"It's not bad for a late-night snack, with your favorite hot and sour noodles."

Liu Zunling handed the steaming bowl of hot and sour noodles in front of him, and Bai Huawei could only reach out to catch it.

Actually, he doesn't have much appetite right now.

Because he studied in his father's hometown of Bai Zhizhan, that is, the primary school in Yuzhou, he only returned to the imperial capital when he was 13 years old, so Bai Huawei's taste is relatively heavy, and he has always liked spicy food, especially the unique hot and sour noodles in Yuzhou, which seem incompatible with Liu Zunling and other playmates of the same age.

"Eat as much as you want."

"Do you think that the speculations we made earlier were actually a waste of the truth?"

Hearing Bai Huawei say this, Liu Zunling immediately tightened his brows and sat down on the chair next to him.

It's just that Bai Huawei didn't say it.

For most of the previous night, the two had only discussed one thing.

If the fleet goes north, how can it avoid being ambushed by the Nuland submarine, or in time to detect the Nuland submarine ambushed in front of the route?

Do not forget that anti-submarine has always been the number one problem for the fleet.

Relatively speaking, fighting in the depths of the ocean, the difficulty of anti-submarine is still above air defense.

Because they were carrying out combat readiness missions and pretending that their combat operations were engaged with the Nuland Navy's task force, the three aircraft carriers of the 41 st Task Force each had four "Cruiser-4A" carrier-based anti-submarine patrol planes and four "Z-8F" antisubmarine helicopters of one squadron.

In addition, the escort warship carried more than 30 "Z-8F" anti-submarine helicopters.

Under the surface of the sea, there are four large attack submarines, two of which are of the "Nanjiang" class with advanced performance, and the other two are of the "Beihe" class, which has been in service for almost 20 years.

Anti-submarine forces do not seem to be a lot, but they are not sufficient at all to fight in the open ocean.

Without a clear, or at least a more definite direction of navigation, and without knowing where the threat is coming from, the anti-submarine forces are even more stretched. If it is necessary to deal with threats from all sides, even if the anti-submarine force is doubled, there is no guarantee that it will be foolproof.

In fact, in the past few decades, the Imperial Navy's task force has rarely faced threats from below the surface alone.

Relying on military bases scattered around the world, the task force can be covered by shore-based aviation, that is, shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft, in almost any sea area.

According to the arrangements made before departure, the shore-based air force of the Howai Islands will dispatch anti-submarine patrol aircraft to provide anti-submarine cover for Task Force 41.

In the past few days, shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft have been operating around the fleet.

The problem now is that all the regular airfields in the Khowaii Islands have been bombed, and it is difficult to restore them to ideal conditions in the short term, so that they cannot deploy enough anti-submarine patrol aircraft, let alone allow them to carry out their tasks with the desired efficiency.

Just because of poor support, the sortie efficiency of anti-submarine patrol aircraft will be reduced by at least sixty percent.

If nothing else, just on the transit island, there were dozens of anti-submarine patrol planes that could not be dispatched as planned because they did not receive the necessary maintenance.

In addition, anti-submarine patrol aircraft will be dispatched to the Aliu Islands to the north.

Although the Navy Command made timely adjustments, such as allowing the anti-submarine patrol planes deployed on Yoton Island to retreat, to be precise, to fly to the northwest of the Khowaii Islands and carry out search missions there, far water could not save the near fire, and there were not many anti-submarine patrol planes deployed on Yotun Island.

According to the information sent by the Fourth Fleet Command in the first half of the night, before dawn, only 30 percent of the anti-submarine patrol planes sent to the waters west of the transit island to carry out the search mission were previously arranged. If the search mission is still carried out within the original range, the probability of spotting an enemy submarine will be greatly reduced.

Even if it is not reduced to 30%, it will definitely change from a high-probability event to a low-probability event.

This means that when the 41st Task Force is heading north through the western waters of the transit island, it is very likely that it will be attacked by a Nuland submarine.

It is precisely because of this that Bai Huawei and Liu Zunling have exhausted their brains in anti-submarine search.

The key question is whether the course needs to be modified to try to bypass the sea area where the Nuland submarine is ambushed.

The most ideal option would naturally be to continue sailing westward, relying on the cover provided by the anti-submarine patrol aircraft deployed on Wei Island and Guan Island, sail to the sea east of the narrow trench, and then turn north, and then launch a surprise attack from the west to fight a decisive battle with the Nuland fleet on standby in the Guia North.

It's just that going around such a big circle will take at least a week.

In addition, Task Force 41 had to carry out a refueling operation near the North Malaysia Islands.

