When the news of the bombing of the Fourth Task Force arrived, Tan Renhao was not too surprised, Halsey's reconnaissance planes had already discovered the Fourth Task Force, and it was only a matter of time before its bombers arrived, and the most important thing now was whether the 31st Task Force could be found in time, as long as Halsey was found, then the two bomber groups of the First Task Force could set off immediately.

It can be said that the next ten minutes of waiting is extremely painful, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue are very clear that Huang Xiaotian has sent all the bombers to deal with the 32nd Task Force, and they must have received good results, but they don't know how many air defense fighters Huang Xiaotian has left for himself, and whether he can withstand the bombing of the US army. The Fourth Task Force has a total of ten fighter squadrons, that is, 120 fighters, and if Huang Xiaotian can command half of the air defense fighters, then the Fourth Task Force will hopefully withstand the bombing, and even if there are losses, it will not be very large. Of course, it depends on how many bombers Halsey arranges to attack Task Force 4, and if Halsey uses all his strength, then Task Force 4 will definitely be dangerous.

"General, the latest report, from Task Force 4."

Hao Dongjue immediately took the message, and after quickly reading it, he laughed.

"Damn, Huang Xiaotian actually left five squads of fighters for himself, and two small aircraft carriers fell behind, and they were hit first, and these two small aircraft carriers probably couldn't be saved."

Tan Renhao frowned, didn't listen to his partner continue, but snatched the message in one hand.

"The two fleet aircraft carriers are fine, and the American bombers ran out of ammunition on the two small aircraft carriers. Then they retreated, and only about 20 bombers escaped, and another 30 or so escort fighters also escaped. Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette. He trembled with excitement, "Now." Huang Xiaotian was certainly ready to accept the returning bombers, and he would certainly take part in the strike against Task Force 31. ”

"There's still a part of the telegram, don't you see?" Tan Renhao read the message carefully, and then threw the telegram to his partner.

"What?" Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment, and then picked up the telegram.

Huang Xiaotian judged that the 31st Task Force was due west. The north-south deviation is about 10 degrees, and the distance from Task Force 4 is between 220 nautical miles and 270 nautical miles. Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, "Where is our reconnaissance plane now?" ”

"It's flying in this direction, and there will definitely be news in twenty minutes."

"Get the bomber ready to take off immediately, damn it!" Tan Renhao scolded secretly, "Now it's up to Halsey to do it, he only has one bomber group at most, let's see if he stays to deal with us, or goes to bomb the Fourth Task Force." ”

In less than twenty minutes, the reconnaissance plane's report was sent back. This time, the delivery was fairly accurate: Task Force 31 had been spotted and was rapidly turning. Task Force 31 is less than 170 nautical miles away from Task Force 1 and about 250 nautical miles away from Task Force 4.

"So close?"

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue saw the communications staff officers marking the location of the 31st Task Force on the chart. They were all very surprised.

"Damn, our seaplane passed around here, and it's strange that Halsey is so close to us." Hao Dongjue scratched his scalp, "Didn't Halsey send a reconnaissance plane to our side?" ”

"Maybe, let the bomber group go immediately." Tan Renhao didn't think about it so much, "The second batch of bombers set off immediately. Now that Task Force 31 is turning, Halsey probably wants to escape. ”

"General, the second report of the reconnaissance aircraft, but ......"

"But what?" Tan Renhao immediately turned around and looked at the communications officer.

"U.S. bombers are taking off, but the telegram is incomplete."

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment and said: "Immediately expand the patrol range of the air defense fighters to 40 nautical miles, in addition, the radar on the air defense warship will be activated immediately, contact Huang Xiaotian, this batch of US bombers is very likely to deal with him." Tell him that if he receives a telegram from the theater command, he will not take care of the Third Task Force for the time being, strengthen the air defense of the fleet, and arrange for reconnaissance planes to patrol in the direction of the Third Task Force. ”

Hao Dongjue glanced at the communications officer, and he knew very well why Tan Renhao had made such an arrangement. Subsequently, Hao Dongjue went to the aviation operations center and deployed tasks for the bomber pilots.

