As more and more information arrives, the situation on the battlefield becomes more and more obvious. Tan Renhao had to admire the efficiency of the intelligence agencies in the past few days.

On 6 July, a transport plane returning from the Pacific Theater delivered the most important piece of information, and a submarine operating in the waters east of the Phoenix Islands took pictures of the US fleet. The submarine arrived at Tarawa Island on the 5th, and the photos were immediately developed, and then sent back to Zhoushan as fast as possible.

Looking at the dozen or so photos that were a little blurry, Tan Renhao felt that the submarine captain must not have used a camera before, and he didn't even adjust the focal length. There are also annotations on the back of the photo, which were added by intelligence agents after analyzing the photo.

The installation of cameras on submarines, which was carried out only this year, has not had a single submarine on it at all before. Later, in order to solve the problem that submarine reconnaissance intelligence could not be confirmed, the technical staff of the Navy used the technology of aviation camera guns to add a set of photographic equipment to the periscope of the submarine, so that the submarine could use the periscope to take pictures. However, not many captains will use this technology in actual combat, because many captains are not familiar with how to use this new equipment, and it is difficult to send the photos taken by the submarine back to the rear quickly, let alone have an intelligence officer on each submarine who can analyze the photos, so it is better to observe them directly with the naked eye and then send back the message by telegram.

Tan Renhao looked at more than a dozen photos twice before putting them down.

"How's it going, it's vague?" Gan Yongxing had already seen these photos before he asked people to call Tan Renhao.

"These aircraft carriers look much the same. There is no difference. Tan Renhao sighed.

"Originally, it was the same class, and it was six aircraft carriers of the same batch, so they were naturally very similar. The same goes for our six new aircraft carriers. Gan Yongxing took out a cigarette, "The ship's number has been recognized." Identified as six 'Essex' aircraft carriers. In addition, the six large cruisers were identified. ”

"There are no small aircraft carriers."

"There are two photos of small aircraft carriers, but they are too far away and the focus is not accurate, so there is no way to identify the port number." Gan Yongxing stood up. "Now, you don't have any doubts, do you?"

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "Chief of Staff, it seems that my previous doubts were superfluous, then I will return to the fleet today."

"I've got a plane for you." Gan Yongxing stood up, "The fleet has now reached the southern part of the Caroline Islands, and it will arrive at Rabaul about the ninth day, and you will go directly to Lae." I will contact Yan Guozhong. ”

"What about the battle plan?" Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, he had roughly considered the combat operation in the past few days, but he had not carefully considered the combat plan.

"Now I only have a rough battle plan here. You take it for reference. Gan Yongxing went to dig out the battle plan, "Let's look at it on the plane." The exact combat operation is up to you, and the U.S. fleet is expected to reach the Coral Sea on the 12th. When the time comes, they will certainly first refuel in the ports of Port Vila and Brisbane, and give the officers and men who have been at sea for more than a month to rest. We've arranged for submarines to monitor both ports and will let you know as soon as we have any new information. You have several days to plan this operation. ”

"Very good, at least a few more days." Tan Renhao took the document, "Then I'll go to the airport now, and I'll contact you when I get to Lae." ”

"By the way, there's something else here." Gan Yongxing flipped out another document, and then walked to Tan Renhao's side, "The latest battle report from Midway Island was sent back together, this is a copy, you can take a look at it on the way." If all goes well, Task Force 2 will be able to reach the Southwest Pacific Theater by 20 days. ”

"Twenty?" Tan Renhao glanced at the chief of staff, and then took the document.

"Yes, if the U.S. military needs three days to replenish and recuperate, then you'd better drag out the decisive battle for five days, so that we have an advantage in strength."

Tan Renhao nodded, and after saying goodbye to Gan Yongxing, he called Du Xing and asked Du Xing to help him pack a few clothes, while he himself rushed directly to the airport. When he arrived at the airport, Tan Renhao found that in the past few days since he returned to Zhoushan, he had only eaten two dinners at home and slept three nights, but now he didn't say goodbye to his family, which made him feel a little guilty.

