The affairs of the fleet were quickly arranged, Tan Renhao, Jiang Zhongmin, and Huang Xiaotian were promoted to the commanders of the main fleet, and at the same time served as the commanders of the task force where they were located, and all three of them will be promoted, Tan Renhao is likely to directly become second-level admirals, and Jiang Zhongmin and Huang Xiaotian will both become third-level admirals. If the promotion of 27 is issued on June 6, that is, before Huang Xiaotian turns 28, then Huang Xiaotian will become the first person in the history of the Imperial Navy to be promoted to admiral before the age of 28, and this will definitely be a new record. Gu Zhenyun, Yan Yulong, and Zheng Guanhua also successfully became the new commanders of the task force, and all three of them will be promoted to lieutenant generals, of which Gu Zhenyun will be second-class lieutenant generals, and Yan Yulong and Zheng Guanhua will be third-class lieutenant generals.

As a result of these changes, Task Force 1, Task Force 3, Task Force 4, and the three newly established Task Forces all require the appointment of a new Task Force Chief of Staff. The Navy Command has changed the previous way of directly nominating the new chief of staff selected by the fleet commander, and after passing the pass of the chief of the naval staff, it is enough, instead of being nominated and appointed by the Navy command. In fact, this is only a change in form, and in the past, it was basically nominated by the commander, but the examination was relatively strict.

There is no chief of staff for the three main fleets, and under normal circumstances, the chief of staff of the core task force concurrently serves as the chief of staff, and the commander of another task force may also be selected to temporarily serve as the chief of staff of the main fleet. Because the chief of staff of the main fleet is not clearly determined, it is generally appointed by the commander of the main fleet on an ad hoc basis before the battle, and there is no need to apply to the naval command and have the Navy command approve it.

The nomination and appointment of the Chief of Staff of the Task Force has been put on hold for the time being. Liao's plan for attacking the Hawaiian Islands soon became the new focus of the naval command. The scale of the campaign was enormous, and Liao Hanxiang divided the campaign into three phases, from the annihilation of the Fifth Fleet to the attack on Kauai and finally the capture of the entire Hawaiian Islands. This is simply not a campaign plan, but a war plan. Gan Yongxing handed over the part of the fleet operation to Tan Renhao, which also became Tan Renhao's main job. Tan Renhao couldn't do so much alone, and he had to use the opinions and suggestions of several other fleet commanders while they were still in Zhoushan.

"Dongjue, do you kid want to get along with me?"

Hao Dongjue smiled brightly. He didn't feel that Tan Renhao was blaming him.

"I really don't know who you recommend to me." Tan Renhao walked over with two cups of tea, "I have read Zhu Rongzhe's resume, the problem is not his performance in the army, but his character." ”

"How. What's wrong with his personality? Hao Dongjue is pretending to be stupid.

"You don't have anyone else to recommend in Task Force 2?" Tan Renhao sat down, "Zhu Rongzhe's personality is too introverted and too restrained, and he is not suitable to serve as the chief of staff of the fleet. ”

"I don't think so, it proves that he is very careful and meticulous. Doesn't it just make up for your shortcomings? ”

Tan Renhao was almost speechless. "But you have to understand that if necessary, the chief of staff of the fleet will be responsible for the command of the fleet, and if he lacks initiative, or even self-confidence, will I dare to hand over the fleet to him?"

"Don't worry, how long have you known Zhu Rongzhe? The contact lasted less than half an hour, how do you think he is who you say he is? ”

"Then tell me about it. What kind of person is he? Tan Renhao wanted to kick Hao Dongjue out.

"You think he's an introvert. I can tell you that when you get acquainted with him, you will know if he is an introvert or not. You think he's too reserved. Think about it for yourself, what was your performance like when you first met Ji Xiaobin? You say he lacks aggressiveness. If he really lacked initiative, would he have been able to become a colonel, a seafaring staff officer? You say he doesn't have self-confidence. If he doesn't even have self-confidence. Will you come to Zhoushan and make so many preparations? Hao Dongjue's words were quite serious and quite logical, "Ren Hao, I won't hurt you, and it's not that I can't get along with you, to be honest, you don't know Zhu Rongzhe, and I don't fully understand him." But I wouldn't recommend a good-for-nothing person to you. It won't make it difficult for you to do. Give him a chance, and maybe you'll get more than just a surprise! ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "It seems. The best career for you is not the Navy. ”

"What's that?" Hao Dongjue also laughed.

