.In the early morning of July 25, a machinery trader boarded a flight to Beijing at the Kennedy International Airport in New York.

At this time, the Chinese fleet had sailed nearly 400 nautical miles southward and reached the waters of the Nansha Islands.

Shortly after dark, the first batch of J-25 carrier-based fighter jets came over the fleet and began to carry out air defense patrol missions. Within the next hour, the second batch of J-25s and four J-15b squadrons arrived one after another, and at around 10 o'clock, the air defense patrol deployment was adjusted.

Mu Haoyang did not ask Yang Yufang to arrange night training, but asked the pilot to maintain his energy.

Carrier-based fighter pilots are elites in HNA, and can even be said to be elites among all pilots. There is no problem of sharpening guns in the face of battle.

After entering the waters of the Nansha Islands, the fleet unfolded into an anti-submarine queue.

When sailing at high speed, the huge noise made by the warship can be discovered by the submarine more than 100 kilometers away, so the most important thing is to worry about the threat from the sea.

At this time, Ma Mingtao sent a message: Japan's reconnaissance satellites adjusted their orbits.

Obviously, after three consecutive passes, no Chinese fleet was discovered, and the Japanese intelligence agency had made accurate judgments, otherwise the satellite's orbit would not be adjusted.

Because it takes several hours to recalculate the orbit of the Japanese reconnaissance satellite, no one can guarantee that the fleet will not be discovered during this period.

About an hour and a half later, at 2:00 a.m. on the 25th, Imai Rimura finally received reliable information.

The Chinese fleet has moved south and has reached the waters of the Nansha Islands. Its navigation speed is more than 30 knots, and it is very likely to reach 33 knots.

Imai Tsukumura was shocked. This information was fourteen hours late.

At this time, the combined fleet had entered the Strait of Malacca and was advancing towards Port Blair. Although based on the speed calculation, the Chinese fleet could not catch up with the combined fleet, five hours after the combined fleet entered Port Blair, the Chinese fleet could reach the sea area where the attack was launched.

Can I complete the supply work within five hours?

This problem is a bit redundant, because if the United Fleet does not go to Port Blair, it will have to immediately reduce the speed to twelve knots, otherwise there will be no enough fuel to reach Visakhapatnam. There is only one result of slowing down, that is, being caught up by the Chinese fleet before arriving at the Andaman-Nicobar Islands.

You have to go to Port Blair and you have to complete the supply within five hours.

Even if all the recharge operations cannot be completed, some fuel must be replenished, and then leave Port Blair, head to Visakhapatnam, or meet with the Indian fleet.

After recalculating, Imai Tatsumura finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If you set out from the Blair cylinder and go to Visakhapatnam, the supply operation will only take three hours. Even if you go to join the Indian fleet and fight against the Chinese fleet together, you can replenish enough fuel for the warship within four hours and meet with the support fleet in five days.

After asking the staff to contact Port Blair, Imai Rimura sent the code name to the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army to start the operation.

Obviously, Imai Tatsumura never thought about why the Chinese fleet followed the joint fleet into the Indian Ocean, rather than entering the Indian Ocean before the joint fleet.

This issue was not considered, so Imai Tatsumura believed that China would take the initiative to start war on India.

According to this logic, because the joint fleet went to cooperate with the Indian navy to fight, he believed that the Chinese fleet would take the initiative to attack the joint fleet.

If this issue is considered, Imai Tatsumura would definitely make a different choice.

Given the situation at that time, Imai Tatsumura should have thought of the reason why the Chinese fleet headed south at noon on July 24, so he was fully capable of seeing the mystery.

To put it bluntly, before the Chinese fleet heading south at noon on July 24, it must have known that the joint fleet had entered the South China Sea and was sailing towards the Strait of Malacca. If the Chinese fleet intends to take the initiative, it should take action in the South China Sea. There is no reason to let the joint fleet arrive at the Strait of Malacca safely, and there is no reason to wait for the joint fleet to meet with the Indian fleet and fight a naval battle without any advantage in the Indian Ocean. The Chinese fleet did not do this, which already shows that China does not intend to shoot the first shot and will not take the initiative to launch an attack.

Think about this clearly and you will know how to deal with it.

The easiest way is to delay the attack time of the Indian Army and wait until the joint fleet and the Indian fleet are deployed to fight ground war later.

Unfortunately, Imai Tatsumura did not expect this.

Before receiving the information, he always believed that the Chinese fleet was still in the northern waters of the South China Sea, waiting for the support ships departing from Guangzhou and the landing fleet coming from Zhoushan. Therefore, on the night of July 24, which is stipulated in the combat plan, at the first time node for the ground war, Imai Tatsumura did not send a termination signal. The Indian Army began mobilization work before the attack according to the combat plan.

By the early morning of July 25, half of the Indian troops involved in the attack had completed the preparations.

