Liao Hanxiang received the news of the return of the Second Task Force on the night of 7 July, and he immediately sent a telegram back to Lei Shaoqing, asking the Second Task Force to make every effort to deal with the threat of the US Navy and to temporarily cancel the operation to support Midway. Then, Liao Hanxiang sent another telegram to Han Shaofeng, asking Han Shaofeng to speed up the attack of the Marines as much as possible and take Midway Island before the 12th at all costs. Liao Hanxiang also adjusted the deployment of the HNA that night, and the number of long-range reconnaissance planes deployed to Midway Island was increased to 35 (this was already the maximum capacity at that time), while the ships transporting HNA tactical bombers could only reach Midway Island on the 10th at the earliest (tactical planes could not fly directly from Wake Island to Midway, it was too far).

Before Han Shaofeng received Liao Hanxiang's telegram, he had already sent five telegrams back during the day, and he only asked one point, that is, what is the Second Task Force doing now? According to the plan, the bombers of Task Force 2 were to support the Marine attack during the day, but as a result, from dawn until dark, no bombers from the fleet appeared over Midway. As a result, the Marines advanced less than 50 meters during the day, and in the evening they withdrew to their original defensive line.

After receiving Liao Hanxiang's telegram, Han Shaofeng was about to burst out. He had already committed three-quarters of his troops to the front, leaving less than 6,000 men in reserve, and he had incorporated his guard battalion into combat units, leaving only two guards. Now that the personnel who can fight on the island have taken up arms, and Liao Hanxiang wants him to continue the attack, without the support of bombers, it is almost impossible to quickly take Midway. What annoyed Han Shaofeng even more was. Reinforcements arrived on the 10th, and Liao Hanxiang gave him the task of taking Midway on the 12th, that is. After the arrival of reinforcements, he had only two days to complete the task.

The bloody battle on Midway Island made Han Shaofeng almost a beast. Unlike many generals, no matter where he went, Han Shaofeng had two grenades, a submachine gun, and several spare magazines pinned to his waist. Other than that. He was not wearing a general's uniform, but an ordinary field uniform, and if it weren't for the two generals on his shoulders, I'm afraid everyone would think that he was an ordinary Marine soldier, not a general.

When the battle was fought to this point, Han Shaofeng used everything he could, and he even asked the sappers to temporarily make more than a dozen mortars (using oil drums as barrels and explosives bags as shells) to bombard the US army's ground defense line. Perhaps, except that Han Shaofeng did not charge personally. He couldn't think of a better way to defeat the U.S. military.

The biggest trouble is the tenacity of the U.S. military, which is the most tenacious army that Han Shaofeng has encountered in so many battles. Unlike the Japanese devils in the beginning, the tenacity of the US military is not to a large extent reflected in the fact that it is not willing to die. As well as to help the imperial medical officers who helped them also with bullets and grenades, but the quality of American officers and soldiers. At this time, he also knew that he was fighting against the officers and men of the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Marine Corps was the most elite ground force. Not only are the officers and men of good quality, but their work style is very tenacious. Before that, Han Shaofeng had also fought with the U.S. Marine Corps, and he didn't believe the pre-war statements, but now, he no longer doubts the quality of the U.S. Marine Corps.

After the withdrawal of the 1st Task Force from the battle, Han Shaofeng had launched eight large-scale attacks, small-scale attacks that were difficult to calculate. Six regiments had already been completely consumed on the battlefield, and in the regiment that had suffered the greatest sacrifices, only more than 150 officers and men had withdrawn in the end, and the casualty rate exceeded ninety percent.

Watching batch after batch of officers and soldiers rushing forward, and then batch after batch of wounded and the bodies being transported down, Han Shaofeng's feelings can be imagined. The battle has reached this point, and it is no longer a tactic to fight, and there is no more tactic to speak of in the small area of Midway. What the two sides are fighting for is the will of the officers and soldiers, the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers, and the breath of breath that will defeat the enemy.

