Before the bomber group sent by the 52nd Task Force arrived at Midway Island, that is, before Han Shaofeng sent a telegram, Lei Shaoqing first received a telegram from Liao Hanxiang indicating that it was 100,000 urgent: radio waves emitted by the US fleet had been discovered in a certain sea area southeast of Midway Island.

At that time, the Tang Empire had set up radio monitoring stations on many islands such as Wake Island, and there was one such monitoring station with targeting equipment near the airfield controlled by the Tang Empire Marines at Midway. Radio waves from Task Force 52 were intercepted by two radio stations on Wake Island and Midway. It was almost impossible to translate these telegrams, and the Tang Empire did not have the communication codes of the U.S. Navy at that time, but it was able to determine the direction in which the radio waves were coming. And the intersection of these two stations is where the signal is given. Because there are errors in the pointing of radio stations, we can roughly calculate the range of the sea area where the radio waves are located according to some mathematical formulas.

These are the work of technicians, and all the commander needs to know is the final result. The specific calculation work was completed by the intelligence department of the theater command, and then it was immediately sent to Liao Hanxiang, because Liao Hanxiang had previously ordered that any information related to Midway Island should be immediately sent to the Second Task Force and the Marine Corps on Midway, so when Liao Hanxiang saw the report, the telegram had already been sent.

When Lei Shaoqing and Zheng Guanhua read the telegram, the navigation staff officer had already drawn this sea area on the nautical chart with the help of the communications officer.

"Probably in this position." Zheng Guanhua pointed up and down on the chart, "It's too far away from us, and judging from the telegram." This was sent by an American aircraft carrier, but it is impossible to tell whether it is a fleet aircraft carrier or a small aircraft carrier. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded slightly, but he didn't rush to speak. After reading the telegram, he was puzzled. This radio wave actually appeared in the sea near the island of Lysang, more than 400 nautical miles away from them!

If Spruance had enough aircraft carriers in his hands.

There was no need for him to have a fleet operating east of Midway. Regardless of whether this is Spruance's main task force or the decoy task force, there is no reason for it to appear in this area.

If it is the main task force, then it should not be exposed now, but north of Midway. Or to the south, anyway, to operate in a nearby area, and must have sent a reconnaissance plane to search for Task Force 2. On the contrary, if it is a decoy task force, then this bait is too undutiful, so far away, who will bite the bait? And he can't bite even if he wants to, does Spruance think that Task Force 2 will appear southeast of Midway? This obviously does not make any sense, and it is impossible for Task Force 2 to appear southeast of Midway.

"General Lei. This is certainly a small aircraft carrier fleet. ”

Lei Shaoqing glanced at the navigation clock and said, "We will have an answer in about half an hour." Let the communications staff pay attention to the telegram sent by General Han Shaofeng, and the US bombers should be on their way. ”

Zheng Guanhua didn't say anything anymore. The Marines will certainly send the telegram back to the place immediately after being bombed, and as long as the size of the U.S. bomber group is known, the approximate size of the U.S. bomber group will be known, and it will not be too late to make a judgment when the time comes.

Han Shaofeng received the telegram at the same time as Lei Shaoqing, and he didn't bother to guess what kind of U.S. fleet it was. All he knew was that it must have been the U.S. fleet, and that bombers must have been sent, otherwise there would be no need to send a telegram.

"Let the front-line troops stop the offensive, immediately switch to the defensive, pay attention to concealment, and the enemy's bombardment will begin."

"Bombing?" The staff officer who was called was a little puzzled.

"The enemy bombers are already flying towards us, immediately prepare the troops for the bombing." Han Shaofeng glanced at the staff officer who was a little surprised, "In addition, the U.S. military will definitely take the opportunity to launch a counterattack and prepare to resist." As soon as the enemy bombers fly away, attack and do not give the enemy any respite! ”

The order was quickly issued, and the front-line combat units immediately switched from offensive to defensive after receiving the order, and many officers and men hid directly in the craters blown up by the shells, while others hid in the trenches and fortifications of the American troops.

