Located in the northern core of the island of Motri in Mutus, the city of Louel is an important transportation hub that runs through the north, south, east and west of the entire continent of Motri. About forty or fifty kilometers to the southeast of the city lies a small town called Raqqa, with a population of only a few hundred thousand. The town of Raqqa is located at the junction of two towering mountain ranges, which are crossed by a thoroughfare, and are the southeastern gateway to the city of Louel.

After the 502nd Army Group completed the forward landing operation, the commander, General Opp, gave the 118th Army an order to attack the city of Louel. When the 118th Army marched to the town of Raqqa, it was desperately blocked by the 77th Corps of the Sharon rebels who were holding the town. With the help of many permanent fortifications on the mountains on both sides of the town, the rebels held the vanguard of the 118th Army at the perimeter of the town for a whole day and a night. Lieutenant General Lot, the commander of the 118th Army, was furious and ordered the remaining three divisions to take a detour in other directions and march towards the city of Louel, except for the 17th Marine Division, which was left to continue the attack on the town.

"Let the second regiment take over the first regiment and continue to attack the eastern mountains, and the third regiment will assist the fourth regiment to break into the town, and drive those dogs out of the town for Lao Tzu!" In a temporary command post in the mountains on the outskirts of Raqqa Town, a colonel wearing a field military uniform and a holographic helmet pointed to a holographic three-dimensional terrain projector and roared angrily at a major staff officer beside him: "I don't believe it, these dogs can't be beaten with iron?" Can actually stick our 17th Division to death in this hellish place! ”

"Yes, Commander!" The disgraced major saluted, quickly turned around and returned to his post, using the communication device to convey the order of the colonel's division commander to the subordinate regiments.

The red-faced middle-aged colonel with a tiger's back, slightly white temples, and a gasping mouth was none other than Duncan, the commander of the 17th Marine Division. The image on the holographic 3D terrain projector is the mountainous area around the town of Raqqa. After the main detour of the 118th Army, the remaining 17th Marine Division finally tore through the outer defenses of Raqqa Town after a day and night of fierce attack, coupled with the air cover of the friendly 90th Air Assault Division, and bloodily captured the high ground west of Raqqa Town. However, the rebels who held the town were unusually stubborn, and with the exception of one that remained in the mountains to the east, the rest retreated into the town of Raqqa, taking advantage of the favorable terrain to resist the attack of the 17th Division.

Originally, during the forced landing operation, the 17th Division suffered a lot of casualties, and now countless soldiers have fallen in front of the town of Raqqa, which makes the division commander, Colonel Duncan, feel bloodied and even more annoyed.

"Report to the division commander, there is a major communication officer outside who claims to be sent by the headquarters of the army group, saying that he has an important order to convey to you personally!" Duncan had just finished giving the order to reorder the attacking troops when a sergeant guard in charge of the security of the headquarters hurried in to report to Duncan.

"Major Communications Officer? What is your name? Duncan was stunned, frowned and asked.

"Report to the division commander, he didn't say it!" The sergeant stepped forward and replied respectfully.

"What the hell is it, and the headquarters needs to send someone over to deliver the order?" Duncan rolled his eyes and cursed the sergeant, "You go and ask him what his name is?" What are the important orders? If you don't want to say it, just drive Lao Tzu away, Lao Tzu has no time to take care of these turtle grandsons! ”

"Yes, Commander!" The sergeant saluted and prepared to turn and go out.

"Wait!" At this moment, another colonel, who was watching Duncan and listening to Duncan's conversation with the sergeant, suddenly reached out to stop the sergeant. This colonel turned out to be the deputy commander of the 17th Division, Grom.

"Old man, discourage, listen to me!" Looking at Duncan, whose eyes were wide-eyed, Grom knew that he was angry, so he explained with a smile: "We now have such developed means of communication, it stands to reason that there is no need for the headquarters to send someone to personally convey orders, not to mention that we still have the level of the military department above our heads, and the headquarters seems to have the flavor of overstepping the command in such a way." However, it is said that some important information or orders, in order to avoid leakage, are usually printed on special paper and sent to convey them one-on-one. If I'm not mistaken, that major communications officer from the headquarters of the army group is likely to be burdened with such a mission! Anyway, old man, I think I'd better meet him first! ”

As Duncan's deputy, Grom has a steady and meticulous temperament, and can often make up for the mistakes made by the hot-tempered Duncan in time. Hearing Grom's explanation now, Duncan, although still a little unhappy in his heart, snorted and acquiesced to Grom's opinion.

"Go and get the communications officer in!" Grom smiled again and waved his hand at the sergeant.

