After several years of cooperation, Chang Jianxin has a deeper understanding of Gu Zhenyun, and his understanding of Gu Zhenyun is relatively in place. Comparatively speaking, middle-aged generals like Gu Zhenyun lack the aggressive spirit of young generals like Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin, and they also lack the spirit of adventure. These are manifested on the battlefield as Gu Zhenyun's lack of courage, lack of flexibility and adaptability, and the ability to seize opportunities is not very good.

After arriving at the Sixth Task Force, Gu Zhenyun became the commander of the Task Force, that is, the leader of the Task Force. Unlike the chief of staff of the fleet he served in the past, the commander needs to be fully responsible for the fleet, which also causes Gu Zhenyun to be more cautious when directing operations. In a more objective sentence, Gu Zhenyun is the kind of general who "does not seek merit, but seeks no fault".

In fact, the 6th Task Force performed exactly as it did when it reached the Atlantic theater of operations. After being incorporated into the Second Fleet, Gu Zhenyun also served as the chief of staff of the Second Fleet and Jiang Zhongmin's deputy. Although there is no direct conflict between Gu Zhenyun and Jiang Zhongmin, the cooperation between the two is not perfect, mainly because the way they command and the way they treat the war are fundamentally different. While Jiang Zhongmin wanted to establish his foundation in the navy through victory in the Atlantic, Gu Zhenyun only hoped that the Sixth Task Force would not have major problems and would not suffer a crushing defeat. As a result, the two had conflicts when they went north in the first few rounds.

The awkward time of the German "Far East Fleet," that is, the second time Jiang Zhongming was forced to abandon his northward journey and return to Cape Town, it was precisely because Gu Zhenyun had problems in handling joint operations with the "Far East Fleet" that the German Admiral Schell was seriously dissatisfied with him, and finally the entire expeditionary operation was forced to be terminated. At that time, Scheer asked the "Far East Fleet" and the Sixth Task Force to go north to attack the Gold Coast region first. Task Force 5, which was unable to participate in combat operations due to weather conditions, remained in the rear. Judging from the situation at that time, there were not many British bombers deployed in the Gold Coast area, and if the "Far East Fleet" and the Sixth Task Force had gone north first and supported the landing of the marines, it was very likely that they would have defeated the British forces in the area and laid the foundation for the next entry into the middle Atlantic waters. However, Gu Zhenyun considered that the battleship would be easily bombed without the cover of an aircraft carrier, so he categorically rejected Scheer's proposal, which caused a contradiction between the navies of the two countries, and in the end, even if the weather had improved, it was impossible for the fleet to continue north.

Subsequently, in the battle against Monrovia, Gu Zhenyun had a disagreement with Jiang Zhongmin. At that time, the British army was holding Monrovia, and the marines could not attack for a long time because of logistical difficulties. The supporting role of the fleet was also not fully played. Gu Zhenyun had already proposed to temporarily besiege Monrovia, first detaching a force to conquer the Cape Verde Islands, and then forcing the British forces in Monrovia to surrender through a blockade. Later, the actions of the First Fleet just proved that Gu Zhenyun's judgment was correct. At that time, Gu Zhenyun did not realize that his judgment was very far-sighted, and he only took this into account when Monrovia could not attack for a long time. However, Jiang Zhongmin insisted on taking the Cape Verde Islands first, opening a passage for the fleet to go north, and with the entry of the Third Fleet into the Caribbean Sea, logistics supplies were also guaranteed, and the fleet's operation to attack the fortress of Gibraltar north was as easy as a breeze.

From these contradictions between the two, it can be seen that the cooperation between Jiang Zhongmin and Gu Zhenyun is not very good. Especially during the attack on Monrovia, Jiang Zhongmin also brought the matter to the naval headquarters. In the end, Nie Renfeng personally sent a telegram, reconfirming the relationship between Jiang Zhongmin and Gu Zhenyun. Although Nie Renfeng did not directly criticize Gu Zhenyun in the telegram, this middle-aged general who had been in the navy for more than ten years before he came to the fore knew very well that Jiang Zhongmin was a student of the marshal of the navy, and if he continued to clash with Jiang Zhongmin, the marshal would definitely be on Jiang Zhongmin's side. Therefore, in the later combat operations, Gu Zhenyun rarely expressed his independent opinions, but Jiang Zhongmin asked him to do whatever he did, and never actively participated in combat operations. And this happens to be Gu Zhenyun's character.

