Early the next morning, when Tan Renhao arrived at the Navy Headquarters, he received news that Gan Yongxing had informed the commanders of all theaters and fleets to return to the headquarters in the near future to discuss the next stage of the Navy's combat operations. This must be Nie Renfeng's arrangement, and these commanders will arrive one after another in the next two days. Then, after asking Chang Zhixin to familiarize himself with what happened in the Pacific Theater in the near future, Tan Renhao was called to Gan Yongxing.

"Okay, this matter should be arranged immediately, you can get busy first." After Gan Yongxing instructed the secretary, he nodded to Tan Renhao, who had just walked in.

Seeing the secretary of the chief of staff leave in a hurry, Tan Renhao closed the door of the office.

"Did you meet with the headmaster yesterday?" Gan Yongxing walked to the edge of the sofa and sat down as he spoke.

"In the evening, the principal called me and asked me to come over." Tan Renhao hung his coat on the coat rack, and then walked over. "I talked to the principal for a while, and the principal seems to be a little worried about the current situation."

"You mean the Prime Minister?" Gan Yongxing took out a cigarette.

"That's right, it's the headmaster's return to the capital." Tan Renhao sat down opposite the Chief of Staff, "Chief of Staff, you already knew about this, right?" ”

Gan Yongxing nodded slightly, then lit a cigarette, "Since the principal has already talked to you, I have nothing to say." However, this matter has not been made public yet, so ......"

"I know, I didn't tell anyone." Tan Renhao is still very clear about this confidentiality provision. "Then the commander of the theater and the commander of the fleet are coming back this time to determine the next combat operation?"

Gan Yongxing nodded again, and then laughed, "Your sense of smell is quite sensitive, so, how did you talk to the principal yesterday?" ”

"I didn't talk about anything, I just listened to the principal introduce the situation in China." Tan Renhao also laughed, "Chief of Staff, you won't come to talk to me, will you?" ”

"Of course not. I'm going to have too many things to deal with right now. Gan Yongxing patted his thigh, and then stood up, "Now that you already know about the convening of the conference." Then the problem is much easier. ”

"Chief of Staff, you're not going to let me give you another free job, are you?" Tan Renhao shouted.

"Part-time job for free?" Gan Yongxing looked back at Tan Renhao, and then picked up a document from his desk, "You are now a vice admiral, and the empire gives you tens of thousands of allowances every year, and if you do something, you will be called a free part-time job?" ”

Tan Renhao rolled his eyes, he really didn't know what to say.

"Since the First Task Force hasn't come back yet, and I've already arranged the relevant maintenance work for you, it's nothing for you to do something here, isn't it?"

"Well, Chief of Staff, I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore, what do you want me to do?" Tan Renhao knew that he would have something to do, otherwise Gan Yongxing would not have called him over.

"Help me run this conference. You also know the situation of those generals very well, so I won't say more. Gan Yongxing threw the document in his hand to Tan Renhao. This is the main content of the conference, and this time we will determine the general strategic direction for the next step. So, you have to have a clear idea first. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he didn't look at the documents.

"You've talked to the headmaster, so you should know the predicament that the Navy is facing now, and if we want to get out of it, we have to gain something on the battlefield, and we are busy with major victories." Gan Yongxing paused slightly, "What are your thoughts on the next stage of combat operations?" ”

Tan Renhao held his chin and thought for a while, and said, "We don't have a choice at all. ”

Gan Yongxing's expression became serious, waiting for Tan Renhao to continue.

