At half past two in the morning, when the two task forces were about 50 miles apart, Lei Shaoqing took a seaplane to the First Task Force, and after boarding the flagship of the First Task Force, Lei Shaoqing was directly taken to the command cabin.

"Shaoqing, you kid is quite positive!" Tan Renhao was also taken aback when he heard that Lei Shaoqing was coming, he didn't understand very well, Lei Shaoqing left the fleet and ran over at this time, wasn't he afraid of any danger?

"Ren Hao, don't talk about empty words, let's be serious!" Lei Shaoqing didn't mean to joke, "Now I let Lao Chang guard the fleet, and according to the arrangement of the Navy Command, it is now you who will command us to fight." We've been waiting here for two days, and it's up to you how to fight this time, and we're at your command. ”

"Dongjue, go make a cup of tea, and leave your cigarettes behind!"

Hao Dongjue immediately took out a cigarette, and then asked a staff officer to make tea for Lei Shaoqing.

"Let's cut a long story short, here's some of my analysis of the tactical setup that Spruance might have adopted......"

After listening to Tan Renhao's analysis and speculation on the battle situation, Lei Shaoqing also nodded again and again. "Your analysis is very comprehensive, we have received the reconnaissance plan sent by Dongjue, and now Lao Chang and the aviation combat staff are arranging reconnaissance work. According to your deployment, unless Spruance is commanding a diving fleet, they don't even want to sneak in. ”

Tan Renhao smiled faintly, he didn't have any good feelings about this compliment. "Now the question is, how are we going to fight."

Lei Shaoqing threw away the cigarette butt, and then lit another one, it seemed that he hadn't slept for a long time. "You mean, the cooperation of our two fleets?"

Tan Renhao nodded, and then sighed secretly, he had been thinking about it for two hours, but he still hadn't decided on a specific tactical arrangement.

"Ren Hao, let's put it this way. You give us the task directly, and we carry out the task. Lei Shaoqing spit out a cigarette, "How to fight, you decide, we are only responsible for carrying out the task." Of course, I will give my comments and suggestions. ”

"Actually, the biggest problem now is the arrangement of troops, and the relative position of the two fleets." Tan Renhao called Lei Shaoqing and Hao Dongjue to the chart table. "The attack distance is about 220 nautical miles, so that our bombers have an excess combat radius of about 80 kilometers, and it takes an hour and 20 minutes for the aircraft group to reach the airspace over the US landing site.

"You're going to attack first?" Lei Shaoqing frowned slightly, "I'll see." Let's go first. You stay behind, and if Spruance suddenly appears, it's up to you to deal with him. ”

Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue. Hao Dongjue nodded slightly.

"Okay, then it's up to you to bomb the landing ground of the American troops." Tan Renhao nodded, "Organize all the bombers of the two aircraft carriers into two batches, the first batch to bomb the US landing fleet, the second batch to bomb the US artillery formation, if there is any remaining ammunition, bomb the US troops who have landed on Wake Island, focusing on destroying the materials they have hoarded on the beach, as well as the US officers and soldiers gathered together." The interval between the departure of the two batches of bombers was half an hour, so that all pilots should be clear.

Missions can change at any time, and it is necessary to be prepared to strike at the U.S. task force. The number of torpedo bombers can be appropriately reduced, the input of dive bombers can be strengthened, and the surplus torpedo bombers can be used to carry out horizontal bombing missions. “

"Then, the ground batch is dominated by dive bombers, supplemented by torpedo bombers. The second batch consisted mainly of torpedo bombers who carried out horizontal bombing. ”

"That's pretty much it, and", Tan Renhao grabbed Lei Shaoqing's shoulder, "After releasing the bomber group." The 2nd Task Force immediately turned and headed south at full speed. It took about two and a half hours for the two bomber groups to complete the bombing mission, and the fleet should have moved 80 nautical miles south in that time. If the bombing mission is not changed halfway, the bomber group will have enough fuel to return to the skies over the fleet. If they change their mission halfway, let them land in Task Force 1, and at this time, our side will definitely send out bombers, and there will be enough space to receive the returning bombers. ”

"This ......" Lei Shaoqing frowned slightly.

