Chapter 317: Shi Jin Lives Up To Being A Veteran Backbone
The time until the battle begins is getting closer and closer, and the atmosphere on the positions of the Red and Blue Armies is becoming increasingly tense.
Although the Blue Army’s first reconnaissance team failed, this is not enough to make them give up reconnaissance, and subsequent reconnaissance is still in full swing.
Soon the second, the third…
The continuously dispatched reconnaissance teams will carry out reconnaissance using different methods.
Although some of these reconnaissance teams will be captured alive by the Red Army just like the first one, the remaining reconnaissance teams will surely have gains.
The Blue Army’s reconnaissance methods are intensive, and the Red Army is not lagging behind.
The two reconnaissance squads dispatched by the Red Army, after nearly two hours of driving, maneuvered thirty or forty kilometers and finally arrived at the outskirts of the Blue Army’s defense line.
To prevent being discovered by the Blue Army, both squads chose to approach on foot.
The Red Army does not know where the Blue Army’s position is, only Tuo Yonggang and Shi Jin analyzed and inferred the approximate location based on their respective experiences.
The exercise zone is about 80 kilometers long, with widths on the sides ranging from 10 to 20 kilometers.
The Red and Blue Armies each need depth for their positions, which takes up about 20 kilometers, adding up to forty kilometers, meaning the frontlines of the two armies are about 40 kilometers apart.
After driving the vehicles over thirty kilometers and stopping, the distance to the Blue Army frontline must be about 5 kilometers.
As for where the Blue Army’s main position is?
This problem is easier to solve.
The Red Army’s two reconnaissance squads got off in the middle, then Shi Jin led the Vanguard Squad to search to the left, and Tuo Yonggang led the Elite Squad to search to the right.
The width of the war zone is at most just over ten kilometers, meaning each squad is assigned only a few kilometers.
With the individual soldier qualities of the warriors in these two squads, let alone walking a few kilometers to search for the Blue Army’s position, as long as they are given enough time, even walking dozens of kilometers is no pressure.
Using the natural cover brought by the night, the Red Army’s two squads cautiously infiltrated forward.
The Vanguard Squad walked forward about three kilometers and was the first to discover traces of the Blue Army. After some observation and analysis, it was confirmed to be the Blue Army’s frontline defense line.
“Report Iron Factory, this is Vanguard, discovered Blue Army frontline position, over.”
Shi Jin reported the scouted Blue Army situation to the Battalion Headquarters via radio.
This infiltration reconnaissance operation is very critical, so Chen Jun specifically ordered the two reconnaissance squads to connect directly to the Battalion Headquarters, without needing to go through the Company Headquarters again.
This way, the command process can be streamlined, allowing key intelligence to play a greater role.
“We’ve found the Blue Army position, we must quickly tell the Elite Squad the news, let them hurry over together, and not continue walking that way.” Gan Xiao Ning suggested.
“Good!!”
Shi Jin felt Gan Xiao Ning was very reasonable and decided to notify the Elite Squad to come over for reconnaissance together.
But the radio that was working fine just now suddenly turned into a brick, and when turned on, it was full of current noise, making it impossible to contact the outside.
Shi Jin immediately judged that the signal must have been strongly interfered with.
And the interference equipment is stronger than the Red Army’s, not weaker!
The Blue Army’s Electronic Warfare Company’s reaction speed is so fast, and their actions so decisive and swift—just as this side started the radio, they immediately carried out electronic interference.
This not only exceeded Shi Jin’s expectations but also the expectations of everyone at the Battalion Headquarters.
The reconnaissance unit losing contact is a small matter.
If the Red Army unit assembles for a formal attack on the Blue Army, but communication equipment is interfered with near the Blue side’s position, causing the entire communication system to completely collapse, that would be big trouble.
Traditional exercises in the past had no electronic warfare at all, but electronic warfare is one of the cores of the future informatized battlefield.
During the initial assessment exercise, Old A’s electronic warfare made all regiments in the entire war zone cry for their fathers and mothers, leaving a very profound impression on Gao Cheng.
Gao Cheng does not want to repeat the same mistake now.
So he made a phone call to the Information Company, strictly ordering that no matter what method is used, communications on the frontline must be restored before dawn.
Everyone up and down the Information Company also knows how passive it is to have communications suppressed.
They also know that the Information Company’s highlight is in this battle.
So the entire company, as if injected with chicken blood, decided to work overnight to overcome this difficulty and ensure the task is completed before dawn.
In the blink of an eye.
Time reached 1 o’clock in the morning.
