Since Jiang Zhongmin returned to the Navy and served as the chief of staff of the Fourth Task Force, and then transferred to the Fifth Task Force as the commander, no one doubted the rivalry between Jiang Zhongmin and Tan Renhao, both of whom were graduates of the 193rd Naval Officers Academy, and this was a competition arranged by Nie Renfeng.

The reason why Nie Renfeng vigorously supported Jiang Zhongmin while focusing on cultivating Tan Renhao is well known to many people. As the commander of the navy, Nie Renfeng must choose a successor for himself, maybe Jiang Zhongmin and Tan Renhao are too young, after Nie Renfeng stepped down, neither of them had enough qualifications to serve as the commander of the navy, there will definitely be a transition period in the middle, by Gan Yongxing, or even middle-aged generals like Liao Hanxiang as the commander of the navy, after they leave office, Jiang Zhongmin or Tan Renhao will be the commander of the navy.

Nie Renfeng's arrangement is reasonable, after all, if the navy wants to develop smoothly, it must have a smooth transition when the commander is replaced. Unless there is direct intervention by the prime minister, or the ability of the successor selected by Nie Renfeng is insufficient, otherwise, this method of cultivating a successor by the former commander is the most reasonable.

From Nie Renfeng's point of view, anything can happen during the war, if he only cultivates Tan Renhao alone, and Tan Renhao has any accidents in the war, then he will not have enough time to train a new successor, therefore, Nie Renfeng cultivates two successors at the same time, which also makes sense, and in the history of the navy, such things are not uncommon. Moreover, most naval commanders will train multiple successors during their tenure, and finally select the best to replace him.

The advantage of having two successors at the same time is that they compete, and competition is the most effective way to improve capabilities. Equally. During war, competition between generals can also improve the combat capability of the army, which is also very helpful in warfare. Not to mention the inside of the Navy. There is also competition within the army, and Xue Xiyue has also set up a competition system within the cabinet. The contradictions between the army and navy also constitute a competition between the two armies. It was also an important factor in the empire's ability to maintain its status as the world's number one power for hundreds of years.

But more people also know that in the competition between Tan Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin, Tan Renhao's advantage is quite obvious. Regardless of the fact that Tan Renhao has established much more military exploits than Jiang Zhongmin. In addition to Nie Renfeng, Gan Yongxing, as the chief of the general staff of the navy, is the second leader of the navy. And Gan Yongxing is obviously inclined to talk about Renhao. And Nie Renfeng is unlikely to affect Gan Yongxing's attitude, and the impact of Gan Yongxing's attitude is also very huge. Therefore, when Gan Yongxing is openly and secretly supporting Tan Renhao, if Nie Renfeng also supports Tan Renhao, then there is no doubt that Jiang Zhongmin is not even qualified to compete with Tan Renhao. Therefore, this also directly affected Nie Renfeng's attitude. At least, Nie Renfeng did not show obvious tendencies when dealing with Tan Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin, and even secretly supported Jiang Zhongmin many times. And that's no surprise.

It can be said that this internal competition mechanism has a long tradition in the Imperial Navy, and almost every commander has one before taking office. Or multiple competitors. Not to mention anything else, Sajiting and Jiang Bangguo are in competition, when Sajiting became the commander of the navy, Jiang Bangguo could only stay in the second task force. And after Sajiting resigned, Jiang Bangguo became the commander of the navy.

In the eyes of many people, this internal competition is actually a serious drain on the strength of the Imperial Navy, a kind of internal friction. But in reality, the benefits of internal competition far outweigh the disadvantages. The relationship between Sajiting and Jiang Bangguo is an example, if there was no rivalry between the two, then I am afraid that there would have been an internal conflict between the selection of a new naval commander after Sajiting left office. In addition, the most significant result of this internal competition is that in the hundreds of years of history of the Imperial Navy, there has never been a shortage of excellent admirals, and it can be said that in any historical stage, any admiral born in the Imperial Navy who has made outstanding achievements in war and has been famous for thousands of years has been produced through competition. And competition itself is the source of development, not only in nature, but also in economic activity, and in the development of the navy, if competition is lost, then the empire will probably have been defeated by the enemy hundreds of years ago, and the powerful empire will not exist now.

