Chapter 17: An exercise without suspense

"What are you kidding? It only takes 12 people to defeat my company, oh my God, are the Rockman guys crazy? Ever since Johnny received the drill order from his superiors, he has been cursing the arrogant boy of the Rockman family. Johnny's infantry company was completely based on the training content and organization of the German commando, except for the difference in weapons and equipment, everything else, including the soldiers' barracks, was almost the same.

"Well, I'll do what I'm told." Johnny, who had a gray nose at his boss, returned to his company stupidly, since the opinion of his superiors decided this matter, as a subordinate, he could only act according to orders, otherwise just flouting orders was enough for him. The exercise ground was set up at a training base for the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and Johnny placed his company on a high ground with a wide view for defense, and he did not believe that the opposing 12 men could break through his defenses.

Vincent, a West Point graduate of Roosevelt's military staff, who had been obsessed with the study of small-scale combat tactics, was the target of the exercise, and the exercise of 12 men against an entire company was exactly what he wanted. According to the regulations of the exercise, the infantry company commanded by Johnny could enter the exercise ground six hours in advance to build fortifications and defense lines, while the 12 mercenaries selected by Zhao Zhi would still be sleeping in the tents, and the officers who came to observe the exercise privately bet that the mercenaries would fail.

"Evan, you can't do it here, remember what I said during training? The trench is the guarantee of your life, and you must dig the trench to the position as required and continue. Johnny scurried around his line like a wind-wound toy mouse, looking for holes in the line little by little. Vincent, who was sitting under the tree to enjoy the coolness, was tired of Johnny's panic, wasn't it just 12 enemies? As for being so neurotic?

"Attention boys, it's going to get dark, and according to the requirements of the exercise, as long as we are here to protect our big guys for 24 hours, we will win this exercise. The regiment headquarters has already said that as long as we win the exercise, each of us will have three days off, and you can go where you want to go and drink and talk to women. Johnny's words cheered the soldiers, who were already tired of the exercise, and the desire for vacation and beer made them look forward to a sooner start so they could end the exercise early and hug the woman.

As Johnny said, as time went by, it got dark, and Johnny's soldiers lay in the trenches, staring at them with wide eyes, waiting for the attackers to arrive. Things didn't go as Johnny thought, until 3 o'clock in the morning, the expected attacker did not appear, and Vincent, who was guarded by the group, also wondered why the so-called Thunder mercenaries had not launched an attack at night.

As the minutes passed, the soldiers who had been waiting for a long time slowly lost their patience, and there began to be restlessness in the trenches, and some of the brave guys even began to sleep with their eyes closed, and all the soldiers thought that the other side would not carry out a night attack, and even the commander Johnny was a little breathless and began to fidget. "What are they going to do? Do you want to wait until we have exhausted our stamina and attack directly after dawn? But there are only 12 of them, and even with 6 machine guns, they are no match for me? ”

The distraught Johnny unconsciously reached out and took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, just when Johnny turned on the lighter and approached the cigarette to light it, an abnormality suddenly appeared, "snapped" a rubber bullet hit his steel helmet, although it was only a rubber bullet for acting, but Johnny's head still swayed uncontrollably with the direction of the bullet. "Alright, Commander, you're dead." The referee in charge of the battlefield decision tore off Johnny's red armband, and the latter gritted his teeth as he looked at the white dot on the steel helmet.

The commander was killed, and the news shocked the soldiers of the infantry company, and the platoon commander who took over the command was even more sweaty, and no one thought to deal with the commander who actually killed them first by long-distance sniping. You must know that if it is in actual combat, the death of the commander is a big blow to the morale of the troops and the spirit of battle, with Johnny's previous experience, the officers and passive soldiers are cautiously lying down, and no one dares to make a move against the battlefield environment.

"Killed, killed, seriously wounded, I determine that you are out, you can choose to be a corpse or just leave the battlefield with your weapons." Two flares were shot into the air, and under the cold light of the flares, the mercenaries were again in a burst of black guns, and the referees on the high ground were busy, so far, 14 people in Johnny's company have been judged out.

"Is that why they want to beat us like this?" The black gun attack of the mercenaries continued for nearly an hour, and the platoon leader who took over Johnny's command was a little confused. Their opponents have not shown their faces, but they have used long-range accurate shots to attack those soldiers who have accidentally exposed their figures, but their own company has 130 people, and if they continue to fight like this, let alone 24 hours, even if they come for another 24 hours, those attackers will not be able to kill them all.

