Time Travel 04: I Fight the US in the Middle East

Not far away, on a small building.

"Leader, have some tea." Mariam placed a teacup in front of Azam.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work, Mariam. You're in charge of the entire battalion's logistics, you're busy enough as always, you don't need to come and take care of me." Azam said with a smile.

"It's alright, Leader Azam. There's not much logistical work. My mother found some local farm women to help with cooking. It's just... the expenses for over five hundred people are quite high, we..."

Azam pondered for a moment.

Maintaining an army is very expensive!

His biggest source of confidence is the ten million US dollars he obtained last time. He brought back six hundred thousand the first time, then used another four hundred thousand, and brought another million US dollars when he planned to build a base here. Now he has eight million US dollars left.

This amount of money sounds like a lot, but...

My army consists of 500 men, which averages out to less than $16,000 per soldier. If we take in those 200 men from outside, each of them will be worth about $10,000!

Daily training doesn't take too much, but once a real fight breaks out, the consumption will be huge!

Even if we get a batch of equipment from the Holy City Brigade, it's still not a long-term solution. Not to mention, the army needs to grow and expand, and funding will be an even bigger problem when the number of people increases!

Hmm, it seems we'll have to think of other ways!

Azam recalled names like Whitefordt, Wheeler, and Harrison. After the establishment of the Provisional Government of Estonia, the United States allocated some reconstruction funds, but the Estonia Southern Reconstruction Fund Management Department, which these people had set up, had lost 50 billion US dollars!

Of course, they didn't pocket the money; the military took the lion's share. All they had to do was keep an eye on this line...

That's something for later. Right now, the most important thing is the big gift I need to give them on the day the provisional government is established...

"Leader Azam?" Mariam felt a pang of sympathy seeing Azam deep in thought. It was all her fault for being so useless…

"Yes, Mariam, don't worry about the money. I have plenty of ways to get it. Now we..."

Before he could finish speaking, excited footsteps came from outside.

"Leader Azam, Leader Azam, all the brothers who came this time are willing to pledge their allegiance to you. They have sworn an oath to the true God..." Amr-Elwan Ibrahim rushed up, his face full of excitement.

Those people had no choice!

They already know about the Mahdi army's base. If they don't stay, then... In chaotic times, only the ruthless can survive!

"Leader Azam, how are these people organized?" Amr-Elwan Ibrahim asked.

"Simple. We will select the most capable soldiers from each of our existing companies to form a reconnaissance platoon to carry out the most difficult missions. Their vacancies will be filled by these new recruits, or we will let them draw lots to decide! As for those leaders, we can give them the vacant platoon leader positions."

Of course, these people cannot be allowed to organize their own teams, otherwise they will form a small group, and if Muqtada-Sadr comes along and persuades them to go with him, what if he does?

They were still scattered among the various companies! This way, each company would have an extra platoon, becoming a reinforced platoon, and their own battalion would become a reinforced battalion!

"Understood!" Amr-Erwan Ibrahim nodded. "Would you like to go down and say a few words to them?"

Just as Azam was about to agree, another sentry came up: "Leader Azam, the supplies from Langtuo have arrived!"

"Alright, reinforced company directly under the assembly battalion, follow me to receive the supplies!"

The weapons and ammunition are fine, but what Azam is most looking forward to is the drones!

With this equipment, you can complete the ambush mission!

Soon, the reinforced company assembled and drove away from the camp in pickup trucks.

Kifah Greti and Ali Abu Zahra, among others, watched with some curiosity: "What are they going to do?"

"I don't know. Let's draw lots to decide which company we'll go to!"

"Borrowing lots?"

"Yes, the allocation of our entire battalion was determined by lottery, a plan proposed by Leader Azam. You... don't want to?"

No one dared to say they were unwilling!

The pickup truck quickly drove into the mountains and arrived at the border, where many military trucks were already parked on the other side.

The deliveryman was Haizan Hamdani, who smiled as he looked at Azam and the others getting out of the car across from him.

"Brother Azam, your strength has grown once again!"

Is this guy showing off that he can monitor his own Mahdi army from all sides? In the meantime, Azam has checked everyone in his team and there shouldn't be anyone secretly passing messages to Langtuo. It's just that Langtuo is on the mountain and his side is at the foot of the mountain, so the other side has an innate ability to monitor his side!

"Yes, we have two hundred more brothers. We hope you can provide more equipment!"

Azam's words frustrated the other side. If they had accepted the command of the Quds Force, they would have been willing to provide as much supplies as they wanted. But now? The other side refused to accept leadership and instead demanded a large amount of equipment!

"Come on, let's proceed with the handover. Here are... twenty Swallow-2 UAVs. Do you need us to send instructors to train them?"

Azam looked at the long, rectangular wooden crates. The wings, tail, and propellers were not yet installed, indicating that it was in transport mode.

"No need, we can operate it ourselves," Azam said. "Where are the control panels? How many sets did you bring us?"

"Two sets. Are you sure you don't need help?"

Haisan Hamdani was a little curious. Did this Azam really understand the Swallow drone? Even sending several instructors over to provide guidance wasn't enough? This guy was really keeping a close watch on things!

Azam shook his head helplessly. He had really forgotten to talk about the control panel. He should have been given at least four. This Langtuo man was really stingy!

"I'll give it a try first," Azam said, walking up to the large wooden crate and beginning to disassemble it.

The 2.9-meter-long fuselage was brought out; it was quite heavy. It was an early version with an aluminum alloy shell. After 2000, Langtuo's Yanzi-2 had already started using composite materials. These guys are really stingy, sending themselves an early model!

The 3.25-meter-wide wing was installed, and the propeller was attached to the back. Azam did it very skillfully!

The Langtuo people's eyes widened; this Azam really knew something!

Azam plugged the data cable into the control panel and his fingers began to tap away rapidly, while the Langtuo people were even more shocked!

"Are you pre-programming this?"

The Swallow-2 UAV can fly according to a pre-programmed procedure or be controlled in real time by an operator. Most people can only control it in real time, but Azam's operation... is something only a few elites among the Langtuo can master!

Actually... drones like Langtuo, which use a lot of civilian technology, are all operated in a similar way, so Azam certainly knows how to use them!