"New Guinea is an island with treacherous terrain and disease-ridden land, and it is impossible to occupy it completely beyond Japan's transportation capacity." "I remember the war games that took place at the base camp a few months ago, and it took at least 150,000 troops and enough logistics to take control of the island, so the military department was also ambiguous about capturing New Guinea, let alone Australia." That's unthinkable. ”

"The difficulties are indeed enormous, but I assure the commander that I will at least maintain Japan's superiority in the Pacific for another year, and this year will be enough to consolidate Japan's control in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean and not allow the United States to gain a foothold." Asano foams and sells his plans. His view is very simple, and he does not allow the United States to find a foothold. There is no way to start a counterattack.

Yamamoto got up from the couch and walked back and forth in the spacious cabin, pondering the feasibility of Asano's plan. Judging from the information revealed by Asano, Japan's future is far more dangerous than he expected, and the allies can build nearly 500,000 fighters, which is a desperate number for the Axis powers, but why is Asano so calm? Does he really have the ability to turn the world upside down?

However, his analysis is not unreasonable, Pearl Harbor is actually far away from Japan, and the United States cannot jump from there by occupying small islands such as Saipan or Guam; But the Nanyang Islands are different, they are a vast and broken area, interconnected with each other, and there are many ports. Yamashita judged that this area was easy to attack and difficult to defend, and it was necessary to completely drive out the enemy's forces in the expansion stage, and once the enemy eased up, he could launch an island-by-island counteroffensive, and the defenders would also be at a disadvantage.

"Asano, you'd like to tell me how to do it." Onishi asked uncontrollably.

"The manufacturing cycle of large American warships takes at least a year, that is, before 1943, there will be no large number of new aircraft carriers to replenish the Pacific Fleet. Within a year, we need to salvage the wreck and speed up the weapons upgrades. Militarily, the best option is to capture Australia and completely cut off the foothold of the US military's counterattack. ”

Yamamoto stopped pacing.

"Asano-kun, does the ship you mentioned have very advanced weapons on it?"

"Yes, there are a large number of weapons and weapon design drawings, and if you can use a tenth of them, you will definitely win the war."

"With the ability of Japanese workers in this era, can they produce those weapons according to the drawings? If our advantage can only last for more than a year, I'm worried that production will be able to keep up. ”

"This ......" Asano stood up, and Yamamoto's question touched on the part he didn't understand very well, and perhaps Makino Hasegawa could answer the part about industry.

"Is it at least safe to salvage?" Seeing that Asano could not answer, Yamamoto turned to Onishi.

"Major General Kagesa of the Army has already planned a salvage, the process is very difficult, we sacrificed 4 people, and the fish is only 10 kilograms. Of course, the information on Manchurian oil was obtained from that shipwreck. ”

"So, the above stuff really works. What do you think are the specific difficulties? ”

"First of all, it's difficult to position. The last time I found it, I left a buoy near the wreck, but it was damaged by the wind and waves, and the next time I searched, I had to do it again, which was frustrating to think about. ”

"It doesn't matter how much manpower it takes, you have to find it." Yamamoto decided.

"The second is the platform on which the crane is installed. The last time an old destroyer of more than nine hundred tons was used, it was not possible to install large equipment. With a larger hull, it should be possible to salvage more useful things. ”

"Well, the whole proposal is good. What do you think of the Agano on the Sasebo slipway, which is more than halfway under construction? Anyway, the main gun has not been installed, and the lifting equipment is installed. ”

Yamamoto's style was really vigorous, and he immediately put forward a plan, Sasebo's naval shipyard he could use his influence, and the possible role of a 6,500-ton cruiser in the war was obviously not as important as salvaging Kasuga Maru. He already sensed that Asano was a man of rhetoric, and his strategy was too big and inappropriate to be reliable, but the value of that sunken ship was immeasurable.

"You can leave this matter to me." Onishi replied.

"I heard that there are two other loyal and brave people who came with Asano-kun?"

"Uh...... Their whereabouts are not very clear, but I heard that they were involved in the recent mutiny, and that the gendarmerie in Tokyo is looking for them. ”

"Why didn't you say earlier, if the army wants to catch them, the navy must protect them. You go to Tokyo to investigate, and you have to find them as soon as possible. ”

"Commander, there's actually one more thing, Asano and I have exchanged views, and he wants to report back to you......"

An untimely knock outside the door interrupted Onishi's third suggestion. This proposal, which deals with human manipulation* and suicide planes, is Asano's priority strategy for delaying Japan's superiority. Asano didn't know technology, but he knew that before the modern weapons on the Kasuga Maru were made, the human handling weapon was the only precision weapon of this era. Most of his research on the history of World War II is contrary to the common people, and he does not criticize Japan's use of such inhumane weapons, but feels that it is too late to deploy them.

It was the Yano hero Osa who entered the door, he should be on duty on the bridge at this time, Yamamoto knew that there must be an important battle situation, so he didn't have the heart to listen to Onishi's report, so he hurriedly walked over.

