The clear blue sky of the Caroline Islands, the sea breeze in the Central Pacific Ocean carrying the dampness and salty smell, and the hundreds of warships with the dragon flag, the rising sun flag, and the Taiji flag hanging on the masthead plough countless neatly arranged white tracks on the light blue sea, and the main forces of the First Fleet of the Combined Fleet and the East China Sea Task Force are heading for the Marshall Islands, the last assembly place, with an incomparably flamboyant attitude.

Sa Zhenbing stood quietly on the navigation bridge of the battleship "Pinghai", surrounded by staff officers with gold spikes on their chests, it had been two days since he left Truk, and more than half of the voyage of thousands of nautical miles had been completed, but Sa Zhenbing was still a little uneasy in his heart.

The fifty-five-year-old commander of the Combined Fleet, Sa Zhenbing, the word Dingming, the ancestor is the ancestor Kublai Khan's favored general Salabha, "during the Yuan Dynasty, the home is in Fujian", the sixteenth passed to Sa Zhenbing, the descendants of the steppe knights became the commander of the steel fleet in the era of great industry, probably the general Sabukhara never thought of it.

Sa Zhenbing still remembers that when he was lucky enough to become the first batch of students to study abroad in Fujian Shipbuilding, his father happily inscribed a couplet for him: "There are athletes in the family who gallop on the sea; His father's expectations spurred him on all the time, and he spent four precious years at the Greenwich Naval School in England.

Thirty-four years after leaving Greenwich, Sa Zhenbing witnessed the birth and growth of the modern navy of his motherland, experienced the key naval battles of two foreign wars, inspired by the heroic exploits of the imperial navy, and inspired by the expectations of his superiors, subordinates and citizens to win greater victories - even so, as the commander of hundreds of steel warships in ASEAN, he must keep a clear head no matter when and where.

"If we drive to the Marshall Islands in such a flamboyant way, can we really lure the main US fleet out of the West Coast base?"

Sa Zhenbing remembered the question he heard when he gave the order to his subordinates three days ago, and his answer at that time was that if the main US fleet did not leave the base on the west coast, it would land first and then send reinforcements according to Plan B.

An easy and simple answer, indeed.

A few months ago, the General Staff and the Navy and Army Staff jointly conducted a number of war games at the Naval University, and finally determined the overall plan for the operation against the United States.

The core of the total plan is to destroy or severely damage the main force of the US Navy.

After the outbreak of the European War, stimulated by China's rapid seizure of all German colonies in the Pacific and the local military mobilization of ASEAN, the United States quickly used the newly completed Panama Canal to quickly gather the main naval force on the west coast.

However, with the current technical conditions, it is impossible for the Combined Fleet to cross such a vast Pacific Ocean and sail to the west coast of the United States to attack the main fleet of the US Navy.

Can we just sit back and wait for the U.S. military to attack? Wouldn't it be better to wait for work and rely on the Central Pacific islands to block the attack?

Some people in the staff also made such a voice, but they were quickly refuted by their superiors: In this way, we will give up the initiative to the other side, and our side will be forced to fall into the unfavorable situation of being defensive everywhere and powerless everywhere.

In order to seize the South Seas, it is necessary to destroy the US fleet first, and the existence of the US fleet is a threat, even if it is not transferred to the west coast but is stationed on the east coast as usual! With Hawaii as a relay base, the US fleet may pounce on the back of the combined fleet that is fighting fiercely in the South Seas at any time!

Based on this consensus, it is necessary to use Hawaii as a bait to attract the main US fleet to the vicinity of Hawaii for a decisive battle and destroy it with all its might.

Without Hawaii, the west coast of the United States will certainly be exposed to the direct blows of our military, the dignity of a great power that has been established over the years will inevitably be completely destroyed, the Panama Canal will also face the danger of being destroyed, and other American countries may also change their attitudes toward the United States because of the above factors -- Hawaii's value as a bait is sufficient.

In order to make the United States feel the pressure, it is necessary to send the main force of the Combined Fleet to the Marshall without any radio control, make a gesture that it is about to launch an attack on Hawaii, and force the main US fleet to send reinforcements to Hawaii.

This is exactly what the main forces of the Combined Fleet under the command of Sa Zhenbing are doing.

From the standpoint of the United States, even if it is a decisive battle in Hawaii, relying on the Hawaiian base, it can be advanced and defended, and it obviously has a unilateral advantage over the combined fleet that has come across thousands of nautical miles, and it will probably dream of fighting a naval battle in the South China Sea.

Ten years after the seaplane carrier appeared on the stage of war, the US Navy had only one seaplane carrier converted from a coal ship, carrying six aircraft and sailing at a speed of less than 14 knots, unable to keep up with the rapidly maneuvering combat fleet. By the time the war broke out in Europe, the US Army and Navy had less than 100 planes and a few airships, of which very few were armed aircraft, and most of them existed only as auxiliary reconnaissance tools.

While European countries have learned from the Asian-Russian War and the Abyssinian War, the United States in Taft's era has slackened its armament in its self-absorbed moral solo, is this a historical inevitability? Or is it the power of God?

Aviation! The superiority of the Imperial Naval Aviation is enough to completely neutralize the unique geographical advantage of the United States!

Braving the bitter cold of the North Pacific in winter, the First Air Fleet, which is secretly assembling in Hokkaido, will launch an unprecedented surprise attack on the main US fleet that is gathering at the base in Hawaii with aircraft carrier-based aircraft!

After that, the main force of the Combined Fleet moved forward and challenged the weakened U.S. fleet in the air raid, destroying or inflicting heavy damage on it, and then covering the landing force to occupy the Hawaiian Islands.

That's the perfect solution.

As for Plan B, which is less effective, considering that the main US fleet may also hold its ground and sleep at the base on the west coast until our army actually marches to Xia, and our army cannot afford to drag on without starting a war forever, it will have to launch a landing operation first and quickly seize the Oahu naval base while the main force of the main force is on standby in the surrounding waters, ready at any time to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the US Navy that has come to reinforce it. At that time, it is not impossible to play the role of carrier-based aircraft, but after the state of the target changes from stationary to maneuverable, the hit rate cannot be guaranteed. However, in this way, the advantage of the United States in domestic operations will disappear - like the Combined Fleet, it will have to cross half of the Pacific Ocean for a decisive battle.

In the worst-case scenario, the United States will resolutely not take the bait, preferring to abandon Hawaii rather than risk a decisive battle with its fleet, and will first take the preservation of the fleet as the first priority and wait for the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive.

What should I do at that time?

As a result, Plan C was determined: to quickly build the Hawaiian Islands into an air fortress, to replenish the troops, and at the same time to deploy sufficient mobile troops to launch sabotage operations on the west coast of the United States and the direction of the Panama Canal at any time, so as to force the United States to counterattack as soon as possible and consume the main force of the US fleet on the fortress strategy.

How will the Americans react?

In fact, either option foreshadows the prospect of a long-term war of attrition.

This is what makes Sa Zhenbing uneasy.

There is no doubt that war is for the sake of peace that is more beneficial to one's own side.

What kind of peace can the empire get?

Sa Zhenbing can't see it clearly for the time being, but he knows that he and the tens of thousands of generals under his command are shouldering the heavy task of creating the kind of "peace that is more beneficial to their own side", and the fate and expectations of hundreds of millions of people are so heavy and exciting!

Hawaii, we're coming......