The fleet left Apra Harbor on the evening of 11 June, and two days earlier, after Han Shaofeng had returned to the pass, Liao Hanxiang had decided on the general combat operations. Most of the troop deployment had already begun before that, and Huang Xiaotian led the fleet to set off after getting the general battle plan of the fleet that morning.

The night sky was clear, the battleships were slowly accelerating, and after leaving the waterway out of the port, dozens of battleships formed three aircraft carrier battle groups, maintaining a distance of about 20 nautical miles from each other and sailing eastward. From now on, except for short-wave communication between fleets, all long-wave stations in the fleet will only receive signals, but not send signals, so as to avoid being discovered by the US military. However, Huang Xiaotian believes that the necessity of doing this is not very great, and the US military must have quite a few submarines operating in the waters around Apra Harbor, just as Liao Hanxiang will deploy a large number of submarines outside Pearl Harbor in order to find out the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet. Therefore, after leaving the port of Apra, the fleet's whereabouts were already exposed, and it was impossible for the Fifth Fleet to operate in the waters near the Mariana Islands, at least, before the fleet departed, there was still not a single submarine that discovered that the Fifth Fleet had left Pearl Harbor.

"General, the fleet turned fifteen minutes later, and we are already 25 nautical miles from the port of Apra."

"Adjust to an anti-submarine formation and let the destroyers be active." Huang Xiaotian turned around, "In addition, the fleet will resume the two-shift system from the second half of the night, so that the officers and soldiers can be active, and the 'vacation' is over." ”

As Huang Xiaotian's order was conveyed, all the warships in the "Taihu" aircraft carrier battle group quickly dispersed. Six destroyers, divided into three tiers, hovered around the aircraft carriers with cruisers, in addition. Several cruisers also released several seaplanes to patrol the sea around the fleet. The other two carrier battle groups were quick to make relevant adjustments. The fleet has entered the deep sea area, which has always been the area where US submarines frequently carry out activities, and preventing sneak attacks by submarines is the most important place for the fleet to pay attention to in the process of sailing.

Huang Xiaotian circled around the corridor outside the bridge. Only then did he return to the command cabin. "Taihu" is his second flagship, after the sinking of the "Yangtze River", he set up his flagship on this aircraft carrier, and this is also the fourth "arc" class aircraft carrier in service without sinking (the first three are "Xingkai Lake", "Hongze Lake" and "Gaoyou Lake"), which is exactly the same number as the fourth task force.

After explaining the fleet's sailing work to Yan Yulong, the chief of staff of the fleet, Huang Xiaotian left the command cabin. According to the unwritten rules in the fleet. The chief of staff is responsible for night duty, and the tasks assigned are heavier than those of the commander, and this is mainly to ensure that the commander is well rested and has enough energy during the battle.

When leaving the command cabin. Huang Botian couldn't help laughing when he saw that Yan Yulong was deploying navigation tasks with the navigation staff of the fleet, and thinking of this young rear admiral who was suddenly "parachuted" to the Fourth Task Force to serve as the chief of staff, Huang Xiaotian couldn't help laughing, and he felt that the strangest thing was Yan Yulong's identity.

At that time, except for Huang Xiaotian, as well as Nie Renfeng, and Gan Yongxing, no fourth person knew Yan Yulong's true identity, and Huang Xiaotian also inadvertently saw Yan Yulong's personal resume. After asking Yan Yulong, I found out that this grandfather of the rear admiral who was less than 30 years old turned out to be Field Marshal Yan Dingyu! Fear. No one would have thought that Yan Dingyu's grandson would serve in the Navy and become a rear admiral!

Yan Yulongdi's father, Yan Guofang, is the third son of Marshal Yan Dingyu, who did not join the army because of physical reasons, and was just a very ordinary government official. Yan Yulong is the fourth oldest in the family, and among the many cousins, he is the twelfth, and he is a very ordinary one among the more than 20 grandsons of Marshal Yan Dingyu, but at the same time, he is also a very special one. Among all Yan Yulong's brothers, including cousins, there are twenty-three who joined the army, and twenty-two of them are serving in the army, and the highest rank is already the brigadier general of the army, only Yan Yulong has not had much interest in the army since he was a child, and as a result, he applied for the naval officer academy behind his grandfather and father's back, but he was not able to be admitted. The next year, he applied for the Naval Academy again, and was admitted with the thirty-second place that year, becoming a cadet of the 195th batch of the Naval Academy, that is, two years later than Tan Renhao. From this point of view, Nie Renfeng can only be regarded as one-third of his principals.

