"Shaoqing, when did you arrive?"

"I arrived two days ago, and I heard that you went to Jeju Island, and I want to rush over."

Lei Shaoqing smiled and hugged Tan Renhao, "What, don't you welcome me?" ”

"I'm so happy that I don't know what to say!"

Tan Renhao was very excited, "Is the Second Task Force assigned to the Western Pacific Theater?" ”

Lei Shaoqing smiled and nodded, and the previous melancholy and hesitation could no longer be seen on his face.

"Don't talk about it yet, let's go out and rub it in the evening, and then talk slowly!"

Tan Renhao said as he entered the office, "You wait for me for five minutes, I'll pack up my things and set off." The seafood in the 'Fu Restaurant' is really good, I'll pick you up and wash the dust today, and I'll call General Wu Xianyu later." ”

"General Wu Xianyu seems to have gone to the Navy Headquarters."

Tan Renhao glanced back at Lei Shaoqing, he just came back, and he didn't know about Wu Xianyu's going to the Navy Headquarters.

"It's about Task Force 2, and he'll have to go over and handle some formalities himself."

Lei Shaoqing explained briefly.

"Then let's two of us, we haven't talked alone for a long time."

Lei Shaoqing nodded, leaned against the door and waited for Tan Renhao.

When it got dark, the two came to the city with their adjutants. "Fude Restaurant" already had no private rooms, and after the boss recognized Tan Renhao, he immediately vacated a private room that had been booked.

"This is a time-honored restaurant, don't be polite to me today!"

Tan Renhao ordered a few dishes, and he didn't have the habit of wasting them, so he ordered dishes according to the amount of food for four people, "What do you want to drink?" ”

"Whatever, just beer."

"Okay, let's have a few beers."

Tan Renhao glanced at the two adjutants, "Du Xing, you help me take care of the guests." You're welcome to drink whatever you want! ”

The two lieutenants both smiled, in fact, they knew that they were only here to accompany them, and it was impossible for the commander to distract them to take care of them.

Tan Renhao and Lei Shaoqing first talked about some things that had nothing to do with the army. After Tan Renhao was transferred to the Western Pacific Theater Command, Lei Shaoqing was granted half a month's family leave, went back to Wenzhou, and brought back some native products from his hometown to Tan Renhao. And Tan Jingkang also dragged Lei Shaoqing to bring a letter to Tan Renhao. Tan Renhao didn't rush to read the letter, he guessed what his father said in the letter.

"After that incident. Uncle also woke up a lot. Now the people in Wenzhou City are praising you, and even Chai Jinbiao is running to your house twice in three days! ”

Lei Shaoqing smiled and shook his head, "It's the same in my family, people come to visit every day, and my father is about to scold my mother." When my house is arranged, I want to bring my family over so that they don't have to worry about it every day. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he had already had this idea, anyway, his villa in Zhoushan was empty, but he had been busy with the war before. And it has been criticized. So he didn't rush to bring his family over. It's time to think about that too. At least, when the time comes, I will know Lei Shaoqing's parents, and everyone will have a good relationship.

"That's right. I heard that the first batch of bombers was about to roll off the assembly line, how were the preparations for the bombing of Japan going? ”

Lei Shaoqing first brought the topic back to the affairs of the army.

"Come on, I haven't made a plan yet."

Tan Renhao smiled, the sound insulation effect of the walls of the private room is very good, and this restaurant often comes to the officer, and the boss is also a retired soldier, so there should not be much of a problem. "How's things going with the fleet?"

"This is thanks to Chief of Staff Gan Yongxing, I didn't expect that this was the arrangement of the Chief of Staff."

"Chief of Staff?"

Tan Renhao glanced at Lei Shaoqing, he always thought that it was the principal who was in charge. And Chief of Staff Gan Yongxing just proposed.

"Do you know the distribution of the two fleets?"

Tan Renhao shook his head, he hadn't asked this question, and Gan Yongxing hadn't mentioned it to him.

"The current Second Task Force is actually the arrangement made by the previous First Task Force, Chief of Staff Gan Yongxing."

Lei Shaoqing laughed, "The two fleets divided the six aircraft carriers equally, and the second task force got the latest three. ”

"The 'Yellow River', and two new places of service?"

