Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 1293 Bystanders understand
Baiji, formerly the oil company building, is now the city defense command center.

The LCD screen occupied an entire wall, displaying more than a dozen different images—real-time drone video, electronic signal heat maps, and intelligence summaries of the Titrick theater obtained from various sources.

In front of the screen, Song Heping sat in a large leather office chair, his legs casually propped up on another low stool.

He held a cup of still-steaming green tea in his hand, with wisps of white steam rising from the rim.

His desert camouflage combat uniform was open at the collar, revealing a black tactical T-shirt underneath, and he looked as relaxed as if he were watching a ball game at home on the weekend.

Jiang Feng sat next to him, holding an unlit cigarette in his hand, idly twirling it between his fingers.

His eyes were fixed on the largest image in the center of the screen, which was an aerial view of the Titrick battlefield transmitted by high-altitude drones operated by a drone team deployed near Titrick.

The footage shows the brickyard area in the northwestern suburbs of Titrick shrouded in smoke and fire.

Vehicles and people, about the size of ants, could be vaguely seen moving and exchanging fire among the ruins, and several main roads leading in and out were blocked by burning debris.

Further out, in the desert area southeast of the city, a long string of small black dots is crawling towards the urban area along the dry riverbed.

"The technology in Huaqiangbei is really impressive!"

After watching for a while, Jiang Feng laughed.

"This thing doesn't reach military grade, but it seems pretty good. The screen resolution is okay, and the height is passable, but the anti-interference capability needs to be improved."

“Hmm…” Song Heping said thoughtfully, “I’ll have to contact Lao Yao later and give him more technical advice. By the way… did the Americans give us drones in that batch of equipment? Disassemble the parts and have Ferrari find a way to send them back so they can study them and make a copy.”

"Okay, no problem, I'll take care of it." Jiang Feng picked up his lighter, lit a cigarette with a snap, exhaled a puff of smoke, looked at it for a moment, and then said:

"Tsk tsk, look at this setup."

He tapped the screen with his cigarette. "Colonel Kurt's 'balance beam' attempt has backfired spectacularly. He's already fallen right into the mud on his first try. I'm curious which military academy he attended. Could he have graduated from West Point?"

His tone was full of teasing.

No wonder Jiang Feng looks down on it.

A dignified U.S. Army colonel was completely outmaneuvered by Song Heping.

Song Heping only attended the training brigade, he never went to a military academy!
Song Heping took a sip of tea, his eyes never leaving the screen: "Intelligence failure is the original sin. We thought Titrick only had 12,000 remnants left, but it turns out they had at least 30,000, and even had reserves hidden."

"Look here."

Jiang Feng leaned forward, pointing to the edge of the brick factory area, "The 1515 pickup truck charge... that's a really brutal tactic."

In the footage, waves of pickup trucks can be clearly seen pouring out from the direction of the city, rushing towards the Kold's defenses at an almost suicidal speed.

Although many vehicles were destroyed during the charge, subsequent vehicles did not slow down, smashing through the wreckage and continuing their advance, eventually successfully wedging themselves into the defensive line, leading to a complete melee between the two sides.

"Brutal, but effective."

Song Heping put down his teacup and put his hands behind his head. “Look at the timing of their charge—it was right at the moment when the first wave of American air strikes ended and the planes were returning to resupply. This is no coincidence.”

“There’s a master directing things from behind.” Jiang Feng narrowed his eyes. “Amad… I haven’t heard of that name before. But judging from these moves, he’s much stronger than that Az.”

Song Heping nodded and shifted his gaze to the other corner of the screen.

There was a blurry but recognizable video showing several modified trucks briefly stopping in the desert, raising cannons in the cargo bed, firing a burst of shots, and then driving away immediately. The whole process took no more than five minutes.

"Mobile artillery, hit and run," Song Heping said. "We're familiar with this tactic; they used it on us last time too."

Jiang Feng laughed: "That's right, I didn't expect it to be used on Kurt now. Fighter jets are no match for drones when dealing with this thing."

"War is the best teacher." Song Heping said calmly, "Look at their artillery targets—they don't pursue the number of casualties, but specifically target Kold's second echelon assembly points and command nodes. This is a typical 'disruption' tactic, aimed at delaying the deployment of the enemy's follow-up troops and disrupting the command rhythm."

On the screen, the display switched to an infrared thermal imaging feed.

As can be seen, about two kilometers northeast of the brick factory, a convoy of Kold's reinforcements was forced to stop, and the soldiers dispersed and took cover.

Clearly, they evacuated because they were threatened with shelling.

"Kurt must be having a real headache right now."