Soon after Yan Yulong graduated from the Naval Academy, war broke out. Although he is very similar to Tan Renhao, he admires aircraft carriers and aviation operations very much, but he does not have the same opportunity as Tan Renhao. When he entered the navy, he was not assigned to serve in the naval fleet, but first served in the naval aviation, and his main task was to be responsible for the connection between the naval aviation and the fleet, that is, to train pilots of carrier-based aviation. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Army, where he served as a liaison officer, and did not return to the Navy until 23, where he served as an aviation operations staff officer at the Navy Command. By the 24th year, Yan Yulong got a rare opportunity to go to the First Task Force as a staff officer. This can be regarded as a good internship opportunity, and he also learned a lot of aviation combat theories from Tan Renhao, Hao Dongjue and others here, but at that time, Hao Dongjue was responsible for the aviation combat tasks of the First Task Force, and staff officers like Yan Yulong did not have many opportunities to perform. It was not until the end of the 25th that Yan Yulong was transferred to the Fourth Task Force, and he was originally planned to be assigned to the Fifth Task Force to serve as the chief of staff of aviation operations, but Yan Yulong did not agree with Jiang Zhongmin, so he went to the Fourth Task Force and served as an ordinary staff officer, and he was not an aviation combat staff officer. By the beginning of 26, Yan Yulong received a valuable promotion and became the nautical staff officer of the Fourth Task Force, which can be said to be a turning point in his career and naval career, and he was also born in the navy, and serving as a nautical staff officer was just a trivial matter for him.

When the 4th Task Force returned to Guangzhou to recuperate, the former chief of staff was appointed to Xindi. Transferred back to the Navy Command, which was the only way the Chief of Staff of the Fleet could get promoted, other than to be directly promoted to Fleet Commander. That is, through the work in the command of the Navy, a certain amount of experience is accumulated. They are then assigned to other, more important positions. As a result, Task Force IV needs a new Chief of Staff. However, given Huang Xiaotian's ability characteristics, it is impossible for the aviation operations staff officer of the Fourth Task Force to become the new chief of staff, and in most cases, the communications staff officers and intelligence staff officers have no chance of becoming the chief of staff, and the only candidate is the navigation staff officer. It was at this time that Yan Yulong became the chief of staff of the Fourth Task Force, and he first became a commodore after a three-month "probationary period". He was appointed Chief of Staff of Task Force IV and promoted to Rear Admiral.

It was at this time that Huang Xiaotian noticed the "talent" under him, and at the same time knew Yan Yulong's life experience. Compared to Yan Yulong's ability. What surprised Huang Xiaotian the most was Yan Yulongdi's identity. According to the secrecy regulations of the imperial army, the identity of Yan Yulong, a general from a "super wealthy family", is strictly confidential, and I am afraid that few people know that Yan Yulong's grandfather is Yan Dingyu. Huang Xiaotian also knew these rules, and he didn't even tell Yan Yulong's identity to Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue, because he felt that there was no need for this.

Of course, Yan Yulong is indeed a good chief of staff. The knowledge he learned at the Naval Academy just made up for Huang Xiaotian's shortcomings, and at the same time, he was a commander who was proficient in aviation combat tactics, to a large extent. It can even be said that he is more suitable for the post of commander of the fleet, and if necessary. It can completely replace Huang Xiaotian's position in the fleet. In addition, Yan Yulong himself is also very low-key, and he is very serious in his work, and he is a very diligent and hardworking young man. In the same way, he was also a strong-willed soldier, as can be seen from his insistence on joining the Imperial Navy despite the resolute opposition of his family.

Thinking about this young partner along the way, Huang Xiaotian returned to his cabin, he didn't think about what help Yan Yulong could give him, in his opinion, Yan Yulong's identity is first of all the chief of staff of the Fourth Task Force, and as for whether he is Yan Dingyu's grandson, it doesn't matter, even if Yan Yulong is a relative of Prime Minister Xue Xiyue, then he is also an imperial soldier first.