The Information Company had been working hard for several hours and had preliminarily found the thread to overcome the difficulty, but still could not solve the problem.
The side responsible for intercepting the Blue Army’s communications also failed to obtain substantive intelligence.
The Blue Army had long known Steel Seventh Battalion’s setup and obviously targeted Steel Seventh Battalion’s “Electronic Warfare Company” with many countermeasures.
If the Information Company has no way to obtain intelligence, then the Red Army’s path to acquiring intelligence now is left only with the ground reconnaissance troops.
All the pressure is on the two reconnaissance squads!
Unfortunately, the Battalion Headquarters has no way to support the two reconnaissance squads and can only hope that the two squads, in the case of lost contact, can fight alone and obtain enemy intelligence.
They also have to hope that before dawn tomorrow, the Information Company can overcome the Blue Army’s signal interference.
Only by achieving both of these points at the same time can the Red Army, at noon tomorrow when formally starting the battle, convert the obtained intelligence into effective tactics.
Otherwise.
The Red Army, knowing nothing about the Blue Army, simply cannot capture the Blue Army’s position and can only follow in the footsteps of the previous ones, becoming the fourteenth failure.
And the two squads bearing the heavy responsibility of the entire battalion are now in two completely different situations.
“Deputy Company Commander, something seems off here. We’ve walked for half a day without seeing a single soul. Even if the Blue Army knows how to hide, we should encounter something.” The Elite Squad’s first lieutenant special forces soldier, who was scouting ahead, felt really frustrated after half a day with no gains.
“Yeah, there have been too many and too dense exercises here. The ground is covered with so many traces that you can’t count them, and trace tracking is completely useless.” Another special forces soldier chimed in.
“The most annoying thing is that communications are cut off. The Blue Army must have used interference methods. We can’t contact the Vanguard Squad, and we don’t know how they’re doing.” Another team member said.
“The most annoying thing is we don’t have a map; we don’t even know where we’ve reached.”
“Oh man, we’ve been walking with our heads down; we might not have found the Blue Army’s position but ended up walking out of the training ground without knowing.”
…
The Elite Squad members chattered, basically laying out the current situation thoroughly.
As the person in charge of the Elite Squad, and having actively volunteered to join, if Tuo Yonggang can’t produce some solid results this time, he won’t have the face to go back and see Chen Jun.
Seeing the Elite Squad already in a dilemma, Tuo Yonggang knew he must step up.
“I’ve roughly calculated.”
Tuo Yonggang squatted down, picked up a small stone, and drew on the ground while saying: “From the time we separated from the Vanguard Squad until now, even if marching very cautiously and conducting multiple Z-shaped searches, the distance walked eastward is no less than five kilometers, penetrating no less than ten kilometers into the Blue Army hinterland.
Having walked this far without encountering the Blue Army, not even a Blue Army sentry, I think there is no meaning in continuing.
Continuing in this direction has a high probability of yielding nothing.
Taking advantage of the time before dawn, if we immediately return to search the other side, we will definitely have gains before dawn.”
Tuo Yonggang’s decision, if not bold, at least carries some gambling element.
Starting out by splitting with the Vanguard Squad, each responsible for their side, was a clear arrangement. The Elite Squad continuing along this path now, even with no gains, would bear no responsibility.
Of course.
There would also be no achievements, equivalent to just coming out for a futile trip.
But turning halfway to the other side—if they can find the Blue Army’s position, it’s a win, and Tuo Yonggang gets what he wants.
If they don’t find the Blue Army’s position, then the Elite Squad and Tuo Yonggang are in trouble.
Because this means the Blue Army’s position is in the remaining area the Elite Squad didn’t finish searching, and all responsibility falls on Tuo Yonggang.
Failing to find the Blue Army’s main position in time delays the Red Army’s attack rhythm.
This pot is not small!
Nothing else, but Tuo Yonggang, who hasn’t even warmed up his deputy company commander seat, would definitely be swiftly removed.
Tuo Yonggang dares to bet his future, on one hand because he indeed needs results to secure the deputy company commander position, and on the other hand, it’s his personal experience judgment.
Even without 100% certainty, it won’t be less than 70%.
In a battle, 50% certainty is enough to fight; with 70% certainty to gamble on his future, Tuo Yonggang definitely has to take the gamble.
And facts prove…
Tuo Yonggang bet right!
Shi Jin and his group from the Red Army’s Vanguard Squad had no idea about Tuo Yonggang’s decision over there, and compared to Tuo Yonggang, their luck was even better.