"Judging from what the principal told me yesterday, there are already people in China who are very dissatisfied with the navy's delay in conquering the Australian continent. More precisely, there were those who were dissatisfied with the delay in the Navy's decisive victory in the Pacific. And we have only two options, one is to conquer Australia, and the other is to conquer the Hawaiian Islands. Australia has always been the direction of our efforts, and from the perspective of troop deployment, offensive preparations, and even the overall strategic plan of the navy, it is much less difficult to attack Australia than the current attack on the Hawaiian Islands. Therefore, we can only continue to advance towards Australia, concentrate all the forces that can be concentrated, and take Australia as quickly as possible to achieve a decisive victory. Shut up all those who doubt the Navy. Tan Renhao raised his head, "If we can, we will even have to make sacrifices in other directions, and we must ensure that the attack on Australia is carried out smoothly and we win!" ”

"Your point of view is the same as that of me and the principal." Gan Yongxing nodded slightly, "This time the pressure comes from China, and it is directly aimed at the Prime Minister, that is, directly at the Navy and Army. The principal called me the day before yesterday and asked me to arrange a combat operation to attack Australia as soon as possible. But the question now is that the U.S. military's counterattack may be sharper than we imagined, have you read the relevant intelligence yesterday? ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly, and then shook his head, "Yesterday I was reading the battle reports of various troops, and I didn't have time to read the intelligence of the US military. ”

"The Fifth Fleet was restored to combat effectiveness in early April, and Spruance, who was still the commander of the Fifth Fleet, did not immediately lead the fleet to sea for combat, but had the fleet conduct several large-scale training sessions outside Pearl Harbor." Gan Yongxing went to get another document, "This is the activity of the Fifth Fleet some time ago. Since your last confrontation with Spruance, we have unanimously judged that the quality of the U.S. Navy's personnel will be greatly reduced, and Spruance clearly recognizes this problem, so he did not rush to lead the fleet to fight back, but put training in the first place. ”

Tan Renhao's expression immediately sank, this is not good news.

Nimitz also continues to bolster its presence on the Hawaiian Islands. Especially aviation. After Gan Yongxing extinguished the cigarette butt, he leaned back on the sofa, "Now, the root cause of the United States is strengthening Australia's defense, and it has begun to pay attention to the defense deployment of New Zealand." As a result, the reinforcements Nimitz received were rather limited. Judging from the reconnaissance report recently sent back by Liao Hanxiang, Nimitz is making a large-scale adjustment of troop deployment. And we have also done a related analysis, if Nimitz launches a counterattack in the direction of the Central Pacific. Then Spruance will first be responsible for seizing sea supremacy, and then Nimitz will send marines to attack the islands under our control, as long as they bulldoze the battle line, then it will be extremely difficult for us to attack the Hawaiian Islands in the future! ”

"That means we have a good chance of facing a powerful Nimitz counterattack in the Central Pacific?"

"Exactly! If we were to concentrate our forces on Australia, the forces that could be sent to the Central Pacific theater would be quite limited. Liao Hanxiang has adjusted the defense line in the Central Pacific as much as possible, and tried to use his troops where they are most important. But the Central Pacific is not the Southwest Pacific, and the main force in the Central Pacific theater is the fleet, not the Marine Corps. Gan Yongxing sighed, "Now, only Huang Xiaotian's Fourth Task Force and the Pacific Theater Fleet are operating there, if Spruance seizes the opportunity, then with the Fourth Task Force and the Theater Fleet's strength, it will not be able to stop Spruance's attack at all." It will even be completely defeated. And as long as we lose sea supremacy, the Central Pacific defense line will completely collapse, and it may even retreat all the way to the Mariana Islands. ”

Tan Renhao also sighed, judging from Gan Yongxing's words, it seems that a task force must be dispatched to the Central Pacific Theater.

"We did a couple of deductions. As a result, at least two task forces would have to operate in the Central Pacific. In this case, we can transfer the Pacific Theater Fleet to the Southwest Pacific Theater. But the problem is that if we send two task forces to the Central Pacific Theater, then the forces we can devote to the Southwest Pacific Theater will be quite limited. Gan Yongxing shook his head, "Have you read the battle plan submitted by Yan Guozhong to attack the Australian mainland?" “

Tan Renhao also shook his head, he had only returned to the Navy Headquarters for less than 40 hours, how could he have time to read so many reports.

