The operation to capture the Azores is not even a battle. Originally, this was a Portuguese overseas territory. After World War I, Britain took control of the Azores and made it a naval base. After the outbreak of the war, the Azores became the base of British anti-submarine patrol aircraft and anti-submarine destroyers, and at its peak, Britain deployed more than 200 long-range anti-submarine patrol aircraft, as well as dozens of anti-submarine destroyers and frigates. However, with the choice of the northern route for the fleet, the importance of the Azores became much less. When Tan Renhao led the fleet and marines to the slaughter, the British troops in the Azores were less than 3,000 men, and most of them were non-combatants.

In the era of sails, that is, the era when the Tang Imperial Navy was invincible across the Atlantic and no one could compete with it, the Azores were the most important strategic archipelago in the entire Atlantic. Originally, the expeditionary fleet of the Tang Empire set up a transit supply depot here, and most of the fleets coming from the empire mainland had to be supplied here first, and then sailed to the North Atlantic. Subsequently, the Tang Empire withdrew from Europe, Portugal, Spain quickly rose to become maritime powers, and it was by virtue of its control of the Azores that Portugal was able to open up large colonies in South America. It can be said that the "golden route" is mainly supported by the lead of the Azores. Almost all fleets returning to Europe from South America need to pass through here, and they stop here. With the rise of Britain and the shift of the center of the Americas from the Americas to North America, the United States was born. The status of the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean has been reduced considerably, and the route from the United States to Europe basically does not pass through the Azores. In addition, steam power replaced sails, and the endurance of ships was greatly improved, and most ships could cross the Atlantic without the need for stopovers and supplies, which also reduced the status of the Azores.

The battle lasted less than four hours, and the Marines had no trouble taking down several major islands, and most of the British surrendered to the Marines. The fleet also dispatched only a few dozen bombers and dropped less than 10 tons of ammunition, before Task Force 3 arrived. The battle is over. For most of the fleet, as well as the officers and men of the Marine Corps, this is a good warm-up exercise after the end of a leisurely life.

"Haven't received a call back from the Navy Command?"

Zhu Rongzhe shook his head, "I just went to ask, I didn't receive any telegrams, and I also contacted the other two task forces." Their long-wave radio station has not received any news either, do you need to contact the Second Fleet to confirm? ”

"No, let's be patient, maybe the Navy Command doesn't want us to go up right away." Tan Renhao leaned against the railing, "What's going on on over there in the Second Fleet?" ”

"I don't know, I haven't been in contact with them, at least now they should be moving around us."

Tan Renhao laughed, he and Zhu Rongzhe were quite compatible, and it seemed that neither of them had much of a good impression of the Second Fleet.

"Then let them keep wandering around. How many days will it take for the Marines to be able to fix the airfield on the island? ”

"At least for three days, this time the Marine Corps did not bring many engineering troops, and there was a lack of engineering equipment and equipment, so it would be good if it could be repaired." Zhu Rongzhe also leaned on the railing, "How many marines are we going to leave here?" ”

"One battalion at most, it's useless to have more, if you can. We don't need to garrison troops here at all. Tan Renhao glanced at the distant island, "Organize the prisoners of war as soon as possible, and let them return to the fortress first when the Marines are ready." ”

Zhu Rongzhe went to contact the Marine Corps, and Tan Renhao looked in the direction of the island again. It was already the 14th of March, and Scheer's fleet had left the Gibraltar fortress on the 27th of February, having already set out for seventeen days, and had entered the North Sea, so to speak. Or maybe it's almost to the North Sea. If Summerville had received accurate information, and the British Home Fleet had been prepared to intercept it. Maybe the battle has already begun, and even Scheer is finished.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao was a little anxious, the Imperial Navy Command had delayed letting them go north to attack the British mainland, and it must have allowed time for the British to deal with Scheer's "Far East Fleet". It stands to reason that when Satsumville went to deal with the "Far Eastern Fleet", the two main fleets of the empire should go north as soon as possible and quickly attack the British mainland while the British home fleet could not take care of the two directions. The army's participating troops are ready to set off, Weng Yiming even sent the marines who attacked Monrovia, and the ground troops have long been ready to land in Britain, could it be said that Britain is ready to surrender, but it has not yet negotiated with the empire on the terms of surrender?

