For a long period of time, the Tang Empire could only obtain information from the United States through two channels, one was those immigrants who settled in the United States and had Tang Imperial blood, and the other was the help provided by Germany and other allies. Comparatively speaking, the help provided by the Allies was more important during the war.

At the time of the founding of the United States, a large number of descendants of the Tang Empire lived in the western part of North America, including several important cities on the west coast of the United States, such as San Francisco, which was once the first settlement base established by Tang Empire immigrants, and gold mines were first discovered here. By the time the United States had extended its influence to this side, millions of immigrants from the Tang Empire had already lived on the narrow coastal plain west of the Rocky Mountains. However, with the outbreak of the two Mexican-American wars, the United States quickly took control of the region and expelled a large number of immigrants and descendants of the Tang Empire to the south. Before the first global war, there were less than 1.5 million Tang Empire immigrants and descendants living in the United States, and before the outbreak of the second global war, most of the Tang Empire immigrants and descendants moved to Mexico, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. government before entering the war, at the end of 23, there were less than 500,000 Tang Empire immigrants and their descendants living in the United States, and they were mainly distributed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York and other large cities.

After entering the war, the president of the United States quickly issued a decree against the immigrants of the Tang Empire, Germany, the Persian Empire and other hostile countries, which was also the darkest, most shameful, and most human rights violation in American history. According to the law, all immigrants suspected of endangering the national security of the United States will be placed under the same custody, in other words, any citizen who is deemed to be a threat to the security of the United States will be put in concentration camps! As a result, by the end of 24. Nearly 500,000 U.S. citizens of Tang Empire ancestry, more than 300,000 U.S. citizens of German descent, and more than 200,000 U.S. citizens of Persian descent were imprisoned in concentration camps in the deserts of the Midwestern United States. More than half of them did not survive to the end of the war, and all their property was confiscated. Fill the US treasury!

It was almost inconceivable at the time that the United States, a country that flaunted democracy and freedom, should adopt such policies towards its own citizens. What is even more outrageous is that in order to "prove" that these people have acted against the national interests of the United States, the US Government has even set up a special investigation agency. In the context of trampling on the most basic human rights. The most shameless and brutal interrogations were carried out against these imprisoned citizens. Moreover, a large amount of false testimony was fabricated to prove the legality and necessity of the bill. Since the end of the war, at least thousands of U.S. government and military personnel have been investigated and tried for this, and more than 200 U.S. war criminals have been convicted of killing and persecuting immigrants from other countries for human rights abuses alone.

This is the most brutal aspect of war, and this move by the US government has also had a good effect. The intelligence network of the Tang Empire in the United States was almost completely destroyed, and the German intelligence network in the United States was also dealt a heavy blow, and it was not until the end of 25 that Germany restored its intelligence network in the United States, and the intelligence network of the Tang Empire in the United States was not fully restored by the end of 26.

This also became an important factor that hindered the Tang Imperial Navy. It was precisely because it could not grasp the military intelligence of the United States in time that the Tang Imperial Navy could only passively meet the battle in many battles, but could not take the initiative to attack. Of course, there are many factors that lead to victory in a war, and intelligence is only one of them, and even if it is the most critical factor, intelligence cannot completely dominate the development of a war. At that time, the Tang Empire mainly relied on the intelligence provided by Germany and other allies to judge the actions of the US Navy, and this was the basic basis for the Tang Empire's Navy to formulate the Pacific Raid.

It was not until early June, that is, shortly after Liao Hanxiang and Huang Xiaotian returned to Guam, that some important information was sent, and one of the most important pieces of information was that the US military showed no signs of launching a counterattack in June, and the Fifth Fleet had been operating near Pearl Harbor and carrying out training missions, and the US army's counterattack time was likely to be after June, and mid-July was the most likely.

