Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 188: A soldier never tires of deceit
Upon reaching a safe area, Chen Jiang immediately ordered everyone to quickly inspect the vehicles, and he and Jiang Fahui, among others, hurriedly discussed their next course of action.

"Battalion Commander, we're not far from our target location, but how are we going to find the Blue Army's fuel supply base on this vast grassland?" Jiang Fahui looked at the huge map, seemingly at a loss.

Although the grassland offers a panoramic view, it is indeed too vast and sparsely populated. Finding a place would be like "finding a needle in a haystack," but this method would undoubtedly disperse the fighting strength of the Seventh Company.

Chen Jiang didn't have a particularly good solution. His original plan was to break up the troops into smaller groups and conduct small-scale reconnaissance after arriving nearby, which would increase the probability of finding the target. But now he had a deep worry.

Once forces are dispersed, it becomes extremely difficult to concentrate attacks on enemy supply bases.

After all, they're not stupid. Once they discover his small force, they'll quickly figure out the Red Army's intentions and then strengthen the defenses of the base. Wouldn't that be like trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead?

After reviewing the battle report sent to me by the regiment, I learned that the Blue Army had launched an attack with the help of foreign forces, including the Russian army, and that the foreign forces, with the help of early warning aircraft, had carried out a comprehensive suppression of the Red Army's air force.

The Su-series fighter jets purchased by the Red Army had no secrets whatsoever. Without fighter jets to seize air superiority, the army aviation helicopters dared not take to the skies. No matter how powerful the attack helicopters were, they were no match for fighter jets.
Without air cover, the Red Army's armored forces were unable to exert their full power, and the battle situation became extremely precarious.

"Falcon, Falcon, this is Vulture. Have you found any trace of the rabbit?" Long Kaifeng kept urging Chen Jiang to achieve the mission objective as soon as possible through code words.

But this is easier said than done?

“Vulture, vulture, this is Falcon. We haven’t found anything yet, but we’re already on the move.”

After ending his call with the regimental headquarters, Chen Jiang immediately hid the vehicle in a secluded spot and then dispatched a crack team to investigate the situation.

As it turned out, He Chenguang and his team actually discovered something.

The report claims that a Blue Army tank awaiting rescue was found by the side of a highway.

He Chenguang did not act rashly, but promptly reported the situation to Chen Jiang.

Chen Jiang was shocked to hear this, because this was actually a remote place, so what reason would the Blue Army have to deploy armored forces here?

What model of tank is it?

He Chenguang had never served in a tank unit and had only seen a very limited number of tank models, but he had an excellent memory. When Chen Jiang asked, he immediately found paper and pen and, right in front of Chen Jiang and the others, quickly sketched out the appearance of the tank.

"This is..." Chen Jiang was surprised that he couldn't immediately identify this model number.

"This is the T-72 main battle tank from Russia!" Tang Xinyi was a graduate of a proper military academy and was very familiar with the performance parameters of the main battle equipment of various military powers. Therefore, she could tell at a glance that this tank was different from the model used in China.

"Are you sure?" Chen Jiang was still a little uneasy when he saw that there was no Russian army insignia on it. If it was wrong, there would be a big problem.

Tang Xinyi replied with a hint of pride, "Of course I can confirm that although our country's tanks are based on and developed from the tanks of the Soviet Union, there are many obvious differences. For example, this T-72 tank is designed in accordance with the Soviet Union's consistent combat philosophy, with no regard for the comfort of the tank crew. It is purely for the purpose of reducing the height of the tank turret, so it appears particularly low."

"One more thing, did you see the explosive reactive armor on its front? This is a simple and crude method used by the Russians to improve the protection of this tank at the lowest cost. In reality, its defense is not improved by much, and our country's main battle tanks don't even bother to equip such things."

Hearing Tang Xinyi speak so eloquently, Chen Jiang couldn't help but applaud her, truly a top student in the military!

However, now that we know the other side has foreign tanks, another question arises: what should we do?
When it comes to foreign tanks, they have two major problems: first, they lack anti-tank weapons; second, the two sides cannot communicate in the same language. These are both extremely troublesome issues.

