Bold campaign setting and careful action are a way for Tan Renhao to win after years of training. Although Tan Renhao did not let Hao Dongjue participate in the formulation and planning of the campaign, Hao Dongjue immediately knew that they were going to deal with Pearl Harbor this time after receiving Tan Renhao's bombing request, and they acted more actively. At the same time, Tan Renhao also knows very well that in order to succeed in a sneak attack, caution is the key to the key.

In the evening of the same day, four hours after the fleet turned, Tan Renhao received an order from Liao Hanxiang. As he expected, Liao Hanxiang wanted to talk about Renhao and Huang Xiaotian to immediately intercept the returning Fifth Fleet, and never let the Fifth Fleet escape back to Pearl Harbor! In addition, Liao Hanxiang also hinted in the telegram that the sneak attack on Midway Island has attracted the attention of high-level officials, and even the prime minister has inquired about the matter. Although Liao Hanxiang did not directly put pressure on Tan Renhao, the meaning was very clear: after the sneak attack on Midway, there were already problems with the attack on Kauai, and if the US Fifth Fleet could not be annihilated and finally supremacy of the sea, then the result of this campaign could only be a failure, not a victory.

This telegram had a little impact on Tan Renhao, even if Liao Hanxiang didn't say it directly, Tan Renhao knew in his heart that if this campaign operation failed in the end, then his father-in-law would leave the front-line troops in disgrace. Tan Renhao will not allow such a thing to happen, Liao Hanxiang is not only his father-in-law, in Tan Renhao's heart, Liao Hanxiang is also his mentor and his benefactor. But at the same time, Tan Renhao also knew very well that the interception of the Fifth Fleet was unlikely to succeed, and in the end he still insisted on his judgment and attacked Pearl Harbor as long as Pearl Harbor was blown up. Then the US military's sneak attack on Midway will lose all meaning!

That night, Tan Renhao and the nautical staff officer of the 1st Task Force planned a new route. The key to a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor is still to get into the course accurately, and only then to time the bombing. Only after choosing the right route of entry was the fleet able to stealthily approach Oahu and dispatch bombers to destroy the U.S. airfields on Oahu, seize air supremacy, and ultimately destroy Pearl Harbor. And the choice of this route is extremely crucial. After comprehensively analyzing the information obtained before and judging the current battle situation, Tan Renhao decided to enter directly from the northwest of Oahu, so that the fleet could stay as far away as possible from Maui, east of Oahu, to avoid being attacked by US shore-based bombers. Even if the fleet is discovered, it will be able to avoid losses as much as possible, and at most it will only storm Oahu.

Early the next morning, Tan Renhao received a specific report of damage at Midway, which was sent by Han Shaofeng, and the telegram was of little significance. For Tan Renhao. The only thing that deserves his attention is that the US military did not continue to bomb Midway, that is. The Fifth Fleet, having completed its mission, has withdrawn from the battle.

"In other words, Spruance is also worried about being intercepted by us!" Tan Renhao sneered, "This is the same as their previous bombing of Wake Island, retreat immediately after the bombing, and don't give us any chance to fight back." ”

"Looking at it this way, I'm afraid the first thing that Spruance thought of was that we were going to intercept the Fifth Fleet." Zhu Rongzhe also knew Tan Renhao's battle plan at this time.

"It's the best thing to do." Tan Renhao sat down, "If the Fifth Fleet is operating in the waters north of Midway, it will take two days at most, if Spruance has not been intercepted by us, or if the US reconnaissance planes have still not found any trace of us." Then he would be suspicious. As a result, we had only two days to complete the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. ”

"According to our current route, we will be able to reach the attack area in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and even if the US military detects it in advance, they will not have time to organize a defense."

"Don't underestimate our enemy, as long as the enemy hasn't fallen, there's a great threat." Tan Renhao looked at Zhu Rongzhe, "The key now is whether the other three task forces can attract the attention of the US military, if the US military discovers the whereabouts of the seventh and eighth task forces in time." Then there is a good chance that Spruance will not consider that we are going to sneak attack Pearl Harbor! ”

Zhu Rongzhe nodded. "Don't worry, as long as the US reconnaissance plane discovers them, Yan Yulong and General Zheng Guanhua will send a telegram immediately."

