Chapter 185: Capture Tielu Company Commander Alive!
The Regiment Commander Wang’s order was conveyed very quickly, and the Red Army side soon received the message.
The messenger returned to the Red Army Command Post at the fastest speed.
“Report to Regiment Commander Comrade, the Blue Army Deputy Chief of Staff has connected to the Third Company’s radio, saying he wants to meet and chat with you,” the messenger reported.
“The confrontation isn’t over yet, no meeting.”
Regiment Commander Wang refused outright and sarcastically said: “He must not be able to find my command post and wants to use this opportunity to play some trick again.”
Regiment Commander Wang trusted his reverse thinking very much; the Blue Army absolutely could not discover the command post’s location.
“He said he knows you would answer like this, so he specifically said that when he arrives, it will be the end of the exercise,” the messenger said again.
“Got it, go down.”
Regiment Commander Wang’s brows furrowed involuntarily, realizing that this statement didn’t sound right.
“Yes!”
The messenger saluted and left, but the command post exploded at that moment.
“From what this Blue Army Deputy Chief of Staff means, he can come over directly without our agreement and find us here, which means he already knows where we are?” The Chief of Staff’s face looked grim.
“I’m afraid it’s unmistakable.”
Regiment Commander Wang’s face was extremely serious, with a hint of anger as he said: “The Blue Army is too arrogant; they haven’t won yet and are already acting like they’ve won.”
“Since the position is exposed, let’s move quickly and transfer as soon as possible; there’s definitely time,” the operations staff officer said in panic.
“Move? Too late.”
Regiment Commander Wang took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and said through the hazy smoke: “The Blue Army is so bold as to notify us in advance.
This proves they have absolute confidence and have locked down our position.
I’m afraid the surroundings of our command post already have many of their reconnaissance informants; no matter which way we go, it’s already meaningless.”
Regiment Commander Wang hit the nail on the head; being a regiment commander, he still had some real skills.
They had already been pinned down by Blue Army reconnaissance soldiers; transferring was meaningless, and randomly moving in this dire situation without the regiment command post camp’s protection might even be more dangerous.
Moreover, since the position was exposed, the Blue Army’s attack would surely come soon.
There was no way out, advance or retreat.
So what to do?
All the staff officers in the command post were anxious.
The confrontation had reached this point, with victory in sight; losing at this moment, no one could accept it.
But no matter how much they didn’t want to lose, they had to face reality.
Regiment Commander Wang faced reality and stopped discussing; he knew they had now entered a race against time to see which side would take out the other’s command post first.
The Red Army’s attack troops had already gone out; it wasn’t completely hopeless for victory.
The current plan.
What the Red Army could do was comprehensive defense, transferring all anti-aircraft units over to concentrate on defending the Red Army Command Post, buying time for the enemy rear troops.
Since the position was fully exposed, there was no need to keep the radio off anymore.
Maximize efficiency completely.
The orders from the regiment command post were quickly issued to each anti-aircraft company; all remaining anti-aircraft units converged on the command post at the fastest speed.
As long as all anti-aircraft firepower was concentrated, the Blue Army helicopter air strike might not succeed.
Even if it was a suicide-style attack.
At the same time, to counter the Blue Army ground troops, clear all threats around the command post, so it was no longer under the Blue Army’s nose.
First, gather all signal company squads and platoons back to the Red Army Command Post.
Regiment Commander Wang also ordered two reserve tank companies to concentrate on defense at the command post.
Tanks couldn’t enter the forest, so the tank soldiers would dismount as infantry; regardless of combat effectiveness, they would purely serve as search troops.
Find all the Blue Army hiding in the forest, then let the signal company carry out annihilation.
If they couldn’t beat them, send another tank company; as long as the Blue Army’s position was marked, a barrage from tank heavy artillery would teach them a lesson.
Air and ground defenses fully prepared at the same time; the Red Army rear entered all-around “iron wall” defense.
Drag on as long as possible!
As for the armored infantry company that had already charged out, their order remained to keep pushing forward until the last warrior was spent.
Their role was also to hold up the Blue Army and prevent the Blue Army ground troops from retaking the position.
The main theme was to drag on as long as possible.
After all, it had reached this life-and-death, race-against-time crucial moment; the armored infantry company retreating would have no meaning.
Better to make use of their last bit of heat to buy time for Steel Seventh Company and Artillery Company
These two companies were the final trump cards, the key to whether the Red Army would win or lose this exercise; all other fourteen companies in the regiment had to serve them.
Under Regiment Commander Wang’s high-pressure orders, all Red Army units maxed out their speed.
Less than a quarter of an hour.
