Zhang Yiye snorted in his nose: "There is no one in my eyes, and it is not your turn to care." ”

After that, he grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth, and glanced at Liu Ping: "Commissioner Liu, if you want to know Lu Dao, I may not know Lu Dao, but your emperor knows everything, if there is any problem, it is more useful to ask her than to ask me - Also, before you come to see me next time, please tie your dog first." ”

Liu Ping held down Qi Peng, who was about to move, with one hand, and responded expressionlessly: "I'm afraid that the commander is mistaken, I never have a dog." ”

Zhang Yiye squinted and smiled: "Oh, then I must have misheard, this person is noisy, and it is not strange to mistakenly think that he heard a dog barking - I'm really sorry, there is something else on the headquarters side, this officer will go first, Commissioner Liu, please take care of yourself." ”

Seeing Zhang Yiye brushing his sleeves away, Liu Ping let go of the hand holding Qi Peng, turned his head and glared at him: "If you don't open your mouth, you will die?" ”

Qi Peng was still indignant: "Even if he is the commander of the theater, he shouldn't be so rude to His Royal Highness......"

"Enough, there is no His Highness here, I didn't come here to show my identity......"

"And what are you doing here?"

On Liu Ping's side, the vice admiral who took over the conversation with a wine glass was none other than the air force commander Dongfang Gao, who had just looked at the two of them coldly at the theater joint air force headquarters.

"Looks like we're not welcome here." Qi Peng smiled bitterly.

Liu Ping got up and raised his glass to the east and said, "I came by order, and I don't know what trouble it has caused Your Excellency?" ”

Dongfang Gao smiled coldly: "Everyone knows that this is a place of exile for people who have lost power, although Commissioner Liu thinks he is condescending, but in our opinion, he is like an irrelevant idler who is looking for an outing on a whim, so naturally it doesn't matter whether he is welcome or not." ”

"What did the Eastern Commander say? In time, this place will become the decisive place for the Chinese and American armies......"

"The decisive place is not here, and the decisive way is not in a decisive battle to the death - Commissioner Liu, I have a suggestion for you: see more and ask less. The answer you want is not here. ”

Liu Ping held down Qi Peng, who wanted to be mad again, drank a cup of his own drink, and turned the cup to Lu: "Thank you Commander Dongfang for reminding me, Liu has written it down." ”

……

2,300 km southeast of Rabaul. Port Vila, the capital of the British New Hebrides, battleship "California".

Outside the headquarters conference room on the port side, Lt. Col. Douglas MacArthur straightened his collar and nodded to the Wisconsin fellow next to him, Major General William Mitchell.

Mitchell smiled knowingly, raised his hand to set up his military hat, and led MacArthur across the steel threshold of the watertight door, only to see the long ironwood table with no decoration. Several naval officers in snow-white uniforms were pointing around the charts.

The highest-ranking of them all, Admiral Seaton Schroeder, commander of the combined U.S.-British-Australian fleet, was the first to notice Mitchell and MacArthur's arrival, and stood up and nodded to them: "Welcome to my flagship." ”

Mitchell and MacArthur hurriedly saluted him, and Schroeder returned the salute and beckoned them to gather around the map.

"Mitchell, you've seen all my people, and as for the little young master you brought, it's the son of the old Philippine governor, right?"

"I am General Robinson's operational staff, Douglas-MacArthur." MacArthur emphasized, unconvinced.

Schroeder smiled generously. Turning around, he introduced: "This bearded uncle is the captain of the USS Panama, Colonel Joseph Reeves; This little young master is my aviation staff officer, Major Frank Fletcher. His uncle was Admiral Fletcher, who was in charge of the Atlantic Fleet; As for the lad, it was my intelligence staff officer, Major Chester Nimitz......"

"General Wittson didn't come?"

The Whitson in Mitchell's mouth is the British rear admiral who commanded the aircraft carrier task force in the Battle of San Cristobal last month, and this person had served as the captain of the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier "Ocean" long before the outbreak of war, and had experienced in the battle of Kiel and the sea battle in the Bay of Bengal.

Schroeder spread his hands towards Reeves: "General Witson is overworked and sick. Task Force 51 is now commanded by Colonel Reeves. ”

"I believe that the colonel will be able to replace General Witson in the next task."

Mitchell had something to say, and how could Schroeder not hear it.

"Colonel Reeves has a unique view of the design of aircraft carriers and the combat methods of aircraft carrier task forces, and you should listen to his 'all-deck attack' theory another day, and Admiral Witson praised it after hearing it."

After listening to Schroeder's praise, Mitchell shrugged: "Can we get to the point?" Both General Robinson and I wondered if the second landing force would be able to leave on time. ”

Schroeder knocked on the chart: "No problem. The 51st and 52nd task forces will set sail again by 23 July, and the 54th task force and transport flotilla will sail by 25 July, with a second landing on 28 July. ”

Mitchell had already learned from MacArthur that the three task forces commanded by Schroeder, along with the convoy carrying the first landing force, had set sail from Port Vila on 25 June.

The fleet and convoy arrived off the coast of Malaita Island on 28 June, under the cover of the Toucano shore-based air flotilla that had taken off from Kirakira Air Base, and the marines who had been transferred to motorboats and barges easily seized the beachhead without any ground resistance, and then the entire convoy began a week-long beachhead unloading operation.

