Another direction in which huge investments have been made is in the field of aircraft, as long as there are fighters capable of countering Chinese aircraft, even if the use of cruiser modifications can produce warships that can take off and land aircraft, it is nothing more than installing aircraft take-off and landing decks on warships, how difficult can it be? Then again, how many people in this day and age know the difference between fleet carriers, escort carriers, etc.? How many people know how much difference in combat effectiveness can be caused by the difference between the number and efficiency of aircraft taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier?

In order to deal with the alien-like Chinese people and the Chinese military equipment like science fiction weapons, under the leadership of the United States, a military research committee composed of scientists from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Italy was established, including aviation power experts, warship design experts and other top talents in various industries, and more than 2,000 well-known scientists gathered in New York, USA. The Military Research Council made a key contribution to the growth of the military strength of the Allied countries, and although the United States had not yet joined the Entente at this time, it was still one of the key members of the Military Research Council.

The day before the Yokosuka Incident began, on January 28, the Pacific islands and the Chinese territory of Saipan were full of people, Saipan was originally a Spanish colony, after the Spanish-American War, Spain sold Guam in the southern part of the Mariana Islands to the United States, and sold the Northern Mariana Islands to Germany, and later China acquired the Northern Mariana Islands from the Germans.

The value of these islands can be seen in the frequent hand-to-hand movements, and there is no more use than the occasional passing ship to refill water and buy tropical fruits. At this moment, in the headquarters of the Marine Corps on Saipan, the triumvirate Jiang Fangzhen, Zhang Runnong, and Cai Songpo are staring at the islands dotted on the map and drooling.

Saipan has become one of China's most important relay bases in the Pacific, and compared to Guam, which belongs to the United States in the south, Guam has a transport ship arriving every three months to deliver supplies to dozens of Americans on the island, to show that this is American territory. On Saipan, on average, a transport ship docks every day, and the materials are rich and diverse, including steel and concrete and other building materials, port facilities, dock facilities, storage facilities, military barracks, military airports, and so on. By the end of 1909, Saipan's infrastructure was almost complete, with excellent port conditions for hundreds of ships to dock and shore facilities for 100,000 soldiers to rest - if supplies were sufficient.

The advance arrangement has achieved unexpected surprises, and when the strategic plan for the operation against the United States is formulated, Saipan will be used as a key rear base for attacking the United States. When all three Marine Divisions of the Marine Corps secretly arrived, more combat materials and supplies were still being brought in, and the escort fleet composed of destroyer and cruiser detachments traveled between the mainland, Okinawa, and Saipan, and finally met the standard of supplies required by the Marine Corps by January 20, 1910.

By the 28th, the Marines had been training on Saipan for about a month in adaptation to the tropical islands, and they would summarize a large number of reports, such as the degree of adaptation of the weapons in their hands to the tropical islands, the storage of ammunition, and what supplies needed to replenish logistics in this climate. The most mentioned items in the report were mosquito prevention and insect repellent supplies, medicines for treating dysentery, raincoats, water tents, and drinking water problems for the troops during the dry season.

A large number of simple desalination devices were assigned to various units, and although the problem of drinking water for soldiers in the dry season was solved, they were complained about by a large number of people, because the additives and purifiers used in the desalination plants tasted very bad. The higher officers and the logistics department ignored the soldiers' complaints and rebuked them for being too pampered, and they were also approved by the President, whose soldiers were getting better and better equipped and better equipped at the same time, and at the same time their fighting courage and hard-working spirit were deteriorating.

The training plan formulated by the three giants of the Marine Corps was that the target island was well defended, with machine guns and artillery hidden in various fortifications, enemy planes on the airfield, and enemy warships at sea to block it.

The training conditions were somewhat harsh, and the losses of the Marine Corps in training could often reach more than 50 percent, and the Big Three took advantage of this to suppress the unfavorable sentiment of arrogance and contempt for the enemy in the army. In fact, there are no enemies and equipment on the target island, and the Chinese navy will destroy the US warships and gain sea supremacy in the western Pacific as soon as possible. There were even a dozen soldiers on the target island, drinking coconut water and dancing hula with the local natives, and they were not prepared for battle at all. As for airplanes, artillery, and machine guns, only Hawaii is the only U.S. military presence on the entire Pacific island, and there are also a small number of troops in British Australia and New Zealand.

