Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 1182 Wisdom from the East (2)

Eight thousand to eleven thousand.

Although the difference in troop numbers is not drastic, the enemy has armored vehicles and reliable artillery support, and most of them are fanatical and fierce extremists.

Even if our side has the advantage of terrain and sets up an ambush in advance, it is foreseeable that this will be an extremely fierce and costly war of attrition with huge casualties.

Once the battle becomes protracted and the enemy's main force is firmly engaged, reinforcements from other 1515 militia groups in the surrounding areas, and even from neighboring Dehok, Tamim, Anbar, or Salah al-Din provinces to the east, could quickly encircle them. At that point, not only will the objective of the support team be impossible to achieve, but the very survival of these 1515 men will be in serious doubt.

A head-on confrontation is the worst possible strategy...

We must break free from this mindset and find another way!
An extremely bold tactical concept instantly cleaved through the fog in Jiang Feng's mind like lightning in the dark night—besieging Wei to rescue Zhao!
Correct!
This trick had been written to death in the storybooks Jiang Feng read when he was a child.

But good ideas never go out of style.

A good ointment is one that can draw out pus!

He looked up and quickly issued instructions into the tactical radio: "Reconnaissance squad, all groups, maintain the highest alert level, and focus on monitoring enemy command vehicles, supply convoys, and artillery units! I need the most accurate real-time location updates possible, especially when they enter the ten-kilometer radius around Bala Town!"

"Reconnaissance team, understood!"

After issuing the orders, Jiang Feng immediately turned to Samir and Abuyu: "Samir, Abuyu, immediately order all units to evacuate Bala Town. All troops shall maintain radio silence and move in battalions to the secondary assembly point 'Camel Rock' 15 kilometers to the northeast! The movement must be swift, discipline must be strict, and the whereabouts must not be revealed!"

Samir stared at Jiang Feng, his face filled with astonishment and disbelief, almost doubting that he had misheard: "Evacuate? Jiang! Do you know what you're saying? We've been lying in wait here for sixteen hours, setting up complete firepower and minefields. The enemy is about to walk right into our trap! Evacuate now?! All our previous efforts will have been wasted! Besides, if we evacuate, who will stop those terrorists from going to the border to intercept the boss?"

"We must retreat!"

Jiang Feng's tone left no room for negotiation.

"We can't fight this war according to the enemy's pre-set script! Look at the map!"

He quickly turned up the brightness of the unfolded electronic tactical map and pressed his finger heavily on the icon representing Mosul.

"In order to intercept the old sergeant, 1515 almost drained all the mobile forces from all the strongholds in Nineveh Province! How empty are the strongholds of Mosul, Abij, and Sinjar, which they have been building for so long? They are probably struggling to even maintain basic security and defenses!"

His finger traced a sharp arc on the map, pointing from their town of Bala to Mosul in the northwest.

"Imagine this is a war, and the enemy's main force has been successfully lured out of their fortified city defenses. What we need to do now is not to wait here and try to chew on this well-equipped and numerically superior enemy! Instead, we should march eastward and strike at their heart! Just like before, take down their key military stronghold—Mosul, and even spare some troops to attack the important towns surrounding Mosul!"

Samir and Abuyu's eyes widened instantly, their pupils contracting in the dim light of the night vision goggles.

Attack Mosul?
"You mean...we'll launch a feint attack on Mosul, forcing Commander Eddy of the 1515 Nineveh Provincial Theater to return to relieve the threat to the boss?"

Samir tried to understand this audacious plan.

"It's not just a feint!"

Jiang Feng's eyes were as sharp as a fighting knife, flashing with a deadly light.

"What I want is a real attack! If we're going to fight, we need to hurt them! Make them tremble! Eddie took away more than 70% of the garrison, and Mosul's defenses are now weaker than ever! I estimate that if we deploy 4,000 to 5,000 elite troops, equipped with enough rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, automatic grenade launchers, and demolition equipment, we are fully capable of launching a surprise attack from multiple directions and breaking into the city in one fell swoop! The goal is not a long-term occupation, but to completely destroy their command center, communication nodes, supply depots, barracks, and important defensive facilities! We need to turn Mosul upside down and make their backyard burn!"

His finger quickly pointed to several key terrain features along the highway from Bala to Mosul on the map: "Black Canyon Pass," "Death Bend," "Vulture Ridge," "Broken Bridge Depression," and so on.