This is a piece of information in general, not a separate piece of information. There are many bases for judging the timing of the US counterattack, and the most crucial of these is not the activities of the US fleet, but the situation of the US military's preparations for the counterattack, that is, the mobilization and deployment of troops, the transportation of combat materials, and so on. In particular, the movement of the Marine Corps and the Air Force is the most critical. And this information is also the result of analyzing the information received from various aspects before. If Nimitz is to launch a counterattack in the Central Pacific, then he still has a lot of work to do. For example, if the purpose of the U.S. counterattack is to take Midway, then Nimitz will have to gather at least five divisions of marines, counting the attack on other islands along the way, as well as the reinforcement of Wake Island, it is impossible to do without ten marine divisions, then he needs to prepare enough ammunition and supplies for these ten marine divisions, and also have to prepare a large landing fleet, as well as several transport fleets. It is precisely through the mobilization of the landing fleet, the transport fleet, and the stockpiling of war materials to transport troops and supplies to the front line that it is ultimately judged that the US military will not be able to launch a counterattack in June.

"Judging by the current situation, the Fifth Fleet is most likely to make a sortie in early July." Liao Hanxiang has been paying attention to the changes on the battlefield, "And I have just received news from Yan Guozhong that the first task force has completed the maintenance work and can reach the southwest Pacific theater as planned, and the combat operation of attacking the Australian mainland can start on the 20th at the latest, and if everything goes well, by the end of July, at the latest in early August, the first task force and the second task force can be transferred to the Central Pacific." In other words, if the Fifth Fleet were to be dispatched in early July, we would only have to deal with the US military for a month at most. ”

"But we should be more prepared." Huang Xiaotian has not been optimistic: "Since Nimitz plans to launch a counterattack in July, then he will be well prepared." There may have been many reasons for Nimitz's delay in counterattacking, but Nimitz would not allow Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 to easily move to the Central Pacific and threaten his counterattack. As long as MacArthur had played a better role in Australia, Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 would have to stay in the Southwest Pacific for a long time, and we would have to face a formidable challenge from the Fifth Fleet. ”

Liao Hanxiang nodded. Then he laughed. "For us, it's good news that the U.S. forces only launched a counterattack in July, which gives us more confidence that we will hold out until reinforcements arrive."

That's all I can think about. But I think it's time to be more prepared. And they had to leave to start the operation, delaying the preparations for the counterattack of the US military. ”

"I've made adjustments and the bombing campaign on Kauai will resume in two days." Liao Hanxiang has done his best to use the power in his hands to assist the Fourth Task Force, or to block the counterattack of the American army. "In addition, I will provide a batch of reinforcements for Han Shaofeng before the middle of the year. Strengthen the defense of Midway 0 Lysan Island and Necker Island. If it's possible. We will continue to attack Wake Island, so that when the US military is thinking about counterattacking, it has to first consider the situation on Wake Island, so that it can divide troops to reinforce Wake Island! ”

Huang Xiaotian held his chin and hesitated for a while, and said: "Then I will immediately lead the Fourth Task Force to set off, and bomb Wake Island before the Fifth Fleet recovers its combat effectiveness, so that the US military thinks that we will attack Wake Island, so as to disrupt the US army's counterattack preparations." Forcing Nimitz to spend more time defending Wake Island before launching a counterattack. ”

"But this has a good chance of luring the Fifth Fleet out!"

"Compared to a combat-ready Fifth Fleet. I was even more guilty of facing an unprepared Fifth Fleet. Huang Xiaotian's answer was very decisive, "Judging from the actions of the Fifth Fleet in the past few months, Spruance must have been extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the officers and men of the fleet, so he had to strengthen the daily training of the fleet, and this was also an important factor in Nimitz's decision to delay the counterattack." If we can force the Fifth Fleet to go to sea at this time, it will certainly be difficult to train it. More likely, Spruance will not rush to lead the fleet to departure, and we will not be threatened. ”

"But the problem is, if the Fifth Fleet goes into battle and the sneak attack is successful, then ......"