As long as the plan is not adjusted, the war will break out in the early morning of the 26th.

At this time, the Joint Fleet had entered Port Blair.

When Imai Tatsumura received the news, it was too late to adjust the combat plan.

As the Indian Army in Kashmir entered combat readiness, armored troops entered the offensive position, artillery deployed on the position, and infantry arrived on the defense line, the Pakistani Army also improved the combat readiness level in tit-for-tat, and the three infantry battalions deployed near the Siachen Glacier completed the mobilization within two hours. After the Pakistani army launched its operations, even if the Indian Army did not intend to launch an attack, it would not lower the combat readiness level.

In other words, even if Imai Tatsumura sent a signal to terminate the operation in the early morning of the 25th, the situation would not ease.

If the combat plan is changed, maybe India will not fire the first shot, but with just a little accident, such as the soldiers on the defense line are too nervous, the war will break out.

Whoever shoots the first shot is just a moral question.

In this case, the Indian Army will certainly not let down its guard.

To put it simply, even if Imai Rimura realized this problem and felt that morality was very important, the Indian Army would not stop there. The reason is very simple. After the war broke out, the Pakistani Army would increase troops to the front line. If the Indian Army did not seize the favorable opportunity after the war started, it would probably never be able to capture the Siachen Glacier. As long as the war broke out, no matter who fired the first shot, the Indian Army would launch an attack.

Relatively speaking, it is better to act according to the original plan to temporarily adjust the offensive plan.

Within one day, the Indian Army was unable to come up with a new offensive plan. The only option was to launch an attack in the early morning of the 26th according to the original plan.

Obviously, when India mobilized war on the night of the 24th, the war broke out.

It is not a novelty to determine war mobilization. Long before World War I, both the Allies and the Allies regarded war mobilization as the first element of war. Almost all alliance treaties targeted war mobilization, that is, as long as the enemy countries mobilized war, it means that the war had broken out.

The relationship between India and Pakistan is similar to that before World War I.

In the case of high hostility, any side mobilizing war will be regarded by the other side as a signal to start a war, and the situation will be completely out of control.

Perhaps, Imai Tatsumura took this factor into consideration, so the operation did not end in the early morning of the 25th.

Of course, Imai Tatsumura cannot control ground wars.

In his opinion, as long as the Indian Army launches an attack first, it can capture the Siachen Glacier before the Pakistani Army completes its mobilization. Subsequently, the Indian Army will turn off attacks to defend, using the dangerous terrain to resist the Pakistani Army's counterattack, with the main purpose of controlling the mineral resource areas.

The key is not on land, but on the sea.

Maybe China will send troops to the war, but the Chinese Army will not be able to appear on the battlefield until at least a week later.

Before this, the victory or defeat on the marine battlefield will determine the victory or defeat of the war.

As long as it can win on the maritime battlefield, China will give up military intervention and even mediate to make Pakistan recognize the fait accompli.

The reason is very simple. Without sea control, China will definitely not be able to win this war.

First, the Indian Navy will block Pakistan's ports, prevent ships carrying military supplies from going to Pakistan, cut off Pakistan's maritime lifeline, and even bomb Pakistan's coastal areas, defeat Pakistan's economic pillars, and force Pakistan to surrender.

If the war escalates, such as China sends troops or opens up a second battlefield, the Indian Navy will block the main international routes in the Indian Ocean, intercept all ships heading to China, and cut off China's strategic routes, making China unable to obtain resources from the Middle East, Africa and South America.

If China does not have a navy, it is impossible to open a route.

Without this route, China's economic system will completely collapse within half a year.

Obviously, within half a year, China will not be able to build a fleet that can defeat the Indian Navy, nor will it be able to completely defeat India on the ground battlefield.

According to this logic, Imai Tatsumura firmly believes that as long as you win on the marine battlefield, China will surrender.

In fact, the actions of the Chinese fleet have proved his judgment that what China attaches most is the marine battlefield and does not place the ground battlefield first.

Then, it doesn't matter how the ground war is fighting anymore.

Now, for Imai Rimura, the most important thing is to arrive at Port Blair in time, replenish fuel, and meet with the Indian fleet to intercept the upcoming Chinese fleet.

On the other hand, Mu Haoyang has also entered the tactical planning stage.

At around 11 o'clock on the night of the 24th, the second unit sent news that the joint fleet had entered the Strait of Malacca and did not stop in Singapore, but drove straight into the Indian Ocean.

If the Joint Fleet does not slow down, it will arrive at Port Blair at around 1:00 a.m. on the 26th.

If the joint fleet slows down, it is very likely that it will not go to Port Blair, but to Visakhapatnam, or to the Bay of Bengal to meet with the Indian Navy's "Vicrant" aircraft carrier battle group, and then join with the "Vicramadia" aircraft carrier battle group to form the Indian-Japanese joint fleet.
Chapter completed!