After the fleet arrived at the fortress of Gibraltar, the First Fleet and the Second Fleet met, and a new command relationship was determined, with Tan Renhao as the joint commander of the two main fleets. Although the new command structure is clear, the "Commander of the Combined Fleet" is only a temporary combat position, and there is no clear position in the Navy's command structure. And this is just the relationship between Jiang Zhongmin and Tan Renhao. Gu Zhenyun is still the chief of staff of the Second Fleet and the commander of the Sixth Task Force. He is still accountable to Jiang Zhongmin. In other words, if Tan Renhao wants to give a combat order to the Sixth Task Force, he will have to pass Jiang Zhongmin's level, at least get Jiang Zhongmin's acquiescence. And when there was a contradiction between Jiang Zhongmin and Tan Renhao's orders, Gu Zhenyun should obey the command of Jiang Zhongmin, his direct superior, instead of listening to Tan Renhao's command. This was at least Gu Zhenyun's own understanding of this joint operation, and it was precisely this understanding that eventually led to the twists and turns in the combat operations of the Sixth Task Force from the afternoon of 22 February to the early morning of 23 July.

In the afternoon of the same day, Gu Zhenyun received the same information, and immediately he led the Sixth Task Force to leave the waters near Alderney Island and head towards the Celtic Sea in accordance with Tan Renhao's previous battle plan. According to Tan Renhao's arrangement, the Third Task Force and the Sixth Task Force will organize a defensive line in the waters south of the Celtic Sea to be responsible for searching for and intercepting the British Navy's battleship fleet, while the First Task Force and the Fifth Task Force will be responsible for finding and attacking the British Navy's ground aircraft carrier task force, and the Second Task Force will be the campaign reserve and will be responsible for providing air defense cover for the Third Task Force and the Sixth Task Force. But Gu Zhenyun ignored one point, that is, this set of battle plans was formulated for the British Home Fleet to enter the battlefield from the direction of the Irish Sea, not from the direction of the Strait of Dover. At the same time, he also ignored the change in the situation of the war at that time, and did not have an idea, there was already a lot of intelligence that the battleship fleet led by Summerville did not fight in the Irish Sea, but was very likely to enter the English Channel through the Strait of Dover at night!

After receiving Tan Renhao's order, Gu Zhenyun did not call back immediately, and as a result, the First Task Force has been trying to contact the Sixth Task Force, and the telegram has been sent dozens of times! This can only be said to be that Gu Zhenyun and Tan Renhao both made mistakes at this time. Gu Zhenyun's mistake was to blindly implement the battle plan he had made before, without considering why the First Task Force kept taking telegrams and sending telegrams, nor did he think of calling back to the First Task Force, but kept the radio silent! Tan Renhao's mistake is also obvious, and he has always used the tone of "consultation" in his telegrams, not the tone of "order". In fact, before this, Tan Renhao's main thing was to cooperate with Chang Jianxin, Hao Dongjue, Huang Xiaotian and others, and when fighting with these people, Tan Renhao did not need to use the tone of "order" in the telegram, but Gu Zhenyun was not Tan Renhao's "fellow believer", so when Tan Renhao sent the telegram in a "discussing" tone, Gu Zhenyun also meant that Tan Renhao did not revise the battle plan!

It is precisely because of this that Gu Zhenyun did not use the radio to contact the other task forces, but only sent seaplanes to the 1st task force, the 3rd task force, and the 5th task force in the afternoon, and reported the actions of the 6th task force to Tan Renhao, Chang Jianxin, and Jiang Zhongmin. But he was not able to return to the battlefield, but sailed dozens of nautical miles out of the strait, and was almost completely out of the battlefield!

It was Tan Renhao who first realized his mistake, and that night, when the Third Task Force launched a sniper operation and was about to enter the sniper sea area, Tan Renhao asked the staff officer to issue an "order." This time, he used an extremely stern tone of order, not only asking about the whereabouts of the Sixth Task Force at this time, asking why the Sixth Task Force did not call back, but also asking the Sixth Task Force to quickly return to the English Channel to rendezvous with the Third Task Force and jointly deal with the British Home Fleet.

When he received this telegram, Gu Zhenyun also came to his senses. He immediately ordered the fleet to speed up its turn and go as fast as possible to join the 3rd Task Force. At least, Gu Zhenyun didn't behave very stupidly at this time. It is undeniable that Gu Zhenyun's mistakes are all because he adheres too much to the battle plan and lacks the ability to be flexible. But in the same way, Gu Zhenyun is also very aware of the situation on the battlefield.

