I work as a mercenary in northern Myanmar.

Chapter 552: All Blown Up
At this time, near Ahashiri.

The final encirclement and suppression offensive has ended. In the absence of air support, ISIS militants had no way to resist the Tiger Corps, which had an absolute advantage in equipment despite having no absolute disadvantage in numbers. Their troops were completely dispersed and pursued and annihilated by highly mobile motorized troops.

Of the 4000-man force, only a mere were left after the last shot was fired. Of these, about escaped, while more than were directly killed or wounded.

As for the rest, most of them have already surrendered.

There is no doubt that this was a crushing victory.

However, as a front-line commander, Li Bang did not look very excited.

"Didn't find the other side's commander?"

Looking at the dusty Lin He team who had just returned from the pursuit, Li Bang asked.

"could not find it."

"We pursued several suspicious targets, but we were unlucky and the one we caught was not the commander."

"How do you know it's not?"

"We have organized cross-identification, and we have used some religious methods. In theory, the other party is unlikely to lie."

Hearing Lin He's reply, Li Bang couldn't help but frown.

After a brief thought, he nodded slowly and replied:

"It doesn't matter. It's normal that we can't catch it."

"These people are too scattered, and they are not professional soldiers. In addition, they have a very solid 'mass base' here. Once they blend into the villages and settlements, it will be difficult to catch them back."

"We will have to conduct another round of cleanup and search operations later on. How much can we determine about their direction of escape and final destination?"

"Within a radius of 100 kilometers, we can confirm percent of it."

Lin He took out a simple map from his jacket pocket, which was densely circled and marked with red pen.

"These marks are the output results of drone tracking, and the accuracy rate is very high."

"However, this map is time-sensitive and we cannot guarantee that they will not be moved in the future."

"So, if we want to catch him, we have to do it as soon as possible."

"No need."

Li Bang interrupted Lin He and explained:
“Our mission is not to hunt down the leaders of the JD, but to stop their expansion in Raqqa province.”

"Obviously, we have now completed most of our mission. Whether or not to arrest more people will have to be decided by the boss."

"You lead the team to clean up the battlefield first and identify high-value targets. We may be able to get more intelligence from them."

"clear."

Lin He answered immediately and then turned and left.

Looking at his back, Chief Li breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, he was also unwilling to accept such an outcome.

Not only did we fail to wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop, but even the proportion of prisoners captured was quite small.

What's even more ridiculous is that even though our side had already located the opponent's command center, they still ended up letting their commander-in-chief escape.

It has to be said that this is the disadvantage of playing away from home. You can never accurately and effortlessly mobilize a force that you are not familiar with and do not fully control.

If the main force of the Dongfeng Corps is the one that takes action this time, and if the 400-man reserve prepared by Lao Zhu can arrive in Syria ahead of time, then Li Bang is fully confident that, let alone a commander, if of the people in the entire ISIS can escape, it would be considered that they are fast.

Pity.--
However, on the other hand, no matter how unwilling he was, he did not forget to weigh the pros and cons and make the choice that maximizes his benefits.

This is something he finally learned after countless battles and decisions, and under the influence of Chen Chen.

The fact that he was able to stop the pursuit and ask Lin He's team to help consolidate the defense also meant that he had finally grown into a "commander" who could truly lead the team.

After simply deploying the defensive tasks, Li Bang quickly devoted himself to various post-war finishing tasks.

Transporting the wounded, identifying high-value targets, confiscating weapons, compiling intelligence, and even burning corpses and organizing epidemic prevention and disinfection.
He was responsible for making all the decisions, and he did a very good job.

Four hours after the battle ended, when Chen Chen confirmed that the airspace was safe and rushed to Ahashili by helicopter, a temporary camp with relatively complete functions had been established.

"Well done!"

After meeting Li Bang, Chen Chen's first words were an expression of affirmation.

Then, before Li Bang could answer, Chen Chen continued to ask:
"How are our people? Are any of them injured?"

It is obvious that Chen Chen’s words “our people” are referring to the Dongfeng Corps in a narrow sense.

Li Bang certainly understood what he meant, so he immediately replied:

"Two people were affected by the explosion of the suicide attack and suffered minor injuries."

"Pingchuan has already dealt with them, there's no big problem."

"For this battle, I will deploy our own people to the back. After all, this is a large-scale offensive and defensive battle, and our players cannot play a decisive role."

"Also, the Armored Assault Company has a problem - two vehicles are broken down."

"Two?"

Chen Chen's brows immediately frowned, and then asked:

"what is the problem?"

"One was due to overheating of the engine, and the other was due to a broken bearing."

"The good news is that the problems all occurred during the pursuit phase after the battle. The bad news is that the durability of these armored vehicles, especially in the high-temperature desert environment, is really too poor."

Hearing what Li Bang said, Chen Chen couldn't help but sigh.

Indeed, this is a problem that cannot be solved at this stage.

The VN-1 platform has various defects. In the previous life, its performance in the Middle East was not very good. Instead, it had special advantages in low-intensity combat environments such as South America.

This is also the reason why it has never sold much and is not very popular among customers.

If we want to completely eliminate these defects, we have to wait until the VN-2 platform appears and begins to be used on a large scale.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen said:
"First try to arrange maintenance, and submit all the problems you encounter to me, and I will report them to my superiors."

"But don't expect it to be resolved in the short term. This is not something that can be dealt with overnight."

"I understand. It's good enough if it works."

Li Bang grinned and asked:

"Captain, how did we fight this time?"

"To be honest, it's not bad."

