Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 777 Entering Somalia

Ten o'clock at night.

Alamo, a small border town in western Somalia.

The jeep's tires rolled over the craters on the asphalt road, and the foul smell of gunpowder seeped in through the gaps in the windows.

Song Heping lowered the car window and saw vultures perched on the abandoned tank barrel on the side of the road. The words "AL-SHABAAB" were painted in white paint on the rusted armor.

“After this checkpoint, you will enter the Puntland-controlled area.”

Noura wiped the slide of her SIG Sauer pistol with her headscarf.

In the rearview mirror, three teenage soldiers armed with AK-47s were dancing around a burning truck. One of the children was wearing Nike sneakers.

Song Heping's thumb slid across the tactical tablet. The thermal imaging map showed that there were blocks of blocks ahead, and to pass through here, he would definitely have to pass through a checkpoint.

The situation in Somalia is very dire at the moment.

It was a mess everywhere.

The entire country is basically in a state of anarchy.

There are hundreds of armed factions of all sizes in the country, and hundreds of larger ones.

In some places, even a leader can lead a hundred or so people to divide the territory and rule it, occupying the mountain and charging tolls to everyone who passes through his territory.

It would be fine if you could pay some tolls.

If you can't hand it over and still complain, you may lose your life.

At a checkpoint they had passed before, Song Heping and Nura witnessed with their own eyes that when the car in front of them was being inspected, militants took a fancy to the other car and demanded that the other party get out of the car and hand it over so that they could pass. The driver just retorted a few words and was shot in the head.

The militants dragged the body out of the car as if it were a dead gazelle, then drove away whistling...

"Are Saga's people reliable?"

Song Heping raised a question.

“He owes me two lives.”

Noura swerved to avoid the body in the middle of the road.

An unopened first aid kit was still hanging around the body's waist, and swarms of green flies formed black whirlpools on the exposed abdominal cavity.

In front of the tin shed at the checkpoint, militants with Mohawk hair knocked on car windows with gun barrels.

Song Heping noticed the gold-plated bullet necklace around his neck - the emblem of the Puntland Coast Guard.

"Huh? Egyptian?" The militant flipped through Song Heping's fake passport suspiciously, and suddenly put a gun to Song Heping's temple: "Brother, you don't look like an Egyptian at all!"

The air in the car froze instantly.

Noura's hand quietly slid towards the Vektor SP1 submachine gun under the seat, but she heard Song Heping's reply in Arabic with a Yunnan accent: "I'm of Egyptian Chinese descent and a salesperson for a tea factory. I'm here to sell tea to an old friend. His name is Saga. If you don't believe me, I can call him. Come and listen."

As he said this, he took out a can of black tea from the cardboard box at his feet and handed it over.

"Look, this is the tea I bought from China. I'm giving it to you. Please try it."

The traditional drink in Somalia is camel milk, while some nomadic peoples in the north like to entertain guests with tea, and the Dikhil and Rahanwein peoples serve guests green coffee beans cooked in ghee.

Therefore, tea is also a very popular commodity here.

The militant opened the can, reached in, grabbed a handful of tea leaves, sniffed them, and suddenly grinned, revealing his gold teeth: "Ha! Better than the camel urine in Mogadishu!"

As he waved to let them go, Song Heping's eyes caught sight of the Al Jazeera news being broadcast in the shed. The militants gathered in front of the TV had cloth bands tied around their heads, dressed exactly like the members of the "Puntland" organization who had attacked the fishing village in the Sinai Peninsula before.

Two hours later, Song Heping and Nura finally arrived at Saga's territory.

Saga had previously said he lived in a villa, had over 14.6 men under his command, and controlled a square kilometer territory. Petty warlords like him were common in Somalia, as lowly as pebbles on the ground.

Moreover, such small armed organizations will be swallowed up by other rising large armed organizations in a minute, and the leaders will either obey and become dogs or be beheaded.

Therefore, Saga has a strong sense of crisis.

This time, when Saga heard that Nura was going to introduce him to a large arms dealer who could provide him with a steady supply of arms, he agreed to meet him.

After all, in Somalia, where there are guns, there are people, and where there are guns, there is power.

This is the jungle. You either become a beast or become food. There is no other choice.

When they arrived at the place, Song Heping realized that Saga's "villa" was actually an abandoned former private hospital. It had been abandoned long ago and was in a dilapidated state. Fortunately, the place was large and had many buildings, which could accommodate him and his two hundred minions.

After informing the sentry of their identities, Song Heping and Nura soon met Saga on the second floor. After some polite exchanges, they got down to business.

“Are you crazy?”

Saga smashed the whiskey glass on the military map.

This little warlord has a prosthetic left eye and his right knuckles are covered with scars.

These are the "glorious achievements" he left behind when he was someone else's minion before he became famous.

"You actually want to kill Abdul? Do you know how many people there are in 'Puntland'? There are 23 armored vehicles alone! Each armored vehicle is equipped with a Soviet-made mm anti-aircraft gun on the top!"

His artificial eye glowed an eerie blue in the dim light.

Song Heping probably understood.

The 23mm anti-aircraft gun he mentioned should be the ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun.

This thing is a classic twin-barreled 20mm anti-aircraft gun designed and trial-produced by the former Soviet Union in the 50s, and finalized and put into production in the early 60s.

This thing can defend against low-altitude aircraft. The gun body consists of two parallel 23mm caliber automatic cannons installed on the ZU-14 double-barreled gun mount.

The artillery part adopts the 2A14 model. The total length of a single gun is 2555 mm, the weight is 75 kg, and the barrel length is 1880 mm.

The gun uses a transverse automatic mechanism and has a high rate of fire. The theoretical rate of fire of a single barrel can reach 800-1000 rounds per minute, and the total rate of fire of a double barrel is even more amazing, which can quickly form a dense firepower network.

Many armed groups in Africa use this outdated weapon mounted on vehicles for horizontal firing, and its power is quite astonishing here.

"Do you think Abdul is more powerful, or is the Mossad, the CIA, or Colonel Damar of South Sudan more powerful?"

Nura silently called up the video on the tablet computer - the moment Colonel Damar's skull was ripped open by the bullet, Song Heping was standing in front of him.

But Saga threw the tablet to the ground: "I don't know what's going on over there, but here, if you plan to attack him on the 15th, don't even think about leaving Mogadishu alive. Do you know what's going on that day? There will be thousands of armed groups from all over Somalia there. This rally was organized by Abdul. He wants to take the opportunity to integrate all the armed groups into the 'Puntland' armed forces, understand? No matter how powerful you are, are you as powerful as the American Delta Force and Rangers back then? You want to kill Abdul at a gathering of thousands of armed men? Are you crazy or am I crazy? You still want to join forces with me?!"

Song Heping pointed to the jeep outside.

"Send your men to the car and get the large box hidden under the back seat."

Saga glanced at Song Heping suspiciously, then ordered his men: "Go and bring the things in!"

Soon, the big box was brought in front of them.

Song Heping opened the box and found an M72 rocket launcher and a rocket inside.

"I can provide you with two hundred of these."

His tone was as calm as if he were discussing the dinner menu.

"How many armored vehicles did you say Abdul had?"

(End of this chapter)