For a long time, most people have believed that Nie Renfeng's reuse of Jiang Zhongmin is restricting Tan Renhao, but except for his origin, no matter from which point of view, Jiang Zhongmin has no capital to compete with Tan Renhao. Even Nie Renfeng himself is reusing Tan Renhao while reusing Jiang Zhongmin, his attitude towards the two is impartial, and he is not completely inclined to anyone, otherwise, it would not be at every critical juncture, Nie Renfeng's first thought is to talk about Renhao, not Jiang Zhongmin. If it weren't for Nie Renfeng's weight, Tan Renhao would not be able to make contributions on the battlefield again and again, and naturally he would not be able to establish his own power base in the navy.

Judging from the conditions and circumstances in all aspects, Jiang Zhongmin did not pose a threat to Tan Renhao, but he posed a threat to a group of young generals who followed Tan Renhao, such as Lei Shaoqing, Chang Jianxin, Hao Dongjue, and Huang Xiaotian. Especially for Lei Shaoqing, Jiang Zhongmin is a very real competitor. Judging from the situation at that time, even if Jiang Zhongmin achieved a great victory in the Pacific, it was impossible for him to threaten Tan Renhao's position in the eyes of the young admirals of the Navy, especially the young admirals from the First Task Force, and these young generals were destined to become the backbone of the Navy, so Jiang Zhongmin could not replace Tan Renhao now or in the future. But for Lei Shaoqing, this problem is not so simple.

Jiang Zhongmin's arrival made Lei Shaoqing very dissatisfied, maybe Lei Shaoqing had not really felt the threat posed to him by Jiang Zhongmin at that time, but he felt that the principal still did not have a clear definition of the terms of reference of the commander of the theater fleet, and the main reason was that Jiang Zhongmin would lead the Fifth Task Force to participate in the battle in the southwest Pacific theater. According to the previous rules, when multiple task forces were fighting on the same battlefield, the best task force commander would serve as the interim commander-in-chief, responsible for commanding multiple fleets to fight together at the same time. Creation of a separate theater fleet commander. In the past, this role was held by Tan Renhao, and with Tan Renhao's status and prestige among the commanders of many task forces, naturally no one objected. Now, the problem is not so simple.

If the command relationship between the task forces is still handled according to the old method, then a temporary commander-in-chief must be appointed between the second task force and the fifth task force, that is, between Hao Dongjue and Jiang Zhongmin. But the problem is that no matter who appoints, the other will have an opinion.

In terms of qualifications, Jiang Zhongmin is above Hao Dongjue, and he is the principal's protégé, born in a famous navy, and graduated from a regular college, and has served as a fleet commander for a longer time than Hao Dongjue. But Hao Dongjue also has his own advantages. He has been on a mission in the southwest Pacific for several months, and the performance of the Second Task Force is very good, which is enough to prove his command ability, in addition, Hao Dongjue has been the chief of staff of the First Task Force for two years, this qualification is not shallow, and the accumulated combat exploits are even more incomparable to Jiang Zhongmin. What's more, Hao Dongjue has always been disgusted with Jiang Zhongmin. At the beginning, he was restrained by Tan Renhao, and he would not be too direct, and now he is the commander of the fleet. Tan Renhao, the eldest brother-in-law, is thousands of miles away, if he is allowed to obey Jiang Zhongmin's command, then it will be strange if he doesn't jump out to make trouble.

It can be said that after Tan Renhao was sent to the Indian Ocean theater, a strange phenomenon appeared among the commanders of many fleets in the Pacific. That is: the dragons have no leader. Before Jiang Zhongmin's arrival, this problem was not obvious, after all, Hao Dongjue, Huang Xiaotian, and Lei Shaoqing and Li Wenlong all came out of the First Task Force, and there was a clear relationship between superiors and subordinates in the First Task Force, even if the generals were promoted at different times, for example, Huang Xiaotian once surpassed Hao Dongjue and was first promoted to lieutenant general, but his status in the First Task Force directly determined his current status, and Huang Xiaotian was also brought out by Hao Dongjue, so the generals were ranked among themselves. This order is still not messed up. When attacking Noumea, Huang Xiaotian put himself under Hao Dongjue, basically obeying Hao Dongjue's arrangement. Therefore, even if there is no one who can replace Tan Renhao for the time being, the order between the commanders of the various fleets is still determined, and no one has ever thought of gaining a higher status and gaining absolute dominance.

