Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 1195: Battle of Words
The air in the conference room had already frozen solid due to the fall of Sulaymaniyah.

When Simon bent down and took the top-secret document from the seemingly ordinary black briefcase, an even deeper sense of oppression instantly spread.

He laid the documents flat on the mahogany conference table, then took a deep breath to calm himself down.

After all, what he was about to say was even more shocking than throwing a grenade here.

"Gentlemen."

Before Simon began his speech, he glanced at the document on the table one last time.

“I have a draft of a preliminary informal cooperation plan in my hand.”

He deliberately paused on key words, making each word strike the hearts of everyone present like a hammer blow.

"This is a bold idea, especially given the current near-unsolvable strategic predicament. Perhaps... it's time for us to reassess the value of this plan with unconventional courage."

"A cooperation plan?!"

Brennan looked at Simon with a puzzled expression.

"What plan? Who will you be collaborating with?"

Simon confessed, “It was a proposal that Song Heping, the boss of ‘Musician’ Defense, submitted to me through secret channels just half a month ago. But when I saw the proposal, I thought it was absurd, so I didn’t take it seriously at all. But the fall of Sulaymaniyah suddenly reminded me of this, and after re-examining the proposal, I admit that it has some feasibility and is not a far-fetched and absurd idea. So I brought it here for everyone to see.”

"Musician Defense? Song Heping?!"

After a brief moment of calm, the meeting room immediately erupted in excitement.

Exclamations, gasps of surprise, and the screeching sound of the chair rubbing against the seat as its owner shifted uncomfortably rose and fell.

Almost everyone immediately suspected that they were hallucinating.

Brennan reacted strongly.

He stood up abruptly, leaned forward, and placed his hands on the table, his sharp eyes fixed on Simon's face as if he were staring at a criminal.

His tone was no longer one of questioning, but rather one of disbelief and fury, as if he had heard the most blasphemous treasonous words.

"Cooperating with the armed leader who just seized Sulaymaniyah?! Simon! Do you know what you're proposing?! Are you insane?! This is dancing with the devil! This is violating the most basic strategic and moral principles of this country!"

In the conference room, all eyes were focused on Simon and the thin document in his hands.

Those gazes were a mixture of extreme shock and offended anger.

This is the White House!
It is the center of America's power!

To propose cooperation with a terrorist leader who has just proven his hostility and danger within the very heart of American power goes beyond madness and borders on strategic blasphemy.

Simon felt his back instantly soaked with cold sweat. He had imagined this kind of reaction countless times in his mind, but when he was actually there, he still couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

It's a big gamble.

Winner takes all.

If you lose, you're finished.

“Yes, Mr. Brennan. I am fully aware of the…shocking nature of this proposal, and the…great risks and moral dilemmas it involves. That's why I locked it in a safe and even thought it wasn't worth reporting, precisely because I was afraid of seeing the shocked and angry expressions on the faces of everyone here now…”

"Cough cough."

He cleared his throat and raised his voice slightly.

"But please set aside your initial anger and instinctive aversion for now, and allow me to present the logical chain of evaluating this plan based on the cold geopolitical reality and pure gains and losses." He looked around the room, his gaze sweeping over the solemn and hostile faces of every high-ranking military officer and intelligence chief.

"First, we must confront the 'double nightmare' we are currently facing!"

Simon held up one finger and said, “First, there is the rapid expansion of the 1515 armed group, a global terrorism cancer. Their offensives in northern Iligo and Syria have seriously threatened regional stability and the security of our allies. According to our intelligence, their growth rate is faster than cancer cells. Their ideological export directly endangers many of our allies in the Middle East and has even contaminated Europe. Many of the members of the 1515 armed group are white people and young people from Europe. They are not Muslims, but they have now been misled by the propaganda of 1515 and have voluntarily gone to Syria to participate in the so-called 'jihad'. Their numbers have exceeded two thousand.”

"Secondly, the loss of Sulaymaniyah has severed the northern strategic corridor we built at great expense, forcibly expelled our influence, and nearly destroyed our strategic layout in northern Iligo. Next, we either need to send troops to re-enter Iligo and organize a strong ground and air force to retake Sulaymaniyah, or we have no chance of defeating Song Heping by relying on the Iligo government forces. This is my experience from when I was the head of the intelligence station in Iligo and I fought against Song Heping. Believe me, gentlemen, Song Heping is not someone that the Iligo government forces or a few special operations teams can handle."

"Then let's go back to Celia! We'll send armored forces to take him out. We can easily take down Saddam, so why would we be afraid of dealing with a mercenary leader like him?!"

A Pentagon general present spoke coldly.

“That’s right, General, you’re right.” Simon turned his gaze to the military bigwig: “As long as the president signs and Congress agrees, the military can send in one or two mechanized divisions, and of course they can defeat Song Heping.”

He paused, then shrugged and continued, "So what? Do you think Song Heping would confront our regular American troops head-on? No! Based on my understanding of him, he will adopt a retreat tactic, withdrawing all his troops back into Persia. They have a large secret camp in the Persian Plateau. So, when that happens, will we cross the border to pursue him or just watch him escape?"

The general paused for a moment, then said, "In that case, we can say that we have recaptured Sulaymaniyah and reopened the transport route."

"Hahahaha!"

Simon burst into laughter.

"General, if redeploying troops is as easy as you say, will you withdraw from Iligo? If you can really do that, why did we need to rely on the Iligo government forces and the Kold'd people to deal with the 1515 militants over the past year? Why don't we just go in directly and defeat those 1515 terrorists ourselves!"

Having said that, he snorted coldly and said, "Redispatching ground troops back to Iligo, is that a purely military issue? A tactical issue? No, General, it's a political issue! Will Congress approve it? If we've already announced the withdrawal and then return, how will the military expenditure be calculated? If there are casualties, who will bear this political liability? You or the president? How will those guys from the Elephant Party attack the president and the ruling party in Congress? Have you thought about these things?"

Simon had already simulated the possible scenarios.

This includes the general's objections and proposals.

In fact, he knew that his chances of winning were very high today.

It's not that I have a high chance of winning.

Song Heping had foreseen everything.

The president has already told the world that he wants to withdraw troops, and Congress has passed the relevant plan. The withdrawal plan has been in effect for more than a year, and most of the ground troops have long since returned to their homeland.

Now they're saying they want to return to Iligo?
That's like taking off your pants in front of the whole world and whipping your own buttocks.

Does America have no shame as a superpower?
Silence fell over the meeting room once again.

The military leaders looked at each other, none of them having a better idea for the moment.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Simon continued, "And Song Heping's proposal..."

His palm landed on the document again.

"At its core, it directly targets these two nightmares! He explicitly stated that he was willing to use his 'Liberation Forces' as the spearhead, proactively setting up a strategic graveyard in northern Iligo to lure the main force of 1515 into it. In the process, he would share key intelligence with us, and even cooperate with our actions under certain conditions, with the goal of completely and cleanly annihilating the manpower of 1515! He even promised to assist us in eliminating Bakdadi, the culprit of 1515!"

The word "completely annihilate" caused a slight flicker in the eyes of several high-ranking military officials.

Fighting the elusive and elusive 1515 militants has always been a major headache for them.

"So, what is the devil's price?"

After a long silence, Brennan asked coldly.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)