"Then let's be patient!"

Before 10 o'clock, Yan Yulong's telegram arrived, and a US reconnaissance plane discovered the Seventh Task Force, which was quickly shot down. Ten minutes later, Zheng Guanhua also sent a telegram, and the whereabouts of the Eighth Task Force were also exposed. The Third Task Force had already moved to the northwest coastal waters of Kauai Island before dawn, and its whereabouts had been under the surveillance of the US military. At this point, Tan Renhao's plan completed the first step, and the three covering fleets successfully "completed" their tasks.

On the same day, both the 7th and 8th task forces were attacked by US shore-based bombers, and the US attacks were carried out in several batches, each of which was not very large, so the fleet was not greatly threatened, and only a few warships suffered minor damage, which did not affect the combat effectiveness of the fleet. In order to avoid revealing their true identities, Task Force 7 and Task Force 8 did not continue to bomb Kauai to avoid any fighter planes being shot down over the island. At the same time, this also convinces the US military even more that now the fleet of the Imperial Navy is looking for traces of Spruance and does not have the energy to "play games" with the shore-based aviation of the US military. "Now, what we need is time." In the afternoon of the same day, Tan Renhao began to assign specific combat operations, and asked Zhu Rongzhe to draft operational orders for the other two task forces, as well as the main points of the operation. "The three task forces must arrive at the same time, and the time of the bombers' take-off is determined according to the specific conditions of each fleet, and the ultimate goal is for the three bomber groups to reach the skies over Oahu at the same time and launch bombing operations at the same time. And what we need is the next ten hours of time. Tell Huang Xiaotian and Hao Dongjue that maintaining the concealment of the fleet is the top priority now, there is no need, and by no means contact us, at least before the departure of our bombers, do not contact. ”

"That's all?"

"Almost, that's all." Tan Renhao let out a sigh, "Arrange for planes to send orders over as soon as possible, and after dark, the fleet will enter a combat state." Having crossed the cordon of our submarines, pay attention to the anti-submarine patrols of the fleet. ”

At about 10 o'clock in the evening, the first task force sailed through the patrol area of the No. 319 submarine. At that time, the No. 319 submarine was charging on the surface of the sea, and more than a dozen officers and men were breathing fresh air outside the deck of the submarine. Because Tan Renhao did not inform Liao Hanxiang of the fleet's combat operations, Wen Jiaqian did not know what the fleet was doing. But he also knew one thing that the fleet was carrying out combat operations, and secrecy was definitely the most important thing, and he did not send a radio signal, but only made light contact with a destroyer passing nearby.

Within an hour, two other task forces had also passed through this sea area. At this point, Wen Jiaqian also knew that the fleet was going to do a big thing, and if it wasn't for the order, he really wanted the submarine to follow. Let's see what the fleet wants to do.

The fleet maintained strict radio and light control while sailing. Communication between the fleets was cut off, and communication within the fleets was only carried out by light signals when necessary. All navigation lights on the battleship were turned off, and staggered formations were adopted to avoid collision accidents. After Tan Renhao ordered the fleet to be put into combat readiness. The officers and men on the battleship were no longer loud.

At twelve o'clock, the fleet turned to a 155-degree course, and its speed increased to 24 knots, and began to approach Oahu at high speed, which was about 300 to 350 nautical miles away. In order to ensure the success of the bombing and to avoid the fleet coming within range of the U.S. shore-based tactical bombers deployed on Maui, the fleet will deploy bombers within about 200 to 250 nautical miles of Oahu. That is, to reach the attack area at four o'clock in the morning and let the bombers take off. As with the Spruance bombing of Midway, the first bombers arrived between five and half past five in the morning. And first of all, it was to make sure that the airfield on Oahu was still destroyed, and the task of destroying Pearl Harbor was the responsibility of the second group of bombers.

