From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Chu Zhangang and the rest of the command post had just arrived when the staff officers came to report the battle report.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief: According to satellite reconnaissance and electromagnetic reconnaissance, the Blue Army began a large-scale naval assembly at 4:00 AM and left the dock at dawn. The naval formation has already entered the inland waters within 200 kilometers."

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief: Radar has detected the Blue Army's aircraft formation. Two echelons have taken off, including a squadron of fighter jets. They will arrive in the airspace of our Chenghai defense line in five minutes."

As soon as one staff officer finished speaking, another staff officer immediately followed up with a report covering both the sea and air areas.

"Order!"

Seeing the Blue Army making such a big commotion, Chu Zhangang concluded that the Blue Army was about to launch a real attack, and immediately raised the order, and everyone else also stood up.

"All units shall immediately enter combat readiness, and the long-range artillery battalion shall move into its firing position."

"Yes!!"

Everyone responded loudly and clearly.

More than 20 kilometers away, the Red Army's long-range artillery battalion came to life in an instant as a clear whistle rang out throughout the camp.

Fully armed artillerymen from the long-range artillery battalion ran out of their tents and headed toward the rocket launchers.

When the convoy left their hiding place and appeared on the dirt road in the forest, the roaring engines carrying heavy loads and the tire noise of the huge tires rolling on the ground could be clearly heard from two hundred meters away.

The reconnaissance team of the 7th Steel Brigade was equipped with detection equipment, which made them more sensitive to sound and vibration. The convoy was detected when it was still 12 kilometers away.

Having received advance detection information, the reconnaissance team easily determined the direction of the convoy based on its movement trajectory and laid an ambush on their inevitable route.

"Boss, the first round of negotiations for the project went well. The other party has three branch offices. They've gone back to negotiate and have arranged to meet us again this afternoon."

Wu Liuyi immediately reported to the command center via radio using coded language.

"Brigadier, I think it's about time. We can order all naval fleets to withdraw, except for the fighter jets which have completed the destruction of the forward fortifications."

As the commander-in-chief of this exercise, Chen Jun had the authority to order Wang Qingrui to issue instructions.

Wang Qingrui felt no discomfort, as he was already used to following Chen Jun's tactics and immediately relayed the order.

"Now that the target has been identified, it's time for us to take action."

After Wu Liuyi reported the situation to the command, he then began to arrange the next action deployment according to the plan formulated by the command.

"Xu Sanduo, you take two people as a group, follow the tire tracks back, and find their hiding place."

Wu Liuyi's first order was to find the most crucial hiding place of the Far Fire Battalion, so that they could launch an operation against him.

"Yes!"

Xu Sanduo received the order, selected two soldiers, and crouched down to run out of the woods.

"Chengcai, you take two people as the second group and go to cut into their communication telephone lines, enter their communication system, and gather some intelligence."

Wu Liuyi's second order was icing on the cake, mainly to crack the communications of the 909th Brigade.

Having learned from the lesson of the previous exercise where communications were intercepted, ultimately leading to the collapse of the entire command system and being completely outmaneuvered by the Steel 7th Brigade.

Taking advantage of its defensive position, the 909th Brigade used physical telephone lines for communication and command.

In this way, no signal will be transmitted in the air, and no matter how strong the electronic warfare capabilities of the 7th Steel Brigade are, it will be impossible to intercept the communications of the 909th Brigade remotely.

This is the most basic, and also the most effective, method.

The only way to crack the physical communications of the 909th Brigade is to find their telephone lines and then install listening devices on them to intercept them.

but.

The Dongpingshan position covers such a vast area that finding communication lines would be like finding a needle in a haystack; we must find a way to complete this task.

Therefore, Wu Liuyi assigned this task to Cheng Cai, who is more quick-witted and has a higher probability of completing the task.

"The rest of you, follow me, let's go!"

After Wu Liuyi gave the final order, the reconnaissance team split into three, each heading in a different direction with their orders.

Cheng Cai has always been very shrewd, quick-witted and resourceful. He knew that searching randomly would not yield any results, and he had to come up with a solution.

So instead of blindly running all over the mountains, he chose the smarter option of lying in wait.

Cheng Cai was certain that the concealed locations of the long-range artillery battalion, as well as the launch zones for entering combat posture, were not chosen on the spot, but were planned in advance.

To prevent communication interception, these two planned areas must be connected by telephone lines.

So Cheng Cai chose to follow the train convoy. After the convoy entered the launch area and stopped, and began to deploy security, he led his men back.

Then, near the perimeter of the launch area, between the direction they came from, they searched for the hidden telephone line.

That's a really good idea.

Cheng Cai didn't have to put in too much effort. He used the trace evidence he learned in the Special Forces A to find the hidden telephone wire from the subtle trampling marks left on the ground.

With the cable found, the rest was easy. I took out the equipment and computer and connected it.

Shortly after connecting to the communication signal, the soldier in charge of the day began to listen to the calls and immediately worked with another soldier to record them.

