The division of troops was quickly decided, Tan Renhao handed over the command of the First Fleet to Chang Jianxin, and Huang Xiaotian also made arrangements for Yan Yulong and Zheng Guanhua. In the early morning of the 15th, the 3rd, 7th, and 8th task forces headed south together. At the same time, the 4th Task Force adjusted its course and approached the 1st Task Force, while the remaining three Task Forces continued to move north, and the speed was also controlled at 18 knots.

While Tan Renhao was thinking about how to fight Spruance, the officers and men in the fleet were busy. In order to make Task Force 1 "look" like Task Force 8, the name of each battleship had to be "changed", in addition, the numbers on the fighters had to be reset, the pilots had to receive new passwords, all the fleet's communication stations had to adjust their channels, and even some communications officers had to be replaced, so as not to expose the characteristics of the stations. At the same time, the officers and men of Task Force 2 are doing the same thing, and Task Force 2 will be disguised as Task Force 7. Thus, with the addition of the Fourth Task Force, the three Task Forces formed the new Third Fleet. Fortunately, at that time, the establishment of the task forces was quite equal, and the warships equipped were not much different, so the camouflage work was not very difficult, and the most difficult thing was the habit of the pilots.

The finding of the Fifth Fleet became a key new issue, but it was not very complicated. Through the analysis of reconnaissance reports from various quarters, Tan Renhao ruled out most of the possibilities and finally determined that the Fifth Fleet would definitely be operating in a certain sea area within 180 degrees to the north. At that time, reconnaissance planes taking off from Midway were able to fly to about 00 nautical miles northwest of Kauai Island, while tactical reconnaissance planes and long-range seaplanes deployed on Nihua Island and Gardner Island were also able to cover a large area of the sea. If Spruance wanted to stay on the battlefield and make sure he wasn't detected, he would try to avoid these seas. If you add in the reconnaissance and search range of the fleet itself, the area of the sea area that is actually left for Spruance to operate is not very large. And this is exactly the sea area that the fleet has not searched before.

After determining the possible sea area of the Fifth Fleet, Hao Dongjue was entrusted with the specific reconnaissance work. Another key matter is that Huang Xiaotian is responsible for, that is, the coordinated actions of the First Fleet and the Third Fleet.

The First Fleet, under the provisional command of Chang Jianxin, was able to bombard Kauai on the afternoon of the 15th. The Third Task Force was not able to return to the landing ground until the early morning of 16 June to provide artillery support to the marines. That is, by that time, the distance between the First Fleet and the Third Fleet would be more than 200 nautical miles. According to Tan Renhao's plan, even if the strength of the Third Fleet, which is composed of the three strongest task forces, is the most powerful, it is not a sure thing to completely defeat the US Fifth Fleet. If necessary, Task Force 7 and Task Force 8 will be key forces. In addition, the U.S. Fifth Fleet had at least four battleships. Dozens of cruisers, and if the battle broke out at night, then the battleships of Task Force 3 could play a key role. Therefore, the close contact between the two fleets and, when necessary, mutual cooperation remains a key point in combat operations.

The most important thing is to keep the two main fleets at an appropriate distance, which is the main reason why Tan Renhao set the engagement area 30 to 60 degrees north-west of Kauai, 360 to 350 nautical miles from Kauai. In this way, the fleet can try to avoid the shore-based tactical reconnaissance planes of the US military, and at the same time avoid the shore-based tactical bombers of the US army. Secondly, Task Force 7 and Task Force 8 were to the southeast. The US reconnaissance planes must have spotted these two task forces first. Thus making Spruance make a wrong judgment. Thirdly, it would also allow the two main fleets to maintain a suitable distance if they were forced to fight at night. Then Task Force 3 could come in one night.

