When the staff officer of the fleet reported the approximate losses, Han Shaofeng could no longer suppress the grief and remorse in his heart, he trembled all over, and then rushed out of the command cabin.

"General, what are you going to do?" The adjutant immediately followed, he knew what Han Shaofeng was going to do, and when Han Shaofeng pulled out his spear, he rushed up and grabbed Han Shaofeng's hand. "General, they are all captives, they have all surrendered, you can't kill them!"

"Let go of me, I command you, let go of me!" Han Shaofeng screamed hysterically.

The adjutant stood in front of the captured American pilots. "General, you can't do this, you can't do this, if you want to vent, you can shoot me, you can't ruin your future, the brothers are waiting for you to lead everyone to avenge the sacrificed brothers, you can't shoot!"

Han Shaofeng closed his eyes and put down the hand holding the pistol. Two tears rolled down his face. The adjutant also let go of his hand at this time, and then looked at the staff officers who rushed out after him, and motioned for them to immediately escort the American prisoners who had broken their hearts to the bottom cabin. It was also the first time he saw Han Shaofeng crying, when he was guarding Wake Island, the battle was so fierce, so many brothers fell in front of Han Shaofeng, and Han Shaofeng never shed tears. He fully understood Han Shaofeng's feelings, this was not only mourning the comrades-in-arms of the Marine Corps, the fleet, and the naval aviation who had fallen in battle, but also regretting his wrong decision.

Han Shaofeng is most famous for his bravery on the battlefield and his brutal methods against the enemy. During the assault on Wake Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Majuro Atoll. On Tarawa Island, as well as during the defense of Wake Island, Han Shaofeng executed prisoners who surrendered at the last minute on the battlefield. These times almost put him in court-martial. If it weren't for the courage he was in commanding operations, and the fact that he really needed a brave general at the front to ensure the morale of the officers and men of the troops. Then Han Shaofeng must be finished. Nie Renfeng, Gan Yongxing, Yan Guozhong, Liao Hanxiang and others have warned Han Shaofeng many times openly or secretly. asked him to control his emotions, and made it very clear that if the incident expanded because of the killing, then they would never come forward to vouch for Han Shaofeng!

After the American prisoners who were so frightened that they were about to pee their pants were taken down, Han Shaofeng walked slowly to the guardrail on the side of the landing ship, he held the steel pipe on the guardrail tightly, and his teeth were clucking. In just over half an hour, a third of the transport ships, half of the landing ships were sunk, and at least 2,000 marines were killed. Hundreds of crew members were killed or sank into the sea with the ship because they did not withdraw from the battleship in time. In addition, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers were seriously wounded.

And that's just over half an hour. To cover the landing fleet. The first 36 fighters to arrive were all lost, more than half of the 36 pilots were killed, and only a dozen survived. This price is too heavy, so heavy that Han Shaofeng can't accept it.

"General. We should report the damage as soon as possible. This would allow General Liao to decide whether to continue the attack on Midway or abandon the offensive operation. After seeing Han Shaofeng calm down a little, the adjutant reminded him in a whisper beside him.

"Give up?" Han Shaofeng suddenly turned around, "Never give up, even for the sake of those sacrificed brothers, we can't give up!" The fleet stopped going to Wake Island, immediately reported the intelligence to General Liao Hanxiang, and reported the specific losses as soon as possible, I want to know how many officers and soldiers can fight now, how much heavy equipment there is, how much ammunition and materials, we will never retreat, even if I am alone, I will kill Midway Island! ”

"But ......"

"Don't do anything, it's still ground, go and call the staff officer immediately, and ......" Han Shaofeng hesitated for a moment, "Please come over with those pilots, I want to thank them, if it weren't for their help, I'm afraid we would have fed the sharks by now." ”

Not long after, two fighter pilots of the Hainan Airlines came, both of whom were slightly wounded, and their wounds had already been bandaged.

