East of Mosul, the town of ISIS and Kurdish outposts buffer zone, outside Bairtale.

A Russian mercenary dressed in desert camouflage and camouflage cloth leaned against the collapsed stone wall and carefully poked out the antenna coated with light-absorbing material to ensure that the signal propagated unimpeded to the six-rotor drone in the sky.

His eyes are fixed on the eight-inch screen, his gaze follows the signals captured by the drone's aerial camera, and from time to time he marks what he sees on the touchscreen screen on his arm, forming a new geographic information data that is merged into a satellite map.

Next to him, two heavily armed men each leisurely occupied one window, chewing slowly on tasteless chewing gum without any added flavor, and their eyes seemed to be closed, where they recuperated.

A few dozen meters ahead, in a collapsed house near the road, another mercenary moved about a meter away from the window, avoiding the reflection of the sunlight on his AK47 assault rifle, which was flat-ended with an AR telescopic stock and tactical rails. Through the scope that covers the upper part to prevent reflections, it slowly scans the shadowy town in the distance.

On top of a fairly intact two-story room behind the four men, a sniper, dressed in camouflage nets, erected an old-looking SVD sniper rifle and looked down on the battlefield.

This is exactly what a standard five-man combat team is. Each of them has multiple roles and carries a variety of weapons. They were none other than the forward reconnaissance team of one of the four assault teams that formed a diamond-shaped formation in Yang Hao's offensive battle plan.

The four infiltration combat teams with a total of more than 100 people are mercenary teams selected from thousands of Russian mercenary units. All of them have been fighting in Asia and Africa for many years, after the baptism of gunpowder and war. Run in mature combat forces to the greatest extent. Extremely familiar with each other. Seamless matching. High level of trust.

Therefore, they did not completely disrupt the structure like the regular troops, and were rigidly and dogmatically organized according to the form of squads, platoons, and companies. Rather, they were guided by the situation, through coordinating and balancing the weapons and equipment they carried, giving full play to their tactical expertise, and then jointly practicing the air-ground cooperative combat mode, and finally selecting the best of the best and putting them into the first batch of operations.

The number of people in each force is not the same. But no more than fifty, no less than thirty, the difference is not bad.

According to the operational deployment requirements, the largest team at the front of the team went out to Bairtale, which is closest to the ISIS nest in Mosul. One detachment of more than a dozen men moved south to Gharagosh, a few kilometers away, on alert from the enemy in the south-west direction of Airity, Hamam Elil and Shura. Once the battle starts, they will take on the heavy responsibility of deterring the enemy and giving early warning.

On the north side, another detachment was on guard against Taylor Cave, twenty kilometers away, and at the same time formed an angle with the other unit on the target's side, covering it from afar.

Troops on the left side of the diamond-shaped formation. Placed on the left bank of the Great Zab River, their duty was to guard the armed forces in the direction of Erbil. It's not just ISIS forces that may sneak across the border. It is also a Kurdish armed force that is remotely controlled by the Americans on the embankment. God knows when, in the name of attacking terrorists, they will stab them in the back!

The last unit was deployed in Agra in the rear. Their job is to keep the rear road safe and prevent being outflanked by ISIS in a roundabout rear. In addition, it is also for the Turkish black hand to the north of the embankment, which can be described as a heavy responsibility.

This is tantamount to saying that at least half of the manpower of the four combat units is used to defend against "friendly forces." There are less than a hundred people who are really engaged in frontal combat.

It is these seventy or eighty elite soldiers, all scattered into tactical squads, each carrying tactical radios and remote-controlled drones, to carry out dragnet reconnaissance and infiltration of ISIS-occupied villages and towns in front of them. Now, all the troops are quietly deployed in place, avoiding a head-on clash with the terrorist forces, quietly waiting for the battle to begin.

The squad on the outskirts of Bair Taylor dived the deepest and had the greatest courage. The leader of the team, Chekov, was the leader of the entire team, who came from the Russian Vympel special forces, was wounded in the 2004 Beslan incident and retired from the army, and then took a group of old comrades and good boys to become mercenaries, and became Leoni's sharpest knife.