Han Shaofeng's hand holding the telegram was trembling slightly, he controlled his excitement, and tried not to let himself explode. In the past few days, everyone around Han Shaofeng has not had a good feeling in their hearts. The originally planned fifteen-day campaign has been fought for more than 20 days, and the original plan to invest one and a half divisions of troops has now been invested in nearly three divisions. The fierceness of the battle was beyond everyone's expectations, not only Han Shaofeng held his breath, but every officer and soldier of the Imperial Marine Corps on Midway Island held his breath.

"Generals, officers above the battalion level have arrived."

Han Shaofeng stood up. "Let them gather in the conference room, and I'll be here in five minutes."

More than 40 officers entered the conference room of the headquarters one after another, and among these officers, more than eighty percent were promoted on the battlefield, and the lowest rank was actually a sergeant. On the battlefield, the largest proportion of losses is not soldiers, but officers. This is also the "tradition" of the Imperial Marines.

At the end of each battle, the proportion of losses of officers, especially those of front-line officers, was higher than that of soldiers. During these 22 days of fighting, more than 20 officers and more than 100 officers were killed. They all died on the front-line battlefield, and according to the rules of the army, after the battalion commander was killed, the company commander was replaced, and after the company commander was all killed, he was replaced by the platoon commander, and then the squad leader. Each battalion will have a battalion commander, and no matter how many soldiers there are in the battalion, no matter how much combat strength the battalion still has, and whether it is a formal battalion commander or an acting battalion commander, there will always be an officer who will stand up and take on the task of front-line command.

When Han Shaofeng walked into the conference room, he immediately found that only two of the more than 40 officers were not bandaged, and the others were all injured. These were all the battalion-level officers in the six regiments he had put into the front line, and one of the acting battalion commanders had been a squad leader six days earlier.

Han Shaofeng stopped in front of the sergeant, looking at the bandaged, immature face, Han Shaofeng's hand trembled slightly, and then patted the sergeant's shoulder. This is just an eighteen-year-old child, who, in peacetime, has only just graduated from high school, and who may have gone to university to continue his studies, or to work in a factory, or to work in the fields, or to live a quiet life somewhere. Right now. He was on the battlefield, on a battlefield of corpses, fighting for a common goal for thousands of years for all the subjects of the Empire.

"General. I can still fight, don't take me down! ”

Han Shaofeng was taken aback. His gaze immediately returned to the man who was a little flustered.

"I'm only missing an eye, I can still see the enemy, I can still use a rifle, general......"

Han Shaofeng gently patted the sergeant's shoulder, he wanted to laugh. But I couldn't laugh.

"General—" All the officers puffed out their chests.

Han Shaofeng looked at these officers, who were all between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight, and each of them was a man, a man who stood up to the sky.

"Let's all sit down." Han Shaofeng took a deep breath, and then took out the telegram, "This is the telegram sent by General Liao Hanxiang a few hours ago. Because the U.S. fleet has appeared, we can't get the support of Task Force 2 anymore, and we can't count on bombers to help us get out of the way. The mission has not changed, and we must win before the twelve! ”

There was silence in the room, and the officers looked calm. They are used to brutal combat.

"Tomorrow at dawn, we will continue the attack." Han Shaofeng didn't need to explain too much to these officers, "Tonight." I need a few prisoners, I need to find out what is going on on the American line......"

"General, we are the closest to the American line, and we will go and capture a few prisoners tonight." The sergeant spoke.

Han Shaofeng nodded. "Be careful. Other than that. The troops were to prepare for the offensive before dawn. I've said this more than a dozen times, and you know the details.

We have four days to go, and on the 10th, reinforcements will arrive, but we must advance the front another 300 meters before then, otherwise it will be difficult for us to win on the 12th. The task is daunting, and I will send the last reserve team to the battlefield, and whether or not I can defeat the enemy and win will depend on your performance. Once again, I can assure you that I will fight with you and that the Imperial Marines will never fail! ”

No one made any fiery declarations, and no one made high-spirited speeches. It's an order, and for soldiers, even if it's an order to send them to their deaths, they won't hesitate to carry it out.