Han Shaofeng first saluted the two captains and thanked them with all the words of gratitude he could find.

"General, these are what we should do, it's just ......" The slightly taller captain's pilot's expression dimmed, "Squadron Leader Wang Xiaotian has been martyred, we ......"

"I know that I will personally apply for the title of martyr for him, and your heroic deeds will be reported. He sacrificed not only for us, but also for the empire, and I guarantee that Major Wang Xiaotian will receive the most precious honor for a soldier, and he is sacrificing for his own duty, obligation, and honor! ”

After sending off the two pilots, the staff officer in charge of communications rushed over, and Han Shaofeng immediately gave him an order to immediately report the approximate losses first. Then, Han Shaofeng found another staff officer and arranged the task of counting the specific losses. The landing fleet did not continue south, and the fast transports were coming one after another. Because these transport ships were heading south ahead of schedule, they were already several nautical miles south of the landing fleet by the time the US bombers arrived, and the air defense fighters also arrived in time, so they were not bombed and did not suffer any losses.

Liao Hanxiang received the first telegram from Han Shaofeng at half past ten, and he did not immediately decide whether to abandon the march on Midway because he needed a more accurate report of his losses. Subsequently, Liao Hanxiang forwarded the telegram to the First Task Force. He had received a final telegram from Task Force 1 two hours earlier that the bombing of Midway had been successful, that Task Force 1 had arranged for an artillery strike formation to destroy other U.S. defenses on Midway, and that Task Force 1 was moving to intercept Task Force 51. Now that Task Force 1 has entered radio control, no signal will be emitted until a decisive battle with Task Force 51.

Tan Renhao received a message forwarded by Liao Hanxiang at 10:40.

"Read it out!"

The communications staff officer glanced at the commander, hesitated, and then looked at Hao Dongjue, the chief of staff of the fleet. Hao Dongjue nodded slightly. Motioned for him to do as ordered by the commander of the fleet.

“…… The current fleet has lost about 30% of its strength, a total of 13 ships, and another ......"

When the communications staff read out the contents of the telegram. Tan Renhao walked back and forth in the command cabin, and when the communications staff officer finished reading the telegram.

He stopped.

"Guys, you're all clear." Tan Renhao glanced at the dozen or so staff officers, "We have successfully bombed Midway, and the artillery formation is bombarding Midway, but." Not long ago, our Marines were hit by a surprise attack by the U.S. Task Force 51 and suffered heavy losses. What we need to do now is not to avenge our comrades in the Marine Corps, nor to avenge the seamen in the landing fleet and convoy, but to consolidate what we have gained, annihilate Task Force 51, and ensure a successful landing of the Marines at Midway! ”

"Annihilate Task Force 51!" A young ground staff officer shouted, but instead of shouting a slogan with him, he stuck out his tongue and lowered his head.

"Now, go ahead and do what you're doing!" Hao Dongjue took over Tan Renhao's words. After glancing at the officer who was a little reckless at first, he followed Tan Renhao out of the command cabin.

"Actually, I'm not surprised!" Tan Renhao's tone was heavy. "This loss was completely expected by me, and now Han Shaofeng is definitely advocating to continue the attack on Midway, while Liao Hanxiang needs more definite information, especially how much combat strength the Marine Corps still has. Only then can it be determined whether to proceed with the attack on Midway. ”

"Then we can't get Task Force 51 back to Pearl Harbor!"

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Spruance must know that we are in the waters near Midway, that we have bombed Midway, and that the fleet has sent a telegram. Now we have to decide from which route Spruance will return to Pearl Harbor or maneuver to the sea east of Midway. ”

Hao Dongjue pondered for a while and said, "What do you think?" ”

"Spruance is 80 percent likely to take the northern route." Tan Renhao looked towards the sea to the north, "After he attacks the landing fleet, he will definitely quickly evade the attack of the heavy bombers on Wake Island, and the best way is to sail north at full speed." As a result, it is likely that Task Force 51 will first appear in the waters about 800 to 1,000 nautical miles north of Wake Island.

