"No, it can't be!"

Tan Renhao almost smashed the microphone on the phone, his body was trembling, he couldn't believe the telegram he had just received, and he couldn't believe the voices he had just heard on the phone, he felt that it was impossible.

"Talking about big brother...... Du Xing has been looking at Tan Renhao very nervously, Tan Renhao has not slept all night, and now he is still so excited, he is afraid that something will go wrong.

"I'm fine, you go out first, don't let people in!" 16K. Computer Station.

Du Xing looked at Tan Renhao again, and then went out a little reluctantly.

Tan Renhao kept moving back and forth in the room, he tried to control his emotions, but he found that he couldn't. His body no longer trembled, but his hands and lips were still trembling. Tan Renhao took out the pack of cigarettes used to entertain guests from the drawer of his desk, and smoked one out with a shudder, but he struck a few matches and didn't light them, and then he angrily crumpled the cigarette into pieces, threw it in the corner, and then sat on the sofa with his head in his arms. He didn't cry, he didn't think he could cry, but the tears had rolled down uncontrollably. The room fell silent, save for the sound of breathing that had gradually calmed down.

I don't know how long I sat down, Tan Renhao stood up, he wiped the tears from his face, and walked directly into Gan Yongxing's office through the small door, and when he found the principal sitting on the sofa, he came back to his senses. Gan Yongxing and Nie Renfeng, who were chatting in a low voice, turned their heads, and both of them showed surprised eyes, and then regained their composure.

"Let's deal with it." Nie Renfeng stood up, "Renhao, do you have something to do with the chief of staff?" Then I will not delay you. ”

"Processing? What to deal with? Tan Renhao didn't care about his tone.

"Renhao, pay attention to who you're talking to!" Gan Yongxing shouted out in front of the principal.

"No, it's fine." Nie Renfeng raised his hand to stop Gan Yongxing, and then looked at Tan Renhao, "You talk first." I'll come back in the afternoon. ”

Gan Yongxing glared at Tan Renhao, so that Tan Renhao didn't spit out the words that came to his lips, and then he sent the principal out of the office, then closed the door and walked over.

"Chief of Staff, what to deal with? Is it going to be done so soon? ”

"Don't speculate, the principal asked me to deal with the negotiation with the manufacturer." Gan Yongxing asked Tan Renhao to sit down. "Did you see the battle report?"

Tan Renhao came back to his senses at this time, and at the same time found that he was indeed too reckless and impulsive at the beginning.

"I just saw the battle report, which was sent by the principal." Gan Yongxing glanced at the telegram on the coffee table, "The result is something we didn't expect, Liao Hanxiang just called, and now the Fourth Task Force is returning to Apra Port." Task Force 2 is still operating in the theater of operations and has not been contacted for the time being. The repair work on the damaged warship has not yet been completed, so only two small aircraft carriers can be determined to be sunk now, and I am afraid that the other small aircraft carrier will not be able to survive. Also, judging by the reports of the bomber pilots of the 4th task force. Spruance was sunk at least one of its three carriers, and the other two were not in much better condition, and it was very difficult to get back to Pearl Harbor. ”

"No news from Task Force 2 yet?" Tan Renhao calmed down.

"No, Liao Hanxiang has already sent five telegrams, but the Second Task Force still hasn't called back."

Tan Renhao nodded, he didn't know what to ask, in fact, he hadn't thought about what to say before he broke into the chief of staff's office.

The battle took place in the early morning. A few hours before the battle broke out, Huang Xiaotian received a warning from Tan Renhao. At that time, Huang Xiaotian also suspected that Spruance used the two aircraft carriers that returned to the battlefield as bait to let the Second Task Force attack, and then fell into the trap he had set, or to lure the Second Task Force away and give him the opportunity to attack the Fourth Task Force. Therefore, after receiving a telegram from Tan Renhao. Huang Xiaotian decided to switch the positions of the Fourth Task Force and the Theater Fleet, that is, let the Theater Fleet go to the front, and if the Fifth Fleet wanted to attack the Fourth Task Force, it would first encounter the Theater Fleet, and the time gained by the Theater Fleet would give the Fourth Task Force a chance to take out the Fifth Fleet. If the Fifth Fleet can be eliminated, even if it loses the theater fleet, it will obviously be cost-effective.