Tan Ren Haoxinli was slightly surprised, this was different from what he initially understood.

"Yes, three 'Yangtze River'. Except for the 'Yangtze River', which remained in the First Task Force and continued to serve as the flagship, the other three ships were assigned to the Second Task Force, and the 'Yellow River' was the flagship of the Second Task Force. But that's not the most important thing. ”

Lei Shaoqing picked up the wine glass, "Chief of Staff Gan Yongxing assigned the first, second, and third aviation groups to the second task force, and only the fourth air group remained in the first task force. All the pilots and service personnel were transferred. However, with the exception of a few previously commissioned warships such as the 'Yellow River', the officers and men of the fleet on the other warships were all novices and needed to be trained, and even more so, they needed to be tested in actual combat. ”

"You are content, the three best aviation brigades have been given to you, what are you not satisfied with? Do you want to get all the benefits? ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, "The chief of staff is also interesting enough, in this way, the second task force will become the number one fleet of the Imperial Navy, and the first task force will only retain a false name." ”

"yes, so before leaving, I also sent a few boxes of souvenirs to the chief of staff."

Lei Shaoqing probably thinks that this deal is very cost-effective, "If there is no decision of the chief of staff, let alone three aviation groups, even those two new aircraft carriers we can't get our hands on." I'm afraid that most of the two 'Emperor' class ships will be assigned to the second task force. ”

"I really should thank the Chief of Staff, he will definitely be under a lot of pressure to do this, that bastard Van Peikun actually got into the niece of the acting prime minister!"

Tan Renhao scolded fiercely.

"It is precisely in this way that the chief of staff will desperately assign the elite troops to the second task force. We all know very well what kind of character Fan Peikun is, and the chief of staff will not look away. If he left his best troops in Task Force 1, wouldn't he be ruining the essence of the Imperial Navy? ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, Gan Yongxing must have tried his best to hand over the elite troops of the navy to a safe person, not to a loser.

"In fact, the most important issue is the ownership of the Second Fleet. This is the greatest benefit that the Chief of Staff has given us! ”

Tan Renhao glanced at Lei Shaoqing, and it seemed that Gan Yongxing's ability was not as simple as he had shown.

"The Headmaster meant to leave Task Force 2 behind. Task Force 1 was assigned to the Western Pacific Theater. ”

Lei Shaoqing lit a cigarette, "Especially after Chief of Staff Gan Yongxing made a 'balance' adjustment to the strength of the two fleets, the principal thought that it would be better to keep the most powerful fleet in the hands of the Navy Command and divide the other fleet." As a result, the chief of staff resolutely objected, and I heard that there was a quarrel with the principal, which made the principal lose his face for several days. Later, the principal probably figured it out, and only then did he agree with the chief of staff. ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. Gan Yongxing usually looks amiable, not much like the kind of person who will contradict his boss. But this time, in order to safeguard the interests of the navy, Gan Yongxing even dared to contradict the principal. At least, from this point of view, Gan Yongxing is a very principled person.

"To be honest, I didn't expect the Chief of Staff to quarrel with the Headmaster over this."

Lei Shaoqing sighed, "Originally, I would have been about to despair, if it weren't for the help of the chief of staff." Maybe we'll see each other again in the Year of the Monkey. This time it was a mess. The chief of staff will definitely be affected. ”

"Don't worry, you think the headmaster is the kind of person who can't tolerate dissent?"

Tan Renhao laughed, "If the principal hasn't figured it out." Will he take the opinion of the chief of staff? And now that the rector has adopted the advice of the chief of staff, there is no problem. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded slightly: "I hope so, at least, we are in a trench again!" ”

"The road ahead is still very difficult, don't think that you can easily get down when you get to the Western Pacific Theater."

Tan Renhao leaned back in his chair, "When will the fleet arrive?" ”

"Within this month, two new aircraft carriers were launched, and now the officers and men are being trained on board the ship and arrive at the port of Qingdao at the end of the month. The other warships probably arrived from Zhoushan at the end of the month. At that time, we will be based in Qingdao Port. ”

"Good. Hurry up and train, now it's up to the old man to organize the work of the fleet, right? ”

"Yes, he's the best at it. Anyway, it is the officers and men of the fleet who need intensive training, and he has much more experience than me. ”

Chang Jianxin is now the chief of staff of the 2nd Task Force. Tan Renhao took out a cigarette. "There's always something to worry about."

