In the polo game that originated in the Tang Empire and swept the world, the most direct attack was often the most threatening attack. Perhaps war itself and athletic competition are incomparable, but in some respects they share the same truth. On the battlefield, it is often the most direct attack that is the most threatening.

While Huang Xiaotian struggled to guess what Spruance might do, Spruance didn't think about the problem so complicated, and the final decision was simpler and more straightforward than any of Huang's guesses.

When he returned to the fleet in the early morning of the 21st, Spruance asked the fleet to continue eastward and kept both task forces on high alert, with anti-aircraft fighters taking turns in the air. By the afternoon of the same day, after the two task forces had left the cover range of shore-based fighters, they had entered a combat state. In addition to strengthening the fleet's defenses and avoiding surprise attacks from the enemy, it also familiarizes newcomers to the fleet with the adrenaline-pumping tension that can get the adrenaline rushed. In addition, during the day, Task Force 52 adjusted the configuration of carrier-based aircraft, restored the normal strength, and replaced the redundant fighters with bombers.

It wasn't until midnight on the 21st that Spruance made his decision. He spent more than ten hours doing various aspects of analysis, and finally made a very direct and decisive decision, a decision that Huang Xiaotian could not have imagined, that is, the Fifth Fleet would not immediately participate in the combat operation of attacking Midway, but would first go to the airfields on the Marshall Islands and look for an opportunity to take out the Fourth Task Force here.

Before making this decision, Spruance also considered using the attack on Midway to force Task Force 4 into battle, but after much thought, he decided that it was too risky to do so, and the impact of failure would be too great. Therefore, he decided to make an effort and try first, and only use the main attack operation to force the Fourth Task Force to fight it as a last resort. And his attempt is to attack the Marshall Islands, of course. It's just a bombing campaign of the fleet, and Nimitz is not going to put in the marines for the attack on the Marshall Islands.

Spruance's reasons for this decision are quite strong.

If you attack Midway directly. He had to face several extremely unfavorable situations.

First, before the Fifth Fleet rushed to Midway, it had to first blow up the airfields on Lysan Island, Gardner Island, and even the seaplane docks, otherwise, the Fifth Fleet's whereabouts would be very likely to be exposed, and Nimitz did not give him any guarantees at that time, and the bombing operation was to begin on the 23rd. Ability to complete this task in one day. Even Nimitz wasn't much sure. If the airfields on the two islands cannot be destroyed on the 23rd, then the Fifth Fleet will not be able to move westward smoothly, and it will hate fighters because of this. Judging by Spruance's own estimates. In the mobilization of only heavy bombers, and under the cover of a limited number of fighters. It will take at least two to three days to destroy the airfields on the islands of Lysan and Gardner, and the damage will be enormous. Losses are still secondary, and these two to three days are enough for the Fifth Fleet to lose the opportunity to defeat the enemy.

Second, the Fifth Fleet had to blow up the midway airfield first to avoid being hit by shore-based bombers. And without the capture of Lysan and Gardner, Spruance could not have counted on heavy bombers to help. Therefore, even with the most reasonable arrangement, Task Force 52 had to bomb Midway. Task Force 51 took cover. But this is also vulnerable to a sudden attack by Task Force 4. If Task Force 4 has mastered the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet, it will attack Task Force 51 first. Or attack the 52nd Task Force first, the final result will be a crushing defeat for the Fifth Fleet, and the Fourth Task Force can go away after completing the attack, and then come back to make a final break with the Fifth Fleet after finishing the attack, and this will be the worst result.

Finally, and most importantly, Spruance could not "experiment" with the attack on Midway. If the operation to annihilate the Fourth Task Force failed, even if the Fifth Fleet retreated, Nimitz would have to delay the landing on Midway due to the real threat of the Fourth Task Force. MacArthur, then, had plenty of reason to let the Fifth Fleet go south. Therefore, the operation to land on Midway Island must be successful in one fell swoop, and it is necessary to quickly take down Midway Island and completely turn the tide of war in the Central Pacific; otherwise, it will be impossible for the Fifth Fleet to remain in the Central Pacific and can only go to the southwest Pacific to "die." This is also an unacceptable outcome.

With Spruance's commanding characteristics, and with so many factors restricting him when he didn't fully understand Huang Xiaotian's opponent, it was normal for him to give up the idea of going directly to Midway. However, Spruance did not abandon this plan entirely, but rather used it as a backup plan that could come in handy if Task Force 4 could not be annihilated in the waters of the Marshall Islands, and Nimitz had the rest of the combat forces ready to attack Midway.

The possibility of using the attack on the Marshall Islands to force Task Force 4 into battle is not very likely, but there are many favorable conditions.

First, it is very likely that the Fourth Task Force will still be operating in the waters of the Marshall Islands, while the Fifth Fleet can be fully prepared for possible threats. After all, there are only two islands in the Marshall Islands where shore-based combat aircraft can be deployed, and if Task Force 4 wants to get the cover of shore-based fighters, then its area of activity is quite limited. Therefore, as long as the airfields on Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll can be quickly destroyed, Task Force 4 has only two options: to escape or to stay and fight the Fifth Fleet. According to Spruance's own speculation, it is very likely that the Fourth Task Force will remain in the waters west of the Marshall Islands, and then the Fifth Fleet will have one day to complete the bomber airfield operation, which will be enough for him to blow the two islands into rubble.

