When Nie Renfeng wore the gold dragon medal on Tan Renhao's chest, Tan Renhao recalled that more than six years ago, at the graduation ceremony of the Naval Academy, it was Nie Renfeng who wore the first naval medal for him. Although Tan Renhao only got an ordinary sea lion medal last time, this time, he was finally recognized.

Nie Renfeng slapped Tan Renhao's chest twice, and then took a half step back.

Tan Renhao immediately raised his hand in salute, and at the same time whispered, "Thank you, principal!" ”

"Well done, Lieutenant General!" It's still the same sentence, except that the "second lieutenant" has become a "lieutenant general".

When Nie Renfeng went to confer medals on other meritorious generals, Tan Renhao gently stroked the gold dragon pattern medal, the full name of the medal was: Imperial Imperial Medal. This is the highest honor that an Imperial soldier can receive, and it is basically awarded only to high-ranking generals who have made great contributions, as well as soldiers who have outstanding performance and are of great significance. Since the establishment of the medal in the empire more than 400 years ago, no more than 500 people have received the medal in total, an average of only one person a year. Originally, the medal was awarded by the emperor to soldiers, and now it is also nominally awarded by the emperor (in fact, it is jointly decided by more than a dozen important ministers such as the prime minister, the minister of the interior, and the minister of foreign affairs), so it is a medal shared by the navy and army of the empire, and it is the only medal decorated with a dragon pattern, and its significance is naturally extraordinary.

After the award ceremony, the first thing Tan Renhao saw was Hao Dongjue, who was walking towards him, wearing a brand-new military dress and a lieutenant general's epaulette pinned to his shoulder. Hao Dongjue was one of the eight lieutenant generals promoted in the second half of the 25th year, and was the first of many to be promoted.

There are not many generals who can rush to Zhoushan to accept promotions, such as Chang Jianxin, who was promoted at the same time, is in Dalian. He was busy dealing with the repair of the battleships of the Third Task Force, and was not able to rush back to Zhoushan. Unlike previous ceremonies, there was no banquet after this ceremony. Not even a prom, after getting a new rank. The generals were about to prepare to return to their troops. Hao Dongjue was no exception, he was ready to go to the Second Task Force.

"How does it feel?" Tan Renhao called Hao Dongjue and walked towards the parking lot.

"It's not bad, but I don't feel very excited, and I don't have the excitement I used to."

"It's better to look down, there will still be a long way to go in the future." Tan Renhao slowed down.

"Packed your bags, when are you ready to go?"

"I originally planned to leave the day after tomorrow, if the formalities can be completed tomorrow, then I will rush over tomorrow night."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, promotion is not just about getting a new rank, there are many related procedures that need to be improved. Most of these tasks are handled by the adjutants, but some important matters must be handled by Hao Dongjue himself. After completing all kinds of formalities, Hao Dongjue can be regarded as a real vice admiral of the Imperial Navy.

"After going to the second task force, you can talk to Zheng Guanhua first." Tan Renhao glanced at his brother-in-law, "Complete the handover of the fleet as soon as possible." Then let him come over. ”

"I know, you told him about his transfer to Task Force 1, right?"

Tan Renhao shook his head. "I haven't told him yet, but before you get there. I'll call him and give him an overview of the situation, so you'll have to talk to him about it.

In this way, after he came to the First Task Force, he could get acquainted with the work of Xinchi as soon as possible. ”

"It's okay, then I'll go to the headquarters in the afternoon to see if the formalities can be completed today."

"Don't worry, anyway, both fleets can't participate in combat operations now, and it's okay to leave two days late."

When they came to the parking lot, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue stopped at the same time, and they both looked at the lieutenant general standing next to the car in surprise. This is none other than Gu Xunlei, who previously commanded the armored expeditionary force on the European battlefield. Both of them were a little surprised, when did Gu Xunlei come back? Moreover, why is he not in the Army, running to the command of the Navy to do something?

"What, upset to see me?" Gu Xunlei greeted him with a smile.

