Han Yu realized that it involved military secrets and he shouldn't ask any more questions that shouldn't be asked, so he simply changed the topic: "Do the three units of you frequent each other?"

"With the island being so small, how could we not interact? The three companies get along very well, just like brothers. Especially the Navy brothers, we rely on them for all the supplies on the island; even our reserve point on the shore is set up at their base."

"All supplies rely on the Navy, can't you raise pigs and grow vegetables on the island?"

"Where can you find flat land on the island? Even if there were flat land, there isn't any soil. We've been bringing soil from the shore to the island for years, barely making a few small patches of vegetable garden, where we can only grow some green onions and garlic. If the sailings are cut off for more than a week, we can't eat any vegetables and have to make do with green onion soy sauce soup."

Xiao Yu hadn't expected that the life of the liberation army on the island would be so difficult, and couldn't help saying: "Rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, the sea to eat from the sea, if you can't have vegetables you can go fishing!"

The young warrior helplessly said: "You've seen the terrain of the island, how steep and rugged it is. It's impossible to go fishing in the sea. For safety reasons, our superiors strictly forbid us from going into the sea."

Xiao Yu suddenly realized that they probably weren't fishermen before joining the army and were not skilled at fishing, so for them going to sea was indeed very dangerous.

Han Yu then asked in a low voice: "Since the island is so small, do you have any recreational activities normally?"

"There's not much flat land on the island, so we don't even have a basketball court. We can't play basketball or badminton, only table tennis, watch TV, and videos."

"Don't you take turns going ashore?"

"We do have a reserve point on shore, mainly responsible for purchasing supplies, forwarding newspapers and letters, receiving visiting families of the troops and transitioning for our home leave. But only one officer and one old platoon leader are on duty on the shore, it's not a rotation."

From the expression of the young soldier, one could see that he envied those who got to stay on shore.

This was completely understandable. The island is very small, doesn't even have trees, and is almost completely isolated from the world. Humans are social animals; no one wants to stay on a small island more than forty nautical miles from East Sea mainland for long.

Thinking of this, Han Yu couldn't help but ask: "Did you know that you would come here when you enlisted?"

The young soldier was stunned for a moment, looking embarrassed, and said: "Initially, I had no idea. When I heard about coming to East Sea to join the army, I was over the moon; East Sea is a big city, many people envied me. Later when I got to the new recruits' company, the superiors said that after completing the recruit training we would be stationed on the island, I was quite happy at first; even though I couldn't reach East Sea City, I could see the sea."

"What about afterwards?"

"After staying a while, I wanted to go ashore, mainly because it's too dull on the island."

Seeing that they were getting closer to the barracks, the young soldier feared being overheard by the company commander or the instructor, and then chuckled: "Our Army is still okay, after three months in the new recruits' company, there's only a little more than two years truly spent on the island. The Air Force and Navy are different from us; they serve for four years and have to stay on the island for more than three years."

While they were talking, an Army Captain approached, and Han Yu hurriedly went up to salute and greet him.

Before setting sail, they had planned to come to She Island to watch for smugglers' boats, Captain Wu knew that the supplies on the island were extremely scarce, and had specially prepared hundreds of pounds of vegetables and fruits. Early today, Captain Wu and Deputy Yu braved the wind and waves to lower the vegetables and fruits from the ship, delivering them to the island garrison.

The coastal artillery company also seemed to have received a share, Captain Zhang was very pleased and thanked Han Yu upon seeing him.

"We are all one military family, there's no need for thanks, and besides, it is we who are causing you trouble now."

"It's no trouble at all. Director Shi is much better now, just can't eat and is trying to keep down some porridge, but threw it up again."

"Captain Zhang, we've caused you inconvenience."

"No trouble at all."

Captain Zhang turned and pointed towards the infirmary, smiling: "He just threw up and might be a bit embarrassed, you guys go ahead, I won't come in."

"Okay, thanks."

Han Yu shook hands with Captain Zhang again and went to open the infirmary door.

Shi Shengyong didn't know how he made it through the night; he was nearly spent from the retching, sitting slouched on a single bed, dizzy and listless.

"Director Shi, feeling any better?"

