The plane was bumpy all the way, and Tan Renhao fell asleep all the way, and when he woke up, the plane also began to land. The Zhoushan Naval Headquarters is still the same, not much has changed, and the plane has not completely stopped, Tan Renhao saw Admiral Gan Yongxing standing next to a sedan through the porthole.

"It's been a good ride, right?" As soon as the hatch opened, Gan Yongxing greeted him, carrying a bag containing breakfast. "I just bought it, the pilot's food, it tastes good."

Tan Renhao immediately thanked the chief of staff for his concern, and then followed Gan Yongxing into the car. Along the way, Tan Renhao was dealing with that early, he didn't take the initiative to talk to Gan Yongxing, and Gan Yongxing didn't rush to speak. Therefore, Tan Renhao also kept looking at the scenery outside the car.

The war has been fought for more than four years, and in the past four years, Zhoushan has not changed much. As the heart of the Imperial Navy, Zhoushan played a pivotal role. When the Imperial Navy Headquarters moved here, there were still many people who objected, believing that Zhoushan was an island, with poor connections with the mainland, and was vulnerable to enemy attacks, but Zhoushan had not been attacked by the enemy for decades. After decades of development, Zhoushan is not only a military port, but also a military base in a larger sense, a complete military base. In addition, the city of Zhoushan has also expanded a lot, and most of the residents living in this city, which is more than 10 kilometers away from the naval headquarters, are family members of military personnel or descendants of military personnel.

"Have you talked to Yan Guozhong?" When Tan Renhao finished eating breakfast, Gan Yongxing broke the silence.

Tan Renhao nodded slightly and wiped his mouth with a hand towel. "I talked about it for a while. The purpose of bringing Task Force 1 back to Naha this time is to launch a counterattack in the Central Pacific? ”

"At least we have to block the attack of the American army, Wake Island has fallen." Gan Yongxing let out a long sigh, "Now we are organizing new forces. Liao Hanxiang is also adjusting the defense line in the theater. We will not immediately make new deployments until we find out the next direction of the US military's attack. ”

Tan Renhao also sighed secretly. The Wake Island Marines have made the greatest sacrifice, and with the capture of Wake Island by the U.S. military, the U.S. forces now have a lot more options, attacking and retreating. Maybe. The only thing to be thankful for is that the defeat of the US military in the Southwest Pacific is already doomed, and the Central Pacific direction is only a secondary geographical direction, at least at this stage, a secondary strategic direction. As long as Yan Guozhong can win a quick victory in the southwest Pacific, then even if the US military gains something in the Central Pacific, it will not be enough to turn the entire tide of the war.

From this point of view, the war in the Pacific was moving in a direction favorable to the Empire.

"For you to come back this time, in addition to determining the next phase of the combat operations of Task Force 1, there are a few very important things, and the principal needs to consult you."

"Chief of Staff. Can I take a day off first? Tan Renhao looked at Gan Yongxing.

"Want to go back home?" Gan Yongxing also looked at Tan Renhao.

Tan Renhao smiled shyly and nodded, but that wasn't all the reason for him to take a leave of absence.

"That's right, I'll send you back later."

"Actually......" Tan Renhao hesitated. I want to go see Lei Shaoqing, his condition is better now, right? ”

Gan Yongxing's gaze stayed on Tan Renhao for a while, and then sighed. "He is still in the general hospital and his condition has stabilized for the time being. Just ......"

"I know, I just want to take the time to see him."

"Okay, when you get to me, I'll give you a few papers, and then I'll take you to the hospital." Gan Yongxing's gaze left Tan Renhao, "The doctor has done his best, and now it depends on how tenacious Lei Shaoqing's will is, and whether he can stand up again." ”

Tan Renhao didn't say anything more, he had been paying attention to Lei Shaoqing's situation, and this time when he returned to the Navy Headquarters, the first thing he wanted to see was Lei Shaoqing, wanting to know what Lei Shaoqing's situation was, whether he could continue to command the fleet to fight, and whether he could continue to serve in the Navy Command.

