The fleet was at sea for six or seven days...... Although the new 1st Division had made sufficient preparations this time, and everyone had prepared seasickness medicine, after so many days on the ship and encountering a storm that was neither big nor small, it also made the soldiers who had not been on the boat feel as if they had shed their skin.

But not to mention, the soldiers' adaptability is still quite strong, and some of the soldiers adapt quickly, and even later get into a fight with the American sailors on the ship...... This made Zhang Chi a little admired, you must know that those soldiers don't know English at all, and most of them communicate with their hands, and they can actually chat happily.

By the seventh day, the fleet had finally reached the remote island of Koro in the Fiji Islands.

Zhang Chi and the others, including Wang Mazi, didn't know why they came here, but later Zhang Chi heard from Captain Edson that he was going to come here for a drill.

After all, this is a joint operation between China and the United States, and there are problems such as language barriers, communication, identification, and coordination, so it is best to conduct an exercise before the war starts, but it will be the main force in this battle...... The fact that the new 1st Division still had to learn the purpose of coming here from a third party can also show how much the US Navy does not take this Chinese army seriously.

Zhang Chi guessed correctly.

Although the U.S. military believes that the Chinese army has the ability to defeat the Japanese army, and even objectively speaking, the Chinese army is more experienced than the U.S. army, so it is possible to exert a stronger combat force than the U.S. military in the jungle of the island.

But the U.S. Navy doesn't think so.

The US Navy generally believes that ...... The important thing in island operations is sea and air operations, and as long as the US Navy wins victory in sea and air operations, it will not be a problem to take the islands. And even if they want to take the island, it is the business of the US Marine Corps, and the Chinese may be familiar with jungle warfare, and may have experience in fighting the Japanese, but they are not familiar with amphibious operations.

So. The U.S. Navy simply treats the Chinese military as an emergency force...... Because the US 1st Marine Division did not have time to assemble, in order to be able to attack the Japanese army as soon as possible and prevent the construction of its airfield, it had no choice but to pull up the Chinese army and use it, and when the US 1st Marine Division came up, it would soon replace the Chinese army.

As for this exercise, the US Navy believes that the focus will be on the beach-grabbing landing and the role of the Chinese army. It is just enough to wait for the United States to land and then "transport" it to occupy some important places, so the exercise has nothing to do with the Chinese army, at most it is to pull it up and show its face.

However, the exercise did not go smoothly, because the coast of the exercise site was high and the coral reefs were dense, and the two landing craft ran into the reef and sank one after another during the exercise. The exercise had to be cancelled due to safety concerns for the fighters and fears of damage to the extremely valuable landing craft, so the Chinese army did not even show its face.

Because the exercise did not go well, the US Navy was very worried about the landing campaign. However, the urgency of the battle, that the Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal could be completed at any time, forced them to attack Kuah.

Zhang Chi was only informed of the meeting on the third day after arriving on Koro Island, the destroyer "Vincent," where Wang Mazi was located.

Zhang Chi's warship is the "Quincy", although the two warships are not far away, and they seem to be next to each other at a glance, but it takes a lot of trouble to get there...... Zhang Chi had to climb from the warship along the net rope to a small boat, drive to the "Vincennes" and climb up the net rope.

Due to the large waves, Zhang Chi was already soaked by the time he arrived at his destination.

Wang Mazi casually threw a dry towel to Zhang Chi and asked, "The situation of the troops is okay!" ”

"It's fine!" Zhang Chi took the towel and replied: "Most of them have adapted to life on the ship, and I have trained on the deck in batches. All aspects of physical fitness are recovering. ”

"Well, that's good!" Wang Mazi nodded.

One after the other. The commanders and staff officers of several regiments arrived, and everyone greeted each other, and they couldn't help but feel a little strange when they saw that Wang Mazi had not started the meeting yet.

Wang Mazi smiled bitterly and explained: "This meeting is not for me to open!" ”

"That's ......"

Before he finished speaking, he saw an American officer in a straight uniform and a mustache striding in with a few entourage. He stood up on the podium and said in English: "Ladies and gentlemen, let me first introduce myself, I am Brigadier General William, deputy commander of the 1st Marine Division, and I am responsible for commanding this landing operation. For your own safety and victory in this battle. You'd better obey my orders unconditionally, understand? ”

When the interpreter repeated this in Chinese, the Chinese officers, including Wang Mazi, showed some displeasure on their faces...... Damn, a Yankee said that he would command, and he obeyed his orders unconditionally, so he didn't take the Chinese army seriously at all!

But they also knew that it was the duty of a soldier to obey orders, and this William was still a brigadier general, so he was still qualified to command this battle, so although he was a little unhappy, he didn't show it.

Zhang Chi was not happy, and he immediately sneered at him: "General, just like we did in Yangon, did you abandon most of the tanks and artillery as a result of obeying orders?" ”

Brigadier General William couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect a Chinese officer to dare to openly contradict him.

"Your name, Colonel!" William asked Zhang Chi.

"My name is Zhang Chi, General!"

"Maybe you defeated the Japanese in Burma." William glared at Zhang Chi fiercely and said, "But you'd better be clear, the Japanese army you encountered in Burma is just an army, is it an army, do you understand?" This is the Pacific Ocean, and most of the battles that are fought here, I mean what you are going to face, will be all-encompassing, land, and sea. So believe me, for the sake of your own lives, you'd better put your cleverness aside! ”

It should be said that what William said is still correct to a certain extent, the battle for the island is indeed different from the land war, even if the island is hit and stands on land, its tactics and strategies are quite different from the land war.

But......

"I don't think we're clever, General!" Zhang Chi replied: "What we have is the experience gained from fighting the Japanese on the battlefield, if you mean these by cleverness, then sorry, we will not throw them away, because we still need to rely on these to defeat the Japanese and save our lives!" ”

William stared at Zhang Chi for a long time before he smiled and said, "So...... Whatever you want, I'd like to see how long you can live with your cleverness? (To be continued.) )