The remaining forces of two anti-aircraft companies, totaling four anti-aircraft platoons, all arrived at the command post camp, gun barrels pointed skyward, ready to engage at any time.
The remaining light and heavy tanks of the two reserve tank companies added up to only ten vehicles, also forming a circle around the command post perimeter.
The reason the reserve tank companies had so few tanks wasn’t due to heavy combat consumption.
It was that all the fuel was simply insufficient; they could barely muster enough to bring ten over.
The other remaining tanks, due to lack of fuel, couldn’t move and had become piles of useless scrap iron, now only able to sit idle outside the battalion headquarters.
This was very helpless.
It also demonstrated the huge impact of logistics on war.
According to the regiment commander’s orders, one tank company was responsible for guarding the camp, while the warriors of the other tank company all dismounted to become infantry.
They didn’t even have time to pick up weapons.
In fact, with the logistics support company destroyed, there weren’t that many weapons available now.
Fortunately, the tank soldiers turned into search soldiers, pairing with the signal company to conduct a dragnet search of the surrounding forest.
The main task was searching, no need for combat.
The Red Army Command Post side was in a state of impending major battle, while the four Red Army armored infantry companies that had been charging forward finally encountered the Blue Army’s interception.
Thirty veteran A’s who had fast-roped from helicopters into the forest and quickly deployed their formation.
This made the Red Army armored infantry, who had been charging forward, feel that familiar taste again—the taste of being crushed by superior strength.
In one clash, more than ten were taken out.
The hard gap in strength between the two sides, plus the huge equipment gap and terrain restrictions.
The armored infantry of these four companies performed nowhere near as well as Steel Seventh Company.
Not to mention driving back the veteran A’s; they simply couldn’t hold against the Blue Army veteran A’s and were forcibly stopped.
The shadow of fear originally instilled by the Blue Army now enveloped all Red Army warriors at this moment.
Under survival instincts, everyone wanted to slip away.
But the regiment had issued a death order: the four infantry companies were absolutely not allowed to retreat a single step, forcing them to fight to the death here.
Perhaps in this desperate “death” situation, it stimulated the warriors’ potential.
Or maybe thinking it was an exercise, better to lose spectacularly.
The Red Army, which had been turned into grandsons in one clash and completely disrupted in formation, surprisingly stabilized very quickly in an extremely short time.
They found advantageous terrain in the forest, formed an defensive position formation, and confronted the Blue Army head-on.
Even though they were still being unilaterally thrashed by the Blue Army, with people constantly emitting white smoke and being eliminated, the elimination rate had clearly slowed.
The veteran A’s needed to spend more time to take out one Red Army warrior.
The purpose of dragging time had been achieved.
And the Blue Army was not panicking at all now; as long as they took out all these Red Army in front of them, plus the tanks, anti-aircraft units, Red Army battalion company command posts, etc., already hit.
One of the two confrontation victory conditions—fifty percent combat loss rate—would be met.
The other victory condition, destroying the Red Army Command Post, was also being handled by the Blue Army Army Aviation Force’s two attack helicopters dispatched.
After two days of continuous combat, the Blue Army attack helicopters had a mature route, very safely infiltrating the Red Army war zone.
The two helicopters also knew this mission would definitely carry great risk.
So their mission this time was one-way.
They completely abandoned the idea of returning, converting all defenses to offense, with only one goal: take out the Red Army Command Post.
The distance between the two sides wasn’t far; they could arrive in less than ten minutes.
Little did they know.
The Red Army Command Post’s defenses, especially anti-air, had been maxed out, more than ten times stronger than before.
Under such high-density anti-air, the attack helicopters coming as before was doomed to suffer.
When the two attack helicopters approached at ultra-low altitude, to avoid Red Army ground anti-air strikes, they began attacking from nearly two kilometers away.
But as soon as their fire control locked onto the Red Army, several “skyward cannons” erupted from the ground.
“Bang bang bang bang…”
The ground anti-aircraft artillery also opened fire simultaneously.
The two attack helicopters were both startled; it was the first time they had seen the Red Army’s anti-air with such fast and fierce reaction speed.
Under this concentrated fire, the two attack helicopters didn’t even have time to fire.
Launching rockets from attack helicopters takes time; if they didn’t immediately evade urgently, they would be shot down after at most one or two shots.
The power of one or two rockets couldn’t destroy a command post.
Thus.
The pilots of the two attack helicopters were forced to abandon the attack, immediately performing tactical evasion maneuvers, planning to disengage danger first.
However, among those firing individual anti-aircraft missiles was Steel Seventh Company’s elite “anti-air squad.”
Their skills were very solid.
