The next night we set off towards our destination.

The reason is that we received reports from the front...... The number of Soviet helicopter sorties and artillery bombardment has been significantly reduced, and the soldiers are resting and recuperating, and a company of reserves has been brought up......

So that's obvious...... Problems with the supply of ammunition to the Soviet army have already arisen.

Our force of more than 2,000 men marched towards our destination in four parts...... The reason why it is divided into four parts is because our previous reconnaissance told us that eight of the twelve mountain roads we had just built were not blocked by the Soviets......

I thought it was strange when I got the news...... Most of the roads we build are during the day, and there are many inconveniences in working at night, and it will also delay the progress of road construction...... Therefore, it can be said that the road we built has no secret to the Soviet army at all, and the Soviets will know where our road is being repaired by sending a reconnaissance plane to fly at will.

So...... Originally, I thought it would be good if four or five of the dozen or so mountain roads were not blocked.

Thinking about it later, I felt that this really made the Soviet army a little embarrassed...... The total number of Soviet troops was only 100,000, including the Afghan government army, which was only 200,000...... These 200,000 people had to ensure the safety of the city and transportation, and at the same time carry out a focused elimination of the guerrillas, and then they had to deploy troops to garrison the border...... And this border is not only the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, but also the Iranian-Afghan direction......

So the Soviet army was obviously short of troops, even if they knew that there were twelve mountain roads we had built, and they knew where they were...... But it just can't be garrisoned on every road.

It's not just a matter of just throwing a few people at random...... If the number of troops is too small, the guerrillas will be annihilated in the second half of the army, and not only will they not play the role of garrison, but they will also waste their troops in vain. If there are too many troops, you can't defend them everywhere...... For example, if we built twelve mountain roads in one go, if we had a company to garrison each mountain road. Those twelve mountain roads will require more than 1,000 people from four battalions......

Therefore, the lack of troops decided that the Soviet side could only choose some of the more important roads to garrison. And there must also be high ground or mountain passes that are easy to defend and difficult to attack on these mountain roads. Permanent fortifications were then built on these heights for the purpose of long-term garrison.

This gives us a lot of options...... There are eight mountain trails to walk!

But we certainly don't divide our forces into eight parts...... The complex composition of our troops determines that we must not be too fragmented, otherwise it will be difficult to coordinate. So the two guerrillas each chose a path to advance, and our troops, as usual, were divided into half of Hassan's troops to form a team.

Of course, in order to coordinate the operations of the various units, we sent several military advisers and equipped radio stations for the two guerrilla units to make contact.

After a night of rapid marching, we reached the vicinity of the Higio Valley...... Originally, it would have taken two nights to reach the Shigio Valley, but because we have opened up a new mountain trail...... Many of these mountain roads have been blown up by explosives, so the distance has been shortened over a large distance. It only took one night to get us to the valley.

When we arrived, spread out in the designated place and hide well...... The sky was also dark.

As soon as the sky is dark, it is time for the Soviets to get up and start a new round of siege...... It didn't take long for us to see Soviet GIs emerge from their sleeping bags to sort out their equipment, and only a small part of them were getting the necessary grooming...... That is, take a steel helmet and load it with water, and use this water to shave and wash your face or something.

So I knew that most of these Soviet soldiers didn't have the energy to care about the beard scum on their faces...... This may be normal if it were an Afghan, but it is not normal for a Soviet soldier who usually gets up and washes every day, and it is not without a shortage of water...... There are a few creeks in the valley of Chijeo.

This illustrates a problem...... It is not an exaggeration to say that these Soviet soldiers are exhausted, or the end of their strength.

I didn't dare to observe much because I was afraid of being discovered by the Soviet troops, and after looking at it for a while, I put away my binoculars and retracted back into the cave...... The advantage of the mountains is here, there are caves everywhere suitable for the troops to hide, and some caves are even large enough to hide a regiment...... The problem is that if someone is familiar with the terrain and knows the exits to these caves, it is easy to seal off the troops hiding in them.

Of course. This was not the strong point of the Soviet army.

So our plan is to ...... Hide in this cave for the whole day to recuperate, just waiting for the Soviets to finish a day's battle with Pesul. It's time for us to strike......

But I soon realized that something was wrong...... It's been a long time outside, and there hasn't been any movement.

"Is this the case with the Soviet army in normal times?" I whispered to Vadud, who was not far from me, who had been in charge of monitoring the Soviet troops these days, so only he knew best.

Vadud was as surprised as I was...... He shook his head and replied, "No...... They should have started fighting at this time, first firing artillery, and then attacking under the cover of helicopters......"

I couldn't help but be silent when I heard this...... It is obvious what the Soviets are waiting for, but after so many days of fighting, what can they wait for? I think there is only one possibility, waiting for the synergy of air power and artillery......

However, the coordination of air power and artillery in general also does not take such a long time...... Just like now, we have been waiting in the cave for more than an hour, but the Soviet army outside still has not moved.

"Battalion commander, what do you think?" Zhao Jingping asked in a low voice.

"Quite possibly......," I said, frowning, "the Soviets are preparing for a final attack!" ”

"Hmm!" Zhao Jingping nodded in agreement.

To wait for such a long time means that the Soviet army has to mobilize a small force, at a time when ammunition and supplies are already facing shortages...... They also had to mobilize a significant force to attack the Hijeo Valley...... Obviously, I hope for a quick solution.

A quick victory, of course, was right, on the one hand, the Soviet army could not afford to spend ammunition...... They also had to stock up on some ammunition to face the guerrillas' counterattack after the purging of the purge of the guerrillas. On the other hand...... The Soviets could not afford to wait, because the longer they waited, the more likely it was that reinforcements would be available in the Higio Valley.

So this can also be said to be the last stand of the Soviet army...... If you win, you will pull out the nail in the valley of Shigio, and if you lose, you may have to retreat because of the excessive consumption of ammunition......

This is also good for us, because this is also telling us that the Soviet army is the end of the crossbow!

But here's the problem...... It's daytime! (To be continued......)