Under Naxin's adamant orders, several squads of the Madheh Army really withstood the pressure and, after losing a few pick-up trucks, managed to reach the edge of the oil field work area.
Soon they encountered the problem that Song Heping had anticipated, the roads within the oil area were difficult to navigate, with many roads blocked by old equipnt or directly blown up and rendered impassable.
These destructions were previously carried out by various ard organizations in the northern region, specifically to prevent the US Army and the Temporary Managent Committee from sending workers to take over the oil fields and resu production.
The most ironic part was that many of the roads and askew equipnt in the oil area were actually destroyed by the Madheh Army themselves.
This fulfilled the old saying, "You reap what you sow."
Today, Naxin had no choice but to get out of his vehicle and complete the assault on the oil field area on foot because of the roads his forces had once destroyed.
Song Heping was lying on one of the steel towers.
The top of the tower was over a dozen ters above the ground.
From the ground, the top of the tower could not be seen.
That's why he had long since thought to have the cook and the others lie down just like him, so as not to expose themselves.
When Naxin's n reached the edge of the oil field and started to disembark and move forward on foot, they were still targeted by accurate artillery fire.
"Cook, can you guide a bit more accurately?"
Song Heping complained softly in the channel to the cook.
Because the cook's guidance accuracy was very low.
His mortar fire guidance had an accuracy of less than one-third.
Song Heping valued the mortar shells.
Last ti, they had only purchased 150 mortar shells.
It was a classic case of "you never know what you have until it's gone."
In just a short while, over fifty mortar shells were already used up.
"I'm doing my best, I've never learned how to operate a mortar," replied the cook confidently in the channel.
Song Heping had no way to deal with him.
The man had never been a soldier, so it was indeed unreasonable to expect too much from him.
Guiding artillery fire required experience.
How much to adjust the scale for a certain distance deviation and the correct direction weren't things that needed calculation for a veteran soldier; they could judge it based on experience by observing the impact point.
Moreover, the cook wasn't good at math.
Asking him to use calculation formulas or command papers to calculate deviations and adjustnts was indeed making things difficult for him.
Fortunately, Grey Wolf and Hunter, guiding from the other directions, had a high accuracy rate, or else Song Heping would have been cursing by now.
Managing the artillery like this wasn't acceptable.
The Soviet-made 120mm mortar shells also cost 1000 US dollars each.
They had just spent 50,000 US dollars.
Thankfully, the expenditure of those fifty mortar shells wasn't for nothing.
After such a round of bombardnt, Naxin's force, which originally numbered over two hundred, had lost a third of its n by the ti it approached the oil fields.
Once inside the oil area, they began to disembark and proceed on foot.
Song Heping imdiately called for the mortar to strike at the vehicles stopped inside the oil field.
The moving vehicles were hard to hit before.
Now that the vehicles were stationary, Song Heping's guidance was spot on.
Soon, Naxin received reports from his subordinates.
"Instructor, our vehicles have been blown up..."
"What did you say?!"
Naxin almost yelled out in shock.
"Didn't you hide the vehicles well?!"
"We didn't have ti to..."
"Damn it!"
After cursing, Naxin realized he was in a dilemma.
He had estimated that the operation would take no more than an hour to complete.
Because lingering too long here was not an option either.
Even though his forces were nurous, the defense companies in the oil fields typically had a logistical support system with the US Army.
When Country M's enterprises here were under attack, the nearby US Army Air Force would dispatch one or two attack planes to the scene based on the severity of the situation.
Once attack aircraft like the A10 or the AC-130 gunship arrived at the battle scene, for an ard organization with no air power, it was like being steamrolled; it didn't matter if there were two hundred or a thousand n, they were nothing but cannon fodder.
So speed was of the essence!
```
Shoot fast, retreat quickly, you absolutely cannot linger too long.
Having just penetrated the oil field area, they had already spent 20 minutes and had been here endured artillery fire, with their vehicles destroyed.
Seeking help from their own organization, sending reinforcents from their stronghold on the border would take at least an hour's drive.
It was completely a case of too little, too late.
"Fight them! They have vehicles, if we seize their vehicles, we can get back!"
Naxin felt that he had reached the point of no return.
There was a certain poignancy to it.
"Fight them!"
"It's either they die or we die!"
Naxin's n also realized their dire situation.
It was beyond their imagination.
They had never expected that more than two hundred of their brothers attacking an oil field defended by no more than fifty rcenaries would suffer such heavy casualties without even seeing the enemy.
But now, there was no turning back, only moving forward.
Kill, seize vehicles! Kill people! Destroy equipnt!
The morale of the Madheh Army soldiers was noticeably boosted.
They beca much more courageous than before, sped up, and quickly arrived at Song Heping's location.
Song Heping cautiously peeked down at the ground through the gaps at the top of the tower.
In the greenish glow of his night vision goggles, he saw head after head pass beneath him, feeling as if he were standing on a table, watching a line of rats scurrying below.
Truly, Song Heping felt an impulse to pull out a grenade and toss it down for a mid-air burst among them.
But he restrained himself.
Impatience could spoil great plans.
For such a situation, Song Heping had also made an estimate.
According to his tactical arrangent,
when Naxin's troops entered the oil field, they would inevitably proceed on foot towards the residential area.
On foot, they would definitely have to pass by the positions where he and the cook were hiding.
According to the usual thinking, after leading the enemy close with artillery fire, one ought to retreat early, head back to the residential area, regroup with others, and set up a defensive line to wait for the enemy attack.
Yet Song Heping boldly proposed an arrangent—do not retreat!
Let them pass by, and once they've gone a fair distance, stealthily descend from the tower, trail Naxin's troops to the residential area, and then, when they engage with the defenders in the area, like Samir and his n, launch a surprise attack from behind to catch them in a pincer movent and wipe out the attackers in one fell swoop.
This was indeed a bold idea.
It was also a bit of a gamble.
If the Madheh Army soldiers discovered soone on the tower they had passed by, then even if Song Heping had the prowess of legendary fighters, he would be made into a human target and shot full of holes.
Atop the tower, there would be no chance of escape.
"Grey Wolf, do you know how close I am to them right now?"
A very low voice from the cook ca through the earpiece.
"Just 9 ters."
The cook was hiding on top of an oil tank.
Right now he was lying on the edge of the tank, stealthily watching the ground below.
More than thirty Madheh Army soldiers split into several squads, moving forward closely past the tanks.
The cook could see the turbans wrapped around their heads.
At that mont, even a casually picked up brick could smash one of the heads below.
"I'm very close too..."
Song Heping quietly peered down from the top of the tower.
A group of more than twenty people had co to his side, forming into several combat groups, sneakily moving forward using the oil field equipnt as cover.
"White Bear, they'll soon be at the residential area, how are things on your end?"
Watching the Madheh Army soldiers who had walked far away, Song Heping slid down the stairs from the top of the tower while asking White Bear, who was commanding the defenses at the residential area.
"Everything's in place; we've taken all the important vantage points, just waiting for them to co our way. My machine gun is already itching for action!"
"Wait for them to get closer before opening fire. I'm already following them..."
Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, Song Heping had managed to get within twenty ters behind the last Madheh Army soldier.
He was very careful, making every effort to use the buildings to conceal his movents.
The last Madheh Army soldier turned his head back several tis but never spotted Song Heping hiding not far away.
```
User Comments
0 comments from readers