After Lei Shaoqing left, Hao Dongjue went to the aviation command cabin, and he first mobilized the aviation service personnel, and asked the aviation service personnel to first prepare the reconnaissance plane, and inspect the bomber, so as to make preparations in all aspects, and then Hao Dongjue gathered all the pilots of the reconnaissance plane and announced the reconnaissance action to them.

"This area is the most focused, and in addition to that, we need to search in at least three other directions, and the reconnaissance mission is extremely heavy." Hao Dongjue marked the four reconnaissance areas on the chart hanging on the blackboard, "The reconnaissance routes have been set up, this time we should bring as much fuel as possible, fly at cruising speed, and try to increase the patrol time." Seaplanes don't need to return to the fleet directly, it is enough to leave fuel to return to Wake Island, we have already contacted General Han Shaofeng, they will prepare aviation gasoline, and then we will inform you of the specific location of the fleet, everyone, do you have any questions? ”

A number of important questions were raised one after another by the pilots of the reconnaissance aircraft, some of whom arrived from the cruiser. Hao Dongjue also answered these questions. At about the same time, the chief of aviation operations staff of Task Force 2 is also doing the work, and he will also arrange the tasks of bomber pilots.

Tan Renhao, as always, did not meddle in Hao Dongjue's affairs, and let Hao Dongjue exert his greatest ability. After completing the deployment, Tan Renhao was still a little uneasy, there were actually too many loopholes in this operation, and the biggest problem was that he had not been able to accurately judge the specific location of Spruance, so he could only increase the search efforts and expand the reconnaissance range, and the result of this was that all the seaplanes in the fleet, all the aircraft carriers and carrier-based reconnaissance planes, and more than a dozen bombers were used to carry out reconnaissance missions. However, the sea area that these planes can search is also quite limited, and the chance of discovering the US fleet will never be 100 percent!

The more he thought about it, the more irritable Tan Renhao became. In the past, when he fought against any opponent. Either he can detect the other party in advance, or he can judge where the other party appears, but this time, he feels that his eyes are pitch black, even if he has a powerful weapon in his hand that is powerful enough to kill the enemy, but he can't see the enemy, what is the use? Perhaps, the only thing Tan Renhao can count on is that Spruance can't see himself. At most, both sides are fighting in the dark, and the two sides are back to the balance point. But the problem is that now Tan Renhao is not clear at all whether Spruance has found them, or whether he has judged their location. Even if Spruance only roughly judged their position, the scales would have tipped in favor of the U.S. military.

After Hao Dongjue had deployed the reconnaissance mission, he returned to the command cabin, and he went to deploy the mission to the bomber pilots half an hour later. According to Tan Renhao's plan, before dawn, the fleet also needs to arrange at least one squadron of air defense fighters, and these things do not need to be specially explained to the pilots. In the two batches of ground bombers prepared by Task Force 1, there were two squadrons of escort fighters in the first wave of bombers. There was only one squad in the second wave. This is the most reasonable arrangement Hao Dongjue can make.

Seeing Tan Renhao standing next to the porthole in a daze, Hao Dongjue didn't bother him. In the past few days, Hao Dongjue has also noticed the changes in his partner. In every previous battle. Tan Renhao was confident, as if he had already seized the victory. But this time Tan Renhao's performance was completely different, from the time the fleet went north, Tan Renhao seemed worried, as if he was very worried and scared. Maybe it's a bit not powerful to use "scared", but what is certain is that Tan Renhao is cautious and behaves cautiously in all aspects. This made Hao Dongjue feel that Tan Renhao was a little too cautious and not enterprising enough.

"Reconnaissance is all arranged, right?" Tan Renhao felt that Hao Dongjue came over. Then he turned around, and his expression looked very haggard.

