The Japanese destroyers also knew that they were not far from the coast at this time and did not dare to continue sailing forward. But they still refused to give up.
In order to maximize the firepower, the Japanese captain simply turned the warship sideways so that both the front and rear main guns and the side guns could be used.
The Japanese army was also praying, hoping to destroy the enemy gunboat before it escaped.
The actions taken by the Japanese destroyers increased their firepower, and more shells kept flying over. Although no shells still hit the gunboat directly, there were shells exploding near the gunboat.
The gunboat kept bumping in the huge waves and was almost capsized. Suddenly, a large-caliber artillery shell landed just over one meter away from the gunboat. The shell exploded violently, and the waves raised suddenly threw the gunboat up. After that, the gunboat landed heavily on the sea.
The huge shaking of the gunboat made it difficult to control his body. Wei Dayong tightly grabbed the railing of the ship's side to avoid being thrown into the sea.
The gunboat was traveling at high speed, getting farther and farther away from the enemy destroyer, and gradually disappeared into the vast night.
The Japanese destroyers lost track of the gunboats, but they still refused to give up and continued to fire shells in the direction where the gunboats disappeared. Only after they were sure that they could no longer hit the enemy gunboats did they give up helplessly.
The gunboat was getting closer and closer to the coast, and the captain did not dare to go any further, so he changed his direction and drove along the coastline. When everyone saw that the enemy's shelling was completely blind and the shells were far away from the location of the gunboat, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Wei Dayong took a long breath and walked from the stern to the bow to see Xu Dalong. But when he came to the bow of the ship, he did not find Xu Dalong.
He checked carefully and didn't see Xu Dalong anywhere else, so he called softly: "Master Long, where are you?"
No one answered him, could it be... Wei Dayong broke into a cold sweat and shouted loudly: "Master Long, Master Long, where are you?"
When the people on the gunboat heard the shouting, they hurriedly looked around, but did not find Xu Dalong. After counting the number of people, it was discovered that in addition to Xu Dalong, a gunner who served as Xu Dalong's deputy shooter had also disappeared.
Wei Dayong was so anxious that he started to cry. He shouted loudly: "Turn around quickly and go back to look for Mr. Long."
The captain did not dare to neglect, and immediately turned the ship's bow and sailed in the direction from which it came. Wei Dayong and the special operations team members stood on the deck, carefully searching the sea surface, hoping to find Xu Dalong who fell into the water.
Xu Dalong really fell into the water. The shell landed near the bow of the ship, and a huge wave rushed over. Xu Dalong was dizzy, lost consciousness, and was thrown into the sea by the powerful wave.
The deputy shooter was also thrown into the sea like him.
Wei Dayong and others kept searching, but in the vast darkness, it was almost impossible to find the person who fell into the water. Wei Dayong and others had no choice but to wait until dawn before thinking of a solution.
Wei Dayong knew very well that in the rough sea, even if Xu Dalong was still alive, he didn't know where he would be swept away by the sea in one night. But he had nothing to do now. He could only hope for a miracle and find Xu Dalong after dawn.
Time passed minute by minute, the long night was so unbearable, and finally it was dawn. Wei Dayong and the special forces members did not care that the Japanese army might still stay in this area, and immediately began searching on the sea. However, they could not see Xu Dalong from early morning till sunset.
The special operations team members were so sad that they cried. Wei Dayong didn't know how many times he had cried, and he didn't know how to deal with the regret in his heart. After giving himself a slap in the mouth, he collapsed on the deck. Wei Dayong is an orphan. He has long regarded Xu Dalong as his closest person, and has already made up his mind to follow Xu Dalong throughout his life.
Xu Dalong suddenly disappeared and may never be seen again, which made Wei Dayong extremely painful. At this moment, his mind went blank, leaving only endless regret. He and Xu Dalong came out to protect him. Although he knew that Xu Dalong could not stay in the cabin after the battle started, he still blamed himself deeply for not letting Xu Dalong hide in the cabin. This was his dereliction of duty. . He was sorry for Xu Dalong, sorry for the superior organization, sorry for close comrades such as Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang, and even more sorry for himself.
In his heart, Wei Dayong hoped that it was him who was in trouble, and not the amiable and respectable Lord Long. Thinking of this, Wei Dayong couldn't help but burst into tears again.