If the situation is urgent, or if an accident occurs, Task Force 41 will have to fight the Nuland fleet in a decisive battle with a lack of fuel. On the other hand, if Bai Huawei insists on completing the supply first, it is very likely that he will miss the opportunity for a decisive battle and lose the initiative on the battlefield.

Of course, this is a minor issue.

Task Force 41 has three fast combat support ships and three slower integrated supply ships. If only fuel replenishment is required, it can be done in the middle of the voyage, at most it cannot be done at full speed, although task forces themselves rarely sail at full speed.

The week's delay is the big problem.

In the afternoon, information was received that there was a large landing fleet south of the Aliu Islands, mainly six amphibious assault ships equipped with vertical take-off and landing fighters. With the seizure of sea supremacy and no worries for the time being, the Nuland army will certainly launch a landing operation. As long as the logistics support can be put in place in time, and one marine division is mobilized, one island will definitely be captured within one week.

It was never a good thing for the Nuland army to gain a foothold in the Aliu Islands.

Although militarily, losing a perennially frozen island is not a big deal, and when the Imperial Navy wins the strategic initiative, a counterattack can be defeated, and there is no need to counterattack, and a long-term blockade can make the enemy on the island surrender, but from a political point of view, this is an unacceptable defeat, which will inevitably have an impact on the prestige of the Navy, and even force the Imperial authorities to adjust their military strategy.

To put it more seriously, people will definitely lose their black yarn hats for this.

The point is that in the last 70 years after the end of the First Global War, the Empire has not lost a single territory!

It can be seen that as long as it is determined that the Nuland Navy will launch a landing operation after seizing sea supremacy, or if there is no need to fight for sea supremacy, the Imperial Navy Command will order the 41st Task Force to rush north to find the Nuland Fleet operating in the Guia Ocean and fight a decisive battle with it.

In this way, it is not possible to detour westward.

Then, in order to avoid the Nuland submarine ambushed on the west side of the transit island, it can only go north to the east of the transit island and directly pass through the Howaii Islands.

In fact, this is also a question that Bai Huawei and Liu Zunling are avoiding.

It's not that the waterways in the middle of the archipelago aren't safe, but it's likely to play into the hands of the enemy.

Information obtained in the afternoon had already mentioned that the Nuland fleet was south of the Aliu Islands, in the middle of the Guina, less than 3,000 kilometers from the Khowaii Islands. The point is that this was information on the morning of the 4th, and even if the 41st Task Force immediately turned north, it would not be able to reach the central waters of the Khowaii Islands until the morning of the 5th, and enter the Guia Ocean through the Khowaii Islands on the afternoon of the 5th.

There was a difference of about 30 hours.

Taking full advantage of these 30 hours, the Nuland fleet can sail up to 1,700 kilometers south. Even if it went south at cruising speed, it would be able to reach about 1,500 kilometers north of the Khowaii Islands on the evening of the 5th, so as to attack Task Force 41 on the night of the 5th, and at the latest in the early morning of the 6th.

In addition, Task Force 41 may not be heading north at full speed.

In view of the fuel problem, especially after entering the Guina, it is difficult to obtain the opportunity to refuel, so it is necessary to save as much fuel as possible on the way north, so as to ensure that after entering the Guia Ocean, the remaining fuel is enough for Task Force 41 to carry out combat missions for 5 to 7 days.

Affected by this, it is very likely that Task Force 41 will be able to enter the Guia Ocean through the Khowaii Islands late on the night of the 5th, or perhaps early on the 6th.

As a result, the Nuland fleet has about 2 days to complete the maneuver deployment.

This means that when Task Force 41 enters the Guia, danger could come from any direction!

The key question is whether the Nuland Navy can accurately deduce that Task Force 41 will move north through the Howaii Islands after the outbreak of the war.

As long as this judgment is made, it will definitely go south to intercept the 41st Task Force.

In addition, the Nuland Navy will not only deploy a fleet of five aircraft carriers, but will also deploy submarines to the north of the Howaii Islands, especially in the main straits.

If there is accurate intelligence, the Nuland Air Force will simultaneously bomb military bases on nearby islands.

In this case, Task Force 41 went north to die.

Don't forget, Task Force 41 has only 3 large aircraft carriers, which is not as good as the Nuland fleet with 5 aircraft carriers, 3 of which are supercarriers.

Not to mention being ambushed, even if it was a head-on engagement, Task Force 41 had little chance of winning.

As such, Task Force 41's main strategy was to avoid engaging the mighty Nuland fleet too early.

Here, the overall strategy of the Imperial Navy in the direction of the Guia is involved.

