It was a difficult task to clear the many batteries at the southern foot of the Huai Nai Mountains, and the attack could only be launched through mountain trails, unable to commit superior forces, and artillery could not provide direct fire support.

Fortunately, the Koreans were reinforced by a batch of Type 40 recoilless guns, which greatly facilitated the infantry to attack the fortified points.

However, this did not significantly change the fact that the 21st Regiment of the Korean Army was making slow progress, and it took several hours or even half a day to solve each hidden fort.

Their inefficiency and procrastination made the Ming officers and soldiers who supervised the war and watched the drama very unhappy, and they were not neat at all.

Bursts of gunfire were heard from the front line, and the wounded were constantly being carried down on stretchers; The Ming soldiers on the second line were smoking cigarettes and playing cards in groups, chatting and betting on how long it would take the North Koreans to solve the next bunker.

At this moment, the city is ......

The mayor's office at Honolulu City Hall has now become the temporary residence of the chief officer of the Ming occupation army, and Zhou Changfeng naturally lived unceremoniously, which can be regarded as an addiction.

Teak floors, Manila carpets, brass-trimmed telephones...... The décor is not as extravagant as the British and Dutch colonial authorities, but it is also elegant.

Zhao Hanfeng held a few colored pencils in his left hand, and pointed to the map hanging on the wall with his right hand, reporting the latest progress, "The 224 Heights have been taken, and more than forty prisoners have been killed, and then we will deal with that Williston Fort, and it is estimated that we will encounter strong resistance." ”

Zhou Changfeng, who was pouring tea, let out a "hmm" and asked, "What's going on with the fire in the port area?" Are there any signs of subsidence? ”

"It's a lot smaller, and it is estimated that it will stop burning for another day or two."

"It's smoky, and it feels like the city is black."

"Hey, four million metric tons of oil, just like that, it burned out." Zhao Hanfeng sighed with great regret.

At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Yao Liangchuan, who was dressed in regular clothes, walked in slowly, and added disapprerovingly: "Jianbi Qingye is normal, and it is the same for us." But the rules are the rules, and they are all dead. ”

The Ming army continued to follow the usual practice of airdropping leaflets warning them not to destroy military supplies before surrendering, and to execute them if they were found out afterwards.

This rule was advocated by Hou Pang Lingqi of Nan'an, and was followed last year when he seized the Borneo and Jiugang oil fields in the Nanyang region.

As he spoke, Yao Liangchuan handed over a detailed list, "The seized things have been counted, the Americans have been operating here for many years, and the family wealth they have accumulated is really rich." ”

Zhou Changfeng stretched out his hand to take it, "These things must be used as soon as possible, there is so much capacity, and the next step is to repair Pearl Harbor, and save some if you can." ”

Restoring the naval base at Pearl Harbor will take a long time, as damaged machinery and equipment will have to be removed and other necessities must be manufactured and shipped from the country.

The Navy's 3rd Service Detachment in Kauai sent an expedition and gave an assessment that Pearl Harbor would take at least two months to make an initial repair, and that it would only provide simple and basic maintenance work, and that a more complete repair would take more than half a year.

As an important strategic node, there are countless warehouses all over Oahu, and although the US military blew up and burned the remaining military supplies as much as possible on the eve of the defeat, a considerable part still fell into the hands of the Ming army.

According to statistics, there are 7,450 rifles, 881 light and heavy machine guns, 2.66 million rounds of ammunition, 32 large and small artillery pieces, 13,000 rounds of artillery shells, 530 vehicles of various types, and 24 armored vehicles and tanks. Because of the profligacy of the US military in the previous battles, there were not many shells left.

In addition, there are a large number of food, medicine, clothing, tents, fuel, cables, explosives and other military supplies, although they have been consumed and destroyed, but the inventory is still about 67,000 tons of good use, in fact, the US military has hoarded as much as 540,000 tons of materials (excluding fuel) on Oahu.

The biggest headache for the Ming Navy now is how to replenish the fuel at Pearl Harbor, although the large oil storage tank is huge, but the difficulty of construction is not high, the problem is how to transport the huge amount of fuel over.

The Longshuo-class battleships need to be filled with 6,200 tons of heavy oil, the Yongle-class battleships need to be filled with 6,600 tons of heavy oil, and the Ziweiyuan-class armored aircraft carriers need to be filled with 6,100 tons of heavy oil...... The 180 Special Fleet needs about 110,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for a single sortie.

