Perhaps there are still a number of generals in the army who are good at commanding defensive operations. For example, the German Admiral Moder, a general known for commanding defensive operations, especially in difficult conditions, played the role of a firefighter in several defensive operations he commanded on the Eastern Front in previous years. Especially in the battle against the "Martian Campaign" launched by Zhukov, Moder used less than half of the Russian army's troops, and in the serious lack of artillery, tanks, combat aircraft, and even combat materials could not be sufficiently guaranteed, he dragged the Russian army for three months, and made great contributions to the final counterattack of the German army and the final thwart of the Russian army's offensive.

Relatively speaking, almost everyone in the navy, especially among the commanders of the naval fleet, is good at attacking, and very few are really good at defense. This is determined by the basic tactical characteristics of the Navy. In the navy, offense is defense, and even at the level of campaign and strategy, defense must ultimately be achieved through tactical offense. Especially in naval warfare, which is dominated by aviation operations, any good fleet commander will think only about the offensive, and not about the defense at the tactical level. To put it bluntly, there is no possibility of winning through defensive tactics in the tactics of aircraft carriers, and the aircraft carrier itself represents the highest level of the navy's strike power, and only by exerting the strike power of the aircraft carrier to the limit can it be possible to achieve victory. This is actually the characteristic of all aircraft carrier fleet commanders, Tan Renhao, Huang Xiaotian, Hao Dongjue, and even Spruance, as well as the finished Halsey, Yamaguchi Wenduo and others, are all staunch offensive generals, not defensive generals.

Tan Renhao is the commander of the Imperial Navy Fleet who has given full play to the strike capability of aircraft carriers in the most perfect and comprehensive way so far. Now, it is his turn to attack and let Huang Xiaotian defend, which can give full play to Tan Renhao's command talent. Actually, after the end of the exercises of the first stage. The superiority of the two has already had results. Regardless of whether anyone thinks that Huang Xiaotian deliberately left a hand in the first phase of the exercise, or deliberately exposed flaws in order to save face for Tan Renhao, in fact, even if Huang Xiaotian won a big victory in the first phase of the exercise, it was because he had the initiative, but Tan Renhao did not. Now, of course, the places are swapped. That's even different. At that time, the Marine officers and soldiers on Midway Island even opened a handicap, and at least two-thirds of them sold Renhao to win, which can be seen who was more powerful in the eyes of most people at that time.

Tan Renhao didn't know about the opening of the Marine Corps officers and soldiers, if he knew, maybe he would also take out a few hundred yuan to buy a few bets, but he would not necessarily buy the First Fleet's complete victory, mainly because Tan Renhao was still a little taboo about Huang Xiaotian's ability. In addition, the First Fleet actually has only two aircraft carrier task forces. And the Third Fleet had three. In a real fight, the advantage of the First Fleet is not obvious, and Huang Xiaotian only needs to make full use of the combat effectiveness of the three task forces. It is very likely that the defeat will turn into a victory.

"If the Third Task Force can get in, the result will definitely be different!" Hao Dongjue would not underestimate Huang Xiaotian's ability.

"But the problem is that it's hard for us to get close to the Third Fleet." In the first round of exercises, the 3rd Task Force of Chang Zuo's new command actually did not play an important role, and this time he was eager to show it. "Unless, let the Third Task Force be cannon fodder to attract Huang Xiaotian's attention and force him to divide a part of the bombers to deal with us."

"It's very difficult." Tan Renhao drew a route on the chart. "Huang Xiaotian's reconnaissance plane can fly 350 nautical miles, and there are long-range reconnaissance planes on the island that can fly even further. The Third Task Force could only approach under the cover of night, but the problem was. In one night, Task Force 3 sailed a maximum of 350 nautical miles, and Huang Xiaotian would definitely move at night, and Task Force 3 had no chance to get close to him. After dawn, if the Third Task Force was still 150 nautical miles away from Huang Xiaotian, Huang Xiaotian would not even need to consider the existence of the Third Task Force. ”

"Then let Task Force 3 enter the landing field." Hao Dongjue thought of a solution, "At least, the U.S. military now has four battleships, and Spruance is very likely to adopt this tactic at that time." As long as the Third Task Force entered the landing ground, Huang Xiaotian had to consider the existence of the Third Task Force. He had to first ensure the safety of the landing fleet, the transport fleet, and the marines who had already landed at the landing site, and if he didn't deal with Task Force 3, he would lose. We can use this opportunity to find Huang Xiaotian and let him hear the sound of the dive bomber diving at high speed! ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, and then looked at Chang Jianxin.

