On the same day, Tan Renhao first found Hao Dongjue and Chang Jianxin and determined the issue of intra-joint fleet transfers. Neither of them objected to the new appointment, and they both knew very well in their hearts that Tan Renhao was promoting them to cultivate their own lineage. In addition, in terms of qualifications and military exploits, no one can compete with Chang Zhixin and Hao Dongjue for the position of fleet commander.

The Combined Fleet Command was formally established on 15 July, three days after Tan Renhao arrived in Panama City, after personnel transfers within the two main fleets. This morning, Tan Renhao found Yan Yulong alone and had an in-depth conversation with him about Yan Yulong's appointment as chief of the general staff of the combined fleet. This is also the first time that Tan Renhao has had a formal conversation with Yan Yulong. In the afternoon of the same day, Yan Yulong accepted the appointment, and when Tan Renhao officially announced the establishment of the Combined Fleet, Yan Yulong also became the chief of the General Staff, and the personnel appointment would take a few days to arrive.

While discussing Renhao's efforts to concentrate on dealing with the affairs of the Combined Fleet, Gu Xunlei and Han Shaofeng took time to return to Panama City on 16 July, and on the same day, Luo Yunchong, after consulting with the two front-line commanders, decided on the establishment of the North American Theater Command. The next day, the North American Theater Command was formally established, while the former Mexican Theater and Caribbean Theater were downgraded to sub-theaters, with Gu Xunlei and Han Shaofeng still serving as commanders respectively, and at the same time, the two also concurrently served as deputy chiefs of general staff of the theater general staff in charge of ground forces and marine combat operations respectively. Because of the urgency of the fighting on the front line, Gu Xunlei returned to the front line on 16 July, and Han Shaofeng was also actively planning combat operations to attack Cuba, so he did not attend the inauguration ceremony of the theater command held on 17 July.

After the establishment of two headquarters at the same level, the general layout of the operation against the United States has been completed. Fundamentally, Luo Yunchong's North American Theater Command was the supreme command of the front at that time. Therefore, Luo Yunchong, a first-class general of the army aviation corps, was also the supreme commander of the front line at that time. On the surface, Tan Renhao and Luo Yunchong did not have a relationship of mutual subordination, but a relationship of mutual cooperation, but with the development of the war, the transition from sea to land will become the main trend of the war, and the space left for Tan Renhao to play alone will become smaller and smaller, so the combined fleet is actually only a supporting force, an important force to ensure sea supremacy. Therefore, Tan Renhao still has to cooperate with Luo Yunchong, and in many cases, he has to accept Luo Yunchong's direct command. This is also the real relationship between the two commands.

Because the time left for Luo Yunchong and Tan Renhao was quite short, after the establishment of the two commands, Luo Yunchong held a meeting of the theater command, Gu Xunlei and Han Shaofeng both sent people back to attend the meeting, and Tan Renhao and Yan Yulong also attended the meeting. The main purpose of the meeting was to determine the focus of the next phase of combat operations.

At that time, there was still a lot of controversy between the Marine Corps and the Army. Han Shaofeng insisted on attacking Cuba, and believed that Cuba was the best springboard for attacking the United States, as long as Cuba was defeated. You can deploy a large number of heavy bombers to destroy large and small cities in the United States, and ultimately defeat the United States. Gu Xunlei believed that the Mexican battlefield was more important, and as long as his troops could advance to Durango and Victoria City in central Mexico, the bombers from here would still be able to deal with some targets in the eastern United States, as well as bomb cities in the western United States. On top of that, a direct advance from Mexico to the U.S. mainland, especially after entering the plains of the Gulf Coast, would make the offensive much smoother and therefore easier to hit the U.S. There is no question of the need to launch a sea-crossing landing operation.

