Premier Yuan returned to Vladivostok in the dust. The loss of his eldest son was a clear blow to Professor Yuan, and in more than a month, Professor Yuan had gray hair and was no longer in good spirits.

Yuan Zi was killed in the battle of Midway, and Li Guang was also very guilty, even though he had been on the battlefield for a long time and was used to seeing life and death, he still couldn't help but be sad.

Without much time to grieve, Professor Yuan and Li Guang discussed for a long time and set the tone for negotiations with the British.

Professor Yuan was in charge of the negotiations, and Li Guang began to further adjust the troops.

A squadron of submarines is still attacking merchant ships around the Japanese mainland. The second submarine squadron was already fighting around Ceylon at this time. The third submarine team Quan Yonghai has returned to Vladivostok.

In Li Guang's Ceylon strategy, the four submarines led by Quan Yonghai had an extremely important task - blocking the Strait of Malacca.

The Strait of Malacca has a southeast-northwest trend. Its northwest end is connected to the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean and to the southeast to the South China Sea. With a total length of about 1,080 kilometers, the widest part of the northwest is 370 kilometers, the narrowest part of the southeast is 37 kilometers, and the water depth is 25 to 150 meters.

In the plan drawn up by the General Staff, there are two main means by which the Maritime Resistance Forces will blockade the Strait of Malacca.

The first is the laying of mines. This kind of thing, Quan Yonghai has done the most handy in the past six months. At present, it seems that Quan Yonghai's direct combat exploits are the least among the three submarine squadrons of the Maritime Resistance Army, but after the end of World War II, it was discovered through statistics that in the first half of '42, Quan Yonghai's third submarine squadron was the most prominent among the submarine units of the Maritime Resistance Army.

In the course of half a year, the number of Japanese merchant ships directly sunk by Quan Yonghai's troops was small, only 27, with a total of less than 60,000 tons. But he laid nearly 1,000 mines, all of which were in Japan's vital shipping lanes. In addition to the shipping lanes around the Japanese mainland, mines were also sent everywhere on the Korean Peninsula and in the Tsushima Strait, and in the past six months, more than 35 Japanese merchant warships have been blown up and sunk, with a displacement of 140,000 tons.

The mine hit rate of Jeon Yonghai set a record, which was as high as 3 percent, which was simply a miracle in the history of warfare.

It should be said that for this kind of task, there are two people in the Navy who are more suitable. The first is Quan Yonghai, and the second is the turn of Huang Zhonghua, the captain of the Liberty Dragon. These two people. There is one thing in common - businessman-like cunning.

In particular, every time Quan Yonghai lays mines, it is carefully considered and tries his best to maximize the benefits of mines. Mines look at crude benzene, but the price is expensive, a mine with a charge of 500 kilograms. The international price is as high as $4,000. If it weren't for the seizure of a large number of Italian mines in Somalia, the Naval Resistance Force would really not be willing to use it so extravagantly.

In addition to the efforts of Jeon Yonghai. There is another reason for such a brilliant result. In addition to the ordinary trigger fuze, the Navy's own magnetic fuze is also used.

At the beginning, Li Guang got the German torpedo, and the German torpedo used a magnetic fuse at that time, and Li Guang wanted to use the magnetic navigation, but he was unsuccessful. However, a magnetic fuse was developed. The crooked blow was used on the mines.

Neither the Japanese merchant ships nor the Japanese warships were demagnetized, which is precisely the reason why the hit rate of the mines laid by Jeon Yonghai was as high as 3 percent. Almost 30 mines can sink a ship, which is amazingly efficient. The hit rate of the naval resistance army's torpedoes is about 45 percent based on the battles fought over the past few years. The explosion rate is about 70 percent, and all in all, it takes almost three shots to effectively explode one. Passive mines can reach three percent, which is really an amazing achievement.

Degaussing of warships, to put it simply, is actually to use cables to wind warships, and then energize them, so as to eliminate the magnetism generated during construction by induction. But, as with many technologies, it's not difficult on its own, it's all about whether you can think of it or not.

