The sun is rising, and the Marshall Islands is ushering in a new day.

About 10,000 people of the Croatian community live in this Pacific archipelago, with Majuro Atoll being the most populous, with about 7,000 people.

After the defeat of Germany, the Japanese took over the area and began a brutal colonial rule.

Since the Japanese Navy had no rivals in Asia after the Russo-Japanese War, the lonely Japanese Navy aimed its imaginary enemies at the United States in the eastern Pacific and the British, French, and American colonies in the Central and South Pacific.

Britain, France, and the United States, sensing the Japanese Navy's intentions, joined forces to bully Japan and force Japan to join the Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, thereby controlling the size of the Japanese Navy and preventing its expansion into the Central and South Pacific.

However, the Japanese military did not give up, and they built military and logistical facilities such as fortresses, airfields, docks, and supply depots on the captured German islands, hoping that one day they would come in handy.

Finally, the start of the war between Tang and Japan gave the Japanese military an excuse to send troops to the Central and South Pacific.

Majuro Atoll is the largest atoll on the Marshall Islands and is surrounded by eight elongated islets that resemble a necklace, hence the name atoll.

A large group of Japanese troops was stationed on the Majuro Atoll, and an airfield was built on Jariet Island, the largest island in the southeast, and after the outbreak of the Tang-Japanese War, eight Nakajima reconnaissance planes were stationed here to monitor the movements of the Tang army to the south.

Kalareen Island is the entrance to the inner lake of Majuro Atoll, with a pier that can accommodate several large warships at the same time, and a supply depot on the hill not far away.

The supply depot was built very large, and a lot of fuel and coal were stored. As well as various weapons and ammunition. Because it was Japan's farthest foothold in the Pacific Ocean, it was surrounded by colonies of Britain, France, and the United States. If one day the Japanese go to war with them, it will become one of the most important supply depots for the Japanese Navy.

There used to be a lot of local Aboriginal fishing here. However, the Japanese later drove them out of the atoll, where only Japanese immigrants were allowed to fish.

Fifty-year-old Kishida and his grandson Fumio Kishida fish around the lake as usual, but after immigrating to the Marshall Islands, they finally became wealthy by stealing fishing boats from the locals to fish for the garrison.

As soon as the net went down, Fumio Kishida felt very heavy, thinking that the net had caught a big fish. Hurriedly called his grandfather Kishida Masaki to help.

It took a lot of effort for the grandfather and grandson to finally get the fishing net up.

"Is this a human or a youkai?"

Fumio Kishida was immediately frightened by the two monsters in the net.

Kishida was also taken aback, but he quickly regained his composure. He stepped forward with a fishing fork. Carefully touched the two humanoid monsters in the net, and saw that there was no reaction, so he boldly approached to observe.

"It's two people!"

Kishida Masaki suddenly breathed a sigh of relief because he was short-sighted. When I got closer, I realized that it was just two strangely dressed people.

"Looks like a diver!"

Kishida puts down his fishing fork. Open the nets and drag two people to the deck.

"These two guys are dressed in such strange clothes, especially how their shoes look like frogs' feet!"

Fumio Kishida, who was only a teenager, curiously shook one of his fins. As he tried to remove the man's diving goggle, his eyes suddenly opened.

Fumio Kishida was so frightened that he was about to shout, but the other party was already prepared, covering his mouth and nose with a hand, and at the same time the sharp dagger cut his throat.

The man was very agile. Killed Fumio Kishida without making the slightest sound.

Masaki Kishida, who was facing away, didn't notice the mutation behind him, and he was checking the equipment on another diver. The equipment was so advanced that he couldn't help but be fascinated by it.

Poof!

The dagger that killed Fumio Kishida pierced through the back of Kishida's heart.

The man did not immediately pull out the dagger, but held Kishida Masaki's body and turned the dagger twice to ensure that Kishida Masaki was dead.

If someone sees this action, they will inevitably say that he is a professional killer.

However, in the eyes of the Tang Army, he was called a special forces.

"The crisis is over, Barracuda, stop pretending!"

The man patted another companion named Barracuda who was lying on the deck, and the other man suddenly opened his eyes and rolled over.

"I'm so depressed, I've never been caught, and I've been planted in a fishing net!"

"We are not gods, anything can happen."

"Lobster, what do we do now? It's two Japanese who died, will they startle the snake? ”

Lobster and Barracuda are the code names of the two of them, and in the Tang Army's special forces, their skills and heritage come from the Blue Fox Special Service, so they also use code names instead of names.

The special forces of the two belong to the special brigade of the 1st Division of the Royal Marines of the Tang Dynasty, and they participated in the combat mission of attacking Majuro Atoll with the 1st Marine Division.

The two of them, Lobster and Barracuda, were frogmen who were ordered to infiltrate the inner lake to spy on the island's Japanese defenses. Their equipment is Zhang Meng according to the modern special forces frogman equipment and individually customized, designed for the future battle of the Tang Empire around the island, with frogman equipment, the Tang Army Marines can send special forces to infiltrate the enemy before launching a frontal operation, and achieve unexpected tactical results.

