When several seaplanes flew over the fleet, Tan Renhao heard the roar of the planes, and when he came outside and looked up at the night sky, he saw a few faint flashes of light, which were the flashes of the anti-collision lights on the plane. These planes were all sent by Jiang Zhongmin, and they will fly to the seaplane base on the island of Madagascar, and after refueling there, they will probably be able to take off before dawn, after all, it will take time to restart the seaplane base.

"General Tan, the Third Task Force has reached about 70 nautical miles to the south of us, and it is still continuing to distance itself." Zheng Guanhua walked out, "According to the plan, the third task force will stay about 120 nautical miles away from us, and they will turn on the radar around two o'clock in the morning. ”

"I always do what I planned." Tan Renhao looked at Zheng Guanhua, "You haven't slept for three days, have you?" ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded, and then smiled reluctantly.

"You go and rest first, or you won't have the energy tomorrow."

"No, I can hold on, and I'll have to deploy tomorrow's reconnaissance operation later."

Zheng Guanhua took out a cigarette, "Do you need to arrange the bombing mission in advance?" ”

"It's okay to ......" Tan Renhao paused, "I'll wait for these things to be arranged, you better go sleep first, even if it takes four hours." ”

"It's okay, this should be my responsibility." Zheng Guanhua still insisted, "Then I'll deploy a reconnaissance mission now, so that the bomber pilots are also ready." ”

"Xiao Zheng", Tan Renhao called Zheng Guanhua, "Remember to ask the aviation service personnel to prepare the bomber in advance." ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded. Then he left the bridge of the commander and went to the 1 heart of the aviation operation below.

In the past, these things did not need to be told by Ren Hao. When Hao Dongjue was the chief of staff of the First Task Force, there was no need to talk about the details of aviation operations at all. Hao Dongjue will make relevant arrangements in advance. This is not to say that Zheng Guanhua is not careful enough, in many ways, Zheng Guanhua is more careful than Hao Dongjue. Moreover, after serving as the chief of staff of the First Task Force, Zheng Guanhua's performance made Tan Renhao very satisfied. It is the kind of chief of staff that Tan Renhao needs, and he is still learning to master other abilities, and strive to be an excellent chief of staff of the fleet. And now Zheng Guanhua is only negligent because he has not rested for several days in a row and has been in a state of high tension.

Tan Renhao also did not have any intention of looking down on Zheng Guanhua, and during the period of cooperation with Zheng Guanhua, Tan Renhao has been observing this new partner. In terms of ability, Zheng Guanhua is indeed inferior to Hao Dongjue, especially in some key points, such as comprehension ability.

In terms of observation ability and creative thinking, Zheng Guanhua and Hao Dongjue have no way to compare. Other than that. In terms of personality, Zheng Guanhua is more introverted, which is probably related to his experience and the environment in which he grew up. It all matters with the education you receive. And Hao Dongjue is a very cheerful person, and he can call ordinary officers and soldiers brothers and sisters everywhere. It can be said that Tan Renhao prefers a partner like Hao Dongjue, or Tan Renhao is used to partnering with Hao Dongjue, so when he partnered with Zheng Guanhua, he felt a little difficult to adapt.

In Zheng Guanhua, the most commendable thing is his hard work and diligence. To put it bluntly, this is also the worst part of Hao Dongjue. Last time, Tan Renhao gave Hao Dongjue a chance to participate in the admiral training class, but as a result, Hao Dongjue's grades had just passed, and those courses with good grades were suspected of cheating! After knowing this, Tan Renhao almost didn't beat Hao Dongjue. It can be said that Hao Dongjue is the kind of person who is interested first, he can delve deeply into the things he likes, but he doesn't bother to pay attention to the things he doesn't like. On the contrary, Zheng Guanhua is the kind of person who can learn everything, but it is difficult to study any aspect in depth. That is, he himself did not have much interest, and although he behaved hard many times, he could not achieve the best results!

