At 10:00 a.m. on December 26, Hawaii time, 80 nautical miles southwest of Oahu, 87 ships of the main force were heading into the wind.

The "Tsukuba" of the Japanese Patrol Squadron No. 1, which was damaged by a US submarine last night, has returned to Marshalls accompanied by two destroyers -- in order to avoid further losses, the fleet has been on a zigzag anti-submarine cruise since midnight last night, which has been delayed for a long time.

Suddenly, there was a "buzzing" sound in the sky over the fleet, and the clear blue sky and striking white clouds were in the background, and the first batch of reconnaissance planes was returning home.

In addition to the 56 "Seagull" reconnaissance planes carried on board the four aircraft carriers, some warships and cruisers also carry 56 reconnaissance planes of various types and naval schools.

The first aerial reconnaissance team was dispatched at 07:00 that day, with a total of 46 aircraft, of which 36 were responsible for a wide-area search within a 200-nautical-mile radius of the 360-degree range around the fleet, and 10 were responsible for reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and Lashana anchorage.

The results of the search were quickly summed up on the "Pinghai", the general flagship of the Combined Fleet: there were no active enemy warships within 200 nautical miles of the fleet, 13-14 large shipwrecks were found in Pearl Harbor, and a large number of shipwrecks were found in the access channels of Pearl Harbor and Honolululu, and the channels were seriously blocked, and no intact ships were found in either port......

"Sure enough, I still withdrew."

Sa Zhenbing sighed with regret, although this was a result that had been expected a long time ago, but before the intelligence was confirmed, Sa Zhenbing still had a fluke, hoping to have a dignified and vigorous battle of giant ships and cannons.

Well, there can't be a second time in this kind of opportunistic surprise attack anyway.

Isn't it great now? The main force was unscathed, but the U.S. fleet had already lost half of its capital ships, and it was more certain that it would quickly capture Hawaii.

The most urgent task at present is to expand the scope of reconnaissance, confirm the surrounding situation, and then proceed to capture the islands of Molokai, Maui, Lanai, Kahe, and Rawai, 20 to 50 nautical miles southeast of Oahu, so as to use the Lahana anchorage between the first three islands for the fleet to anchor.

The Rahana anchorage, which has three waterways in and out of the country, has a capacity several times that of Pearl Harbor, and the US fleet has long used it as a training anchorage. When formulating the Hawaiian Raid, the General Staff also set the operational premise that the main force of the US fleet would be stationed at the Lashana anchorage—if this scenario came true, what would be the outcome of the surprise attack?

According to the latest information, there are no defenses in the vicinity of the anchorage access and waterway, and there are no permanent troops on the four islands, except for a few naval liaison posts and observation posts, and there are about 200 police officers stationed there. The total population of the four islands is about 30,000 to 40,000, and the vast majority of them are Native Hawaiians.

The large and medium-sized ships of the main force (including 14 rapid supply ships) are equipped with reinforced marine detachments, with a total strength of about 4,000 troops.

After that, the combined main forces and mobile forces will use the Lashana anchorage as a resting base to seize Kauai and the island of Hawaii as appropriate, while keeping the surrounding waters on guard, occasionally shelling and bombing Oahu in antip for the landing force to arrive.

The strategic operation to seize the entire Hawaiian Islands is proceeding in a step-by-step manner, and there seems to be no real impediment in sight, and the Americans are really determined to abandon this place?

Dear Admiral Ivan Lee, will you lead your fleet back to the kill? Even if you fight hard, you have to fight with us with cannons and giant ships?

Sa Zhenbing's heart still flashed with a little spark of chivalry.

Compared with the too ethereal event of the main force of the US fleet turning back and fighting a decisive battle, the sneak attack of US submarines and cruisers at night was firmly in mind.

Isn't there any news yet on the second batch of reconnaissance planes......

Thousands of miles away in the port of Singapore, the sky was still dark, and in a brightly lit, heavily guarded building on the shore, Vice Admiral Cecil Burney, commander of the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet, was reading a telegram with a solemn expression, surrounded by several foreign officers, who were focused on him with expectant and uneasy eyes.

Overnight, the Pacific Ocean was no longer peaceful.

The Chinese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor!

When the news first reached the ears of Lieutenant General Bernie, he was still overjoyed: "Okay, these fools have finally pulled the Americans into the water, bite, bite, just wait for you dog-eat-dog!" ”

The result of the battle was jaw-dropping: the main American fleet lost more than half, but it did not even touch the shadow of the Chinese warship, and retreated to the west coast in dismay......

That huge war machine began to run at a rapid pace, Hong Kong, Indochina, the Philippines, Siberia, Tatarstan, ...... The Chinese are crazy, they are attacking from all sides!

What to do? What to do? They actually say that they want to liberate Asia! A bunch of crazy people with no common sense!

A few hours ago, the Americans informed London about the discovery of their submarine forces - a huge fleet with a large number of capital ships was approaching Oahu at full speed!

So the Chinese are planning to take advantage of the victory to occupy Hawaii!

The briefing also attached a request from the Americans that the British, French, and Dutch navies in the Far East would quickly unite and launch a joint attack on the ASEAN detachment in the South China Sea while the main ASEAN naval force was still in Hawaii, so as to inflict as much damage as possible on ASEAN's maritime strength -- if possible, temporarily thwart the landing operation of the East Asian coalition forces in the Philippines, disrupt the other side's war plans, and buy time for future counteroffensives.

London forwarded the circular to Lieutenant General Bernie for his opinion.

"I don't think we have a choice, if we don't attack now, when the ASEAN Main Fleet completes the Hawaii operation and moves back to the South China Sea, we won't have any chance, unless we move half of our Main Fleet here within a month — but we all know that as long as the German Ocean Fleet exists, it's impossible."

After Lieutenant General Bernie's reply, while waiting for orders from the London side, he began intense preparations for war.

In the port of Singapore, the backbone of the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet is moored: 7 battleships (including 3 dreadnoughts) and 1 battle cruiser, including the latest "Queen Elizabeth"-class high-speed battleship "Malaya", with 8 15-inch guns, 24 knots and heavy armor, it is one of the strongest warships in the Pacific. In addition, there were 12 cruisers - 6 each armored and 6 protective cruisers, as well as dozens of destroyers, gunboats and submarines.

Bernie wants to make these ships in a state where they can carry out long-distance combat missions at any time in the shortest possible time.

In the South China Sea, two armored cruisers, four protective cruisers, and several destroyers are being patrolled in three detachments, and Bernie has ordered them to return at full speed to join the main force.

In the meantime, the American, French, and Dutch consuls in Singapore requested a meeting with Lieutenant General Bernie, and brought with them several officers in charge of liaison matters, who are now surrounding Bernie.

"It's decided." Bernie put down the message and proudly met the young officers' gaze.

"Let's go and deal with those barbarians who don't know what to do, and let's do it as soon as possible!"