"It's a very feasible solution. However, in order to prevent the first task force and the second task force from being exposed, the third task force must act separately, and Huang Xiaotian cannot be allowed to catch you from the whereabouts of the third task force. ”

"Then Task Force 3 is coming in from the north." Tan Renhao quickly mapped out a route, "We are on standby in the west and arrange reconnaissance planes. Immediately after Task Force 3 entered the landing site, a telegram was sent. We had only four hours at most, two rounds of reconnaissance. If Huang Xiaotian can't be found during this period, then the Third Task Force is likely to be hit first. ”

"Some of the bombers that can attract Huang Xiaotian are worth it, and I will arrange for seaplanes to search the surrounding waters, and if we find Huang Xiaotian, it will be great."

The three of them all nodded, this is no way, and after the third task force goes forward, its seaplanes can play a better effect, and the probability of finding Huang Xiaotian is even higher than the carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft of the first task force and the second task force.

Subsequently, the three discussed some issues of combat coordination, and Chang Jianxin and Hao Dongjue returned to their respective flagships by seaplane. Tan Renhao also immediately made the fleet change course. At this time, it was already late at night, and although it was just a confrontation exercise, Tan Renhao still felt a lot of pressure. This is the feeling of standing at the top, Tan Renhao cannot afford to fail, even the failure of the exercise is unacceptable. Of course, he didn't know if the other officers and men in the fleet thought so. The First Task Force, the Second Task Force, and the Third Task Force are the first three task forces established by the Imperial Navy, and they are all famous, and the First Fleet composed of these three task forces is the most powerful main fleet newly established by the Imperial Navy. A complete victory is needed.

When the fleet was conducting exercises, it did not sever its contact with the outside world. After all, this was an exercise on the front line, and according to the plan, this exercise should have been conducted near Guam, but Spruance's actions disrupted the exercise plan, so the exercise site had to be moved to the waters near Midway. It was only a little more than 1,000 nautical miles from the area where the U.S. fleet operated, and if Spruance was aware of it, it would have been less than two days. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is about to kill you. Therefore, during the exercise, the long-wave radio station on the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier used to communicate with the theater command, as well as the radio station used to communicate with several other front-line commands, had their signal receiving terminals turned on and could receive new information at any time. And as soon as new news arrives, the exercises must be immediately ended, and the fleet will be transferred to combat status.

In the second half of the night, Tan Renhao was in the command cabin. He tried to analyze the tactical arrangements that Huang Xiaotian might adopt, and also tried to arrange the combat operations of the Third Fleet according to Huang Xiaotian's ideas. Tan Renhao was surprised to find that his understanding of Huang Xiaotian was not even as good as that of Spruance. At least in terms of understanding the characteristics of Huang Xiaotian's operations. Tan Renhao still has a lot to lack. After realizing this problem, Tan Renhao didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Because Huang Xiaotian was not an enemy, before that. Tan Renhao has hardly systematically analyzed Huang Xiaotian's characteristics when commanding operations. Instead, he focused more on the analysis of Spruance, the number one enemy. Tan Renhao thinks this is a good thing, after all, he has to face Spruance on the battlefield, not Huang Xiaotian!

At three o'clock, Zhu Rongzhe sent supper to Tan Renhao. Zhu Rongzhe was also busy all night, and both of them were hungry.

"The pilots of the reconnaissance planes are all up, right?"

"The aviation staff officer is going to wake them up." Zhu Rongzhe is already very natural in front of Tan Renhao, and he is no longer so restrained. "The reconnaissance plan has also been sent, and I will ask the aviation staff officer later."

Tan Renhao nodded, thinking that breakfast was coming soon, and he wasn't too interested in the dumplings served for supper. So I didn't eat a few and put down the lunch box. "Let's see if there's any news from Xindi, it's the 28th now, and Spruance has been off for a few days, maybe he's trying to figure out how to deal with us."

