Yan Guozhong arrived at Port Macquarie on the night of the 25th, and in order to ensure his safety, the front-line troops were not notified in advance, and Yuan Ye received the news two hours before his arrival. Without asking too much, Yuan Ye knew that Yan Guozhong must have ignored the opinions of many staff officers and resolutely went to the front line to inspect, otherwise, Yan Guozhong should be in Port Vila now, instead of appearing in Port Macquarie.

At that time, Gu Xunlei was discussing with his five division commanders about the reorganization of the troops, and basically determined the method of reorganization, and as soon as he assigned the task, the staff officer came in to send the news that Yan Guozhong had arrived at Port Macquarie and asked him to go to the Marine Corps Headquarters immediately.

"Yan Guozhong came to the front line?" Gu Xunlei also couldn't believe his ears, Yan Guozhong was the commander-in-chief of the theater, what did he do when he ran to the front line when he had nothing to do?

"It's just here, General Yuan Ye asks you to come over immediately."

"Okay, help me get my vehicle ready, I'll be out in five minutes." Gu Xunlei had a headache, and after letting the staff officer go out, he said to several division commanders who also looked surprised, "I have already helped you apply for the rank of brigadier general, if this battle is fought beautifully, I believe that it will not be long before you will be the commander of the regular division." The integration must now begin immediately, with the troops mobilized and the chain of command in place by tomorrow evening. I'll go to the Marine Corps headquarters first, and if there's any problem, I'll fix it when I get back. ”

"General, I'm afraid that General Yan Guozhong is not here to inspect the battle situation on the front line this time." Zhang Xiaolin said his thoughts before Gu Xunlei left.

Gu Xunlei hesitated for a moment and said, "I know, if it's just to inspect the battle situation on the front line. Do you need to be personally attended by General Yan Guozhong? Don't think so much, do what you are doing first, and when I meet Yan Guozhong, I will know the purpose of his coming to the front. ”

After hearing the news that Yan Guozhong arrived. Gu Xunlei knew that Yan Guozhong was not here to inspect the battle situation on the front line this time. When reorganizing the troops, Gu Xunlei had already thought that the current situation on the battlefield was not exactly the same as the previous battle plan. For example, in the campaign plan, there was no call for the capture of Armidale, but instead of going all out to capture Skun. Open the passage for southbound. The U.S. forces moved south, and the fleet bombers were not able to completely block the U.S. forces, forcing the first landing force to take down Armidale first and block the U.S. reinforcements. And these changes will affect the next stage of offensive operations, and Yan Guozhong's rush to the frontline battlefield at this time must be aimed at the actual situation on the battlefield. Appropriate adjustments will be made to the next phase of combat operations.

On the way to the Marine Corps Headquarters, Gu Xunlei was thinking about this problem. The basic purpose of the campaign will certainly not change. The port of Macquarie, as well as the temporary docks near Tari, could not handle the throughput needs of the convoy and landing fleet. In order to ensure victory in the later battles, the capture of Sydney Harbour will be a top priority. But at the moment, if you want to attack Sydney Harbour, you will have to solve two problems first.

One is the threat of U.S. forces in the north. Brisbane's U.S. forces were almost all sorted, and MacArthur left only three U.S. infantry divisions to guard Brisbane. Other U.S. troops were sent out. Among them, the American troops who were routed at Armidale and retreated to Gleninnis were about 120,000. In addition, there are about 150,000 American troops who have left Brisbane and arrived at Tentfield. Both of these forces are extremely threatening, and it is impossible for Gu Xunlei's two infantry divisions deployed in Armidale to hold back so many American troops. Therefore, in order to take Sydney, it is necessary to first solve the threat of these two US forces. There are only two ways, one is to strengthen Armidale's defenses, and the other is to take the initiative to attack and strive to annihilate these two forces of American forces in the shortest possible time!

Second, U.S. forces near Sydney are rapidly mobilizing, and at least five lines of defense have been built along the line from Merisset to Bathurst. Originally deployed in Canberra. Melbourne's roughly 150,000 U.S. and Australian ground troops are also rapidly moving north, reaching Sydney by the end of the month. When the time comes. Sydney's troop strength will increase to around 230,000. Therefore, if you want to take Sydney, you must invest at least 300,000 troops, and you must also concentrate a large number of support forces, which is not a small investment.