In the past few decades, after the Polish-Iraqi War to be precise, the Imperial Navy had to make a fuss about the establishment and deployment of the fleet because of the drastic reduction in the size of the fleet.

The most representative is the division of the Guia Fleet into two regional fleets, the Fourth Fleet, which directly faces the Nuland Republic and acts as a fist, and the Sixth Fleet, which guards the southwest and Guia Ocean and acts as the center. Engaged in the battle with the Nuland Navy, the Sixth Fleet was actually the reserve of the Fourth Fleet.

Obviously, the Imperial Navy's overall strategy against the Nuland Navy was based on this deployment.

To put it simply, after the outbreak of war, the First Fleet's priority was not to immediately go out to find the Nuland Fleet for a decisive battle, especially when the Nuland Navy strengthened its Guia Fleet, but to stabilize the defense line of the island chain that crossed the entire Guia Ocean from north to south with the Howaii Islands as the core, and wait for the Sixth Fleet to rush to help. After gaining the superiority in strength, go to the decisive battle with the Nuland fleet.

Of course, the Sixth Fleet will certainly rush to the aid of the Fourth Fleet after the outbreak of the Great War.

Normally, the Sixth Fleet will arrive 1 week after the start of the battle, 10 days at the latest.

How much time it will take depends mainly on whether the Sixth Fleet is ready to participate in the war in advance and which route it will take.

Obviously, this is also the key reason why the Nuland Navy chose to storm the Aliu Islands instead of attacking the more valuable and much more difficult to fight.

No matter how strong the Nuland army is, it will definitely not be able to take the islands in the Howaii Islands in one week.

If nothing else, it just takes more than 1 week to strike in the air.

On the other hand, on the Aliu Islands, it is not difficult to conquer one island in one week as long as the preparation is sufficient.

Crucially, if the Sixth Fleet were to fight in the Guia, it would take three more days to sail.

As a result, the Nuland Navy actually had 10 days to lay down Keith Island or Ebony Island.

It can be seen that the Nuland Navy is sure that the Imperial Navy will not let the Fourth Fleet, that is, the 41st Task Force, go north before the Sixth Fleet arrives.

Of course, the Nuland Navy will also be prepared for a decisive battle with Task Force 41 in advance.

For example, we should put in enough amphibious assault ships and let the amphibious assault ships carry vertical take-off and landing fighters to undertake air support tasks during landing operations, so as to free the task force and allow the task force to concentrate on dealing with the 41st task force coming from afar.

Even if the Nuland Fleet had not gone south and had not ambushed Task Force 41 north of the Howai Islands, it would certainly have waited for Task Force 41 in the middle of the Guia Ocean and would have relied on its superiority in strength to gain absolute naval supremacy in the Guina Ocean through the traditional decisive battle of the fleet.

Of course, this is still ideal.

It is more likely that Task Force 41 will be ambushed by submarines on its way north, and then strangled by the combined forces of the Nuland Navy's carrier-based aviation and the Air Force's strategic aviation.

The problem now is that Task Force 41 has not yet been revealed.

At least in Bai Huawei's opinion, Nuland's reconnaissance satellites have not yet discovered the 41st Task Force, otherwise the strategic bombers of the Nuland Air Force would have been killed long ago. Even if bombers alone could not destroy Task Force 41, if they could inflict heavy damage, it would be enough.

From another point of view, whether it was the storming of the Aliu Islands or the bombing of the Howaii Islands, what the Nuland army did was to force Task Force 41 to show up.

Fundamentally, it is not the military bases built on the islands that determine the supremacy of the sea, but the fleet at sea.

Although Task Force 41 has only three aircraft carriers and a total of less than 270 carrier-based combat aircraft, with its unparalleled maneuverability and resulting assault capabilities, Task Force 41 poses a far greater threat than the shore-based air forces deployed in the Khowaii Islands.

As long as Task Force 41 remained at sea, the Nuland Fleet Commander would be restless.

Obviously, the target of the Nuland fleet was Task Force 41.

Thinking of this, Bai Huawei suddenly stood up and walked out of the officer's cafeteria in three steps and two steps. Liu Zunling was startled, but then got up and chased after him.

Soon, the two came to the bridge of the commander's ship.

Bai Huawei did not embarrass Liu Zunling, and directly gave an order to the staff officers of the headquarters to find out all the information related to the deployment of shore-based aviation units, and then mark it on the chart.

The key is the deployment of troops on each island, as well as the combat missions assigned by the superiors, especially the search mission.

Obviously, Bai Huawei must have had an epiphany, or rather clarified his thinking.