"Commander, just got a telegram that the Xianghe was ambushed by an enemy submarine."

Yano lowered his voice because he saw a living person present.

"What? How's it going? ”

"It is still floating on the surface of the sea, but the power is completely lost, preliminary assessment, 4,000 tons of water have entered, and it is currently being repaired, maybe it will be attacked by the enemy aircraft carrier after dawn."

"How long is it going to be over there?"

"Four hours."

Yamamoto put on his military hat and left in a hurry, he had to hurry to the bridge to understand the situation, he had been worried about the 2nd Sentai team, because the American submarine found in the morning was north of Wake Island, and Yamaguchi was more impatient and greedy, but the always steady Fifth Air War had an accident first.

In the cabin, only Onishi and Asano were left. Asano stood there scratching his head, whether the self-repair of historical disturbances was coming too quickly. He had never understood Sato's theory, so he could not explain why this was the case, and as far as he knew, it should be a few months before American submarines came into play. He didn't know if the setback would affect his position in Yamamoto's eyes, and he had just noticed that Yamamoto was more focused on the shipwreck than noncommittal about his proposed strategy.

"Asano, will the crane sink after all?"

"I don't know."

"How could you not know?"

Onishi said with a puzzled expression.

At this moment, No. 419 is leaving the vicinity of Wake Island at a speed of 20 knots, the U.S. fleet has fled the danger, and the Japanese forces to attack the island are being assembled, and it is estimated that they will launch a landing and capture the island after dawn. Cheng Dayang didn't reward one in the end*, and sent the crane to the bottom of the sea, and even if the ship was pulled back, it would have to occupy a lot of time for slipway repair.

Now they are faced with the question of what to do next. Originally, the start of the Pearl Harbor war should have discussed the rest of the matter, but the Japanese traverser immediately took action and set up a bureau on Wake Island. 419 hurried over, and through an electronic deception, he finally resolved half of it. But what next?

In the conference room, the three of them hesitated for a long time, and finally Cheng Dayang couldn't hold back and spoke first:

"Let me start with one thing, I think we've fallen into passivity. The Japanese traverser had apparently gained the trust of the top and stepped in to command. If they don't stop making moves next. Can we only follow the same trend and see the moves? ”

"yes, if they split up across the Pacific, we'll be left alone." The commissar said.

"In a short period of time, I am afraid it will be difficult to reverse this situation. The highest priority we can do at the moment is to find and hunt these three guys. Secondly, we don't have to worry too much, I think the behavior of the traverser is still predictable. ”

"It's interesting to see that their behavior is predictable? You predict a try. Cheng Dayang said with a smile.

"I think so. If we think about it from their point of view, the ambush on Wake Island is clearly drunk and reasonable. ”

"So what's next?"

"The next step will be to start with communications, which is a clear lesson of history, and they will not remain indifferent."

"You mean, they're going to fix the password problem. And so that the Americans can't crack? ”

"Hehe, in fact, I think that if they take the initiative enough, they will not only make up for the loophole, but make full use of this loophole, lure the American fleet over, and then annihilate it with overwhelming forces."

"Yes, it's a possibility," the commissar nodded, "but...... This is still only tactical. What will be the strategic intentions? ”

"If it goes with reason, strategically, they have three paths to take. The first is to make use of what we already know to gain an advantage on the battlefield and expand the area of occupation. The second is to salvage sunken ships and acquire new weapons technology. Third, it is necessary to focus on the resources of the occupied areas and carry out new industrial upgrading and industrial layout. Lin continued his speculation, and said that the head was the Tao.

"They can do these strategies at the same time, but we don't have the skills."

"If necessary, the Special Task Force and 419 may carry out their respective tasks separately. If they decide to salvage Kasuga Maru, or go to the occupied territories for a resource survey, it will be beneficial for us to carry out the assassination, and let's not forget that we are still in the shadows, which will help us to spy on their communications. Also, we have to prepare for the worst. ”

"I've thought about removing nuclear warheads; Must be listed as one of the options. But after dismantling, it is just a *, not a tactical weapon, and it will be very difficult to use. Cheng Dayang said.

"If you want to use it, it must be at the assembly point of the enemy's fleet, and it is better to leave no one alive."

"I'm in favor of that."

The conversation between Lin Xiuxuan and Cheng Dayang made the political commissar tremble when he heard it, and the political commissar was not present when they talked about the possibility of using nuclear weapons last time. It sounds like they've all got a very mature opinion.

"Also, I was observing the battle between the US and Japanese aircraft carriers. Suddenly there was an idea, maybe we could do tricks on the drone platform and add some new weapons. ”

"It's whimsical again, what else can you throw away besides laser guidance*?"

"Can you change the laser irradiation equipment to a directed energy weapon?"

"What are you kidding, the power is simply not enough to burn through the armor." Cheng Dayang shook his head disdainfully.