The telegram was two pages long and was full of the latest information on the U.S. Navy. After Tan Renhao finished reading it, he gave it to Hao Dongjue.

"So fast!?" Hao Dongjue's expression immediately changed, "Damn, we're in trouble now." ”

"Contact the supply fleet and meet tomorrow in the predetermined sea area." Tan Renhao was much calmer, and he gave an order to the communications staff officer, "In addition, tell Han Shaofeng that now that he has got the heavy equipment, artillery, and reinforcements he needs, the fleet will be out of battle, and I hope the marines can win as soon as possible." ”

"Renhao, do you want to ......?"

Tan Renhao stopped Hao Dongjue's words and called the navigation staff over. "After receiving the news of the supply fleet, the fleet turned to the rendezvous area, and in addition, the fleet ceased all radio activity."

The navigation staff officer was not wordy, and immediately arranged the sailing of the fleet according to the plan that had been set before.

Tan Renhao nodded at Hao Dongjue, and then walked out of the command cabin.

"Ren Hao, the Yankees are moving too fast, is there a problem with this information?"

"There will be no problem." Tan Renhao leaned on the guardrail, "Since it was sent by the Navy Command, then this piece of information has been confirmed." The U.S. fleet returned to Pearl Harbor in two days, and our mission now is no longer to support the Marines in the fight, but to prepare for a decisive battle with the U.S. fleet. The Chief of Staff should have made the relevant adjustments and deployments. You go and arrange the work of the pilot, so that the pilot can recover his strength as soon as possible, and the aviation service personnel should pay attention to rest, it seems. This time we're ready to take on a stronger enemy. ”

Hao Dongjue sighed, and then walked away. Although he still did not believe that the American fleet would reach Pearl Harbor so soon, he had to believe it. And when the enemy's main fleet is about to arrive, the 1st Task Force must also prepare for a decisive battle at sea.

After Hao Dongjue walked away. Tan Renhao asked the staff officer to take out the telegram, and he read it carefully, he also wanted to find some loopholes, but he knew very well that since the naval command had sent this telegram. That means that the information is reliable, otherwise it would not have been sent to the front-line commander.

The U.S. fleet passed through the Panama Canal on the 21st, and it was not until the 23rd that an ocean-going submarine operating in the eastern Pacific discovered the huge fleet and calculated the time when the fleet passed through the Panama Canal. However, the imperial spies who had been ambushed in the Panama Canal Zone did not send any news back, and it was clear that these spies were either finished or hidden, unable to come out for the time being.

The size of the fleet has already been confirmed, there are at least six fleet aircraft carriers. Six small aircraft carriers, as well as four battleships, five capital ships (large cruisers). More than twenty cruisers, more than forty destroyers, in addition, a dozen fast supply ships. There are four transport fleets in the rear of the fleet alone, with more than 200 10,000-ton transport ships, and these transport ships are definitely loaded with marines, weapons and equipment, ammunition and materials supporting the Pacific Theater.

This is the Navy's own intelligence, and judging by the information obtained by the Military Intelligence Agency, this fleet will go to Pearl Harbor first, and only Pearl Harbor can accommodate so many large warships, and the US military does not have this ability in other ports in the Pacific. According to the time calculation, the fleet will arrive at Pearl Harbor between the 27th and the 30th.

The first thing Gan Yongxing did after receiving the news was to send a telegram ordering the First Task Force to immediately leave the combat operations at Midway Island and leave the task of attacking Midway Island to the Marine Corps, while the fleet should complete the supply operation as soon as possible and make good preparations for naval operations. After that, he called Liao Hanxiang and told Liao Hanxiang the details of the situation by telegram, asking Liao Hanxiang to adjust the defense arrangements in the Pacific theater as soon as possible. Yan Guozhong also received a telegram soon after, and he also had to immediately adjust the defense arrangements in the Southwest Pacific Theater.

On the evening of the same day (the time on Zhoushan Island was two hours later than that on Midway Island), Gan Yongxing summoned the main staff officers of the naval headquarters to discuss the response plan. Nie Renfeng also attended the meeting.