"Advertising planner, with your mouth, I promise to be able to mix better."

"Then you agreed?" Seeing Tan Renhao's soft attitude, Hao Dongjue immediately pushed the boat down the river.

Tan Renhao is really hard to refuse, at least he believes that his brother-in-law will not let him not be able to step down, since Hao Dongjue is so active in recommending Zhu Rongzhe, it must be reasonable. He had only met Zhu Rongzhe once, and the conversation lasted only more than ten minutes, which was really not enough to understand this young colonel officer. In addition, Tan Renhao really can't help but give Hao Dongjue face. This time, he supported Huang Xiaotian, and at the same time asked Zheng Guanhua and Yan Yulong, instead of recommending Wei Dongbei as the new commander of the task force, which was a bit sorry for Hao Dongjue. And Hao Dongjue rarely asked for anything, this time he was able to recommend Zhu Rongzhe, and Tan Renhao couldn't turn him away.

"Wait until I talk to Zheng Guanhua before making a decision." Tan Renhao didn't say it to death, but he didn't cut off Hao Dongjue's hope. "In addition, if Zhu Rongzhe wants to come to the First Task Force, he must pass the chief of staff, and if he also behaves last time when he talks to the chief of staff alone, no matter how much I help, it will be useless, understand?"

Hearing the first half of the sentence, Hao Dongjue was still a little disappointed, but after hearing the second half of the sentence, he knew that Tan Renhao actually agreed to let Zhu Rongzhe go to the First Task Force as the chief of staff. "Don't worry, I won't leave Zhoushan in the next two days, I will try to spend time talking to Zhu Rongzhe and let him know how to speak in front of the chief of staff."

Tan Renhao nodded. "That's it. I have just finished reading Liao Hanxiang's battle plan, you should know more about the core idea of this plan, what do you think is the key? ”

"Fleet operations?"

"Of course, the chief of staff only asked me to be in charge of fleet operations."

Hao Dongjue pondered for a while. "Renhao, do you want me to tell the truth?"

"If I wanted you to make a pat on the back, I'd ask you that question."

"Then I'll tell you the truth, don't be upset or won't listen." Seeing that Tan Renhao's attitude became serious, Hao Dongjue said, "I think the key is to deal with the Fifth Fleet. According to Admiral Liao Hanxiang's plan, we had to take out the Fifth Fleet ahead of schedule, but in my opinion, this is almost an impossible task. ”

Tan Renhao didn't interject. He was thinking the same thing.

"Spruance is not a fool, we have so many fleets pressed over, twice as strong as him, in addition, the Marine Corps put into operation, the size of the aviation is not small. Arguably. It is almost impossible for the U.S. military to keep us out of Kauai. If the Fifth Fleet dares to find us in a decisive battle in advance, or if it wants to attack any of our fleets, then Spruance must first weigh the likelihood of a successful sneak attack, and how likely it is that the sneak attack will turn into a head-on decisive battle, or be counterattacked by us. If I were Spruance, I would definitely think about it. ”

Tan Renhao still continued to think, and he didn't interrupt Hao Dongjue's words.

"Spruance only has one chance. That is to hide first, and then launch a sneak attack when we attack Kauai. By then, at least nearly half of our fleet would be supporting the Marines, and it would be difficult for the two main fleets to take care of each other, and this time Spruance had nine aircraft carriers in his hands, and one bombing would be enough to completely wipe out one of our task forces. Or the complete defeat of the two task forces. As long as Spruance can achieve this, then the situation will change, and when the time comes, I am afraid we will have to reconsider the campaign plan. In addition, this tactic is not new to Spruance, he used it when we attacked Niwa Island, and the last time it failed, it was not because the sneak attack was not good enough, nor because his strategy was unsuccessful. It's because no one would have expected that the Fourth Task Force and the Theater Fleet would swap places at that time, if Huang Xiaotian didn't have this defense. I'm afraid Task Force 4 is completely finished, and Spruance won't lose that aircraft carrier! ”

"The question is, will Spruance do it again?"

