When the green light on the radio turned on, Tan Renhao first looked at the navigation clock, and after seven o'clock, the telegram came really accurately, and then he looked at the communications staff officer. The communications staff officer immediately came over with the translated telegram. Tan Renhao was a little surprised, in the past, it took tens of seconds, or even a few minutes, to translate a telegram, but this time it only took five seconds for the communications staff officer to translate the telegram.

When he took the telegram and looked at it, Tan Renhao laughed. There are only two letters on the telegram with one punctuation mark: OK! No wonder the translation is so fast.

"This must be a telegram sent by Huang Xiaotian, Lao Lei will not send such a telegram." Hao Dongjue only glanced at it, and also laughed, "This kid is really a bit admiral, I have a chance to repair him." ”

"It looks like we don't need to activate a backup plan anymore." Tan Renhao also relaxed at this time, "Let the officers take turns during the day, and I will replace you at four o'clock in the afternoon." If you can't stand it, you should go to rest early and let the nautical staff guard it. ”

"I'm fine, you go and rest, just remember not to be late."

Tan Renhao didn't be wordy, and went back to sleep after saying goodbye to Hao Dongjue. At this time, the fleet was also released from combat mode, and the officers and men also took turns to rest.

While the First Task Force continued to sail westward, while Tan Renhao ran off to sleep, several other troops on the battlefield were busy.

While Huang Xiaotian's bombers destroyed U.S. airfields on the southern and southwestern islands of the Solomon Sea, the first batch of HNA bombers also saturated three U.S. airfields (one regular airfield and two field airfields) near Port Moresby.

In the past few months, the US military fighters stationed in Port Moresby have been sneaking up on the Tang Imperial airfield on the Lae side, and in retaliation, the Tang Empire fighters will also sneak attack the US military airfield in Port Moresby from time to time. It's just that the focus of both warring sides is on the side of Kuah Island, and the aviation is the most active force on the battlefield, so the number of achievements used by both sides to carry out sneak attacks is not much. At best, it only played the role of harassment. This was the largest bombing of Port Moresby by the Tang Imperial Air Force since the outbreak of fighting in the Southwest Pacific Theater.

After completing the bombing of Makila Island and Rennell Island, HNA transferred 12 squadrons of fighters to Lae overnight. And the first group of bombers to be dispatched before dawn consisted of 10 squadrons. More than 300 tactical bombers and fighters quickly took control of the skies over Port Moresby, and when the bombs dropped by these bombers exploded, the U.S. commander also received the news that Tagura's Island had been bombed. Then, more and more bombs fell, and a group of US fighter planes at the emergency take-off site were not able to play their role at all. All of them were quickly solved by the escorted Tang Empire fighters.

The news soon reached the port of Brisbane, and MacArthur was woken up from his bed by his staff officers, and he went to bed at two o'clock, and the news that the island of Makila and Rennell had been bombed the night before received the news that the islands of Marquila and Rennell had been bombed, and made him wait anxiously all night, and after knowing that the airfields on the two islands had been completely destroyed, the planes that were ready to transfer to the past were left on the airfields in the New Hebrides. When MacArthur learned that Port Moresby and the airfields on Tagura's Island had been bombed again, he was completely blindsided.

Half an hour later, MacArthur arrived at the theater command, and his first order was to concentrate all the ground forces that could be found. There is also a fleet of transport vessels. Prepare to support Port Moresby. He then sent a reconnaissance plane from the airfield on the Cairns side to find out what was going on in the waters south of Port Moresby. His third order was for the commanders in Port Moresby and Tagoura to report immediately on the situation and losses.

At about 10 o'clock, the two front-line commanders of the US army sent back a report on the situation of the battle, and both telegrams mentioned a large number of Tang Empire bombers, and the airfields were paralyzed, a large number of fighters were destroyed on the ground, and the bombing of Tang Empire fighters was still going on.