The fleet continued to sail eastward, and Huang Xiaotian's energy was quickly focused on the fleet's actions, after letting the adjutant make a cup of strong tea, Huang Xiaotian instructed the adjutant not to let anyone bother him except for emergencies, now, Huang Xiaotian needed more time to think about how the fleet should carry out the assigned tasks, how to complete the tasks, and how to deal with the threat of the enemy.

In order to contain the US army's counterattack, Liao Hanxiang formulated a series of combat operations, each of which had a specific implementation method; on the surface, these actions were separated, but in fact, each step of the action was interrelated, and the actions of different units would also have an impact on each other. This was the crux of the whole plan, and Task Force 4 was just one part of this large-scale operation.

In order to delay the preparations for the US counterattack, Liao Hanxiang first concentrated the strategic strike force and deployed more than 300 heavy bombers to Lysan Island and Gardner Island. At that time, there was already a regiment of new heavy bombers in service, and it was assigned to the Pacific theater, but Liao Hanxiang did not let this unit go to the battlefield, and all the heavy bombers concentrated on the front line were "wolf scorpion" heavy bombers. These bombers had only one mission, and that was to destroy as many U.S. airfields, barracks, and other military facilities as possible from Necke Island to Kauai Island, so that the U.S. military could not easily gather troops on these islands, hoard war supplies, and force the U.S. military to devote more forces to defend against the threat overhead.

Han Shaofeng's Marine Corps was also strengthened. Although the main force of the Marine Corps was concentrated in the Southwest Pacific Theater at that time, Liao Hanxiang also worked hard to win a number of supplementary forces, which were the eight Marine Divisions that had recently been dispatched, of which four Marine Divisions were sent to Han Shaofeng's side to strengthen the defense of Midway, Leysan and Gardner Island. Two other Marine Divisions were deployed to the eastern islands of the Marshall and Caroline Islands, primarily Kwajalein Atoll, Majuro Atoll, and Tarawa Island. The last two divisions remained in the Mariana Islands to flesh out this last line of defense.

The HNA has also made corresponding adjustments in its troop deployment, with only a limited number of fighter jets deployed on the leading islands of Lysan and Gardner, and the rest mainly long-range water patrol aircraft that do not occupy airfield positions. Midway, on the other hand, deployed a large number of tactical fighters, including four squadrons of bombers, two squadrons of fighters, five squads of long-range reconnaissance aircraft, and at least one squadron of long-range water patrol aircraft. HNA focused its defense areas were the southern part of the front, the Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands. At that time, there were 250 warplanes and patrol aircraft deployed in Kwajalein Atoll, more than 200 in Majuro Atoll, and more than 300 in Tarawa Island. This would constitute the first line of defense for the fleet and would be the main force blocking the Fifth Fleet's bypassing line of defense to the south.

The task of the submarine force was to monitor the activities of the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor and to sabotage and attack the U.S. convoy that had departed from Pearl Harbor to the western islands, especially Wake Island, and that there was also a convoy of submarines operating in the waters east of the Hawaiian Islands, improvised from the U.S. mainland. According to Huang Xiaotian's request, Liao Hanxiang also deployed more than 20 submarines within a 120-degree fan of the east of Wake Island, 200 to 250 nautical miles from Wake Island, and the primary task of these submarines was to prevent the Fifth Fleet from suddenly appearing in the waters near Wake Island and threatening the Fourth Task Force.

It can be said that this series of deployments has only one purpose, that is, to suffocate the preparations for the US military's counterattack and delay the time for the US military's counterattack. Among them, the task force of the fourth task force is the most important.

Campaign deception remained the focus of the entire battle plan, and Task Force 4 was tasked with carrying out the campaign deception operation, with the task of massively bombing Wake Island and posing for a large-scale attack on Wake Island, while the Marines used to strengthen the defenses of Midway and other islands would temporarily play the role of a landing force so that Nimitz and Spruance could be fooled. But both Liao Hanxiang and Huang Xiaotian know very well in their hearts that the possibility of the US military being fooled is quite small, after all, campaign deception cannot come in handy anywhere!