The warships of the Maritime Resistance Force and the six fast merchant ships were all demagnetized. This is not a creation of Li Guang as a traverser, but learned from the British.

After the outbreak in Europe, the Germans were the first to use magnetic-fused mines, inflicting heavy losses on the British Navy. But after the British Royal Navy captured two torpedoes, it quickly figured out how it worked and found a way to deal with it.

The solution was very simple, the British did not even deliberately keep it secret, and the Navy Army learned about it from Colonel Smith's chat.

But such a simple method, in the year 42, was only used by the British Navy and the Naval Resistance Force. Whether it is the powerful United States or Japan, or Germany, which was the first to use magnetic mines, warships have not demagnetized.

By the way, the German Army also has magnetic mines, and the German tanks have adopted degaussing technology, but the Soviet Union did not have magnetic mines at all, which seems to be a bit self-inflicted and excessive.

No matter how good the mines are, if they are laid in the Strait of Malacca, they are purely risking under the noses of the Japanese army, so they are extremely dangerous. The burden on Quan Yonghai's shoulders is not light.

In addition, there is one more thing, that is, the Maritime Resistance Forces do not have the ability to manufacture mines, they can only be refitted, and now the stock of mines is less than 200, which is not enough to block the Strait of Malacca.

The solution is definitely from the UK. Professor Yuan opened his mouth widely, and it was directly two thousand mines. This is millions of dollars in supplies, and Britain is richer than the Naval Resistance Army, which is also a lot of money.

In addition, in order to support the army's operations, Professor Yuan also asked for 200,000 anti-infantry mines. However, 200,000 anti-infantry mines are not worth much, and one mine is only a dollar or two.

Fighting in tandem with Quan Yonghai is also the seaplane carrier PJP of the Maritime Resistance Force. The use of seaplanes is quite special, not for fighting, but for arson.

The General Staff of the Naval Resistance Army is full of talents, and although most of them have no formal military school experience, they also have a considerable level of planning. One of the staff officers was an expatriate from Sumatra who was familiar with the Strait of Malacca.

The indigenous people of Sumatra and Malaya are not environmentally conscious, and in fact, almost all people in this era are not environmentally conscious. These people like to set fire to the woods to clear the land or hunt. The Strait of Malacca was often filled with smoke and obstructed the view of ships, so that ships were damaged and shipping lanes were closed.

Indonesian and Malay practices weren't just around World War II. This is still the case even in the twenty-first century.

The staff officer's idea was to set fire. This method was beneficial and costly, and it could not only block the navigation of Japanese naval warships with fireworks, but also cover the submarine forces in laying mines, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

This idea was happily adopted by Li Guang, and the water reconnaissance planes equipped on the PJP performed well, but they could not compete with the Japanese fighters. But then again, although the Japanese occupied Sumatra, it was impossible to have airfields everywhere. Moreover, the PJP burned meaningless woods, and it was not a strategic place or city, so maybe the little devils wouldn't mind if they knew.

And the PJP is hovering in the sea south of Sumatra. Staying away from the Sunda Strait, another important sea lane, between Sumatra and Java, is not dangerous.

The General Staff also pointed out that if the Japanese were unable to enter the Indian Ocean from the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait would be an important second exit. At this point, Li Guang couldn't think of any tricks. You know, the minelaying of four submarines in the Strait of Malacca is already a very difficult task. The military strength of the Israeli Naval Resistance Army is unable to cope with such a vast battlefield.

But this gave Li Guang a wake-up call. An idea arose that would serve a great deal in a few months later.

This was Li Guang's second axe in the battle against Ceylon. On 4 July, the PJP, led by Captain Zhang Qianwen, took the lead in attacking. On 5 July, Quan Yonghai led the third submarine team to the battlefield.