The reconnaissance plane that spotted the 31st Task Force must have been shot down by the US fleet's air defense fighters, and the first time this reconnaissance plane sent a telegram was 9:48 a.m., and the second time it sent a telegram was 9:54 a.m. In other words, the US bombers took off during this period. The reconnaissance plane was supposed to return to the fleet in 40 minutes, but now it certainly can't come back. The most important thing is that Tan Renhao could not judge whether these US bombers were going to bomb the Fourth Task Force or the First Task Force, and he could not even judge whether Halsey had discovered the First Task Force. Therefore, when he ordered the air defense of the fleet to be strengthened, he also sent out the alarm so that Huang Xiaotian was ready to be beaten.

Ten minutes later, Hao Dongjue returned to the command cabin, and the bombers began to take off one after another. The fighters of the two squadrons that had previously carried out the air defense mission of the fleet were expanding the range of air defense patrols to the periphery, and the radars on the three large air defense cruisers of the "Rui Beast" class in the fleet had been activated five minutes ago, and none of these three radars had detected them, that is, no enemy reconnaissance planes were moving in the vicinity of the fleet.

"Probably Halsey didn't expect us to appear to the south of him, so he didn't immediately arrange a reconnaissance plane."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, this is very possible, if Halsey did not anticipate this, then the first reconnaissance planes he sent would not search to the south, but should focus on the east and southeast directions. And when Halsey realized that the First Task Force was very likely to be south of him, the time to send another reconnaissance plane would not be before half past eight, and at this time it was very likely that a reconnaissance plane would fly towards the First Task Force.

Sure enough, it was 10:15. That is, after all the first bombers had departed, the radar in the fleet had detected the target, and a plane was approaching from the south. Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were both shocked at first. Then they all reacted, this must be a US reconnaissance plane that missed the first task force. Now it's returning to Task Force 31!

Ten minutes later, the reconnaissance plane was intercepted by fighter planes about 5 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier "Gaoyouhu," the southernmost part of the fleet, and the fighters confirmed that it was an SBD reconnaissance plane, that is, the US Navy's standard carrier-based reconnaissance plane. Before it was shot down, though. The telegram had already been sent, and the time when the US military sent the telegram was between 10:25 a.m.

"Now, Halsey must know where we are!"

"There's nothing to be sorry for, we've already sent a telegram, and sooner or later Halsey will be able to judge where we are." Tan Renhao looked very calm, "Let the air defense fighters take off first, arrange at least five squads of air defense fighters, and the second batch of bombers will take off last, leaving only one squad of escort fighters." ”

Hao Dongjue nodded and immediately made arrangements.

At this time, they could only pray that the bomber group of the American army would come a little later.

Halsey knew he was exposed when the reconnaissance plane that spotted Task Force 31 appeared, and his second group of bombers was taking off. The anti-aircraft fighters quickly shot down the reconnaissance plane, which was almost over the fleet, and the officer in charge of radio monitoring also determined that the reconnaissance plane had sent a telegram, that is, Task Force 31 had been exposed. Halsey immediately ordered to let the two squadrons of "Corsairs", which were supposed to carry out escort missions, stay behind to carry out the task of fleet air defense. At the same time, all the radars in the fleet were activated, and the fleet was transferred to the air defense formation.

But the biggest problem is that this reconnaissance plane flew from the direction of about 20 degrees east-north of the fleet, and that should be in the direction of Tagura!

Could it be that this is a reconnaissance aircraft that took off from Tagura? This is obviously impossible, the airfield on the ground of Tagula Island was destroyed at dawn, even if there was a reconnaissance plane taking off before, it is impossible to still fly in the sky now, the fuel has long run out, and this is a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, not the kind of long-range reconnaissance aircraft commonly used by the Tang Imperial Navy.