"At the same time, the remaining three to four thousand troops will not participate in the direct assault on the city. They will be divided into smaller units, such as companies, platoons, and even squads, and equipped with all of our Kornet anti-tank missiles, RPG-29s, RPG-7V2s, AGS-17s, 82mm mortars, as well as all our stockpiled IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and anti-tank mines. They will be secretly deployed in advance to these strategic locations along this highway to construct multi-layered and tiered defensive positions!"

"When Eddie's main force receives news of the attack on their base and rushes back to Mosul in a panic and disarray, we must make sure that every step they take on their long journey home is fraught with explosives and gunfire! We will use landmines and roadside bombs to slow their march, and use the terrain to our advantage to ambush them in stages, depleting their manpower and equipment, and demoralizing them! This is the essence of our ancestors' wisdom—encircling the enemy's stronghold and attacking their reinforcements!" Samir and Abuyu listened to Jiang Feng's tactical deployment, speechless for a long time.

At the last minute, Samir said, "What if Eddie doesn't come..."

"He can't possibly not come."

Jiang Feng said, "Nineveh Province is the most important strategic control area of ​​1515 in Iligo, and it is also an important fulcrum linking 1515 armed forces in Cyria and 1515 armed forces in Iligo. If they lose this place, they will be like a snake cut in half, unable to take care of either end! If Bakdadi had any brains, he would not have taken such a risk to kill my old squad leader."

Abuyu nodded repeatedly, "Yes, the Americans had always hoped that we, the Koldy people, would conquer the entire Nineveh province. I attended their military conferences, and that was their strategic plan. As long as the connection between the 1515 forces in Ilig and Cyria was severed, the 1515 forces in Cyria would bleed out and eventually become an isolated force, destined to be annihilated as they fled south! It's just that we didn't have the ability to do it at the time..."

"Done!"

Samir finally stopped hesitating.

"Do as you say! Catch them off guard! I'll personally lead the brothers of the 'Liberation Forces' to attack Mosul!"

"Do not."

Jiang Feng immediately rejected the idea, saying, "Siege warfare requires unified command and strong frontal firepower. The Abuyu Brigade has more experience in this area."

Samir, you and your four thousand warriors of the 'Liberation Forces' know this place better than anyone, and you excel at mountain guerrilla warfare and mobile ambushes. The crucial task of segmenting the enemy's advance to delay and wear down Eddie's main force falls to you! This is the key to the success or failure of the entire plan!

He turned to Abyu, “Brigadier Abyu, immediately order your 3rd Regiment, which is lying in ambush 20 kilometers north of Sinjar, to turn west at forced march speed and head straight for the northern outskirts of Mosul! We will launch the main attack from the east, while you will hold the city back from the north and seize the opportunity to break through! Tell the brothers that once Mosul is taken, take all the weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and food stockpiled in the city that can be moved, and blow up anything that can’t be moved!”

Abuyu grinned.

He used to dream of taking Mosul day and night, racking his brains to do so, but he never had the chance.

He's really in luck today.

Even if the capture of Mosul is not a long-term occupation, it would greatly enhance one's reputation.

The Kold people, in particular, deeply respect tough men who boast impressive battle records.

Although they have been driven out of the Kolde tribe, Ayub still harbors ambitions to return.

"No problem! I've had my eye on Mosul for a long time! I've wanted to knock out this venomous fang for ages! I'll pass on the order immediately!"

The instructions were quickly and covertly transmitted to every corner of the ambush position via low-power radio, verbal relay by signalmen, or even pre-arranged signal flares.

The 8,000-strong army, which had been lying dormant in the darkness like a sleeping behemoth, was instantly activated. The soldiers silently retracted their camouflage nets, checked their equipment, and retreated from their pre-arranged positions like a tide in strict tactical formation.

The massive force was divided into two. One main force of about 4,500 men, personally led by Abuyu, sped towards Mosul in the northwest like a sword drawn from its sheath. The other force of about 3,500 men, under Samir's command, quickly integrated into the complex mountainous terrain and ravines along the road to Mosul and began to lay minefields, set up firing points and camouflage positions.

A meticulously planned "encirclement and suppression" campaign was thus launched.

　I'm still in the hospital, but I've sneaked out to write this. I hope I can be discharged in a couple of days.

　　I tried my best.

　　Asking for a monthly ticket!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)