"It's all been arranged, and the first reconnaissance planes took off in half an hour." Hao Dongjue glanced at the navigation clock, "When the time comes, I will deploy a bombing mission." ”

"Remember, first let the air defense fighter rise into the air, and the air defense patrol radius is 35 nautical miles." Tan Renhao told Hao Dongjue again, "The fleet sentry ship should also be dispatched as soon as possible, so that everyone can be vigilant." ”

"It's all been arranged. Rest assured, we will be victorious. ”

Tan Renhao smiled and nodded. "I'm going to get something to eat, what do you want to eat, I'll bring it back to you later."

"No need, I'll go to the restaurant for breakfast after I arrange the bombing mission."

Tan Renhao didn't say anything more, after he left the command cabin, he went directly to the officer's cafeteria, and after a busy night, he didn't feel tired now, but felt hungry.

When Tan Renhao finished breakfast, the reconnaissance planes of the First Task Force took off one after another.

Both aircraft carriers have completed their turn, and reconnaissance planes are leaving one after another. The cruiser was also busy, and those seaplanes were being ejected one after another. There were seaplanes on any cruiser in the Tang Empire. In fact, at that time, the navies of most countries in the world carried several seaplanes on large warships (except aircraft carriers) with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons.

Previously, it was proposed to use small aircraft carriers to carry reconnaissance aircraft specifically to cooperate with large fleet aircraft carriers. This opinion has not been adopted by any country. The reason is very simple, if there is money to build a small aircraft carrier, it is better to use it to build a large fleet aircraft carrier. In addition, with only reconnaissance aircraft, is this a little too wasteful? Unlike bombers, reconnaissance aircraft do not have strict requirements for speed, the most important thing is the flight radius, as well as good long-range communication equipment. And the seaplanes carried on the cruiser were sufficient for these requirements as long as they were properly refined. In addition, the seaplanes carried by the cruisers can also be used as artillery correction aircraft, can be used to collect people who have fallen into the water, can be used for long-distance communication, and can even be used to transport personnel, so it can be said that it is a multi-purpose aircraft, so there is no need to develop a small aircraft carrier that specializes in carrying reconnaissance aircraft.

While the reconnaissance planes of the First Task Force began to take off, the reconnaissance planes of the Second Task Force were also taking off one after another. In order to coordinate the combat operations of the two fleets as much as possible, the second task force adopted the communication channel used by the first task force to communicate with the reconnaissance planes. That is, the signal sent back by any reconnaissance aircraft can be received by both fleets without the need to relay information by other means.

After the reconnaissance planes were released, the two aircraft carriers of Task Force 1 temporarily returned to the core of the battle group. The two aircraft carriers of Task Force 2 did not change course and were still sailing against the wind. According to the plan, the Second Task Force will dispatch a group of bombers immediately after sending reconnaissance planes to bomb the US landing grounds. This plan was provided by Task Force 1. The specific arrangements are the responsibility of the second task force.

Lei Shaoqing incorporated Jiang Wenhan and Zhang Naiding into the first batch of bombers, and Jiang Wenhan was responsible for leading two teams of escort fighters, all of which were hung with 100 kilograms of bombs and rockets. 100 kg of bombs and rockets cannot be used against large warships, but they can easily blow up transports, destroyers, and American fortifications on the ground. Zhang Naiding led four squads of dive bombers and two squads of torpedo bombers, and their mission was to take out the U.S. artillery bombardment formations and transport fleets. The commanders of the second batch of bombers, Deng Zichao and Yang Shihong, except for a squad of escort fighters who also carried bombs and rockets. They had four squads of horizontal bombers, as well as a squad of dive bombers. Horizontal bombers are mainly responsible for bombing US transport ships and US positions on landing sites, while dive bombers are responsible for dealing with US warships that missed the net in the first wave of bombing.

This is the maximum strike force that the Second Task Force can send, and Lei Shaoqing only left himself a squadron of air defense fighters. Maybe this is not enough to protect the safety of the fleet, but as long as the fleet is bombed by the United States, even if the fighters of both squadrons are left, I am afraid that the safety of the fleet will not be guaranteed.

When the bombers of the Second Task Force left the aircraft carrier one after another, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, and Hao Dongjue had already gone to the aviation operations center to arrange tasks for the bomber pilots. More than a dozen staff officers in the command cabin were all busy nervously. Before the bomber took off. They have a lot of tedious work to do.