Tan Renhao's observation is very nuanced, and it is after recognizing Zheng Guanhua's shortcomings and advantages that Tan Renhao has made a new positioning for the partnership between him and Zheng Guanhua. For example, in the past, he could rest assured that all matters in aviation operations would be handled by Hao Dongjue, and Hao Dongjue had never made low-level mistakes in this regard, but now, Tan Renhao would not continue to do this, he would not deal with the details, but he strengthened the supervision and supervision of Zheng Guanhua. In addition, Tan Renhao began to let Zheng Guanhua deal with more affairs, especially those unrelated to aviation operations. In fact, the work of fleet navigation can also be handed over to the chief of staff, but Hao Dongjue was not a talent in navigation before, so Tan Renhao was responsible for it, and Hao Dongjue was almost never allowed to interfere. Now it's different, Tan Renhao also handed over part of the navigation operation to Zheng Guanhua to deal with, but he will still keep an eye on it, and if Zheng Guanhua makes a mistake, he can correct it in time.

These problems between Renhao and Zheng Guanhua are exactly the run-in problems between the pair of fleet commanders and fleet chiefs of staff. Until the Imperial Navy was restructured and the task force replaced the previous fleet, the fleet commander and the fleet chief of staff were almost fixed, and many of these partnerships could last for decades, even after the two left the fleet. For example, when Jiang Bangguo assumed the post of commander of the Navy, the chief of the general staff of the Navy he appointed was his third chief of staff when he was in the Second Fleet. The advantage of this relatively fixed relationship within the Imperial Navy is also obvious, two partners who have worked together for decades are definitely more effective in commanding fleet operations than partners who have just started to work together.

But the current situation is very special, the navy has promoted young talents on a large scale, and with the increase in the number of fleets, it is inevitable that the speed of promotion will be accelerated, and more fleet commanders will be needed. And the Chief of Staff of the Fleet is the best candidate for the Commander of the Fleet. It can be said that at that time, except for Huang Xiaotian, the commander of the other task forces had all served in the position of chief of staff of the fleet, and Tan Renhao himself was no exception, the difference was only the length of time he served as the chief of staff of the fleet. As a direct consequence of the widespread personnel changes, many fleet commanders and fleet chiefs of staff are newly formed partners. A certain amount of run-in time is required. And this has two more results. First, the position of the commander of the fleet has been strengthened, and the chief of staff of the fleet is more often than the chief of many staffs. The second is to promote the fleet as much as possible, or to serve as the chief of staff of the fleet by the officers of the localities who served under the commander of the fleet. to reduce the problems that arise during the run-in.

This is exactly what is happening in the Imperial Navy fleet right now. At that time, except for Chang Zhixin and Gu Zhenyun in the Third Task Force, there was no cooperation relationship before they partnered. The fleet commanders and chiefs of staff of all other task forces used to be subordinate and superior.

Moreover, in the fleets, the commander is the absolute authority, and the authority of the chief of staff is limited by the blow. Perhaps this has certain disadvantages, after all, the contribution of a competent chief of staff to the fleet is very large. And this will also reduce the chances of the fleet commander making low-level mistakes. However, at that time, the best way to make the command of the fleet smooth was to strengthen the position of the commander of the fleet and weaken the chief of staff of the fleet, which was the most direct way to strengthen the command system of the fleet itself.

It can be said that in the more than four years since the outbreak of the war, the command system of the Imperial Navy has undergone earth-shaking changes, especially after Nie Renfeng took office, with his extensive prestige in the Imperial Navy, according to the actual situation of the war. It has established a command system that is most capable of adapting to war and giving full play to the combat effectiveness of the navy. This is also one of the biggest and most significant contributions Nie Renfeng has made to the position of commander of the Imperial Navy.

Tan Renhao is well aware of the impact of changes in the chain of command. And he himself is the beneficiary of this change, if there is no reform promoted by Nie Renfeng, there would be no current Tan Renhao. In the past, Tan Renhao rarely thought about these issues. And now, when he thinks about his relationship with Zheng Guanhua, he has taken these issues into account.