After sending off these officers, Han Shaofeng sent all the dozens of guards in the headquarters to the sergeant's position to assist them in capturing prisoners. Wars are like that, every battle is made up of multiple skirmishes. The U.S. defensive line is constantly being adjusted, and it changes almost every day, and before attacking, it is necessary to first confirm the deployment of the enemy's defensive line, and the best way is to go and capture a few enemy officers and come back, and learn about the enemy's defensive deployment from the enemy's mouth.

For the next few hours of waiting, Han Shaofeng had been thinking in front of that battlefield map. The U.S. military has turned the eastern side of the island into a fortress, but how to lay this fortress? Enemy defenses were held almost everywhere, and tens of thousands of U.S. troops were in the trenches along a three-kilometer-long winding front. In some places, the distance between the two defensive lines was less than 100 meters. The island was not quiet at night, and there was always the sound of gunfire, which was the soldiers on both sides firing cold guns. From time to time, several loud explosions were heard, and it was the artillery of both sides harassing each other.

In the more than 20 days of fighting at Midway, it was a relatively calm night, a night without large-scale fighting.

Suddenly, the gunfire outside intensified, and Han Shaofeng immediately turned around, the gunfire came from the east, a little dull, probably because there was a fierce battle somewhere on the battle line.

A few minutes later, a staff officer rushed in. "General, I caught a prisoner, this time I caught a big fish, it was a major officer, but ......"

"But what?" Han Shaofeng immediately walked over.

"Sergeant Tian Qifeng was killed, and several other soldiers did not return." The staff officer took out a blood-stained envelope. "This is the letter in the sergeant's pocket, it has not been written yet, we don't know ......"

"Give it to me, immediately arrange personnel to interrogate that American officer, no matter what method is used, you must interrogate everything he knows before dawn!" Han Shaofeng took the letter from home, the blood on it had not completely coagulated, and there was a hole, which was left by the bullet.

Han Shaofeng sat down, and the family letter was generally placed in the pocket of his left chest, that is, the bullet was hit on the left chest and hit the heart. He took out the blood-stained piece of paper that had not yet been written. Looking at the sergeant's nostalgia for his family, his attachment to his loved ones, and the childish tone that he did not take off in his letters. Han Shaofeng couldn't hold back any longer, he didn't know why he was shedding tears, and he didn't know why he felt so sad. Twenty-two days and nights, tens of thousands of the Empire's best soldiers fell on this battlefield, twenty-two days and nights, how many such unfinished letters could not be sent? Han Shaofeng's body was trembling slightly, this is no longer fighting, this is desperate, not for survival, for something more important than life in the eyes of soldiers.

"General, do you want us to ...... this letter?"

"No, I'll send it myself when the battle is over." Han Shaofeng put away the unfinished letter, "In addition, put Tian Qifeng's name at the top of the promotion officer on the battlefield, and ask the Navy Command to promote him to Major Marine Corps." Perhaps, it's nothing, and it doesn't bring him back from the dead, but we need to do something. ”

The battlefield outside fell silent, and from time to time gunshots rang out. Han Shaofeng personally went to draw up a commendation order for Tian Qifeng. In addition to promotion, medals are another way to commend, and Han Shaofeng applied for Tian Qifeng's highest honor medal for imperial soldiers - the Imperial Royal Medal.

The interrogation came to an end at around 4 a.m., when the American major officer was captured while he was on his way to the front to inspect the situation. Before dawn, the disposition of the American line of defense was sent to the commanders of the various offensive units. On the front line, tens of thousands of officers and men of the Imperial Marine Corps immediately began to prepare for the offensive.

Something like this happens every night, a battle like this happens every day. When the first rays of light appeared in the east, Han Shaofeng gave the order to attack, and the tranquility on the battlefield was broken again.