46 Battle at Phillippine Sea

(BM) "I know that getting the help of these masters is no easy task. How did you manage it?"

(XD) "I used my contacts to get me in touch with these guys. A lot of people owe me favours, that's why I was able to get introduced to this pair at all."

(BM) "I'm glad it's just that. How about you show us what you've learnt. Want to go against one of us in a sim?"

(XD) "I think that would be the best way to show you guys."

(BC) "I want to see just how much you've improved. Let me have a go with you."

(XD) "Let's do it brother."

Xu Da and Ban Chao both got out the sim helmets and began to select the settings. They decided to pick a stage where they were both familiar with. It was a common aerial setting to go on when practicing with someone. It was the battle of Philippine Sea.

This battle would pit Japan against the United States. Japan had 11 carriers with about 750 total aircraft available to them. Against them were close to 950 US aircraft and 15 carriers. Both sides also had multiple smaller ships and a few submarines as well.

Though the advantage in numbers belonged to the US, the flexibility that the Japanese aircrafts allowed them to make the calls the majority of the time. In terms of skill of pilots the Japanese did not have many since they had lost a few of their best men in earlier wars such as Midway and Coral Sea. This was the largest carrier vs carrier battle that Earth has ever seen

Ban Chao would be on the American side while Xu Da would guide the Japanese fleet. Baron, Han Xin, Guan Yu and Yue Fei all entered the sim as spectators.

Baron knew that the actual battle took only two days to carry out, but there was no time limit during the sims taking out the need for urgency on both sides. With this factor gone, both Xu Da and Ban Chao could focus on the big picture instead of rushing everything.

Generally, this map was used to test how well strategists performed if they couldn't make use of their blueprints. This way levelled put the playing field for many strategists looking to prove themselves to their seniors. Also it helped that many these ships and aircraft had sensor technologies that could detect when and where enemies could be coming from. These reasons are what made this particular setting so popular to the masses.

The preparation time was only about a month. Mainly because it wasn't very necessary to build anything and more so used to develop a strategy to beat your opponent in. Certainty in war is never a given. There was one huge advantage that the American side had, and that was that compared to the Japanese they were constantly adding more and more ships and planes to their arsenal even without Ban Chao doing anything. Xu Da could not let this battle drag on for too long. Or else enemy reinforcements would surely be his defeat.

It wasn't as if Xu Da didn't have any other advantages either. He had the superior range in his aircraft, and multiple land based aircraft that could deliver punishment to Ban Chao without receiving any. Though the easterly wind was in his favor, he still needed much preparation before being able to be confident in his victory.

The preparation time went by quickly with Ban Chao reorganizing his men while Xu Da went about frantically trying to improve the individual strength of all of his men through training and practice runs. The time for battle begins now.

On the first day of battle Ban Chao made an unprecedented move and split up his fleet into 20 or so different groups and sent a few of them to do battle with many of the islands under Xu Da's control. This tactic confused the heck out of Xu Da. Not only did Ban Chao just target a few random islands, but he actually chose the islands to the northernmost and southernmost points.

Xu Da knew that his islands couldn't hold under this amount of pressure. However, if he sent his own detachments to reinforce his islands then that would be effectively giving Ban Chao what he wanted. If he didn't address this matter soon, then it was possible for Ban Chao to pincer Xu Da in three directions.

Such tactics were not uncommon on planet 4, but it was overly effective for a map such as this. Xu Da had a dilemma in his hands. He gave it a quick ponder and decided to retreat his entire fleet further into his territory and send reinforcements from there. This manoeuvre took a few days to complete and by the time he repelled the American forces sent in to pincer him he had already taken a bit of casualties. Unfortunately, this was the best outcome he could hope for given what his enemy had forced him into.

There wasn't any movements from either side for a few days until out of the blue Xu Da dedicated over half of his fleet to a frontal assault right up to the edge of his home defenses. Then he startedto bombard Ban Chao with his assortment of missiles, torpedoes, and whatever else he had. Few of these ever managed to hit Ban Chao's fleet, but this was more of a challenge than actually dealing any major damage. Ban Chao could have ignored this obvious taunt, but the temptation was too overwhelming and he sent in close to three quarters of his fleet to engage with Xu Da.

Xu Da had expected Ban Chao would make such a move, so he orderedboth of his armies to getprepared for combat. The first fleet would engage with the bulk of Ban Chao's fleet and distract them long enough for the second fleet to destroy their target. Xu Da would be going along with the first fleet so as to minimize losses. The two forces met in the middle of the day and a fierce battle of the sea and air ensued. With Xu Da and Ban Chao both at the helm of this engagement, victory would not be swift. Many, many hours passed and with it the lives of many. At the end of the day both sides called for a ceasefire since continuing on would entail uncertainty.

During the night, Ban Chao's second fleet rendezvoused at their primary focus, the largest shipbuilding yard in all of the US. The Kaiser Shipyards located in Richmond California. There were a few ships defending these shipyards, but how could they compare to close to half of Xu Da's fleet? By the time Ban Chao learned of this incident it was already too late. Although Ban Chao had multiple other shipyards this was still quite a blow to him.

With this successful destruction of the enemy shipyard, Xu Da immediately ordered them to split up and return back to the main fleet. Ban Chao was not very keen on letting this opportunity slip so he sent out his reserves and sent them to chase down Xu Da's men. Xu Da was not so foolish as to believe that his men could all make it back to base. So he had already set up multiple ambushes for Ban Chao's men to encounter along the way. He even sent the majority of his submarines in his main fleet to help assist the ones returning home.

The second day began with high morale for Xu Da's men for a myriad of reasons. First, Ban Chao's fleet had effectively lost close to half of all the reinforcements they would get in the near future. Another reason was that the ambushes that Xu Da had set up for Ban Chao had worked like a charm. Perhaps the biggest reason though was because of the news that Xu Da would begin to make reforms to the fleet. They had all seen within the past few days of fighting how inefficient their current formations, therefore a change was needed.

There was no way that Ban Chao would give up his attack if he ever caught wind of this. Therefore, Xu Da had to make the plans to reform in secret while only giving news of it to his men. This way, no one would be able to guess when he would initiate the change and because of it be at his weakest. With the destruction of the Kaiser shipyards Xu Da had a little more breathing space to drag the battle out for a bit longer. However, this wouldn't last forever speed was still of the essence.

The second day saw an interesting point of difference from the first. Xu Da split up his entire fleet into three and the biggest one retreated before first light even came out. Xu Da had decided to reform this group first. Another way to buy time was the order that he gave the other two fleets. They were told to launch as many smokescreens as they could in their direction and proceed to fight in this way. Both sides had sensor technologies sure, but it wasn't advanced enough to tell the distance between two objects enough to land a direct hit so the battle that ensued was confusing for all parties involved. The casualties during the second day of battle were less than the first day.