Five days later, night fell on the Colombia-Venezuela border, up north.
An off-road vehicle was driving in the twilight toward Ocaina.
Ocaina was located at the northern end of the Tbilisi Mountain Range, a stronghold controlled by the ELN ard forces.
Soon, the off-road vehicle reached the foothills and stopped by a forest.
The driver hadn't even gotten out when a dozen dark figures suddenly appeared.
A dozen gun barrels pointed simultaneously at the vehicle.
The driver got out of the car and shouted toward the shadows, "It's , Josie!"
Hearing the familiar voice, the figures lowered their guns.
The leader erged from the darkness, wearing a camouflage suit in the moonlight, with a homade camouflage hat woven from plant leaves and vines around his bunny hat.
"Where's the guest?"
The leader asked the driver.
The driver turned toward his car.
At this mont, the rear door opened, and Song Heping appeared before everyone.
The leader went forward and politely greeted him, "Mr. Song, the chief is waiting for you. From here on, the vehicles can't make it any further. Follow us, and your safety is our responsibility now."
At this ti, Song Heping was dressed in tactical gear, fully ard with a tactical vest fitted with ballistic plates, magazines filled the pockets on his chest, and he carried an M4A1 assault rifle on his back, with a bunny hat on his head.
Song Heping liked to wear bunny hats in the jungle, finding them very practical.
"Alright, I'll follow you. Lead the way."
The team leader signaled the soldiers around, and a dozen of them ford a protective formation around Song Heping, heading deep into the Tbilisi Mountain Range.
The mountain paths at night were fraught with danger.
Walking in the dark, even though Song Heping was wearing night vision goggles, he had to be cautious with every step.
Occasional strange animal calls from deep within the jungle sent shivers down his spine in the darkness of the night.
Morins' command center was set up inside the mountain range at the north end, a strategy arranged by Song Heping.
Although the southern jungle was vast, its terrain was relatively flat, and if the defensive lines were truly breached, there wouldn't be any natural protection during a retreat.
The situation here was different.
The Tbilisi Mountain Range stretched across the entire western part of Colombia, offering ample hiding spots.
Even if the war were lost in the end, they would not be completely wiped out.
Moreover, the location wasn't too far from the border. Besides hiding in the mountains, it was possible to retreat north into Venezuelan territory along the Tbilisi Mountain Range if absolutely necessary.
Morins' command center was in a cave halfway up the mountainside, as per Song Heping's request.
Given that US military advisors and the governnt army were involved in the operation, Song Heping had to plan for the worst-case scenario.
That was an air force bombing campaign against the ELN forces.
There were definitely caves in the Tbilisi Mountain Range, and Song Heping had instructed Morins to find one with at least two exits for the command center.
Even if the Colombian Military sent bombers and used ground penetrating bombs, it wouldn't be possible to completely penetrate a large mass of the mountain.
Another consideration was the communication signal issues.
Signal interference was severe in the mountains, with so areas even experiencing complete signal loss due to the terrain.
Currently, the ELN had their own tactical radios, but the technology was outdated.
For a military force, using satellite communications was the most reliable during operations.
However, the ELN lacked this capability. While training Anthony and the others, Song Heping learned from the trainees that ELN ground units sotis even used walkie-talkies for contact, which had very poor secrecy.
This ti, Song Heping had Morins spend a considerable amount of money to equip every battalion-level combat unit commander with a satellite phone. These devices provided both secure communications and robust signals, while the rest of the company-level units would use radios.
Despite this, Song Heping still had a concern: whether the Ta Region could hold for a day.
Only one day was needed.
As long as evidence of the Colombian governnt army and US military advisors—or special forces—appeared there.
Once he had evidence of their deploynt in the Ta Region and of their military operations, Song Heping would imdiately have it sent to Fehr in New York, who would in turn use his dia resources to amplify the story.
Normally, it should fernt within 2-3 days.
Song Heping had calculated all the possibilities and discussed with Fehr how long it would take for a news story to go from brewing to exploding.
Once broadcasted or printed, the news would need to create a buzz in various press conferences. The whole process would take about 2 to 3 days.
During these two or three days, Ta had to be held.
Otherwise, everything would be ruined.
"My good brother!"
Three hours later, Song Heping, drenched in sweat, arrived at the entrance of Morins' command post cave, where the latter opened his arms warmly for a big embrace.
"In such perilous tis for you to stand by my side and support , please accept my gratitude!"
He patted Song Heping on the back with vigor.
Mr. Song Heping laughed, "Morins, you are my biggest client. I'm not just concerned about your safety, actually, I'm also concerned about my five million US dollar military advisor fee."
Morins burst out laughing, releasing his hands and said, "Don't worry, the five million will definitely be wired to your account within a day after the war is over!"
