Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 208 Conflict Renewed
The Democratic Republic of Congo's regular army performed poorly, exhibiting slow response and low combat capability during the mercenary assassination attempt on the president.

In contrast, the guards trained by Chinese instructors, though only three or four hundred strong, impressed him with their spirit and combat skills when faced with emergencies. This prompted President Kara to make up his mind to carry out military reforms.

His original idea was to discuss it with Vice President Benba and then carry out military reforms nationwide. However, Benba's thinking was extremely traditional. In his mind, more people meant easier things to do, and that everyone, young or old, was a fighting force once they picked up a gun.

He was very unhappy when he heard that Kara wanted to eliminate the old and weak and keep only the elite, maintaining only 2 to 3 main force troops nationwide.

Isn't this reducing his own military power?

Kara also had her own difficulties, namely, that the country could no longer support so many soldiers.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's strength on paper seems impressive, with an army of over 100,000, as well as an air force and armored units. However, in reality, very few of its troops are capable of being deployed in combat. In particular, its air force and armored units are not only outdated but also poorly maintained, resulting in their weapons being in very poor condition.

The consequences of a war with neighboring countries would be unimaginable.

But Benba's strong opposition led him to abandon the nationwide reforms and instead choose to build a separate army.

In this regard, he trusted the Chinese instructors very much, and after consulting with the Chinese side, he first carried out a large-scale recruitment campaign in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Unlike in the past, the core principle of this recruitment is to ensure quality over quantity. All applicants must meet strict age and height requirements, and the Chinese side has been invited to intervene and supervise the entire recruitment process. Anyone who engages in fraudulent activities will be severely punished.

To Chen Jiang's surprise, even though there was no compensation offered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a large number of people were still willing to sign up.

Upon closer investigation, it was discovered that this was mainly because the Democratic Republic of Congo was too poor, and most people couldn't even solve their basic needs for food and clothing. Since soldiers could provide meals, wasn't that enough?

In just a few days, the number of applicants reached over 100,000, and recruiters carefully selected more than 10,000 from this pool.
This is not the end. Later, there will be simple training and physical examinations, which will eliminate a large number of people. In the end, only 5000 people will be left. These people will be organized into two regiments to form the first mechanized brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Why can only such a small army be formed?

Kara's finances can only support this many people; any more and he'll go bankrupt.

In addition, he also hopes to equip his air force and army with new military equipment. From the perspective of international arms trade, the only country that can meet his requirements and offer good quality at a low price is probably the great Eastern power.

Therefore, he proposed to Yuan Guoxing that he wanted to purchase 4-6 J-7PG fighter jets, plus a batch of army equipment and ammunition.

The J-7PG fighter jet is my country's export version, featuring a double delta wing with front and rear maneuvering flaps and an integrated windshield. It has a 30mm cannon at the root of each wing. This fighter jet has actually been gradually phased out in China because it lacks beyond-visual-range combat capabilities. However, in Africa, it is more than capable of performing air suppression missions.

After all, most African countries do not have a modern air force.

Another very important reason is that the J-7PG fighter jet is really cheap, and the maintenance and upkeep costs are acceptable to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Chen Jiang and his men certainly didn't have the energy to train these new recruits, so the guards who had already been trained were transformed into junior officers and assigned to the new army, which gave the new army a resemblance to the Chinese army.

Chen Jiang had no time to worry about these things; his attention was now drawn to the riots in Matadi in the south.

A massive riot broke out there out of nowhere, forcing Guo Baoqing, who was in charge of the construction team at the port, to halt work. Everyone held their ground at the temporary construction site, but more and more rioters were eyeing the site with hostility. The question of whether to open fire and whether to hold them off were major concerns should an incident occur.

Mayor Engwara is requesting support from the government forces, but Vice President Benba is making exorbitant demands, proposing to formally take over the defense of Matadi. This infuriates Engwara, but the new army on Kara's side is not ready, and it is unrealistic to rashly deploy it.

Therefore, Kara had no choice but to seek help from peacekeeping forces of various countries, hoping that they could send troops to quell the riots.