"The strategy formulated above seems to be a bit conservative, we can eat all the islands of the Americans in one go, including the Hawaiian Islands, so that we can directly threaten the west coast of the United States!" Major General Zhang Runnong, deputy commander of the Marine Corps, drew circles on the map, and it seemed that all the islands would be occupied in the next moment.

"With the above considerations in mind, from the logistical point of view, after occupying Guam, South Bird Island, Wake Island and Midway, we can easily send a large number of soldiers to the Hawaiian Islands. If the Hawaiian Islands are directly attacked, the logistics supply line will be lengthened, and once the war is unfavorable and the logistics of the front-line soldiers are interrupted, the consequences are unimaginable. You must know that the Americans are not unprepared, they have been building in Hawaii for nearly three years, and according to intelligence, there is an army division stationed, as well as relatively complete fortifications and shore fortifications. Even with the cover of the Navy, we will lose a lot. The analysis of the chief of staff, Major General Cai Songpo, was convincing, but Zhang Runnong still did not look relieved.

"The Navy is going to attack Yokosuka tomorrow, and if we can destroy the main force of the US Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop, we can rest assured that we can boldly attack island by island. If the naval offensive is unfavorable and the naval battle is not decided, our long logistical supply lines will be threatened, and American battleships will appear at the landing site to cover the land forces to counterattack. The longer it drags on, the more the United States may transfer some of the ships of the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean, which will add to the variables, and it is better to directly attack Hawaii. ”

"No matter what the outcome of tomorrow's battle in Yokosuka is, our mission will not change, and the ultimate goal is to take the Hawaiian Islands and put the knife in front of the United States." Marine Corps Commander Jiang Fangzhen made the final decision.

At six o'clock in the evening of the 28th, the transport ship carrying the Marines left Saipan accompanied by six escort warships, and the 2,000 Marines of the First Attack Detachment suddenly appeared on Guam.

After thirty minutes of shelling by the escort warships, the marines climbed out of the transport ship and quickly headed for the island by landing craft. With the surging waves, the landing craft was extremely bumpy, and the Marine Corps recruits, who had not experienced war, did not know whether they were bumpy or nervous, and vomited under the watering of the sea. The Marine Corps is considered to have the lowest proportion of new recruits in the Chinese Army, and the establishment of the Marine Corps has not increased during the large-scale expansion, and only a few veterans have retired from active service, and the new recruits who have been added in have also undergone a long period of training.

The scene after the landing was different from what the recruits imagined, no flesh and blood, no rain of bullets, no roar of commanders, no roar of cannonballs. Hundreds of pre-landed Marines were waiting lazily on the shore, temporary fortifications were being built on the edges, and there was no trace of human activity in the rainforest in the distance.

In fact, after the shelling began, the US troops stationed on Guam were not organized at all, the soldiers were scattered, and the guns and ammunition were in storage. When the anxious officer instructed the soldiers to open the arsenal, they found that the guns, ammunition and artillery had become unusable due to the tropical climate and lack of maintenance.

The enemy's artillery bombardment was not dense and its power was limited, and the very open terrain and dense jungle of the island allowed the American commander to organize a team of more than 300 men and carry weapons to the shore an hour after the start of the war. However, only about half of the weapons in the hands of these 300 people could be used, three machine guns, and the two mountain guns that they originally owned were all destroyed.

In contrast, although the weapons of the Marine Corps are not as sophisticated as those of the Army, they are not comparable to the weapons of various countries at present. Due to the transportation conditions and the operational environment, the Marine Corps lacked heavy artillery, the largest caliber artillery was only 105 mm howitzers, and the main support fire of the infantry was mortars and machine guns. At a distance of a thousand meters, the Marine Corps is supported by 75 mm medium-length body-barreled guns on amphibious tanks, mortars and machine guns between 400 and 1,000 meters, and semi-automatic rifles and assault rifles at 400 meters.

From mid-1908 to early 1910, the Chinese army's weapons were greatly refurbished, from warships, aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, assault guns, anti-tank guns, machine guns, rifles, and other individual weapons, and the most striking feature was that the firepower distribution was more balanced and reasonable, and the firepower was more powerful.

Another feature is to pay attention to the standardization and general performance of weapons, for example, in the infantry weapons used by the army, some parts between semi-automatic rifles, assault rifles, sniper rifles and general-purpose machine guns can be universal, such as the Tiger and Leopard of the army's main tank, 30% of the parts can be universal. This significantly reduces the pressure on logistics and also increases the sustained combat capability of the troops. (To be continued.) )