"When did you come back?" Tan Renhao quickly regained his composure, and then introduced Hao Dongjue next to him, "This is Hao Dongjue, have you seen it?" ”

"I've seen it for a long time." Gu Xunlei nodded at Hao Dongjue, and then said to Tan Renhao, "I knew that you were promoted and rewarded today, and I wanted to congratulate you, but I didn't bother you at first, do you have time?" ”

Tan Renhao nodded, first asked Gu Xunlei to get into the car, and then followed into the car, and Hao Dongjue took the initiative to sit in the driver's seat in the front row.

"I've only been back for a few days, and now I'm assigned here." Gu Xunlei took out a cigarette, "General Hao, I don't know if there is a place to drink tea near here?" ”

Hearing Gu Xunlei's words, Tan Renhao understood.

"There's a teahouse outside, and the owner is a passing officer." Hao Dongjue said as he drove the car onto the road outside and headed towards the outside of the base.

"Let's go to the teahouse." Tan Renhao didn't ask Gu Xunlei to his office, "General Gu, this time I sent you to the navy to be in charge of the combat operations on the Australian side?" ”

Gu Xunlei nodded. "That's pretty much it, hey, it's fine, at least you don't have to be angry with others over there."

Tan Renhao looked at Gu Xunlei and laughed in his heart, obviously, Gu Xunlei's life in Europe was not easy.

The owner of this teahouse located outside the Navy Headquarters is a Navy Major and retired soldier, and he was originally from Zhoushan, and after retiring, he opened a teahouse here to entertain the officers of the Navy Command. In fact, Tan Renhao didn't know that this was actually a joint location of the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau, so there were no security problems at all. The boss is also a smart man, when he saw the arrival of the two lieutenant generals, he immediately arranged them to the private seat upstairs, and he also paid special attention to the lieutenant general, after all, there are not many army generals who appear in the naval headquarters, and they usually see only some officers who are performing liaison tasks here. Soon, the boss sent a pot of good Biluochun, and then he didn't bother the three generals again.

"Tell us about your business in Europe." Tan Renhao first opened the topic. He had already read the information given to him by the chief of staff in detail. I know a little bit about the situation in Europe.

"Well, there's nothing to say." Gu Xunlei sighed, and then took out a cigarette.

He first scattered one for Hao Dongjue, and then lit it himself. "Before. I always thought that only the Imperial Army had internal contradictions, but I did not expect that this was also the case on the German side. ”

Hao Dongjue glanced at Gu Xunlei in surprise. "You mean, the Germans are also fighting in the nest?"

"It's not quite the same. The main problem was the German Army and Air Force. Gu Xunlei shook his head, "Do you know why I was transferred back?" ”

Tan Renhao smiled and said nothing, he had already guessed most of it.

"Why?" Hao Dongjue immediately asked.

"What else? back by the Germans. Gu Xunlei puffed out green smoke while telling his experience in Germany.

The problem was the annihilation of the more than 300,000 British expeditionary forces. At that time, Gu Xunlei insisted on leading the expeditionary corps to fight the British first, and then to assist Guderian's armored assault group, but the German side asked him to assist Guderian's armored group first, and leave those British alone.

The focus of the problem was on Gu Xunlei and the Luftwaffe commander. At that time, the German Führer had basically agreed to let the Imperial Expeditionary Force under the command of Gu Xunlei destroy the British Expeditionary Force first, but the Luftwaffe commander swore that his bombers could completely destroy the British Expeditionary Force without putting a single soldier on the ground. And the position of the German Führer changed accordingly. Gu Xunlei didn't care so much, two hours before the order of the German General Staff (the German High Command) arrived, Gu Xunlei gave the order for a general attack. And the annihilation operation was completed within the time he promised. But the Germans didn't recognize this, thinking that Gu Xunlei was deliberately disobeying, and as a result, the contradictions between the two sides broke out.

