Before the 1st and 3rd Task Forces arrived in the Lion City, Tan Renhao received an important document from Nie Renfeng, that is, the preliminary agreement between the Reich and Germany on the treatment of France. On the surface, this document seems to have little to do with the war situation in the Indian Ocean, but Tan Renhao knows very well that this document is very likely to directly change the entire war situation, and even ultimately determine the direction of the entire war.

Prior to this, the Reich and Germany had been arguing for months over what to do with France after the defeat, and on several occasions they had almost fallen out. It is also completely understandable that Germany is about to become the new hegemon of Europe, and in order to gain the support of the rest of Europe, it is necessary to stand on the side of the defender of European interests. Similarly, the Tang Empire has been striving to seek the status of global hegemony, and Europe is one of the three key regions in the world, since leaving Europe two hundred years ago, the Tang Empire has not had the opportunity to intervene in Europe, this time there is finally an opportunity, how can it be easily let go?

Both sides use France as a political bargaining chip, hoping to use the French issue to gain more benefits. And dealing with France was not a separate issue, it involved the entire continental battlefield, and even the basic interests of the Tang Empire and Germany in the entire war. For example, the Tang Empire used the French issue to exert pressure on Germany, asking Germany to send troops to Russia as soon as possible, assisting the Tang Empire in completing the action to defeat Russia, and having an advantage in dealing with Russian issues in the future. Germany also hoped to use the French question to get more support from the Tang Empire and to reduce the pressure on the German army, so that the Germans could attack Britain, Italy, and force Spain to surrender. Complete its actions to establish hegemony in Europe.

Political problems are far from being as easy to solve as military problems, and if they really want to be brought up, they may not be able to be solved in a few years. Arguably. When it comes to the fundamental interests of the country, neither the Tang Empire nor Germany will make principled concessions. And they all want to reap more benefits, and this kind of political game is a "zero-sum game". In other words, if the loss of one party and the gain of the other party add up to zero, then someone will gain benefits, and someone will naturally have to bear the loss. Therefore. Neither side has made significant concessions.

It was the victory of the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet in the South Atlantic and the eastern Indian Ocean that prompted both the Tang Empire and Germany to make concessions. If the Anglo-French joint expeditionary fleet entered the northern Indian Ocean, it would be of no benefit to the Tang Empire and Germany, and it would not be beneficial to the Persian Empire. At this time, the Persian Empire took the initiative to mediate, and the Tang Empire and Germany also disembarked and began to negotiate in the real sense of the word on the French issue.

Knowing that the Northern Indian Ocean route was related to the country's war strength, the negotiations went much more smoothly. The Tang Empire was the first to make concessions, saying that it could give up its occupation in France, and Germany also made corresponding concessions, saying that it would deal with the British and Italian issues in the future. The Tang Empire had the right to garrison troops. Subsequently, the two sides reached a second agreement, that is, Germany would first cooperate with the Tang Empire to defeat Russia. Moreover, it agreed to the method of partitioning Russia proposed by the Tang Empire, that is, to divide the occupied areas in Russia according to the actual military occupation lines of both sides.

The Tang Empire also made a promise at this time that after the end of the war against Russia, the Tang Empire would send troops to participate in the attack on Britain. and send naval fleets into the Mediterranean and Atlantic as soon as possible to encircle and suppress Britain.

It can be seen that the two sides have made reciprocal concessions, that is, they have each taken a step back and reached a preliminary consensus on several key issues, and the specific consultations will be carried out by a negotiation team composed of representatives of the two governments to conduct detailed negotiations in stages. The greatest advantage of this agreement is that the date of France's surrender has been finalized, and on February 8, the French government will formally sign the instrument of surrender with the representatives of the Central Powers, and formally transfer the administrative power of France to the German army. Germany also began to form an occupation government and began to divide military districts. The Tang Empire, the Persian Empire, and other allies would symbolically send military representatives to France to participate in some minor occupation activities.