After Duchenne arrived with his luggage, the plane took off immediately. After the plane was changed to level flight, Tan Renhao asked Duchen to make him a cup of coffee, and then took out the two documents. After hesitating for a while, he first opened the document of the Midway Battle Report, although the battle situation on Midway Island had little to do with him, but he wanted to know how the battle was going on there, in addition, how the Second Task Force was performing, and whether the Second Task Force could arrive in the Southwest Pacific Theater on the 20th.

Three days after the 1st Task Force left the Midway battlefield and the 2nd Task Force replaced the 1st Task Force, after the Navy Command confirmed that the main U.S. fleet had moved south, Han Shaofeng once again had the Marines launch a fierce attack. For the previous three days, Task Force 2 had been operating about 360 nautical miles west of Midway, not supporting the Marines or bombing Midway, but patrolling in combat readiness. As a result, during these three days, the U.S. military reinforced a division of troops to Midway, and also transported a batch of heavy equipment and artillery, and the U.S. forces on the island greatly increased. At the same time, Han Shaofeng also received reinforcements, two infantry regiments, three artillery battalions, two mortar battalions, and a large number of equipment and materials were also delivered to the marines during this period. In other words, both warring sides were sending reinforcements to the island during this period.

On this small island with an area of six square kilometers, the two warring sides have invested nearly 90,000 ground troops before and after, and by 3 August, there were nearly 50,000 combat troops on the island, including about 21,000 American troops and 27,000 Tang Imperial Marines. On average, there are 8,000 people in one square kilometer. Just counting the population density, this is comparable to Tokyo, which had the highest population density before the war! What is this concept? If these people were evenly distributed across the islands, the distance between each person would only be about ten meters!

Midway is no longer an island. Rather, it's a fortress. Two fortresses to be exact, the western part of the island was the fortress of the Don Imperial Marines. The eastern part of the island is a fortress of the U.S. Marine Corps. During the fighting, both sides not only repaired the previous fortifications, but also built a large number of new fortifications, and the Marines even dug an underground fortification outside the western airfield, with the length of the underground tunnel alone exceeding five kilometers. Tens of thousands of tons of ammunition, tens of thousands of tons of fuel, fresh water, levels can be stored here, enough for the officers and men of the Marine Corps on the island to hold out for several months! The "digging" capability of the U.S. military is also not below that of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps, and in the absence of a way to extend the ground above, digging underground fortifications is the best way to defend. According to the data released by the Tang Empire after the war, under the 25 square kilometers of ground controlled by the US military, the underground tunnels of the US army are 12 kilometers long, and there are dozens of underground warehouses. Thousands of caves for people to live in and escape shelling and bombardment, and their excavation work exceeded 200,000 square meters!

War tends to drive people crazy, and every officer and soldier on both sides of the Midway is crazy. At the time of the excavation of underground fortifications on both sides.

There was even a head-on collision, and as a result, the battle began under the ground before it started.

Beginning on 3 August, ground fighting between the warring sides resumed. Han Shaofeng was like a mad beast. Constantly appearing on the front line to direct the Marine Corps offensive. This was the most tragic battle Han Shaofeng had commanded since he entered the war, and he had used up more than 6,000 body bags and sent more than 7,000 wounded, but half of Midway Island was still under the control of the U.S. military. Perhaps, the losses of the U.S. army are even heavier (it is true, the U.S. military has killed 12,000 officers and soldiers here, and more than 15,000 people have been wounded and captured), but Han Shaofeng is very angry, he has never encountered such a difficult island, and he never thought that those U.S. troops who will surrender after running out of ammunition will be so stubbornly resisting the attack of the Marines, and they will fight one after another, and few U.S. officers and soldiers will take the initiative to surrender, and will continue to use daggers after running out of bullets, Fight with bayonets, instead of raising your rifle and get out of the trenches!