“They have main battle tanks, and the surrounding terrain is open and unobstructed. We can’t get close at all. If we fight them head-on, our weapons will only scratch the surface. So we might as well…” Jiang’s first thought was to take a detour if this road is blocked!
“Taking a detour would waste a lot of time, and its location is right in the middle of the road, making it difficult for us to find a way around it,” Wang Yanbing also commented.

At this moment, Li Erniu suddenly spoke up, "Battalion Commander, they are foreigners. If we don't rescue them, won't they starve and die of thirst?"

Li Erniu's words made everyone laugh. He was out on a training exercise and he was worried about the life or death of his opponents. Erniu was too kind.

However, Chen Jiang seized upon the opportunity in his words and excitedly shouted, "I have a plan!"

"What's wrong?" Everyone looked at him, puzzled.

Chen Jiang said excitedly, "This is the first time our exercise has been conducted in cooperation with a foreign military, so can the Russians tell whether we are the Red Army or the Blue Army?"

"Damn, that's right!" Wang Yanbing was excited after Chen Jiang's words hit the nail on the head.

“Hehe,” Chen Jiang said again, “This tank is waiting for rescue there. It’s either out of fuel or has a mechanical failure, but I don’t think this kind of tank is likely to operate alone, so the probability of it running out of fuel is very low. I guess it’s more likely that it broke down and most people just drove away, leaving it here to wait for rescue.”

Hearing this, everyone had a pretty good grasp of the situation. He Chenguang followed up on Chen Jiang's words, adding, "Then it will definitely be met by a rescue tow truck or engineering vehicle, and these vehicles usually know the location of the fuel supply base. Right, Battalion Commander?"

"That's right, but we can't afford to wait. Maybe their tanks have enough water and food to last one or two days without any problem? Can we afford to wait that long?"

Hearing Chen Jiang say this, everyone felt it made perfect sense. The Red Army was in a precarious situation and urgently needed their victories to change the course of the war.

"Then we'll disguise ourselves as the Blue Team and approach them?" Jiang Fashi still felt uncertain. "What if they have a password and we don't respond?"

Everyone was taken aback when he said that, but Chen Jiang quickly waved his hand, "Impossible, they can speak Chinese commands?"

"What if they're using commands in a foreign language?" Jiang Fahui laughed as soon as he finished speaking. If it was a foreign language, everyone could just pretend they didn't understand.

Once we get close, things will be much easier.

“It’s alright. I speak the language of the Russian bear. If they are speaking a foreign language password, I have a way to deal with it. Women will lower their guard.”

Tang Xinyi made the final decision.

After discussing the battle plan, everyone immediately got to work without delay.

Chen Jiang ordered his men to remove the Red Army battle flags from the vehicles and replace them all with blue cloth. Then, the men swaggered onto the surface of the infantry fighting vehicle and slowly drove towards the enemy along the road at a speed of 20 miles per hour.

The Russian soldiers inside the tank quickly spotted the slowly approaching infantry fighting vehicle.

But when they saw the small blue flag on the armored infantry fighting vehicle through the tank's periscope, they were somewhat surprised, because the flag was different from the ones they had been given before, but it was definitely blue. They couldn't figure out what was going on.

The hatch on top of the turret opened, and a bearded soldier wearing a tank helmet poked half his body out, watching them warily. Tang Xinyi leaned out and shouted loudly in fluent Russian, "Comrade-in-Chief! What's wrong? Do you need help?"

Upon hearing that someone could speak their language, and that it was a beautiful female soldier at that, the bearded soldier's goodwill towards her instantly increased, and he quickly spoke a string of words in Russian.

Jiang gripped the pistol hidden behind his back nervously, but Tang Xinyi smiled naturally and responded in Russian as well.

"What did he say?" Chen Jiang asked in a low voice.

“He asked us why we were so slow, saying they had been waiting for three hours,” Tang Xinyi explained softly. “They probably mistook us for the troops that came to rescue them.”

He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing had quietly slipped off the other side of the tank and, using the vehicle as cover, were flanking the tank. Li Erniu remained in the vehicle, pretending to check the weapons, but actually ready to provide fire support at any time.

Tang Xinyi continued speaking to the other side in Russian, while the armored vehicle slowly stopped twenty meters away from the tank. This distance was both friendly and would not arouse suspicion.

Suddenly, the other party shouted something. The atmosphere immediately became tense.