After several hours of intense discussions, it was finally determined that the battle on Midway Island would directly determine the counterattack of the American army, and the American counterattack could begin in early August at the earliest, and at the latest in mid-August.

After determining the approximate time for the US military to counterattack, Gan Yongxing also made adjustments to the deployment of the fleet. In addition to the 1st Task Force being withdrawn as soon as possible to complete the replenishment work, the 4th Task Force immediately withdrew from the fighting on the Port Moresby side and went to the waters north of the Solomon Islands to maneuver and stand by.

The Third Task Force also no longer went to the Southwest Pacific Theater and was transferred to the waters of the Caroline Islands to stand by. The most important thing is whether the Second Task Force can form a combat strength as soon as possible, and if the Second Task Force can fully recover its combat strength by the end of the month, the Navy will have an additional main fleet.

These related deployments were delivered to Tan Renhao on the afternoon of the 26th, and Tan Renhao also had a new title, that is, commander of the Pacific Theater Fleet. It is also a temporary title, and its main authority is to command all fleets in the Pacific Theater during combat operations.

Tan Renhao didn't care much about this false position, and the biggest problem now was that he was not sure of defeating the American fleet at all. Especially when Tan Renhao knew that it would be difficult for the other fleets to come quickly in a short period of time, he suddenly found that only the first task force was now at the forefront.

The Fourth Task Force will not be able to arrive until the end of the month at the earliest, and although the Third Task Force can arrive two days earlier, the Third Task Force can only support the Marines on Midway Island at most, or deal with the battleships of the US Navy.

Task Force 2 is still undergoing recovery training, and it would be quite good to be able to regain combat effectiveness at the beginning of next month. In other words, if the U.S. military chooses to launch a counterattack at the end of the month, then Task Force 1 will have to face six fleet carriers, nine small aircraft carriers, and four battleships. Five large anti-aircraft cruisers, dozens of other warships, and the size of the US fleet will be more than three times the size of the first task force!

There is no way to fight this battle. Even if Tan Renhao was the commander of the Imperial Navy's number one aircraft carrier fleet, he had no hope of defeating an enemy three times his size. No matter how it was fought, in the end, the end of the first task force was tragic. Tan Renhao's only choice is to delay the time, at least until the Fourth Task Force arrives on the battlefield, and if it can be delayed until the Second Task Force recovers its combat effectiveness, it would be even better. By that time there will be at least seven fleet carriers, which is not much worse than the enemy's.

"What now?"

"Drag!" Tan Renhao's answer was very refreshing, "Try to arrange the supply work as properly as possible, and there is no need to rush for time." We are not yet sure of the US Navy's operational plan, so there is no need to rush back to the battlefield. Even if the U.S. military prepares to launch a counterattack in the Central Pacific, we can only avoid war for the time being. ”

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders. "So you mean, we'll have to wait now?"

Tan Renhao laughed. "General Hao, what do you think we have other options than waiting, except for delaying time? Or. Let's go bomb Pearl Harbor? ”

"It's a good choice, and it's best to drop a few hundred bombs on the day the U.S. fleet enters Pearl Harbor!" Hao Dongjue also laughed.

"Okay, no kidding you." Tan Renhao patted his partner on the shoulder. "Let the officers and soldiers hurry up and rest, I really don't know when Huang Xiaotian and Lei Shaoqing will be able to come over, if we can arrive early, then we will have much less pressure."

Huang Xiaotian is even more anxious than talking about Renhao. The Fourth Task Force received the order during the bombing of Port Moresby, and Huang Xiaotian immediately ordered the bombing operation to be cancelled, and all the bombers that were ready to take off were sent back to the hangar. Task Force 4 then left the Coral Sea.

Huang Xiaotian was shocked by the news that the main fleet of the U.S. military had arrived in the Pacific Ocean, and his first thought was that the U.S. military would definitely solve the threat to Midway first, and then go south to the southwest Pacific to disintegrate the Tang Empire's Marines' offensive operations against Port Moresby, and finally counterattack the Solomon Islands. But the problem at hand is that only the 1st Task Force is operating near Midway, and the US military has so many aircraft carriers, the 1st Task Force will definitely not be able to withstand it!

