"They must have dug tunnels in the city!"
Song Heping blurted out.
If he's not mistaken, the underground of Daguge City has surely been hollowed out by the 1515 ard forces!
They've constructed an intricate network of tunnels!
The bombing on the surface seed to destroy buildings but was unlikely to harm the living forces hiding in the tunnels.
In fact, these tunnel exits might be scattered throughout the entire city, allowing them to appear out of nowhere anywhere, launching lethal flank attacks and stabs on exposed attacking troops!
This makes a lot of sense.
After all, the reason they could hold out for so long in the Northwest Region against repeated US airstrikes without being wiped out must have been thanks to the city and the tunnels!
That's right!
This is tricky!
Beads of sweat ford on Song Heping's forehead.
Unexpectedly, the tactics that East University excelled at during the War of Resistance Against Japan were now being copied by KB mbers in the Middle East to deal with him!
"Damn it!"
Song Heping rarely swore.
But at this mont, he couldn't help it.
If this continues, the two "Musician" rcenary camps that advanced the fastest and deepest into the city will not beco the sharp knives penetrating the enemy's heart but will instead be isolated, caught in a quagmire of tunnel warfare, and eventually beco the units suffering the heaviest losses!
Every step they take could be devoured by firepower from below and all around.
This can't continue!
Song Heping made a decisive call and grabbed the transmitter again: "'Musician' First Battalion, Second Battalion! This is Chief Commander Song Heping! Order your troops to imdiately halt! Use your current positions to establish a circular defensive stronghold! Hold firm and wait for orders! Repeat, stop advancing, and defend in place!"
The command instantly brought silence to the command post.
Everyone understood what this order ant.
"Old Squad Leader!"
Jiang Feng abruptly turned his head, his face full of shock and confusion, "Stop advancing? Let them get a foothold in the city? We'll be back to square one! Once they've fully organized their defenses and established a complete firepower network, fully utilizing the tunnel network, the cost we'll have to pay…"
"You think I don't know that!?"
Song Heping interrupted him, his gaze never leaving the screen: "You think there's another way? Look at the current situation map! The rcenary camps pushed too far, like a lone knife. No matter how sharp the tip, without protection on the sides, they're sitting ducks! The 1515 knows this city better than us, and they have tunnels! Forcing a push isn't an advance; it's suicide!"
He pointed at the two blue arrows deeply entrenched in the red zones on the screen: "Damn it, those are my two elite battalions transferred from my company in Africa! We must preserve them, not let them get wasted in a aningless charge!"
Jiang Feng opened his mouth, looking at the flashing signs of engagent around the rcenary camps on the screen, and the temporarily stabilized blue arrows that had halted their advance, but ultimately swallowed his words.
He understood Song Heping was right; charging further had no aning.
"Then… what do we do now? Just encircle them? Ti isn't on our side."
Song Heping didn't respond imdiately.
He slowly sat back in his chair, intertwining his fingers under his chin, his deep gaze fixed on the screen depicting the city of Daguge, which seed to open its jaws wide.
The only sounds in the command post were radio static and the distant explosions transmitted by drone footage.
The gunfire in the city remained intense, but the offensive montum from the rcenary camps under "Musician" defense had halted.
Countless tactical plans, enemy and friendly dispositions, and equipnt lists rapidly flashed through Song Heping's mind, searching for that leverage point that could pry open this city of death.
A minute later, Song Heping stood up.
"Want to be a turtle in its shell?"
He stared at the screen, a cold smile on his lips: "Dream on."
He turned to the officer responsible for liaising with the local Kurd forces and said, "Do you have so female soldiers who enjoy beheading extremists?"
The Kurdish officer was taken aback.
For a mont, he didn't understand why the commander suddenly asked such a question.
But he quickly realized what Song Heping was referring to.
Over the past two years, as the 1515 Ard continually encroached on the Kurdish Control Zone, the retreating Kurd forces found themselves outmatched and could only co up with so desperate asures—
Sending won to behead 1515 extremists.
In the eyes of outsiders, this command might seem cruel.
Sending won to behead—it's politically incorrect in the so-called "civilized" world, even conflicting with moral views.
But for those 1515 extremists who believe that dying will lead them to Heaven to enjoy the pleasures of 72…virgins (don't bla for writing this, I have no choice), being killed by a Kurdish woman ans they cannot enter Heaven.
Therefore, they fear won and are extrely enraged by things that undermine their ascent to "Heaven."
This is sothing Song Heping heard and hasn't personally witnessed.