Task Force 2 also maneuvered to about 220 nautical miles from Midway that day, and sent bombers to support the Marine attack in the morning. Lei Shaoqing did not use all his strength, because intelligence showed that at least three small aircraft carriers, and possibly even six small aircraft carriers of the US military, were still operating in the Central Pacific, while the second task force only had two fleet aircraft carriers, and Lei Shaoqing had to leave more bombers on the flight deck and be extremely vigilant against the US fleet that might appear at any time. For this reason, Lei Shaoqing did not even arrange for the artillery formation to support the Marine Corps, but only asked the artillery formation to escort the ships that provided supplies for the Marine Corps to Midway Island, and fired a few artillery shots at the US troops on the island before returning to the island.

Seeing this concisely worded, at the same time with climactic ups and downs from time to time, with obvious Liao Hanxiang characteristics, Tan Renhao can fully imagine how fierce the battle on Midway Island was. Both sides are fighting for the Marines, and the officers and men of the Marines on both sides are desperate. Before the war, the Tang Empire and the American Marine Corps were recognized as the two best Marine Corps in the world. There are even many people who are speculating whether the Tang Empire Marines are more powerful, or the American Marines are more powerful. Now, the two sides are fighting a decisive battle under basically equal conditions, and it seems that neither side will stop fighting unless they are superior to each other.

The fierce fighting lasted for five days, and the two small aircraft carriers assigned to Task Force 2 arrived in the sea area where Task Force 2 was located under the cover of destroyers. Lei Shaoqing immediately organized the two small aircraft carriers together into a third aircraft carrier battle group, and sent the previous artillery bombardment battleships to carry out escort missions. It was also on this day that Task Force 2 stepped up its support for the Marine Corps, doubling the number of bomber sorties per day to 144, and each of the four aircraft carriers sent a squadron of bombers to carry out ground bombing missions every day.

The battle continued, and this battle report was written by Liao Hanxiang on the night of the fifth day. Marines are advancing behind the U.S. lines at a rate of less than 100 meters per day. Liao Hanxiang had done his best to provide support to Han Shaofeng, and he had already sent the last reserve force to start sending garrisons from other islands on the defensive line to Midway to help in the battle. Task Force 2 is also trying to provide support to the Marine Corps.

It was from this battle report that Gan Yongxing calculated from the average daily advance speed of the Marine Corps that the Marine Corps would probably be able to capture Midway Island around the 12th, and then the Second Task Force would immediately move to the Southwest Pacific Theater, and if it advanced at the fastest cruising speed, it would be able to reach the northern waters of the Solomon Islands around the 20th, and enter the Coral Sea on the 22nd at the latest.

Tan Renhao also calculated, in other words, he had to hold out until the 22nd, not the 20th, before it was possible to get reinforcements from the Second Task Force, and the US army was very likely to complete the offensive preparations on the 15th, and he would have to drag on for at least seven days, seven days of death.

"General, the coffee is already cold, I'll go change it for you!"

"No, you go and rest, you still have a lot to do when you get to Lae!" Tan Renhao picked up the coffee cup, and then smiled at Du Xing.

The plane continued to fly, and in order to keep the pilots energized enough during long flights, there were three pilots on the plane instead of two, so that the three people could take turns to rest.

After drinking the cup of cold coffee, Tan Renhao sat in a daze, or rather, thought for a while, and then he opened the first document that Gan Yongxing gave him, the general framework of a battle plan formulated by the Navy Command before that.

After the reform of the Navy's command system, the Navy Command is no longer responsible for the planning of campaign-level operational plans, and at the same time has a new task, that is, to draw up a general framework for some campaign-level operational plans in light of the specific conditions of each theater and in light of changes in the battle situation and different situations that may arise. In this way, when a similar campaign occurs, these framework plans can be immediately provided to the commander who implements the campaign, which reduces a lot of trouble for the campaign commander, and at the same time allows the campaign commander to come up with a specific battle plan as quickly as possible.

In the past few days in Zhoushan, Tan Renhao has also considered a general battle plan.