In late 1941, the United States did not yet have a Joint Chiefs of Staff, but there could not be a lack of cooperation between the various services. There was a liaison mechanism between the US Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Army Chief of Staff General Marshall assumed the de facto responsibilities of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On the first day after China and the United States formally declared war, the battle results submitted by the Philippines Command showed that fighter pilots in the Philippine theater sortied twice a day, excluding bomber pilots. This made General Marshall gasp.

Before the war, the US military believed that the intensity of this war would be unprecedented. The troops of the Philippines Command had been strengthened. The US Army had 220,000 troops, and the Air Force had 12,000 troops, governing 20 air groups with 2,000 fighters. Just on the first day of combat, the US Air Force was forced to exert its full strength, and the reported combat losses were 196 fighters. Looking at the number that was only 4 fighters short of exceeding 200, Marshall felt that there was a high probability that the Philippines Command had beautified the data.

This tragic situation completely exceeded the expectations of the US General Staff. Marshall had to send a telegram to the Philippines Command to inquire. MacArthur might not have slept, or might have been woken up temporarily; in less than two hours, the Philippines Command replied to Marshall: "If our army does not fight with all its strength, the Chinese Air Force will bomb our airfields."

At this time, in the Philippines Command, MacArthur, who had not rested for a whole day, stared at the map with a very solemn face. The Chinese army not only dispatched a huge number of aircraft groups but also made very detailed preparations tactically, without a shred of laziness militarily.

MacArthur certainly hoped to wait at ease for the fatigued enemy and fight the Chinese Air Force over the Philippine land. But the Chinese Air Force did not rush in like wild boars using superior forces, especially the Chinese Air Force in the waters near Manila, which led the US military towards the sea as soon as they engaged. The Chinese Navy had a fleet at sea. The US military initially thought there was an opportunity to attack the Chinese fleet, so they chased after them. Soon, the US Air Force experienced the powerful air defense capabilities of the Chinese Navy. After suffering a head-on blow and losing more than a dozen fighters, the US military determined that it was a fleet air defense system stronger than the US radar fire control system, and had to retreat over the land.

Seeing that the US Air Force no longer entered the sea area, the battleships in the Chinese naval formation began to bombard the shore. With the guidance of the Chinese Air Force, the accuracy of the battleship main guns was very high, destroying many forts and facilities in Manila Port.

The Chinese Air Force from the southern Philippines did not pounce to fight but covered the Chinese Navy landing troops landing on islands in the southern Philippines where US military strength was weak. These Chinese troops landed in the morning, and the US Air Force approached these areas in the afternoon, and was soon raided by the Chinese Air Force. Judging from the results, the Chinese landing troops set up radar equipment on these islands to monitor the movements of the US Air Force.

MacArthur had already understood the role of the Air Force in war, but he did not expect the Chinese Air Force to undertake the main combat tasks. Luzon Island where Manila was located and Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines had large areas and complete land defense systems, which could last a long time even under battleship gunfire bombardment. But the central Philippines was a series of archipelagos. If infiltrated by China one by one, the Philippines Command would be cut into two sections and besieged on all sides. Having no choice, MacArthur could only let the Air Force of the Philippines Command cover the Army and Navy to retake the islands landed by China and clear the radar stations that posed a huge threat to the US Air Force.

Falling into a passive situation, the casualties of the US Air Force were forced to increase. Moreover, after paying a huge price today, they failed to drive the Chinese from the landing sites. The losses of the Philippines Command in tomorrow's battle would only be greater.

Withdrawing his gaze from the map, MacArthur found that he had no idea how to break the game. Before declaring war on China, MacArthur's view was similar to that of most American generals, believing that American electronic technology was at the top level in the world. This was not the arrogance of American generals. Cooperation with Britain allowed the US military to confirm that Britain, representing the highest scientific research level in Europe, was comprehensively behind in electronic technology.

Investigations of French engineers who fled to the United States allowed the United States to determine that France's development in the electronic field was not as good as Britain's. In the Battle of Britain, Germany did not show technical capabilities in electronic fields such as radar.

The Soviet Union bought a lot of equipment from the United States. US experts analyzed during cooperation with the Soviet Union and determined that the Soviet Union's level in the electronic field was much further behind than France.

Various realistic evidence did not support China having more advanced electronic equipment than the United States. Of course, American generals could not imagine out of thin air a Chinese army that surpassed the United States in the technical field.

Now MacArthur could basically confirm that China's electronic technology level was by no means inferior to that of the United States. What the US military could do relying on brand-new electronic equipment, and the tactics it could design, China could do and had designed.