"He's definitely thinking about it, but he doesn't have a lot of chances." Zhu Rongzhe quickly finished his share of dumplings. "I'll go check it out now, maybe there's new information."

Tan Renhao nodded and asked Zhu Rongzhe to take his lunch box out. Tan Renhao really hopes that there will be news of the US Fifth Fleet. In this way, he doesn't have to think about how to conduct confrontation exercises with Huang Xiaotian, and at the same time, he doesn't have to think about how to save the face of the two. At that time, Tan Renhao had already realized that in the previous stage of the exercise, Huang Xiaotian must have saved a hand, mainly to take care of Tan Renhao's face. If this is the case, then Tan Renhao can't do too much this time, how to say, Huang Xiaotian is now also the commander of the main fleet, the admiral, and he has to give him some face. Of course, the best result is a draw, and both sides are happy, but the problem is that when it comes to doing it, Tan Renhao can't control the overall situation, especially with Hao Dongjue, who is stunned, if Huang Xiaotian can't come to power, it won't be good for both sides!

Soon, the aircraft carrier was busy, and the pilots of the reconnaissance planes were the first to get up, and the first to go to the officers' canteen for breakfast, then went to their respective reconnaissance missions, and then went to the hangar to assist the orderly personnel in checking their own landlines. Just after five o'clock, the first batch of reconnaissance planes took off from the aircraft carrier one after another. By about 6 o'clock, the fighter pilots in charge of the first round of fleet air defense patrol tasks were also busy, and by 6:15 a.m., the first batch of fighters of a squadron had all taken to the air, and they would arrive in their respective patrol airspace before dawn to carry out the task of fleet air defense.

After dawn, Tan Renhao didn't go to breakfast, and the dumplings he ate a few hours ago made him feel a little uncomfortable in his stomach. When the service personnel on the aircraft carrier were busy inspecting the bombers, and the bomber pilots were all concentrated in the aviation operations center and were familiar with the new mission, Tan Renhao called Zhu Rongzhe over again and asked Zhu Rongzhe to check whether he had received any new information. Tan Renhao always has a bad premonition. The US Fifth Fleet has been silent for several days, whether it is to replenish aircraft, or to replenish fuel and ammunition, I am afraid it has already ended, Spruance still has enough time to arrange new combat missions, and even maneuver to attack the sea area, then he will definitely not be idle, now, what is Spruance doing, or what does he want to do?

Not long after, Zhu Rongzhe hurriedly ran over, Tan Renhao immediately turned his head, and at the same time noticed the telegram that Zhu Rongzhe was holding in his hand and had just translated.

"The telegram sent by General Long Zhen happened to be intercepted by us." Zhu Rongzhe sent a telegram to Tan Renhao, "Wake Island was attacked by US bombers, and the battle is not over!" ”

Tan Renhao was shocked, he never thought that Spruance would attack Wake Island, anyway, after Wake Island was captured by the Imperial Marines, its importance has been greatly reduced, the US military has no ability to counterattack Wake Island, and the Tang Imperial Navy will not use Wake Island as an advance base to attack the Hawaiian Islands, so why did the US Fifth Fleet bomb Wake Island?

Immediately, a telegram from the theater command also came, and Liao Hanxiang also received a telegram from Long Zhen, who did not arrange a task for the fleet, but only wanted to talk about Renhao to pay close attention to the actions of the US Fifth Fleet. Then came a telegram from the aircraft carrier "Taihu", in which Huang Xiaotian suggested that the confrontation exercise be cancelled and that the fleet enter combat mode and prepare to meet the challenge of Spruance.

"Send a telegram to the 'Taihu' to cancel the confrontation exercises, and the fleet is ready to concentrate in the predetermined sea area." Tan Renhao naturally got off the donkey, "In addition, let the commanders of several other task forces also come over, now, we have to find a way to defeat Spruance instead of continuing to conduct exercises." ”

The telegram and the order were quickly sent, and Tan Renhao also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Later, he never had the opportunity to compete with Huang Xiaotian on the training ground, so whether it was Ren Hao or Huang Xiaotian was strong was a hot topic of debate until the two of them were born!