The same questions as the platoon commander were the officers who watched the battle, they got the news that only 4 of the 12 Thunder mercenaries had walked out of the tent so far, and the remaining 8 Thunder mercenaries were still honestly staying in the tent, if the Thunder really wanted to defeat Johnny's company with sniper tactics, then this exercise would be left unwatched, it was completely like a child playing a game.

"They're out, they're out, look." One of the officers who had been paying attention to the mercenary tent cried out, and everyone looked in the direction of his finger. Eight black-clad mercenaries were walking out of the tent, and their commander, Zhao Zhi, was whispering to him. "It seems that they are still planning to conduct this exercise in the form of a night attack, 12 against 130 people, and it seems that this exercise is interesting." Although the exercise site was now pitch black, the officers watching the battle were still enthusiastically discussing around the sand table.

The 8 mercenaries dressed in black disappeared into the night, and Zhao Zhi, who watched the mercenaries leave, did not return to the hall, but sat alone on the grass and smoked a cigarette, the smell of tobacco made him miss the mercenary life in his previous life. Two flares were shot into the air, and a light machine gun in the grass opened fire fiercely at the defensive line of the infantry company.

The 8 mercenaries who crawled quickly on the ground "up" lifted the camouflage net on their bodies and hurriedly pounced on the trench not far ahead, the black military uniforms of the mercenaries had already been changed to field camouflage when they set off, and the black military uniforms were just Zhao Zhi's tricks, which were used to confuse the officers watching the battle. The mercenaries who pounced into the trenches like cheetahs began to kill the soldiers of the infantry company along the trenches, the most suitable weapon for close combat was the pistol, the Garand rifle was a bit of a hindrance for the soldiers of the infantry company nested in the trenches, and the mercenaries who suddenly appeared in the trenches panicked, but they did not have the weapons in their hands, so they had to watch themselves be killed one by one by the rubber bullets that came from the fire.

The mercenaries who rushed into the trenches were like tigers entering the mountains and forests, the soldiers of the infantry company who shouted and shouted were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and although the officers watching the battle could not see what was happening on the high ground, the earth-shattering shouts on the high ground and the soldiers who left the exercise in despair still proved everything. The first rays of sunlight appeared at the exercise ground, and Vincent, who acted as the target figure, found that only 30 soldiers were left to protect himself on the high ground, and the rest of the soldiers had lost contact with them, and the entire high ground defense line was as silent as death.

"Johnny, do you want to continue? Your people are dying. Colonel Rook, who came to support his subordinates, blushed, Johnny's company was one of the best in combat effectiveness in his regiment, but such a company that he had high hopes for was judged to have lost more than 7% of his efforts in just one night when facing 12 people. If this was placed in actual combat, the troops that lost 70% of them might have chosen to surrender or disperse long ago, but fortunately they didn't say much to the other officers when they came, otherwise they would have lost their faces.

"At the end of the exercise, the Thunder mercenaries won, and the casualty ratio was 130 to 0." Just when Johnny made a difficult decision, the referee announced the results of the exercise, and when Rook blamed Johnny, the 12 Thunder mercenaries who had completed the siege had quickly eliminated the remaining 30 infantry company soldiers and successfully "rescued" the target person Vincent.

Zhao Zhi, who had been out of the sight of the officers, stood at the assembly point in general, "saluting" the 12 mercenaries and smoothly returning to the starting place. The best affirmation for a soldier is a military salute, and the performance of the Thunder mercenaries has conquered the respect of the officers present, and Vincent, who was carried back by the mercenaries as the target figure, is already wondering if he is going to quit his errand in the White House and find an opportunity to infiltrate the Thunder's mercenary force to experience it.

The exercise without suspense came to an end, but Zhao Zhi, who returned to Lockman's villa, was very dissatisfied, because the mercenaries who participated in the exercise actually changed their tactics temporarily, gave up the smoke that could defeat the enemy, and chose to fight the infantry company in close combat. In order to win, this is also the creed of mercenaries, Zhao Zhi does not want his foreign mercenaries to look like mercenaries, but the actual combat is still the same as the soldiers of the regular army, if so, his idea of forming a foreign mercenary task force tends to be shattered.