Unlike Spruance's bombing of Midway, which is a small island, Oahu is a large island. In terms of area, Oahu is not among the top five in the Hawaiian Islands, but it is the core of the defense of the entire Hawaiian Islands, mainly Pearl Harbor on Oahu, which is the only natural deep-water harbor in the entire Hawaiian Islands and the largest military port of the U.S. military outside the mainland. The home port of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. In addition, Oahu has four regular military airfields, and during the war, especially after the Mariana Islands were captured by the Tang Empire, the U.S. military expanded the capacity of all the airfields on the Hawaiian Islands, and the four regular airfields on Oahu were more than tripled. Thousands of aircraft are stationed at these airfields, including more than 800 tactical fighters. Only after destroying these airfields will it be possible to ensure the safety of the fleet and at the same time allow the second batch of bombers to bomb Pearl Harbor unimpeded.

For the three most powerful carrier-based air forces of the Imperial Navy, destroying several airfields at night was not a difficult combat operation. Of course, none of the pilots dared to underestimate the enemy, this was the first time that the Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, and it can be said that, apart from submarines, no Imperial warship had been able to operate in the waters near Oahu before, and not a single carrier-based bomber flew over Oahu and dropped heavy bombs. Tan Renhao also clearly told Colonel Yang Qinkai, who carried out the first round of bombing missions, that the airport must be destroyed, otherwise, the entire operation will fail.

At 10:00 p.m., the pilots on the first bombing mission began to eat breakfast, and ten minutes later, the pilots gathered in the air operations centers of the various aircraft carriers. At this time, the reconnaissance plane, which was responsible for carrying out the forward reconnaissance mission, set off. This is Hao Dongjue's new arrangement, and these reconnaissance planes are all equipped with super-large auxiliary fuel tanks, and they will first fly southward and then fly to Oahu after reaching the route between Oahu and Kauai, so that the US military will think that these are fighters returning from Kauai. The mission of these reconnaissance planes is to determine the specific situation of each airfield and to guide the bombers that arrive next. And those who are on the forward reconnaissance mission are the best reconnaissance pilots.

At 3:40 a.m., the pilots who had received specific combat missions left the aviation operations center, and the pilots who carried out the second batch of bombing missions also got up at this time. The aircraft carrier was already busy, and in order to avoid lights, the bombers' preparations for departure were carried out in the hangar, for which some fighters for the second batch of bombing missions had to be placed on the flight deck. The aviation crew was busy from 2:30 p.m., and by 3:55 p.m., when the first "waterfowl" was delivered to the flight deck, they had been working for an hour and a half, completing the preparations for the departure of the bomber group on time.

At four o'clock, Colonel Yang Qinkai's plane was the first to leave the flight deck of the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, and the bombers of the other two aircraft carriers in the First Task Force also took off one after another. In order to continue to maintain concealment, the take-off navigation lights on the aircraft carrier were not turned on, the fighters took off in the dark, and the pilots could only judge the state of the aircraft by the faint moonlight. Ten minutes before that, the bombers of Task Force 2 began to take off, and the bombers of Task Force 4, which was at the rear, began to take off at 3:45 p.m. This is a key part of the first bombing operation, the bomber groups of the three task forces must reach the sky over Oahu at the same time, the time error must be controlled within five minutes, and before the bombs are dropped, it is impossible to contact the fleet, therefore, accurately control the departure time of the bomber group, and set the flight speed and route, which is the key factor to ensure that the three groups of bombers arrive on Oahu at the same time.

At 4:30 a.m., the last escort fighter left the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, and these fighters will speed up to catch up with the bomber group that departed first, because all the lighting equipment on the aircraft carrier has not been turned on, so it will affect the efficiency of the fighters' sorties, which will take about 10 minutes longer than before.

The service personnel on the aircraft carrier did not stop, they still had to prepare for the second batch of bombers, at this time, no one knew whether to use the second batch of bombers to continue to bomb the airfield, or to bomb the port, therefore, the departure time of this batch of bombers was obviously much delayed!