Now, Captain Chekov was lying at the front, carrying his modified AK for close-up reconnaissance, and it was not difficult to see from his relaxed posture that he did not feel the slightest nervousness because the enemy was in front of him. With a calm expression, it looks like a pleasant outing.

There was a slight snapping of fingernails in the air headset, indicating that the drone had spotted the enemy.

Captain Chekov's narrow-eyed eyes were slightly open, his gun swung to the left, and the image in his field of vision slid like a streamer, and then accurately locked onto the two armed pickup trucks that had driven out of the town.

Through the scope, he could clearly see the 12.7mm Deshka heavy machine gun mounted on the pickup.

"It's them again. Is there only a few thugs in the town? ”

Captain Chekov recognized a guy on the Toyota pickup truck in front of him, looking sideways with a machine gun in his hand, and at the same time, judging from the shattered left headlight of the car, it was the first enemy patrol force they encountered after their arrival yesterday.

From yesterday to now, in the seventeen or eighteen hours, the other side has patrolled back and forth several times, but there is no one to replace him. Does this mean that the enemy army in the town is undermanned?

Theoretically, unlikely.

Baltaile is a key transport node between Mosul and Erbil, and is 20 kilometres away from the Kurdish front line at the Eskikelek border post on the banks of the Great Zab River.

In the middle of the 20-kilometer buffer zone, both sides have tacitly agreed that no one will occupy it for the time being, and even the residents of the villages inside have fled. Under the combat conditions of high mobility, 20 kilometers is only half an hour's journey of a motor vehicle. Once the battle began, reinforcements were too late.

Therefore, both sides will inevitably deploy a large number of troops here. At least, that's the case with the Calek outpost. At least one battalion of heavy troops was scattered along the line of defense along the river, centered on the bridge, and a heavy army was stationed in Erbil behind, ready to arrive for reinforcements within an hour.

The Chekov squad took advantage of the defenses of both sides. Smoothly touched the vicinity of Bail Taylor. But they did not dare to rashly provoke the enemy. According to the information obtained before. At least more than a company of enemy troops were stationed in the town, and the firepower and equipment were not weak.

"Could it be that these guys are not welcomed, and they are squeezed out by others to do patrols?"

Chekov guessed this and felt that the probability was very high. As we all know, ISIS forces come from all over the world, with the exception of a very small number of mercenaries, and the local armed forces of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. That is, the al-Qaeda people as the backbone. But they should now be attacking in the direction of Baghdad and Syria.

The rest, in Chekov's opinion, were a rabble. Even with a clever enterprise management system, it still can't solve the trouble of internal struggle.

If this is the case, it will undoubtedly be good news for the attacking forces.

But Chekov did not dare to take it lightly. After many years of fighting, he knows too well what it means to be in a hurry. Counting on the accuracy of the intelligence, the enemy will definitely fight according to the prediction of the staff officers, and die faster than anyone else! People who can adapt to emergencies on the battlefield in the fastest time and deal with them properly. to live a long life.

Seeing the pickup truck getting closer and closer, Chekov whispered: "How long will it be before our big bird arrives?" ”

The signal corpsman quickly replied: "The first flock of birds has crossed the Tropic of Cancer." Estimated to arrive in fifteen minutes. ”

Chekov's thick eyebrows raised, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and he said coldly: "Very good, we don't have to wait." Hawkeye, you're in charge of taking out the Heavy from behind. The front ones are left to me. Be careful, try not to destroy vehicles, they are still useful. ”

"Understood!"

The sniper was the first to agree. The other two recuperating fighters responded, placing their light machine guns and AKs with 75-round drums to the gap in the low wall, aiming at the approaching pickup from a distance.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters!

Chekov breathed a sigh of relief, the body of the gun was almost immobile, his finger pulled the trigger, and with a crisp "boom", the head of the machine gunner in the front pickup truck suddenly tilted back, splashing a significant splash of blood!