Combining these two pieces of information, MacArthur's first judgment was that the Don Army was preparing to attack Port Moresby, and that there must be a fleet advancing towards Port Moresby. Sure enough, by about twelve o'clock, a reconnaissance plane sent back a message. A fleet of more than twenty warships was heading in the direction of Port Moresby, but there were no aircraft carriers in this fleet. This is the first task force commanded by Tan Renhao!

MacArthur no longer doubted his judgment, the task of that fleet was to shell Port Moresby at night and prepare for artillery fire for the landing of the marines, otherwise what would they do in Port Moresby?

And he was sure that it was the same Tang Empire fleet that had shelled the islands of Makila and Rennell the night before, because at this time, no other Tang fleet could operate in the southern Solomon Sea and the northern waters of the Coral Sea.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, MacArthur had received two more pieces of information.

The first piece of information was sent back from a submarine operating in the Solomon Sea. The submarine spotted an extremely large fleet of at least two fleet carriers and more than 20 escort warships, and the bombers and fighters on these carriers were taking off frequently.

The second piece of information was sent back from the spies in Lae, the troops of the two divisions of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps Reserve originally stationed in Lae were being put on board one after another, and there were at least dozens of landing ships and transport ships in Lae Harbor, all of which were fully loaded.

At this point, MacArthur fully believed in the judgment that the Tang Empire Marines would attack Port Moresby, and invested two Marine Divisions at one time. A few days ago, MacArthur also received information that several Marine Divisions deployed by the Tang Empire on the island of Taiwan were rushing to the Southwest Pacific theater. Well, this group of Marines must have been used to expand the offensive operation in Port Moresby. And this reinforcement will arrive in a few days. On this basis, MacArthur judged that the Don Army would attack Port Moresby with at least five divisions or more. And the army he deployed in Port Moresby is only 30,000 horses, obviously, Port Moresby is in danger!

The status of Port Moresby is clear. No matter how the Tang Empire fought in the Solomon Islands, if it wanted to attack the Australian mainland, it must first capture Port Moresby, or go to the Greater New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Comparatively speaking, the capture of Mores was much less difficult than the port. The ultimate goal of the Tang Empire's offensive operations in the southwest Pacific islands was to capture Australia, and the ultimate goal of the U.S. military's defense was to hold Australia. Port Moresby was the bridgehead for the attack on the Australian mainland, and the Don Army's attack on the Solomon Islands was only to allow their fleet to enter the Coral Sea smoothly. It's just to support the landing of the Marine Corps in Australia.

In this sense, Port Moresby was even more important than the Solomon Islands, so MacArthur never used the 30,000 ground troops there, and also built two large field airfields (one of which was inland and the fleet could not shell it) to strengthen Port Moresby's defenses. Now, the Tang Empire has mobilized five marine divisions and at least 70,000 ground troops to attack Port Moresby. The intent of this campaign is already very obvious.

Judging from the series of attacks by the Tang Army on the Solomon Islands in the past few days, even if MacArthur knew that the Tang Empire was still unable to enter the Australian continent for the time being, he had to believe that the Tang Army would quickly capture Port Moresby and pave the way for the future invasion of the Australian mainland.

The bigger trouble is that Port Moresby is actually an isolated stronghold, unlike the Solomon Islands defensive line, where the defenders can get support from nearby islands from Bougainville to Kuah, and where the U.S. fleet has been active. Provide support to the troops defending the island. And the supplies were delivered. In the vicinity of Port Moresby, there were no other strongholds for the US military, and only air forces were located on Tagura, the most advanced island. The other is Cairns Port in the northeast corner of mainland Australia.

And between Cairns and Port Moresby there is a coral sea hundreds of nautical miles wide, with no islands in between, no American airfields, and no cover for the fleet and fleet! In other words, it will be very difficult to reinforce or support Port Moresby.

MacArthur did not give up his efforts, he had to send a batch of troops and supplies to Port Moresby in these days, even if he transferred the defenders on the Australian mainland, he had to strengthen the defense of Port Moresby, if it could be delayed until July. Then it is possible that the 3rd Task Force will be strengthened, and then he will be able to consolidate Port Moresby.