Obviously, it is unlikely that Sydney will be conquered in the short term. Now, there is nothing that can be done to stop the build-up of US troops from the south towards Sydney. Then the first problem to be solved is to eliminate the American troops in Brisbane, and then turn around and attack Sydney. This is Gu Xunlei's most direct idea, but he can't be sure if Yan Guozhong thinks so, after all, he has to deal with more than 200,000 US troops, let alone more than 200,000 US troops, even if it is more than 200,000 Australian troops with much worse equipment, it is not so easy to be eliminated!

When Gu Xunlei arrived at the Marine Corps Headquarters, Yan Guozhong and Yuan Ye were standing in front of the sand table and discussing something in a low voice, and the two immediately walked over after seeing Gu Xunlei arrive.

"General Gu, I have heard about your battle against Armidale, to be honest, I have to admire the combat ability of the army!"

"General Yan, you are too polite, in fact, we didn't fight well, much worse than expected." Gu Xunlei was telling the truth, he had always been not very satisfied with the current army.

"General Gu, you are too humble, if you all don't fight well, then aren't our marines just hanging out on the battlefield?" Yuan Ye smiled and patted Gu Xunlei on the shoulder, "As soon as General Yan Guozhong arrived, he asked me to invite you over, and General Yan has already sent the first phase of the combat report to the Navy Command, and your performance is in the most conspicuous position." ”

Gu Xunlei glanced at Yan Guozhong gratefully, he knew very well that Yan Guozhong was a very upright Marine Corps general.

"Okay, let's not talk nonsense, we have to wait until we win the battle, and it's too early to talk about any reward." Yan Guozhong called Gu Xunlei to the sand table, "I started to discuss the next round of offensive actions with Yuan Ye. Now, there are circumstances that MacArthur may well abandon the plan to counterattack the landing site, and the US forces are no longer capable of threatening the landing site. Judging by the aerial reconnaissance intelligence we obtained, in these two days. The U.S. military is making a major reshuffle in its defense forces, and the focus of the defense has shifted from Brisbane to Sydney. Although the U.S. military was mobilized much later, and as we had expected, MacArthur could now only mobilize the Australian army on a large scale to strengthen the defense of Sydney. But. To the north of us, there are still close to 300,000 American troops who have not been annihilated, and if this force reaches Sydney, it will be difficult for us to capture Sydney quickly! ”

Gu Xunlei nodded slightly, and it was precisely this that he was worried about.

"We have two options, one is to expand the defensive line, and the other is to be proactive." Yuan Ye walked over. "General Yan Guozhong and I both believe that if the defense line is expanded, our forces will not be able to be distributed at all, and it will inevitably lead to holes in the defense line, giving the US army a chance to break through. Therefore, to block the US military. You can only take the initiative. ”

"Attack Glennness?" Gu Xunlei hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Yuan Ye.

"No, the U.S. military won't stay in Glennis for long." Yan Guozhong picked up the wooden stick and nodded it in a place next to the flag representing Glen Innis on the sand table, "It is very likely that the American troops in Glenn Innis will move westward, leave the strike range of the carrier-based bombers, and reach Mori. Then along the connection Kunabarabran, Gilgandra. Dubble, as well as the Bathurst road route to Sydney. And our carrier-based bombers simply can't fly so far! ”

"What about shore-based bombers?" Gu Xunlei has a bit of a headache, without aviation support, then the battle will be even more difficult.

"The equipment for building a field airfield will not be delivered until tomorrow, and even if we build a field airfield as quickly as possible, we will not be able to deploy shore-based combat aircraft at the landing site until the end of the month. In addition, field airfields are limited in size and can accommodate a limited number of combat aircraft. Yuan Ye sighed, "If you want to get the support of shore-based fighters." It was necessary to take down the American airfields at Skun and Tamworth, and to quickly complete the task of capturing the airfields. ”

"The Marines will begin their general assault on Skun on the night of the 27th. But he doesn't have the power to attack Tamworth. Yan Guozhong looked at Gu Xunlei.