At this time, it is closest to return to the northeast and take the route north of Midway. ”

Tan Renhao's judgment was not entirely accurate, and it was not heavy bombers on Wake Island that went to bomb Task Force 51, but tactical bombers. After Liao Hanxiang sent out the news at night, the heavy bombers on Wake Island, which basically carried out long-range reconnaissance missions, took off one after another two hours before dawn. The bombers were tasked with finding Task Force 51, so none of them carried bombs. They returned to Wake Island in the afternoon, when Task Force 51 had already fled, and the bombers were almost impossible to find before dark, and caught up with Task Force 51, so they did not take part in the counterattack.

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly, this is actually the reason why Tan Renhao let the fleet quickly maneuver to the northwest. If Task Force 51 had taken this route, it would have been possible to encounter Task Force 51 tomorrow, and the decisive battle would have been tomorrow.

"Let the pilots rest well, maybe new information will be sent." Tan Renhao turned around, "After receiving the exact information of the 51st Task Force, we will first arrange the bombing mission in light of the actual situation." Also, plan your reconnaissance operation, and be sure to find Task Force 51 tomorrow. ”

"You go and rest first, I'll call you Duchenne in the evening." Hao Dongjue patted his partner on the shoulder, "I'll go to bed at night, tomorrow's task is very heavy, we all have to take care of our spirits." ”

Tan Renhao laughed, Hao Dongjue even knew how to comfort others, this is really a rare thing.

In the afternoon, Task Force 1 received two telegrams, both from the theater command. The first telegram mentions the attack on the 51st Task Force by naval bombers, and the specific results are not clear (most of the bombers did not have time to send a telegram before they were shot down), but only mentioned the establishment of the 51st Task Force, three aircraft carriers, and about ten escort warships.

The second telegram mentions the loss of the landing fleet and the transport fleet commanded by Han Shaofeng. Now Han Shaofeng can still organize about a division of Marine Corps officers and soldiers, in addition, the main loss is heavy equipment, the loss of ammunition and materials is not very serious, and there is also an artillery battalion with equipment still on board. Han Shaofeng did not give up his plan to attack Midway, and Liao Hanxiang also agreed to Han Shaofeng's request, landed on Midway Island on the 14th, and acted according to the previous plan. In addition, Liao Hanxiang has been trying his best to provide Han Shaofeng with a batch of reinforcements and a batch of heavy equipment after the successful landing.

Hao Dongjue didn't let anyone disturb Tan Renhao, and it wasn't until Tan Renhao came to change shifts and went to dinner together that Hao Dongjue told his partner about the two new news.

"You're saying that it was HNA tactical bombers that bombed Task Force 51?" Tan Renhao looked at his partner a little surprised, he couldn't believe the news.

Hao Dongjue nodded. "Two squadrons of bombers, one squadron of fighters, none of them went back."

"What about the pilots? How many pilots were rescued? Tan Renhao put down his chopsticks, he didn't have much appetite.

"The search and rescue work has begun, but we have not received any information about it." Hao Dongjue also put down his chopsticks, "At least we now know the general situation of the 51st Task Force, and I have already planned the bombing mission in the afternoon." In addition, Task Force 51 was about 700 nautical miles from Wake Island at the time of the bombing and was still heading north at full speed. Your judgment is not wrong, Spruance will definitely take the northern route this time! ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Go and rest early, and I'll send someone to call you at three o'clock."

"Well, don't try too hard." Hao Dongjue stood up, "Also, don't let me oversleep." ”

Tan Renhao smiled and nodded, and after Hao Dongjue left the restaurant, he sat for a few more minutes, and when Du Xing brought him coffee, he left the restaurant and went to the command cabin. After a good night's sleep, Tan Renhao was much more awake and calmer at the same time. War is cruel, and in this cruel war, he must be clear about what he is doing and what he should do!