The Japanese Navy vowed to take revenge on the Tang Empire.

However, Japan is more than 10,000 kilometers away from Datang, and if the main force of the huge combined fleet wants to make an expedition to the Tang Empire, according to Vice Admiral Kobayashi's Jihua, the combined fleet will use six battleships, six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, 17 destroyers, and 11 submarines, in addition to the aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, the Notoro and Kamui seaplane carriers, as well as dozens of auxiliary ships of various sizes, such as refueling ships, refueling ships, food and fresh water supply ships, tugboats, and maintenance ships. and fifteen troop carriers carrying 20,000 Japanese marines and a large number of artillery and other heavy weapons and equipment.

Due to the fact that it is equipped with many low-speed ships, the average speed of the combined fleet is only about 12 to 15 knots, and it takes a month to sail on the way, and the North Pacific region has entered the rainy and hurricane season, and the weather conditions will also greatly affect the sailing speed of the fleet.

At the same time, the combined fleet expedition requires all kinds of preparations, whether the funds are in place, the pre-war inspection of weapons and equipment, the replenishment of various ammunition, the transfer of personnel, and so on, and it is not enough to prepare without a month.

However, international public opinion sided with the Tang Empire, and Britain and the United States imposed a high-pressure policy on Japan because their military attache was shelled and killed by a Japanese ship, trying to prevent the Japanese military from taking further military action.

The most important thing is that there are also differences of opinion within the Japanese military. It mainly focuses on whether the large-scale conquest of Tang can obtain the expected political, military, and economic benefits. In the face of public opinion at home and abroad, defeating the small Tang Empire will not win applause, if it is inexplicably annihilated again like Ono Samurai Sannori fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy will no longer be able to withstand huge military and reputational losses, and if the main force of the combined fleet has another accident, it will deal a serious blow to the entire Asia-Pacific hegemony of the Japanese Empire.

Although the majority of the Japanese military agreed to the operation, it is inevitable that these various factors will not affect the actual implementation effect. In the end, it will take more than three months for the Japanese Combined Fleet to launch a powerful naval offensive against the Tang Empire at the earliest, and these three months are enough for any variables to occur, and at the same time, it will also make the Tang Empire prepare for a series of war preparations.

After learning the news that the Japanese military had released wild words to bloodied the Tang Empire, Zhang Meng just smiled faintly.

The end of the strong crossbow cannot wear Lu Min.

Zhang Meng has already prepared for the worst, and after the big deal is over, he will start farming again in another place.

Zhang Meng didn't care at all, so he was able to analyze the current situation more calmly and make a reasonable judgment.

A Boeing 247D plane from the Royal Air Force of the Tang Empire marked with the special logo of Air Force One slowly landed on the Nadi airport.

Located on the western plains of Viti Levu, Nadi Airport is Fiji's only airport.

The airport is ordinary, with its own simple runway. Except for the British reconnaissance planes that land here for refueling during their patrols, basically no other aircraft land here every year.

Zhang Meng is a frequent visitor here, and his Air Force One often comes to visit the door.

Zhang Meng knew that in 50 years, it would be the largest international airport in the Central Pacific. However, at present, Zhang Mengjihua turned this airport into the first overseas air base of the Tang Empire, so that Tang Army planes could take off from here to attack the flanks and rear flanks of the Japanese Navy, and reduce the military pressure on the Tang Empire's homeland defense.

However, Zhang Meng encountered some problems.

He had previously travelled to Suva, the capital of Fiji, to discuss with the British High Commissioner for the Central Pacific, Bain, about the lease of Nadi Airport.

Bain asked Zhang Meng for a card, according to his words, in principle, there is no problem, but this time it needs to be agreed by the British government. After all, Zhang Meng's purpose in leasing Nadi Airport is very clear, that is, to use Nadi Airport as an air base to attack the Japanese Navy that came to attack the Tang Empire.

Since Britain did not want to be drawn into the Sino-Japanese War, once the lease of Nadi Airport to the Tang Empire became known to the Japanese, Britain would face great political risks. Britain had shrunk its forces in Asia to avoid a head-on confrontation with the expanding Japanese Empire, so when Bain brought the matter to the Downing Street Council for discussion, MacDonald's cabinet flatly refused.

