Thirty minutes later, Duke's phone rang again.
"It's settled, all your conditions are accepted!" His voice was almost squeezed out through his teeth, "Song, attack imdiately! 1515's people have already rushed into Rose's building!"
"Agreed? Alright." Song Heping's tone was calm, "Don't play tricks. I hate people who don't keep their word—since I can intercept Ahd, I can also send him back to Hulmatu."
"Damn it!" Duke cursed, "Do you think this is the ti to haggle? I guarantee you in the na of the Pentagon and the White House! Song, proceed imdiately!"
"OK."
Song Heping hung up the phone and turned to Jiang Feng: "Begin the operation."
"Understood!"
Jiang Feng knew that in this round, his old squad leader had won yet again.
Thirty seconds later, the first "Kornet" anti-tank missile trailed fla as it launched, marking the beginning of "Operation Snake Hunt."
The missiles ca from Company A's third platoon ambush position—three camouflaged Humrs hidden behind weathered stone pillars, with launchers eight hundred ters away locking onto the leading BTR-80. The 23mm autocannon on the turret was still firing aimlessly as if conducting a reconnaissance by fire for the convoy behind.
Hit.
The turret was blown off entirely, causing the ammunition inside to detonate and a secondary explosion to send a column of fire over twenty ters high, blooming like a hideous flower against the breaking dawn.
The blast wave kicked up sand, forming a temporary wall of dust.
Imdiately, pre-set explosive devices were remotely detonated.
Engineers had infiltrated along the highway the previous night, burying anti-tank mines and pre-fabricated fragnt explosives at key points. The chain explosions stretched along the road like a lit string of death firecrackers.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three trucks loaded with ammunition were overturned, the fireballs from the explosions engulfing everything within a thirty-ter radius. Shattered tal, torn bodies, and burning supplies were thrown into the air, turning into a rain of blood as they fell.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The 1515 soldiers awoke from their stupor, scattering like an ant nest being stirred. Officers scread, trying to organize a counterattack, but the communication channel was filled with screams and explosions, making it impossible to transmit orders.
At this ti, the first battalion's mobile unit attacked.
Twelve ard pickup trucks charged from three directions, each mounted with heavy machine guns or automatic grenade launchers. They moved like a wolf pack on the battlefield, constantly shifting positions, reaping lives with concentrated fire.
The 1515 soldiers took cover behind the truck wreckage to return fire, but their AK-47s and PKMs were completely suppressed in both range and accuracy.
Five kiloters away, the second battalion's mortar squad had long been deployed at a concealed position and now began fire coverage. Eighty-one-milliter mortars poured shells at a rapid rate of ten rounds per minute, pre-fabricated shrapnel bombs bursting in the air, spreading steel shot in a fan shape over the entire area.
Even more lethal were the snipers.
From vantage points, sniper teams using .50 caliber anti-material rifles and 7.62mm high-precision sniper rifles picked off high-value targets one by one—the officers waving pistols to command, the gunners operating heavy machine guns, the artilleryn trying to set up mortars...
Each gunshot ant the fall of a person. Fear spread like a plague.
Fifteen minutes after the battle began, the 1515 rear guard had lost effective command. Surviving officers howled over the radio, but the channel was thoroughly jamd. The unit was in chaos, each fighting for themselves.
"Break through to Hulmatu! Everyone move toward Hulmatu!"
A commander with a face full of blood waved an AK-74, trying to rally the stragglers.
But they had barely rushed out a hundred ters before running into a pre-set death trap—Song Heping had deployed a reinforced platoon at the riverbed's only exit, wielding a firepower net of three M2HB heavy machine guns, five Kornets, and over twenty machine guns like the Grim Reaper's scythe.
Any vehicles and personnel attempting to break out were instantly shredded.
Twenty-five minutes into the battle, most of the resistance ceased.
The surviving 1515 soldiers knelt on the sand, raising their weapons above their heads, shouting in Arabic: "We surrender! We surrender!"
However, Song Heping's orders had long been issued: ti is of the essence, do not accept surrender, hit fast, kill quickly, retreat rapidly!
The machine guns in the firepower platoon didn't pause, not even for a second.