When Jiang Zhongmin appeared on the Pacific theater, the problem was not so simple. In the eyes of many people, Jiang Zhongmin's appearance has another meaning, that is: there are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are the kings. Maybe this is not an apt description, but judging from the actual situation at the time, it was. Before Tan Renhao did not return, Jiang Zhongmin posed a threat to everyone and disrupted the mutual relationship between many generals on the battlefield. This is precisely an important reason why Gan Yongxing strongly advocated the establishment of a separate theater fleet commander, and someone must come forward to replace Tan Renhao's role, so as to avoid the phenomenon of competing for power and profit within the navy, and even more so to avoid the bad situation in which generals are crushing each other.

At this moment, the only person who can serve as the commander of the theater fleet is Lei Shaoqing, in terms of qualifications, Lei Shaoqing is one of the first young generals in the imperial navy, and he is one of the first batch of commanders of the task force after talking about Renhao, and he is also the president's protégé, the winner of the Sea Lion Medal of the 193rd graduating cadet, and has made great achievements on the battlefield. I'm afraid that in addition to Lei Shaoqing's background, he is not as good as Jiang Zhongmin, and he is not worse than Jiang Zhongmin in other aspects, or even better than Jiang Zhongmin. Therefore, after Tan Renhao went to the Indian Ocean, Lei Shaoqing was needed to come out to maintain order within the navy, especially among many young generals.

It can be said that Gan Yongxing's arrangement was painstaking, and at the beginning, he proposed that Tan Renhao be appointed commander of the theater fleet, and if Tan Renhao sat in this position, no one could pose a threat to him. The most important thing is that Tan Renhao can get better promotion opportunities through this path, and eventually achieve a career. But people are not as good as heaven, who would have thought that the South Atlantic side would lose so badly, otherwise Tan Renhao would not have to go there to put out the fire. And choosing Lei Shaoqing can be regarded as a helpless move.

This also reflects the difference between Gan Yongxing and Nie Renfeng. As chief of the Navy's General Staff, Gan Yongxing has always admired talented young generals. He has always attached great importance to talking about Renhao, and the opportunity to train Tan Renhao in the Navy Command many times in the past is a direct manifestation of his secret cultivation of Tan Renhao. In addition to Tan Renhao, Huang Xiaotian, Hao Dongjue, Chang Jianxin, Lei Shaoqing, and later Zheng Guanhua, Wei Dongbei, Li Wenlong and other young generals have all been reused by Gan Yongxing. This is also Gan Yongxing's standard for employing people, those who have talent will be reused, and those who do not have talent will have to stand aside. Of course, this is not to say that Jiang Zhongmin has no talent, nor does it mean that Gan Yongxing does not attach importance to Jiang Zhongmin, Gan Yongxing just does not use Jiang Zhongmin as much as the principal. From Gan Yongxing's standpoint, there is nothing to doubt about his choice. As chief of the general staff of the navy, Gan Yongxing dealt with almost all affairs directly related to the war, and did not involve too much in the internal struggles of the navy, and his first task in the navy was to ensure that the navy won victory on the battlefield, and in order to achieve victory, it was natural to reuse talented and excellent generals.

In fact, this is not to say that Nie Renfeng is specifically engaged in internal balance and playing with power means. As the commander-in-chief of the navy, Nie Renfeng's responsibilities are much heavier than those of Gan Yongxing. In addition to ensuring the victory of the navy on the battlefield, he must also let the navy develop and grow healthily, and not let the development of the navy be affected by some factors that could have been controlled. And there are many reasons for him to reuse Jiang Zhongmin. But this doesn't mean that he doesn't pay attention to Tan Renhao. It's just that Nie Renfeng's position is different from Gan Yongxing's, so when dealing with the same problem, Nie Renfeng's method is different from Gan Yongxing's.

That is, at that time, Jiang Zhongmin returned to the Pacific Ocean. The Fifth Task Force participated in combat operations in the Southwest Pacific Theater, and it was not Tan Renhao who was most threatened, but Lei Shaoqing. The most direct manifestation is: When the battle was about to begin, Lei Shaoqing still didn't know what kind of authority he, the commander of the theater fleet, had and how much responsibility he had.