The drawbacks of setting up this combat patrol sea area are also very obvious, Spruance is not stupid, after learning the news that the main task force of the Imperial Navy has returned to the battlefield, and the US Fifth Fleet is operating in the sea area predicted by Tan Renhao, then Spruance will definitely focus on searching this sea area first, and will only go south after determining that there is no fleet activity of the Tang Empire in the sea area, if the Third Fleet is found first, then Spruance will attack the Third Fleet first, or avoid a fight. In either case, this is not good for Tan Renhao. Therefore. Reconnaissance work has become the key, and whether the US Fifth Fleet can be found and whether it can attack first is the key to victory.

It can be said that there are too many uncertainties in this combat operation. After talking with Huang Xiao and Tian, Tan Renhao still seemed hesitant, mainly because his grasp of the battle situation, especially the enemy's whereabouts, was not clear. If you can't accurately grasp the whereabouts of the enemy, how can you win?

"The painting can be done before noon." Zhu Rongzhe is mainly responsible for the details of the fleet. "The reconnaissance plane is preparing to depart, do you need to arrange the bombing mission in advance?"

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, and then straightened his waist. "Let's deploy first, maybe we will encounter the Fifth Fleet today, and in addition, let the aviation service personnel prepare in advance and pay attention to the air defense of the fleet."

Zhu Rongzhe returned to the chart table after explaining the task to several major staff officers, and he also knew how much pressure the fleet commander was at this time, but he felt that he could not help much, and could only deal with some trivial things, which made Zhu Rongzhe feel very frustrated, or very uncomfortable.

Tan Renhao lay on the chart table and thought about it for a few minutes, only then did he notice that Zhu Rongzhe had been standing next to him.

"What, is there anything else?" Tan Renhao felt a little headache, and he picked up the teacup that was placed next to him.

"The tasks have been arranged, talk about the general, this combat operation ......"

"I know, let's get some fresh air outside." Tan Renhao smiled and walked out of the command cabin with Zhu Rongzhe.

Through this period of cooperation, Tan Renhao has learned more about this new partner. On the surface, Zhu Rongzhe is a very introverted and not very talkative person, which often makes others think that he is an indecisive chief of staff, but the fact is completely opposite, Zhu Rongzhe is a very principled chief of staff who never hesitates to carry out tasks. It can be seen from his management of the fleet that when Hao Dongjue was the chief of staff of the fleet, the discipline of the fleet was relatively lax. It mainly relied on the prestige of Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue, as well as the personal quality of the officers and men of the fleet, to maintain order in the fleet. After Zhu Rongzhe became familiar with the situation of the First Task Force, Zhu Rongzhe clarified the discipline of the fleet and at the same time began to strengthen the order of the fleet. This caused dissatisfaction among some officers and men, but the result was a change in the 1st Task Force. Tan Renhao did not interfere in Zhu Rongzhe's management, and he also knew that those proud officers under his command needed someone to restrain them, and Zhu Rongzhe's appearance just played this role. Arguably. In just a few months, Zhu Rongzhe influenced the face of the 1st Task Force, and he also made great changes in the management of the 1st Task Force.

"You think there are a lot of problems with our operation this time?"

Zhu Rongzhe nodded. "Talking about the general, it's not that I feel good about myself, I just feel that this combat operation seems to be a bit hasty, a lot of work has not been arranged in place, and all our plans are based on assumptions, if the assumptions themselves are wrong, then our entire set of operational plans is all wrong. This is bound to have serious implications. ”

Tan Renhao laughed. Zhu Rongzhe's progress in the First Task Force is obvious. "I have also discussed this issue with General Huang Xiaotian. In fact, there are many possibilities, such as the departure of the US Fifth Fleet. Or maybe it wasn't in the waters we expected, or maybe Spruance had other plans. But on the other hand, is there any other way to do it? ”

"But ......," Zhu Rongzhe frowned slightly, "Nearly five days have passed since we went north in the early morning of the 11th, which is enough for Spruance to find more opportunities." Moreover, I don't think it is likely that Spruance will be waiting for us in one place, and the Fifth Fleet will be constantly maneuvering, constantly moving, to avoid being detected by us. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. Encourage Zhu Rongzhe to continue.