"You can't imagine it. That fat man, who only knows how to brag and talk big, if we stopped, the British expeditionary force would definitely have fled, his bomber? His rolling mill can't even be dealt with in the UK, and if he wants Luo Yun to rush to help, what role can he play? ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, on the surface, this is a problem of tactical command, but the real problem is in command authority. The Reich Panzer Expeditionary Force was nominally under the command of the German General Staff, but in reality, it had been fighting alone. The generals of both sides must have different understandings of the war and have different tactics. It is precisely this problem of command authority that makes it difficult for the two sides to act in a coordinated manner, and naturally many problems will arise.

"So you're kicked out?" Hao Dongjue was very curious.

"It's not that simple." Gu Xunlei shook his head, and after extinguishing the cigarette butt, he lit another one. "Originally, according to the plan, we would go to assist General Guderian and attack Paris together, but the French took the initiative to abandon the defense of Paris, so the Germans captured Paris without blood......"

"So, I didn't let you go south?" Tan Renhao frowned slightly, this can be regarded as revenge.

"It doesn't matter if we don't fight Paris or not, as long as we can defeat France according to the plan, so that we can also switch to Russia as soon as possible. But what I never expected was that the German General Staff then revoked our arrangement to go south and sent their reserves up, and we stayed behind and did not continue to participate in the later combat operations. ”

"Then what are the expeditionary forces doing now?" Hao Dongjue's expression was even more surprised, it was not a good arrangement to let a powerful army go and call in strategic reserves.

"Part of it has already been transferred to the Eastern Front and is ready to be put into the war against Russia."

Gu Xunlei sighed, "The defeat of France is only a matter of time, and now we are preparing to launch an attack on Russia, and it will take about four months for the campaign to be adjusted." ”

"Will the German side cooperate?"

"I don't know about this, I'm not a diplomat, but I heard that the German side is also making strategic adjustments." Gu Xunlei extinguished the second cigarette butt. "However, the matter over there has nothing to do with me, and this time I was sent to the Navy Headquarters to jointly plan an attack on the Australian continent with you."

"Let you do the prep work?" Tan Renhao was also a little surprised now.

"yes, there's a lot of work to do." Gu Xunlei took out another cigarette, "But it's good, out of sight, not upset, no matter how the Germans want to make trouble, it has nothing to do with me." ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, this was another internal friction without any value. Gu Xunlei is the commander of the armored forces, and the main force attacking Australia will not be the armored forces, and now the main work is the early campaign preparations, most of which belong to the logistics work, and it is obviously overkill to let Gu Xunlei do these things. However, it can also be seen from Gu Xunlei's words that he is very stiff with the German side, otherwise, Yan Dingyu would not have "exiled" him here, which can be regarded as a punishment for Gu Xunlei.

Gu Xunlei also fell silent, he knew it in his heart. No matter how ridiculous the Germans were, he almost caused an international dispute on the battlefield in Western Europe, and it also seriously affected the relations between the Reich and Germany, causing internal contradictions in the Alliance. Yan Dingyu didn't get rid of his position, which is good.

"Old Gu, how long are you going to stay here?" Hao Dongjue broke the silence.

"I don't know, maybe a few months, hopefully I'll be sent to command the ground forces then."

Gu Xunlei smiled reluctantly, "It's better than doing logistics, but it's also a good time to take this opportunity to relax." I went to Songjiang two days ago to take a look, I haven't been to Songjiang for several years, I didn't expect that the changes there are so big, I almost can't recognize it. ”

"If you have the chance, we can accompany you to other places, and Hangzhou is also good.

Tan Renhao laughed, "Now, who are you contacting here?" ”

"I haven't reported to General Gan Yongxing yet, I'm going to go again tomorrow, anyway, there are liaison officers busy now, and there is nothing for me to do."

"It's okay, you can come early tomorrow." Tan Renhao glanced at his watch, "It's not early, I'll do Dong Jue with Dong Jue in the evening, it's considered to be a good wash for you, let's go and have a good time." ”

The three of them said that they would leave, and after taking the account with the boss, they immediately drove to Zhoushan City and found a tavern with a better environment and rubbed it. After chatting with Gu Xunlei, Tan Renhao also had a better understanding of the war situation in Europe.