"It's easy to say, Lae hasn't lost its ......"

Yan Fu muttered aggrievedly.

It was the first time that the navy, which had always been praised to the sky, was so severely reprimanded and besieged in front of the emperor.

Ignoring Yan Fu's expression, Su Sanling responded indifferently: "Chief of Staff Yan's worries are not unreasonable, so the army has drawn up a plan to increase troops, and plans to transfer the 17th and 27th group armies, which originally belonged to the Indian Front, with a total of ten divisions and two marine brigades, to the Southeast Front, and increase the army units in the Southeast Theater to 18 divisions and two brigades, with a total strength of 380,000 troops. ”

Yan Fu was taken aback: "17? 27？ Isn't this the troops of North Korea and Japan? ”

Indeed, the 17th and 27th armies, which were newly formed at the beginning of the year, were mainly composed of North Korean and Japanese troops in order to carry out strategic operations in the Persian Gulf, and participated in the landing operations to occupy Karachi and Bandar Abbas, respectively.

After the pacification of the Persian Gulf, the two army groups moved to the spot to rest and recuperate, and also served as a place of appeasement. According to the plan, the defense areas of the two will be taken over by the successor Chinese troops, and after the change of defense, the whereabouts of the more than 200,000 DPRK-Japan allied troops have not yet been determined.

Su Sanling remained motionless: "At present, the naval strength of the Southeast Theater mainly comes from Korea and Japan, and the additional army units of North Korea and Japan are also for the sake of strengthening coordination -- Commander Zhang Yiye has complained more than once about the problem of sea and land coordination. In addition, the Army will also transfer the newly formed 102nd Mixed Air Wing to the Southeast Theater to fight side by side with the Navy's Sixth Air Force. ”

Yan Fu sneered: "In my opinion, doing so will only make Commander Zhang Yiye have more headaches. ”

Su Sanling reacted quickly: "In order to reduce the burden on Commander Zhang Yiye, we plan to divide the Southeast Front into two parts, the Solomon Front from the Solomon Islands to the New Hebrides and the Fiji Islands, and the New Guinea Front from the island of New Guinea to the northern part of Australia. ”

"The basic strength of the Solomon Front includes the headquarters of our 9th Army, which is currently stationed in the Bismarck Islands and the Solomon Islands, and the Japanese troops of the 27th Army, which are planned to be supplemented, totaling 10 divisions and 1 marine brigade. The basic strength of the New Guinea Front includes the headquarters of our 16th Group Army, which is currently stationed in New Guinea, and the DPRK troops of the 17th Group Army, which are planned to be supplemented, totaling 8 divisions and 1 marine brigade. ”

"In terms of aviation support, in accordance with the model of the Joint Air Force stationed in Turkey, the army and naval aviation units of the theater will be unified into the joint air force of the Southeast Theater, and a senior naval aviation commander will be appointed as the commander of the air force to command all shore-based air forces attached to the theater in a unified manner."

"In terms of maritime support, the distinction between the front fleet and the mobile forces will be abolished, and the Navy will appoint a theater naval commander to take unified command of all ships and carrier-based aviation units assigned to the theater."

After a brief pause and a sigh of relief, Su Sanling summed it up naturally: "In this way, there are only two commanders of the front army, a commander of the theater joint air force and a commander of the theater navy, and the specific coordination of various units no longer needs to be personally worried by Commander Zhang Yiye." ”

Yan Fu glanced at Liu Buyun, who was speechless, from the corner of his eye, shook his head and sighed: "If the navy does not increase its troops, even if it sends more army troops, it will only increase the logistical pressure - if it is not for attacking, why send 200,000 troops in one go?" ”

Su Sanling took it for granted with a face: "Being prepared and not launching a large-scale offensive does not mean that you have to be a turtle with a shrunken head and remain motionless." ”

"Kuah Island is not moving for the time being, we can first advance our positions at the point closer to Munda , the army originally planned to build an advance airfield at Sig, 75 kilometers south of Munda and at the southern tip of New Georgia Island. Based on this, the Qianjin Airport was built in Yandina, 230 kilometers southeast of Munda and east of Russell Island, until the Yandina Airport was consolidated, and finally the advance airport was entered into Kuah Island. ”

"Originally, the Navy packed the ticket and said that there was no problem and that it could solve the problem in one go, so the Army gave up the plan of working step by step and steadily, and followed the Navy to do it. Now that the navy's quick decisive battle has gone bankrupt, the army naturally has to return to its original plan and hope that the navy will cooperate with it. ”

"There are also strategic considerations – keeping the allies of North Korea and Japan in a vital location like the Persian Gulf is not a long-term solution, and the islands in the Trans-South Ocean may not be the best place to house them, at least not the worst."

Yan Fu listened silently, pondered for a long time, and then raised his head and said: "Since the army has planned so thoroughly, the navy will naturally fully cooperate, and everything is up to the chief of the general staff to decide." ”

Everyone's eyes were focused on Gu Yingyang at once, Gu Yingyang cleared his throat, and seemed to be unprepared for the ball.

"My judgment is ......"