“He asked me what the password was,” Tang Xinyi said, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. “I told him I needed to ask my superior for instructions. I couldn’t delay any longer.”

Chen Jiang frowned; he hadn't considered this possibility.

Just then, the enemy's tank turret suddenly started to rotate, clearly aiming at this side!
"Oh no!" Tang Xinyi exclaimed.

It turned out that the other crew member in the tank contacted the base via radio and discovered that there were no lone Blue Army armored infantry fighting vehicles in the area, so these people must be Red Army soldiers in disguise.

"Attack!!!" Chen Jiang shouted.

Almost simultaneously, He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing nimbly climbed onto the rear of the tank, taking advantage of the blind spot in the tank's field of vision.

Seeing that things were not going well, the bearded soldier immediately tried to retreat into the turret and close the hatch.

But He Chenguang reacted quickly and threw the entrenching tool behind him, which got stuck in the hatch opening. Just as the other party was about to push the entrenching tool out, Wang Yanbing had already taken the opportunity to stuff a smoke grenade used in the exercise into it.

With a muffled "boom," thick smoke billowed from every gap in the tank. According to the exercise rules, this meant the tank was completely destroyed.

“Come out! You’ve been ‘destroyed’!” He Chenguang shouted.

The hatch remained completely still.

The passengers inside clearly couldn't understand what He Chenguang was saying.

Chen Jiang made a decisive decision: "Xinyi, tell them that if they don't open the hatch, we'll use explosives!"

Tang Xinyi immediately shouted a warning in Russian. This had an effect; they were only there for work, not to risk their lives.

The hatch slowly opened, and three Russian soldiers, their faces covered in soot, reluctantly crawled out.

"You've violated the exercise rules!" the leading lieutenant protested in heavily accented English. "How dare you impersonate our friendly forces' colors?"

Chen Jiang retorted directly in English: "All's fair in war, your ancestors used this trick to trick us all the time! Now, you are prisoners of war, and I need to know exactly where the Blue Army's fuel supply base is located."

The Russian lieutenant shook his head angrily and said a string of words in Russian.

“He said that according to the exercise rules, they are now ‘corpses’ and it’s impossible for them to tell us any information,” Tang Xinyi translated helplessly.

Chen Jiang was stunned when he heard this, but his mind worked very quickly. "Since they are 'corpses,' then you can get out and we'll search for useful intelligence in the tank ourselves."

Upon hearing Chen Jiang's words, the Russian lieutenant's expression immediately changed.

Their military equipment for this overseas exercise is all top secret. Although this T-72 tank is a relatively old model in Russia and is much weaker than our Type 99A, we absolutely cannot let Chen Jiang and his group visit it.

Otherwise, they will face severe punishment upon returning.

"No, that's impossible!" the Russian lieutenant firmly objected.

Chen Jiang was speechless for a moment. Who cares about your pile of junk?

"Then just tell me the truth, that way we won't have to go in. I'd rather stay inside." Actually, Chen Jiang originally wanted to say that he thought it smelled bad, because men from Russia have a very strong body odor, but considering the partnership between the two countries, he decided to be more cautious.

The three Russian soldiers chattered amongst themselves for a long time before the lieutenant finally said, "We can't tell you anything about the supply base, or we'll all be in trouble. And you can't get inside the tank either, or we'll lodge a strong protest with the exercise command!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jiang was at a loss. He really didn't dare to charge in head-on, as that would definitely be counterproductive.

Imagine, which country's soldiers would allow people from other countries to barge into their tanks and look around?

This could potentially lead to a very serious WJ incident.

"Can I ask a few questions that are unrelated to the exercise?" Just when Chen Jiang was at a loss, Tang Xinyi stepped in again.

"Of course, we can answer any question that doesn't involve military secrets," the lieutenant smiled.

Although Chen Jiang didn't know what Tang Xinyi was up to, he was unlikely to speak without reason.
"Lieutenant, how's your food? I heard the Blue Army is providing you with excellent support."

Hearing that Tang Xinyi's question seemed to have nothing to do with the exercise, the lieutenant could only complain, "Don't even mention it! We don't care about the food or anything, the main problem is that there's no vodka."

Upon hearing this, a young tank soldier couldn't help but complain, "The key issue is that we're not allowed to use open flames. We haven't had barbecue for days."

(End of this chapter)