"It's a bit risky, but that's our chance." Tan Renhao laughed, "If the US task force is discovered halfway, then we can concentrate two task force ground bombers and put in three or even four bomber groups in a row, even if the US task force is an iron King Kong, it will be blown to pieces." Of course, if the attack fails, even if the bomber group is returned to Task Force 2, I am afraid that there will be no chance of organizing a new attack. When the time comes, if something happens to us, we will let the bomber group return to Task Force 2 and land, which will actually change our air force. ”

"But will the fleet's aviation service units be able to adapt?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem, originally the First Air Wing and the Second Air Wing are one family, and most of the aviation service personnel are familiar with most of the officers of the two wings. Now the fighters we use are the same, Deng Zichao, Qiu Gengbo, they are all excellent, I have already asked, the problem will not be very big. Hao Dongjue helped Tan Renhao explain this suspicion.

Lei Shaoqing also agreed to this arrangement. "So, where is Task Force 1?"

"About 50 nautical miles behind your butts." Tan Renhao marked the area of activity of the First Task Force on the chart, "To be precise, it is about 50 nautical miles behind your right and about 250 nautical miles from the US landing site. According to my judgment, the appearance of the US task force to the east of the US landing ground is the most threatening, and the main task force of the first task force is to deal with the US task force, and we are in the most suitable position. And after you have released the bombers, you will retreat behind us, covered by Task Force 1, and you will have to hurry up and prepare for the new attack. It's not a big problem, is it? ”

"No problem, as long as the bomber group returns smoothly, then we will be able to dispatch bombers around ten o'clock."

Tan Renhao nodded. "All the focus is on Spruance's whereabouts right now, and his actions dictate our tactical arrangements."

"Renhao, if Spruance isn't in the waters east of the landing field, what should we do?" Lei Shaoqing frowned and looked at Tan Renhao.

"If they weren't in the waters east of the landing site, they wouldn't be much of a threat to us, at least if we took back the bombers. And when he is ready to withdraw from the battlefield, he will not pose much of a threat to us. Hao Dongjue sneered, "When the time comes, the US landing fleet and the artillery formation have all suffered heavy losses and heavy losses, Spruance will have no choice, he must take the initiative to find us for a decisive battle." And we have more options. ”

Tan Renhao pressed his hand and said, "Shaoqing's words make sense, if Spruance is not on the east side of the landing field, and he can threaten us at the same time, then where will he be?" ”

The eyes of the three of them all fell on the chart, and Tan Renhao's words actually gave Hao Dongjue a slap in the face, telling Hao Dongjue not to underestimate the enemy, especially in the face of an opponent like Spruance, not to have the slightest emotion of underestimating the enemy.

After being silent for a while, Lei Shaoqing first said, "If Spruance is not on the east side of the landing field. Then he is most likely to be south of the landing field. ”

"South?" Hao Dongjue hesitated. "The sea south of Wake Island and us is only 200 miles away at most, which is well within the best strike range of our bombers. Unless Spruance is absolutely sure that he will find us first, he will be risking the last bit of capital of the US Navy when he comes here. ”

"But the problem is, if Spruance knows that we will concentrate the forces of the two task forces to go north, and he remains to the east of the landing field, this is actually creating an opportunity for us to attack, and we can roughly judge the location of the other place, and Spruance will not be able to roughly judge our position at all, relatively speaking. He needed to search a wider area of water, and keeping a distance of more than 200 wrecks did Spruance no good, and he didn't have enough reconnaissance planes at his disposal. Lei Shaoqing also had his reasons, "As long as Spruance is sure that we will go north, he will definitely bring the fleet up, and at dawn he will be equipped with reconnaissance planes to search every sea area where we may appear, because the distance is closer." The chances of discovering us will increase a lot, and when the time comes, it will be up to us to see who makes the quickest move! ”

