Chapter 22 Main and Secondary

When the battle ended, it was already past one o'clock in the morning on the 23rd.

According to the news sent by the Air Force at 150 a.m., the US fleet did launch a third attack, but the scale was not large, and only dispatched less than a hundred fighter jets. After encountering fighter jets with the Chinese Air Force, it gave up the idea of ​​attacking the fleet.

At 2:30 in the morning, Mu Haoyang received the last battle report.

At this time, the "Fuzhou" has not sunk yet. Mu Haoyang will not receive the news that the "Fuzhou" has sunk until after 10 o'clock in the morning.

However, the losses suffered are already heavy enough.

What made Mu Haoyang most sad was not the loss of the Western Indian Ocean fleet, but the death of Zhang Yuting.

At that time, Mu Haoyang even thought that he had killed Zhang Yuting because he sent Zhang Yuting to the Western Indian Ocean Fleet. If he had not issued this order, Zhang Yuting would not have died in his country.

Zhang Yuting's death was indeed a major loss to the Chinese Navy.

No matter how he was evaluated later, when the war broke out, Zhang Yuting was a senior general whose status and ability in the Chinese navy were second only to Mu Haoyang. In the eyes of many people, Zhang Yuting and even Mu Haoyang's successor were a popular candidate for the Navy Chief of Staff.

Objectively speaking, Zhang Yuting did not make any mistakes in this battle to eliminate uncertainty factors.

The biggest uncertainty factor is that the Military Intelligence Agency failed to obtain information about the Fourth Fleet entering the Indian Ocean in time, which made the West Indian Ocean Fleet miss the opportunity to escape from the battlefield. If on the 21st, even if the Fourth Fleet intelligence was obtained on the morning of the 22nd, Mu Haoyang would ask Zhang Yuting to lead the West Indian Ocean Fleet to evacuate from the Arabian Sea, go to the Bay of Bengal, or simply return to the local area.

If the West Indian Ocean Fleet sailed east on the 21st, it would encounter the Third Fleet near the Andaman Nicobar Islands during the day at most on the 22nd. Because it had known that the Third Fleet had left Perth, Zhang Yuting would definitely have been guarded and would not be caught off guard. If the naval battle started near the Andaman Nicobar Islands, the West Indian Ocean Fleet could be covered by air force deployed on the South Andaman Islands, and it would be very likely to defeat the Third Fleet, open up the Sunda Strait and the Lombok Strait, and leave the Indian Ocean before the Fourth Fleet arrived.

Of course, these are all post-event analysis.

Until the "Arabic Sea Battle" began, Mu Haoyang did not know the specific whereabouts of the Third Fleet, and it was impossible to determine that the Third Fleet had gone to the Maldives Islands. If the Third Fleet remained in the northwest waters of Australia, it would be possible to ambush the West Indian Ocean Fleet under the cover of the shore-based aviation force.

In fact, it was this judgment that made Mu Haoyang decide to keep the Western Indian Ocean fleet in the Arabian Sea.

Judging from the situation at that time, the biggest problem lies in the intelligence.

However, this is not Li Mingyang's fault, because the Fourth Fleet had been operating in Central and South America before and could not return to Norfolk Naval Base as planned. In fact, Li Mingyang made a judgment on the night of the 22nd, believing that the Fourth Fleet had entered the Indian Ocean was very good, because before that, he had already obtained the deployment information of the Fourth Fleet from within the US Navy. Without this intelligence support, it would be possible to know that the Fourth Fleet had entered the Indian Ocean when the West Indian Ocean Fleet was ambushed.

After Zhang Yuting was killed, there was no suspense when Mu Haoyang went to the front line to command the battle.

Not to mention whether there is anyone who can replace Zhang Yuting to command the fleet to fight. Even if there is, Mu Haoyang will not hand over this important task to others.

The reason is very simple. The Chinese Navy has gone through two out of three, leaving only four aircraft carrier battle groups. Opposite the Chinese Navy, the US Navy has a total of fifteen aircraft carrier battle groups. If there are any mistakes, even if only one aircraft carrier is lost, the consequences will be difficult to imagine.

In the early morning... Mu Haoyang found Huang Hanlin again. After reporting on the destruction of the Western Indian Ocean Fleet, he formally proposed to go to the Pacific Fleet to command the operation. Huang Hanlin did not obstruct him anymore, but only asked Mu Haoyang to formulate a detailed combat plan before leaving.

Of course, without saying much about Huang Hanlin, Mu Haoyang will also go to the Pacific Fleet after he is ready.

Now, the reality before him is: how to turn the situation around with the remaining four aircraft carrier battle groups.

Obviously, this is not a simple thing to say.

After gaining absolute military strength advantage, the US military will definitely strengthen its offensive efforts and launch a strategic offensive in both squares at the same time. In the direction of the Indian Ocean, the US fleet will not rush to the Red Sea, but will move to the East Indian Ocean, blocking all waterways entering the Indian Ocean, and covering and supporting Singapore. In the direction of the Pacific, the US fleet will definitely show its strength in the direction of Fusang and Ryukyu Islands, or tear open China's local outer defense circle in the direction of the Philippines, and open several gaps with the assistance of the Air Force. Next, the US military will strengthen its bombing efforts, and even bomb China's strategic goal after the fleet makes a breakthrough.

