On the evening of the 27th, Huang Xiaotian received the news that a large US landing fleet had left Pearl Harbor. The landing fleet also contained dozens of transport vessels, which were the face of the American forces that had gone to attack Midway.

It was discovered that the submarine captain of the US landing fleet was named Zheng Xiaotian, a well-known ace captain in the submarine force of the Imperial Navy, who had sunk 22 enemy ships on the battlefield and achieved a record of more than 100,000 tons. He could have left the front-line troops a year earlier, promoted to the rank of colonel officer, and went to command a submarine detachment. But he chose to stay, and was promoted to colonel half a year late, which was already the highest military rank that a submarine captain could obtain.

Zheng Xiaotian's submarine discovered the US landing fleet on the morning of 27 July. He immediately judged that the U.S. landing fleet was going westward, and immediately took a shortcut, reaching the waters between Oahu and Kauai that afternoon, where he took refuge. As he expected, the U.S. landing fleet arrived an hour later. Zheng Xiaotian originally wanted to take advantage of the night to sneak attack the US landing fleet, and even had already seized a favorable torpedo attack position, but at this time, he suddenly thought that he should first send the information back and let the headquarters know that the US landing fleet had set off. As a result, he hesitated for more than ten minutes, missed the optimal time to attack, and when he again decided that he should "consume" a few torpedoes, the American destroyers forced him to leave the attack position and hide in the sea for several hours. The US destroyers did not discover Zheng Xiaotian's submarine, and probably no US military would have thought that the Tang Empire's submarines would appear in their anti-submarine patrol area in the first half of the night. Although Zheng Xiaotian missed the opportunity to increase his achievements, he did not forget to send the information back again, which was his main task.

"The U.S. landing fleet is definitely going to attack Midway, and it will be on Necker Island. Or stay near Nihua Island and wait for the Fifth Fleet to bomb Midway first. Seize air supremacy. Yan Yulong made the simplest analysis, "In other words, the Fifth Fleet is also attacking Midway, and it will probably bomb Midway in the past two days." ”

Huang Xiaotian yawned, then nodded. These days. The fleet has always maintained a fighting state, and his and Yan Yulong's schedules have been completely disrupted, whoever is sleepy will go to sleep for a few hours, instead of shifts like before. This made Huang Xiaotian feel very tired, he was originally a person with a very regular life.

"There is a high probability that the Fifth Fleet will approach Midway from the east, followed by the south, and it is unlikely that it will appear in the north." Yan Yulong didn't notice Huang Xiaotian's tired look. Still working on his analysis. "The Fifth Fleet will try to use the night to get close to Midway, but Spruance does not know that all the long-range reconnaissance planes on Midway have been replaced with night reconnaissance models, and their search capabilities at night have been greatly enhanced. We should keep the fleet in the waters northwest of Midway, make the best use of the night reconnaissance planes on Midway, and if we can spot the Fifth Fleet at night, we will have a night to maneuver to the attack position. Take advantage of the Fifth Fleet's bombardment of Midway and take out the Fifth Fleet! ”

"Spruance wouldn't fail to take that into account." Huang Xiaotian took the teacup handed by the staff officer, "The Fifth Fleet will definitely bomb Midway, but when to bomb it, this is not something we can easily judge." And Spruance won't ignore our threat. Even if it were to bomb Midway, the Fifth Fleet would be cautious, and there would be no carelessness in our attempt to attack the Fifth Fleet, and the chances of success would not be very high. ”

"But......" Yan Yulong hesitated, "we have already missed an opportunity, and we can't miss another opportunity." ”

"That's why we should be more careful, if we are defeated by the Fifth Fleet, even if we have a chance in front of us. There's nothing we can do about it, can we? Huang Xiaotian laughed. There are a lot of opportunities, and if we were to miss one opportunity and we were to act blindly, I would rather miss them all. ”

Yan Yulong shrugged his shoulders, he didn't study philosophy.