Tan Renhao went to make a cup of coffee by himself, and he didn't bother those busy staff officers. In fact, it is not easy to be a staff officer of the fleet. To be a good staff officer, you must not only be careful, but also have enough patience, and have a sense of responsibility and strong mental perseverance. In fact, those who can really become the staff officers of the fleet are the best ones selected from among the many officers of the Imperial Navy.

Suddenly, a radio station rang, Tan Renhao frowned slightly, who would send the telegram at this time?

The communications staff officer quickly translated the contents of the telegram. Then he trotted over. This was a telegram from Wake Island, because the Fleet and the Marines had not yet established a radio and voice communication channel, so the Marines could only convey information to the Fleet by telegraph.

As soon as he finished reading the telegram, Tan Renhao immediately stood up. "Where's the Chief of Staff?"

"It's still in the aviation operations center, and it should be back soon."

"Go and call him." Tan Renhao touched his forehead, and the coffee was drunk, but he still felt dizzy and groggy, probably the coffee had not played a role.

Soon, Hao Dongjue ran back. "What's going on?"

"A telegram from Wake Island." Tan Renhao sent the telegram to Hao Dongjue. "Is there any smoke?"

Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment, took out a cigarette, and then hesitated a little whether he should destroy Tan Renhao's quit plan.

Tan Renhao took the cigarette, but he didn't rush to light it. "The landing fleet of the United States and the artillery formations left the landing ground at night."

Hao Dongjue also finished reading the telegram, and now, he was also surprised.

"Spruance had predicted that we would attack the landing site, otherwise he would not have moved the artillery formation out of the way at this time." Tan Renhao glanced at the cigarette in his hand, and then threw it away, "The U.S. task force must be in the nearby waters, and it must be speeding up now, maybe their reconnaissance plane is already on the way." ”

"Do you want to bring back the bomber group of Task Force 2?"

"They've already taken off?" Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, and at 5:45 a.m., the second batch of bombers sent by the Second Task Force had already set off. "No, let them bomb the American troops on the beach. In addition, the fleet is ready to turn, it seems that our opponent is nearby, and we must now distance ourselves from the second task force and not expose it at the same time, so that we still have the ability to counterattack! ”

"Then do you want to tell Task Force 2 that we're leaving?"

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, now that all the seaplanes used for communication had been sent out to carry out reconnaissance missions, unless he broke the radio silence, he would not be able to send the news to the second task force. After thinking for a while, Tan Renhao shook his head. "No, let Shaoqing make his own decision, let's temporarily widen the distance a little more, arrange a squad of air defense fighters, and in addition, let the other fighters stand by on the flight deck, ready to take off to intercept the incoming enemy planes at any time!"

Hao Dongjue immediately adjusted the deployment, originally the fleet was also going to take off a squadron of air defense fighters before dawn, but now the number has only increased by 12, and there is no big problem in arranging the fighters of the other two squads on the flight deck, even if the American fleet is discovered later, the fighters of these two squads can also be used to escort the bomber group, just take off before the bombers.

After Hao Dongjue went out, Tan Renhao did it on the stool, and then picked up the telegram again. It was only when Han Shaofeng sent out a reconnaissance unit at about 5 o'clock that he discovered that the landing ships assembled at the US landing site and the US warships operating in the open sea were all gone. Judging from this time, the landing fleet and transport fleet of the US army must have left before four o'clock, that is to say, Spruance gave the order before four o'clock, and if the news was transmitted by seaplane, then Spruance had already predicted that the landing site would be bombed as early as about two o'clock, so he had a full three hours to adjust the position of the fleet, and then release the reconnaissance plane, and strive to find the Tang Imperial fleet at dawn. Three hours is enough for the task force to move nearly 100 nautical miles!

The more he thought about it, the more dangerous it was, Spruance must be coming, and he must have made the bomber group ready to take off, maybe the US reconnaissance planes were already very close to them!