Towards dawn, the Fourth Task Force and the Theater Fleet staggered through the waters south of Nihua Island. At that time, the theater fleet was in the south and the fourth task force in the north. According to the regulations of the Imperial Navy, they all took the right route, and this ultimately saved the 4th Task Force. Because the bombers of the Fifth Fleet, which arrived later, attacked the theater fleet in the south first, and it was not until the second group of bombers arrived that they attacked the Fourth Task Force. If Task Force 4 had attacked first, Task Force 4 would have been finished.

When the theater fleet was bombed, Huang Xiaotian sent the fighter squadron over the Fourth Task Force over it, and at the same time canceled the plan to bomb Nihua Island, and let the fighters of the other two squadrons take off urgently to carry out the fleet's air defense combat mission. Immediately, he also received a report from a reconnaissance plane sent by the theater fleet that the Fifth Fleet was 250 nautical miles south of the theater fleet, but about 350 nautical miles away from the Fourth Task Force, which was outside the bomber strike range.

At that time, Huang Xiaotian did not hesitate, he immediately let the bombers with armor-piercing shells and torpedoes re-attached take off, these bombers would definitely not be able to return to the Fourth Task Force, so they could only land on the small aircraft carrier of the theater fleet on the way back, or simply make a forced landing on the sea near the theater fleet. Shortly after the first batch of bombers of the Fourth Task Force took off, when Huang Xiaotian was preparing for the second batch of bombers to take off, the US bombers arrived. Obviously, the bombers flying from the Fifth Fleet could not return to the Fifth Fleet, but could only go to the place controlled by the US military on Nihua Island to make a forced landing.

The air defense operation immediately began, and the fighter squadron led by Wang Zhihua, who had gone to escort the bomber group, came back, and they almost saved the fourth task force. But at that time, the number of escort fighters of the US military was also quite large, and the fighters of the US military escorting the fleet of the attack theater also rushed over, therefore. The bomber group attacking Task Force 4 consisted of two groups of escort fighters, more than equal to the number of air defense fighters.

It was precisely because of the hard work of Wang Zhihua and other pilots that the aviation service personnel promptly threw into the sea the bombers that had been parked on the flight deck, filled with fuel, and even hung bombs and torpedoes, as well as the bombs and torpedoes on the flight deck that had not yet had time to be hung on the planes. The Fourth Task Force did not suffer a catastrophe. During the more than 20-minute battle, because the number of escort warships did not meet the standard, there were huge air defense holes in the fleet, and the three aircraft carriers that had not been repaired for a long time were seriously damaged again. When Tan Renhao came to Gan Yongxing, the rescue work on these three aircraft carriers had not yet ended, and it was a question of whether they could return to Apra Port.

The bomber group sent by the Fourth Task Force launched a desperate attack on the Fifth Fleet without the cover of fighter planes. Then. There was also only one group of air defense fighters in the sky over the Fifth Fleet, which could not intercept all the more than 80 bombers. It was this group of bomber pilots who fought to the death and finally made the Fifth Fleet suffer. At least one aircraft carrier had a large explosion before the bombers could return home, and there was a high probability of sinking, and the other two aircraft carriers also suffered a lot of bombs and torpedoes. As for whether Spruance was killed in the battle, there is no way to say for sure, the only thing that can be determined is that the three aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet will definitely not be able to continue the operation.

The losses of the theater fleet were not small, and the group of US bombers that attacked the theater fleet was even larger, because the reconnaissance plane that discovered the theater fleet took off from Kauai, and the quality of the pilots was even worse than that of the Fifth Fleet. Spruance judged it to be Task Force 4, and the first bomber group was filled with the best pilots. The number of bombers was also higher. By the time Tan Renhao received the telegram, the captains of two small aircraft carriers had already given orders to abandon their ships, and the emergency repair work on the other small aircraft carrier had basically failed, and the other three small aircraft carriers had also been bombed and would definitely have to return to Apra Port for repairs.