Is that from Task Force 4? The Fourth Task Force was to the east, and if the reconnaissance plane had taken off from the Fourth Task Force, it would have entered from the east, at most, a little northerly, upwards, and not from the north. That is, it is quite possible that this is not a reconnaissance aircraft sent by Task Force 4.

By 10 o'clock, another reconnaissance plane approached from the east and was quickly shot down.

At this time, Halsey was even more convinced that the reconnaissance plane that he shot down earlier should be a reconnaissance plane of the First Task Force. But the question is, will Task Force 1 be to the north of him? Could it be that Task Force 1 is hiding in the waters north of Tagura Island, that is, in the southern waters of the Solomon Sea? This is quite unlikely, but the question is, why did this reconnaissance plane enter from the north?

Just when Halsey was puzzled, his reconnaissance plane sent a telegram back, and at this time, he confirmed the location of Task Force 1, but he still did not understand why the reconnaissance plane flew from the north.

Halsey received the reconnaissance plane's report at 10:27 a.m. (it also takes some time to deliver the message), and Halsey was a little dumbfounded. Task Force 1 was to the south of him, and had been spotted by a returning SBD, nearly an hour late. This is nothing, now the 31st Task Force has no bombers to send, and those bombers have been flying in the direction of the Fourth Task Force for a full twelve minutes, that is, about 30 nautical miles, these bombers are still about 220 nautical miles away from the Fourth Task Force at this time, and close to 200 nautical miles away from the First Task Force, if they are allowed to turn, they may not be able to reach the First Task Force in time!

Perhaps Halsey thought about making the bomber group turn around and attack Task Force 1 to the south, but he eventually abandoned the idea. He was not suspicious of the reconnaissance plane's report, and before he made his decision, the theater command had already sent a telegram confirming that there was radio activity in the sea area where the reconnaissance plane had discovered the 1st Task Force, and that it was most likely from the aircraft carrier of the fleet of the Tang Empire. However, the problem is that the strike force of his bomber group is limited, especially the number of escort fighters is quite limited, and it is difficult to tear through the complete air defense network of the First Task Force, and the air defense network of the Fourth Task Force must have loopholes, and the air defense capability is obviously much worse, so he still decided to let this batch of bombers continue to bomb the Fourth Task Force.

Of course, Halsey did not forget to make the fleet immediately turn and evade to the north, and had all 36 fighters concentrate on the south side of the fleet by eleven o'clock, ready to intercept the bomber group sent by Task Force 1. After doing this, Halsey could only pray that Task Force 31 would survive the event.

Before receiving Tan Renhao's warning, Huang Xiaotian first received an incomplete report from the reconnaissance plane, which lacked the last important point, that is, the second batch of bombers of the 31st Task Force had already hit the road. And Huang Xiaotian's first reaction was to immediately withdraw the first batch of bombers that had attacked the 32nd Task Force before, and then go and kill the 31st Task Force. When he received Tan Renhao's telegram, he suddenly found that he had no chance to attack the 31st Task Force.

The bombers sent by Halsey arrived at about 11:20 (in fact, it was not so fast, Huang Xiaotian misunderstood the telegram sent by Tan Renhao, thinking that the US bomber group had already set off before 9:50, and in fact, the US bombers had to leave nearly 25 minutes later), and at this time, the first wave of bombers he sent out had only returned to the fleet for a maximum of 40 minutes, during which time these bombers could not fully take off. In addition, fighter jets that previously carried out the air defense mission of the fleet had to land to replenish fuel and ammunition. And it is impossible for two aircraft carriers to take care of these tasks at the same time, not to mention anything else, just receiving so many fighters will make the service personnel on the aircraft carriers of the two fleets tired to death! He can only choose one point, either defend or attack!

Huang Xiaotian made a rational choice, the bombers of the 1st Task Force had already hit the road, and it was definitely all the bombers that were going to attack the 31st Task Force, and he had no chance to intervene.

The point of saving two fleet aircraft carriers will be enormous, so he chose defense, and it was a defense with all his might!