The sense of competition itself has also penetrated into the minds of the military and civilians of the empire, starting with Prime Minister Zhang Shaoting, for hundreds of years, the empire has been advocating competition, and competition has been advocated in all aspects. For example, in social and economic activities, in order to promote competition and avoid monopoly, as early as more than 100 years ago, the empire formulated the world's first anti-monopoly law, and this is precisely to encourage social competition. And through hundreds of years of indoctrination, every imperial soldier and civilian has a strong sense of competition, both in the civil and in the army.

This is also the reason why Tan Renhao did not have an aversion to the principal's support for Jiang Zhongmin at the beginning, on the battlefield, Tan Renhao is competing with Spruance, Halsey and others, and now there is an internal competitor, which is not a big trouble. Moreover, Tan Renhao himself knows that Jiang Zhongmin is not his competitor to a large extent, but just a tool used by the principal to spur him to make continuous progress and constantly improve his self-ability. But the problem is that the competition between Tan Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin is still in its infancy, far from reaching a white-hot level, and no one has even discussed this matter publicly, and the principal gave Jiang Zhongmin more help at this time, which is indeed too unfair to Tan Renhao, and this also violates the principle of "fair competition".

When Zheng Guanhua walked in, Tan Renhao's expression had returned to normal, it was a special period, and he didn't want to affect the internal relations of the army because of his relationship with Jiang Zhongmin.

"Talking about the general, General Jiang Zhongmin has arrived, and he is in the command cabin."

"What is he doing here?" Tan Renhao frowned slightly, and then stood up.

"I don't know, he just said he wanted to see you.

Maybe ......," Zheng Guanhua hesitated, "Maybe it has something to do with that telegram." ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, he didn't think of going to find Jiang Zhongmin, but Jiang Zhongmin took the initiative to come to the door. "Okay. I'll go to the command cabin right away. By the way, what happened to the fleet? ”

"The officers and soldiers have returned, and the supply work is over. Now we're waiting for news from Task Force 3. ”

Before arriving at the command cabin, Tan Renhao asked a few more questions from the fleet. Zheng Guanhua answered, and when he arrived outside the command cabin, Zheng Guanhua did not follow up. Tan Renhao didn't let Zheng Guanhua follow him in, he pretended not to notice that Zheng Guanhua had slowed down, and then entered the command cabin.

Jiang Zhongmin was lying on the chart table. When Tan Renhao came in, he raised his head, and then greeted him.

"Zhongmin, is there anything urgent?" Tan Renhao tried hard to control his emotions, "Can you send someone to inform me if you have something, and ask me to call Lao Chang?" ”

"No, it's not actually a combat thing." Jiang Zhongmin hesitated for a moment, "I just received a telegram from the Navy Command. ”

Tan Renhao turned around and went to make tea, but did not pick up Jiang Zhongmin's words.

"It was sent by the principal, and he asked me to return to Zhoushan immediately."

"Return to Zhoushan?" Tan Renhao turned around. "In such a hurry?"

"Yes, General Weng Yiming has recovered, and he has arrived in Colombo. The principal arranged for him to replace me. Jiang Zhongmin sat down with Tan Renhao, "However, I haven't thought about when to leave." I think I should discuss this with you. ”

"The Headmaster told you to go back, it should be about the rebuilding of Task Force 5. New carriers and escort ships are already in service, and there will be a lot of work to be done for the rebuilding of Task Force 5. ”

Tan Renhao's words were calm, "This should be a good thing, when the Fifth Task Force regains its combat effectiveness, then we will have another new force." ”

"But......" Jiang Zhongmin sighed, "Now our side is at a critical juncture, and General Weng Yiming doesn't know much about our combat deployment, what happened before, and the enemy, now let him take over me, I'm afraid it will be difficult to effectively cooperate with the fleet to fight, so ......"