Chen Chen also answered with a smile, and then continued:
"However, this is a highly 'self-limiting' battle. The uncertainty of the battlefield environment is actually not that great, and there are not that many tactical changes." "So whether it's you or me, the results will not be too different."

"Next time, you need to learn to mobilize our high-level equipment with higher efficiency, especially in the use of drones. You need to continue learning."

"Find some time to have a good chat with Bao Qi. He's almost recovered now, so it's time to find him something to do."

"clear."

Li Bang nodded solemnly, and the two of them walked towards the temporary command post set up in the camp. There were already two captured Hummers being inspected there. Chen Chen glanced at them casually and asked subconsciously:

"Were these two vehicles not destroyed?"

"No, this one came from the direction of Hasakah to provide support during the pursuit phase and was captured directly by our helicopter."

"The other party seems to want to rescue their high-value target - probably the commander of the religious army."

"However, according to cross-identification, the leader of the Legion Army has been killed by us. They arrived too late."

"The Legion is reasonable."

Chen Chen frowned slightly, stepped onto their own command vehicle, and then continued to ask:
"What is the specific identity?"

"It is said that a former Iraqi National Defense Forces officer named Qassem, but there is no source."

"Give me the information and I'll find someone to confirm it."

"clear."

Li Bang followed Chen Chen into the car. According to the plan, they had to go to Raqqa Province immediately to communicate with the local garrison about entering the city, and rely on Raqqa City to establish a defense line to resist the JD armed forces.

At this time, the Syrian government had already informed the defenders of Raqqa, and the commander there was already waiting eagerly on the position.

The command vehicle drove all the way south. Half an hour later, under the cover of the guards, the two successfully entered Raqqa and met the commander who had been waiting for a long time at the position outside the city.

The expression on the latter's face was quite complicated.

Excited, confused, incredible.

Of course, there was more surprise.

He probably could never have imagined that the commander who won a great victory right under his nose would have an East Asian face!
What he didn't expect was that the guards, who were obviously part of the Syrian government army, had absolutely no distrust of this East Asian commander. Even when he tried to move forward, two guards who had already gotten into the role stepped forward without hesitation and stood in front of him.

This kind of loyalty has only been seen in the personal guards of some senior military officers.
The commander of Laka City stopped walking with a little embarrassment, then extended his hand to Chen Chen from a distance to identify himself and said:

"Sir! I'm Laplane!"

"I am the person in charge here! I will be responsible for cooperating with you in the subsequent defense!"

Hearing his words, Li Bang gave the guard a look, and the latter immediately stepped aside, while Chen Chen walked forward and shook Laplani's hand.

"Thank you for your hard work."

After he finished speaking, Laplani looked even more embarrassed.

He didn't know why he was suffering.

Although we had prepared for a long time, neither I nor my team participated in the battle for even a second from its start to its end.

More importantly, in front of the other party, his original battle plan seemed as low-level and ridiculous as a fight between children.

The enemy has fighter jets, helicopters, armored vehicles, artillery, and special forces. Every attack is extremely precise and contains the power to destroy the world.

From beginning to end, the actual duration of this battle was only two hours.

What about yourself?
Outdated weapons, outdated tactics, and even the bizarre idea of ​​using catapults
If it weren't for the enemy's mysterious force, if ISIS really attacked, could the city of Raqqa last for an hour?

Laplani had no confidence in this, so when he heard Chen Chen's words, he subconsciously thought it was a sarcastic reproach.

But in fact, what Chen Chen said was indeed a serious compliment.

Because he had already seen that if the Tiger Corps did not arrive, all the defenders standing here would really die together with those ISIS people.

Anyone who is willing to sacrifice for his or her beliefs is worthy of admiration at any time - except, of course, JD beliefs.

The two of them were silent for a moment. Laplani quickly adjusted his expression and continued to report to Chen Chen:

"Sir, the situation in the city is basically stable at the moment."

"After confirming that we don't need to participate in the defense, we have already allocated most of our forces to the security work within the city."

“Although there are still JD elements active in the city, they are largely defeated and order has been restored.”

"Next, we will continue to eliminate the JD elements in the city."

"I don't want to hear that."

Chen Chen interrupted Laplani's lengthy report and asked directly:

"How many JD members have been identified in the city so far? Where are their locations?"

"Have you monitored them in advance? If immediate action is needed against them, what level of intelligence granularity can you provide?"

After Chen Chen finished speaking, Laplani was stunned for a moment, then replied:
"There are currently eleven 'dangerous locations' in total, and we can confirm that most of them are JD members."

"We can determine the location, but we cannot determine their firepower and equipment, or whether there are any civilians being held hostage."

"No way."

Chen Chen interrupted Laplani again and asked:
"Don't you know? JDism is highly exclusive. Where it exists, there can be no normal residents."

"So, you don't have to hesitate at all."

"Give me the location and we'll take care of it."

"understand!"

Laplanie breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, how could he not know what Chen Chen was talking about?
There is only one reason why we haven't dealt with those so-called "dangerous places" until now.

That is, maintaining stability.

He did not dare to detonate the mine when the war was approaching, because he was worried that the instability in the city would lead to the complete collapse of the Raqqa defense line.

But now it's good, the battle on the main battlefield is over.

It is indeed time to get rid of all those "viruses".

Thinking of this, Laplani continued to ask:
"How do we need to cooperate?"

"unnecessary."

Chen Chen shook his head decisively, then turned to Li Bang and ordered:
"Notify the artillery company to move to the outskirts of Raqqa, occupy advantageous positions, and establish artillery positions."

"After you get the exact location, use 120mm mortars and 155mm howitzers to blow up all the suspicious locations!"

(End of this chapter)