"General Liao, I'll be careful." Huang Xiaotian has already made a decision, "Before the Fourth Task Force departs, we must first know whether the Fifth Fleet is staying in Pearl Harbor, and we must also strengthen the surveillance of Pearl Harbor and deploy more submarines outside Pearl Harbor." ”

"I will arrange this, and now more than a dozen submarines are moving to the periphery of Pearl Harbor, and within ten days, a second group of submarines will arrive."

"In addition, a submarine cordon should be deployed east of Wake Island, which on the one hand could serve as a defensive barrier for the Fourth Task Force, and on the other hand, it could also be used to attack the U.S. convoy from Pearl Harbor to Wake Island, killing two birds with one stone." Huang Xiaotian hesitated slightly, "And the Fourth Task Force will try to operate in the waters close to the Marshall Islands, and closely monitor the movements of the US military. As soon as the Fifth Fleet leaves Pearl Harbor, I will quickly return the fleet to the cover of shore-based air forces and retreat to the safety of the sea, without giving Spruance any chance. At that time, as long as the Fifth Fleet is contained in the waters near Wake Island, then Nimitz will definitely have some scruples when planning a counterattack, and he will not be able to give full play to the capabilities of the Fifth Fleet. ”

Liao Hanxiang pondered for a while, and then looked at Huang Xiaotian. "You've thought it all through?"

"I've been thinking about the operational side of things for the past few days." Huang Xiaotian took a long breath and calmed his mood. "As long as Task Force 4 is active at sea, then Nimitz will definitely have some scruples when planning his counterattack, and Task Force 4 remaining on Guam cannot pose any threat to the US military. Therefore, I think the best thing to do is to get Task Force 4 out of Guam, and wherever Task Force 4 appears, as long as it is not in port, then Nimitz will have to take Task Force 4 into account. When the time comes, Spruance will either go all out against Task Force 4 or fully support the American counterattack, and if he dares to divide his forces, it will be the opportunity we are waiting for! ”

"It seems that we don't have a choice."

Huang Xiaotian didn't speak, since he cooperated with Liao Hanxiang, Huang Xiaotian knew that Liao Hanxiang was a general who was easy to get along with, but he also discovered that Liao Hanxiang had been looking at him in the same way as Tan Renhao, which made Huang Xiaotian feel a little awkward, it was impossible for him to replace Tan Renhao, and he didn't think about replacing Tan Renhao.

"Okay, then let's think carefully about how to deal with the challenge of the U.S. military." Liao Hanxiang stood up as he spoke, "Han Shaofeng will rush back tomorrow, let's discuss it in detail, arrange the combat operations of each unit, and then determine the departure of the fourth task force, what do you think?" ”

"No problem, then I'll come up with the general plan of action for Task Force 4 tomorrow." Huang Xiaotian also stood up, he knew that Liao Hanxiang was ready to send off the guests.

"Don't worry too much, maybe the U.S. military will have more trouble than us at this time." Liao Hanxiang sent Huang Xiaotian to the door, "Let's discuss it in detail tomorrow, you have time to go to the fleet to have a look, ensuring the combat effectiveness of the fleet is the most important, and this is our only hope." ”

Huang Xiaotian smiled and nodded, but he felt a huge pressure, and he also truly realized the pressure of the Second Task Force in the Central Pacific Theater, and how much pressure Vice Admiral Tan Renhao, the commander of the First Task Force, was under.

After sending Huang Xiaotian away, Liao Hanxiang made a phone call from the commanders of the other arms of the theater and decided on the matter of the combat meeting. Subsequently, he sent a telegram to Han Shaofeng, who had not yet set off from Midway Island, asking Han Shaofeng to rush back as soon as possible. At this point, Liao Hanxiang also decided to change from passive to active, and all hope was on the Fourth Task Force. In the same way, he also felt that Huang Xiaotian was a trustworthy and entrusted person, and during this period of cooperation, he saw a lot of familiar things in Huang Xiaotian, and before, only Tan Renhao gave him the same feeling.