Although there are quite a few peacekeeping forces stationed here, only the South African troops are likely to have sufficient combat capability. The South African National Defence Force has long been stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is quite large. Other UN peacekeeping forces are basically not armed. For example, China has a company-sized peacekeeping force, which is already considered quite good.

Therefore, the Kara government had no choice but to turn to South Africa for help, hoping that the other side could send troops to quell the unrest. Although South Africa is also an African nation, it is quite familiar with the business of taking advantage of chaos. After making a series of demands, it finally sent a team of about 3000 people.

As a military and economic powerhouse in Africa, South Africa has always had a strong military, especially its army. Its main equipment includes more than 200 Horn main battle tanks. Of course, it is impossible to get such heavy equipment from the Central African Republic, but it does have some light armored vehicles.

They believed that the equipment was more than sufficient to deal with the rioters.

However, the situation developed in a way that was somewhat unexpected. Due to the intervention of the South African army, the riot became increasingly difficult to control. Rumors spread that the South African army had come to T City, and these rumors became increasingly exaggerated, eventually forming a powerful force of resistance.

One night, when the South African army was caught off guard, tens of thousands of rioters, led by a "vanguard" force armed with a variety of weapons, stormed into the enemy camp.

The attack caused heavy losses to the South African National Defence Force, which abandoned a large amount of weapons and equipment, and hundreds of people were captured alive. The rioters escalated into rebels, and their strength grew to an unprecedented level.

In order to allow the prisoners of war to return, South Africa was forced to make concessions, which gave international public opinion a new understanding of South Africa's military strength.

"Pigs, a bunch of stupid pigs!" Kara cursed furiously in her mansion. "Even 3000 pigs wouldn't be scattered and defeated so easily!"

Kara's anger was half genuine and half an act for Yuan Guoxing's benefit.

After learning about the situation of the South African army, Kara sought help from the UN peacekeeping forces while also pinning her hopes on China.

But despite the large number of people at the United Nations, they can't make decisions. Everyone has their own agenda, and no one is willing to put in the effort, so the chances are very slim.

On the other hand, Kara understood that although this unit was only a battalion in size, its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. If the other side was willing to intervene, there might still be hope.

Having worked in diplomacy for so many years, Yuan Guoxing had seen it all. He saw through Kara's little scheme at a glance, so he just drank his tea and pretended not to understand.

This greatly worried Kara. Ngowara had made several calls for help, but the city's security forces were simply insufficient. Moreover, the other side had captured some of the South African Army's equipment, so how could he possibly contend with them?

Now they can only hold on desperately in a few municipal buildings. If pushed too far, he might just defect to Benba.

"Mr. Ambassador, do you think the Chinese side could..." Having no other choice, he could only shamelessly beg Yuan Guoxing.

“Oh, Mr. President, it’s not that we’re unwilling to provide assistance. As you know, we only have one company, which isn’t even enough to defend our own camp. Our engineer battalion is still trapped in Matadi and is waiting for you to send troops to rescue us.”

Kara was at a loss for words. Yuan Guoxing was telling the truth. People always have to leave some men to guard their homes, so the forces they can send out are even fewer. How could they send out such a small force to fight against so many armed rebels?
That's really asking too much of people.

But he has no other choice now.
“Mr. Ambassador, as long as your country is willing to help, any conditions are negotiable.” Kara steeled his heart, knowing he could only offer tangible benefits in exchange. Of course, he also knew that the other party was a major Eastern power and would never make exorbitant demands like the Western powers. As long as the conditions were acceptable, he would agree.

After discussing it, Yuan Guoxing did not agree immediately. Such an important matter definitely needed to be reported, but he already had a plan in mind.

When Chen Jiang learned of this news, his brows furrowed immediately.

"Commander S, it is our duty to send our Seventh Company out to rescue the brothers of the engineer battalion, but we are afraid we are not up to the task of quelling the unrest here."

"Of course I know we don't have enough manpower. Apart from at least one platoon to guard the base, we can only send two platoons at most, which is indeed a bit too few. But headquarters has already sent a telegram with just eight words: 'Rescue as appropriate, keep the mission in mind.'"

Chen Jiang pondered these eight profound words repeatedly. They seemed to be contradictory orders, but the key was in the last four words.