The battle was fought short and fierce, with Task Force 4 swapping places with the Theater Fleet. In the end, the Fourth Task Force escaped the blow that was bound to be doomed, and the theater fleet became a substitute. The fact that the Fifth Fleet was able to attack first had a lot to do with the fact that the Fourth Task Force had previously revealed its whereabouts and approximate location, as well as the assistance of US shore-based reconnaissance planes. The fact that the reconnaissance planes of the theater fleet were able to discover the Fifth Fleet in time and Huang Xiaotian's decisive order for the bombers to set off partially reversed the defeat and did not make Spruance have the last laugh. If you look at the big picture, this operation of the Fifth Fleet has been a complete failure, and Spruance has at most two aircraft carriers at its disposal. And the Imperial Navy still has the First Task Force that has not been dispatched!

The key issue now is to confirm how much damage the Fifth Fleet really had, and whether the three aircraft carriers really sank one. The other two were also heavily damaged. However, there are only two ways to confirm the enemy's losses after the battle, one is to be discovered by the submarine when the enemy fleet returns home, and the other is to have the intelligence department obtain relevant information from the enemy. In addition, the situation of Task Force 2 is critical. Tan Renhao knew very well in his heart that Hao Dongjue would not let go of the opportunity to get it, and Hao Dongjue must have received the news of the decisive battle between the Fourth Task Force and the Fifth Fleet, he had no worries, and he would not give up the opportunity to kill the two American aircraft carriers, which is why Hao Dongjue has not sent back the news so far, and to know the situation of the Second Task Force, you still have to wait patiently, however, it doesn't take too much time, whether you can kill those two American aircraft carriers, that is, today's thing, Or rather, in the next few hours, perhaps, now that the battle has begun!

Gan Yongxing was constantly smoking, and Tan Renhao was constantly looking at the clock hanging on the wall, and neither of them said anything, because both of them knew very well that it was useless to say anything now. The actions of Task Force 2 would ultimately determine the situation in the Central Pacific, and if it was to be victorious, then with the addition of Task Force 1, the Imperial Navy would take complete control of naval supremacy in the Central Pacific, and then gradually seize air supremacy over the Hawaiian Islands. If the second task force loses something, then the next strategic offensive of the Imperial Navy will be difficult to fight. Of course, this depends on the losses of the US military, and if those two aircraft carriers can be eliminated, it will be difficult for Spruance to turn over again.

Tan Renhao is not worried that Hao Dongjue will not be able to kill those two aircraft carriers, if it is about offensive ability, Hao Dongjue is even better than Tan Renhao, his only worry is that Hao Dongjue is too reckless, if he uses his own losses in exchange for victory, this is obviously unwise. It's already past eight o'clock, and it should be afternoon on the Hawaiian Islands. Extrapolating from the time, if the US fleet does not change course halfway, then the time of contact should be around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, that is, at this time.

It's going to be a close battle, with neither side having other forces to rely on and nowhere to hide, and whoever spots the other first will be able to attack first. Of course, the second task force has an advantage in strength, and Hao Dongjue only needs to arrange half of the fighters to escort the bomber group, while the second batch of bombers does not even need to escort fighters, and the other half of the fighters can stay behind for air defense. If you take into account the quality of the pilots, then the 2nd Task Force has a good chance of winning. The key issue is that if the US fleet changes course halfway, then the second task force will only be able to pursue it, and this will very likely come into the strike range of the US shore-based bombers, and it is obvious that the second task force is no match for the large number of US shore-based bombers on the eastern islands of the Hawaiian Islands.

Time passed slowly, and Tan Renhao slowly became nervous, and he even wanted to take out a cigarette from Gan Yongxing's cigarette case several times to light it. If he decides to pursue the US fleet, he will definitely take the risk of entering the sea area covered by US shore-based bombers, so that the second task force will bear unnecessary combat risks!