"Boss, this deal is a losing business!"
Sitting in the off-road vehicle, White Bear looked out of the window and kept nagging Song Heping with this sentence.
At this moment, the convoy of "Musician" Defense Company had already passed Tikrit and was heading toward Shergar.
The atmosphere had become unusually tense since they entered Tikrit.
The US Army had only caught Sadam from a farm in Tikrit the day before yesterday, after he had been missing for several months.
Today, the attacks and resistance here had become intense.
To prevent a major incident, the coalition forces had deployed heavy troops in this area.
Every four to five kilometers along the road, there was a roadside checkpoint.
The soldiers parked their armored vehicles by the roadside and even placed tanks along the road, forming armored positions, ready to fire on any militants that might appear.
This time, Song Heping had brought a platoon of troops to the Shergar water station construction site, including two infantry squads and one 120mm mortar squad.
To go from the northern oil fields to Sherbut, they had to take the southbound highway, which was marked as Highway 3 on the military maps provided by the US Army.
Following Highway 3 for about 100 kilometers, they would turn westward at Tikrit, entering Highway 2 that crosses east-west through Illiguo, and then head toward Mosul for about 60 kilometers to reach Sherbut.
However, the situation seemed to get worse the closer they got.
The convoy had already experienced three stops due to firefights ahead.
This indicated that the local war situation was not optimistic.
Currently, most areas to the east and south of Illiguo were completely under coalition control, with occasional sporadic armed attacks and IED roadside bomb incidents, but in most cities to the north and west, such as Tikrit, Mosul, Elbil, and the like, the situation was much worse.
Because this area bordered Siria, Turkey, and Persia, there were a large number of armed organizations, along with remnants of Sadam's former government army Suicide Squad, the coalition, even with advanced weapons and numerical superiority, could not fully control the situation.
White Bear's meaning was obvious.
To use an entire platoon of troops to protect a water station in a highly dangerous and remote town, for a mere monthly payment of fifty thousand US dollars, just didn't make sense.
Song Heping couldn't be bothered to explain the reasons behind it to White Bear.
White Bear was a good soldier, but his mind was not suited for considering overly complicated issues; explaining them to him was simply too taxing.
"White Bear, quit your chatter and keep an eye on our surroundings!"
He bluntly told White Bear to shut up with a single sentence.
It was already dark now, seven o'clock in the evening.
Nightfall began to set in.
This place was very unsafe after dark.
Song Heping had no choice but to remind the driver, Samir, "Speed up a bit."
"Alright, boss."
Samir nodded and pressed harder on the accelerator.
Although the road here was not easy to navigate, Song Heping still asked him to speed up—mainly out of concern for roadside bombs.
Roadside bombs were nearly impossible to defend against; the only way to prevent them was to conduct reconnaissance on the sections of road in advance. Otherwise, even if you were driving an Abrams tank in front, it would be useless. Those makeshift bombs made of several 155 artillery shells could turn even a main battle tank into scrap metal.
The only thing they could do now was to speed up.
With greater speed, the operator of the remote control would have a harder time timing the explosion accurately, reducing the chances of hitting the convoy.
Three trucks and one off-road vehicle raced toward Sherbut like lightning.
Today, Song Heping was lucky.
They hadn't encountered any attacks on the road from Tikrit east to Sherbut.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the convoy arrived at its destination, a small hill about twenty kilometers outside of Sherbut.
Less than three hundred meters north of the small hill was the Tigris River.
The south was home to three villages, each said to be populated by around a thousand people.
"We've arrived, everybody out!"
Song Heping, accompanied by White Bear, Hunter, and Disaster Star, got off first.
After surveying the area and confirming there was no danger, they allowed the truck to enter the yard of the water station to start unloading.
"Samir, have people establish outposts nearby, and send someone to check if there's electricity in that building. If there is, restore it."
"Sure, boss."
Song Heping had a structural map of the water station in his possession.
The entire yard housed water supply facilities on one side, including a filtration pool and two water pump houses, which were connected to the Tigris River below by four large pipes that drew water here for filtration and then pumped it towards the few villages to the south and a nearby town.
"Let's go and check out the water pump houses."
Song Heping led White Bear and the others towards the water pump houses.
It wasn't until they passed the outer walls of the compound that they noticed it was riddled with bullet holes and pockmarks.
Clearly, fierce firefights had taken place here.
But that wasn't surprising.
Previously, other defense companies had been stationed here, but after two failed deployments,
even the construction workers who came here had suffered.
It was said that the last defense company lost all ten of its men here, with not a single one escaping, including the twenty construction workers and one engineer, all of whom died here.
"Fifty thousand US dollars…"
Song Heping couldn't help but feel pensive.
No wonder White Bear kept complaining that this was a losing business.
As they approached the water pump houses, the scene that met their eyes made them all inhale sharply.
One of the pump houses was riddled with bullet holes, and the other was even worse, with half of it blown apart.
Looking at the equipment inside, it was damaged too, leaving them unsure if it was still usable.
Unable to restrain himself, White Bear asked, "Boss, what's going on with the people around here? Aren't the water facilities beneficial to them? Why are they attacking this place?"
Prior to his arrival, Song Heping had done his homework, having Ferrari gather a bunch of intelligence on the area for him.
"It wasn't the locals who attacked."
"Then who attacked it?"
"Salafi Armed."
"Never heard of them…"
White Bear shook his head, then disdainfully said, "Illiguo has so many armed organizations, I can't even keep track of them all."
Song Heping remarked, "Overthrow one Sadam, and hundreds of little sadams rise. That's the price of war."
