The government commander's entire body broke out in sweat, his hairs standing on end as he instinctively lay flat inside the vehicle.

Numerous spiderweb-like cracks had appeared on the windows.

Upon rising to his feet again, the commander looked out in a panic.

Through the blurred glass and with the aid of night-vision goggles, he saw bodies strewn haphazardly on the ground.

"God..."

He was beyond describing his own fear.

"Turn around! Break out!"

Staying here meant certain death. The crackling sounds from earlier were steel balls shooting against the car's body when the Directional Bombs exploded.

He was unclear exactly how many Directional Bombs the ELN ambushers had planted here, but judging from the sound of the explosions and the bodies on the ground, there were at least ten.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought popped into the commander's head—the ELN were definitely getting outside support.

This wasn't his first encounter with this guerrilla group, yet he had never seen such high-volume use of mines from the ELN, who typically made their own IEDs, throughout these many years.

If not now, when was the time to escape?

Under his urge, the driver, in a panic, continued to turn the vehicle around.

But just as he began to reverse, it felt as though the wheels had rolled over something, and the cabin jolted fiercely.

A government soldier lying behind the vehicle had the worst luck.

He had been struck by the steel balls from a Directional Bomb and had fallen to the ground, still alive and possibly savable.

Yet when the two or nearly three-ton Humvee rolled over him, it stuck to his stomach, crushing him flat, forcing out a chilling, blood-curdling scream.

"We've run over someone..."

The driver, his face a mask of terror, gripped the gearstick, unsure whether to shift into drive.

"There's no time for that, we have to run, or we're dead!"

The commander, with a much harder heart, grabbed the driver's hand and pushed it into drive, bellowing, "Go!"

The driver clenched his teeth, jerked the steering wheel, and floored the gas pedal.

The Humvee turned in the middle of the road, crushing over bodies and soldiers still barely breathing several times during the maneuver.

With each crush, a scream could be heard.

The driver's complexion grew greener, his lips trembling, as he silently prayed to God for forgiveness.

Finally, after creating a bloody path, the Humvee successfully turned around and began to make a rapid escape back the way it had come.

Along the way, seeing the bodies and destroyed vehicles, the commander and the driver were both silent, without words.

A Humvee ablaze suddenly appeared ahead, likely having been destroyed by an RPG or similar anti-armor weapon, blocking the road.

"Run it over! Run over it!"

The commander, sitting in the passenger seat, had eyes red as flames, like a Mad Dog.

The driver accelerated, aiming for the front of the burning Humvee.

Just as the two gritted their teeth for one final push, they saw a figure flash by at the side of the road.

"Look out!"

The commander shouted, pointing at the figure darting onto the road.

"Hit him!"

Before the shout could land, a flash of fire erupted from the shadow's shoulder.

Boom—

The Humvee's hood was sent skyward.

The commander felt the temperature in the entire cabin surge as if he'd been thrown into a furnace with the ignition switched on.

The engine of the Humvee instantly died, the front veered off, and the vehicle crashed into a roadside ditch.

The shadow threw down the M72 launcher on his shoulder and, gun in hand, charged over.

The commander at this moment was in a dazed state.

The explosion had made him feel as if his clothes were about to ignite; his whole body ached.

The door was quickly pulled open. He tried to reach for his gun, but was swiftly knocked on the forehead with the butt of a rifle, stars dancing before his eyes, making him even dizzier.

He was dragged ruthlessly from the passenger seat, thrown heavily to the ground, then dragged like a dead dog, and finally dumped on the roadside.

The shadow seemed to take pleasure in his handiwork. Upon recognizing the commander's rank, he burst into laughter, "We've got a captain here—the highest rank!"

The commander pleaded weakly, "Spare me... don't kill..."

"We've been ordered not to leave any survivors."

With that, the shadow raised his hand, and the muzzle flashed with fire.

Bang, bang—

The burst of gunfire was over in an instant.

The commander's brains burst out, and he met God right there and then.

"Principal, you are truly prescient!"

On the fiery Highway 86, Anthony excitedly reported the combat situation to Song Heping via his radio walkie-talkie.

"We wiped out an entire platoon! They really tried to use the cover of night to cut through Highway 86 and get behind us. What do you think we should do next?!"

"Clean up the battlefield, take their equipment, weapons, and ammunition; you all will need them for the next two days, especially the night vision goggles, those are good stuff. They will come in handy for your guerrilla warfare at night."

"Alright! Everything will be executed as per your command!"

At this point, Anthony admired Song Heping to the extreme and wouldn't doubt his principal's commands for accuracy.

"Anthony, there's something I must remind you."

"Go ahead."

