In fact, there are differences between Mu Haoyang and Zhou Yusheng on how to fight.

In Zhou Yusheng's view, because of insufficient troops and not receiving support from the army, he did not have the ability to attack Australia at all, so there is no need to open up a new front in the Southwest Pacific, but should march towards Hawaii along the existing offensive route.

Of course, Zhou Yusheng's main point is: to use the help of attacking the Hawaiian Islands and fight a decisive naval battle.[]

To put it simply, landing is the auxiliary and naval battle is the main purpose of the battle is to annihilate the US Pacific Fleet in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands.

If the combat purpose can be achieved, it will be of great significance.

At that time, most naval generals supported Zhou Yusheng. Even Lieutenant General Gong Jifei (promoted after the Battle of Micronesia) and Major General Tong Shaoyun (the reconnaissance formation heading south during the Battle of Micronesia, who was a naval colonel at the time) believed that the main focus should be on attacking the US Navy fleet.

However, not everyone fully supports Zhou Yusheng.

In fact, even Gong Jifei and Tong Shaoyun have different opinions.

The reason is very simple. At this time, the US Navy's Pacific Fleet had been split into the Third Fleet and the Fifth Fleet. The Third Fleet was deployed in Australia, with the "Lexington", "Kennedy" and "Washington" as the core, but did not enter the Indian Ocean. It mainly operates in the Tasman Sea to cover naval transport ships from the eastern Australian port to the Solomon Islands. The Fifth Fleet was deployed in Pearl Harbor, with three newly-in-service "U.S." class aircraft carriers, Roosevelt, Forlester and Lincoln, as the core. It is still conducting necessary combat training and is frequently heading to the naval base on the west coast of the United States to cover the passing fleet.

Interestingly, Major General Nixon was the commander of the Third Fleet.

Don't forget that in the second naval battle between Digo Garcia, Nixon, who was still the brigade general, was the commander of the Third Fleet, and now he is a major general.

The commander of the Fifth Fleet was still General France, and he was also the commander of the Pacific Fleet.

This deployment is enough to illustrate the strategy of the US Navy and the US Navy's judgment on the battle situation, that is, the Chinese Navy will march into the southwestern Pacific, so the US Navy places three slower aircraft carrier battle groups in Australia, and the three more bulky aircraft carrier battle groups in Hawaii. In this way, as long as the Chinese Navy advances to the southwestern Pacific, the main task of the Third Fleet is to retreat to the Tasman Sea and wait for the Fifth Fleet to come for support. From a time point of view, the Fifth Fleet can arrive within five days, while the Third Fleet relies on the shore-based aviation force, and persisting for five days is not a big problem.

This creates a problem, that is, attacking the Southwest Pacific Ocean is likely to be attacked by US troops.

In response to this issue, Gong Jifei believed that he should first go south to kill the Third Fleet, then kill a retaliation, and kill the Fifth Fleet that came to support him.

Tong Shaoyun held the opposite opinion, that was, he believed that he should march directly into Hawaii and kill the Fifth Fleet. If the Third Fleet came to support him, he would turn around and clean up the Third Fleet. If the Third Fleet refused to save him, he would make a real act and use the Marines to seize a certain island.

Obviously, Gong Jifei's views are closer to Zhou Yusheng's views.

Although Tong Shaoyun seems to support Zhou Yusheng more and focus on the Hawaiian Islands, in essence, Tong Shaoyun is not opposed to a landing battle.

In fact, it is Mu Haoyang's claim to carry out landing operations.

The difference is that Mu Haoyang did not choose the landing location in Hawaii, but chose the Solomon Islands.

It can be seen that the four people have different opinions.

Instead of using power to suppress others, Mu Haoyang held a very open discussion and attached great importance to the opinions of others, but he also put forward his own views.

In Mu Haoyang's view, there is a reason why no one can avoid focusing on the Southwest Pacific, that is, Australia is the number one factor that poses a direct threat to China's mainland and the Oriental Alliance Group's absolute defense circle. Only by capturing Australia can this threat be eliminated.

In fact, this has gone beyond the military scope and is a political issue.

At that time, the US military deployed more than 1,000 bombers and nearly 2,000 fighter jets in Australia, as well as hundreds of various support aircraft. In other words, the air force deployed in Australia was almost 40% of the US Air Force, and it was only 3,000 kilometers away from China.

Although the United States no longer harassing bombing China since May 2053, thousands of U.S. fighter jets were not idle, but began to bomb Southeast Asian countries more vigorously, and even raided India and Pakistan for a long distance, blowing up some military facilities.

The result is that Southeast Asia and South Asia's allies have already complained.

In July alone, Mu Haoyang attended the 11th diplomatic meeting, explaining the situation to the allied diplomatic officials and making the allied believe that China's strategic plan is to protect their interests.