After an interval of half a second, the snipers behind followed! The machine gunner of the second pickup truck was accurately hit in the left chest, and one staggered backwards!

The other thugs in the pickup truck immediately screamed, and the driver in front of him slammed on the brakes, and the tires rubbed the gravel road against a thick cloud of smoke! The vehicle behind struck the steering wheel hard and turned 90 degrees, staggering out five or six meters, forming a head posture with the car in front, which just became a suitable cover!

"Interesting, a bunch of experienced guys!"

Chekov grinned contemptuously, and the muzzle continued to be aimed at the pickup machine gun. Let the two thugs in the front row use the AK to shoot the bullets sideways in this direction, without blinking an eyelid or doing anything to hide.

Another thug suddenly got up from the carriage, and very cleverly hid himself behind the shield of Deshka's heavy machine gun as best he could, and turned his gun to shoot at the crumbling house in a sonorous burst of furious fire, which was shattered by the stone wall he was aiming at!

The terrifying kinetic energy and penetrating power of the 12.7mm bullet easily pierced through the wall one foot behind, and the stones were shattered into pieces, forming a splashing belt with a radius of more than five meters!

However, the thug apparently did not see Chekov's true identity clearly, and allowed his finger-thick bullets to chisel through half of the wall like the wind, but none of them were fired at the main owner.

Chekov took steady aim at his body, which was shaking from the machine gun, and at the moment when a long shot was finished and the man was about to turn the gun, he pulled the trigger again!

"Boom!"

The machine gunner stumbled, a hole was torn open on the left side of his neck, blood was fired, and he fell in response!

At this point, the rest of the thugs, no matter how stupid they are, know that they are running into hard stubble. They fired frantically as they hid behind the car. But just as it left the hull and transferred, the two firefighters suddenly opened fire, and the short burst of fire cut a hole in the windows and doors of the two cars!

The glass shattered, and the thugs who couldn't dodge were beaten into a sieve, and in the end, only two people succeeded in rolling the back of the road, raising their guns above their heads and shooting blindly to prevent them from being pursued and blocked!

Chekov whistled pleasantly, shouted at the crowd to stop shooting, and then trotted through the gap in the side and moved back to the bunker where the RC plane and fireman were located.

Through the terminal screen. The drone's wide-angle lens clearly captures the situation in the town. at such a close distance. The explosion of AK and Deshka heavy machine guns was enough to be heard clearly. And I don't know what radio station the pickup belt doesn't bring, generally speaking, the patrol car must have a means of communication. Then the enemy must have known that they were attacked.

In the picture, the town seems to have exploded! Uncountable people flocked out of the house, and people on the street rushed to hide in hiding! Both men and women are dressed in head-covered and face-wrapped outfits, making it impossible to tell which of them is a civilian and which is a terrorist!

This was markedly different from those who came out on patrol, apparently to prevent an enemy from crossing their cordon in a similar disguise.

But in the town, that outfit made it impossible to distinguish the air strike forces. If you want to be careful, you are likely to be mixed with the civilians. I'm afraid that even the most advanced laser-guided bombs will not dare to drop them!

The air strikes launched by the US Air Force are basically aimed at vehicles, arsenals, and arsenals with distinctive characteristics. In addition, even if there are people scurrying around outside, it is easy not to throw bombs. On the one hand, they don't want to weaken the thugs they support too much, and on the other hand, they do have the intention of worrying about accidental injury.

Don't forget, in the more than two months since ISIS occupied Mosul, it has forced the local population to follow strict fundamentalist teachings, leaving people wrapped like black rice dumplings, which is really difficult to clean up.

Captain Chekov muttered: "No wonder the big boss above has repeatedly asked for it." Don't try to spot the enemy, just drop the bomb down. There are no children in the town. It seems that we don't have to worry about feeling guilty about being injured by mistake. ”

The bearded heavy on the side laughed and said, "Captain, do you still have the magical thought of 'guilt' in your head?" I've never seen that. ”

Chekov glared at him fiercely, people are not dismantling, what nonsense is the truth!