"I'll split my forces to attack Tamworth." Gu Xunlei knew that this was his new mission, "Tamworth can be defeated in three days at the earliest, five days at the latest, and of course logistics must be guaranteed." ”

"There is no problem with this, I will arrange two logistics support regiments to provide you with combat materials!" Yuan Ye immediately made a guarantee.

"Aiming to capture Tamworth by the end of the month, the Marine Corps engineers need time to repair the airfield, and the sooner Tamworth is captured, the sooner we can deploy shore-based combat aircraft, so that we can provide strong aviation support to ground forces."

Gu Xunlei nodded, and silently calculated in his heart, if he counted from the 27th, then he only had three days, and if he wanted to ensure that Tamworth was defeated within three days, then he would have to put all two cavalry divisions into battle.

"After the defeat of Tamworth, only half of the second phase of combat missions was completed. It is quite possible that the US military will begin to move west within these two days. Yan Guozhong opened the topic, "The U.S. troops now stationed in Tentfield will also move westward, reach Gondiwendy, and then go south to Mori." Therefore, we must hold back the southward movement of the main forces of the US army between Mori and Kunabalan. ”

Gu Xunlei sighed secretly, this is the real difficult task.

"After the Marines have taken Skun, they will continue to advance westward, along the lines of Meriva, Kula, and Kunabalan, and strive to reach Kunabarabran within ten days, and establish a new line here." Yuan Ye also picked up a wooden stick and pointed out the advance route of the Marine Corps on the sand table, "If our shore-based aviation can be put into battle at the end of the month, then at this time the US army has not yet reached Kunabarabran, that is, this will be the last line of defense." ”

"The task of the army is to reach Narabrai as soon as possible after taking Tamworth, establish a defensive line here, first block the American troops moving south from the north, cooperate with the Marines to annihilate the American forces in the south, and then decide on the next combat operation according to the situation." Yan Guozhong further explained the combat mission of the army, "Of course, how to fight specifically, this must be determined by the actual situation at that time, what I am talking about here is just a possibility, when the time comes, you communicate more with Yuan Ye, and the Marine Corps and the army will cooperate to fight, and we will be able to win the final victory!" ”

Gu Xunlei nodded. "No problem, I need time to think about it in detail, when will we finalize the detailed battle plan?"

"Tomorrow." Yan Guozhong invited Gu Xunlei to the sofa and sat down, "Tomorrow, General Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue will rush over and work with us to determine the next round of combat operations." The siege of Tamworth had to rely on the aviation support of the fleet. Of course, in future combat operations, the fleet will also try to support them as much as possible. As long as we eliminate the main force of the US troops moving south, then the operation to capture Sydney will be much smoother, and the second phase of the combat operation will directly determine whether we can take Sydney within the two-month period. ”

"Then we'd better arrange the logistics work now." Gu Xunlei took the cigarette handed by Yuan Ye.

"I have already assigned these tasks in the morning, and the supplies are a bit tight now, but I will give priority to ensuring the army's combat materials, and when the fleet arrives tomorrow, we will have sufficient combat materials."

"By the way, General Gu, did you apply for a new batch of equipment from the Army Command?"

Gu Xunlei frowned slightly, and then nodded, he didn't tell Yan Guozhong about applying for equipment.

Yan Guozhong took out a document from his briefcase. "I only received it when I arrived, the Army Command has approved your application, and will provide you with an additional batch of armored equipment. Yesterday, these equipment were already loaded at Kaohsiung Port, and the fleet will drive directly over, and it will arrive about 10 days next month. ”

Gu Xunlei was secretly shocked, this was the best news he had received so far. Because Yan Guozhong and Yuan Ye were present, he only skimmed the contents of the document in general terms, but he immediately noticed a few important details. When he saw clearly the amount of equipment approved to him by the Army Command, he was even more surprised in his heart, could it be that the Army has become a rich man?

"In addition, Marshal Nie Renfeng is also consulting with Marshal Yan Dingyu, and it is very likely that after we capture Sydney, the army will send more troops over." Yan Guozhong also lit a cigarette, "I just heard that the specific matter has not yet been decided, I'm afraid that in a few days, you will receive an official order from the army headquarters." ”

"In that case, it couldn't be better!" Gu Xunlei didn't see the problem as simple.

After the topic was removed, the atmosphere relaxed a lot, at least not as tense as it began.