"Salted Fish, I'm sorry, I always thought seasickness would be similar to motion sickness in a car, I had no idea seasickness would feel this awful..."

"Seasickness is quite normal, and it doesn't have much to do with physical fitness."

"Really?"

"I've been seasick before, threw up so badly when I first boarded the ocean liner that I almost vomited my guts out."

"I didn't believe Political Commissioner Wang when he said seasickness was so unbearable, but it turns out he was telling the truth."

"You're stronger than Political Commissioner Wang."

Shi Shengyong, with a pained expression, asked, "How am I stronger than him when I'm vomiting like this?"

Sitting at the bedside, Han Yu looked at him with a smile and said, "He got seasick on a river ship on the river; how big can the waves be there? You're getting seasick on a sea-going ship; the waves at sea are much bigger than the ones on the river."

"Are you saying if I were to be on the 001 on the river, I probably wouldn't get seasick?"

"Pretty much, that's why I say you're stronger than Political Commissioner Wang."

Listening to this, Shi Shengyong felt much better inside. Recalling the mission at sea, he said urgently, "Salted Fish, Xiao Yu, carrying out the mission is what's important. Don't worry about me, I can go back the day after tomorrow by myself. You guys should hurry out to sea to search and arrest."

Han Yu patted his arm and said with a smile, "The waves in the East Sea Area are not small at night. Judging from the speed, those two suspected smuggling fishing boats without valid credentials can only reach the area around She Island by 9 o'clock this morning at the earliest.

"What time is it now?"

"It's only eight thirty now."

"It's already eight thirty; you guys should hurry to the ship and start the search!"

"There's no need to rush, we plan to set sail at nine thirty."

"Nine thirty?"

"They're coming from the south, and our ship is faster than theirs, so we can only search behind them."

Shi Shengyong caught on and asked again, "Why can't we search south?"

Han Yu laughed and said, "If we go further south, it would be the jurisdiction of the East Sea Coast Guard, and the three patrol boats of the Coast Guard have been deployed since last night. They haven't found them up to now, so if we head out to meet them, the likelihood of us finding them probably isn't high either."

Catching smugglers at sea is truly not an easy task.

Remembering the situation he learned about while chatting with the medics of the coastal artillery company in the morning, Shi Shengyong pointed upwards, "Salted Fish, there's a naval radar station on the mountainside; their radars are maritime-focused. You could go up there and ask if they can use radar surveillance to help us monitor the sea."

Han Yu said spontaneously, "Both ship captains organizing the smuggling are fishermen; fishermen don't just fish in a fixed sea area, they follow the fishing seasons, able to fish from the South Sea all the way to the Bohai and even the high seas. This means they are very familiar with the waters of the East Sea."

Shi Shengyong asked subconsciously, "What does it matter if they're familiar with it?"

"They know about the radar station on She Island and would certainly travel around the island, not daring to get too close. The radar range is also limited, so asking for their help isn't going to be very effective. Besides, since they are military, even if they wanted to assist us, it would have to be approved by their superiors."

"Since, even if they could provide help, it might not be useful, we shouldn't bother them."

"Right." Han Yu patted his arm, and then smiling again said, "We can't just rely on radar now; we also need to rely on people."

"Rely on people?" Shi Shengyong asked, puzzled.

Han Yu looked back at Xiao Yu and smiled, "Only fishermen know fishermen best. We have six civilian soldiers on our ship, all experienced ship captains. Together with Captain Wu, who is equally familiar with fishermen, I don't believe we can't find those smuggling boats!"

Where the fishing boats might go, fishermen certainly understand better than the Coast Guard.

As for Captain Wu, he's not only the captain of the Fishery Administration Ship but also the Deputy Division Commander of the Binjiang Fishery Law Enforcement Corps, having transferred from the military to local marine fisheries management and law enforcement; he understands fishermen very well too.

Thinking of these things, Shi Shengyong couldn't help but laugh, "That means we do have an advantage."

"Of course, now let's see if the East Sea Coast Guard will cross the boundary to search northward later on."

"What if they cross the boundary?"

"Then it'll be like the Immortals Crossing the Sea, each showing their magic powers. Anyways, it's not a bad thing; having one more patrol boat involved in the search increases our chances."

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