Jiang Feng chuckled gloatingly, “Air superiority is useless, artillery dares not bomb indiscriminately, and ground troops are tied up… His theory of ‘information flow guiding firepower’ is a bit out of place in the face of their ‘human mixer’ tactics.”

Song Heping did not laugh.

He stared intently at the screen, as if he were solving a complex math problem.

"Kurt made three mistakes."

He spoke slowly, his voice as calm as if he were reviewing a battle: "First, we relied too much on technical reconnaissance and underestimated the enemy's battlefield deception capabilities. 1515 clearly used decoys, radio silence, and dispersed concealment to successfully hide its true strength."

"Second, the tactical setup was too rigid. The 'balance beam' plan was designed to be too 'perfect' at every step, assuming that the enemy would follow his script. But war is not a drill, and the opponent will not cooperate with you."

“Third,” Song Heping paused, “he was too eager to replicate the ‘surgical’ model that the US military used in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early days, but he forgot that Titrick is a large enough city with complex urban and ruined environments. Here, the technological advantage would be diluted by the terrain.”

Jiang Feng nodded: "So, do you think 1515 can win? I mean, can they completely repel Kurt's attack?"

Song Heping remained silent for a few seconds.

The screen switched to a simulated situation map of the "outpost" command center—this was reconstructed through electronic reconnaissance and signal analysis, and although not precise, it gave a general idea.

The blue icon is squeezed by the red one, and the battle line appears as an unstable jagged edge.

"At this first stage, 1515 has a slight advantage."

Song Heping said, "They dragged the battle into close-quarters melee, which they were good at. Moreover, they had a numerical advantage and high morale... judging from those 'flying cavalry' suicidal charges, their morale was terrifyingly high."

"But Kurt still has cards to play."

Jiang Feng said, "Thunder Defense's mercenaries haven't been fully committed to the battle yet. Although their air power is temporarily limited, as long as the battle lines can be stretched out a little, the F-16s and Apaches can still inflict devastating damage. Moreover, although the Kold'd forces are stunned, they still have 6,000 men. Once they recover and are supported by American air power, they can still launch a counterattack..."

"So the key is what happens next."

Song Heping continued, "If 1515 can maintain pressure and force the Koldeid Line to collapse completely, then Kort will have no choice but to retreat; otherwise, the two thousand men from Thunder Defense will also have to be deployed. But if Kort can stabilize the front line, even if they temporarily retreat to regroup, and wait for the air force to reorganize, they can gradually wear down 1515's forces through continuous bombing..."

He didn't finish speaking, but his meaning was clear.

Jiang Feng suddenly asked a question: "So... what's our next step?"

The command center was silent for a few seconds.

Song Heping picked up the teacup and watched the tea leaves floating in the cup slowly sink.

"Strategically speaking, it is definitely more advantageous for us if 1515 wins."

His tone was as flat as plain water.

"But if 1515 wins too easily and preserves its strength too well, it may become a problem for us in the future."

Jiang Feng reminded him.

“So,” Song Heping put down his teacup, a cold smile playing on his lips, “everything has to be kept in balance, not too much, not too little, just right.”

He turned to Jiang Feng: "Send an encrypted message to Samir in Mosul. Tell him to 'relax' his surveillance of the southeast passage to Titrick. If... if 1515 shows signs of defeat in the next few days and needs more reinforcements, let some of them 'naturally infiltrate' over."

Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow: "Continue to release water?"

“It’s not about letting them win,” Song Heping corrected. “It’s about maintaining the balance of power on the battlefield. Kurt needs a ‘difficult but ultimately victorious’ battle to prove themselves, and 1515 needs a battle of ‘heroic resistance but ultimately a strategic retreat’ to preserve its strength and morale. And what about us…”

He pointed to the war-torn city on the screen. "...We need them to keep fighting, to wear each other down, but we can't let them finish too quickly, just as Kurt had previously thought about us."

Jiang Feng understood.

He took out his encrypted satellite phone and began editing the message.

As his fingers tapped on the keyboard, he suddenly chuckled: "If Kurt knew we were so leisurely 'controlling' his battlefield, he'd probably be furious."

“He should be glad,” Song Heping sneered. “At least we’re just bystanders now, not the ones who end up on the field.”

In the center of the screen, the smoke and dust over Titrick thickened even more.

A new pillar of fire rose from somewhere in the city; it was unclear which side had ignited it.

The war continues.

In this command center far from the battlefield, two students from Dongda University drank tea and, like chess players, deduced a game of chess hundreds of miles away.

Calm to the point of being indifferent.

At the same time, the "outpost" command center.

Colonel Kurt stood in front of the communications station, making his third attempt to contact the theater joint command to request emergency intelligence support and air fire coordination.

