February 6, Navy Command.

"General Bai, aren't you going home yet?"

"In a minute, you guys go first."

"Okay, then we'll go first. Happy Chinese New Year. ”

"Happy Chinese New Year!"

When the staff officer went out, Bai Zhizhan went to make another cup of coffee.

At this time, in the office of the Fleet Operations Department, only Bai Zhizhan was left, empty and extremely deserted.

It is actually more accurate to say that it is lonely.

That's right, today is Chinese New Year's Eve.

Bai Zhizhan has no place to go, or he has not thought about where to go for a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.

In the past few days after returning to the imperial capital, Bai Zhizhan has not been idle. On the one hand, there are indeed many and very important things that need to be dealt with, such as drafting a draft of the reform of the naval command system on behalf of Liu Changxun. On the other hand, he was also deliberately avoiding those old friends who came to the matchmaker, especially Li Yunxiang and his family, who would not have to live in a hotel, and spent the night in the office in the name of overtime for several days.

Li Yunxiang called several times and asked Bai Zhizhan to go to his house for the New Year, at least to have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, but Bai Zhizhan refused on the grounds that there were too many things.

Actually, this is also true.

The reform of the naval command system has already been put on the agenda, and it has been approved by the first assistant Xue Yuanzheng, and no one dares to come forward to oppose it. If you really want to say it, Liu Changxun actually borrowed the name of the first assistant's instructions to plug the mouths of the Liu family and the He family, so that the two major families accept, or at least do not oppose the reform.

It's just that the specific things have to be done by the people below.

Interestingly, Liu Changxun first found Liu Xiangzhen and asked Liu Xiangzhen to take the lead. As expected, Liu Xiangzhen excused himself on the grounds of lack of ability.

Lack of capacity?

That's a joke!

Liu Xiang really didn't want to offend people, especially the group of officers of the Southern Fleet, as well as the backers behind him, the generals of the Liu family's faction.

Liu Changxun definitely knows this.

It was because he offended the elders in his family that he was sent to an overseas territory tens of thousands of kilometers away from his homeland, and he missed the opportunity to show his skills in the early days of the war.

It is precisely like this, after being rejected by Liu Xiangzhen, Liu Changxun threw the matter directly to Bai Zhizhan.

Bai Zhizhan did not refuse, and could not refuse.

Previously, he had already escaped once, Liu Changxun did not pursue it, and this time he couldn't find a reason to refuse anyway.

Liu Changxun said very clearly, if Bai Zhizhan became a shrinking turtle, he would have to go into battle in person, so when there was a conflict with the traditional forces, there would be no room to turn around. On the other hand, if it is Bai Zhizhan to promote, after a conflict arises, he can still come forward to mediate.

The significance of the reform of the chain of command is so great that there is no need to explain it at all.

Actually, this involves the history of the Imperial Navy.

In Chen Bingxun's time, the Imperial Navy only had a headquarters, and only needed a headquarters.

It's just that after Chen Bingxun, because there was no great commander like him, and the empire's external expansion had reached its peak, the next thing to do was governance, that is, to keep the success, so after the efforts of the two first assistants, the Admiralty was born.

In contrast to the Naval Command, the Admiralty is actually a civilian body, that is, a civilian officer directs the Navy.

To set up the Admiralty is to control the Navy.

The coexistence of the Admiralty and the Naval Command remained for decades, and in many cases the Admiralty was the main one, and the Naval Command was reduced to a command structure.

It wasn't until the last war that this two-part coexistence was completely broken.

Zhou Kuande was the first admiral in history to serve as both the Minister of the Navy and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, and he was also the last, because before the end of the war, Tang Dezu, the first assistant at the time, used the wartime authorization to temporarily abolish the Admiralty, and no one ever proposed to restart the Admiralty.

But the problem is that the Admiralty has not completely disappeared, but has been integrated into the Naval Command.

It was during those decades that the functions of the Naval Command were gradually civilized, and the command that originally belonged to the Naval Command was delegated to the two major local fleets. This was initially made in order to avoid the power to command the fleet in the hands of civilian officials.

Xiucai leads the army, let alone winning the battle, it is fortunate not to eat the defeat.

It was also during this period that two major families were born in the Imperial Navy, the Liu family and the He family.

To be precise, it was Liu Zhentang and He Hongyi, who originally had a prominent position in the navy, that is, the founders of the Liu family and the He family, who took this opportunity to raise the banner of confrontation with the civilian bureaucracy, and with the support of thousands of naval officers, they regained the right to speak after the end of the Chen Bingxun era, became the two pillars of the navy, and developed into the current giant in two generations.

If you want to say it, this is also the greatest credit of the Liu family and the He family.

If these two families had not come forward, the Imperial Navy would have been eroded by the bureaucracy in the decades after Marshal Chen Bingxun.

It's just that it can't be considered that it is a matter of course for the two families to control the navy.

Going back, Liu Zhentang and He Hongyi were both Chen Bingxun's subordinates, and Chen Bingxun was a naval marshal personally promoted by Emperor Shiwu.

From this point of view, everything in the Liu family and the He family is due to Emperor Shiwu.

It will not be so easy to take back the command that has been released.

Even now, if the naval command wants to mobilize the fleet, it needs to find the first assistant to transfer the order, or only the first assistant has the right to give the order.

According to the regulations at the time of the split, the Home Fleet and the Southern Fleet were quasi-ministerial units, only half a rank shorter than the Navy Command, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy had no right to interfere with the two fleets.

To be in peacetime, this is nothing.

But in wartime, this is a big problem.

You can't go to Shousuke every time you transfer the fleet to ask for approval!

And that's not even the most serious problem.

Because there is no right to dispatch the fleet, or that the dispatch is entirely in the hands of the two fleets, it is very difficult for the naval command to ignore the feelings of the two fleets when formulating a plan.

This is the number one reason why the Imperial Navy has been going downhill after Chen Bingxun!

To put it figuratively: in Chen Bingxun's time, the Imperial Navy was a clenched fist, and after him was an unfolded slap.

In the last war, the Imperial Navy almost lost all its money in the end when it got off to a good start, which was also caused by this.

In the view of Bai Zhizhan, if the naval command can enforce the order and ban during the Zhou Kuande period, I am afraid that there will be no second global war.

Do you have to lose again?

If you lose again, you will really lose all your money.

If we do not want to be defeated again, we must complete the reform of the command system as soon as possible.

Before, Bai Zhizhan had always had a question.

Zhu Shijian has been the commander-in-chief of the Navy for twenty years, why didn't he complete this reform before he retired?

It wasn't until the outbreak of war that the White Stop War figured it out.

There are three reasons for this: first, the need for wartime privileges, second, the fact that reform cannot be achieved in one fell swoop, and third, reform itself is also an opportunity to establish authority.

In other words: the next successor, to be precise, Zhu Shijian, will promote and complete this reform.

Liu Changxun?

Definitely not.

He is not too young, and he has not made commendable feats, so he cannot convince the admirals.

Liu Xiangzhen rejected this hot potato, and the only one who was qualified to pick it up was Bai Zhizhan.

To say, this is the destiny of heaven!