On the battlefield, the US combat units also received the news that except for those officers and men who were responsible for guiding the bombers, the US troops were all hidden, after all, the possibility of accidental injury still existed.

There was a sudden silence on the battlefield, first the American troops withdrew from the area where the fighting was fighting, and then the Tang Imperial Marines also stopped attacking. Except for the fact that there were no celebratory banquets, no cheering soldiers, as if the war had suddenly ended. The battlefield was silent, no one fired cold shots, and there were no explosions, only the destroyed fortifications were still crackling and burning.

As the sky grew brighter, all the vegetation on the island was burned, and in the dark earth, except for the occasional human figure, it was as if it were a volcanic island that had just erupted into a fire. Then, on the eastern sea, a dense group of planes flew closer. As soon as the lookouts on the positions of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps saw the group of bombers flying closer, they immediately reported the news to their officers, and then the front commander answered the phone with the battlefield command and began to report the intelligence back one after another.

By 6:50 a.m., Han Shaofeng had received accurate information from several front-line commanders that the size of the US bomber group was about 100 planes. Then, a dull roar sounded outside, enemy planes had reached the island, the whistling of bombs as they fell, and the communications officer in the headquarters was rapidly sending telegrams with ciphers as the explosions rang out.

At 6:55 a.m., Lei Shaoqing received a telegram from the Marine Corps.

"The U.S. military probably only sent 100 bombers, which is not very large." Lei Shaoqing sent the telegram to Zheng Guanhua, "If this is sent by Spruance's main fleet, then the scale is too small." ”

"Then this must be the bomber group sent by the fleet that was supposed to be the decoy."

"But isn't this bait too far away? Could it be that Spruance judged that we were in the waters southeast of Midway? He wouldn't have made such a judgment. Even if it were, where is his main fleet? To the northwest of Johnston Island? ”

Zheng Guanhua looked at the chart for a while and said, "Maybe Spruance is still to the north of us." ”

"Why?" Lei Shaoqing glanced at Zheng Guanhua.

"Spruance can only command a task force. And it is impossible to command two task forces at the same time. If the two task forces were to act separately, Spruance would not be able to control the actions of the other task force, which was the decoy ground. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded slightly. He worked with Tan Renhao, only when the battle started. After both task forces broke the radio silence, the commander-in-chief, as the commander-in-chief of the battlefield, would be able to command the two task forces to fight, and as long as Spruance didn't want to expose himself now, then he would definitely not interfere with the actions of the other task force, but only if he did. The two task forces were far enough apart that they were dispersed, not joint.

"Spruance hasn't shown up yet, and we've roughly judged that this fleet east of Midway only has small carriers, so what is Spruance doing?" Zheng Guanhua then analyzed, "Unless Spruance only has these small aircraft carriers, and General Tan Renhao's judgment is wrong, otherwise, Spruance is looking for us now, looking for an opportunity to kill us." And we went north from the south. The chances of Spruance appearing to our south and southeast are slim, and he is even less likely to be near Johnston Island. Otherwise, he must have sent a telegram. Then he can only appear to the north of us. ”

"How do you explain the current activities of this fleet?"

"Perhaps the commander of this fleet misunderstood Spruance's intentions, or received some information from somewhere else, for whatever reason, that his purpose was to save the fleet."

"But they can't lure us into falling for it."

Zheng Guanhua laughed. "At least. We don't need to worry about the threat of this fleet, and we can go all out against the Spruance task force. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded. "I hope Tan Renhao's judgment is not wrong, the Marine Corps has not called for help yet, it seems that they can hold out for a while. Is there any news from the reconnaissance aircraft? ”

Zheng Guanhua was just about to speak, and the communications staff officer ran away, holding a telegram he had just received.

Lei Shaoqing glanced at it and immediately handed it over to Zheng Guanhua.