Soon, MacArthur got in touch with Kincaid, and he thought of the three small aircraft carriers in Kincaid's hands, but the answer he got was no, and Kincaid refused to send those three small aircraft carriers into battle!

Kincaid's refusal was simple, and the reasons he gave made MacArthur unable to object, because Kincaid only had the three small aircraft carriers in his hands, and no escort ships. Not even a single destroyer! Kincaid is also blunt, according to him, these three small aircraft carriers in the absence of escort warships, as long as they leave Port Vila, I am afraid that the two large fleet aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire do not need to do it, and the Tang Empire submarines ambushed in the coral sea are enough to make the three small aircraft carriers go to the bottom of the sea to sleep.

In desperation, MacArthur made contact with Port Moresby again, and after determining that the defenders there would try to repair the airfield, MacArthur chose a backup plan, that is, to immediately mobilize all the transport planes that could fly to Port Moresby, and send reinforcements, food, ammunition, fuel, light equipment and other war materials to Port Moresby. In the absence of a sea freight, the only way to do it is to do it by air. To ensure the safety of the planes, the air transport will take place at night and will also land at the inland airport.

MacArthur's efforts were grounded, when the U.S. military had about 400 C47 transport planes in the Southwest Pacific theater, which could carry 2 tons of cargo at a time, or 36 heavily armed soldiers to Port Moresby, and 400 transport planes could fly back and forth a night, so 800 tons of supplies could be transported, or 14,400 soldiers to Port Moresby. It may not be a lot of goods to be transported, but the reinforcements to be transported are extremely important, at least for now there is no shortage of war supplies on the Port Moresby side, as long as it can hold out for three months, then it can be replenished with a large number of supplies.

While Port Moresby was under constant bombardment, MacArthur did everything possible to mobilize these transports and send them all to Cairns. In addition, he dispatched a large number of vehicles to deliver supplies to Cairns. Anyway, all the transport forces that MacArthur could find at that time were used, and the end of this transport route was Port Moresby.

While MacArthur was busy providing reinforcements to Port Moresby, he forgot a little. At this time, not only Port Moresby needed reinforcements, but also Kuah Island, Rennell Island, and Marquila Island were in need of reinforcements. In fact, the 30,000 U.S. troops in Port Moresby at that time could hold on for at least 10 days, while the U.S. troops on Kuah Island may not be able to hold out for even 10 days because they have not received continued ammunition and supplies.

Judging from MacArthur's reaction, Tan Renhao's tactics of pointing to the west and fighting the east have been successful. The attention of the American forces has been shifted to Port Moresby, and in the absence of a strong enough fleet to compete for sea supremacy, the American forces have had to weaken the reinforcements to Kuah Island.

Of course, this is just the beginning.

During the day, the HNA carried out five rounds of bombardment of Port Moresby. The first two rounds of bombing had already paralyzed the three airfields in Port Moresby, and in the last three rounds of bombing, in addition to continuing to suppress the airfields so that the US forces could not carry out emergency repairs, they also carried out focused bombing of the port area of Port Moresby and the defensive positions of the US military.

Huang Xiaotian also canceled a round of bombing of Tagura Island that afternoon and sent carrier-based bombers to carry out a long-distance raid on Port Moresby. The bombers did not return directly to the fleet after dropping their bombs, but went to Lae first, where they refueled and then returned to the fleet after dark. The two task forces also turned southwest at about 4 p.m. to prepare for the night entry into the Coral Sea, and after the first task force, they launched bombers to bomb Port Moresby directly before the next daybreak.

Tan Renhao came to the command cabin at around four o'clock and replaced Hao Dongjue, who was already so tired that he was about to climb down. After letting Hao Dongjue go to rest, he made some new adjustments and deployments to the fleet, and then asked the navigation staff to modify the course and head straight in the direction of Port Moresby.