During this period, under the cover of powerful naval and air forces, no threat from the Chinese surface fleet was found in the vicinity of the landing site, and the repeated attacks by enemy submarines and long-range bombers caused a total of one British old battleship and one old armored cruiser, two US destroyers and two transport ships to be sunk, and six other ships were damaged to varying degrees.

Correspondingly, during the operation, the fleet and air force reported the destruction of two enemy submarines and the shooting down of 19 enemy aircraft, the loss of 13 aircraft due to combat and malfunctions, and the casualties of the landing force did not exceed double digits.

Compared to the Battle of San Cristobal in early June (known to the Chinese as the First Battle of the Solomon), this operation could hardly be called an "operation", but the losses of ships and sailors were no less than the former, and it really made Vice Admiral George Bryan, who commanded the 54th Task Force, feel heartache for a while.

However, in Mitchell's view, this loss is insignificant, and even worth it. Especially after learning that the main forces of the East Asian Combined Fleet were cruising in the distant Gulf of Aden.

Mitchell nodded, and gave the stage to the "little master" beside him: "That's good—Lieutenant Colonel MacArthur brought some good news from General Robinson, what do you want to hear first?" ”

Schroeder spread his hands and said: "Of course it's reinforcements, and the old men in Washington are kind again?" ”

MacArthur tilted his head. Counting the fingers: "By September we will have 1 Marine Division and 2 Army Divisions, and by the end of the year we will have 3 additional Army Divisions, plus 5 Australian Divisions and 1 New Zealand Division, and by then we will have 15 regular divisions." ”

"In terms of aviation, at least 10 new army aviation squadrons and an equal number of naval aviation squadrons will be added by September, with a total number of aircraft at least 250, and efforts will be made to increase the number of aircraft in the entire 10th Air Force to 1,000 by the end of the year."

"On the capital ship side. By September, your fleet will receive 4 battleships, including 2 12-inch dreadnoughts with 12-inch guns under our command from the Brazilian Navy, and 2 Chilean 14-inch super-dreadnoughts 'leased' from the Royal Navy...... It is also possible to get 2 new battle cruisers of the Royal Navy before the end of the year. ”

"What about aircraft carriers?"

The other "little master", Major Fletcher, who was six years younger than MacArthur, was most concerned about this.

"You can get three medium-sized aircraft carriers of the Pearl Harbor class by September, two large aircraft carriers of the Panama class by the end of the year, and possibly one or two regular fleet carriers of the Royal Navy."

Hearing this, Schroeder couldn't help but smile bitterly: "What a generous promise - then, what are the additional conditions?" Gentlemen don't have a kind heart in vain. ”

MacArthur took a step forward and pointed to the center of the chart: "The Army plans to map out the island of Maramasik, which is adjacent to the south of Malaita Island, and Marau, which is at the southeastern tip of Guadalcanal Island. It is hoped that the Navy will open a water base in Takataka Bay between Malaita and Maramasik, and that these three aviation facilities will form a complementary network of air bases with the Atoefa airfield on Malaita Island that is under construction. Encirclement of the base group in the northern part of Guadalcanal, which is planned for the next step......"

Fletcher quickly grabbed a ruler and measured it on the chart a few times, squinting, "You want to restart Operation Fusiliers?" ”

"I said, that's the next step."

Major Nimitz finally seized the opportunity to speak: "According to credible information, the enemy is rushing to repair the airfield in the southern part of New Georgia, and it is very likely that it will seize Russell Island near Kuah Island in the near future. If the enemy builds an advance airfield on Lassell Island, any action by our troops in the northern part of Kuah Island will be met with a strong counterattack by the enemy's shore-based air forces, and if the main forces of the East Asian Combined Fleet quietly return to the Pacific Ocean and set up an ambush, such an operation is likely to bury the entire United American and British Combined Fleet in one afternoon. ”

MacArthur was confident: "As far as I know, the main forces of the East Asian Combined Fleet are currently supporting landing operations around the Gulf of Aden in the western Indian Ocean, and because of the fall of Turkey. The British and French Mediterranean Fleets have been able to free up their hands to go to the Indian Ocean and form an effective containment of the East Asian Combined Fleet - which means that in the next two or three months, we will have an unprecedented superiority in sea and air forces in the southwest Pacific, which is a great opportunity to move the front forward......"

Nimitz scoffed: "This will only prompt the East Asian Combined Fleet to return to the Pacific more quickly, so that our military will inevitably face a decisive battle of the fleet, and the Navy has never considered this a suitable battlefield for a decisive battle—I don't understand." When did the Army wipe Hawaii off the face of the earth? ”

MacArthur was unhesitant of Nimitz's ridicule: "We all know that Hawaii's revenge will have to wait a long time, but before that we can strike hard at the enemy who is temporarily weak, and if the East Asian Combined Fleet really ventures to abandon the Indian Ocean to settle accounts with us, then we will also be in a more favorable defensive posture......"

Nimitz sneered, "At that point, we will have to choose between saving the fleet or being buried for the defenders of the island. ”

"You made such a choice last month, and General Mitchell and I were saved as a result, along with the honor of the American ** people and the prestige of the United States."

MacArthur's chin was slightly raised, and he looked dramatic and magnificent.

Seeing that the smell of gunpowder in the air was getting stronger and stronger, Schroeder glanced at the big clock on the wall, took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and resolutely interrupted the confrontation between the two.

"Gentlemen, dinner will be served in five minutes, and we'll see you in the officers' cafeteria."

……