"So fast?" Zheng Guanhua was startled, and immediately looked at Lei Shaoqing, and then looked at the staff officer.

"The Marines sent this telegram twice in a row, and there shouldn't be a problem."

Zheng Guanhua nodded and let the communications staff officer return to his post.

"In less than ten minutes." Lei Shaoqing glanced at the navigation clock, "The bombers of the US army are coming and going fast, and it seems that the marines have no losses." We don't need to worry about the Marines for a while. ”

"It also says a thing." Zheng Guanhua hesitated for a moment and said, "This fleet is retreating eastward, and it is retreating at full speed, and the fuel on those bombers must be just enough to return to the fleet, so they don't dare to stop over Midway Island, they must immediately drop their bombs and then return home." ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded. "If there really were only three small carriers, there was a good chance that the Marine Corps would not be bombed again today."

"This also proves that in the beginning, the commander of this fleet thought first and foremost to save our lives, and only then to strike at us. If they had sailed east at full speed, they would not have posed a threat to us today. ”

"Now it's up to us to see if our reconnaissance planes have discovered anything."

The two looked at the communications staff officer, and there was no news from any reconnaissance plane.

Shortly before receiving the first telegram from Liao Hanxiang, the reconnaissance planes of the Second Task Force also departed. Thirty-six "waterbirds" searched within a range of plus or minus 50 degrees north of the fleet, with a search radius of 300 nautical miles. When these reconnaissance planes reached the maximum reconnaissance radius, their distance was about 15 nautical miles, which was also the maximum distance to ensure the detection of the enemy fleet. In addition, the seaplanes on the cruiser were responsible for searching within 60 degrees of plus or minus north at a distance of only 250 nautical miles, and because the fleet was sailing north, it was impossible for the seaplanes on the westernmost and easternmost seaplanes to reach a search distance of 250 nautical miles, and could only fly out of about 220 nautical miles at most and then have to return.

These reconnaissance ranges, as well as the search flight distance, were all calculated after accurate calculations, and Zheng Guanhua was an expert in this area, and these reconnaissance work was also arranged by him.

Lei Shaoqing and Zheng Guanhua came to the outside of the command cabin, and the service personnel on the aircraft carrier were busy. The first squadron of fighters to take to the skies was patrolling about 35 nautical miles north of the fleet, divided into three squadrons, each responsible for patrolling at about 45 degrees.

However, at this time, the warships in the fleet did not have radars turned on, and the US military also had radio listening stations on Midway Island, and if the radar was turned on, it was easy to expose the position of the fleet.

The sky was completely bright, the weather was not clear, and there were some scattered clouds in the sky. The height of the clouds is probably more than 2,000 meters, and it is not very thick. Relatively speaking, this is a relatively ideal weather, at least for the attacking side, this kind of weather is rare.

On the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, aviation crews are inspecting a batch of fighter jets.

These fighters, which were parked at the front of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, were all spare air defense fighters, and the pilots were not far from the fighters. As soon as the air defense sirens are sounded, these fighters will immediately take to the air. In addition, several bombers were parked on the flight deck near the port side of the aircraft carrier. Most of the bombers on the aircraft carrier are parked in the hangar, and now there are more aviation crews preparing for these bombers before takeoff, including replenishing fuel, checking the status of the aircraft, etc., only after receiving an order, can bombs and torpedoes be hung on bombers, not in advance!

Both of them are patiently waiting, there is no doubt that the only possible direction of the US fleet is to the north, and what cannot be determined is how far away the enemy fleet is; if it is too far, those reconnaissance planes will return in vain, as long as they are within the patrol range of the reconnaissance planes, in such weather, it is impossible for the enemy fleet to hide, and it will certainly be discovered by reconnaissance planes. For Lei Shaoqing and Zheng Guanhua, this more than an hour of waiting is the only thing they can do now, and it is also a time to test the patience of the fleet commander.