"First of all, of our only two aircraft carrier fleets, the 2nd Air Force has just suffered a heavy blow and it will be difficult to recover in the short term. Although the 1st Air Force, which is currently deployed in the Indian Ocean, has two Dapeng-class fleet aircraft carriers, if all of them are transferred, the upcoming Aden Raider will have to be postponed or suspended due to the loss of the support of the fleet air force. If only one ship is transferred, not only will the combat power of each of them be far less than half of that of the two-ship formation, but it will also increase the risk of being broken by the enemy individually. ”

"Second, most of the Navy's most elite shore-based aviation units, as well as the Army's mixed aviation units, which have been specially trained for naval warfare, have been integrated into the Joint Air Force in Turkey, and are maintaining aviation operations in the Turkish Straits at a very high cost. These forces could not be moved until Russia withdrew from the war, and without them, no offensive against Australia would be able to achieve decisive results in the present situation. ”

"Thirdly, if the Aden strategy is postponed now, in 3 to 6 months, the Entente will inevitably strengthen the defenses of the Gulf of Aden in an all-round way, and at the same time it is possible to restore their combined fleet in the Indian Ocean to a level sufficient to confront our army.

"At that time, even if we succeed in expelling the US military from the Solomons, occupying Port Moresby and Port Vila, and even capturing Fiji, the Australian side will still be able to communicate with the outside world through the high-latitude routes close to Antarctica, although the efficiency may be reduced, but before the huge number of merchant ships and strong shipbuilding capacity of the United Kingdom and the United States, this loss of efficiency should be bearable."

"Correspondingly, we will have to maintain another, more fragile South Pacific line of communication in addition to the already long and vulnerable Indian Ocean lines of communication, which are destined to consume more and more troops and resources as the United States enters a phase of explosive growth in power, forcing us to reduce the amount of force we devote to the main battlefield in Eurasia."

"At that time, we will most likely have lost the opportunity to close the Red Sea and return to East Africa, and the Entente will be free to use the Suez Canal and the base groups in East Africa to constantly attack our Indian Ocean lines of communication and weaken our combat forces, and our army will completely fall into the disadvantageous situation of fighting on two fronts."

"As for the Navy's proposed scenario of a decisive battle, I do not think that the enemy on the part of Australia has any reason or confidence to accept a sea battle in the Bay of Bengal. And in the absence of shore-based aviation support, I extremely doubt that the Navy will be able to capture and annihilate the main force of the enemy's combined Australian fleet in a short period of time. ”

Speaking of this, Gu Yingyang picked up the teacup in front of him and poured half a cup of herbal tea in one go.

Liu Qianhua smiled, and his fingers flickered: "It is worthy of being the Chief of General Staff Gu, and the analysis is all right, but what I am most concerned about is the countermeasures, is there a conclusion?" ”

Gu Yingyang hurriedly put down the teacup, licked his lips and replied, "Yes, Rong Laochen spoke slowly." ”

Liu Qianhua smiled: "I didn't urge you, speak slowly, don't bite your tongue." ”

There was a roar of laughter at the conference table, which seemed to have swept away the haze and unhappiness of a quarter of an hour ago, Gu Yingyang didn't care, shook his head and smiled, and then said to himself: "As a countermeasure for this naval battle of Solomon, the General Staff would like to put forward the following points, and respectfully ask the emperor to make a decision. ”

"First, postpone the assault on Kuah Island, and the landing force will occupy Sig at the southern tip of New Georgia Island and build a relay airfield here; The other landed in the Russell Islands and rushed to repair the forward airfield at Yandina. ”

"Second, as mentioned by the chief of staff of the Soviet Union, the 17th Army and the 27th Army were transferred to the Southeastern Theater, and the Southeastern Front was split into the Solomon and New Guinea Fronts, and the Theater Joint Air Force and the Theater Navy Command were established. After the reorganization of the theater of operations, the New Guinean Front should try to attack Port Moresby by land. ”

"Third, the Combined Fleet, in coordination with the Indian Front, should make every effort to prepare for the Aden Raid and the subsequent East Africa Raid Campaign, and strive to complete all combat missions within three to six months."

"Fourth, in order to make up for the loss of aircraft carriers' combat strength, the Navy should transform the two Taihang-class fast armored cruisers under construction and the two US battleships salvaged from Pearl Harbor under repair into auxiliary aircraft carriers in a simple way as soon as possible, so as to be in case of emergency."

Before Gu Yingyang's words fell, Liu Qianhua had already smiled and nodded: "Let's do it." ”

"In addition to this, there is another matter that I have to ask the emperor to make a quick judgment." It seemed that seeing that Her Majesty the Empress was in a very good mood today, Gu Yingyang hurriedly struck while the iron was hot.

"Isn't it today to decide only the countermeasures for this Battle of the Solomon? Chief of General Staff Gu, how dare you bury mines for me? Liu Qianhua was actually holding back her yawn.

"The old minister didn't dare to ...... It's just that this 'Bear Slaughter' operation, that is, the summer general offensive of the Northern, Central Asian, and Caspian armies against Russia, all the plans have already been submitted to the imperial court, and the old minister just wants to take this opportunity to ask the emperor what he thinks. ”

"That's it...... The centripetal attack of the Northern Army and the Central Asian Army on Samara, and the advance of the Caspian Front into Tehran, the capital of Persia, have all been carefully read, and there is no problem for the time being, I plan to go through it again tonight and give you an answer, how about it? ”

Of course, Gu Yingyang can't say no.

…… V！ ~！