"Let's see if there is any valuable information on the ship, just sink the ship in a while, the Japanese will not be suspicious in a short time."

"Understood!"

There was a nautical chart on the ship, which was drawn by Kishida Masaki himself, and the route on it was exactly what the Tang army needed.

It turned out that Kishida Masaaki had privately surveyed a direct route to the outside of the atoll behind the back of the Japanese troops on the island, and he had planned to avoid the inspection of the Japanese patrol boats, so that he could pay less taxes and secretly go fishing in the no-navigation zone designated by the Japanese army.

"God help us! With this secret channel, our army can directly attack the Japanese troops on the island! ”

The lobsters and barracuda were overjoyed, and following Kishida's smuggling route, they drove the fishing boats out of the atoll and back to Orchardlang Atoll, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Majuro Atoll.

When the fishing boat turned around several small islands, dozens of large merchant ships appeared in the sea ahead.

I saw that these large merchant ships were covered tightly with huge camouflage nets, and even if the Japanese reconnaissance planes had a bird's-eye view from the air, they would think that they were just small islands and reefs that were exposed to the sea.

The Special Brigade of the 1st Marine Division sent out 30 frogmen to reconnoiter the eight small islands in the Majuro Atoll, and each special combat member encountered a different situation. Fortunately, they all underwent strict special training, and in the end, they all returned without danger and brought back the intelligence that the Tang Army needed.

However, the most valuable ones naturally belong to the smuggling routes brought back by the lobster and barracuda. With this secret waterway, which even the Japanese army did not know, the Tang army could directly avoid the minefields laid by the Japanese army on the main channel and enter the inner lake of the Majuro Atoll.

This was important because intelligence showed that the Japanese had fortified artillery positions on all eight islands in the Majuro Atoll, and their firepower was so strong that if they attacked head-on from the open sea, even if they were bombarded with the large caliber guns of the battleships, they might not be able to defeat them. Even if the storm is strong, for the landing force, those bunker heavy machine guns will cause huge casualties to the Tang army.

Of course, the Japanese army also built certain artillery and machine-gun pillbox positions on the anticline of the inner lake. However, due to the large number of mines laid in the inland lake channel, the Japanese army only set up a small number of light artillery and heavy machine guns for defense due to limited financial resources.

After Rear Admiral Zheng Shaoqiu, commander of the 1st Marine Division, repeatedly studied this secret channel, and the lobster and the barracuda came out of this channel safely, he immediately designated this channel as a combat channel for the 1st Marine Division to launch an attack, and at the same time sent a report to the fleet headquarters for instructions.

"Send a report to His Highness immediately, we are confident that we will launch an attack in advance and capture Majuro Atoll!"

In the ocean east of Kiribati, the first aircraft carrier battle group of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire is marching towards Majuro Atoll.

There was still a day's voyage to Majuro Atoll, but unfortunately, the Don fleet was discovered by Japanese reconnaissance aircraft.

This was something Zhang Meng expected.

However, this did not affect the entire military operation of the Tang Army, codenamed 'Extermination', because Zhang Meng had previously ordered the General Staff to formulate a number of operational plans, and as long as any one of them could be fully realized, the battle would be won.

If the Japanese reconnaissance planes had not discovered the main fleet of the Tang Army, Zhang Meng would continue to adopt the plan of action to exterminate the Invaders, directly join up with the 1st Marine Division, and cover the landing operation of the Tang Army with a powerful navy and air force.

Now that it was discovered by the Japanese reconnaissance plane, Zhang Meng immediately canceled plan A and used plan B instead.

According to option B, considering that when attacking the strong Japanese fortifications at Majuro Atoll, without the cover of the fire of the Don fleet, the landing force would lack the firepower to suppress the enemy's coastal artillery positions, and the offensive pressure would be very high, and the casualties would be much higher. Therefore, option B does not require the 1st Marine Division to take Majuro Atoll, but instead changes to a diversionary military feint, and its purpose becomes to encircle the point and send reinforcements.

Siege point reinforcement, as the name suggests. It was the Tang Army that ordered the 1st Marine Division to feint to attack the Majuro Atoll, giving the Japanese defenders the strategic illusion that the Tang Army intended to seize the Majuro Island and Reef. At that time, the Japanese Combined Fleet will inevitably be reinforced, and in that case, the speed gap between the capital ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet will expose their Achilles' heel, the fast and slow ships will be separated, and the anti-aircraft fire will inevitably be greatly weakened, and at that time, the bomber group of the Tang Army will give priority to attacking the Japanese troop carriers and supply ships with the slowest speed.

Regardless of whether it is Plan A or Plan B, the Tang Army still lists attacking Japanese supplies as the first priority target. Because the Japanese army traveled thousands of miles to the Tang Dynasty, once it lost supplies, this huge fleet would never be able to return. (To be continued......)