Second, if the Fourth Task Force had already gone north and headed for the waters of Midway to stand by, then the Fifth Fleet would be able to avoid the threat and disrupt the Tang Empire's naval defenses at the same time. At that time, the Tang Imperial Navy will definitely have to worry about the US attack on the Marshall Islands, and the most effective defense method is to let the Fourth Task Force go south. At that time, the Fifth Fleet could choose to go north to intercept Task Force 4, or simply ambush Task Force 4 in the waters near Wake Island. Both of these are favorable for Spruance. If Task Force 4 didn't go south, he could wait until the airfield on Wake Island was repaired and use Wake Island as a support point. Advance steadily northward, unless Task Force 4 is confident enough to take out six of the Fifth Fleet's carriers in a head-to-head attack. Otherwise, the Fourth Task Force would not dare to face it easily.

Finally, and most crucially. Even if the attack on the Marshall Islands failed and the Tang Imperial Navy did not react in any way, the Fifth Fleet would still have enough time to return to Midway Island and use the backup plan to fight the Fourth Task Force in a decisive battle. In other words, the attack on the Marshall Islands is acceptable and will not have much impact on the overall situation in the Central Pacific, as long as the successful capture of Midway can be guaranteed in the end. That would achieve the goal of a strategic counterattack.

It was precisely because of these three factors that Spruance finally decided to make an effort that did not require too much risk. Of course, there were many more factors that influenced Spruance's decision. For example, shore-based bombers are deployed on Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll, which are relatively few and weakly defended. More favorable for the fleet to launch a surprise attack, etc., for Spruance these were favorable factors.

Of course, the attack on the Marshall Islands had to be carefully chosen. At this point, Spruance made a bold decision: Task Force 51 and Task Force 52 raided Majuro Atoll and Kwajalein Atoll at the same time. Task Force 51 was in the south and was responsible for bombing Majuro Atoll, while Task Force 52 was in the north and was bombarding Kwajalein Atoll. Spruance made this gambling decision on the basis that Task Force 4 was in the western waters of the Marshall Islands, or had left the waters of the Marshall Islands. It is unlikely to be in the vicinity of the two atolls, or in the waters east of the Marshall Islands. Therefore. When the Fifth Fleet bombarded the airfields on the island, the Fourth Task Force could not immediately rush over, and therefore could not threaten the Fifth Fleet!

This was indeed a gambling decision, and it can be seen that Spruance still had to make risky decisions on some key points while taking a stable campaign deployment. But his adventure was not blind. Spruance's reason for judging that the Fourth Task Force would not take the initiative to meet the battle was also very simple, that is, when the Fourth Task Force bombed Wake Island, after the Fifth Fleet left Pearl Harbor, the Fourth Task Force took the initiative to withdraw from the battle and did not continue the bombing. In addition, Spruance also guessed the strategic deployment of the Tang Imperial Navy, as well as the priority of the Fourth Task Force in the Central Pacific. If the purpose of the Fourth Task Force is to keep the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific, then an existing Fourth Task Force will definitely be more useful than a Fourth Task Force that has been completely annihilated after a bloody battle with the Fifth Fleet, so the Fourth Task Force will not easily fight the Fifth Fleet, but will always be active on the battlefield without allowing the Fifth Fleet to catch up. It's like a game of cat and mouse.

At 11:30 a.m. on the 21st, the Fifth Fleet began to sail southwest at a speed of 16 knots. And it was soon raised to 20 knots. At this rate, the Fifth Fleet will send bombers in the early hours of the 24th. Because the length of the routes of the two fleets is not the same. It was also necessary to ensure that the bombers were dispatched at the same time, so the speed of Task Force 51 was slightly faster than that of Task Force 52, but it was not very obvious.

Judging from Spruance's campaign deployment, as well as tactical deployment. It fully reflects Spruance's accurate grasp of the overall battlefield situation, and this is where Huang Xiaotian is inferior to him. If Huang Xiaotian could see the battle situation more thoroughly and comprehensively, instead of focusing too much on the focus of the battlefield, then it would not be impossible for him to judge the real actions of the Fifth Fleet.

As a fleet commander, the ability to grasp the situation of the war is almost the only factor that determines its future development. It took Tan Renhao several years to gradually master the method and ability to judge the actions of the enemy fleet from the overall battle situation. Perhaps, the only thing that can be said is that Huang Xiaotian is still too young and lacks enough experience, if he had four years of experience as a fleet commander and had commanded more decisive battles at sea, then he would not have made such a mistake.

In addition, the actions of the Fifth Fleet also reflect a basic law on the battlefield, that is, the attacking side always has more options and more opportunities than the defensive side. This is also known as the "initiative". Although on the ground battlefield, the "initiative" no longer plays a key role at the tactical level due to the progress of certain defense technologies, at the strategic level and on the maritime battlefield, the "initiative" is always a necessary guarantee for victory. The history of naval warfare over the past several hundred years has fully proved this point, and on the maritime battlefield, losing the "initiative" is equivalent to losing the war.

Spruance is trying to take advantage of the initiative and hopes to win. Huang Xiaotian did no worse than Spruance, and even though the task force of Task Force 4 was "defensive in nature", he was still trying to defend actively, not passively.

Both fleets were moving rapidly, and neither side had accurately judged the opponent's movements. If you stand on a higher place and look down on the entire battlefield, then you will find an important problem: in the early morning of the 24th, the distance between the two fleets is less than 300 nautical miles, and the reconnaissance planes of both sides are able to fly 300 nautical miles away, that is, the two sides will enter the strike range of the other side at this time, and at the same time enter the range of striking the other side!

If the sea is like a polo field, and the fleets of the warring parties are the players on this field, then the distance of 300 nautical miles is like passing by to these two "players", close enough to break each other. But the question is, when the pitch is pitch black, players can only rely on guesswork to judge their opponents' actions, and when they only have a less bright "flashlight" in their hands, will they be able to spot an opponent who is close at hand?