The special operations team members were also in great pain. When they heard Wei Dayong's cry, they also cried loudly.
Zhao Gang was stunned when he heard the bad news. While he issued orders to the Coast Guard, asking them to organize manpower and ships to search and rescue, he also took a boat to meet up with Wei Dayong and others.
Zhao Gang was very anxious. After meeting Wei Dayong, he looked like he was lost and his eyes were red and swollen from crying. Despite this, Zhao Gang did not have the slightest sympathy, but shouted sternly: "Wei Dayong, damn you, I asked you to protect Captain Xu, why didn't you protect him? Now that something happened to him, you are fine, I really don’t know what you do for food?”
Wei Dayong felt extremely remorseful. Faced with Zhao Gang's severe accusation, he did not make the slightest excuse and said painfully: "Yes, it's all my fault. It's all my fault. If something really happens to Mr. Long, I will definitely go to accompany him." .”
When he said these words, Wei Dayong's eyes were full of determination. Zhao Gang knew about the relationship between Wei Dayong and Xu Dalong, and believed that if Xu Dalong really passed away unfortunately, Wei Dayong would definitely accompany him.
At this time, Zhao Gang had no time to pay attention to Wei Dayong's inner feelings, and said angrily: "What's the use of talking nonsense? Hurry up and find a way to find Captain Xu."
Wei Dayong had already searched this area, but he didn't say anything else. He responded and immediately organized people to search again.
After Mr. Chen received the news, he immediately organized a large number of manpower and material resources to launch search and rescue operations across a vast sea area.
But everything is in vain. For three full days, Mr. Chen mobilized tens of thousands of people and hundreds of fishing boats of various types, and the search area covered hundreds of square nautical miles, but still found nothing.
Staff Officer Gao was also in great pain. He hoped to find Xu Dalong, so he waited until the fourth day before discussing with Zhao Gang and telegraphing the news to the comrades in charge.
Taking into account the impact of all aspects, the comrade in charge decided to keep the disappearance of Xu Dalong secret for the time being, and instructed Staff Officer Gao and Zhao Gang to continue organizing manpower and material resources to search and rescue Xu Dalong.
The instructions of the comrade in charge are undoubtedly correct. Xu Dalong is a famous anti-Japanese hero. If something happens to him, it will be an extremely heavy blow to the morale of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. Now that Xu Dalong's whereabouts are unknown, the news cannot be announced, and there is absolutely no need to announce it.
Zhao Gang also deeply understood this truth, so when he organized the search and rescue, he only said that he was searching for and rescuing missing special forces members, and did not mention Xu Dalong. Zhao Gang did not report this matter to Si Lingyu, Li Yunlong, Zhang Dabiao and others. He not only considered the impact on the morale of the soldiers and civilians fighting against the Japanese, but also took into account the feelings of Lin Xueying and others.
While Zhao Gang continued to organize the search and rescue of Xu Dalong, on the other hand, he blocked news about Xu Dalong during normal telegram exchanges with the Mawushan Military Division.
The comrades in charge, Zhao Gang, Wei Dayong and other people who knew the inside story kept the secret. However, such a large-scale search and rescue operation still attracted the attention of some people, especially Japanese and puppet spies. They provided the Japanese army with Xu Dalong's itinerary and also knew that the Japanese navy had launched an attack on Xu Dalong. Seeing the large-scale search and rescue operation launched by the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians, they concluded that something must have happened to Xu Dalong. If he were an ordinary special operations team member, he would not have made such a big fuss.
There is no airtight wall in the world. Thanks to the efforts of the Japanese and puppet agents, the news of Xu Dalong's disappearance came out. The Japanese and puppet intelligence personnel were eager to take credit and reward as they found a treasure, and hurriedly reported the news to their superiors.
The good news soon reached the ears of Yamashita Fengwen and others. He was overjoyed and excited, and felt that this matter could be put to good use. Although there is no definite whereabouts of Xu Dalong, he is missing after all.
Yamashita Fengfumi decided to use this incident to undermine the morale of the anti-Japanese military and civilians. He put forward his own suggestions to the base camp, planning to activate the propaganda machine and announce that the Japanese navy had killed Xu Dalong.
