On the morning of March 10, Bai Zhizhan returned to the imperial capital.

Although the combat operations entering the Hovayi Islands will not be launched as early as June, some general direction issues must be decided immediately.

The first thing is to give up the combat operations of attacking Guandao.

During the period when Bai Zhizhan went to Puzhou and Ji Island, Liu Changxun had made adjustments to the deployment after soliciting Xue Yuanzheng's opinions.

During the march into the Hovay Islands, the naval shore-based aviation will be the main force to bomb and blockade the islands.

In fact, the combat operation began on March 5.

In order to increase the bombing efforts, HNA also borrowed more than 100 heavy bombers from the Army Aviation Corps and formed its own long-range fighter unit.

In addition, the expansion of the airports on Serbia and nearby islands began.

According to the plan formulated by the Navy Command, 500 bombers can be deployed on islands such as Serbia, which are roughly the same as long-range fighter jets.

Of course, it is hard to say whether so many combat aircraft need to be deployed by then.

In addition to the aviation force, the Navy Command also arranged submarines to participate in the war.

However, the mission of the submarine force is not to harass the route to Guandao, but to lay mines outside the Apula military port on Guandao.

If everything goes well, the submarine force will be able to deploy thousands of mines near the Apula military port in March.

Although the density of mine laying is not large, it is enough to block the port.

Bombers can also be arranged to carry out mine laying missions whenever necessary.

To be honest, this was also learned from the Newland Army.

Not long ago, Newland Army bombers deployed a large number of mines in the Xunfeng Strait and Longan Strait, making these two straits unusable.

To be said, mine laying and blockade are enough to attack the defenders across the island.

According to the information provided by the Sixth Bureau, after the fall of Serbia, the Newland army strengthened its deployment on Via Island and Transit Island, and also sent an additional engineering force to the Tuk Fortress, but it has not increased its troops to Guan Island. Even the military supplies sent to Guan Island were less than in the past.

Although it is not possible to prove it yet, there is reason to believe that the Newland military has reduced its importance to the island management.

Some intelligence analysts pointed out that the Newland Navy may have withdrawn some of its combat troops from the island to strengthen the defense deployment of other islands.

The strongest evidence is that Guandao Tamsui Plant has not reached its maximum production capacity.

Although it has a lot to do with the suspension of construction of fortifications, according to the information obtained from the investigation, the Danshui plant's production capacity is not enough to meet the daily life of 40,000 people.

If you want to say it, Guandao is too close to Serbia.

Based on the previous battles, the Newland Navy must have realized that without sea and air supremacy, it is impossible to defend island-type fortresses at all.

In addition, compared with carrier-based aviation, the tactical flexibility of the shore-based aviation is very poor.

Although theoretically, because heavy bombers and long-range fighters can be deployed at land airports and long-range patrol aircraft can be deployed at ports, the combat effectiveness of the shore-based aviation is greater than that of the carrier-based aviation, but it has been repeatedly proved that the range and number at most only enhance part of the combat effectiveness during defense, but cannot solve the most fundamental problem, that is, the initiative is always in the hands of the attacking side.

In naval battles dominated by aviation, initiative on the battlefield is more important than anything else.

Whether in the East Ocean or in the Fanyan Ocean, the party who has the initiative in the battlefield has won the final victory without exception.

If you lose the initiative, no matter how much troops you invest, you cannot make up for it.

To bring out the value of shore-based aviation forces, a powerful fleet is also needed.

Simply put, only a powerful fleet can adopt active defensive tactics and have the hope of defeating powerful enemies in defensive operations.

The problem now is that the Newland Navy has no fleet available at all.

The Sixth Bureau has long discovered that the Endeavour has been in the Newtown Shipyard and is expected to be completely repaired by the end of the year. The Lek, which was severely hit by the Northwest and East Ocean Battle, will not be repaired until July, and then it will be tested and will be delivered to the Newland Navy as early as October.

That is to say, in the next few months, the Newland Navy will have two small aircraft carriers available.

Of course, including those that have been built, there are only three at most.

Due to performance limitations, three small aircraft carriers may not be as good as one large aircraft carrier.

This is also the key to the Newland Navy's abandonment of island management.

After Seyat Island was captured by the Imperial Navy, Guan Island became the prominent part of the Newland Navy in the west and east, and it was only a matter of time before it fell.

As the saying goes, take a step back and the sky is wide open.

When retreating to Wei Island, at least you will not be worried about being attacked by shore-based aviation forces. The Imperial Navy will definitely be the main force of the special mixed fleet.

To the south, Tuk Fortress has more defensive value.

In summary, these are actually the purpose of shortening the length of the defense line by abandoning the island and increasing the density of defense forces.

Of course, it mainly relies on the island base group at the rear.

At least, near the Tuk Fortress, the Newland army has taken advantage of the past few months to control more than a dozen islands and established a strategic defense line with Tuk Fortress as the main axis.

In fact, this is the key to Bai Zhizhan's unwillingness to go south.

Even if it has obtained 4 large aircraft carriers, the Imperial Navy is not as powerful as it can attack the strategic fortress of the Newland Navy by relying solely on the fleet.

At least from a tactical point of view, before attacking the Fortress of Tuk, you must seize the advance base and capture an island nearby that is also guarded by Newland's troops.

Isn't this the same as attacking the island?

By the time the island is captured, there is no need to attack the Tuk Fortress.

Don’t forget that the purpose of the Imperial Navy’s attack on Seyat Island was actually to prepare for attacking Guan Island, but it was found that there was no need to attack Guan Island if it was captured.

The key is that the Newland army must have learned a lesson and will definitely defend the islands near the Tuk Fortress to cause more trouble for the Imperial Navy.

Relatively speaking, on the island of Via, it is more beneficial to the Imperial Navy.

Of course, according to Bai Zhizhan's personal opinion, as long as conditions allow, you have to directly attack the Transit Island, and there is no need to waste time on Wei Island.

The reason is also very simple.

In nature, the transit island is actually very similar to the Via Island.

Although geographically, according to geological causes, the transit island belongs to the Hovay Islands and is the westernmost island in the archipelago, it is about 2,000 kilometers away from the main island in the eastern part of the archipelago. The closest island to the island that can build an airport is also several hundred kilometers away.

Simply put, the transit island is also an isolated island.

Since they are all isolated islands, why do you still attack Wei Island?

If you want to say, after you set up the transit island, you will be able to blockade the Wei Island directly.

At least from a tactical perspective, there is no essential difference between giving up the island, and it is both over the Newland army's defensive land to reduce the difficulty of combat.

In the words of the Army, it means avoiding the real and becoming the virtual.

Of course, it can be said that it is to use one's own strengths to fight the enemy's weaknesses and avoid unnecessary consumption as much as possible.

Of course, compared with attacking Wei Island, because the attack distance is longer and the defenders on the island have greater support from the rear, the combat is definitely more difficult. However, there will be no essential difference, and there will be no difficulties that cannot be overcome.

However, how to fight depends on the actual situation.
Chapter completed!