Plus the other anti-air missiles from the anti-air squad and anti-aircraft artillery from the ground anti-air units, the firepower was enough to cover a helicopter formation.
No matter how skilled the two Blue Army attack helicopters were or how decisive their evasion decisions, they couldn’t change their outcome.
Soon the two helicopters emitted white smoke, indicating they had been eliminated.
But this time, fortunately before elimination, the two helicopters had enough time to report the situation back to the Blue Army General Headquarters.
“Failed??”
Railway was slightly surprised upon hearing this news but showed no major emotional fluctuation.
As if he wasn’t surprised by this result.
And as this result reached Railway’s ears, the helicopter he was on had already returned to the Army Aviation Brigade Camp and slowly landed on the heliport.
A group of ground crew quickly swarmed over, starting various work.
Railway walked out alone from the open cabin door, entering the tent area with light steps, preparing to communicate with the Chief of Staff.
Little did he know that this scene of him disembarking was completely under the Vanguard Reconnaissance Squad’s surveillance.
Cheng Cai had been squatting here all night; if not for Chen Jun’s special training and the excitement from the exercise confrontation, he would have dozed off.
Seeing Railway get off the helicopter, his eyes lit up with excitement instantly.
All fatigue swept away.
“Two Stripes Three, Colonel, that’s a colonel; a colonel got off the helicopter, Squad Leader, look quickly—he has the same military rank as our regiment commander; is he the Blue Army commander?”
Cheng Cai’s eyebrows shot up in excitement, but worried about exposure, he kept his voice low.
“It should be right; it must be him.”
After waiting so long, everyone was very anxious; finally having news, Wu Liu Yi was also excited and quickly said: “You keep watching here; I’ll go find the Platoon Leader right now.”
“Okay, I’ll definitely keep him pinned,” Cheng Cai patted his chest and guaranteed.
Wu Liu Yi got up, hunched over, and ran off, soon finding Shi Jin and hurriedly reporting: “Squad Leader, he’s here; I saw it—a colonel got off the helicopter and entered the Blue Army camp.
He must be the Blue Army commander; quickly radio it up, don’t let him get away.”
“Really? Confirmed?”
Even the steady Shi Jin became urgent, impatiently asking.
He had just seen two more helicopters fly out, worrying that the Red Army might lose at any moment; his heart was in his throat.
If not for his ability to stay truly calm, he would have long led people to rush into the camp.
“Confirmed, one hundred percent confirmed.”
Wu Liu Yi nodded like a pecking chick, showing how anxious he was inside.
“Good, then I’ll report right now.”
Finally confirming the intelligence’s accuracy, Shi Jin had no more hesitation and decisively turned on the radio, starting to report to company headquarters: “Calling Steel Factory, this is Vanguard; we have confirmed Blue Army Command Post position, coordinates…
Repeat, confirmed Blue Army Command Post, coordinates…”
“Came just in time.”
Gao Cheng, who had also been waiting anxiously, immediately contacted the regiment headquarters via radio and reported the Blue Army Command Post coordinates.
Since it was news from the Vanguard Squad, how could Gao Cheng miss this chance to show off.
He immediately jumped into the vehicle and headed straight to the regiment headquarters.
He also brought along the few from the maneuver squad who had completed their task and returned to company headquarters for protection, going together to the regiment command post to help.
The Blue Army infiltration troops still hadn’t been found up to now.
If Seventh Company could find them, it would be another merit.
“Report to Regiment Commander Comrade, Steel Seventh Company on the line; Blue Army Command Post found.”
The signalman ran to the command post to report; this news instantly turned the previously low-morale, high-pressure command post into a sea of jubilation.
The Blue Army helicopter attack just now had scared everyone into a cold sweat.
Fortunately, they survived in the end.
But surviving for a moment didn’t mean forever.
Who knew if the Red Army anti-air could hold when the next Blue Army helicopter came.
“Too good, haha, as expected of Vanguard, as expected of Steel Seventh Company’s ace, haha.”
The regiment commander laughed excitedly upon getting the news and decisively ordered: “Immediately order Eleventh Company to artillery strike the Red Army Command Post and take it out for me.”
“Yes!”
The signalman immediately ran to pass it on.
In the Red Army Command Post that came back to its senses, everyone felt relieved, showing post-survival smiles, excitedly starting to discuss.
“As expected of Steel Seventh Company; they have strength, helping our Seventh Zero Two Regiment turn the tide.”
“Of course; this is a combined arms company, the number one in our entire group army; without diamond-level skills, how could they take on this porcelain job.”
“Good thing we have Steel Seventh Company; otherwise, alas, we would have lost badly.”
