The Tang Empire's plan to land on the island was postponed, and Shan Lu breathed a sigh of relief: he also believed that the island was not easy to attack and needed more time to prepare.
The two battleships of the Tang Navy fleet exhausted their gun barrel life and their ammunition reserves in the Battle of New Island.
Now both of their warships have returned to Long Island to replace the gun barrels and replenish large-caliber artillery shells there.
Although Beiyuan City also has an ammunition depot specially built for the two battleships, 1,000 rounds of artillery shells is not a small amount, and Long Island's reserves are relatively abundant, so the two battleships returned to Long Island under the protection of other battleships.
The battleship's gun barrel is not completely scrapped at once. Every time a shell is fired, the life of the gun barrel will be affected. When the last few shells with designed values are fired, the charge must be reduced strictly in accordance with regulations and the range must be sacrificed to ensure safety.
Not only the two Dongwan-class battleships, but also more than half of the cruisers in the Tang Empire have almost used up their gun barrels. They fired too many shells to support them from the other side, and they obviously needed to be renovated and inspected.
Therefore, the number of the Tang Empire's fleet near the New Island and the South Island was reduced to a relatively low state: in addition to several destroyer squadrons, only Lu Qianshan's aircraft carrier fleet remained.
The entire aircraft carrier fleet consists of four aircraft carriers, about 20 destroyers and six or seven supply ships.
The fleet is now cruising in the waters on the west side of the South Island for rest. More than half of the carrier-based aircraft are on the South Island, and these pilots are taking a rest and vacation.
More than half of the huge landing fleet returned to ports such as Dongwan, Beiyuan and Linshui, and the rest were anchored in the Great South Bay. The entire fleet's transportation capacity and ground-to-sea combat capabilities were reduced by about half.
If an attack on the main island is launched at this time, there will probably be only four aircraft carriers and dozens of destroyers supporting the Orcs' landing operations. This kind of firepower is indeed a bit low in Shanlu's opinion.
He preferred to delay the battle until around May and June, so that he could obtain the fire support of two Dongwan-class battleships and wait for more aircraft carriers.
Yes, if he is willing to wait, Tang Jun can assemble 6 aircraft carriers to replace Lu Qianshan's aircraft carrier fleet. In this way, Shanlu can obtain more powerful maritime fire support.
But in fact Shanru was a little too optimistic: according to the plan, the two battleships had a lot of work to replace the gun barrels, so they could only participate in the war in August at the earliest.
The Tang Army has been fighting continuously for almost half a year. Not only the 9th Army needs a rest, but also the Navy needs a rest.
Therefore, in fact, the Tang Army planned to attack the island around September. At that time, the weather had just started to turn cold, and it seemed that there were still about two months to take advantage of it. If the orcs didn't pull their hips, they could even capture the entire island in two months.
"Most of the tasks of the combat plan for landing on the island should be handed over to the orcs... They are also willing to undertake combat tasks." Bernard said to Loew in the conference room.
He briefly introduced the battle plan to attack the island, and what stood out on the whole was his simplicity: "The first landing is still on the south side of the island... This can shorten the voyage. Anyway, the mirage has no solid coastline defense. , just choose where it is advantageous to log in."
The Tang Empire occupies absolute sea and air superiority, and can crush its opponents wherever it fights, so it can choose landing points unscrupulously, even if it is exposed to its opponents.
It can be seen from the Battle of New Island that even if the Mirage tried their best to carefully arrange the coastal defense line, they could hardly stop the Tang army's attack.
Of course, the orcs may be a little worse, but after two battles, the remaining combat effectiveness of the Mirage Kingdom is not very good.
A naval staff officer stood up and handed Loew an assessment report: "Yes, according to our calculations, their cement supply should be very limited. In this case, it is not possible to build large-scale fortifications." Very possible."
"In the next few months, we should build enough airports on the new island and use our air force superiority to eat away at the opponent's defensive advantages. We should shake their determination to hold on and even directly force them to sue for peace." The Air Force staff officer also added. Come up with your own battle plan.
"They can't ask for peace. They can't give us our conditions. They can't give up on this island." Loew shook his head and rejected this inference.
The Mirage Kingdom is really tough. They have not yet proposed peace to the Tang Kingdom through diplomatic channels. It seems that they also know that they must fight to the end.
Bernard actually thinks that it doesn't matter if the other party doesn't seek peace: "That can also destroy their coastal defenses! Get better conditions for our landing!"
"This is no problem. We will continue bombing to destroy the coastal defenses of the Mirage Army and destroy their airports!" the Air Force staff officer nodded immediately.