"In the next day or two, your Tamei Defense Zone will be the toughest unit on the entire front line. Be very careful. When fighting, don't aim for a head-on clash. Try to make the most of the jungle terrain to deal with the government army. Their armored vehicles can't get in there; that's your advantage. But watch out for the Air Force. If I'm not mistaken, after a day of battle, they've grown wiser. I expect the bombers will coordinate attacks concurrently with the ground troops. So remember, don't let the firefight last too long. It's best not to exceed ten minutes. You don't need to kill many enemies. My order for you is to protect yourselves, tie up the enemy and buy time!"

"Is it really that serious?"

Anthony felt a chill down his spine.

The battle started today, and in less than 24 hours, they had already wiped out an enemy battalion's strength, with just over two hundred casualties on their side. The situation seemed quite good.

But Principal Song suggested the future would be very difficult...

"Yes. Remember my words! Don't try to be a hero! Don't engage too long! Hit and run, disappear into the jungle before their Air Force can arrive at the battle airspace!"

"Okay, I will definitely follow your instructions!"

After ending the conversation, Song Heping sat in his chair with the walkie-talkie, lost in thought.

Morins came over and called him twice before he snapped back to reality.

"You anticipated the ambush exactly, and you're not happy we won?"

"Happy about what?"

Song Heping retorted, "What should I be happy about? The government forces have two battalions heading towards Tame, with Air Force support. We only gained the upper hand today because they weren't used to our tactics. The American advisors aren't stupid. Once they adjust their strategy tomorrow, it's going to be tough."

Morins said, "With you here, I'm not worried."

Song Heping said, "I'm human, not a god. If the disparity in strength is small, then tactics can compensate. But the current situation is that the allied government forces have an overwhelming advantage. If we can't make the government army retreat, then those two attack aircraft I have in Venezuela dare not take off. Without taking off, they can't destroy the command center of the AUC. Then, do you think your three to four thousand people can withstand an attack from thirty thousand AUC troops?"

Saying that, his gaze returned to the map.

He could recite every place name on it from memory.

In his eyes, each little flag marking different factions and combat units came to life, forming a dynamic map in his mind.

He could simulate in his head how each troop might move and where they might be redeployed.

"Morins, tomorrow's offensive in Tame will be the most intense. Today was only this disastrous for the government forces because their land and air forces couldn't coordinate. If I were the American military advisor, do you know how I would fight tomorrow?"

He presented Morins with a problem.

After thinking it over while studying the map, Morins finally said, "Other than reinforcing troops and deploying more combat units, I can't think of any other tricks they might play. They have failed at insertion twice already; I can't believe they'd still have the gall to try that. They will have to go for a head-on assault."

"I'm not afraid of a head-on assault... It's all jungle there; armored vehicles, Humvees, none of that can get in. They can't utilize the power of their armored vehicles. As long as Anthony and his team make good use of the jungle, they can hold back the government forces."

Song Heping said, "You didn't get to the point. There's no need for additional troop reinforcements. If that military advisor has any brains, they just need to make the most of the Air Force's advantage. Anthony and his team simply won't last a day."

Morins found it hard to believe, "Today they also continuously utilized the Air Force, and yet the push was slow. Could things really change tomorrow?"

"You completely missed the trick there. They didn't use their Air Force effectively today."

Pointing at an airport in the southern part of the Tame Region on the map, he said, "This is a civilian airport. If I were the commander, I'd immediately requisition this airport for military use, then land two squadrons of A-37 bombers there. One squadron would take off, circling over the combat area, synchronized with the ground troops, so as soon as there's gunfire on the ground, they can bomb the enemy right away. Today, they parked the bombers at the rear airfield. When the front lines called, they took off, but it takes at least 30 minutes to fly from their military airbase to the combat zone. So Anthony and his team still had enough time to escape."

"But if the airfield is here, it would take less than fifteen minutes to reach the combat airspace, then two squadrons could alternately patrol the skies—one on duty, one waiting at the airport ready for orders. Two bomber squadron could maintain constant presence in the skies over the combat zone, ready for call-out, dropping bombs accurately within about ten minutes. Tell me, how do you fight that?! This is an equipment gap that tactics can't make up for."

When it came to military command, Morins was no match for Song Heping.

After listening to Song Heping's battlefield simulation, he realized the severity of the problem.

"What do we do then?"

"What do we do? We still rely on your informants! Where are the photos?! How come you haven't gotten them yet?"

"Report!"

As the two were discussing the military deployment for the next day, a communications soldier tore off his headphones and called out.

"Recon 1 group is online, looking for Commander Song!"

Recon 1 group was led by Jiang Feng personally. Their mission was to infiltrate the AUC-controlled area disguised as civilians, to find their headquarters.

He glanced at his watch.

It was almost midnight.

They were contacting him at this hour; could it be that they had already reached the inner part of the AUC defense zone and found their command center?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com