In his opinion, the British Home Fleet had eight battleships, and whether it was the Third Task Force or the Sixth Task Force, if they encountered the British Home Fleet alone, they were likely to be defeated by the enemy. At least in terms of quantitative comparison, it looks like this. Therefore, to ensure the defeat of the enemy, Task Force 3 and Task Force 6 should act together, not separately. If the 6th Task Force continues to move towards the Celtic Sea, then the 3rd Task Force or the 6th Task Force will be able to meet the battlefield alone, regardless of whether the British Home Fleet enters the battlefield from the Irish Sea or the Strait of Dover!

In addition, Gu Zhenyun is also very clear about the status of Tan Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin in the mind of the marshal, although both of them are students of the marshal, but Tan Renhao's exploits on the battlefield are incomparable to Jiang Zhongmin, so the marshal must be more serious about Renhao. Instead of Jiang Zhongmin, otherwise Tan Renhao would not have been appointed as the joint commander. It is precisely because of this that Gu Zhenyun did not ask Jiang Zhongmin for instructions this time, but immediately ordered the fleet to speed up the turn after receiving the telegram. In his opinion, if the British fleet entered through the Strait of Dover, and he did not rush to support the Third Task Force, which resulted in the defeat of the Third Task Force, then he would have to bear all the responsibility. If he had arrived on the battlefield in time, he would have defeated the enemy by supporting Task Force 3. Then even if there is no credit, there is hard work. More extremely, if Tan Renhao's judgment of the battle situation is wrong, that is, the British home fleet did not enter from the direction of the Strait of Dover, then at most it would have missed the enemy and lost the opportunity for a decisive battle, but it was not Gu Zhenyun who needed to take responsibility, but Tan Renhao.

It was with these aspects in mind that Gu Zhenyun finally made up his mind. At the same time, the actions of Task Force VI began to be considered. It stands to reason that Task Force 6 should have gone directly to the waters around Portsmouth Harbour so that it could rendezvous with Task Force 3 as soon as possible. But at that time, Gu Zhenyun didn't know that Chang Jiexin would go to the periphery of Portsmouth Port to intercept the British Home Fleet, and even Chang Jiexin himself did not expect the situation behind. Therefore, the Sixth Task Force led by Gu Zhenyun did not go towards Portsmouth, but sailed directly in the direction of the Strait of Dover, and its speed reached 31 knots, which was the fastest speed that the Sixth Task Force could achieve at that time!

By about two o'clock in the morning, when the 3rd Task Force and the British Home Fleet had already encountered each other head-on, and were sending destroyers and cruisers to each other for a "warm-up" battle, the 6th Task Force reached the northeast of the Seine Bay on a course of 35 degrees, still at a speed of 31 knots, about 30 nautical miles from the British Home Fleet. Gu Zhenyun only sent one destroyer to open the way ahead, and as a result, the radar on this destroyer did not detect the target, and the Sixth Task Force almost passed by the British home fleet! If the course of the 6th Task Force had deviated slightly to the west, then it was very likely to collide with the British Home Fleet and flank the 3rd Task Force in front and back, and the battle would have been fought more smoothly!

Actually, Gu Zhenyun can't be blamed for this, but only Chang Jianxin. It can't be said that Chang Jiexin wanted to eat alone, after all, Chang Jiexin didn't know if he could defeat the British Home Fleet alone at that time. The main reason is that the Sixth Task Force has not taken the initiative to contact him before, which makes Chang Jiexin very annoyed, but after the battle started, Chang Jiexin never managed to contact the Sixth Task Force, and he did not tell Gu Zhenyun about the situation on the battlefield, so that Gu Zhenyun could not know that the British Home Fleet was heading towards Portsmouth Harbor, so he did not change course!

At that time, Gu Zhenyun still thought that the Third Task Force was patrolling the waters south of the Strait of Dover, waiting for the arrival of the British Home Fleet, so he was heading directly in the direction of the Strait of Dover! By four o'clock in the morning, when the 3rd Task Force had already engaged the British Home Fleet, the "War Wey" and the "Warrior" were torpedoed, and they withdrew from the battle ahead of schedule, and returned to Eastbourne alone, the 6th Task Force had reached the southern waters of the Strait of Dover, about 10 nautical miles from Eastbourne. It was also at this time that good fortune finally befell the head of Task Force 6.