In any case, it is not a way to drag it out like this. Sooner or later, the Germans had to make their moves, and perhaps by the time Scheer and Summerville decided, the armored units of the German Army were already on board. The strait, which was only a few tens of kilometers wide, could not stop the German Army, and as long as Summerville was entangled in Scheer, then it was very likely that the German Army would land on the British mainland under the cover of the Air Force. Perhaps, this is precisely the main reason why the Germans let the "Far Eastern Fleet" go back. If this is the case, then it is quite possible that the German Army has already done it, or is about to do it!

Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, he was going to send another telegram back to confirm the next move of the fleet, it could not be delayed any longer, Scheer was already in the mouth of the tiger, and they were delayed going north, what is the plan of the naval command?

"The Marines have been contacted, and they will return tomorrow." Zhu Rongzhe has just made contact with the Marine Corps.

"Alright, we'll send another telegram back." Tan Renhao walked over. "The fleet must leave as soon as possible, and there can be no delay here."

Zhu Rongzhe frowned slightly, and the communications staff officer next to him had already picked up a pen and paper, ready to record Tan Renhao's order. At this moment, the indicator light on the radio turned on, Tan Renhao and Zhu Rongzhe were both startled, and the staff officer in charge of receiving the telegram had already put on headphones and began to record the received signal on the message paper.

Ten minutes later, the message was translated, and Tan Renhao gave it to Zhu Rongzhe after only one glance.

"Let's go back to Lisbon now?" Zhu Rongzhe has a little headache, what the hell is this order?

"Prepare to turn around and contact the rest of the task force and the First Fleet." Tan Renhao didn't hesitate, "Set the speed to 24 knots, let the main engine rotate, and return to Lisbon as soon as possible." ”

Zhu Rongzhe didn't ask again, there are still many things to do now, and Tan Renhao will not patiently answer his questions.

On March 15, on the fleet's way back to Lisbon, Tan Renhao received a second telegram. The landing force had already departed from the Gibraltar fortress, and the fleet joined the landing force as soon as possible, with the "Mediterranean Fleet" of the Persian Empire covering the landing force, while the First Fleet and the Second Fleet were merged in one place, with Tan Renhao as the commander of the combined fleet, responsible for the unified command of the two main fleets. Jiang Zhongmin is the deputy commander and is responsible for cooperating with Tan Renhao. There was no mention of a specific battle plan in the telegram, but the intention was obvious, this time, they would not have any delay on the road, and their purpose was the British Isles.

After the new order was determined, Tan Renhao did not return the fleet to Lisbon, but made direct contact with the Persian "Mediterranean Fleet", and after determining a new rendezvous place, the fleet turned to sail north. They will directly rendezvous with the landing fleet in the northwest waters of Portugal, and then Tan Renhao got in touch with Jiang Zhongmin, determined that the Second Fleet had also received the same order, and after clarifying the command relationship between the two, Tan Renhao let the Third Task Force and the Sixth Task Force first merge into a single task force, with full command under the full command of Chang Jianxin, while Gu Zhenyun continued to cooperate with Chang Jianxin on the flagship of the Sixth Task Force "Hefei". The Fifth Task Force was placed at the rear, and Jiang Zhongmin still directly commanded the Fifth Task Force. Tan Renhao did not want to have a direct conflict with Jiang Zhongmin. Therefore, the Fifth Task Force was placed in the rear of the palace, and there was no absolute necessity, and he did not want to use the Fifth Task Force.

On the 17th, Tan Renhao saw the landing fleet coming from the south, as well as the Persian "Mediterranean fleet" in its northwest direction. When the two fleets were merging, a small transport plane that had taken off from Lisbon landed on the aircraft carrier "Longganhu" and sent intelligence and the latest combat reports. This information was sent directly from Zhoushan, and it took two days for more than a dozen planes to relay it along the way. The main reason is that the amount of intelligence information is too large, and a lot of it is top-secret information. Telegraph transmission is not insured.