“We are the attackers and have gained the offensive momentum; if we can take the Blue Army Command Post, this year’s division evaluation, our regiment is definitely unbeatable.”
…
With the regiment in a festive and lively atmosphere, everyone was very optimistic about the upcoming situation, almost certain they would win.
After all, the Blue Army attack helicopters had now been repelled by them.
By the time the next wave of Blue Army helicopters arrived, the Red Army artillery would have already hit the Blue Army camp and flipped their command post.
And now the Red Army had completed position occupation; they only needed to take out the Red Army Command Post to win.
Not to mention, even if Blue Army helicopters arrived again, whether they could dodge the Red Army anti-air forces and successfully destroy the Red Army Command Post was another matter.
From this perspective…
The Red Army now had comprehensive superiority and indeed had the right to celebrate early.
However, due to information asymmetry between frontline and rear, “taking out the Blue Army Command Post” sounded simple, but it actually wasn’t that easy.
When the regiment command post’s order reached the artillery company, they couldn’t immediately launch the attack.
Because there were no specially cleared roads in the jungle, the path Steel Seventh Company led by Chen Jun had trampled couldn’t compare to a paved road.
Even though Artillery Company 11 used tracked vehicles with better off-road conditions.
On this road, they simply couldn’t go fast, with speed limited to a few kilometers per hour crawling forward; they hadn’t met up with Chen Jun yet.
Not yet in range, unable to open fire.
When the artillery company reported this situation to the regiment, the previously joyful regiment command post instantly felt like doused with a basin of ice water.
Everyone was stunned.
The unease and anxiety that had disappeared reoccupied everyone’s hearts.
Regiment Commander Wang could only issue orders for the artillery company to advance at maximum speed; the rest was just waiting for news from the artillery company.
The artillery company’s delay in attacking was simply a disaster for the Red Army.
Fortunately, with Railway’s helicopter returning, the Blue Army had lost monitoring of Red Army communications and didn’t know their command post was exposed.
It was a blessing in misfortune!
At this time, Railway had already met with the Chief of Staff and completed the relevant talks, preparing to return to the helicopter to head to the Red Army Command Post.
Before leaving, he confidently left words: “Just wait to hear my good news.”
The Chief of Staff, hearing this, still frowned.
Because now only one attack helicopter remained; the others had all been taken out by the Red Army. Could it take out the Red Army Command Post?
He wouldn’t say the probability was very low, but at least it wasn’t high.
After all, two helicopters before hadn’t succeeded; two attack helicopters shot down by Red Army anti-air—could one really complete the task?
Since the probability of one helicopter succeeding wasn’t very high.
Where did Railway’s confidence come from??
The Blue Army Chief of Staff completely couldn’t figure it out; due to Railway’s special status, he couldn’t force him to say and could only let him keep the suspense.
Frowning as he watched Railway leave the tent, full of confidence heading to the helicopter that had completed resupply.
“Platoon Leader, haven’t we already contacted regiment headquarters and sent back the Blue Army coordinates? Why hasn’t our artillery started attacking? What’s going on?”
Bai Tie Jun hadn’t heard any directorate notification and anxiously asked Shi Jin.
“Don’t worry; heavy artillery deployment takes time; it should come soon.”
Shi Jin was actually puzzled too; by his estimate, they should have fired long ago, but several minutes had passed with no reaction.
This obviously abnormal situation made him extremely anxious inside.
But as platoon leader, he had to steady everyone and could only tell them to stay calm first.
However, Shi Jin wanted everyone to stay steady, and everyone trusted Platoon Leader Shi Jin, thinking the artillery would come soon, so they said nothing.
They all locked their gazes dead on the camp, anticipating the moment of victory.
But the new situation on the Blue Army side made him unable to stay steady.
At this time, all members of the reconnaissance squad, including the previous external scouting team, had now returned and gathered at the camp perimeter.
Everyone could clearly see the Blue Army colonel appear in their field of vision again.
Moreover, he was heading toward the heliport.
Plus the helicopter he had disembarked from on the heliport now had its rotors slowly turning, clearly preparing for takeoff again.
Everyone in Vanguard Squad could see that the Blue Army colonel was going to board the helicopter.
The Vanguard Squad crowd was certain this colonel was the Blue Army commander; once the Blue Army colonel took the helicopter and flew away from this camp.
Even if the artillery company destroyed this camp, it would have no meaning for the Red Army.
“He’s leaving, that guy is leaving; what do we do??”
“Platoon Leader, the Blue Army commander is boarding the helicopter; our artillery hasn’t come yet; what now?”
“I go; if we let him leave, haven’t we done all this for nothing?”
