Somewhat similar to Spruance's feelings, Tan Renhao was also not very sure about this operation.

There are more and more signs that the three small aircraft carriers of the US military are operating in the waters near Midway, but he does not know where the three aircraft carriers are, let alone who the commander of the other side is. The lack of intelligence gave Tan Renhao a headache, and this was a very far-fetched campaign offensive operation.

While worrying about how to find the American fleet, Tan Renhao also thought clearly about the significance of this attack. His judgment is very close to Spruance's, but because of the different angles, the final conclusion is not exactly the same.

In Tan Renhao's view, the highest purpose of this offensive is to prepare for the next stage of strategic decisive battle. When it is impossible to accurately judge the direction of the US military's key counterattack, the best solution is to seize the initiative and force the US military to fight a decisive battle in a certain direction. And the purpose of attacking Midway is this. If Midway was taken, the Tang Empire's long-range bombers could threaten airfields on the western islands of the Hawaiian Islands, and the Marines could advance toward Oahu. When the time comes, the U.S. military will have to make the Hawaiian Islands a key defense area, leaving most of the fleet here. On the contrary, if Midway cannot be defeated, then the US military has one more choice.

In fact, the attack on Midway was not rushed. As the fleet sailed westward, Tan Renhao received many telegrams from Liao Hanxiang one after another, and also had a general understanding of Liao Hanxiang's preparations for the attack on Midway.

From the end of the "Second Battle of Wake Island", Liao Hanxiang was preparing for the attack on Midway. He first adjusted the defenses of the Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands, strengthening the connection between the two islands. These include the construction of a field airfield in the Butaritari Atoll and the establishment of seaplane bases on several other islands, as well as radio stations. Temporary supply points and more. Tarawa Island, Majuro Atoll. Troops on Kwajalein Atoll have been strengthened. Liao then strengthened the infrastructure on Wake Island, including expanding the airport, building a new barracks, and increasing the number of docks. A large number of warehouses were built. By mid-June, the Pacific Theater had received reinforcements from three Marine Divisions, and the capture of Midway would take only about one and a half divisions, with Liao Hanxiang preparing two divisions and the other division being deployed to the islands on the front line. The number of long-range reconnaissance aircraft and long-range patrol aircraft on Wake Island has also increased considerably, while the air forces on the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands, which serve as flanks, have mainly increased tactical bombers and fighters.

These adjustments and deployments were in preparation for the attack on Midway. In order to find out the situation on Midway Island, starting in early June, Liao Hanxiang dispatched the "Wolf Dove," which had been converted into a long-range reconnaissance plane, to Midway Island to carry out reconnaissance missions. A lot of photographs were taken, which gave a rough idea of the defensive deployment of Midway Island and demarcated the main military facilities of the US military. This was a great help to the fleet, at least so that the bomber pilots did not have to go to the temporary search for bombing targets. In addition, a group of submarines is monitoring the two routes between Midway and Pearl Harbor.

After Tan Renhao knew about these deployments, he still didn't feel much sure. knew that on the afternoon of the 8th, Tan Renhao received a message that he was interested in.

"This was sent by General Liao Hanxiang." Hao Dongjue sent the telegram to Tan Renhao, "Twelve returning submarines have received the telegram and have begun to turn. Eight of the submarines were north of Midway, and four were south of Midway and southeast. The submarines will patrol within 100 to 300 nautical miles around Midway. ”

After reading the message, Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, and he looked at the chart carefully for a while, and then sighed. The 12 submarines were all on a mission-breaking mission (in fact, the submarines were running out of torpedoes) and were ready to return to the Saipan Ground Submarine Base, where they restocked their torpedoes and had a short rest before setting sail again. The food and fuel on the submarine were sufficient, and it was not difficult to carry out reconnaissance missions for several days. But the question is, how much of a role can twelve submarines make? To make matters worse, these submarines were not able to form an effective submarine reconnaissance line at all, and by the time they were in place, it would be about two days later, and by that time, the bombers of Task Force 1 had already bombed Midway, and perhaps they had already been attacked by the American fleet.

