"Understood." Jiang Feng's expression beca completely serious.
"Third." Song Heping pointed to the desolate mountains outside the window, "Where we're going, it's closer to the border, and the situation is even more chaotic. Besides the governnt army and the Revolutionary Guard, there are various local ard forces, tribal powers, smuggling groups, and possibly remnants of extremist organizations roaming around. Don't trust any strangers who haven't been verified. All handovers and contacts must strictly follow encrypted procedures and passwords."
"Got it, I rember it all." Jiang Feng nodded heavily.
The two then delved into a discussion about the situation in Northwest Illinois.
They talked about potential retaliatory actions by the 1515, the mindset of various wavering tribes, and future training focus areas.
The battered sedan rumbled along the bumpy road, the cabin filled with the sll of tobacco, dust, and the unspoken trust and understanding between two seasoned warriors.
The sky gradually darkened, the highland night ca quickly, and the temperature dropped sharply.
Song Heping left the Main Street and drove onto an even more rugged, barely visible dirt and stone road.
The vehicle moved forward amid intense jolts, surrounded by pitch-black mountains, with only the car lights illuminating a small, constantly bouncing patch of road ahead.
After nearly two hours of arduous driving, the vehicle stopped at an inconspicuous entrance to a valley.
Song Heping turned off the engine and extinguished the car lights. Instantly, the entire world fell into silence and pure darkness, with only the wailing sound of the wind sweeping over the rocks on the highland.
Song Heping picked up a dim flashlight and flashed it a few tis toward the depths of the valley in a regular pattern.
A few minutes later, a sound similar to wolf howls ca from the darkness.
Song Heping responded with a few howls of his own.
"The password is correct. Let's go."
He said in a low voice, restarted the car, and slowly drove into the valley.
After traveling about a kiloter, a few dim lights appeared ahead, and so caves dug into the mountainside and low, camouflaged shelters could be faintly seen.
A few figures in mixed combat uniforms, holding AK-series rifles, appeared in front of the car lights, watching the vehicle cautiously until they recognized Song Heping in the driver's seat. Then they relaxed slightly and signaled the vehicle to pass through.
"We're here. Welco to our secret camp." Song Heping stopped the car and said to Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng jumped out of the car, took a deep breath of the cold, thin air, stretched his stiff limbs, and quickly surveyed the hidden camp in the dim light.
A mont later, a smile of excitent appeared on his face: "Quite a place, easy to defend and hard to attack, though a bit rough. Where are my students?"
"Most of them are already resting. Tomorrow, they'll be yours."
Song Heping patted him on the shoulder, "First, let show you your quarters and food."
"Food can wait!" Jiang Feng flung open the car door, dragged out the heavy backpack, "First, take to see the equipnt depot and the training ground!"
Song Heping looked at his eager old friend, and a smile once again appeared on his face.
Getting Jiang Feng, this "devil instructor," here was definitely the best choice.
Clearly, Jiang Feng did not disappoint Song Heping.
For the next two days, Jiang Feng was almost sleeplessly and tirelessly engaged in work.
He held several lengthy etings with Samir and Naxin, understanding the structure, personnel background, current equipnt, and tactical level of this so-called "Eligo Liberation Force" in detail.
"The foundation is even worse than I thought."
After understanding the specifics, Jiang Feng pointed out bluntly, "Individual military skills are inconsistent, many people just know how to shoot. Discipline is loose, coordination is lacking, and tactical awareness is almost zero. So are better than those in Africa who just hold the trigger down, but only slightly."
Yet, he changed his tone, eyes gleaming, "However, the potential is indeed there! Quite a few have genuinely fought against the 1515 brutes, seen bloodshed, and are not afraid to die. Hatred is the greatest motivator. What they lack is so pounding, sothing to unite them!"
He imdiately embarked on a fierce overhaul of this unit.
The training thods bore his personal style—rough, direct, practical, and all of them summarized from the bloody realities of life-and-death battlefield encounters.
Soon, the entire camp resounded from dawn till dusk with his hoarse shouts, the exhausted gasps and groans of militia mbers, and the crackling sounds of blank rounds simulating firing.
While training the troops was handed over to Jiang Feng, Song Heping focused his attention on monitoring and analyzing the situation in Illiguo, closely following developnts in Northwest Illinois and the entire region through the intelligence channels of Henry and Avanti.
He was waiting for a certain situation to develop.
That situation was recruits.
Currently, what the "Liberation Forces" lack the most is recruits.
Entering Persia, recruitnt beca the most challenging task.
They certainly couldn't recruit locally in Persia.
So the only recruitnt channel remains in Illinois itself."
He had Samir keep in touch with the leaders of all small, scattered militia groups within Illinois, spreading the word, telling all tribal militias that if they were attacked by 1515 Ard and had nowhere to go, they could contact him. He would arrange weapons, funds, and even provide shelter and training, to gather strength in resistance against the establishnt of a "Levant" by 1515.
If his guess about the current situation was correct, after the 1515 Ard faced a setback in Tikrit, their main forces would inevitably retreat to the Mosul region in the northwest to fortify.
Since advancing toward Baghdad was not possible, they would inevitably set their sights on expanding their territory northwest and southwest.
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