After the Expeditionary Fleet arrived in San Francisco, while seizing the time to maintain the warships, it also let the Huang Haitao Marine Division there board the accompanying transport ship, plus the troops brought from China, a total of two fully manned Marine Divisions, with a total strength of more than 70,000 people. www.biquge.info Considering the elite level of the Marine Division, even if it is still inferior to the Heavenly Punishment Column, it is enough to easily annihilate any American infantry division, even if the target has already built a complete defensive line, and if it relies on fortifications to defend, even if it is in the plain area and only has field fortifications, it is enough to make it difficult for any American army group to cross the minefield pool by half a step.

Such a powerful force is enough to upset the balance of a theater of operations on the North American battlefield. However, at present, Li Hui is the only mobile force that can be used on the North American battlefield, so it is worth thinking carefully about how to use it.

The East Coast is the most elite area of the United States, and if it lands here, it may shake the foundation of the United States and force the US Government to surrender, but the terrain of the East Coast of the United States is relatively special, and there are very few suitable places for landing, and the US Government attaches great importance to the defense of the East Coast, and it is not difficult to do everything in all aspects.

Therefore, the opinion of the General Staff Department is to settle for the next best thing, and to choose a place to land on the southern Gulf coast of the United States, which is not the focus of US defense, and there are many shoals suitable for landing, and the US military will not be able to guard against it in any case. And once ashore, they could cross Texas westward and attack the flank of the U.S. 5th Army stationed near El Paso. Although this is the largest group army in the United States at present, and even more than 500,000 if non-combatants are included, because the Heavenly Punishment Column has turned the world upside down in the northeast of the United States, the elite and strong generals of this group army have all been transferred, and their strength has been weakened somewhat, and new weapons such as submachine guns must be given priority to the northeast theater, and the group army has not yet changed its equipment, which has seriously affected their combat effectiveness. If you are not unlucky, it is very possible to fight a war of annihilation, that is more than 500,000 US troops, from the perspective of destroying the enemy's living forces, it is definitely a big piece of fat.

What's more, once El Paso is taken, all exits from the Rocky Mountains will fall into the hands of the Chinese military, including the American forces in the Los Angeles area, and all American troops west of the Rocky Mountains will be completely cut off, and it is only a matter of time before they fall. And once it has consolidated its control over the western United States, with the natural dangers of the Rocky Mountains in hand, the Chinese army will not be afraid to fight a protracted war or war of attrition with the US military, even if it is limited by the ability to launch and can only be outnumbered.

Obviously, the possible benefits of landing on the Gulf of Mexico are not as great as directly landing on the east coast of the United States, but it is the most prudent choice; as long as the luck is not too bad, China can be put in an invincible position, and it can also annihilate a large number of the living forces of the US military again.

However, even if it is confirmed that the landing will be in the Gulf of Mexico, there are still many details that need to be carefully considered, and the first question that needs to be solved is which route to take at sea?

Starting from Yanping Port, Panama, to enter the Gulf of Mexico, there are two waterways to go, one is to take the inner line, directly north through the Yucatan Strait into the Gulf of Mexico, the biggest advantage of this route is that it is near, theoretically it can save some time, the other is to take the outer line, first through the Windward Strait to bypass Cuba, and then westward through the Florida Strait into the Gulf of Mexico, this route has to go around a big circle, and the water conditions are complicated, but the advantage is that it can confuse the US military, so that it mistakenly thinks that the Crusade Fleet is going north to land on the East Coast, Then it's time to hit the West.

However, the Chinese Navy finally chose the first route, because since the US government attaches great importance to the defense of the east coast, it is impossible not to know the importance of the Xiangfeng Strait, and the Xiangfeng Strait is far narrower than the Yucatan Strait, and it is easier to seal it. In addition, if the U.S. Navy's fleet were to intercept it directly, the relatively wide Yucatan Strait would be more able to give full play to the huge speed advantage of China's Legend-class battlecruisers than the Windward Strait......

The frenzied anti-Chinese behavior of the United States in those years was the direct cause of its current brutal war, but it was not without any benefit in doing so, at least China's intelligence work against the United States has become difficult, and simple information such as land terrain can still be obtained through Indians or other channels, and military secrets such as coastal defense and capital ship anchorage can only be guessed. On the other hand, the U.S. government, because of its long-term operation in Panama, its relatively close ethnicity, and the size of the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet was so large that it was impossible to keep it secret when passing through the canal, so President Roosevelt quickly learned of this important information and immediately called several high-ranking officials of the Admiralty......

However, contrary to what the Chinese Navy expected, although it suffered a big loss when it attacked Yanping Fortress at the beginning, the US Navy only blamed it on the enemy, because it was normal for the fleet to be unable to defeat the coastal defense fortress, not to mention that the firepower configuration of the Yanping Fortress far exceeded that of ordinary coastal defense fortresses, but it did not think that its strength was inferior to that of the Chinese Navy at all. Even after learning that the Chinese Navy already has eight new capital ships that are more powerful than the Sage-class battle cruisers, the US Navy still did not change its judgment......

The new secretary of the U.S. Navy confidently told Mr. President, "Although according to the information transmitted back from Panama's internal line, the new capital ships of the Chinese Navy may have a standard row of 20,000 or 30,000 tons, but after all, there are only eight, and we still have a full 25 capital ships (there are 5 more of the latest South Carolina-class battleships, and the two batches of "6+4" built before are still in the combat sequence and have not been decommissioned.) Available! Besides, since it is a battle patrol, the armor cannot be too thick, no matter how large the tonnage is, due to the lack of defense, it is impossible to win our battleships in a head-on engagement, if they come to attack our sea lines of communication, it will be a headache, but from the intelligence point of view, it is obvious that Chinese is preparing to escort the army ashore, it is a self-defeating way, and it is also a great opportunity for us to turn the situation around......" (To be continued. )