The defeat of France has been determined, then Germany will definitely not give up those French ground warships, these warships belong to the French government, and after the surrender of the French government, its army will be taken over by Germany, so the French navy will also be taken over by Germany. Then, these warships will be handed over to the German government and incorporated into the German Navy. Therefore, the French expeditionary fleet was bound to suffer. Of course, anything could happen before France formally signed the instrument of surrender, and Britain was not going to watch it happen. The two battleships of the German Navy were enough to give the British a headache, and now the Tang Empire signed a naval arms sales agreement with Germany, ready to build a powerful fleet with three top-tier battleships for Germany, if those powerful battleships of the French Navy also fell into the hands of Germany, then the British would still live?

By this time, Tan Renhao had realized that the British would definitely take action to prevent the French warships from falling into German hands. As for what kind of action the British will take, Tan Renhao did not speculate. Perhaps, Britain would step in to prop up a French government-in-exile and declare that the government-in-exile was legitimate. Perhaps the British would have detained French warships, including some French warships for repairs in British ports. But the question is, the main force of the French Navy is in the expeditionary fleet, so what will the British do with the French expeditionary fleet?

It can be said that the situation has become complicated. Britain could tolerate defeat on the European continent, after all, if the Germans wanted to set foot on British soil, they had to first pass the British Navy and British Air Force. But the British would never tolerate defeat on the battlefield at sea, let alone a threat at sea, and would never let the French warships fall into the hands of the enemy. It's a very simple logic. But the question is, are the French willing to be sent by the British? Certainly not, the French are also very proud, and in history, France has had an unhappy past with England, so what decision will the admiral of the French fleet make when the French government announces its surrender and hands over its armed forces to Germany?

There were too many uncertainties to accurately guess what the French Expeditionary Fleet would do and what the British would do against it. Only one thing can be certain, even the worst outcome. That would not be worse than it is now, and it is more likely that the situation will improve and become more favorable for the Imperial Navy.

In Tan Renhao's view. This is definitely good news. No matter what the French expeditionary fleet goes next, no matter what tricks the British will play. This must be good news, and this is exactly the news that Tan Renhao is waiting for, and at the same time, it is a good opportunity, or even the only opportunity, to defeat the joint Anglo-French expeditionary fleet.

On the day he received the documents sent by Nie Renfeng, Tan Renhao found a new recommendation. told Chang Jianxin about it.

At that time, the surrender of France was still top secret, so the two did not disclose it to a third party. Chang Jianxin also agreed with Tan Renhao's point of view and put forward his ideas.

If the French Expeditionary Fleet surrendered with the government and returned to France to hand over the ships to Germany, then concentrate on defeating the British Expeditionary Fleet and cover the retreat of the French Expeditionary Fleet to prevent the British from striking first. If the French expeditionary fleet surrenders, but does not return to the homeland. That would also have to take out the British expeditionary fleet first, and then take control of the French expeditionary fleet on behalf of Germany.

If the French expeditionary fleet does not surrender, but does not participate in combat operations. Still defeat the British Expeditionary Fleet first, and finally besiege the French Expeditionary Fleet, forcing it to surrender, or simply kill it.

And the worst thing is. The French expeditionary fleet did not surrender, while still participating in combat operations. Then, it is necessary to take advantage of the mutual suspicion between Britain and France to find an opportunity to annihilate the two expeditionary fleets separately, and then decide whether to attack the British or the French first according to the actual situation.

Tan Renhao also thought so, and then, the two of them predetermined some combat plans for these possible situations. Because the fleet had not yet arrived, and no more information had been received, the two only drew up a general battle plan and did not determine the details of the operation.

On the morning of 5 February, the 1st Task Force first arrived in the Lion City, and Zheng Guanhua immediately came to find Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin after arranging the supply of the fleet, and he quickly learned the latest news. In the evening of the same day, the Third Task Force arrived in the Lion City, and Gu Zhenyun also rushed over immediately after arranging the supply of the fleet. At this moment, all four fleet commanders were present, and the two fleet chiefs also believed that in this case, dispersing the enemy and destroying each enemy was the only way to win, and the specific battle plan could only be determined after obtaining more ground information.

