Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 10 Sultan's armored forces arrive at the outpost

Around 4 p.m., Tabuk's armored forces arrived at the Nukoshir outpost.

As soon as the reconnaissance vehicle in front came to a stop, a burly officer jumped off the armored personnel carrier behind it.

This man had a full beard and looked like a Chechen giant; his forearm was almost as thick as a howitzer barrel.

“Major Bandar bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud,” the man said in a deep voice, extending his hand.

Lu Lin shook the man's hand: "I am Major Amir bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Welcome to Nukoshir Outpost, Major Bandar."

The man looked him up and down, then said in a sarcastic tone, "You really are right, Mr. Amir."

what's the situation?
Even Lu Lin could hear the resentment in the man's tone. Did he have a grudge against him before?
Or is it that I'm just so disliked?

Just then, another person got off the armored reconnaissance vehicle. This person was dressed like a Middle Eastern nobleman, wearing a pure white turban secured with black rope, and a white robe made of Irish linen.

The man walked up to him and Major Bandar, took out a piece of parchment with gold trim, and the others bowed slightly, placing their hands on their chests. Lu Lin followed suit and bowed as well.

The messenger cleared his throat and began to read: "In view of the outstanding performance of Amir ibn Muhammad ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud, commander of the Nukhoshir outpost, during his tenure, not only successfully completing the refugee resettlement mission, but also providing early warning during the Zion air raids, capturing one Zion Air Force pilot alive, and killing one spy! He is hereby specially promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Armored Division of the Shuangzhi Army, and the Sultan Armored Company is incorporated into your unit, to be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Amir."

Signed by Defense Minister Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Upon hearing this, Lu Lin suddenly realized why Major Bandar disliked him so much; it turned out he had been stripped of his power!
They came running over all eagerly, only to become the subordinate of a spoiled young master. No one would be happy about that.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel."

Seeing Major Bandar's constipated look, Lu Lin guessed that he must have been cursing his superior in his mind.

He put himself in the other person's shoes and thought that if he received such an order, he might feel that the country was doomed.

"Wait a minute, there's a second decree." The messenger produced another parchment, and everyone had no choice but to remain in the position of clutching their chests again.

This time his tone was quite serious:

"I hereby order Lieutenant Colonel Amir's troops to be reorganized into the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the 1st Armored Division of the Shuangzhi Army. They must hold the Nukoshir outpost by March 14, 1387, without retreating even a step, and intercept any foreign armed forces that dare to invade the Shuangzhi border. I hope they will live up to the name of Al-Saud."

Huh? I can't go back to the back to have coffee?

Lu Lin felt a pang of regret; he hadn't even had a single day of good life yet!

The messenger handed him two parchments and patted his forearm: "Your father has high hopes for you, Your Highness. He also asked me to pass on a message to you, saying that no matter what, he hopes you will return safely."

My father?
Lu Lin snapped out of his reverie and looked at the signature at the end of the parchment: Minister of Defense—Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

If I remember correctly, my name is "Amir bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud".
The word "Ban" in Arabic means "son of".

Holy crap!

The Minister of Defense is my dad?!

"Information is scarce on the border," Lu Lin asked the messenger, feigning composure. "Didn't I hear that someone would be coming to take over the defense of the outposts?"

This person was naturally referring to Major Bandar, who had just arrived.

“The situation has changed,” the messenger explained. “After the fall of the Sinai Peninsula, the royal family decided to take direct command of the front lines, and this order was personally issued by the Minister of Defense.” He paused, then added, “The position of Minister of Defense was newly created by the King, and your father, uh, His Excellency the Minister, also holds a high-ranking position in Riyadh.”

A series of gasps rose from behind him. Lu Lin turned around and saw that even the usually composed Ahmed had wide eyes, and the other officers' expressions were no better. Only now did Lu Lin have a deeper understanding of his family background.

The country's capital province's top official, plus the Minister of Defense.

Isn't this just a dual-wielding version of the "One-Word King"?!

He finally understood why the headquarters had practically crammed the entire warehouse onto the outpost; it turned out that the military base in the Tabuk district had become their own property!
"There is one more thing, which your father personally instructed you to do," the messenger whispered. "Major Bandar is an experienced armored forces commander who has studied in the United States. His Highness sent him to you in the hope that you would listen to his advice."

Bandar keenly noticed the gaze: "What are you talking about?"

"The messenger said you have full authority to follow my orders," Lu Lin lied without batting an eye.

The messenger's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, but he ultimately didn't expose him.

"That's about it. With your sincere cooperation, you two will surely be able to hold the border." The messenger hurriedly took his leave and drove away from this northernmost frontline outpost in Shuangzhi.

After the messenger left, the atmosphere between Lu Lin and Major Bandar suddenly became subtle.

"This is the equipment list for the armored forces." Major Bandar handed over a document, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant: "Please take a look."

Lu Lin took the list, glanced at it quickly, and found that less than half of the armored units had actually reported for duty.

Of the originally planned eight Sherman tanks, four arrived, but two AMX-13 tanks were in place, which surprised him somewhat, since these things were said to have a very high failure rate.
(AMX-13 light tank)

"Did you run into Zion Air Force on the way?" Lu Lin asked.

“Even worse, we ran into some junk from the United Kingdom.” Major Bandar patted the melted asphalt coating on the Shermans: “The engines of two Centurions burned to ashes near Juve, and the tow bar of a howitzer broke. The United States’ Shermans are somewhat reliable, but look at this armor, it’s almost been baked into chocolate crust. It’s a miracle they even made it this far.”

I don't dare fire it now, afraid this old thing will explode on the spot.

Lu Lin looked at the soldiers unloading the cargo. One of the technicians was pounding on the tank tracks with a hammer, making a loud banging sound.

He suddenly remembered the Bofors cannons on the position; the current situation was simply that the number of antiques had doubled.

“At least we still have a quadruple machine gun at our disposal.” Lu Lin looked at the large gun barrels protruding from the infantry vehicle. “We are in dire need of air defense capabilities right now. Zion likes to use its air force to bombard the ground.”

Major Bandar swallowed his anger again. He had thought his new superior was going to take this opportunity to make trouble, but to his surprise, the other party did not seem to blame him. So he had no choice but to back down: "It would be difficult enough to take down a propeller plane like the Stuka, let alone the Mirage III."

"But I heard you shot down a Hawk Hunter with a Bofors?"

The Hawk Hunter is the F.Mk.6, a single-engine high-subsonic jet fighter developed by the United Kingdom, which was exported to several countries after the war.

"We were just lucky to hit the fuel tank," Lu Lin said honestly. "But once it flies above 2,000 meters, we're basically helpless."

In fact, once the distance exceeds 500 meters, ordinary machine guns are ineffective against aircraft, and a loose network of fire poses little threat to jet fighters.

Abbas's cursing voices came from afar. The breechblock of the Bofors gun that he was adjusting had jammed again. The two looked at each other in silence for a while. Major Bandar took out half a pack of Marlboro cigarettes from his pocket: "Want one, Lieutenant Colonel?"

Lu Lin pulled one out and found that the filter tip had been flattened.

He noticed that Bandar was less aggressive. Since that was the arrangement, the two could only try to find a balance between each other.

Bandar lit a cigarette for Lu Lin, and the two of them smoked about half of it. Lu Lin threw the rest of the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out, then patted Bandar on the shoulder and said:
"Come on, I'll show you around the outpost."

(End of this chapter)