Soon, Tan Renhao followed Gan Yongxing to the naval headquarters, Gan Yongxing did not delay his time, he also knew that Tan Renhao was not in the mood to deal with other things before he went to visit Lei Shaoqing, so after he gave several top-secret documents to Tan Renhao, he let Tan Renhao leave.

Looking at the back of Tan Renhao leaving, Gan Yongxing felt that Tan Renhao had matured a lot. At the beginning, when Ji Xiaobin was killed, Tan Renhao really almost collapsed, and this time Lei Shaoqing was injured, which hit Tan Renhao even harder, but he persevered, and he also won a beautiful victory, only a little bit is enough to prove that Tan Renhao is much more mature than before. If someone else was in his position, he might not be able to command the fleet at all, and it would be even more difficult to win, but he did it!

Gan Yongxing also knows how much pressure Tan Renhao has. Perhaps, it is the same for every Imperial soldier, and the pressure on the Imperial soldiers in this war, which has lasted for more than four years and will certainly continue, is unimaginable to ordinary people. Whether it is a soldier fighting on the front line or a general commanding in the rear, every soldier of the empire is the same, the war has brought them great pressure, disability, grief, and even despair, etc., and the soldiers are holding on, just for the final victory, for that little hope.

Tan Renhao's thinking was not as complicated as Gan Yongxing's, on the way to the Navy General Hospital, he had been thinking about how to face Lei Shaoqing. recalled that the two young men who didn't know the taste of sorrow entered the Naval Academy together, graduated together, went to the Chengdu Flight Academy together, and later came to the First Task Force together. For so many years, Tan Renhao has valued Lei Shaoqing's friend the most. Perhaps, the current Tan Renhao is no longer the one who dared to grab a dance partner with others at the dance party, and dared to fight with others, more than six years is enough to make a person change a lot, which also makes Tan Renhao change a lot, maybe the only thing that has not changed is his feelings for his brother.

The car jolted, and Tan Renhao woke up from his memories.

"General, it seems that there is a problem with the engine."

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. Duchenne tried several times but couldn't get the car to start.

"I'll fix it, you wait first."

"Hurry up, if not. Go find a few people nearby to help. ”

Duchenne immediately got out of the car and opened the front cover of the sedan engine. Then it got busy.

Tan Renhao sat in the car for a while, and when he was thinking about whether to walk to the hospital, he saw the documents placed on the ground next to him. Gan Yongxing was in a hurry to give him these documents, which must be very important. Thinking of this, Tan Renhao picked up the first document. Take advantage of Duchenne's time to repair the car, and look at the information can be regarded as passing the time.

This is a very fragmented information on the situation of the British Navy, and it does not appear to have been preliminarily collated, but is all information provided by the intelligence services.

Tan Renhao probably flipped through it, and then turned out the second document, which was full of information on the British Navy's expeditionary fleet. Now, Tan Renhao became interested.

Before the rise of the United States, the Imperial Navy had two main opponents, one was Japan, which was close at hand. And the other is the United Kingdom, which is far away. Fundamentally, Britain was the Empire's naval rival in the hundreds of years between the completion of the Empire's constitutional revolution and the outbreak of the First Global War.

Same with Japan. Britain is also an island nation, a country that relies on the sea and a country that depends on the navy to survive. Similarly, Britain was the first country to be conquered by the Empire. The Empire's first colony in Europe was in England, and the first concession was in London. More than 300 years ago, the expeditionary fleet of the Tang Empire hit Europe, and the first to hit Britain began, and since then it has begun nearly a hundred years of colonization activities in Britain. It is precisely because of this that Britain was the first country in Europe to recognize the importance of the navy, and it was also the first country to begin to rebel against the Tang Empire and go all out to develop the navy.