"Better than nothing." Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, "Have you adjusted the radio channel to receive these submarine telegrams?" ”

"It's all ready, and if you have any news, you can report it to us immediately."

Tan Renhao pondered, and after a while, he said, "Then, now we have to think about the bombing of Midway, when will the fleet be able to maneuver in place?" ”

"Tomorrow night." Hao Dongjue flipped out the chart with the route, "The main question now is whether we can maneuver in place tomorrow night." The fleet probably entered the search range of the US patrol planes in the second half of this night, and it is very likely that its whereabouts will be exposed during the day tomorrow. ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "It's impossible to stop now, by the way, what's the weather like tomorrow?"

"It's cloudy and sunny, so it's not going to be a good day." Hao Dongjue also laughed, "The cloud height is about 1,500 meters, and it is very sparse, and it will be clear in the afternoon, and when the time comes, we will have to watch out for the enemy planes overhead." ”

"Arrange the fleet air defense fighters, deploy them above and below the clouds, and patrol mainly to the east of the fleet." Tan Renhao marked a sea area on the chart, "In addition, the fleet entered a state of combat readiness in the second half of the night, which cheered up the officers and men. ”

"When will our reconnaissance plane depart?" Hao Dongjue leaned on the chart table and habitually took out a cigarette.

"Half an hour before dawn tomorrow, all the reconnaissance planes will depart." Tan Renhao propped his hands on the table, "1 Even if there is little hope, we must be fully prepared. ”

After dinner, when Hao Dongjue went to arrange reconnaissance work, Tan Renhao returned to the cabin. He remained convinced that the U.S. fleet was operating somewhere near Midway. In order to find the American fleet as soon as possible. He asked Hao Dongjue to assign tasks to every reconnaissance plane, including the seaplanes carried on the cruiser. If the U.S. fleet is discovered during daylight on the 9th, then the U.S. fleet is to be dealt with first. Then look for an opportunity to bomb Midway. It may delay the landing at Midway, but it's worth the cost. The most threatening fleet must be taken out first.

This night, Tan Renhao did not sleep peacefully, he lay in bed and thought for hours, until late at night and fell asleep. It didn't take long for him to wake him up by the noise of the battleship.

Aviation crews are preparing the reconnaissance plane for takeoff. After getting out of bed. Tan Renhao glanced at his watch, it was only half past four. At five o'clock, Tan Renhao came to the command cabin, and the staff officer was also busy.

"Commander, the chief of staff has gone to the aviation operations center, are you going to call him?" Remaining on duty in the command cabin was the nautical staff officer.

"No, I'll just go over and take a look, and come back to us when there's news."

Tan Renhao went directly to the aviation operations center located at the bottom of the island, and the flight deck was outside. Pilots stop here for pre-war briefings and can then head straight to the flight deck to board the aircraft.

Or go to the hangar below. Hao Dongjue was explaining the reconnaissance mission to the dozens of pilots, as the chief of staff of the fleet, and the part-time chief of staff of the fleet aviation. Hao Dongjue is simply familiar with these jobs, and there is no difficulty for him. Tan Renhao stood by the door and did not interfere with Hao Dongjue's work.

The reconnaissance mission was divided into two parts, with the main reconnaissance directions being in the north and the south.

The reconnaissance range is about 240 degrees in a fan. The 36 carrier-based reconnaissance planes all adopted a straight-line reconnaissance route, with an angle of six and a half degrees between the two routes, a reconnaissance radius of 350 nautical miles, and a lateral search distance of 30 nautical miles on the maximum radius. This is the maximum reconnaissance radius of carrier-based reconnaissance planes, and when they return home, the remaining fuel of these reconnaissance planes will last for five minutes at most.

In addition to the carrier-based reconnaissance planes, all 42 seaplanes in the fleet will also depart.