As for the third axe claimed by Li Guang, few people have ever known about it. only knows that Zheng Xuechang was strictly ordered not to fight. The battleship formation of the Atlantic was only allowed to use maritime guerrilla tactics and was not allowed to fight hard with the Japanese Navy.

This third board axe is called Wuwei in Li Guang's dictionary. In the art of war, it is called to show the enemy to be weak, and the further explanation is that the water is in trouble. Of course, this inaction only refers to the navy. And not the Army and Air Force.

Li Guang's so-called inaction has two intentions.

First, if Britain was in a hurry, it dispatched the main fleet to fight, and the naval resistance army welcomed it very much. The Naval Resistance Force has such a small strength, and it must not be consumed fearlessly, especially before there are no aircraft carriers.

Second, the American side. Due to the sudden landing of Japanese troops in southeastern New Guinea, which directly threatened Port Moresby, MacArthur and the American and Australian forces were now fighting the Japanese army to the death. This battle did not take place at all in the original plane. It is purely the change caused by Li Guang's butterfly fanning its wings. At this time in history, Japan and the United States were about to engage in the Battle of Guadalna.

Port Moresby is a hundred times more important than Guadalna. Therefore, in this battle, both sides have to fight to the death, and there is no doubt that it will be fierce.

Due to the lack of intelligence, Li Guang did not know that the battle in that sea area would be even more fierce than he imagined. The Japanese army had already landed on Guadala Island at this time, having already landed in the southeast of New Guinea.

Historically, the mere landing of the Japanese army on Kuah Island was actually a defeat in the war.

There was a pattern of Japanese expansion in the Pacific Ocean, which always drew a circle with a radius of 700 kilometers around the islands that had already been occupied. And on the edge of this circle, what islands are the next military operation targets. The reason is that seven hundred kilometers is the combat radius of the Zero fighters of the Japanese Navy. It should be said that the devil is still a good calculation. Historically, however, this rule was violated when the Japanese occupied Kuah Island, which was 900 kilometers away from the port of Rabaul on New Britain Island, the core port of the Japanese Navy, and land-based fighters could not provide support. Although this point is not the whole reason for the disastrous defeat of the Japanese army in the Battle of Kuah Island in history, it is an extremely important point.

Now, after landing in southeastern New Guinea and capturing Port Moresby, the Japanese still occupy Kuah Island, and this historical defeat could be a clever move.

On the map, Rabaul is located to the north, Port Moresby is located to the southwest, and Kuah Island is located to the southeast, forming a triangle with a side of about 1,000 kilometers.

Once all three have stabilized (Rabaul has stabilized. Then the Solomon Sea inside the triangle will become an inland lake for the Japanese Navy. Even without aircraft carriers, the Japanese Navy warships were protected by land-based fighters.

Once this idea was realized by the Japanese army, it would be terrible.

As a direct result, the Allied Navy will be in a position of passive attack in this area. As an indirect result, there was a risk of the collapse of Marshal MacArthur's army in Port Moresby. MacArthur had so many soldiers, he had to have food, drink, and ammunition, and without naval support, he was afraid that he would not be able to support it for a few days. In the long run, Australia will be exposed to the Japanese army.

Therefore, it is now a foregone conclusion that the US and Japanese forces will fight to the death. And it's the Navy plus the Army that is completely dead.

Li Guang would certainly be very happy if he knew, and he must know that forcing the Americans to tilt their manpower and material resources toward the Pacific theater was something Li Guang had long looked forward to.

Li Guang spared no effort to promote a change in the US policy of Europe first and then Asia, but the fact was that President Roosevelt and certain generals resented it. However, the uncertainty of the butterfly's instigation has forced the United States to tilt its forces and material resources toward the Asian theater.

It is conceivable that just one battle of Kuah Island can rank among the top ten in the history of World War II. Now add to that the battle of Port Moresby, and it's nothing short of spectacular. Li Guang is looking forward to it, but this time he said in a very low-key manner that he would not participate or comment. (To be continued......)