To put it bluntly, the disagreement between the two is still who is the main and who is secondary. At that time, the Navy's maritime forces had not yet reached a scale that could meet the needs of both the Army and the Marine Corps to launch large-scale offensives, and at most they could only ensure that one army could attack with all its might and the other army could launch a diversionary attack. In this case. No matter which side proposes to fight, the result will make the other side a secondary role, and Gu Xunlei and Han Shaofeng are naturally not convinced by each other and want to be the protagonists. However, after the establishment of the new theater command, the contradictions between the two were at most quarrels, and they could not put forward the same opinion. At that time, both of them only sent representatives back to explain their opinions, and did not attend the meeting in person, probably to avoid direct conflict.

For Luo Yunchong. Both options are actually feasible. Whether the bombers are deployed in Cuba or in central Mexico, as long as they can bomb the continental United States, then it makes no big difference to him. But he couldn't ignore the influence of another person, and that was Tan Renhao, who participated in the meeting. In addition, at that time, the Navy actually had three generals holding important positions in the Theater Command, and excluding Luo Yunchong, the army only had two generals (and there was also a deputy general staff in charge of the army's tactical aviation). That is, the influence of the Navy in the theater command is not small at all. If you really want to vote, it won't do Gu Xunlei much good. Of course. There will be no form of democratic voting in the military, and the commander will have more power than everyone else.

After the meeting on 18 July, Luo Yunchong approached Tan Renhao, first, to determine who Tan Renhao supported, and second, to take this opportunity to let the Combined Fleet participate in combat operations, which is always a powerful force.

"Lao Luo, I can't say." Tan Renhao looked a little embarrassed. "You also know my relationship with these two people, the palms and backs of my hands are full of meat. Do you think, if I support Gu Xunlei, then Han Shaofeng will say that I eat inside and out, if I support Han Shaofeng, then Gu Xunlei will say that the navy will unite to suppress him, so what should I do? ”

"I understand this, that's why I came to you alone at night." Luo Yunchong knew that Tan Renhao just had to make his position clear first. "And it's not a formal request for your opinion, otherwise I'd be in trouble with you at the afternoon meeting. Now just the two of us, if you have any ideas, you might as well speak up. Also, this time the Combined Fleet will definitely participate in combat operations, and you are the commander of the Combined Fleet, so your opinion is naturally quite important, isn't it? ”

Tan Renhao shook his head with a smile, hearing this, he already roughly understood what Luo Yunchong meant when he came to him.

At the afternoon meeting, Luo Yunchong did not raise the matter of allowing the combined fleet to participate in combat operations

A little wondered, if the combined fleet was not allowed to participate in combat operations, then what was the meeting to do? Now it seems that in fact, Luo Yunchong has already made a choice. The greatest value of the Combined Fleet is to ensure sea supremacy, relatively speaking, on the Mexican battlefield, whether or not to dominate the sea does not have much impact, therefore, as long as the Combined Fleet participates in the war, then it can only choose Han Shaofeng's offensive line and attack Cuba. In other words, Luo Yunchong had already chosen Han Shaofeng's line, and now he came to Tan Renhao, probably not to ask Tan Renhao's opinion, but to Tan Renhao to give him some sufficient reasons, so that he could persuade Gu Xunlei and determine the matter of the United Fleet's participation in combat operations.

"It seems that I can't get out of the relationship this time." After being silent for a while, Tan Renhao said, "Actually, I don't think there's anything to choose from. From the point of view of our operational input, we do not yet have the ability to fight a large-scale ground war with the United States for the time being, and as the front on the Mexican battlefield gradually advances to the north, it will be closer and closer to the US mainland, and the battlefield will become more and more open, especially after entering the Gulf Coast Plain area, which is more suitable for large-scale operations of troops. Even if Gu Xunlei can complete the attack ahead of schedule, it will be difficult for us to use the airfield in central Mexico when the time comes. On the contrary, Cuba is an isolated island, and as long as we have sea and air supremacy, the US ground forces will not be able to pass, and the airfields on the island will be relatively safe. After eliminating the U.S. forces on the island, we don't even need to deploy too many ground troops on the island, which can greatly reduce the logistical pressure and allow more transportation forces to be used for strategic bombing. It's obvious. Cuba is even more important in the long run. ”

Luo Yunchong nodded slightly, this was the most important point, and it was also the main reason why he decided to adopt Han Shaofeng's offensive line.