After a whole first half of the night of cautious infiltration, the Vanguard Squad successfully discovered traces of the Blue Army.
The reconnaissance squad divided into three reconnaissance teams. After nearly half an hour of multi-point reconnaissance compilation, Shi Jin finally had definite intelligence.
That is, the Blue Army discovered right in front absolutely belongs to the Blue Army’s frontline defense line.
To figure out how many defense lines the Blue Army has, what troop deployments are in each defense line, while ensuring not being caught all at once.
Shi Jin decided to make multiple preparations.
Leave three people at the first defense line, watching the first defense line, figuring out how many tanks and infantry they have hidden in this area.
At the same time, monitor the Blue Army on the first defense line and record all their actions.
Because it’s close reconnaissance of the Blue Army’s first defense line, and to not be discovered after dawn while still able to continuously monitor the Blue Army.
How these three survive becomes the biggest problem.
This terrain is desert grassland, with no large shelters on the ground, only low weeds that can’t fully block a person.
Even wearing a ghillie suit, they can’t lie there concealed for long periods.
So Shi Jin thought of a method for them.
He specifically picked a position with relatively open field of vision but not too conspicuous, selected a downward concave small pit, and continued digging it downward.
Cover it with a layer of camouflage cloth on top, then cover with weeds and such.
Turn it into a fixed reconnaissance point that can hide three people, where they won’t be discovered from outside and can survive long-term.
After Shi Jin led people to set up the shelter, he took the remaining people to continue deeper.
Taking greater risks to infiltrate further for reconnaissance.
Based on experience, Shi Jin judged that the Blue Army impossible has only one defense line; there must absolutely be one or even two more inside to guard the Blue Army’s main position.
So only three people at the first defense line, and the rest move to the later defense lines.
This way, even if there are two more defense lines behind, place three-person teams for reconnaissance at each, and finally he can still penetrate alone for a shot.
A single soldier infiltrating deep into the enemy’s hinterland, surviving to find the main position and figure out the Blue Army’s structure—that would be huge profit.
Even if unsuccessful and discovered by the Blue Army, there are still the three teams ahead continuously operating.
Absolutely able to provide great help to the Red Army when launching the attack, allowing the Red Army to take down the Blue Army’s defense lines faster and with less effort.
Shi Jin’s idea is very good; this method is sufficiently calm and seasoned.
Perfectly matching Shi Jin’s character!
Because the Vanguard Squad was very careful throughout the process, without making any overly loud noises, even digging soil with shovels carefully lifted out.
They were also very careful coming over, specifically finding all sentries and dark sentries and avoiding them all with methods.
Therefore, the Blue Army had no idea at all that a reconnaissance squad from the Red Army, crossing dozens of kilometers, had already reached right under their noses.
Everything continued as usual, doing what they were supposed to do.
However.
Although the Blue Army did not discover the reconnaissance squad, Shi Jin’s plan did not go smoothly.
Plans ultimately can’t keep up with changes.
Changes on the battlefield are constantly changing; no one can predict what will happen in the next second, and Shi Jin’s plan is also limited to the current situation.
Shi Jin led the remaining six people, passing through the Blue Army’s first defense line to continue deeper.
Relying on a bit of moonlight to grope forward, it took over an hour to advance about 2 kilometers and discovered the Blue Army’s second defense line.
Seeing his judgment so accurate, Shi Jin was still very happy inside.
Preparing to do the same again, leave three people here to hide as “humanoid monitors,” and the rest pass through the second defense line to continue deeper.
But just as they found a suitable position, dug the shelter, and were preparing to place the second group.
The second defense line, originally like the Blue Army’s first defense line—except for the shadows of moving sentries on the position, basically no other moving objects.
Suddenly, two canvas trucks came from the rear, and they even turned off their lights on their own position.
Something unusual must have a demon!
This eerie behavior caught Shi Jin’s attention.
He had to lead the team to lurk in place, to figure out what these two canvas trucks, coming out in the middle of the night without lights, were up to.
After a few minutes.
The two trucks that came from the Blue Army rear—one stopped at the second defense line, and more than twenty Blue Army warriors got off.
They split into two squads and walked in two directions on foot; it was too dark at night to see what they were holding.
The remaining truck continued forward, but the direction was not toward the first defense line, but to the left flank of the second defense line.
“What are these Blue Army guys up to?”
Shi Jin’s sixth sense, honed from years in the army, strongly told him these Blue Army guys were up to something, and something extremely unfavorable to the Red Army.
Otherwise, it’s impossible to come out sneaking around in the deep middle of the night.