"Zhongmin, I think you should go back immediately. Combat operations on this side have gradually begun, and the situation has turned in our favor. The sooner the Fifth Task Force recovers, the sooner the First Task Force can return to the Pacific Theater. "Tan Renhao said these words on purpose, he wanted to know what Jiang Zhongmin was thinking." Perhaps, by then, the Anglo-French Combined Expeditionary Fleet would have been defeated, and the Third Task Force would be able to be redeployed back to the Pacific Theater. Therefore, now that we have defeated the enemy, it is also very important for the Fifth Task Force to quickly restore its combat effectiveness. ”

"At first, I thought so, but I thought it was better to complete the combat operations here before leaving." Jiang Zhongmin looked at Tan Renhao, "If we can quickly defeat the enemy, then I will only go back a few days later, and it shouldn't be a big problem." If it drags on for a long time, it's not too late to let General Weng Yiming replace me, and during this time, I can also let General Weng Yiming get familiar with the situation here, and then I will be able to better cooperate with you and Lao Chang. ”

Tan Renhao thought about it quickly, and then said, "Okay, since you have decided so, I can't say anything more." After the ships of Task Force 3 have been refueled, the fleet will be ready to depart this evening. We will strive to annihilate the Anglo-French joint expeditionary fleet as soon as possible, and when the time comes, let General Weng Yiming take charge of commanding the Marines to regain Cape Town, so that there will be much less trouble, right? ”

Jiang Zhongmin nodded, and then stood up.

"Then I won't delay your time too much, and I will arrange the relevant cooperation work as soon as possible."

Tan Renhao didn't stay long, he sent Jiang Zhongmin outside the cabin, and then asked Zheng Guanhua, who was waiting outside, to send Jiang Zhongmin off the battleship. Zheng Guanhua quickly rushed back, and Tan Renhao also regained his composure at this time, he didn't think much about the principal's arrangement, nor did he think about why Jiang Zhongmin chose to stay. The fleet is about to depart, and the most important thing at hand is to defeat the enemy.

"Talking about the general, Jiang Zhongmin has already left, and he began to ......" Zheng Guanhua obviously hasn't fully concentrated yet. In fact, officers like Zheng Guanhua who have experienced the "First Task Force Incident" (referring to the incident where Tan Renhao and Lei Shaoqing were transferred from the First Task Force and Jiang Zhongmin and Fan Peikun were appointed commanders and chiefs of staff of the First Task Force) have no good impression of Jiang Zhongmin, just like the attitude of Hao Dongjue and Huang Xiaotian towards Jiang Zhongmin back then.

"Don't think about it so much." Tan Renhao patted Zheng Guanhua on the shoulder, "I'll go to the Third Task Force to have a look, before I come back, the fleet must make all the preparations for departure, you know?" ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded, and only sighed when Tan Renhao walked down the gangway. It can be said that Zheng Guanhua is a staunch "Tan diehard", and he is the most loyal and loyal follower of Tan Renhao, and the number of young officers and generals like Zheng Guanhua in the Imperial Navy at that time was quite a lot, especially among the senior officers and generals of the front-line combat units, Tan Renhao's supporters exceeded fifty percent!

After coming to the "Nanning" and finding Chang Jianxin, Tan Renhao transferred the principal Jiang Zhongmin back, and Weng Yiming replaced Jiang Zhongmin, as well as some of his dissatisfactions.

After listening to Tan Renhao's "complaint", Chang Jianxin only thought about it for a few seconds, and then put Tan Renhao's shoulder and said: "Renhao, I know very well what you are thinking now, and I know how you feel." But, then again, don't you think it's the headmaster who is leaving you with a chance? Also, the most important thing we need to do right now is not to think about what will happen in months, years, or even decades, but about what we will do in the next few days. So, I think now we should focus on dealing with the threat of the enemy, rather than fighting with our comrades, right? ”

Tan Renhao laughed embarrassedly, he felt that he was a lot shorter than Chang Jianxin.

"Actually, you're a person who can afford to put it down, and if you hadn't figured it out, you wouldn't have come to me." Chang Jianxin patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder, "Okay, you hurry back to your flagship, in an hour, our supply work will be completed, the fleet can anchor before twelve o'clock, when the time comes, don't drag me back." ”

"We're ready for departure, and we're scheduled for twelve o'clock."

Chang Zhixin sent Tan Renhao to the deck, looking at the back of Tan Renhao leaving, he sighed secretly, although he was comforting Tan Renhao at first, but he was also complaining about Tan Renhao.