Spruance would have anticipated that we would be on standby west of Midway, so he would try to avoid danger when bombing Midway. At most, one task force was used to bomb Midway, and another task force was used to cover it. As long as we kill it, I am afraid that the first to arrive will be the US bombers. Huang Xiaotian turned the chart around, and then circled Necke Island on the mudflats with a pencil. Our fundamental task is to delay the US counterattack as long as possible, and taking out the Fifth Fleet is an option, but in the same way, if we can take out the US landing fleet, it can also achieve the goal. Relatively speaking, it is much easier to take out the landing fleet than the Fifth Fleet, isn't it? ”

"The Fifth Fleet hasn't appeared yet, will Spruance use the landing fleet as bait?"

Huang Xiaotian nodded slightly. "That's where I have scruples. We still don't know much about Spruance, but judging from his past combat operations, he doesn't care what means he uses to achieve his goals. On Wake Island, he can ignore even tens of thousands of American troops, and more than once use landing fleets and transport fleets as bait. Then it is definitely possible for him to have the landing fleet come and lure us up this time. ”

"This is a big decoy, and if the officers and men of the U.S. Marine Corps knew about it, they would probably curse Spruance."

Huang Xiaotian immediately laughed. "It has nothing to do with us."

"But we'll have to be careful."

"Let's take a look at the situation first, the fleet continues to be on standby, besides, is there any news from Han Shaofeng's side?" Huang Xiaotian said as he walked towards the outside of the command cabin.

"No, the reconnaissance aircraft on the island flew three times during the day, and still nothing was found." Yan Yulong followed Huang Xiaotian out of the command cabin, "Maybe the Fifth Fleet hasn't rushed over yet, according to the speed of the US landing fleet, it will not be until the 30th to reach Midway Island at the earliest, and the Fifth Fleet has enough time to complete the maneuver." ”

Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, he also felt very annoyed, since he received the intelligence of the Fifth Fleet two days ago, he had not received any news related to the Fifth Fleet. If the U.S. military plans to attack Midway at the end of the month or early next month, then the Fifth Fleet will have enough time to maneuver into the attack area. The only thing that made Huang Xiaotian a little puzzled was that. Could it be that the U.S. military is preparing to force a landing on Midway?

In accordance with the Imperial Naval Territory, before the Marines went ashore. There must be at least three days of pre-fire preparation, and perhaps in some special cases, the time for pre-fire preparation will be shortened. For example, this attack on the Australian continent was aimed at effectively confusing the US military and avoiding exposing the true direction of the landing in advance. The time for pre-fire preparation is much shorter. However, in the vast majority of cases, it is necessary to ensure the preparation of firepower in the early stage as much as possible, so that the landing operation can be completed more smoothly. Especially in island-like landing operations, early firepower preparation can provide great help to the Marine Corps.

Huang Xiaotian didn't know if the US military had similar regulations, but the war had been fought for so long, and there had been dozens of landing campaigns in the Pacific theater, even if there were only a handful of landing campaigns launched by the US military. However, the U.S. military will also learn lessons from the Tang Imperial Marine Corps, and will not be unaware of the importance of early firepower preparation. Then, if the US military wants to land on Midway, it will definitely have to make preliminary firepower preparations. Herein lies the problem, it is already the 27th, and even if the Fifth Fleet arrives tomorrow, then there will only be two days to prepare for the preliminary fire. But the question is, it is very likely that the Fifth Fleet will not be able to bomb Midway tomorrow, so is the US military prepared to attack Midway regardless of casualties?

The more he thought about it, the more Huang Xiaotian felt that there was a problem. Maybe Spruance was the kind of commander who didn't care much about the casualties of his troops, but Nimitz certainly wasn't. Moreover, the generals of the U.S. Marine Corps could not tolerate the heavy casualties of their troops. So, will the U.S. military delay the attack on Midway, or will the Fifth Fleet try to quietly approach Midway, approach Midway from a direction that Huang Xiaotian could not have expected, and then bomb Midway?

This question made Huang Xiaotian unable to rest at all, and in the second half of the night, he had been thinking about possible situations at the chart table. He even thought that the Fifth Fleet would appear in the waters west of Midway. That is, in the vicinity of Task Force 4. But he quickly dismissed the idea, at least until the 29th. It is impossible for the Fifth Fleet to maneuver to the waters west of Midway, as it would take at least four days.