…
Seeing this sudden situation, everyone in Vanguard Squad panicked, sweat beading on their foreheads, all anxiously looking toward Shi Jin.
Shi Jin, bearing all the pressure, was also stunned by this unexpected situation.
An unexpected situation arose on Shi Jin’s side, making the situation somewhat out of control for a moment, while the Red Army Command Post on the other side was even more chaotic.
Because a major situation had occurred here!
Just as everyone in the regiment headquarters was waiting for the artillery company to reach firing range and open fire.
Directorate personnel suddenly rushed in and publicly announced that the Red Army Command Post had been annihilated; everyone including the regiment commander was killed in action on the spot.
“What the hell, what, what is gone?” The Chief of Staff felt his brain short-circuit.
“On what basis do you say we all died? I need a reasonable explanation?”
Regiment Commander Wang’s face turned extremely ashen, coldly staring at the directorate’s major referee; if he couldn’t give a reasonable explanation, he wouldn’t give any face.
Even if the directorate personnel were from the group army!
The directorate referee was quite calm and then explained to everyone.
Because a Red Army main battle tank outside suddenly turned its gun barrel to aim at the Red Army Command Post and fired a high-explosive shell.
Based on the shell’s lethality and destructive power, the Red Army Command Post was judged entirely killed in action.
“Our tank??”
Hearing this unbelievable result, everyone present was stunned.
And just as everyone was still wondering what the hell, the roar of an off-road vehicle suddenly came from outside, along with tires screeching at high speed on the ground.
Regiment Commander Wang, Chief of Staff, and others immediately rushed outside to check.
They saw five warriors in Red Army uniforms on a Red Army 212 military vehicle, driving wildly out of the camp.
Because all signal company had been transferred outside, only a few guards were left in the camp.
The other tanks and vehicles couldn’t react in time.
They simply couldn’t block this vehicle; the guards hadn’t reacted before being hit and emitting white smoke, only able to stupidly watch the vehicle rush out.
Seeing this scene, Regiment Commander Wang and others instantly understood what happened.
No wonder the infiltrating Blue Army reconnaissance troops hadn’t been found after searching for so long; they had pulled off a tooth-for-tooth—
The most dangerous place is the safest!
While the main force was converging here earlier, they somehow got a tank, disguised it as a Red Army tank, and hid inside.
Then at this most critical moment, they delivered a fatal strike to the Red Army Command Post.
Understanding the whole story, the originally furious Regiment Commander Wang and others instantly deflated, left only with faces full of annoyance.
They had won with real skill; lost is lost, nothing to say.
Fortunately, the Blue Army hadn’t won yet; the Red Army hadn’t completely lost this competition; there was still a glimmer of hope, depending on whether they could reverse it.
Regiment Commander Wang, Chief of Staff, and others could only silently hope in their hearts.
At that moment, Gao Cheng happened to run over and saw a vehicle fleeing madly outward, plus the directorate’s announcement had been synchronously notified via vehicle radio.
Gao Cheng’s mind instantly understood: his hometown had been stolen by these guys.
“Chase, chase them down for me, take them out.”
Gao Cheng was furious, almost without thinking, immediately leading the maneuver squad he brought, turning around at maximum speed to pursue the fleeing vehicle.
Whether they could beat them or not, they had to chase and engage.
…
A massive change occurred at the Red Army Command Post side, and Shi Jin’s side could no longer hold back.
Seeing the other party getting closer and closer to the helicopter, there was no time to report to the regiment; by the time the report was done, it would be too late.
Shi Jin could only grit his teeth, steel himself; at this moment, no longer maintaining calm.
He had to break the cauldrons and sink the boats.
“Vanguard Squad, whole squad prepare; follow me in, capture the Blue Army commander alive.”
As Shi Jin was the first to rush out and order, the already impatient Vanguard Squad crowd immediately followed him, howling as they charged.
The distance between the two sides was only twenty or thirty meters; at full sprint, it was just a few seconds.
By the time Railway realized something was off and a group of soldiers in Blue Army uniforms burst from the forest, realizing they might be Red Army scouts.
Without time to think why Red Army scouts appeared so silently here.
He was surrounded front, back, left, and right by Shi Jin’s group closing in.
“Go, go, to the helicopter.”
Seeing Blue Army sentries notice the situation here, Shi Jin decisively issued the order again, dragging the still dazed Railway, controlled left and right, forcibly taking him to the helicopter.
Xu Sanduo pulled out a sock from somewhere and stuffed it into Railway’s mouth.
Making him unable to make a sound.
By the time Railway fully reacted, he had already been dragged onto the helicopter.