"From now on, I will still obey your command. After the arrival of the fleet, I familiarized the officers and men with the situation at the new base before starting patrol duty......"

"By the way, you ask Lao Chang to arrange a group of people to go to Jeju Island to familiarize themselves with the situation."

Tan Renhao suddenly thought of something. "Since the Second Task Force is directly under the command of the Western Pacific Theater, the fleet also needs to undertake some tasks when we carry out strategic bombing of Japan. Now the port of Jeju is under our control, and the navy is expanding two new ports. At that time, the fleet was mainly active in the waters near Jeju Island. So, familiarize yourself with the environment first, so that it will be more convenient when performing tasks. ”

"No problem, I'll call Lao Chang tomorrow."

"Alright, let's eat!"

Tan Renhao glanced at the two adjutants, "Don't be stunned, aren't you hungry?" I'm starving! ”

Five days later, the first batch of small warships escorted the convoy supplying the second task force to the port of Qingdao, and this supply fleet will be deployed to other ports in the future according to the actual combat situation, and will not be stationed in the port of Qingdao. By mid-January, the two aircraft carriers, which had completed sea trials ahead of schedule, arrived safely at the port of Qingdao under the escort of four destroyers and a large group of anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The officers and men of the fleet on the aircraft carrier also came along. The next day, the aviation brigade led by Deng Zichao, Zhang Naiding, and Jiang Wenwei was also transferred to the Qingdao Naval Air Station.

Lei Shaoqing established the fleet headquarters on 18 January. It is said that it is a headquarters, but in fact it is just a building carved out of the theater command. The current fleet is no longer the pre-war ground fleet, and its status has actually been downgraded by one level, so the size of the fleet command has been reduced a lot. In addition, the fleet will not have its own quarters for officers and men unless it is particularly necessary. After the fleet enters the port, if there is no combat mission for a long time, or if the battleship needs to be repaired, then the officers and men of the fleet will live in the barracks of the port. And as long as there is a combat mission, even if it enters the port, the officers and men of the fleet must stay on the battleship. This is a big change from the situation in peacetime.

On 26 January, the "Yellow River" aircraft carrier formation entered Qingdao Port, and the Second Task Force officially became independent. In accordance with Tan Renhao's suggestion, Lei Shaoqing also divided the fleet into three aircraft carrier strike groups, each of which has its own operational sea area during the battle and can adopt independent tactical arrangements in an emergency. In general, the unified command of the commander of the fleet is still accepted.

Tan Renhao naturally went to "inspect" the fleet, more precisely, to visit those old friends, and at the same time to boost the morale of the new officers and men. When those newly recruited officers and soldiers knew that they were fighting under the leadership of Tan Renhao, they immediately had strong confidence, and they had already heard the legendary story of this young general.

By the 30th of January, the fleet had already begun to go to sea for training. Pilots should also familiarize themselves with the new aircraft carriers (in fact, the flight decks, hangars, and other facilities of the "Yangtze River" class aircraft carriers are very similar to those of the "Taizu" class aircraft carriers), and the officers and men of the fleet who have just joined the navy need time to familiarize themselves with their warships. It is all the more necessary to learn from those officers and men with veteran qualifications from their experience in fighting in the fleet.

In order to make the fleet form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, Lei Shaoqing dispersed the veterans on the "Yellow River" and other battleships on the new warships, and some of these veterans had been promoted to senior noncommissioned officers or officers, and they all became the backbone personnel on the new warships and were responsible for directing the new recruits to fight. In this way, the recruits will be able to learn directly from the experience of the veterans so that they can mature as soon as possible and adapt to future combat operations.

On this day, Tan Renhao also received news that the first strategic bomber regiment (with five battalions) had been formed, and Luo Yunchong was planning a strategic bombing operation against Japan's Kyushu Island. He didn't hesitate at all, and after going to find Wu Xianyu, he immediately rushed to Jeju Island. The strategic bombing of Japan was about to begin, and he could not miss this opportunity!