The matter dragged on until the beginning of late April, Lei Shaoqing still did not receive a clear answer, and he didn't even bother Yan Guozhong much, after all, this matter was not decided by Yan Guozhong, and Yan Guozhong's attitude was biased towards Lei Shaoqing, and he did his best. That is, on the 22nd of April, a piece of good news arrived at Port Vila, the 1st and 3rd Task Forces had won a major victory in the South Atlantic, and the Anglo-French Expeditionary Fleet had been completely annihilated, and the 1st and 3rd Task Forces had no major losses, and the recovery of Cape Town was just around the corner!

In the eyes of others, this is undoubtedly another major victory for Tan Renhao on the battlefield, another beautiful victory, and another miraculous achievement of Tan Renhao after the "Battle of the Coral Sea". But in Lei Shaoqing's view, this is not only a victory, but also a clear response by Tan Renhao to the principal's "partiality", a swift and complete victory, not only changing the situation in the South Atlantic, but also will inevitably eventually affect the situation in the Pacific theater. More importantly, this is the news that Lei Shaoqing is most willing to hear!

At this time, Huang Xiaotian's Fourth Task Force was already patrolling the Central Pacific, and the direction of the US military's counterattack was basically clear, and all the newly commissioned main warships of the US military were left at Pearl Harbor and incorporated into the Fifth Fleet, and Spruance was still in charge of commanding the Fifth Fleet. In mid-April, Spruance led the Fifth Fleet to conduct a training outside Pearl Harbor, when the Fourth Task Force had just arrived in the Central Pacific, and not only Huang Xiaotian's nerves were tensed, but even the nerves of the entire navy were tensed. On April 21, Spruance led the fleet back to Pearl Harbor, and Huang Xiaocai breathed a sigh of relief. But now the theater fleet composed of the Fourth Task Force and the four small aircraft carriers under Liao Hanxiang is difficult to defeat Spruance, and it is even impossible to stop Spruance's attack. If Task Force 1 had been able to return to the Pacific at this time, the problem would not have existed.

Lei Shaoqing was almost certain that the First Task Force would soon return to the Pacific Theater. Perhaps Task Force 3 will stay in the South Atlantic theater to replace the original South Atlantic Fleet and guard the gates here, but as the weather deteriorates in a few months, there is no need for Task Force 1 to stay in the South Atlantic. Then, Tan Renhao will probably be able to rush back in May, and as long as Tan Renhao returns to the Pacific battlefield, then Jiang Zhongmin, the "monkey", will not want to sit on the number one position of the mountain king.

This is indeed Lei Shaoqing's idea, and Lei Shaoqing was not the only one who was looking forward to Tan Renhao's return at that time. Huang Xiaotian and Hao Dongjue are all looking forward to Tan Renhao rushing back to the Pacific Theater as soon as possible, even Liao Hanxiang and Yan Guozhong are waiting for relevant news, and Gan Yongxing hopes that Tan Renhao will return to the Pacific Theater as soon as possible and shoulder the burden on the Pacific Theater. Even Nie Renfeng is no exception, and this can be seen from the series of arrangements Nie Renfeng made subsequently.

At the end of April, that is, when Weng Yiming sent back the news that the British and French expeditionary forces in Cape Town had withdrawn, and the first task force and the third task force had not yet returned to Cape Town, Nie Renfeng made a decision, and the first task force and the third task force would all return to the Pacific theater after completing the combat operation to recover Cape Town. The four battleships originally planned to be replenished to the Southwest Pacific Theater Fleet, as well as some cruisers and destroyers, were sent to Cape Town under the direct command of Weng Yiming.

In addition to these transfers, after the First Task Force and the Third Task Force returned to the Pacific Theater and a large number of escort aircraft carriers took into service, Nie Renfeng also canceled the theater fleets of the two theaters of the Southwest Pacific and the Pacific Theater, and transferred all six small aircraft carriers, two of which were left in the rear to undertake increasingly heavy training tasks with the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier, while the other four small aircraft carriers were all sent to the Indian Ocean to form the Indian Ocean Fleet to support the South Atlantic Fleet at any time. In order to consolidate the foundation of the Indian Ocean Fleet, the Navy also decided to expand the port of Moroni, and at the same time chose Diego Garcia Island as a new military base, and invested heavily in building a complete naval infrastructure on the island, which laid the foundation for Diego Garcia Island to become the most important military base of the Imperial Navy in the Indian Ocean after the war.