Radar and computer fire control were undoubtedly disruptive military technological revolutions compared to previous wars. If it were the previous war mode, China having strongholds on a few small islands in the central Philippines would have an impact on the war, but it would be small. Now China just built a few small radar stations, and the actions of the US Air Force were completely visible to the Chinese army! Coupled with the continuous aerial reconnaissance of the Chinese army, the tactical suddenness of the US army was greatly weakened.

When the tactical suddenness was weakened to this extent in the battle between two armies with technical equipment at the same level, whoever had more numbers had the greater advantage. The Chinese army was undoubtedly the side with a clear numerical advantage.

MacArthur looked at the map again but couldn't see the possibility of reversing the war situation. There were not many choices left for the US military. Either the US transport fleet would desperately send supplies to the Philippines, braving the bombing of the Chinese Air Force and the interception attacks of the Navy, replenishing as much as was lost. Or dispatch the fleet to engage in a decisive battle with the Chinese Navy, destroy the Chinese Navy, and seize control of the sea.

If it just dragged on like this, MacArthur felt that he might not be able to last for half a month. As long as a war of such intensity and severity continued for 5 days, the Chinese Air Force could bomb the Philippines at will.

In the Southern Command in Guangzhou, Vice Chairman of the Military Commission Li Runshi and Admiral Zheng Silang, Commander of the Southeast Asia Theater, were also assessing the battle and reached a result similar to MacArthur's.

When Zheng Silang discussed strategic issues with Li Runshi, although he knew very well that Li Runshi had really never attended a military academy, Zheng Silang always felt that Li Runshi was a brilliant military strategist. Especially in terms of strategy, Li Runshi could grasp the main points extremely accurately.

In Li Runshi's view, the Philippines was a good bait for "besieging the point to strike the reinforcements." At the same time, Li Runshi was not obsessed with having to use the Philippines to besiege the point and strike the reinforcements because the United States might not cooperate.

Even generals might not possess dynamic thinking ability in the military field. Li Runshi, who had never attended a military academy, could understand and apply strategy with the most realistic attitude. This was enough to prove Li Runshi's genius in the military field.

Having identified Li Runshi as a military genius, Zheng Silang raised the question that troubled him. "Chairman Li, the US military should have a clear strategy at this stage. Do you think they will adjust according to the current situation?"

Li Runshi replied, "I don't think so. Because if the US military doesn't execute the current strategy, it will soon lose the Philippines. At that time, the US strongholds in the Pacific will only be Hawaii and southwestern Australia and New Zealand. In these areas, the US military does not have an advantage. So the US military must execute its own strategy."

Zheng Silang pondered for a moment and asked again, "If it were Chairman Li, you would adjust the strategy immediately, right?"

After speaking, Zheng Silang observed Li Runshi. He saw Li Runshi shake his head decisively. "If I were the US commander, I would also continue to execute the established strategy. Because so far, I have not grasped sufficient information. Existing intelligence does not support the possibility of a major defeat for the US military. Our army's current biggest advantage over the US military is that our army has sufficient understanding of the US military. Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat; know yourself but not the enemy, one victory for one loss; know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

Zheng Silang understood and admired He Rui even more. Since he chose to become He Rui's comrade, he had never seen He Rui make any misjudgments in judging the enemy. So the wars in these years were reassuring every time. With this feeling of reassurance, Zheng Silang said, "I was originally worried that the US Navy feared the coordination of our aircraft carriers and Army Aviation, so they dared not come to seek a decisive battle with our army. Since the US military still has to execute their strategy, I am not worried that the US Navy will not actively attack."

"I think there is another possibility: the US Philippines Command fails too fast, so they don't have time to engage us. In my opinion, the strategic value of seizing the Philippines as soon as possible is higher than a decisive battle with the US Navy," Li Runshi added.

"I understand." Zheng Silang stood up and put on his military cap as he spoke. "Chairman Li, do you have any other requests? If not, I will return to the front line."

Li Runshi also stood up. "I look forward to Commander Zheng killing the enemy and achieving merit, liberating the entire Southeast Asia."

After seeing Zheng Silang to the car, Li Runshi returned to his office and sat in front of another map. This map marked various resource production areas in Southeast Asia. He Rui had long stated that he would not engage in "sustaining war by war," but it didn't mean He Rui was not prepared to use the resources of the liberated areas.

He Rui believed that the Chinese economy would encounter problems of industrial upgrading in 1942. Due to domestic consumption reaching the limit, and new technological breakthroughs failing to bring about an increase in national income at this stage, if China could not open the international market, China would encounter a major economic crisis in 1942.