When the European independence movement ("European national independence movement") broke out, the empire's influence in Europe rapidly decreased, and all colonies were gradually returned, and finally even those concessions were gradually returned to the host country. Britain was the first country to gain full independence in this independence movement that spread throughout Europe (Germany was unified by Prussia at this time). It is precisely because it was first colonized by the Tang Empire and realized the importance of the navy and the sea, so after independence, Britain first strengthened its own navy. During the Tang Empire's colonization of Britain, Britain has always been the base of the Tang Empire's control of the European continent, so Britain was also the first country to complete the industrial revolution and first established a perfect industrial system, which provided the foundation for Britain to establish its hegemony in Europe.

Later, in the Hundred Years War between the Tang Empire and the European powers, Britain dominated the protracted war (in fact, the general name of more than a dozen wars) because of its perfect industrial system and ambition to become the hegemon of Europe, and has always been the most powerful opponent of the Tang Empire's navy. Unlike the continental European powers, Britain did not have a decent army, and the most powerful thing in Britain was the navy. In fact, Britain only needs a strong navy, and as long as it has a strong navy, no country can defeat her.

Britain was not the same as the Don Empire. Although for hundreds of years, the Tang Empire had the most powerful navy in the world, but the Tang Empire also had the most powerful army in the world. The Tang Empire did not rely entirely on the navy to walk, in the Tang Empire, the navy and the army were two iron fists, and there was no distinction between light and heavy. On the contrary, in Britain, what is really needed is a strong navy. This can be seen in the hundreds of years after Britain got rid of the colonial rule of the Tang Empire and gained independence.

During these hundreds of years, the British Army did nothing, and it was its powerful navy that really supported Britain!

In the First Global War, Britain was the most formidable maritime adversary of the Tang Empire. At that time, the Atlantic Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy retreated all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and the main force in the European Combined Fleet was the British Expeditionary Fleet! It was also after this war that the Tang Empire had to recognize Britain as a first-class naval power, and in the subsequent naval arms negotiations, Britain was given due attention, or rather, it recognized British hegemony in the North Atlantic, allowing Britain to obtain the same number of warships as the Tang Empire.

The problem is also here, with the national strength of Britain, it simply cannot support as many warships as the Tang Empire. In other words, at that time, the Tang Empire was "killing" Britain and pulling Britain into the arms race. If Britain wanted to build a naval fleet comparable to that of the Tang Empire, then they would have to abandon their land forces and go all out to develop their navy. This was already evident during the Great War, and the British Continental Expeditionary Force was only a supporting role in the Western European theater, and a very minor supporting role. And on the North African battlefield, the British expeditionary force was only a supporting role. In order to develop the navy, Britain almost did not develop the army in the twenty years after the war, but wanted to keep up with the pace of the Tang Imperial Navy with all its might!

It turned out that Britain, as a second-rate power, could not build a first-class navy. Although in the North Atlantic, the British Navy can defeat any or even two opponents, but when you look at the world, the British Navy can only be regarded as a second-rate navy. Compared with the fierce competition between the Tang Empire and the United States in the Pacific, the North Atlantic, where the British Navy was located, was actually a calm pond, and the German Navy was powerless to challenge Britain, France, Italy, Spain and other countries with some naval strength were allies of Britain. And the main task of the huge British fleet in the North Atlantic was to prevent the German fleet from entering the high seas. The problem is that Germany's lifeline is not in the North Atlantic, but in the Eastern Mediterranean. As a result, the British Navy was dragged to a secondary battlefield for several years and was not able to play its due role!

As an admiral, Tan Renhao can clearly understand the embarrassing situation that the British Navy is in. That's why the U.S. keeps complaining. It can be said that the navies of most European countries have this problem, throwing too many forces into secondary theaters and not being able to play a greater role in the war.

It was precisely in this way that the British Navy went south, and it sent the main fleet south. When Tan Renhao saw the scale of the British expeditionary fleet, he understood that this time the British Navy was by no means going to the South Atlantic for a ride or demonstration, and when the US Navy was fighting a bloody battle with the Imperial Navy in the Pacific, the British should indeed do something.