With Zhang Meng's relationship with MacDonald, Zhang Meng was very unhappy that this matter was rejected. In response, MacDonald reassured Zhang Meng that Britain and the United States were putting pressure on Japan, and Jihua intervened in the Tang-Japanese war and acted as an intermediary to mediate. MacDonald insisted that as long as the Tang Empire gave the Japanese some benefits, the Japanese Navy's combined fleet might not go on an expedition to the Tang Empire.

MacDonald asked Zhang Meng to wait patiently, but Zhang Meng knew very well that the Japanese military would not listen to the Japanese cabinet at all, and since the Japanese Navy had released wild words to bloodied the Tang Empire, they would definitely take action. If Britain and the United States were really forced to sit down and negotiate, at least the Japanese lost a quarter of their main fleet in the Battle of Mataugtu, and tens of thousands of Japanese naval elites were killed, and this huge price would at least make the Tang Empire compensate more than one billion dollars.

Apparently, Zhang Meng had insight into MacDonald's ruse. If it accepts the mediation of Britain and the United States, it must be at the expense of the interests of the Tang Empire. With Zhang Meng's character, he has always been the master who does not suffer losses, and it is simply a fool's dream to let Zhang Meng bleed to compensate the Japanese.

Zhang Meng sternly rejected MacDonald's proposal, and the two parted unhappily for the first time, and both hung up the phone. Zhang Meng knew in his heart that after the Battle of Matauptu, the British had begun to worry about the threat of the Tang Empire. After all, to be able to wipe out an elite Japanese naval fleet, the military strength of the Tang Empire was enough to make the British government nervous.

This mediation, ostensibly in order to protect the Tang Empire and appease other protectorates under the British Commonwealth, was actually the British feared that the Tang Empire's expansion in the Central Pacific region would endanger the British Empire's rule over the region, so Jihua also weakened the Tang Empire's liliang.

This is the strategy of the British to kill two birds with one stone, and Zhang Meng naturally saw it clearly.

However, no one can stop Zhang Meng from deciding in his heart, otherwise even if the Buddha blocks and kills the Buddha and the gods.

After receiving MacDonald's order, Bane refused to lease Nadi Airport to the Royal Air Force of the Tang Empire, which immediately touched Zhang Meng's backlash.

Since you British people are uneasy and kind, then don't blame me for being ruthless!

Zhang Meng smiled slightly, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, revealing a semi-white tooth in his signature style.

Yang Yi, the captain of the guard, walked over and happened to see Zhang Meng's signature smile.

Looks like someone is going to be unlucky again!

Yang Yi smiled slightly, stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, you can get off the plane." The head of the Vuanirewa tribe, Latu Tevita Uluirakeba, has personally come to greet His Highness. ”

Zhang Meng nodded and stood up, and Xiao Zhao, who was accompanying him on the side, suddenly stepped forward to tidy up Zhang Meng's clothes.

Although Fiji is a British colony, the British mainly adopt the strategy of ruling Fiji with Fiji. Fiji has 17 great chiefs ruling over 460,000 Fijian and 330,000 Indians, with fewer than 10,000 other ethnic groups living in Fiji, including 300 British troops and more than 2,000 European immigrants and descendants.

The Vuanireva tribe is the largest chieftain tribe in Fiji, controlling the entire Viti Levu Island, with a population of 340,000, of which 320,000 are Fiji, and the leader is Latu-Tevita-Uluirakeba (the name is too long to refer to Latu).

Fiji has a land area of only about 18,000 square kilometers, with a total of 322 islands, the largest of which is Viti Levu, which is controlled by Latour, with more than 10,000 square kilometers. There are 29 peaks on the island that rise 1,000 meters high. At 1,424 metres above sea level, Mount Victoria in the north is Fiji's highest peak, and Fiji's largest river, the Rewa River, is also on the island.

The mountainous areas in the north-central part of the island are rich in gold, silver, manganese and other mineral resources, dense forests, with a large area of sugarcane cultivation and sugar production, but most of them have been bought by Zhang Meng from Latu, all the mines, sugar cane plantations and sugar factories on Viti Levu Island are all owned by Zhang Meng, and Latour provides manpower for Zhang Meng to use, and the two share the profits equally. In the north, there is a 450-tonne gold mine in Vatukoula, first developed in the 1930s, owned by the British United Mining Company, but now it has been acquired by Zhang Meng's Datang Third Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.

Zhang Meng and Latour are partners, which is obviously intentional by Zhang Meng. Previously, the British only gave Latour 5% of the dividends, but Zhang Meng gave Latour 50% of the dividends, so Latour naturally became good friends with Zhang Meng.