Yet at this point, he thinks it's ti to make good use of this legend.
"Commander… what do you an by…"
"I'm asking you, if a 1515 ard mber is beheaded by a Kurdish woman, according to their beliefs, do they lose the qualification to enter the so-called Heaven?"
Song Heping pursued the question.
He had to ascertain whether this legend was true.
Otherwise, it was useless.
"Yes..."
The Kurd liaison officer nodded with difficulty.
He still didn't understand why the commander asked this question.
He even suspected that the commander before him, with eyes as sharp as knives, might take this opportunity to make trouble for him.
"There's such a claim... It's because of their extre teachings..."
"Relax, I don't eat people." Song Heping softened his tone, "Go contact the Abu You Brigade, have them get so Kurd won from the logistics departnt, and make sure they bring the sharpest machetes."
Saying this, he turned to Jiang Feng: "Imdiately contact the frontline combat units, gather those 'Holy Warriors' we captured before, select a batch that are lightly injured and can still scream, and bring them to that open land west of the city. Execute them publicly in front of the 1515 Ard in the city, from a distance, so snipers can't reach, then have our people shout in the city with loudspeakers, let them know the Kurd won have taken action, the bigger the commotion, the better."
An hour later, on a relatively flat wasteland west of Daguk City.
Dozens of captured 1515 Ard mbers, mostly injured and in tattered clothes, were forcibly made to kneel with their hands tied behind.
Their faces were covered with dirty beards, eyes mixed with fear, numbness, and a trace of remaining fanaticism.
Surrounding them were Kurd won, dressed in traditional black robes, headscarves tightly wrapped.
Their eyes were filled with blazing anger—a lot of their husbands, sons, brothers had been brutally killed by 1515's butcher knives.
A handful of ard mbers from the Abu You Brigade stood guard on the periter, looking indifferent.
No trial, no lengthy accusations.
With a slight nod from an elderly Kurd leading the group, the won raised their machetes, a bit clumsy but incredibly resolute…
Crack—
Crack—
Crack—
A strange sound was heard.
Like chopping pig bones with a cleaver on a cutting board.
The kneeling captives toppled over like felled wheat, blood quickly soaking the yellow soil beneath.
Those who were beheaded with one strike at least had a quick death.
So of the 1515 who weren't killed with one strike suffered greatly.
A few took seven or eight chops, their necks still not severed, bodies twitching, struggling…
The air was thick with the pungent sll of blood.
Blood flowed everywhere, like streams in the desert…
The dying wails, the long-suppressed cries of vengeance from the won, mixed together, carried by the wind, clearly reached Daguk City not far away.
The drone lens fixated on the movents inside the city.
At first, there was a deathly silence, as if the whole city was stunned.
The 1515 Ard mbers who were originally hiding in houses were the first to lose their composure.
Their positions had the clearest view of the beheading scenes outside the city.
Especially since several loudspeakers had been set up inside the city at so point, soone was mocking the captured 1515 extremists with utmost sarcasm—
"You'll never ascend to Heaven! We're going to besiege you! Once you faint from hunger, we'll drag you out one by one from the tunnels and have the Kurd won sever your necks. Then, your blood won't be pure, and your souls will be eternally trapped in endless Hell..."
Who was responsible for the broadcast, Song Heping didn't know.
But he had to admit, the instigating and sarcastic tone made even him, a non-believer, want to rush up and slap the person a few tis.
Let alone those 1515 mbers…
Sure enough, shortly after, a strange scene unfolded in the drone's footage—
A large number of 1515 ard personnel poured out of different buildings in the city, like ants rushing out of a crushed anthill, the leader pointing towards outside the city, shouting sothing hoarsely.
In just ten minutes, more people burst out from the hiding buildings, gathering on the streets, emotions running high.
The content from the loudspeakers and those extrely insulting remarks, along with the news of their comrades being beheaded by Kurd won outside the city, greatly stimulated that nerve soaked in extre doctrine.
To these fanatics, being executed in such a humiliating way by "heretics," especially by won whom they viewed as inferior, was a disgrace more unbearable than death itself!
"Allahu Akbar!!"
"They slaughtered our brothers!"
"We can't let them desecrate the martyrs' bodies!"
"Revenge! Kill all these Kafir! Charge out of the city!"
Religious fanaticism and deliberately provoked anger spread like wildfire among the city's defenders, quickly drowning out the rational voices of commanders urging to hold the line.
Inside the command post.
"Hunter" whispered next to Song Heping, "Boss, the fish have left their holes."
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