After careful consideration, Mu Haoyang discovered a very harsh reality: no matter what the tactical deployment is, it will be difficult to reverse the situation in the short term.

To put it bluntly, the first priority in the short term is not to send a fleet to the Indian Ocean to regain control of the sea.

Judging from the situation at that time, the primary task of the Chinese army was to consolidate the local peripheral defense circle and deal with the strategic bombing that was about to begin.

In specific aspects, there are two main things to be done: one is to immediately launch a counterattack against the US military in the Western Pacific and Southwest Pacific regions, weaken the US military's strategic strike capabilities in the region, thereby reducing the pressure on the local peripheral defense circle; the other is to improve this strategic defense line as soon as possible, that is, send troops to attack Singapore.

In addition to these two main tasks, there are two secondary tasks: one is to strengthen the local northern defense deployment, increase the level of alert to Russia, and prevent sudden attacks from Russia; the other is to send troops to the Middle East as soon as possible to help Egypt and Syria stabilize their position.

After thinking it through, Mu Haoyang asked the secretary to arrange a meeting of senior generals before dawn.

After breakfast, the meeting began.

Regarding the problems mentioned by Mu Haoyang, Qi Kaiwei, his mother Qi Tie and Pang Yuelong all expressed their gratitude and proposed corresponding solutions.

On the issue of counterattack, the mother Qi Tie proposed to use strategic bombers and medium-range ballistic missiles to focus on attacking US military bases in Guam and Australia, and arranged to cover fighter jets in Fusang, Ryukyu Islands, the Philippines and Indonesia to enhance the bomber's assault strength.

Mu Haoyang did not object to this, but only mentioned that the counterattack was mainly aimed at attacking military targets.

Subsequently, Pang Yuelong proposed that military deployments in Fusang, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan Island, Philippine Islands and Indonesia should be strengthened as soon as possible to respond to the possible landing operations of the US military in these directions, and to launch an amphibious offensive in the Southwest Pacific at appropriate times.

Mu Haoyang agreed with the former, but did not support the launch of an amphibious attack immediately.

The reason is very simple. Without sea control, amphibious attack is obviously a waste of talk.

The problem is that Pang Yuelong insists that amphibious offensive is the best way to delay the US military's strategic offensive. Moreover, after the Marine Corps successfully lands, it can use a huge strategic transport aircraft fleet to deliver combat forces by air transport, reducing its dependence on sea transport.

Under Pang Yuelong's insistence, Mu Haoyang did not object, but just asked Qi Kaiwei to join in.

To put it bluntly, if you want to fight a ground offensive battle mainly based on air freight, the Army will definitely be indispensable, because strategic air freight itself is tailor-made for the Army.

On the issue of northern defense, Qi Kaiwei's reply was very direct: he had deployed four armies in the north, two in the northeast and two in the northwest, and was mobilizing four reserve armies. After the war mobilization began, he could add one million troops in the north.

According to Qi Kaiwei's estimates, these deployments are enough to deter Russia.

As for helping Egypt and Syria, Qi Kaiwei's position is clearer: in the case of poor shipping, the only thing he can rely on is the railway to Syria through Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, and Iran and Iraq remain neutral, so he must first make a diplomatic matter.

According to his estimate, if Iran and Iraq are won over, this strategic railway line can support at least one army to fight in the Middle East, at least stabilize Syria, and pose a serious threat to the Israeli army in the direction of the Golan Heights, thus forcing the Israeli Defense Force to shift its focus.

Of course, the premise is that Iran and Iraq must be won over.

On the most important issue, namely, attacking Singapore, Qi Kaiwei's attitude is relatively conservative, but also optimistic, that is, the air force deployed by China in Southeast Asia is enough to offset the advantages of the US Navy and keep the US fleet out of the battlefield. It only requires Indonesia and Malaysia to provide more military bases and cooperate in combat operations, and the Marine Corps should also contribute a little.

In response to the question raised by Qi Kaiwei, Pang Yuelong's reply was very simple: If the army is unwilling to send troops, the Marines are willing to shoulder the heavy responsibility of attacking Singapore.

In this way, Mu Haoyang followed the situation and made clear arrangements for the deployment of the Army and the Marine Corps.

The Army is mainly responsible for local northern surveillance and sending troops to the Middle East after diplomatic breakthroughs. The Marine Corps is mainly responsible for strengthening the local peripheral defense line and preparing for attacking Singapore. In addition, the Army and the Marine Corps should also draw some of their troops and launch a strategic counterattack when the time is right, that is, launch an amphibious offensive in the Southwest Pacific and delay the US offensive operations.

To sum up, the main problem is diplomacy.

In addition to Iran and Iraq still maintaining neutrality, Indonesia, as a Chinese allies, has not declared war on the United States for the time being. In the battle against Singapore, Indonesia is an indispensable strategic barrier, so Indonesia must be allowed to participate in the war as soon as possible.

At the end of the meeting, Mu Haoyang received the news that the "Fuzhou" had sunk.

There was no time to make him sad because he had to find Du Xiaolei immediately, let the Prime Minister put some effort into diplomacy, and let those swaying countries choose their positions.

Chapter 22 Main and Secondary
Chapter completed!