The officer on duty at the other end of the line spoke politely but insincerely, repeating platitudes such as "Your request has been recorded and will be reported as soon as possible."

He knew this meant there would be no substantial reinforcements or tactical guidance for at least several hours.

He put down the microphone and walked back to the main screen.

The situation map on the screen has changed again—the blue icon representing the Kold's forces has a noticeable indentation in the southwest corner of the brickyard area.

There was a company-level unit that reported more than half of its personnel killed or wounded and was being forced to retreat and regroup.

"Sir, Alpha Company reports that they have arrived at Hunter Heights and are establishing defensive positions."

Major James walked over and reported, "Bravo is expected to arrive in fifteen minutes."

Kote nodded without saying a word. His gaze was fixed on the constantly scrolling casualty figures in the corner of the screen.

Kold's forces: 187 dead/missing, 341 wounded in action.

Thunder Defense: 9 dead, 22 wounded in action.

Confirmed destruction of 47 enemy vehicles (39 pickup trucks and 8 trucks).

Confirmed enemy casualties: approximately 330-480 (estimated).

The exchange ratio looks good, even quite good.

But Kurt knew that behind these numbers lay a more serious reality: the morale of the Kold's troops was declining, their organization was being disrupted, and their command efficiency was decreasing.

And the enemy...

They seem completely unconcerned about casualties.

He recalled the figures he saw in the drone footage, shirtless, standing in the back of pickup trucks firing wildly, and the drivers who knew there was a hail of bullets ahead but still floored the accelerator.

"Sir, the latest update from the Ozam direction."

The intelligence analyst turned his head. "General Saif, commander of the 9th Armored Division, has just ordered his artillery units to conduct an enhanced artillery barrage on position 1515 on the outskirts of Ozam. But... the ground forces have not yet launched a large-scale assault."

Kurt gave a cold laugh.

"Enhanced artillery preparation"? It's just for show. Saif is using the bare minimum to appease his "request" while avoiding actually getting his troops into a tough fight.

bureaucracy.

politician.

coward.

He mentally labeled the Ilig government army division commander with three tags.

"Never mind him."

Kurt waved his hand, as if shooing away an annoying fly, "We'll rely on ourselves."

He walked to the tactical map, picked up the electronic stylus, and began to outline new defensive lines and fire support points around the brick factory area.

"Order 'Alpha' Company to deploy at least two M2 heavy machine guns and one Javelin anti-tank missile system on 'Hunter' Heights, with their firing arc covering the open area southwest of the brick factory. 'Bravo' Company's sniper team to advance to this position—"

He marked a point on the map and said, "Establish a concealed observation post to closely monitor areas where the enemy may gather personnel and vehicles."

"As for the Kold's forces, they are instructed to consolidate their forces as much as possible, abandon any salients that cannot be held, and tighten their defensive lines. The key is to hold these transportation hubs and high ground."

"artillery……"

He paused, then said, "Move the M777 position forward three kilometers, but be prepared to relocate at any time. I suspect the 1515 mobile artillery will continue to harass us. If our positions are exposed, they are likely to retaliate."

One instruction after another was issued in an orderly manner.

The officers in the command center sprang into action, the sounds of keyboards, communications, and the turning of maps and papers blending together into a tense rhythm.

After giving his orders, Kurt got out of the car and looked at the distant sky.

Although it was already late afternoon and approaching dusk, the sky outside was still bright, and the sky in the direction of Titrick had been stained grayish-yellow by the smog.

He suddenly recalled something an old professor had said many years ago in a West Point classroom:
"Gentlemen, always remember: the most dangerous thing in war is not the strength of the enemy, but your own arrogance. Arrogance will make you underestimate your opponent, overestimate yourself, and then... step into the pit you dug yourself."

He was sitting in the audience at the time, unimpressed.

He believed in technology, in training, and in the military power of the United States, believing it could crush any disobedient enemy.

Now, standing in a mobile command vehicle in the Iraqi desert, watching his meticulously planned offensive sink into a quagmire, he suddenly understood the meaning of that sentence.

arrogant.

It's deadly!

His arrogance towards the 1515 armed forces, his arrogance towards the accuracy of intelligence, and his arrogance towards his own tactical designs.

This arrogance has now turned into the blood shed by soldiers on the front lines.

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The first phase of the "Balance Beam" project failed.

But the war is not over yet.

He needs to correct mistakes, adjust tactics, and stabilize the front line.

Then, find the weakness of Ahmed, the adversary hiding in the underground of Titrick.

This battle is far from over; it's time to admit defeat.

　Three chapters today, over 10,000 words. Please vote for me! Please vote for me!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)