"Let's look at the situation in front of you." Tan Renhao's thinking is fast, and he is also quite familiar with the situation on the two battlefields. "Now Gu Xunlei is still wandering outside Puebla, even if he did not confirm in the second campaign plan that he will take Mexico City, but by all means, after taking Puebla, he will definitely attack Mexico City. So. When will he take Mexico City? Then, it would take him a few months to prepare for the third campaign, and even if the third campaign went well, when would he push the front to Durango and Victoria? Even if the most optimistic estimate is that it will be in the middle of 29 years, although the US military is now making every effort to strengthen Cuba's defense, but Cuba is only an isolated island after all, and the US military does not have the right to control the sea. It is also impossible to regain sea supremacy, as long as our investment is sufficient, Han Shaofeng will definitely be able to quickly fight Cuba. Taking 10,000 steps back, the battle to sweep away Cuba will not end soon, but as long as we can first control a corner of Cuba, the strategic bomber unit will be able to station, and when Han Shaofeng continues to sweep away the remnants of the US military in Cuba, the strategic bombing will be launched in an all-round way. That is, if you can get it. In October, your bomber will be ready for Cuba, which will be months before the departure from Mexico, and these months will probably be enough for you to do a lot, right? ”

Luo Yunchong nodded slightly, this is the second extremely important reason. He also took it into account.

"Finally, strategic bombing requires a lot of ammunition and fuel, as well as spare parts for aircraft, and at the same time, it has to be considered to provide escort cover for bomber groups." Tan Renhao picked up the teacup, took two sips, and continued. "The place where strategic bombers can be deployed in central Mexico is in the plains of the Gulf Coast, but most of the airports are inland, not too close to the port, and the road traffic is not ideal, so we need to invest in engineering troops to renovate it. You also have to maintain a large ground transport force, so how much logistics support do you need to invest? Cuba, on the other hand, is just an island, and it is an island that the United States has operated for decades, with deep-water ports in the southern, central, and western regions, and airports that are not too far from the ports. The road traffic system is also relatively perfect, which can greatly reduce the pressure on logistics support. And taking into account the issue of deploying escort fighters. If the bombers were deployed in Mexico, then Gu Xunlei would have to continue to advance north to seize the airfield for the escort fighters. And in Cuba, we only need to capture the Bahamas to be able to deploy escort fighters on the Bahamas, thus avoiding a ground war with the US military. ”

"Looks like you're a little more thoughtful than I am." Luo Yunchong let out a long sigh, which was something he hadn't expected. "When we joined forces against Japan, you saw farther than me, and this time is no exception."

"Lao Luo, these are all kind words, whether you can see it or not is far from a problem, the problem is that we have to defeat the enemy." Tan Renhao didn't joke with Luo Yunchong. "Judging from these three points, our next step will definitely be to fight Cuba, on the contrary, the Mexican battlefield is only a diversion battlefield, so that the United States has to deploy more troops on the Mexican battlefield, so as to help us defeat Cuba. Of course, how to fight in the end, that's your business. ”

"If you attack Cuba, then your combined fleet can't stay out of it."

"Of course, as soon as the campaign plan comes out, I will determine the actions of the combined fleet as soon as possible." Tan Renhao pressed his hand, "I don't participate in the work of the theater command, you also know this, I am not a person from the theater command." As for the issue of the combined fleet operation, with Lei Shaoqing and Huang Xiaotian in charge, there will be no problem. ”

"Then I'll finalize the battle plan as soon as possible, so that you can arrange the fleet's actions as soon as possible."

The two negotiated this, and the main thing was the battle plan. According to Tan Renhao's habit in the past, as long as the Combined Fleet participated in combat operations, he would definitely participate in the formulation of the battle plan, but this time he took the initiative to give up, mainly to help Luo Yunchong establish his prestige and ensure the independence of the Combined Fleet. This is a matter of killing two birds with one stone, Luo Yunchong also understands it, and naturally he is especially grateful for Tan Renhao's thoughtful arrangement.