"I took a closer look at the ground battle plan, and although the U.S. Fifth Fleet is most likely to appear to the north of us, there is a large empty sea area to the west and east of us that has not been searched. The US military must have mastered the performance data of our reconnaissance aircraft and have a certain understanding of our reconnaissance range, so will Spruance use this to launch a surprise strike? ”

"You're saying there's a good chance that the U.S. Fifth Fleet will appear in other directions?"

Zhu Rongzhe nodded immediately. "It's definitely a possibility, and I think it's very big."

"Hao Dongjue's reconnaissance plan has taken these issues into account, and we will arrange reconnaissance planes in other directions. And Spruance will soon know that we have three carrier task forces left. Before he decides to launch a surprise attack on us, we must first consider our strength. And as long as he hesitates at all, then we have a chance, don't we? ”

"But ......," Zhu Rongzhe hesitated, "what if Spruance slipped through our reconnaissance network and did not attack us, but attacked another task force, or even the landing fleet and transport fleet that we had assembled at the landing site?" ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. "You think he's going to make a surprise attack on our landing ground?"

Zhu Rongzhe nodded immediately. "There is a certain possibility, the task of the Fifth Fleet is to prevent us from capturing Kauai, and bombing the landing grounds, destroying the Marine Corps' combat materiel, transport fleets, landing fleets, at least can delay our offensive operations."

Tan Renhao pondered, if analyzed from the ultimate purpose of the Fifth Fleet's operation, Spruance would definitely not choose to fight the opponent for a decisive battle, but would achieve the same goal by striking the opponent's logistics system. But the problem is that it is undoubtedly very difficult to break through the interception of the two main fleets and attack the landing ground, and as long as the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet are exposed, Spruance will be in a desperate situation. So, would Spruance be so risky? Tan Renhao immediately thought that if he were to command the US Fifth Fleet, he would definitely not do this, this was a meaningless adventure. However, knowing that he could not defeat the opponent's main fleet, Spruance could only choose to attack the opponent's logistics system, so what would he do?

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao suddenly realized that he and Huang Xiaotian had overlooked one point, that is, Spruance's boldness. If Spruance was determined to strike at his opponent's fragile logistical systems, the ideal target would not be the landing fleet and convoy at the Couai landing site, but the stockpiling of war materiel at Midway!

Midway was the rear base for the entire landing operation, and almost all the war materials brought by the Empire would first be concentrated at Midway Island, and then sent by the transport fleet to the front-line troops. To this end, Han Shaofeng spent several months building several large material warehouses on Midway Island, including ammunition, fuel, combat equipment, living materials and other materials, almost all of which were concentrated on Midway Island. Previously, the confrontation exercises of the First Fleet with the Third Fleet had proven that Midway was extremely vulnerable, even with the cover of the fleet. If the war materiel on Midway Island is destroyed, it will inevitably affect the combat operations of the front-line marines, and the consequences will be unimaginable. And now, with almost all of the fleet concentrated on the front line, what reason does Spruance have not to sneak up on Midway and paralyze the opponent's offensive by knocking out the opponent's logistics system?

"Prepare a plane immediately." Tan Renhao gasped, "No, I'm going to contact the Fourth Task Force, it seems that we have all misunderstood the enemy's intentions, and there is not much time left for us." ”

Zhu Rongzhe was startled at first, then reacted, and immediately went to find the communications staff officer and made preparations for sending a telegram. It only took Tan Renhao two minutes to draft the message and then send it out. This telegram was not only sent to the Fourth Task Force, but also to several other task forces, and was sent to Han Shaofeng through the long-wave radio station, and to Liao Hanxiang from the relay station on Nihua Island.

When the communications staff officer sent the telegram, Tan Renhao gradually calmed down, maybe it's too late to stop the Fifth Fleet now, so what to do next?