Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 1196 The Boots Have Fallen
"In return..."

Simon answered clearly, “He demanded that we tacitly acknowledge the legitimacy of the ‘Liberation Forces’ actual presence and activities in northern Iligor, cease all overt hostilities against the organization, and engage in limited and controlled cooperation with the Russians and Persians in the areas of intelligence and specific non-lethal military technology.”

He paused for a moment, allowing the impact of the "asking price" to fully dissipate.

This is tantamount to acknowledging a state within a state, an uncontrolled warlord force.

The command center fell silent once again.

Every executive present was weighing the weight of Simon's words.

Some people even suddenly had the thought—which side is Simon on?
However, this thought only flashed through my mind.

After all, those who work in intelligence have plenty of channels.

The CIA has cooperated with the 1515 armed group before, let alone with Song Heping.

Intelligence work requires people who are neither entirely black nor white to be controlled; those who are too rigid in their distinctions cannot do intelligence work.

But Song Heping's asking price seems too high.

However, just before more opposition was about to erupt, Simon threw out his heaviest bet.

"Before you object, I would like to remind you—Song Heping has also clearly warned through channels: if we refuse to cooperate… then Sulaymaniyah is merely the 'beginning' of his display of strength and capability. He claims to have enough power and determination to slide the situation in the entire northern Iligor region into… a catastrophic abyss. He can turn it into a more chaotic and hostile zone than during the 1515 reign, making our efforts to rebuild our influence cost ten times, a hundred times more."

That last sentence froze the rebukes and rebuttals that were already on the tip of their tongues, like a cold wind.

Song Heping has demonstrated through Suleimania’s swift and decisive actions, as well as his previous hostile actions against the Americans, that his threats are not mere bluster.

He is not a terrorist who only talks tough, but a strategic player who is proficient in modern hybrid warfare and has strong execution capabilities.

He has the ability to concretize the word "abyss".

Brennan stared intently at Simon, as if trying to pierce his skull and see the true thoughts deep within his mind.

His gaze then turned to the document on the table, his expression shifting between light and dark.

The entire situation room fell into a near two-minute silence.

The air felt heavy, like lead, pressing down on everyone's chest.

Only the low hum of the air conditioning system seemed to be providing accompaniment for an impending decision.

Finally, Brennan, almost gritting his teeth, squeezed out a sentence: "Bring...that thing... here."

He raised his hand and pointed to the document on the table.

"I want to take a closer look."

Simon's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

He knew that he had barely managed to get through this first and most difficult hurdle.

He picked up the document and walked step by step around half of the huge conference table, under the watchful eyes of countless people who were filled with shock, anger, extreme curiosity, and a hint of barely perceptible fear.

Finally, he approached Brennan and handed the document to the top national security advisor.

Brennan took the document but did not immediately look at it.

He repeatedly stroked the smooth cover with his fingertips, as if weighing the sins and punishments it carried, and contemplating the spiritual cost of opening this Pandora's box against the potential strategic gains.

Those few pages seemed to radiate an invisible, unsettling heat.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, his eyes sharpened, and he abruptly turned to the first page.

Time flowed slowly in the almost frozen silence.

Brennan read it with exceptional care, word by word. His face no longer displayed a simple mix of anger and doubt, but rather an extremely complex expression.

This is a detailed cooperation document, which includes an analysis of the interests, the consequences of a falling out, and the gains and losses for both parties.

Brennan had to admit it.

Song Heping is not only an outstanding military commander, but also an expert who deeply understands the geopolitical landscape and relationships. The book outlines the interests of the US, Russia, Poland, and himself, and even envisions the prospects for cooperation, listing and analyzing each other's concerns and suspicions.

Brennan's brow furrowed at times, and at other times he raised it slightly when he saw a particularly audacious tactical idea; his reading pace would sometimes pause as he fell into deep thought, his gaze unfocused, as if he were mentally assessing the feasibility of the plan.

Everyone could read the shock and disbelief that this plan brought to Brennan's face, no less than when they heard the news of Sulaymaniyah's fall just hours earlier.

About fifteen minutes later, Brennan slammed the document shut.

The sound wasn't loud, but it sounded unusually clear in an absolutely quiet environment.

He raised his head, his gaze leaving the contents of the document, and then slowly swept across the entire room.

When the time came, he didn't speak, his face expressionless. He simply pushed the documents in his hand to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff beside him, a veteran who had fought countless battles and carried numerous generals.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took the document with a mixture of doubt and lingering anger, and began to read it.

Soon, the anger on his face was replaced by an expression of extreme shock and disbelief, and his gray eyebrows almost flew off his hairline.

He subconsciously adjusted his glasses and leaned forward slightly, as if to confirm that what he was seeing was not a fantasy.

What he saw was perhaps not just the terms of cooperation, but a detailed blueprint for joint military operations and a precise intelligence summary of 1515's weaknesses and troop deployments, the value of which far exceeded all the information they currently possessed.

This overturned his simplistic perception of Song Heping as a "troublemaker".

"What a talent..."

He couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

If this guy weren't from Dongda University, he would have wanted to recruit Song Heping into the army to be his advisor.

He quickly finished reading the document and pushed it in front of the next senior executive.

The documents were passed around silently and mechanically among the key decision-makers at the conference table.

From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the senior defense officials who participated in the meeting…

Everyone who read the document fell into a long, deathly silence.

Their expressions were increasingly grave, their eyes filled with struggle and deliberation.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was suffocating.

The initial moral outrage has now been replaced by a deeper, colder realist calculation.

A probing and strategic game surrounding this "deal with the devil" is about to erupt within the ultimate temple of American power.

Meanwhile, deep within the Kremlin in Moscow, Song Heping, as if telepathically connected, subtly curved a smile onto his calm lips.

At that moment, he and President Vladimir were calmly placing the next piece on that enormous world map, a piece destined to change the course of history.

Within the palace walls, across the ocean, and in the Middle East, the gears of destiny begin to break free from their old tracks thanks to Song Heping's bold vision and precise calculations.

Is it about seizing the blade offered by the devil and cutting through the predicament before us?

Or should we stick to our principles, which might lead us into an even deeper abyss?
The moment of choice has arrived.

Inside the White House Situation Room.

Everyone read the document.

Everyone looked at each other in silence for a moment.

Finally, Brennan spoke up: "You've all seen it, right? Okay, I think it's time to vote. Now, those who support cooperating with Song Heping, please raise your hands."

He was the first to raise his hand: "I agree!"

　Asking for a monthly ticket! Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)