The fleet continued to sail southward, and from time to time there were light signals, which meant that the nearby warships were in normal contact with the flagship, and at the same time, it also avoided collisions in the night. The seas are calm, the island of Madagascar has sheltered storms from the south and southeast, and for centuries the Mozambique Channel has been the best route for merchant fleets to move south. Especially before the opening of the Suez Canal, it was a key point of sea traffic connecting the East and the West, and at its busiest time, there were hundreds of ships sailing in the strait at the same time! But with the Suez Canal, there are many fewer ships here. After the end of the last war, the Tang Empire retreated to Cape Town, and the South Atlantic became the border between the Eastern and Western camps, and maritime shipping was also greatly affected, and this side was even more deserted.

After hearing the footsteps, Tan Renhao turned around, and at the same time returned to reality.

"The reconnaissance work has been arranged, and the first reconnaissance planes will leave before six o'clock." Zheng Guanhua's spirit was very tired, "In addition, the reconnaissance mission has been sent to the cruisers, and in two hours, the seaplanes that stayed in Moroni will rush over, and I have also arranged reconnaissance missions for these seaplanes." ”

"The bombing campaign was also arranged?"

Zheng Guanhua nodded. "The aviation service department has already begun to prepare, Yang Qinkai and Qiu Gengbo are arranging specific bombing missions for their subordinates, as long as the enemy fleet is found, the bombers can take off immediately."

"Then you go and rest first." Tan Renhao glanced at his watch, "It's a little faster, half an hour before the reconnaissance plane takes off, I will send someone to call you to go and sleep for a few hours, otherwise you will have no energy tomorrow." ”

Zheng Guanhua did not refuse again, and after saying goodbye to Tan Renhao, he left the commander's bridge.

Tan Renhao knows Zheng Guanhua's diligence, but this is not a school, and in many cases, diligence is not a sufficient condition for becoming an excellent commander. Relatively speaking, Chang Jianxin is also very diligent, but Chang Jianxin is not suitable to serve as the commander of the aircraft carrier fleet. Gu Zhenyun is more diligent, but he doesn't even have the possibility of serving as the commander of the third task force. Therefore, it is not enough to have diligence.

After standing outside for a few minutes, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, where more than a dozen staff officers were at their posts. In fact, when the army was founded, it was decided that the army is a special social group, and the result of the organization of the army itself is a pyramid, with only a very small number of people standing at the top, and the vast majority of military personnel are grassroots forces. This is also evident in the First Task Force Command.

The generals trained by the First Task Force Command are the most among all the task forces now, Tan Renhao, Lei Shaoqing, Chang Jianxin, Hao Dongjue, Huang Xiaotian, Zheng Guanhua, Wei Dongbei, etc., are all from the First Task Force, but the problem is that there are hundreds of officers before and after the First Task Force, and how many can really become generals, fleet commanders, and fleet chiefs of staff?

Only the best officers have a chance to become generals, while others with mediocre abilities will be eliminated in a brutal competition!

Tan Renhao thought more, according to the current development of the Imperial Navy, there will definitely be the Sixth Task Force, the Seventh Task Force, the Eighth Task Force and other newly established task forces, and these fleets will definitely need fleet commanders and chiefs of staff, and they must all select the best generals or officers from the existing task forces. It can be said that this is another level of competition.

After knowing that the principal and chief of staff intended to train him as his successor, Tan Renhao had to think more about his future, if he really wanted to become the future marshal of the imperial navy, then he had to have more supporters, have more subordinates, and most fundamentally, he had to have an irreplaceable position in the navy's fleet. It's not a matter of ambition, it's that at that point, if he doesn't have deep enough roots, then he'll be an outcast!

Tan Renhao suddenly laughed, it was obviously inappropriate to think about these questions at this time, if he couldn't defeat the enemy in front of him, let alone the commander of the navy, I am afraid that he would have to spend his life in the First Task Force.

"General, telegram, from Task Force 3!" The communications staff officer trotted in front of Tan Renhao.

Tan Renhao was startled, immediately stood up, and took the telegram handed by the communications staff officer. He quickly skimmed through it, and then his expression changed greatly, the plan still did not change quickly, and the situation on the battlefield was not in his control!