"Gan Kwok Chung has abandoned his plan to land in Brisbane, and now he has captured Lord Howe Island and Borspiramid Island, according to his plan, the Marines will go ashore in the northern area of Sydney. While some shore-based bombers could be deployed on the two forward islands, both islands are about 350 nautical miles from mainland Australia, and the number of fighter jets that can be deployed will be very limited. Therefore, before the Marine Corps seizes the enemy's airfield or establishes a field airfield, the fleet aviation is the most important air support, and even fire support force. Judging from Yan Guozhong's request, it is necessary to maintain at least three task forces, plus the theater fleet to be able to provide uninterrupted aviation support for the Marine Corps, and this is quite crucial in landing operations. If we send a task force to the Central Pacific theater, then the landing operations on the Australian continent will inevitably be greatly affected. ”

"In other words, we don't have enough troops?"

Gan Yongxing laughed, "This still counts the First Task Force, and the First Task Force can only reach the Southwest Pacific Theater in June at the earliest, that is to say, our attack on the Australian mainland can only start in June at the earliest." By that time, we still lacked a sufficient fleet. ”

Tan Renhao was silent, and the question Gan Yongxing mentioned was very sharp.

Now, the stalemate stage in the Pacific Theater has passed, and it is the Tang Imperial Navy that is attacking in a big way, and for the Tang Imperial Navy, the Pacific Theater has entered the strategic offensive stage. However, the battlefield environment in the strategic offensive phase and the strategic stalemate stage are different, and the mode of operation is also different. In the stage of strategic stalemate, the mode of combat is mainly mobile warfare, and the main battle between the two sides is the fleet, with the main purpose of seizing sea supremacy. Therefore, in the strategic stalemate phase, the forces invested by both sides may be quite limited, but the battle is very intense. On the contrary, in the strategic offensive stage, the Tang Imperial Navy has basically mastered, or partially mastered, the sea dominance, and the fleet operations are mainly ground support, and the main offensive force is not the fleet, but the marines, and the fleet plays the role of support for the landing team. Therefore, the Tang Empire needs to invest in the battlefield, especially the fleet, will increase a lot. This is also a major feature of the strategic offensive, or rather a difficult point. At the same time, this is also the fundamental reason why the Tang Empire and the United States will be in a stalemate in the Pacific for two years, without the attrition of the strategic stalemate stage and the accumulated results, the Tang Empire will not be able to concentrate its absolute superiority to launch a strategic offensive and bring the war into the strategic offensive stage.

Generally speaking, the Tang Imperial Navy's superiority in strength in the Pacific Ocean is already very obvious, and taking the fleet aircraft carriers as an example, not counting the "Qiandao Lake" aircraft carrier, which originally belonged to the Fifth Task Force (this one had to take at least four months to repair), and the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier used for training, the Tang Imperial Navy has a full 12 fleet aircraft carriers, which is twice that of the US Navy. However, this advantage is still not enough to meet the basic needs of strategic offensive, and the four aircraft carrier task forces still cannot be allocated!

"You'd better spend some time getting to know what's going on." Gan Yongxing waited for a while, and when he saw that Tan Renhao hadn't thought about it yet, he didn't have much time to delay. "We'll have dinner together in the evening, and we'll talk when the time comes."

"Chief of Staff, if the fleet commander is not enough, then after the first task force returns, the first task force will go to the Central Pacific Theater." Tan Renhao also thought about it at this time, if someone had to block the gun's hole, then it could only be the first task force.

"We'll think about it separately." Gan Yongxing laughed, "Don't be in a hurry to make a decision, understand the situation clearly." Moreover, when Task Force 1 will be able to return and participate in combat operations, we are not sure yet, are we? ”

Tan Renhao also laughed, he didn't continue to delay Gan Yongxing, and went back to his office after saying goodbye.

After talking to Gan Yongxing, Tan Renhao basically knew what to expect. Most likely, only one task force would be left to hold off the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific, or even a gradual retreat in the Central Pacific to buy time if Nimitz's attack was sharp. All the other fleets will be concentrated in the southwest Pacific and fully support the combat operation of attacking the Australian mainland, so no matter which fleet is sent to the Central Pacific theater, the result will be more than lucky!

……