The Japanese army is now in an extremely unfavorable situation on the battlefield, which has greatly affected the morale of the Japanese army and the people of the island countries. The base camp also decided to make a big fuss out of this incident. Even if Xu Dalong can really come back from the dead, at least at this stage it can damage the enemy's morale and boost our own morale, which is still extremely beneficial to the island country.
Therefore, the base camp immediately held a press conference to announce the death of Xu Dalong. Yamashita Fengfumi and the Japanese Navy also held press conferences respectively, reporting extensively on the process of the Japanese Navy's killing of Xu Dalong.
This incident caused an uproar, especially in China. The Japanese and puppets felt that they had obtained a treasure and exaggerated the matter.
The majority of anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians were also very concerned about Xu Dalong. They discussed the matter one after another, which invisibly expanded the propaganda of this matter. Soon after, almost everyone among the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians knew about it. This news had a great blow to the fighting morale of the anti-Japanese army and civilians. Countless anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians were immersed in grief. The atmosphere in various anti-Japanese army base areas, especially the Mawushan base area, was very depressing.
After receiving the news, Officer Si Ling was shocked and hurriedly sent a telegram to Zhao Gang to ask what happened and blamed him for not reporting it to him immediately.
Zhao Gang was very helpless and said that concealing the information was an instruction given by the comrade in charge. Of course, he truthfully reported the entire incident to the leader.
The commanding officer replied with a telegram in a very stern tone, reprimanding Zhao Gang and others for why they let Xu Dalong travel long distances on the sea in a gunboat even though they knew that the Japanese army was powerful at sea. If Xu Dalong insists on going to Wake Island, he can also travel by land first, and then cross the sea by boat. There is only 17 nautical miles of sea journey there, and the Japanese army cannot intercept it silently.
Officer Sling is a man of great wisdom. Under normal circumstances, he would not accuse his subordinates like this when he has not conducted on-site inspections. But Xu Dalong was too important, and he had an irreplaceable position in his mind. He was a little bit calm when he was emotional.
After Zhao Gang was severely reprimanded, he did not blame the leader, but deeply blamed himself. Indeed, the leader's words are undoubtedly pertinent. If Xu Dalong took the land route first and then crossed the sea, although it would waste a lot of time, such a situation should not happen.
Faced with criticism and accusations from his leaders, Zhao Gang had no intention of shirk- ing responsibility. He sincerely criticized himself and asked his superiors to impose severe punishment on him. He will continue to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in searching for Xu Dalong's whereabouts.
The news reached Li Yunlong's ears, and he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. In his mind, Xu Dalong is not only a good comrade-in-arms, but also a good brother, and the relationship between the two is extremely close. This strong man had not shed tears for who knows how many years, but this time he couldn't help but burst into tears and burst into tears.
The anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in Mawushan respected Xu Dalong very much. When they heard the news, they were also shocked, and everyone's hearts were filled with pain and regret. The vast number of anti-Japanese fighters, especially the special forces members led by Xu Dalong himself, were grieved and full of hatred for the Japanese army. They wrote blood letters one after another, wanting to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and avenge their beloved captain.
After hearing the bad news about Xu Dalong's accident, Zhang Dabiao was also in great pain. But he is a man with a rough appearance and a delicate heart. In grief, he remembered something and hurriedly came to see Li Yunlong.
Zhang Dabiao walked into Li Yunlong's office and saw Li Yunlong, his eyes red, drinking alcohol there.
Zhang Dabiao came forward, refilled Li Yunlong's wine, drank two glasses with him silently, and then said cautiously: "Captain, something happened to brother Dalong, and the one who suffered the biggest blow was Director Lin. We We must find a way to appease her emotions, and we must not let anything happen to her again."
Li Yunlong became a little anxious when he heard this. He stood up suddenly and said eagerly: "Da Biao, you are right. Something happened to brother Da Long. We can't let anything happen to his younger siblings again. Please inform your sister-in-law immediately." , and your spouse and the others, go over and take care of your younger siblings. Let’s go over and comfort her as well.”
Zhang Dabiao said: "Captain, I have asked my wife to notify my sister-in-law. They should have rushed over."
