaissance planes and shore-based reconnaissance planes on nearby islands before the battle, and use U.S. shore-based reconnaissance and patrol planes on Kauai to determine our position. When the time comes, as soon as our position is revealed, Spruance will take advantage of the night to get closer, and then quickly dispatch all the bombers in his hands to attack. By the time we reacted, he had already led the Fifth Fleet north. Out of the range of our blows. And the US carrier-based bombers who came to bomb us did not need to return to the Fifth Fleet at all, and could land directly on Kauai Island, or fly to Oahu and land on Oahu, and then return to the Fifth Fleet. That way, we don't even have a chance to fight back! ”

Huang Xiaotian also squatted down, he also considered this possibility, and according to Spruance's tactical arrangement, he did not hesitate to use all means in order to win, it was very possible.

"Therefore, whether we can defeat the US Fifth Fleet and win the victory is not to see whether we can destroy the last bit of capital in Spruance's hands in the counterattack, but whether we can avoid being discovered by the US military and be accurately located. As long as our place isn't captured by Spruance, then Spruance will stay out of the battlefield. ”

"Maybe he'll take the initiative to find our covering fleet to shoot."

"It's the result of old-fashioned tactics, and if our two fleets take turns, will Spruance be able to tell which of us is the covering fleet?"

Huang Xiaotian tightened his eyebrows, pondered for a while, and then nodded slightly. Tan Renhao's arrangement was to confuse the enemy, so that Spruance could not accurately judge who was the main force and who was the cover. And as long as Spruance feels that he is not completely sure that he will defeat his opponent without suffering heavy losses, especially the aircraft carriers in the fleet, then the US Fifth Fleet will not rush into the battle, but will always watch the battle.

"In addition to these headwinds, we have another advantage." Tan Renhao stood up and stretched his waist. "We only need to provide support to Han Shaofeng for five days, and after five days, our combat intensity can be reduced a lot. When the time comes, we will be able to have Task Force 7, Task Force 8, and Task Force 3 continue to support the Marine Corps, while Task Force 1. The second task force and the fourth task force, the three most powerful task forces, united to encircle and suppress the Fifth Fleet. It doesn't matter whether Spruance takes the initiative to sneak attack in the end, I believe that in a decisive battle where both sides take the initiative to find fighters, our three task forces are sure enough to take out the Fifth Fleet! ”

"The premise is that during these five days. We will not be hit by a surprise attack by the US Fifth Fleet. Huang Xiaotian raised his head.

"So, we can't let Spruance catch up on our movements." Tan Renhao laughed, "Spruance definitely judged that it would take us longer to complete the first phase of the landing operation, relatively speaking, five days is indeed a short time. As long as Han Shaofeng can complete the combat operation within five days, then by the time Spruance understands, he has already missed the best opportunity to counterattack, and when the time comes, he will either choose to fight us head-on or abandon Kauai. And neither option will do him any good! ”

Huang Xiaotian also stood up. "It seems. We still have to pin our hopes on the Marines. ”

"Yes, I hope Han Shaofeng is not bragging." Tan Renhao sighed, "To be honest. Han Shaofeng proposed that it would only take five days, which would put a lot of pressure on the Marine Corps. Even if Han Shaofeng is recognized as the number one fierce general in the Marine Corps, even General Yan Guozhong praises him. But the difficulty of Koai is by no means lower than that of the original attack on Kuah Island, and even the combat operation of our landing in Australia. Therefore, it is uncertain whether the Marines will be able to complete the first phase of combat operations and capture a front-line airfield in five days. ”

"That said, we need to be more prepared."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Well, I'll think about it. Now we can only hope that the Marines will be able to achieve an initial victory in five days. ”

Both of them fell silent, in fact, whether it was Tan Renhao or Huang Xiaotian. There was little confidence that the Marines would complete the first phase of the landing operation within five days.