What mission should we keep in mind?
They came here for peacekeeping, which, as the name suggests, means maintaining peace and stability.

Since that's the case, the message from above is clear: they must send troops. But Chen Jiang isn't a fool; he can't possibly lead his brothers to their deaths. Even if each of them has Chen Jiang's skills, sending just two rows of men to attack is likely to result in a grim outcome.

Therefore, he had to change his approach.

"Commander S, I can go on the mission, but I have one condition!"

Somewhere in Matadi at this time, Rek was cleaning his captured R4 series assault rifle. This was an automatic rifle developed by South Africa that fired 5.56mm ammunition. Its purpose was to replace the Belgian-made FN FAL 7.62mm automatic rifle previously used by the South African National Defence Force. It is said that the design of the R4 assault rifle was also inspired by the Israeli Galil automatic rifle.

Reck had never used this type of automatic rifle before, but he performed exceptionally well during the night raid that day, throwing two grenades into the tents of the sleeping South African soldiers, and then going in to pick up what looked to be the best-looking gun.

Another important reason why Reck was interested in it was that it could be fed with a 50-round magazine specially made in South Africa, which was definitely sufficient for ammunition supply. Although it was a bit heavy, Reck had a lot of brute strength, so he didn't care about the weight.

Looking around, his group of laborers, whom he had brought with him, had all been upgraded to rifles and even heavy machine guns. After several battles, they had become the elite main force among the rebels.

Since they are elite personnel, their treatment will definitely be a priority.

These past two days have been filled with delicious food and drinks, making everyone very happy, especially with the addition of several girls. The brothers spent a joyful night together, suddenly feeling that life was truly colorful. To borrow the words of one of the skinny guys: "If I had known I could live such a good life, who would have wanted to work as a lowly port laborer?"

"Boss Lei, are we going to attack the Chinese peacekeeping forces' territory tomorrow? I heard there's a lot of good stuff there." One of his men looked greedily into the distance.

"Hehe, the stuff is good, but you'll have to be alive to break through!" Rex had witnessed Chen Jiang's methods and knew that these Chinese were not easy to deal with, but since the order had already been given, he just had to carry it out. Anyway, they had plenty of people, and if they didn't attack and wear them down, it would be a waste of food.

He glanced at the refugee camp in the distance. Those people were all old, weak, sick, and disabled, essentially their cannon fodder. No matter how powerful an army is, bullets are always limited. Once their ammunition is exhausted, they will go up and pick up the ready-made ones. This is a very reliable tactic!
Lei Ke's words actually make a lot of sense; Guo Baoqing is very panicked right now.
Although he was a major, he had never commanded a real battle. He mainly focused on coordinating infrastructure construction, and the soldiers under his command were far inferior to those of the Seventh Company in terms of training.

Based on yesterday's observations, there were clearly more refugees around their camp; even an idiot would know what the other side was up to.

Therefore, Guo Baoqing did not dare to delay for a moment. He ordered everyone to take turns on duty, concentrated the allocation of ammunition and food, used all the relevant engineering equipment as defensive shelters, actively allocated light and heavy firepower, and also asked Chen Jiang for help.

Chen Jiang's reply was somewhat vague, but one belief was always conveyed: he would never abandon his brothers in the engineering battalion.

After a busy night, the refugees finally began to gather the following morning.
The other side was very organized, having someone shout in English to show that they had no malicious intent and that as long as the Chinese peacekeeping troops handed over their weapons and equipment, they would not make things difficult for anyone and would allow them to leave freely.

But would Guo Baoqing fall for it?

The 5000-year history of the Chinese nation has not been in vain. Our ancestors taught us through bloody lessons that only by holding the knife in our own hands can we avoid being slaughtered by others.

After seeing that their attempts to persuade the Chinese peacekeeping troops to surrender had failed, they were instead asked to leave.

So the refugees shouted slogans and began to charge towards the engineers' camp.

Guo Baoqing was so nervous that his back was soaked with sweat. He forced himself to remain calm and shouted, "Comrades, conserve your bullets, fire at close range, and no bursts allowed!"

(End of this chapter)