The rest of the people laughed in a low voice, apparently agreeing with this statement. I have been a mercenary for so many years, what dirty things have I never done, and I feel guilty? Don't want to go? Don't do it too soon. No discipline, the most basic requirement to be a qualified mercenary.

After frolicking, a few people didn't have the slightest sense of worry, watching the drone surveillance, more than a dozen armed pickup trucks quickly gathered in the town, rushed out from the two roads, scattered along the highway into an encirclement formation, and rumbled to this side.

Chekov's eyes narrowed, and he could see that the guys were well-trained, well-coordinated, and well-divided, and the level was far beyond the Kurdish forces and Iraqi government forces they had seen.

Without additional heavy firepower, it would be quite difficult to mobilize a whole team and defeat the opponent head-on.

"We can't let them advance too smoothly, we have to delay a bit. Otherwise, in less than five minutes, we would be surrounded by ten times as many enemies! ”

Chekov gave the order, and his companion carrying the reinforced AK immediately dodged and ran out, and suddenly lifted a camouflage cloth from a broken wall twenty meters away, revealing six 107mm rockets hidden underneath!

At this point, all the rockets were installed with a disposable simple bracket, the tail was connected to the wire, and finally gathered on a palm-sized control terminal.

The soldier grabbed the terminal and retreated more than ten meters, hiding behind a thick half-section of the wall, pressing the buttons with his fingers from top to bottom, and the indicator lights were all on. Then, his thumb hovered over the trigger button, waiting intently for the command.

Captain Chekov took out a small laser rangefinder and aimed at the exit of the town from a distance, and just as the pickup truck team rushed out more than halfway, he shouted coldly: "Alpha! ”

Without hesitation, the controller pressed the excite button!

The rocket at the front of the queue "snorted" and spewed out a long cloud of smoke, which flew into the convoy in the blink of an eye, plunged into the cab of a pickup truck, and exploded with a bang!

The pickup truck and the thugs on it were torn to shreds! The car that had just accelerated flew into the air, rolled sideways off the road, and crashed into a car on the side! Caught off guard, the thugs holding machine guns flew out with a scream!

Chekov let out a strange cry: "Roar! Hit it so accurately! The Chinese products are fantastic! ”

The famous guerrilla war god weapon, the Type 63 rocket launcher is launched naked, and he has made new contributions!

The sudden blow of heavy weapons caused the rushing convoy to suddenly gather together for a brief period of confusion! The cars in front of them hurriedly slowed down and dodged the front to prevent them from being targeted and killed - the blindfold was terrifying!

The ones behind are no longer in a hurry to run out, and they are decisive to avoid them on the spot behind the house.

However, their command was obviously very effective, and after only two or three minutes, they found that there were no further blows, and they changed their formations again, all of them were staggered, and with the superior passing performance of the pickup, they bumped between the gravel and dodged left and right!

Chekov casually ordered: "Gamma!" Delta! Launch! ”

"Snort" Two more rockets rushed out, but this time they all landed at the front of the two rushing convoys! Maybe it was the other party's luck, this time all of them didn't hit, but they still exploded fiercely not far from the pickup, and the prefabricated fragments swept around, hitting several cars all over the body, killing and injuring many people!

At least four pickup trucks had to stop moving forward and get out of the car to rescue the wounded or check for damage. The newly assembled thugs had to disperse again to dodge, and the charge was once again delayed.

This time, they didn't dare to approach rashly any longer. One is that the damage is severe and needs to be redeployed. Second, the heavy fire that was obviously exposed on the opposite side was terrifying, and it was impossible for them to risk huge casualties.

Seeing the situation of the enemy's immediate adjustment, Chekov quietly breathed a sigh of relief, looked down at his watch, and a relaxed smile appeared on his face. In the distant sky, a low roar faintly came, quickly pressing!

In the blink of an eye, two "Tianpeng" attack planes flew from a low altitude, and a burst of fireworks burst out from the rocket nest mounted under the wings of the naked eye, roaring towards the pickup truck array! (To be continued......)