"Whether we should focus on bombing Mirage City still needs to be discussed, but bombing other places can be carried out." Loew thought of the last meeting. Many people had hopes of retaining Mirage City ports as much as possible and reducing repair time.
At this moment, an officer opened the door and walked in, delivering the latest news: "The news just came, during the reconnaissance process of approaching the Mirage Port, the Beiyuan No. 46 destroyer encountered 22 enemy aircraft. Suicide plane, attack by 10 suicide speedboats. Severely damaged and sunk."
This was the second Tang destroyer to be sunk. Mirage's suicide tactics had a certain effect.
Bernard asked with some distress: "How are the personnel?"
The officer immediately answered the marshal's question: "The Beiyuan 44 that followed rescued the people who fell into the water. 11 people were killed and 12 others were missing. The rest returned with the Beiyuan 44."
"These lunatics are ready to use this tactic to the end." Loew frowned, obviously very dissatisfied with the Mirage people.
Bernard felt that it was time to consider formal revenge: "Yes, we should use more cruel methods to teach the Mirage Goblins a lesson!"
Loew decided not to think about any bullshit port. It might be a good idea to directly attack the opponent's royal city: "How about using Scud missiles to attack the main island on the new island...?"
"Cloud bombs?" Bernard hated it so much that he naturally suggested a big one: "Aim at their palace! I don't believe it, 100 bombs won't hit even one!"
"Then let's settle it now!" Loew nodded and made his decision.
…
In the base camp of the Mirage City, the Mirage King listened to the reports from his men, and finally regained some of his momentum as a king: his suicide speedboat unit had sunk two enemy destroyers, and the results could be described as brilliant. To describe it.
Frankly speaking, if we only compare the results of the battle, the damage caused by the entire main fleet of the Mirage Kingdom to the Tang Army is not as good as the dozens of suicide speedboats now!
But this is not a long-term solution after all, because there are actually not many sailors who really dare to die with the enemy: just like the pilots of the Air Force, there are not many naval soldiers left who have skills and courage!
Most of the navy's soldiers were lost when the main fleet was destroyed. There are not many people left who dare to fight, or in other words, people who dare to die, and it is even more troublesome to train them.
Those who dare to die can't fly boats and planes, and those who can fly planes and boats really don't dare to die... For the Mirage Kingdom, this problem is getting bigger and bigger.
"To allocate some soldiers from the Army for training... At present, this is the only way we can do it." Mirage Haiping put forward his own opinion.
Mirage didn't say anything. He actually knew that this was the best choice to avoid enemy troops from landing. But handing over personnel to the navy for training made him somewhat uncomfortable.
But for the sake of his army defense plan, he still chose to compromise and honestly promised to send 1,000 officers to support the navy and learn to drive suicide speedboats.
Then, he introduced the Army's latest plan to defend the island: Since deploying heavy troops on the beach and building dispensable fortifications cannot prevent the Tang army from landing, is it right to set the battlefield on an island far away from the coastline? What kind of solution?
Mirage Wuke's plan was to do the opposite, deploy heavy troops on the island, rely on solid fortifications far away from the coastline, avoid the superior Tang Navy, stick to attrition, block attacks layer by layer, and achieve the battle goal of consuming the landing troops. .
Because there are mountains and rivers inland, he can rely on geographical advantages to calmly deploy defense lines, avoid attacks by enemy paratroopers, and protect inland airports and other facilities. If there is no cement, then dig a cave. It is better to rely on the terrain to fight than to die on the beach.
Once the enemy breaks away from the cover of naval heavy artillery, solid fortifications and urban street fighting can make it easier for the mirage to perform.
His combat idea was bold, but it was also a helpless move: if he continued to leave his troops on the beach to face the Tang Navy's heavy artillery, he would undoubtedly be committing suicide.
Moreover, choosing the battlefield inland can also increase the distance of the opponent's aircraft to some extent, waste part of the opponent's fuel, and reduce the activity time of the opponent's aircraft on the battlefield.
In short, this is at least a seemingly feasible method: What Mirage doesn't know is that what Tadamichi Kuribayashi played on Iwo Jima was the same trick he is playing now.
And this set is really easy to use. It will greatly increase the offensive cost of the attacker and consume the opponent's vitality.
"Your Majesty, I think this plan can be tried!" Mirage Haiping also expressed his goodwill to Mirage Wuk after his own navy could not guarantee sea control and received the support of 1,000 officers from the other side.
"That's it!" The Mirage Emperor approved the plan: "Hollow out every mountain! Turn every city into a fortress! Bury those enemies who dare to land on the island at all costs!"
