Volume 1: The Empire Awakens Chapter 36: Mockery (Part 1)
After completing five days of training with its brother units in the Snake Island waters, the fleet began to return south. General Liao Hanxiang took Wu Xianyu, Ji Xiaobin and Tan Renhao on a seaplane.
Instead of returning with the fleet, they went directly to Dagu.
This is the home port of the First Fleet, and the headquarters of the First Fleet is also located here.
When they arrived at Dagu, Tan Renhao learned that Marshal Sajitin had arrived early and had personally come to the seaplane dock to greet them.
This was the second time that Tan Renhao met the naval marshal who led the imperial navy to defeat several powerful enemies in the last war.
Different from the last impression, this time Marshal Sagittin was very happy and was more polite to General Liao Hanxiang.
"Behave normally. Marshal Sagittin has already remembered you!"
Tan Renhao was stunned. Before he could react to Colonel Ji Xiaobin's words, Marshal Sajiting, after greeting General Liao Hanxiang, walked past Wu Xianyu and Ji Xiaobin and went straight to Tan Renhao.
"Lieutenant, I heard that you have made a very great contribution to the Fifth Fleet."
Marshal Sagittin seemed very kind, but he had the majesty of an Imperial Navy Marshal.
"Yes, young man, you remind me of my youth. Fifty years ago, when I graduated from the Naval Academy, I was just like you now!"
Everyone laughed. The marshal was almost seventy years old. Fifty years ago, he walked out of the Imperial Naval Academy wearing the Order of the Sea Lion with Gold Embellished on it, and thus began his glorious naval career.
At the same time, the way everyone looked at Tan Renhao changed a lot. A lieutenant officer who could make the naval commander compare him to his youth was definitely not a simple person.
"Thank you for the praise, Marshal. I will continue to work hard!"
Tan Renhao did not dare to be negligent and immediately said what he had just thought of.
Sajiting nodded and suddenly asked, "What is your relationship with General Tan Zhenbing?"
Tan Renhao was stunned and shook his head awkwardly: "Marshal, I am from the Tan family in Wenzhou, and General Tan Zhenbing is from Shandong."
The Tan Zhenbing that Sajitin mentioned was a vice admiral of the Imperial Navy. In the last war, the Southwestern Fleet led by General Tan Zhenbing blocked the Western Combined Fleet in the waters of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, winning extremely valuable preparation time for the Second Fleet. This laid the basis for the Second Fleet to delay the Western Combined Fleet in the waters of the Anambas Islands for nearly a year.
However, Lieutenant General Tan Zhenbing also died in this battle, becoming one of the highest-ranking generals lost by the Imperial Navy in the last war.
Most importantly, Tan Zhenbing was one of Marshal Sajidin’s disciples, and one of the marshal’s most proud disciples.
Sajiting exchanged a few words with the others, and then they all left the dock and took vehicles to the First Fleet Headquarters.
"You and General Tan Zhenbing are not from the same family?"
Ji Xiaobin was obviously also very interested in this issue.
Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, saying, "Maybe they were one family five hundred years ago, but General Tan Zhenbing is from the same generation as my great-grandfather, so maybe they are related."
Both of them laughed.
If we judge by their ages, Tan Zhenbing should be about the same age as Tan Renhao's grandfather. Obviously, even if the two "Tan" families are somewhat related, they are very distant relatives.
In comparison, the First Fleet’s headquarters was too “luxurious”.
Originally, the Imperial Navy was established on the basis of the First Fleet, and the Imperial Navy’s first headquarters was in Dagu, and it has been used for hundreds of years.
The current First Fleet Headquarters is located at the site of the former Navy Headquarters, south of the current Naval Dagu Museum area. It was a new base built more than 50 years ago at a huge cost.
Tan Renhao was deeply touched. If the First Fleet Headquarters was like a luxurious courtyard, then the Fifth Fleet Headquarters was not even a thatched cottage in the countryside.
The office building of the First Fleet Headquarters is seven stories high and has an elevator. From the top floor, you can see the entire Dagu Port and dozens of large warships of the First Fleet anchored in Dagu Port.
In addition, the entire headquarters is like a huge garden, with many precious flowers and plants.
The officers' dormitories and non-commissioned officers' dormitories are newly built and look like a small villa area.
This is the gap between the First Fleet and the Fifth Fleet, which gave Tan Renhao a huge contrast.
Now, he finally understood why everyone looked down on the Fifth Fleet.
General Bei Yuming welcomed General Liao Hanxiang and his entourage at the headquarters, and then Sajiting called all the generals to the conference room. Tan Renhao and Ji Xiaobin went to the fleet hotel where they were staying.
"To be honest, sometimes I really envy the First Fleet."
Instead of calling a taxi, the two decided to walk to the hotel where they were staying. Ji Xiaobin also looked very emotional.
"Every year, the First Fleet has 55 million in activity and construction funds, and how much do we have? Less than 10 million, and this also includes the cost of building the headquarters."
Seeing Ji Xiaobin shaking his head and sighing, Tan Renhao also felt uncomfortable.
However, just as they walked out of the yard outside the headquarters office building, Tan Renhao saw a familiar figure.
When Fan Peikun saw Tan Renhao, he was also stunned, but he immediately walked over.
"Second Lieutenant Tan Renhao, congratulations! I didn't expect that you would attract the Marshal's attention so quickly. It looks like you will rise to prominence in the future and become the first student in the 192nd term to wear the gold star shoulder strap!"
There was obvious sarcasm in Van Pekun's words.
"Gold Star Epaulettes" is an alias for the rank of general among Imperial Navy officers, because the rank of naval general is marked with a golden octagonal star instead of the silver octagonal star worn by ordinary officers.
Tan Renhao spoke before Colonel Ji Xiaobin, who wanted to teach the young lieutenant a lesson, "Second Lieutenant Fan Peikun, you are doing well. You are now at the peak of your career!"
"Then we'll see!"
Tan Renhao gestured for invitation, and then left the First Fleet Headquarters compound with Ji Xiaobin.
"who is he?"
Ji Xiaobin's expression showed that he hated Fan Peikun very much.
"The descendant of Marshal Fan Shien, but he doesn't have the grace of the former marshal!"
Ji Xiaobin was stunned for a moment, then he started laughing.
The Fan family is one of the four major families in the Imperial Navy. Just for this reason, ordinary people cannot afford to offend them. No wonder Tan Renhao is unwilling to directly confront an officer of the same rank.
