Seeing Bashir still not speaking.
Akadula continued to explain, "The Madheh Army is our biggest threat, the leadership on the Kurd Armed side said that this time we must inflict heavy damage on the Madheh Army, and if possible, even directly take some of their territory."
It was the Kurd Armed again...
Bashir was a native Illiguo.
He wasn't one of those Kurd bandits.
In the past, Bashir had even held a position in Sadam's former government army.
He had aligned himself with the border resistance organization only because he opposed Sadam.
He had rich military experience.
His style was always steady and solid.
This time, he always felt something unspeakably wrong.
"That's settled, then!"
Amini waved his hand.
"Don't hesitate on this matter anymore!"
He stretched yawningly.
But then he heard Bashir beside him say, "I oppose moving troops from the east!"
"It's not important anymore." Amini glanced at him, "I had already ordered it this afternoon, by now the eastern troops should have already arrived in the north. Go to sleep early, don't waste time discussing this issue here."
He was deliberately making Bashir uncomfortable.
Because Bashir had long held little regard for him, leaning on his high prestige within the freedom army and being rather hostile to this outsider military advisor.
"Just see what you can do to me?"
He gloated internally while leaving the room and walking out the door.
The moon finally emerged from the clouds, making the visibility much better than before.
"What a beautiful night..."
He pondered, preparing to head back to his room to sleep soundly.
Suddenly, Amini heard a "whoosh whoosh" sound in the air.
"What's that sound?"
He looked up, but saw nothing.
Boom—
A 120 caliber mortar bomb directly fell in the courtyard.
The explosion's shockwave flung Amini out, sending him flying a good five meters and slamming him against the wall of the house, directly shattering his internal organs.
With hardly any pain, Amini bled from his mouth and nose, instantly becoming a rather warm corpse.
Inside the house, Bashir yelled, "Mortar!"
Saying this, he pulled Akadula underneath a table in the corner.
At this time, running around during a bombardment could simply lead to being blasted away by a mortar round.
Mortar?
Who was attacking them?
The Madheh Army?
His mind was filled with countless questions.
Akadula's face turned pale, and he asked sharply, "Who is attacking us? Is it the Madheh Army?"
"Impossible!" Bashir had his own judgment, "They're all in the north; they can't possibly break through our defenses."
Suddenly, he thought of a terrifying enemy.
Oil fields!
"It's those mercenaries!"
"Mercenaries? You mean the mercenaries from the oil fields?"
Akadula felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face.
Just a few minutes ago, he had been asserting confidently that no mercenary would dare enter the northern mountains.
"Once the bombardment stops, we'll leave behind the house, head out the back, cross from the north trail and flee to my defensive zone!"
Bashir, with his extensive military experience, still managed to make a clear decision in the critical situation.
In preparation for a surprise attack, the freedom army headquarters had long devised a plan.
There was a secret trail in the north, starting from a tunnel behind the headquarters in the village, the exit led to the shady side of the mountain.
Then they could run about two hundred meters further to enter a mountain valley.
The valley was long, extending several kilometers.
Once they ran a few kilometers out, they would be safe.
It would be nearly impossible to catch them in this complex mountain terrain, being locals themselves.
The sound of explosions continued intermittently.
The bombs were almost all falling around the headquarters area.
Bashir felt that the enemy had pinpointed his and Akadula's location.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to fire so precisely.
This thought increasingly terrified him.
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
The sounds of gunfire and screams filled the night sky.
The building they were hiding in was half collapsed.
Luckily, since they were under a wooden table in the corner of the side room, aside from being covered with dirt and dust, they were unharmed.
The bombardment finally ceased.
"Move quickly!"
Bashir pulled up Akadula.
"Guards! Guards!"
He shouted loudly in the darkness.
"Boss, are you all right?!"
Finally, a few guards came running from elsewhere.
"What's the situation now?" Bashir asked.
"The fight has begun," one guard said, "It seems like the village is surrounded, there are many of them, and our brothers are exchanging fire with them."
"Is the tunnel blasted?" Bashir asked.
The guard replied, "No! I checked it when I came over, it's not collapsed!"
"Let's go!"
Hearing that the tunnel was still intact, Bashir saw a glimmer of hope.
He grabbed Akadula, and under the protection of several guards, staggered towards the tunnel entrance, then crawled in and disappeared into the darkness.
After about ten minutes of frantic running, they made it through the long tunnel.
They pushed aside the camouflage at the exit.
Bashir had a guard go out first to check the situation.
The guard looked around and then waved to the people inside the hole.
"Boss, come out! There's no one outside!"
Bashir and Akadula, supported by two more guards, finally emerged from the tunnel.
Freash air!
The scent of freedom!
The thrill of surviving!
Just as Bashir was about to take a deep breath and enjoy the mountain air, a hole suddenly appeared on his forehead.
Thump—
His slightly portly body fell backward, directly into a pile of weeds.
Then, gunfire erupted.
Rat-a-tat—
Rat-a-tat—
It was an RPD light machine gun firing.
Akadula turned to run, but just a few steps away from the exit, he was riddled with bullets, slowly sliding down beside the dirt slope next to the hole.
To his death, he had not figured out.
How the enemy even knew about the tunnel exit they were using to escape...
He died with his eyes wide open, his face filled with indignation.
A moment later, the gunfire finally ceased.
Several dark figures slowly surrounded the area.
Song Heping, holding a gun, first checked Bashir's body.
After confirming his death, he dragged him out of the bushes.
Under the moonlight, he recognized the face.
"This one is Bashir," he turned to the cook and said, "Who is yours?"
The cook was turning over Akadula's body.
He looked at the face in the moonlight.
The cook laughed: "I got the big fish! Their boss, Akadula!"
"Grey Wolf, Hunter, White Bear, I have killed Akadula and Bashir on my side, keep an eye out for other leadership members during your sweep of the village."
Grey Wolf said, "I found a body outside the headquarters, but it's somewhat incomplete, it looks a bit like their strategist Amini."
"Take a picture and bring it back, photograph all suspect bodies for identification."
"No problem!"
"No problem!"
With the command center lost, the Resistance Organization's 300 defenders in the village suffered over half casualties after one round of artillery bombardment.
The mercenaries who broke into the village then killed the other half.
The battle lasted less than thirty minutes before it was over.
The most successful part was that the Resistance Organization's headquarters radio was destroyed at the start, and the message of the attack could not be transmitted out.
After the cleanup, Song Heping led everyone to quickly evacuate Artie Village.
An hour later, the whole village returned to peace.
Some areas in the village were set ablaze by the artillery, burning with flames in the night.
The air lingered with the smell of gunpowder and blood.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Except for hundreds of corpses.
The "Musician" mercenaries, numbering in the hundreds, finally managed to exit the mountainous area over three hours, taking advantage of the night.
Because the operation went too smoothly, the 107 rocket launchers Song Heping had in place next to the mountainside to intercept any pursuing forces were not even used.
After getting in the vehicle, Song Heping used a satellite phone to send a message to Avanti—
"House cleaned, guests can be invited."
Soon after, he received a reply of just one sentence—
"I have prepared a great feast for the guests, it will surely be delicious."