"Oh! FUCK!"
Hunter suddenly cried out, covering his nose.
He had just opened the door to the pump house and unexpectedly found a corpse lying inside.
No one knew how long the body had been there, lying beside the pump equipment, already decomposed, the ground crawling with maggots, a pool of yellow fluid…
With the door closed, the smell of decay was faint outside, and everyone had thought it was normal given the past firefights.
No one expected such a "surprise" hidden in the pump house.
Song Heping covered his mouth with a field scarf and swept over the body with the tactical flashlight attached to his gun.
From the attire, the deceased was a mercenary.
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They're probably local mercenaries.
Not only do Illiguo's foreign mercenaries get paid more, but their bodies are generally not left behind—they're taken away.
Only local mercenaries are considered worthless; likely, the previous PMC company didn't notice while clearing the battlefield after an engagement, hurriedly evacuating and taking bodies with them, resulting in abandonment here.
Song Heping closed the door and stepped back several paces before saying to White Bear, "Go have Samir take some men and dig a pit outside in the courtyard, then bury this body..."
Before he could finish, suddenly there was a loud bang.
Boom——
The men quickly crouched down, guns pointing in all directions, ready for combat.
"What happened?"
Song Heping saw the explosion came from the direction of the two-story building. Turning his head, he saw smoke billowing from the corridor in the middle of the second floor, where the explosion seemed to originate.
No sooner had the explosion ended than Song Heping heard someone screaming in agony.
His heart immediately sank.
It seemed that not only were there bodies left in this courtyard, but also traps!
"Samir! Evacuate the wounded, get back to the courtyard, there are traps inside the building!"
"Yes, boss!"
Before Samir's response even finished, before Song Heping had the chance to inquire about the casualties, they suddenly heard gunfire from outside.
Crack crack crack——
Rat-tat-tat——
The posted sentinels started to scream.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Song Heping immediately issued combat orders, "Mortar crew, set up immediately and prepare for battle, sentries report enemy position!"
"About 300 meters to the west!"
"North side too, about 300 meters, looks like there are dozens of them!"
While firing their guns, the sentries began reporting the enemy's location.
These people must have been lying in wait nearby, and the trap mines in the building must have been set by them. As soon as they heard the explosion, they launched an attack.
"Damn it! Good tactics!"
Song Heping cursed coldly.
"They're too close! It's too late..."
The mortar squad leader was getting anxious.
They were using a 120-millimeter mortar with a fairly long range, but the distance made it more troublesome to hit close targets.
"White Bear, you and a few others go to the wall and provide support, organize their defense."
After speaking, Song Heping turned and ran towards the mortar crew.
"Let me do it!"
Song Heping said without hesitation, directly lifting the mortar barrel.
He ran to the courtyard entrance and glanced westward.
With the help of night-vision equipment, he could see the armed militants.
There were about thirty to forty of them, spreading across a frontal width of roughly 100 meters.
Song Heping carefully eyed the position, carried the mortar barrel back to the courtyard, and aimed westward.
"Charge 0, High Explosive Killing Bomb!"
The four gunners of the mortar team quickly loaded the ammunition and brought it to Song Heping.
Song Heping pounded the mortar barrel into the ground, then began to roughly calculate the firing angle. After some simple operations, he steadied the barrel with one hand, took the mortar round with the other, and directly inserted it into the muzzle.
Thump——
The round slid into the end of the barrel, and upon impact, the primer fired it off.
Seconds later, a ball of fire erupted amongst the advancing militants.
The explosion knocked several militants to the ground.
Having been hit by artillery, the militants' attack speed immediately slowed, and most lay flat on the ground, not daring to move.
"Nice shot!"
White Bear, watching from behind the wall, saw the distant explosion point and shouted cheerily.
"Boss, your mortar fire is damn accurate!"
"Keep an eye on the explosion point, correct me if it drifts."
"Okay!" White Bear responded, "Move twenty meters to your right, the enemy is denser there!"
Song Heping immediately made the adjustment, then took another mortar round, still using charge 0.
Charge 0 is the lowest charge, with the shortest range, perfect for engaging close-range clustered attacks.
Thump——
Another mortar round was fired.
Soon, another explosion rocked the enemy cluster.
This time, it instantly killed seven or eight militants.
After all, the firepower of a 120-millimeter mortar round is considerable.
After firing two rounds, Song Heping knew without looking that the enemy's advance must have been hindered, so he had the barrel dug up and turned northward.
"Report the enemy's position and distance to the north."
Hunter glanced over and reported back to Song Heping, "At your 2 o'clock, about 250 meters away!"
Too close!
Song Heping immediately adjusted the angle.
Thump——
Another round was fired.
Bang——
After the explosion, two or three militants in the northern group were hit directly by the round, their limbs blasted into the air.
"They're running!"
Hunter, picking off targets with his M24 sniper rifle, shouted, "They're trying to escape."
Hearing that the enemy was attempting to flee, Song Heping decided against wasting more mortar rounds.
He took up his rifle and ran to the wall, climbed onto a sandbag to peek outside.
The enemy was indeed retreating.
"If you've come, don't leave!"
Song Heping had no intention of letting these militants go.
The fact that they tried to show off on his first day of arrival meant that if they could get away after only losing about ten men, he would not know the meaning of fear and they would keep causing trouble here!
"Hunter! You're in charge of organizing first squad for long-range support here. White Bear, Disaster Star, you two take second squad to chase the western enemy. Third squad, come with me, we're going after the guys to the north!"
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