"There is some truth in Shaoqing's words." Tan Renhao sighed, "In addition, Spruance may also place the fleet in our northeast, not due north, or north-west. If Spruance hadn't led his fleet north after the first day of bombardment, he would have had enough time to maneuver the fleet to our northeast, east of Wake Island, some 500 nautical miles away. Spruance made this deployment conditional on the belief that we were south of Wake Island and that we would go north to support the defenders of Wake Island.

He can ambush his fleet in this sea area and use the tactics of waiting for the rabbit to defeat us. “

"It's not very likely, unless he knows for sure that Task Force 2 has been operating in the waters of the Marshall Islands and has not left the waters until tonight, otherwise he will not make that judgment." Hao Dongjue raised objections.

"There are not many submarines on this side of the US military, and we have deployed a large number of radio transmission stations in the Marshall Islands, and the electromagnetic wave signals are very complicated, and it is very difficult for us to find the radio signals sent by the US submarines, and we don't know if any US submarines have discovered our whereabouts." Lei Shaoqing touched his forehead, "Perhaps, the whereabouts of the Second Task Force have been exposed, who can say for sure?" ”

"This is not very likely, we have not many anti-submarine patrol planes deployed in the Marshall Islands, and the possibility of US submarines entering the waters of the Marshall Islands is very small, and the chance of accidentally hitting the second task force is even lower."

"There's no need to argue about that." Tan Renhao stopped the two, "This is just a guess, it may be certain." Dongjue, if we want to ensure that there are four aircraft carriers in the two task forces of the United States, how many bombers do we need to prepare at least? ”

"We'll have to use almost all of our bombers." Of course, Hao Dongjue understood what Tan Renhao meant, "If bombers are dispatched to carry out reconnaissance missions, this will weaken our attack capability." ”

Tan Renhao sighed, and then glanced at Lei Shaoqing. "So, can you send some bombers from Task Force 2 to carry out reconnaissance missions?"

"If you give up the task of bombing the US beachhead, you can send out more than a dozen planes." Hao Dongjue replied.

"Well, I'll arrange for twelve bombers to come out on reconnaissance missions." Lei Shaoqing also answered.

"Then we'll have to send a bunch of seaplanes out."

"It should be possible to concentrate seaplanes on four cruisers, about a dozen."

"Let these twelve seaplanes, as well as the reconnaissance planes of the second task force, search the sea area in the northeast direction with all their might." Tan Renhao circled a new sea area on the chart. "Right here, try to arrange the flight routes of these 24 reconnaissance planes as reasonably as possible, and try to increase the density of the search.

While it is unlikely that Spruance will adopt such a risky tactic, we must definitely guard against it and not leave a hole in the enemy. “

Hao Dongjue nodded. "Then I'll make arrangements immediately, and I'll send the reconnaissance mission to the second task force later."

"You go and arrange it first, I'll just bring it back later!"

Tan Renhao nodded at his partner, and called Lei Shaoqing outside the command cabin.

"Renhao, it seems that you are very careful this time." When Lei Shaoqing came, he could see that Tan Renhao's expression was not quite right, and he did not have the adventurous appearance of the past, but revealed a cautious attitude everywhere.

"I can't help it!" Tan Renhao smiled bitterly, "We have all been beaten by Spruance before, although we have also made him suffer, but Spruance is an opponent who is not easy to deal with, much more clever than Fletcher's generation, and his combat ability to command the fleet is even above Halsey, and when fighting with such an opponent, we must avoid making mistakes and avoid revealing flaws." If you're not careful, is that okay? ”

Lei Shaoqing also smiled bitterly, if Tan Renhao can be so cautious, then Spruance must be a powerful character.