Mr. Song Heping pointed towards the cave, "Get inside, don't stay by the cave entrance for too long, this kind of habit is not good."
He gestured towards the sky above.
"If the Aricans get involved, do you think there aren't satellites scanning this area? Or drones? Do you know how many people have died at the hands of the US Army's integrated search and destroy drones in Illiguo and Afghanistan?"
At the ntion of the US Army, Morins's complexion turned ugly.
He was extrely infuriated by this matter.
"Damn Aricans! They just love to intervene in other people's affairs!"
Morins clenched his teeth in anger, yet he felt helpless.
South Arica is the United States' backyard. Ever since the US beca powerful, it hasn't stopped intervening in South Arican affairs.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, so countries in South Arica could rely on the aid of the Soviet Union to counterbalance the US.
Sadly, after the Soviet Union disintegrated, many countries bowed their heads in submission to the United States, except for the stubborn ones, Cuba and Venezuela—most countries had resigned to their fate.
The two hurried into the cave.
As they walked, Mr. Song Heping asked, "Have you done everything I told you to do?"
"I have. According to your instructions, I specially transferred one of the core mbers who was trained by you to assist with your command."
The situation Morins referred to was indeed as Mr. Song Heping had requested.
He needed soone with knowledge of topography, skilled in map-based operations to be responsible for marking the situation map and troop movents in the command post at all tis.
Normally, a laptop could do this job, but the ELN forces, being a guerrilla natured military group, many of their mbers didn't even understand maps well and relied on primitive thods of warfare, so the use of electronic devices for commanding was out of the question.
However, Mr. Song Heping thought this wasn't bad at all; as long as they won this ti, he could discuss with Morins what is ant by the regularization and modernization of ard forces—hehe, as long as he was interested, then more business could co his way.
Inside the cave, a generator had been set up. They walked over twenty ters in, then turned a corner, and before them, an enormous cavern space opened up.
In the corner, the generator roared, and on the other side, simple tables and chairs were set up. A large piece of wood was propped up on an iron fra, and a defense area map tacked to it with small red, blue, and green flags already marking the positions of the three forces involved in this battle.
"Good evening, Principal!"
Seeing Mr. Song Heping, the military officer who was examining the map in front of the wooden board turned around and saluted him.
This was one of the students who had undergone two months of military intensive training at Mr. Song's Special Soldier School, his na was Benson Titus.
In fact, Mr. Song didn't really like being called "Principal."
It reminded him of a certain transport company commander.
It was an inauspicious association.
But since everyone was used to calling him that, he could do nothing about it.
Might as well be the principal—it's not as if his surna was Chiang.
"Good evening, Titus."
The two shook hands, and Mr. Song Heping's gaze fell on the map.
"Are all the combat units marked?"
"Marked," Titus replied with certainty, then like a student eager to receive praise from a teacher, he asked, "Do you think my assignnt is up to standard?"
Mr. Song Heping stepped closer and carefully examined the various flags on the map, and the different combat units, branches, defense lines, attack routes, and so on were all indicated.
"Not bad, satisfactory."
Mr. Song Heping returned to the table, placed his tactical backpack on the ground, took out a military computer and set it up on the table, and turned it on. His computer stored a large amount of map data, and now he needed to load the map onto his laptop and enter the deploynt of all parties, which was convenient for later combat command.
"How many kiloters is the governnt army from the defense line in the Ta direction?"
"Twenty kiloters, but their advance company has already reached less than five kiloters from the defense line. Currently, they are continuously dispatching troops in the military camps in the Ta Region. From the information sent by our spies, the branches and troop numbers all match the intelligence you provided earlier—two Land Army Corps and a battalion-level Special Forces unit belonging to CCOPE. The spies said that there are many helicopters circling above the Ta area, which suggests the Air Force might be involved too."
"How bustling..."
Mr. Song Heping suddenly stopped typing on the keyboard, turned his head to Morins, and asked, "Who is in charge of the blocking mission in the Ta area?"
"Anthony."
Morins gave the na of the commander.
"Ah..."
Mr. Song Heping nodded slightly, "He's good. I'll contact him later for a proper discussion."
Anthony was one of the first students to train at Mr. Song's Special Soldier School, and he was the best among those few dozen.
Assigning him to guard Ta was like putting good steel to proper use.
To contact Anthony, Mr. Song Heping wanted to give him so advice.
His mission in Ta was simple—hold off the governnt army.
The key was in one word: "Hold."
As long as he could hold them off for 2-3 days, the tide of the battle would turn.
During this period, Anthony's troops would bear the most pressure; if the fighting didn't go well, they could be annihilated within minutes.
User Comments
0 comments from readers