Tan Renhao also made a point clear at this time, that is, the Third Task Force was the main force in this combat operation, supplemented by the First Task Force, and he himself served as the commander-in-chief, and Chang Jianxin served as the deputy commander-in-chief. In addition, if you are forced to fight the enemy in bad weather conditions, then you should try to choose the battlefield in the central Indian Ocean instead of the southern Indian Ocean, and try to create opportunities for the 1st Task Force!

After these points were determined, on the night of 6 February, the 1st and 3rd Task Forces left the Lion City and headed for Colombo to join Jiang Zhongmin.

Because the "Xingkaihu" had already been assigned to the second task force, Tan Renhao's flagship was changed to the "Hongzehu" fleet aircraft carrier. And this aircraft carrier has been determined to be the new fleet flagship at the time of maintenance, so a supporting fleet command system has been added, the most important thing is the dozen or so radio stations, as well as the command cabin for the fleet command, and the special officer cabin for dozens of fleet staff officers.

"What about the performance of the new combat aircraft?" After the fleet departed, Tan Renhao found Zheng Guanhua and asked about the situation in the fleet.

"Not bad, the performance of the Golden Eagle is much better than that of the Falcons, and the pilots reacted very well. The performance of the 'Shooting Birds' and 'Sea Eagles' with the new engines has also been greatly improved. Zheng Guanhua was still a little restrained in front of Tan Renhao, "The adaptive training has not been completed yet, and we are training all the way." Hopefully, when we get to Colombo, we will be able to finish the training. ”

"Then we'll have to hurry." Tan Renhao laughed, "That's it, let's arrange a few rounds of confrontation training tomorrow, I want to see how powerful these new planes are." ”

"No problem, I'll have training in this area tomorrow." Zheng Guanhua nodded, "Fortunately, our pilots are the best, if there are too many novices, then the training will definitely take longer." I discussed it separately with several captains such as An Shile, Yao Boyan, Qiu Gengbo, and Yang Qinkai, and the problem was not very big, mainly because we had to get used to the performance of the new aircraft, otherwise it was easy to make mistakes when fighting. ”

"Looks like they're familiar with you, the new chief of staff, right?"

Zheng Guanhua smiled and nodded. "I got to know Task Force 1 when they arrived, so it didn't take much time."

"That's good, so, how do you feel about this new location?" Tan Renhao leaned against the guardrail, and then observed the change in Zheng Guanhua's expression.

"It's okay, talk about the general, I haven't been able to figure it out."

"What's not to figure out?"

"You are also an expert in aviation operations, as far as I know, your understanding of aviation operations is not even below General Hao Dongjue, why are you looking for my partner this time?"

"Well, in fact, you should blame Hao Dongjue for this question. After partnering with him for so long, I don't need to worry about aviation operations at all, and everything is left to him to handle, and as a result, I don't know as much about aviation operations as you who are specifically responsible for aviation operations command. Tan Renhao patted his partner's shoulder, "In addition, you are also from the First Task Force, you should know something about me, if I go to find a strange chief of staff, it will take a lot of time just to run in, right?" ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded slightly, and then glanced at Tan Renhao gratefully. "General Tan, in fact, I know that you are trying to pull me ......"

"It's good to know, but you should know that the help of others is always secondary, if you don't have the ability, then I won't let you come to the First Task Force, and as long as you have the ability, whether it is in the First Task Force or in other fleets, whether you are the chief of staff of the fleet, or one day you can become the commander of the fleet, you are a good commander. So, your personal abilities are more important than the help of others, you know? ”

Zheng Guanhua nodded vigorously, he still knows this truth, but he knows even more that if there is no help from Tan Renhao, even if he has the ability, he may not be able to get a chance!