Considering that tactical maneuvers are indispensable in actual combat, it is often necessary to refuel twice during a campaign, that is, about 220,000 tons, which is not counting the aviation gasoline required for hundreds of carrier-based aircraft.

It is necessary to transport troops, materials, and equipment in the port area......

That's it, and at the same time it has to meet the needs of Sumatra, Java, Australia and many islands in the Pacific, such a huge capacity demand makes the Ming Navy stretched.

As the saying goes, plans can't keep up with change, and that's exactly what happened.

The Metropolitan Governor's Office and the Ministry of War were apprehensive to find that the actual loss of various materials since the beginning of the war was much greater than the pre-war estimates, at least double or at most twice as much—the actual situation was destined to be more troublesome and variable than the war on paper.

August 10, in the afternoon.

Zhang Xi, the right attendant of the military department, arrived at the airport in central Oahu as the imperial court commissioner, and in addition to his landline, there was also a passenger plane with more than a dozen delighted reporters on board.

Before the plane landed, many people kept taking pictures through the square window, and the fire at Pearl Harbor had greatly decayed, but the black-gray smoke still reached into the sky.

It is obvious from the runway that there is a discolored piece of ground that has been filled in a recent time.

Between the two intersecting runways stands a simple tower made of felled logs, where the original hangar and tower have long been consumed by the flames of war. The rubble has not yet been cleared, and groups of American prisoners of war are moving collapsed twisted steel frames, corrugated plate fragments, and cement fragments little by little.

There were more than a dozen off-road vehicles and trucks parked next to it, and Zhou Changfeng and a group of generals rushed to welcome the arrival of the imperial commissioner.

"It's hard work, come all the way."

"Hey, no matter what you say, you can't compare to those of you who are fighting on the front line."

After the polite greetings, Zhang Xi insisted on going around Pearl Harbor first.

He also wanted to inspect the shipyard and the docks, but the fire that Yu Wei was still in was forced to dismiss this idea.

There was an unpleasant smell in the air, similar to the smell of asphalt on a hot summer day, and it would be a little nauseous to smell too much.

Zhou Changfeng turned his head sideways and asked, "How is the situation in the country?" Zhang Shilang. ”

"I don't know anywhere else, but the whole capital is very happy, with colorful lights and cheers." Zhang Xi replied.

"What does the public war report say?"

"It's a lot more pompous than last year, and the front page of the Sun and Moon Society is full of praise and praise, and the loss of this battle has been brought over in just a few words."

Zhou Changfeng was silent for several seconds, "Success is easy to make people flutter. ”

Zhang Xi nodded sympathetically, "It's reasonable for the people to celebrate without knowing the truth, but there are also many people in the court who are overjoyed and arrogant." ”

"What's next for the military department? Maui, Lanai, and Big Island are right under their noses, and it's not a matter of staying. ”

"The navy is lacking in skills at the moment, the fleet needs to be overhauled, and the No. 3 engine of the Yongle does not know if it can be repaired, and if it is not repaired, it will have to be cut open and replaced, and it will not be done in a year."

"So much trouble? What about other ships? ”

"Try to gather another fast fleet at the end of the year, two aircraft carriers, two battle cruisers, cut the grass and eradicate the roots, and drive the enemy away from Hawaii."

"It seems to be a little little, I'm afraid it's not enough." Zhou Changfeng thought for a moment, and then said: "The basic need here is to make up for the shortage of chariots and soldiers by the end of the year, and to provide 100,000 metric tons. ”

"This ...... I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. Zhang Xi, who looked embarrassed, said with a wry smile: "The various equipment of the military port should occupy most of the transportation capacity, the supplies can be reduced, and there are a lot of things collected. ”

The total weight of the standard ammunition for a campaign for a month of medium intensity for an infantry division is 3550 tons; The rest of the supplies are called standard grain loads, with a total weight of 3,100 tons.

Considering that the large amount of materials seized can be completely used by us, it can also reduce the logistical burden in disguise.

It wasn't until sunset that the convoy returned to downtown Honolulu.

That night, Zhou Changfeng received an order to return to Beijing.

He went to the roof of the city hall building and looked around, only to see that it was pitch black - Honolulu was strictly controlling the lights in order to prevent the lights on the ground from being used as a reference for the night planes of the American army.

This is not to ban the lights altogether, but to allow them to be exposed, the curtains of residential windows must be thickened, and the neon signs of cabarets are forcibly removed.

Snow-white searchlight beams pierced the deep starry sky, and there were still rich feasts in the stations of the various departments, and the celebration banquet that had lasted for several days was not over, and tonight was the last day.