When the sky was dark, Yan Yulong helped Huang Xiaotian send him over early. He didn't sleep all night, although he didn't bother Huang Xiaotian, but Yan Yulong knew what the commander was worried about, and he was also learning from Huang Xiaotian how to command the fleet to fight by cooperating with Huang Xiaotian, and this was a necessary lesson for leaving the fleet chief of staff and being promoted to the commander of the fleet, and it was also the most important accumulation and preparation.

"Perhaps, only God knows what Spruance is up to now." Huang Xiaotian didn't have much appetite, and he felt a little pain in his stomach, probably because of the irregularity of life during this time.

"Maybe even God doesn't know, but if Spruance prayed, maybe their God would know better."

Huang Xiaotian smiled and shook his head, he didn't believe in religion, even if he wanted to convert to a certain sect, he wouldn't choose Christianity or Catholicism.

"There's nothing to worry about, if the Fifth Fleet doesn't appear, then we should be happy, at least Han Shaofeng won't let the U.S. Marines without fleet support taste the sweetness." Yan Yulong looked relaxed, "However, the Fifth Fleet must be doing something, perhaps, rushing towards Midway." Maybe in ten minutes we will receive information on the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet! ”

Without waiting for ten minutes, Huang Xiaotian and the others received information related to the Fifth Fleet from a village, but this information was not sent by Han Shaofeng, and it was not a reconnaissance plane that discovered the Fifth Fleet, but from Laisan Island, and the tactical bombers of the US army bombed Laisang Island!

"This must be a carrier-based bomber of the Fifth Fleet, and it is impossible for a US tactical bomber on Necke Island to fly so far!" Yan Yulong was not so easy now, "Damn, what does Spruance want to do?" ”

"Maybe Nimitz wants to do something."

Yan Yulong looked at Huang Xiaotian. "You're saying that the U.S. military plans to attack Lysan Island first?"

Huang Xiaotian did not express his position, but pondered. He also didn't believe that the U.S. military would be stupid enough to attack Laisan Island, but now that the Fifth Fleet has bombed Laisan Island, and the U.S. landing fleet is rushing over, will the U.S. military attack Laisan Island? If so, then the actions of the Fifth Fleet can be explained, if not, then what did the Fifth Fleet do by bombing the island of Lyssan?

Yan Yulong also thought for a while, and then said: "The U.S. military must plan to attack Laisang Island, otherwise it will not be able to explain the actions of the Fifth Fleet." ”

Huang Xiaotian still didn't rush to make a judgment, he always felt that there was a problem, Nimitz and Spruance were not stupid, and they should know that there was not much point in attacking Lysan Island.

"We should rush over immediately, even if we can't defeat the Fifth Fleet, we must force the Fifth Fleet to leave the waters near Lysan Island, as long as we appear near Lysan Island, then the US military will not dare to attack Lysan Island easily!"

"If that's what Spruance intended, then aren't we sending us to death if we rush there?" Huang Xiaotian looked at Yan Yulong, "If the U.S. military doesn't plan to attack Laisang Island, then the only explanation for the Fifth Fleet's bombing of Laisang Island is that we mistakenly believe that the U.S. military will attack Laisang Island, so as to go to support Laisan Island, and the other task force of the Fifth Fleet must be ambushed on our route to Laisan Island, waiting for us to die!" ”

"But ......"

"Then we must not be fooled. In addition, even if the U.S. military really attacks Laisan Island, then they will spend a lot of time on Laisan Island, isn't this helping us achieve the purpose of the campaign? Huang Xiaotian sneered, "This is a trap set by Spruance for us, we must not be fooled." Now, the Fifth Fleet is waiting for us near the island of Lyssan, then we will go and attack the American landing fleet! ”

"Then we'll have to hurry."

Huang Xiaotian did not hesitate, and immediately asked Yan Yulong to modify the route of the fleet, while he went to adjust the reconnaissance mission of the fleet reconnaissance aircraft. Now that the Fourth Task Force is going to sail eastward, it must closely monitor the waters around the fleet and must not fall into the trap of the Fifth Fleet.