The Navy Command once again clarified the subordinate relationship between Tan Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin, which can be regarded as a formal appointment to Tan Renhao, and Jiang Zhongmin can only obediently listen to Tan Renhao's command. In order to ensure that Jiang Zhongmin did not cause trouble, Tan Renhao sent a copy of the relevant appointment letter to Jiang Zhongmin.

The new battle plan was also clear, Tan Renhao's first task was to annihilate the British home fleet. At the same time, cover the ground forces to land on the British mainland. At this time, Tan Renhao knew for the first time that the empire and Britain were indeed engaged in secret negotiations, and the negotiations were not going very smoothly, which can be described as twists and turns.

Before Admiral Lukins was defeated, Britain was relatively soft in negotiations. With the main force of the Tang Imperial Navy into the Atlantic. Britain would certainly be defeated, and the difference would be whether it would be surrendered or defeated by Allied ground forces. So, in Rio de Janeiro. British negotiators had been fighting for more postwar benefits than to say anything else about whether to surrender.

Satsumville fought a beautiful battle in the "Battle of Skagerrak", and the attitude of the British became tougher, which is probably the temper of the British, or rather, this gave the British a glimmer of hope that they could exit the war with dignity through victory at sea, rather than surrender in shame. Not even more unconditional surrender. (Fastest update: n).

As a matter of fact. Throughout British history, it is not difficult to find that as long as the British car is defeated at sea, then the British will voluntarily surrender, on the contrary, if the British are allowed to win the battle at sea, then the temper of "John Bull" will burst out, and even die without surrendering. The "Battle of Skagerrak" was like a stimulant. But at most, this will only bring Britain back to the brink of extinction, and it will not be possible to reverse the fate of Britain.

March. The negotiations between the secret representatives of the Don Empire and the British in Rio de Janeiro did not go well. The Tang Empire has made many concessions in the negotiations, such as guaranteeing that Germany will not occupy LinkedIn after the war, and at the same time guaranteeing that Britain will be provided with funds and materials for reconstruction after the war, ensuring that Britain has the same voice as Germany in post-war Europe, and even guaranteeing that Britain will become the first defeated country to enter international organizations, and exempt Britain from all war reparations to the Tang Empire. In any case, these conditions were very tempting, but the British demanded even more. For example, the Tang Empire was asked to restore France after the war to counter Germany. It is also necessary to absolve all war crimes after the war. Anyway, there were many conditions that Britain put forward that the Tang Empire could not agree to, or could not do.

It was at this time that the negotiations reached an impasse, and there was only one way to resolve the contradictions and conflicts, that is, to make the British suffer a little, to cancel out the effect of the "Battle of Skagerrak", and to make the British realize that they had promoted sea supremacy, that they had been defeated at sea, and that surrender, surrendering to the Tang Empire, was the only way to ensure that Britain would not be divided and would remain a European power after the war. And to achieve this goal, there is only one way, to defeat the British home fleet at sea, destroy the last bit of hope of the British, and take away the last straw in the hands of the British!

This is Tan Renhao's new task, and it also makes him understand that the fleet's idleness for more than ten days is determined by the negotiations between the two sides. Since the defeat of France, the Tang Empire has been fighting for Britain to surrender on its own initiative, and then quickly sent an expeditionary force into Britain to avoid British occupation by Germany. After the surrender of Spain, the Tang Empire seized all the time to try to "peacefully" solve the British, but the result. The temper of "John Bull" made the empire unbearable.

Of course, among the intelligence sent was a battle report, a battle report of the German "Far Eastern Fleet". Summerville almost became the savior of the British, and perhaps it was the heroic performance of the British home fleet in the North Sea that made the British tough again, making the British blindly believe that they were the descendants of the sea god and that no one could defeat the British at sea. And Tan Renhao has to prove that the British point of view is wrong, they are not the descendants of the sea god, the Tang Empire is the country of dragons, and the dragon is the lord of the sea!