This was because Zhou only agreed to have a maximum of a quarter of the officers and soldiers at a time, so it was held for four nights.

After stopping for a long time, he said to himself: "I can't imagine that I have to be here for a year and a half." ”

The next day, when he left on a plane, the offensive in the South Asian subcontinent was also in a hasty end.

Beginning in the autumn of last year, the Ming and Southern armies launched two offensives in succession, driving the British Commonwealth troops west of the Brahmaputra River.

Both battles were fought quite reluctantly, and the logistical difficulties were beyond imagination, so much so that the troops who had been rotated and recuperated were surprised by the war correspondents to call them the Hanako Army.

The only "road" is just over a metre wide or a dirt road paved with gravel, which is completely covered with mud and impassable for cars when it rains, and people and animals can only trek a few kilometers a day in these conditions.

Front-line troops often had to rely on airdrops for supplies, and whenever their own transport planes flew overhead, everyone looked up in anticipation of dropping more supplies this time.

The British were no better off as rivals, and some have used British humor to describe it as a modern war fought in a Stone Age setting.

After the end of the Battle of Malaya, more than 80,000 of the more than 100,000 British Commonwealth prisoners of war were transported to Siam to undertake the earthwork task of building the railway from Siam to Burma.

The Metropolitan Governor's Office and the Ministry of War considered themselves to be full of foresight - in this way, if they wanted to attack Indus in the future, the railway would undoubtedly greatly reduce the logistical burden.

The Siam-Burma Railway is designed to be a one-way railway, meter gauge (1000mm), theoretically three military trains a day, each with 50 wagons, and the maximum daily capacity can reach as much as 3000 tons.

However, the Siam-Burma Railway has to pass through lofty mountains and rugged jungles, and the investigation team of the Daming National Railway Company said that it will take 26 months to complete and open to traffic from the start and end of construction at the same time.

Although the Ming army continued to send more construction machinery and more labor, it would take another year anyway.

Therefore, the Ming army and the southern army continued to attack in the primeval forest under the condition of lack of stable logistical support, and it can be said that the roads were opened in the mountains and bridges were built in the rain, and the Anglo-Burmese army and the Anglo-Indian army were defeated and defeated one after another.

These two offensives resulted in the annihilation of 55,000 Commonwealth troops, the loss of 108 tanks and armored vehicles, 1,229 vehicles, and 275 artillery pieces. However, they fled with unusual speed, and the vast majority of the troops escaped in formation after abandoning their heavy weapons.

The Ming and Southern armies also paid a considerable price, with a total of 36,000 casualties and 68,000 non-combat attrition. Many officers and soldiers have been repeatedly infected with malaria, and the malaria infection rate is as high as 370 percent! An abundant supply of quinine has dramatically reduced the case fatality rate, and the widespread malaria has significantly weakened the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Despite the enormous losses, the victory was ultimately on the side of the Ming army, and Prime Minister Winston was extremely annoyed by this.

"The enemy also fought in difficult, bad conditions, but they defeated us, which proves that they are more resourceful than us, or proves that our commanders are stupid."

However, because the Americans and Australians also suffered consecutive defeats during this period, losing the Philippines, Cairns and Townsville, losing the Torres Strait and Tarawa Sea, which set off the strength of the opponent and made the British less embarrassed.

The Ming army's offensive in the Assam region is now coming to an end, codenamed "Heart Palpitations", with the goal of smashing the Ganges-Brahmaputra defense line claimed by Archibald Wavell to be impregnable and capturing Calcutta.

The Ming army invested 4 infantry divisions, 1 tank brigade, and 2 field heavy artillery brigades, and the Southern Army invested 3 infantry divisions, with a total strength of about 150,000. And because Chittagong was captured in the last campaign, the Ming army prepared a large number of supplies by sea transport.

However, the battle was lackluster, and it took more than half a month to break through the British line from the offensive on June 28. By 20 July, the troops on the northern front had only driven the British to the west of the Ganges, and the troops on the southern front were making slower progress, although they captured Khulna, but they were still 107 km away from their target of Calcutta.

It was not the strong defensive line clamored by Archibald-Wavell that seriously troubled the Ming army, but the scorching heat of summer in the Indus region.

The high temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius at every turn and more than 40 degrees Celsius from time to time made the Ming army cry bitterly, not only could people and animals be unbearable, but also almost all tanks, automobiles, and armored vehicles, mainly with air-cooled engines, were paralyzed, and only two hours after sunset and before sunrise were barely usable every day.

(End of chapter)