A rain of bullets sprayed over the kneeling crowd with hands raised.
The first round of mopping fire took down more than twenty people in the front row, bullets thudding into their bodies with muffled thumps, blood blooms following in succession in the morning fog.
So tried to get up and run, but barely arched their bodies before their spines were broken, falling to the ground in convulsions; so curled up covering their heads, only to be struck in the neck by ricocheting shots, arterial blood spraying several ters away.
"They're going to kill us all!" realized a bearded veteran, crying out in despair.
But unfortunately, everything was too late.
Once an army lays down its weapons, its morale becos like a flood breaching a dam, irretrievable.
The heavy machine guns continued their roar, shell casings falling like rain to the ground.
The kneeling crowd fell over en masse, the sand soaked to a deep brown by the blood.
The mortar barrage was redirected here, shells hitting the crowd, bursting into bloody mist.
Occasional sporadic return fire was quickly drowned by more intense firepower.
Grenade launchers fired high explosive rounds into the mass of people, fragnts flying, severed limbs soaring; a soldier tried to pick up an RPG from the ground, only to have his skull blown open by a sniper's shot.
In just fifteen minutes, the gunfire gradually subsided.
The riverbed was littered with bodies and smoldering wreckage. The smoke carried the stench of blood and the nauseating odor of burning flesh into the air.
So wounded were still alive, weakly moaning in the pools of blood, but were quickly finished off by the cleanup squad with execution shots.
Song Heping arrived at the battlefield after the battle ended.
The vehicle stopped on high ground, he got out and raised his binoculars. Jiang Feng followed behind, quickly tallying the results: "Initial estimates indicate about nine hundred to a thousand killed, the rest scattered. Captured two BTRs, fifteen military trucks, three 122mm howitzers, other light weapons, and ammunition are still being counted."
"Our casualties?"
"Three dead, five seriously wounded, eleven lightly injured." Jiang Feng paused, "Mainly due to firefights during the assault phase, no losses during the ambush phase."
Nineteen n in exchange for nine hundred.
Such an exchange ratio is enough to be written into any special operations textbook.
Song Heping nodded, no joy of victory on his face, only the calmness of a chess player after making a move.
"The vanguard and central reserve should have reacted by now. Notify everyone to withdraw quickly, see if they split their forces to pursue." He smirked, "Samir and Naxin have already taken action, now the tough decisions are left for Ahd."
"Understood!"
Song Heping returned to the communications vehicle, connecting to Duke's private line. The other side answered almost instantly.
"General, the first battle is over." Song Heping's tone remained calm, "1515's rear guard of three thousand was defeated, nine hundred were annihilated, the rest scattered. anwhile, we've launched attacks in Tuz, Feihate, and Titrick directions. Ahd's attacking force is now left with only two thousand in the vanguard and three thousand in the center, and they've lost heavy fire support."
"What?!" Duke's shock was palpable, "Your two battalions defeated three thousand of theirs?!"
"Is it so surprising?" Song Heping faintly smiled, "I've once held off 1515's three thousand troops with just three hundred n."
A long exhale ca from the other end, clearly audible:
"God... you really did it."
"But it's not over yet." Song Heping watched the blinking cursor on the electronic map, "Ahd now has two choices: one is to use the remaining five thousand to forcefully attack Hulmatu in a do-or-die effort; the other is to retreat imdiately, preserving their main force."
"What do you think he'll choose?"
"Depends on how much pressure we apply." Song Heping's finger moved on the map, "If I order the Persian Holy City Brigade to intensify the offensive in Tuz, while Samir puts pressure from the Feihate direction, even if Ahd takes Hulmatu, he'll only gain a dead zone. So I predict, he is most likely to choose to retreat."
"Then do it." Duke finally said, his voice tinged with fatigue as if resigned, "But I need a promise from you, Mr. Song."
"Please, go ahead."
"After freeing Hulmatu, you will formally take over the city's defense. Thunder Defense will withdraw within ten days, transferring all defense responsibilities in the region to you."
"No problem." Song Heping laughed, "Hulmatu is indeed a hot potato for you and Thunder Defense. Hand it over to , it suits perfectly."
The call ended.
The chess pieces, finally settled.
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