The actual situation was highly consistent with He Rui's judgment. China's economy had been quite bad since March 1940 due to insufficient domestic demand. It was just that most people couldn't understand this problem and blamed the Western European campaign and the "action to remove backward production capacity" led by the State Council under Wu Youping.

Removing backward production capacity meant closing down factories using backward technologies and zombie companies relying solely on loans for production. Both aspects led to a large number of workers losing their jobs. Even though China pulled the economy and provided employment through the military industry and military preparation, China's economic situation throughout 1941 was still very bad.

Moving his gaze away from the Southeast Asian resource production areas, Li Runshi picked up the industrial data report of the Pearl River Delta region. These data showed an obvious recession curve, but there were signs of a pull-up at the tail end because the state finally started large-scale procurement.

After liberating Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, the Southern Bureau led by Li Runshi immediately purchased a large amount of overstocked light industrial products and transported them to the former colonies. The ideal of liberating the world—if one can't figure it out today, one can continue to think about it tomorrow. But the economy will not stop for a moment.

China drove away the colonialists, but the colonial people still needed food, clothing, housing, and transportation after waking up every day. Because the colonialists were driven away, the colonial people were no longer exploited and plundered. The total amount of products in their hands was more than before, and the demand for trade was greater than before. This was a big market of tens of millions of people. Even if the goods they needed were cloth, agricultural tools, basic daily necessities, and other goods already overstocked in China, clearing China's overstocked inventory was still insufficient, and Chinese enterprises needed to run at full capacity to produce.

Because low-end enterprises were removed, new-style enterprises improved in both management and technical equipment, and the product quality and production capacity of factories were greatly improved. During this time, Li Runshi often went to factories in the Pearl River Delta region for field investigations and visited various markets. The goods on the market were indeed much better. At least there wouldn't be the problem that a pair of trousers might break after a few days if the crotch wasn't reinforced after buying. Those cheap shoes wouldn't have soles cracking and heels falling off after walking a few hundred meters.

Although Li Runshi opposed bourgeois legal rights and disliked economic crises, economic crises did forcefully eliminate backward production capacity to a certain extent.

Li Runshi reflected on He Rui's economic system and considered how to improve it. Many people in the international community who claimed to be "orthodox communists" often criticized He Rui as a "capitalist roader." Li Runshi did not agree with this view. In the economic system formulated by He Rui, this "capitalist roader," there was no room for obtaining stable benefits through monopoly, and he upheld the attitude of beating the drowning dog towards feudal legal rights.

There was indeed capital exploitation in China's economy, but capital must rely on production to maintain operation. If one had the ability to engage in production, one earned money; if one didn't, one died early and was reborn early—just go bankrupt quickly. But Li Runshi believed that this could not be allowed to continue. Even if the efficiency of capital operation was high, the goal of capital operation itself was never for the interests of the people. Under the manipulation of a top economist like He Rui, capital was still just a tool. If He Rui was gone, this tool would definitely bite back.

Or rather, these tools had been trying to bite back, only every attempt failed.

Li Runshi thought about the fundamental issues of launching the war, thinking deeper and deeper. And Hawaii, the important anchorage of the US Pacific Fleet, was extremely lively because of the fleet's sortie.

Concerned about signs being discovered by spies, the Pacific Fleet chose to sail at night. The strength of the US Navy was quite high. With the assistance of the latest electronic equipment, the night departure went quite smoothly. The US Navy General Staff issued an order for 6 aircraft carrier battle groups to go to the area north of the Philippines to seek battle with the Chinese Navy. If the main force of the Chinese Navy was not found, they would cooperate with the US forces in the Philippines to strike at Chinese landing operations.

Although the Chinese Navy hadn't appeared much so far, the Philippines could not be lost. Moreover, the US Navy believed that no matter how powerful the Chinese Navy was, it was impossible to seize the Philippines by airborne landing. As long as the Chinese Navy dispatched a landing fleet, the US military would have the opportunity for a decisive battle with the Chinese Navy.

Huge warships sailed quietly in the night. As the Fleet Carrier Commander, Vice Admiral Nimitz stood on the carrier's island, letting the sea breeze blow on his cheeks. What he worried about most now was that the Chinese Navy would exert the power of the Army Aviation to the limit and use the naval fleet as little as possible.

Unlike those naval officers who advocated holding the Philippines at all costs, Vice Admiral Nimitz believed that the Philippines was already very unsuitable for defending to the death. China's goal was to seize the entire Pacific. After the Philippines was lost, China would launch attacks on Hawaii and eastern Australia. In these two directions, the US Navy could fully exert its advantages. A short-term retreat did not mean failure; the US Navy had plenty of opportunities to fully exert its advantages.

At this time, the fleet had finished organizing. The bows of the ships broke the waves and headed southwest.