In terms of scale, the landing on Kauai was under the control of the landing on the Australian mainland. But the problem is that the Imperial Navy has been preparing for two years to attack the Australian mainland, and it has also mobilized a large number of support troops, even the army has participated in the battle, and the combat units deployed on the front line are even more numerous. In the early stage of the landing operation, the deception work also achieved significant results, dispersing the defensive forces of the US army. Right now. In the battle against Kauai, the effect of campaign deception is quite limited, after all, Kauai is so large. In addition, the forward bases that can support the Marine Corps are quite limited, and the number of landing fleets and transport fleets mobilized is not very sufficient. What's even more troubling is that the density of U.S. defense forces in the Hawaiian Islands is quite staggering, and Nimitz has concentrated almost every force he can to defend Kauai Island, so the attack on Kauai Island will definitely be extremely difficult.

After sending Huang Xiaotian away, Tan Renhao sent someone to Han Shaofeng's front-line headquarters and asked Han Shaofeng to improve the landing operation plan as soon as possible, and then send it to the fleet. He then ordered the fleet to leave the anchorage at Midway in the second half of the night. Because the six task forces had to be dispatched, the pressure on the supply work was very great, and Han Shaofeng also dispatched a group of logistics troops of the Marine Corps to assist the fleet in completing the supply work.

The first to set off was the Seventh Task Force of the Third Fleet, and Yan Yulong's flagship aircraft carrier "Ngoling Lake" left the anchorage first, and the departure time was half past eleven, and it was still the first half of the night. At half past one o'clock in the morning, the aircraft carrier "Baikal," the flagship of the Eighth Task Force, left its anchorage, and an hour later, the "Taihu," the flagship of the Fourth Task Force, also lifted anchor. By five o'clock in the morning, the last battleship of Task Force 3 had left the anchorage, and the battleships of both main fleets had left the Midway anchorage.

Tan Renhao didn't worry about the departure of the fleet, and Zhu Rongzhe, the chief of staff of the fleet, was in charge. Like every previous chief of staff of the fleet, Zhu Rongzhe's performance in the auxiliary work of the fleet is very good, in fact, this is also one of the most basic abilities of the chief of staff of the fleet, and everything cannot be handled by the commander of the fleet, so what is the use of having a chief of staff of the fleet?

As discussed with Huang Xiaotian, Tan Renhao's biggest concern was whether the Marines would be able to land on Kauai within five days. Before the fleet departed, Han Shaofeng sent several liaison officers of the Marine Corps to the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier. Han Shaofeng has not yet decided on the final tactical arrangements, nor has he given Tan Renhao a positive answer, but said that he will try his best to complete the first phase of combat operations within five days. This was also the only reply Tan Renhao received at that time.

All night, Tan Renhao was thinking about combat operations. Before dawn, he received a telegram from Midway, which was forwarded by Han Shaofeng. On the night of the previous day, that is, on the night of the 28th and the early morning of the 29th, a group of long-range water patrol planes transferred from Majuro Atoll and Kwajalein Atoll searched the waters near Wake Island, but could not find any trace of the US Fifth Fleet. A few hours later, at about 10 a.m., a second telegram sent by Han Shaofeng confirmed that the US bombers had not continued to bomb Wake Island, and that the seaplanes had completed the second round of search missions and still had not found any trace of the US Fifth Fleet.

"It seems that Spruance has left Wake Island." Tan Renhao put down the telegram, "Xiao Zhu, I'll go sleep for a while, you are on duty during the day, and I will replace you before dinner." ”

"No problem, you can go to sleep with peace of mind." Zhu Rongzhe nodded, now he didn't feel nervous in front of Tan Renhao, and after getting along for a while, he also felt that Tan Renhao was actually a commander who was easy to get along with.

Tan Renhao patted Zhu Rongzhe on the shoulder, and was just about to leave the command cabin, when suddenly a terrible alarm sounded, both of them were startled at first, and then judged that this was not a long and short interval of air defense sirens, but a short anti-submarine siren, that is, the anti-submarine warships in the fleet found a approaching submarine!