"Yes, definitely, he doesn't have a choice. Fight hard, he is a dead end, better than a sneak attack, you, me, and Huang Xiaotian are no worse than him. As long as the Fifth Fleet is finished, then the United States will lose the Pacific Ocean completely, then the day of defeat for the United States is not far away, Spruance cannot afford to take this risk, even if he is destined to turn the tide of the war by taking risks, but he will weigh the risk and try to choose the tactics that are the least risky for him. ”

Tan Renhao nodded. "It seems that we don't want to take out the Fifth Fleet before we land on Kauai."

"It's not that there is no chance, it's just that we haven't thought of it yet, after all, the gap in strength is here, after a few years of war of attrition, the US military is already much worse than before, even if we stop moving forward and give the United States another half a year's chance, the US Navy will not be able to catch up." Hao Dongjue picked up his cigarette, "However, I think the scale of Liao Hanxiang's battle plan is too large, and the goal is set too high, as long as there is any problem in the middle, such as we are not able to annihilate the Fifth Fleet in time, or force the Fifth Fleet to leave the battlefield, it will cause some unexpected consequences." Who will bear the responsibility for the failure then? Moreover, what if the final campaign goal is not achieved? Extend the campaign, or continue to increase the number of troops invested? This is not good for us, and it is not good for Liao Hanxiang, I really don't know, why did he set such a high campaign purpose! ”

Tan Renhao's face immediately changed.

"Renhao, I'm just talking about things, and I don't mean anything else." Hao Dongjue immediately added, and what he said at the beginning was a bit excessive.

"I've noticed this too." Tan Renhao's face looked a little better, "The scale of the battle is indeed very large. The annihilation of the Fifth Fleet is the first key point, after this step goes out, even if we kill the Fifth Fleet, taking Kauai within the scheduled time will be the second key point, and the next step is to destroy the US military's aviation combat capability, this is the third key point, only when these three steps are taken well, can we have the ability to attack Oahu, and this will be the last step, but also the most difficult step. Every step is very difficult, and it is quite difficult to guarantee that there are no accidents. ”

"Then we have to revise the battle plan."

"It's too late, and the principal has basically approved the plan." Tan Renhao took a long breath, "We can only try to do better, try to avoid problems, and leave a few more hands to prepare when we implement the battle plan." ”

Hao Dongjue sighed, he even said this to Renhao, what else could he say?

"When are you going back to Guam?"

"In a few days, there are still some personnel issues that have not been dealt with."

"Then after you go back, discuss it with Huang Xiaotian, Lao Chang, and a few other people." Tan Renhao stood up, "I'll rush back as soon as possible, and then we'll discuss in detail what kind of preparations we should make." ”

Hao Dongjue also stood up. "Well, now it seems that this is the only way to do, I hope that Spruance will make a mistake this time and give us a little hope."

Tan Renhao shook his head with a smile and sent Hao Dongjue out of his office.

When he saw the campaign plan submitted by Liao Hanxiang, Tan Renhao's first feeling was that this campaign plan was too huge, and it was one link after another, and if there was a problem in any link in the middle, it would inevitably have a huge impact on the next combat operation. If it was in the early days of the war, such a campaign plan would not be surprising, Jiang Bangguo had formulated many similar campaign plans at the beginning, but they all ended in failure or hastily. After so many years of fighting, commanders have summed up a lot of experience on the battlefield, and one of them is that when drawing up a campaign plan, it must not be too rigid, too perfect, or too detailed, because this will only limit the flexibility of the troops on the battlefield, and they will lack the ability to adapt to changes, and it will be difficult to quickly adjust themselves when they encounter unplanned situations.

Tan Renhao didn't believe that Liao Hanxiang didn't realize this problem, and with Liao Hanxiang's experience, he wouldn't be unaware of the harm of this kind of overly detailed campaign plan, but it was difficult for Tan Renhao to find enough reasons to convince himself, why did Liao Hanxiang formulate such a campaign plan with many loopholes?