These seaplanes still take a straight route, with an angle of five degrees, half from the north and half from the south, and a reconnaissance radius of 250 nautical miles, and a lateral search distance of about 20 nautical miles on the extreme reconnaissance radius. This is also the maximum reconnaissance radius of a seaplane when carrying the most fuel.

Hao Dongjue explained their mission to each group of pilots in detail, and at the same time sent the numbers to the pilots. When the pilots went out to prepare, he nodded to Tan Renhao by the door.

Tan Renhao made way for the pilots who left in a hurry, and greeted them one by one, and then walked towards Hao Dongjue.

"It's a real problem, but it's all done now." Hao Dongjue glanced at his watch, "The carrier-based reconnaissance plane will take off in fifteen minutes, and the seaplane will take off in about half an hour." How's that, going to eat? ”

"Let's go, I'm in for a treat today, and I want to order something to eat myself." Tan Renhao also knows that partnering is very hard. He has always suggested that Hao Dongjue choose a chief of staff for aviation operations, but Hao Dongjue has always held this position himself. "Nothing happened at night, did it?"

"No, it was calm, and no trace of enemy aircraft was found."

The two walked towards the officer's cafeteria on the lower floor, chatting about this combat operation all the way, and Hao Dongjue also told Tan Renhao about the marriage of several staff officers who took advantage of the opportunity to go home to visit relatives. What surprised Tan Renhao was that most of the marriages of these young officers were arranged with the help of the newly established department of the Navy, which could be regarded as logistics work.

"Actually, our reconnaissance deployment this time is very loose." Hao Dongjue only ordered a few ordinary pastries, which were served for free, and Tan Renhao did not break the bank. "The main thing is that the search range is too wide, and our reconnaissance forces simply can't take care of it."

Tan Renhao didn't have much of an appetite, he just wanted two buns, an egg, and a glass of hot milk. "I've taken that into account as well. The size of the American fleet will not be very large, it is impossible for three small aircraft carriers to form an aircraft carrier battle group alone, and the number of escort warships should be about ten. Even if a loose anti-submarine formation is used to sail, its lateral width is at most 8 nautical miles, and its longitudinal length is at most 12 nautical miles, and our reconnaissance planes cannot guarantee that they will be able to detect the US fleet when they fly 250 nautical miles. ”

"And it's only about fifty percent sure." Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders, "In addition, the U.S. fleet may be 350 nautical miles away from us." ”

"In this case, as long as we are not discovered by the US military reconnaissance planes on the island, then the US fleet will not be able to detect us." Tan Renhao laughed, "Okay, you can eat quickly, and go to rest early." ”

Hao Dongjue didn't say anything more, and immediately devoured it. When the two arrived outside the commander's cabin, the first batch of reconnaissance planes were taking off one after another.

There are 12 special reconnaissance planes on each aircraft carrier, and Tan Renhao originally wanted to arrange a group of bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions, but in the end he gave up this idea, for the simple reason that the US fleet is very likely to be outside the reconnaissance range, and for tomorrow's bombing, the pilots must be given sufficient rest. If the U.S. fleet is discovered, then it will have to prepare for a bombing operation. Therefore, it is not very cost-effective to send bombers on reconnaissance missions at this time.

Within five minutes, 12 "waterfowl" reconnaissance planes left the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier, and the bombers on the "Hongzehu" and "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carriers also took off one after another. These reconnaissance planes did not stay long over the fleet, but immediately adjusted to their course after taking off, and then quickly left the fleet. In order to ensure that the fleet on the surface of the sea could be detected, the flight altitude of the reconnaissance aircraft was set below the clouds.

More than 10 minutes after the departure of the carrier-based reconnaissance planes, the seaplanes carried on board the cruiser were also ejected one after another.

These seaplanes were much slower and all loaded with fuel. They did not stay long over the fleet, and after adjusting their course, they left the fleet one after another.

The sky also brightened slightly, the fleet was still sailing at high speed, Tan Renhao asked Hao Dongjue to rest and then walked into the command cabin, more than ten hours during the day will be very difficult to spend.