The problem is that just talking big can only achieve counterproductive results.

To stabilize the allies, you have to do something down-to-earth, such as eliminating the threats to the allies.

The result was that at the end of July, Huang Hanlin once hinted that Mu Haoyang should take necessary actions in the Southwest Pacific.

Interestingly, Huang Hanlin didn't make the point.

Judging from the situation at that time, it was mainly related to Qi Kaiwei's offensive deployment on the mainland battlefield, that is, Huang Hanlin did not want the battle in the southwest Pacific to affect the mainland battlefield. To put it bluntly, Huang Hanlin's meaning was to let Mu Haoyang take some symbolic actions to appease Southeast and South Asian countries. As for the substantial strategic offensive, I'm afraid Huang Hanlin would not agree at all.

The problem is not that simple when it comes to Mu Haoyang.

If it is just a symbolic attack, it only has political significance and no military value. As a soldier, what Mu Haoyang dislikes most is to let the soldiers shed blood and sacrifice for political purposes. Even if war itself is a means to achieve political goals, on the tactical level, combat operations should be made as valuable as possible. If it is for political purposes only, Mu Haoyang is more willing to let the air force shoulder the heavy burden.

After understanding these things, it is not difficult to understand what kind of battle Mu Haoyang wants to fight.

Attacking the Solomon Islands must have very significant political significance, because this can be seen as China's first step in the Southwest Pacific, or a prelude to attacking Australia. For allies in Southeast Asia and South Asia, this is definitely a very convincing action, enough to convince them that China is fighting for its allies and has enough determination and perseverance to eliminate the threats to its allies.

More importantly, this also has irreplaceable military value.

Regardless of whether or not it enters Australia through the Solomon Islands in the future, the US military cannot avoid it, because the Solomon Islands are the gateway to Australia and the entire Southwest Pacific. If the Solomon Islands are occupied by Chinese troops, the Chinese fleet will be able to enter and exit the Coral Sea freely to bomb Australia, and Chinese fighter jets deployed in the Solomon Islands can bomb Australia more conveniently. In addition, submarines deployed in the Solomon Islands, even fully electric submarines, can move to the Tasman Sea for more than a month, and the Tasman Sea is the only way for the strategic route from the United States to Australia, with hundreds of ships passing through every day.

It can be said that as long as the Solomon Islands are lost, the US military will definitely lose Australia.

As early as World War II, the United States and Japan fought in the Solomon Islands for more than a year, and finally blocked Japan's expansion here. At that time, the battle for Guadalcanal and the naval battle of Midway became the decisive turning point of the Pacific War.

In fact, it can also be seen from the deployment of the US military that the US military will guard the Solomon Islands at all costs.

Otherwise, the US military would have no reason to send three aircraft carrier battle groups to the third fleet.

More importantly, since the end of April, the US military has been strengthening the defense deployment of the Solomon Islands. By August, the US military has deployed six land divisions on the Solomon Islands, built four large airports and more than a dozen field airports, and built extremely complete fortifications.

According to the intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, by the end of July, the United States transported 12 million tons of cement and 4 million tons of steel to the Solomon Islands, mobilized nearly 10,000 engineering teams, and built three lines of defense with Honiara on Guadalcanal as the center.

What is this concept?

The engineering materials used by the United States were enough to build a medium-sized city with a size of 200,000 people. If used to build fortifications, it would be enough to turn Guadalcanal into a huge fortress made of reinforced concrete that can accommodate more than 100,000 guards.

Of course, this is not over yet.

The Military Intelligence Agency has issued a warning that the United States is likely to transport a small fusion reactor to Guadalam and build an underground power station with a buried depth of more than 150 meters on the island, which fundamentally solves the power supply problem and lays the foundation for the future deployment of long-range electromagnetic cannons.

What's even more serious is that after the US military transported so much engineering materials, it is impossible not to transport combat materials to the island, especially ammunition, fuel, food, medicine, etc. With the US military's transportation capacity, this is obviously not a problem. In other words, the defenders on Guadalcanal Island have sufficient supplies.

If this is the case, it is impossible to attack the Solomon Islands as if they were attacking the Mariana Islands.

The reason is very simple. The US military has hoarded materials that can be used for several years and has enough power supply, so the blockade cannot solve the problem.

Then, we can only attack the Solomon Islands, or to be precise, attack the Guadalcanal Islands.

In fact, this is exactly what Mu Haoyang is most worried about.

Don't forget that his time window is only about three months. If he can't win the Solomon Islands within three months, it will turn into a protracted war, and he will have to face the US Navy that has obtained six super aircraft carriers, which may lose the sea control and thus lose the battle.
Chapter completed!