Task Force 4 reached Rabaul as fast as it could, where it was replenished with fuel, ammunition, and a new batch of aircraft, and immediately headed for the intended area of operation. At this time, the chief of staff of the fleet had changed, and Huang Xiaotian took on almost all the work in the fleet alone.

His pressure is conceivable, especially after knowing the current situation of the First Task Force, the only thing Huang Xiaotian can do is to get the fleet in place as soon as possible.

Lei Shaoqing was most anxious at this time, the Second Task Force originally planned to restore its combat effectiveness in early July, but it was very difficult to read that unexpected troubles prevented this fleet from recovering as planned.

First of all, the problem of the maintenance of the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier, after the completion of the overall overhaul, many minor problems could not be solved in time, and as a result, it took an extra 10 days for the aircraft carrier to be repaired, and after the aircraft carrier returned to the fleet, there were still a group of engineers on the aircraft carrier to continue the overhaul.

Then there is the newly reported issue of the training of those officers and soldiers.

The Second Task Force suffered the largest number of casualties, almost half of the recruits on the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier, and many officers in important posts were newly served. If nothing else, it takes a lot of time just to get these novices familiar with the environment on the aircraft carrier, as well as to get familiar with their work, how to fight, etc., which takes time. Lei Shaoqing did everything possible to arrange the veterans to important positions, and the veterans led the new recruits, but the problem was that without enough time, it was impossible for the fleet's combat effectiveness to be fully restored. And this trouble is very difficult to solve.

This actually reflects the lack of a training aircraft carrier in the Imperial Navy, which is why Nie Renfeng wanted to incorporate the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier into the training fleet. In peacetime, there is time, and veterans bring new soldiers, and sooner or later a group of good soldiers can be brought out. However, in wartime, time waits for no one, training is the foundation, and many recruits who have completed training will be immediately assigned to battleships, which is why training battleships is very important. For example, the US Navy left the "Raider" aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean to be responsible for training new recruits, and even in the most difficult times, the US Navy did not send this aircraft carrier to the battlefield for only one reason, and this aircraft carrier was used to train more outstanding officers and men, and this is the key to ensuring the combat effectiveness of the Navy.

The problem of the second task force could not be solved immediately, and Lei Shaoqing did his best to restore the fleet's combat effectiveness. After receiving the order, Task Force 2 left its home port of Qingdao, first to Naha and then to the port of Apra. The training could only be continued while the ferry was sailing. Even so, the arrival time of the Second Task Force on Guam was around 29 July, and no one knew how much combat strength it would be able to fight by then.

Other problems are also prominent. Han Shaofeng received an order during the day on the 26th, that the Marine Corps had only four days, and if it could not complete the combat operation of annihilating the US troops on the island on the 30th, then it would have to switch to a defensive state and try to ensure the safety of the airport as much as possible, and the HNA would send a reconnaissance plane unit over.

Four days is indeed too short for Han Shaofeng. Now he has a division of Marines, but there are at least 5,000 American troops on the island, and they are holding out outside the airfield in the southeast of the island. Without the support of the fleet, it is difficult to complete an offensive operation in four days with the capabilities of the Marine Corps alone.

On the same day, Han Shaofeng gave the order for the last round of attack, ready to gamble on the last one. If the sweeping mission could not be completed by the night of the 29th, then it would be turned to defense during the day on the 30th, and the fortifications should be repaired and the eastern airfield would be held to the east.

The battle was fierce, and the result was predictable, and in the absence of fleet support, the Marines could not defeat the American forces on the island in three days. On the night of the 29th, the Marines launched a final round of attacks, and in the second half of the night, Han Shaofeng withdrew the troops on the front line, and the Marines switched to attack and defensive, and built a large number of fortifications along the battle line. The fierce fighting on Midway also temporarily stopped at this time. The U.S. military did not immediately launch a counterattack, and the U.S. military did not have enough troops to launch a counterattack.

Task Force 1 lingered in the waters west of Midway for three days, waiting for news. But Tan Renhao didn't wait for any important news, as if the whole war had suddenly stopped.