A moment later, a grim-faced major entered the temporary command post, looked around, saluted Duncan, who also had the colonel's emblem on his armband, and asked, "Hello sir!" Who is Master Duncan? ”

"I am!" Duncan replied coldly, and then asked in a slightly sarcastic tone, "When did the headquarters of the army group start to like overstepping the command?" Say, what orders do you want our division to carry out? ”

"Sir, I have a confidential document in my hand, which needs to be handed over to you separately! In addition, Admiral Op has a few more words for me to convey to you personally! I hope the chief will make it convenient! As he said this, the Major's eyes swept over the rest of the officers in the command, meaning that it was clear that Duncan needed to find a separate place to interview him.

"Alright! You come with me! Duncan, who didn't have much patience, saw that this major was so "long-winded", and couldn't help but want to have a seizure, but was secretly pulled by Grom on the side. Duncan endured the unhappiness in his heart, said a word to the major with a cold face, and then turned his head and led the way out of the temporary command post.

"Okay, if there's anything, let's explain it quickly! After dealing with you big men at the headquarters, I still have to clean up the rebels in Raqqa Town! Coming to a high ground not far from the command post, Duncan turned to the major and said sneeringly.

"Sir, this is what Admiral Opp wants me to hand over to you personally!" The major still had a grim face that was not happy or angry, and did not seem to care about Duncan's cynicism at all, so he took out a round iron box the size of a palm and two fingers thick from the pocket of his personal military uniform, and tinkered back and forth on the iron box, and the iron box popped open with a snap, revealing a piece of tissue paper folded into two or three fingers long and wide.

"What is this?" Looking at the thin paper, Duncan couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Admiral Op said that you will understand it if you have seen it!" The Major took out the tissue paper and handed it to Duncan to explain.

Duncan took the thin piece of paper, glanced hesitantly at the Major, and then lowered his head to unfold the paper and look at it. It's okay not to look at it, but the more I look at Duncan's face, the more blue it becomes.

"What the fuck is this...... Seeing Zuihou, the upright Duncan couldn't help but tear the thin paper, but seeing the major's grim face, Duncan stopped stupidly, and even swallowed back the unfinished swearing.

"Tell me, what else does Admiral Opp have to convey to you personally?" Putting away the thin piece of paper, Duncan asked stupidly.

"Admiral Op wants me to tell the sir!" The Major was like a cold robot, with a frosty face from beginning to end, without joy or sorrow. Admiral Opp's original words were: "We are all soldiers, and it is our duty to obey orders, and I hope that Duncan, this kid, will honestly follow Admiral Auston's intentions and do this!" If there are any other unpleasant words, keep them for me to see you alive in the future! ””

After listening to the Major's words, Duncan was silent for a long time, and finally nodded to the Major with a gloomy face, and then walked to the command post on his own, without even meaning to send the Major from the headquarters of the Army Group. And the major didn't seem to care, glanced at it lightly, and walked towards his own car not far away.

"What's wrong with the old man?" Seeing Duncan walk in with a cold face, Grom hurriedly stepped forward and asked with concern, "Is there any hard bone to be chewed by the headquarters?" ”

"See for yourself!" Duncan handed the tissue paper in his hand to Grom, grabbed a glass of water on the table, poured it down, and slammed the steel glass down on the table, shouting angrily, "Damn, what the fuck is this bullshit secret called!" What kind of crazy old guy is Auston? Unexpectedly, he didn't want to go with a small marine company under Lao Tzu? He doesn't fucking know that Lao Tzu is desperately short of manpower in his hands now? And what is the sergeant called Haoyi, where did you provoke that old guy......"

Duncan was about to scold, but suddenly he saw that Grom was constantly glaring at him, and he was stunned for a moment before he stopped talking. Then, glancing at the officers who were busy at the command post, Grom gestured to Duncan and motioned for him to follow him out.

After coming to the secluded place outside the command post, Grom didn't wait for Duncan to continue scolding, and preemptively said: "Old man, in my opinion, Auston's secret order has a lot of connotation, you can't ignore it in a big way!" It's not good, if you force Auston to screw your head and mine! ”

"Is it that serious?" Duncan said in surprise.

"Do you know the origin of this sergeant named Haoyi and others?"

"There are thousands of non-commissioned officers in the whole division, how do I know what this guy is about?" Duncan stared in confusion.

Seeing this, Grom glanced back left and right, and whispered a moment in Duncan's ear.

"Solomy strikes back?" Duncan suddenly realized and shouted: "No wonder Lao Tzu always thinks that that boy brother can't make such a big contribution so easily!" ”

"Old man, you should understand the off-strings of Auston's secret order, right?" Grom said earnestly.

"And what are we going to do if you say so?" Duncan asked, frowning.

"The grievances and grievances of high-level people are not something that small people like you and me can control, not to mention that Haoyi is just an inconspicuous sergeant!" Grom sighed and persuaded: "Old man, when you shouldn't protect your shortcomings, don't protect your shortcomings, this kind of thing, even if you and I don't want to do it, those high-ranking people will still send others to do it!" ”

"Hey! It's just a pity for the rest of the Marines in that company! Duncan said with a long sigh.