"This is a call from the 909th Brigade's switchboard. They want Battalion Commander Chen of the Long-Range Artillery Battalion to answer the phone. A duty officer said that Battalion Commander Chen has led his troops to the position."

"This is a direct line from the 909th Brigade's communications company switchboard to the long-range artillery battalion..."

"This is the network that has entered the switchboard of the 909th Brigade. I heard Political Commissar Xu say that the group army's performance team is going to perform for the motorized infantry battalion, and that the motorized infantry battalion must make sure to receive them well."

……

After listening continuously for almost half an hour, we received a lot of call signals, but they were all of very limited value, and none of them were of any key importance.

Cheng Cai felt that things couldn't continue like this, and a new idea popped into his head.

Changing the course of action without authorization is definitely not an option, so Cheng Cai contacted Wu Liuyi before carrying it out, asking Wu Liuyi to come to his place to discuss it.

“This isn’t very meaningful. I have an idea: why don’t we just storm into their hideout?”

When Wu Liuyi ran over with three groups of people, Cheng Cai immediately ran over and told him his idea, which surprised everyone present.

There were only six of them in total, yet they were determined to storm the enemy's lair.

That was a concealed location for an entire battalion.

Even if it's just a concealed location for a rocket artillery battalion, those several hundred people are still a real force.

"Can we just go in? We found a few sentries near a ravine earlier, but we were afraid of being spotted, so we didn't dare go any further," Wu Liuyi said hesitantly.

"If we don't find a way to get close to the artillery vehicle today, I'm afraid I won't have another chance," Cheng Cai said seriously.

"Tell me your thoughts in detail."

Wu Liuyi knew that this opportunity was fleeting, so he decided to listen carefully before making a decision.

at the same time.

The forward positions of the 909th Brigade were attacked by fighter jets. The rapidly flying cannons roared through the torrential rain, posing a certain threat to the Red Army's positions. All the battle situation here was compiled into a battle report and quickly transmitted to the Red Army command post where Chu Zhangang was in charge.

"The Blue Army fleet had just approached the 50-kilometer blocking line when it immediately turned around and returned to base. The fighter jets flying over both enemy and friendly positions have also ceased their attacks and left. The reason is currently unknown," the intelligence officer reported.

"Dang~"

Chu Zhangang slammed his teacup on the table in dissatisfaction and asked sternly, "Don't know why? Heh, is this your answer to me?"

In a regular brigade, the intelligence staff officer in charge of intelligence is considered incompetent if he cannot provide intelligence.

Chu Zhangang was naturally furious!
"This operation so early in the morning was completely haphazard and strange. It's really hard to tell whether the Blue Army was genuinely attacking or just feigning an attack," Ding Kai said helplessly.

“It couldn’t have been a fake attack. The front lines were bombed like that, how could it be a fake attack?” Zhu Rongsheng offered a different perspective.

It was impossible to tell the difference between the real and the fake at the moment, and Chu Zhangang was at a loss for what to do.

"Report! The artillery battalion commander is asking when the troops will launch the attack, as they have already entered their positions and deployed." The communications staff officer ran over and asked loudly.

"Notify the battalion commander to immediately retreat to their concealed positions. No movement is permitted without orders. Strengthen concealment, especially against satellites and drones," Chu Zhangang ordered.

"Yes!"

The communications officer strode away.

……

The reconnaissance team of the 7th Steel Brigade.

After a period of discussion, Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi reached a consensus on the plan that Cheng Cai initially proposed and decided to start implementing it.

"Pretend to be a switchboard communications officer of the Red Army, and make a phone call to their duty officer in the tone of Political Commissar Xu."

Upon receiving instructions from Cheng Cai, the technical reconnaissance soldier responsible for operating the listening equipment immediately and skillfully began operating it on his military laptop.

"Is this the 1st Artillery Battalion? This is the command center switchboard. Please answer the phone to Battalion Commander Chen. I need to speak with him," Wu Liuyi said, mimicking the tone of the voice.

Because the communication was done via a temporary telephone line, there was almost no resistance to interference, resulting in severe signal distortion and a large amount of white noise.

As long as the tone and mannerisms are imitated correctly, it will be difficult for someone who is not very familiar with the person to tell that something is wrong.

"Battalion Commander Chen hasn't returned yet; he's on the position. Is there anything you need me to tell you?" Because the call was made via telephone line, not wireless communication, the person who answered the phone in the artillery battalion had no suspicions whatsoever.

"Who are you?" Wu Liuyi continued to ask.

"I am Staff Officer Yu from the First Battalion," the other party replied.

"Oh, Staff Officer Yu, right? I'm Political Commissar Xu..."

"Political Commissar Xu."

Upon hearing that the other party was Political Commissar Xu, Staff Officer Yu immediately changed his tone and flattered him, saying, "Our battalion commander is still on the position. The alarm has been lifted, and they should be back soon. Why don't I have him call you back when he gets back?"

"No need. Just tell your Battalion Commander Chen that the army group has sent an observation team to your battalion for a short visit. There are eight people in total. You must give them a warm welcome and try your best to meet their needs."

Wu Liuyi explained the plan they had discussed, but Staff Officer Yu didn't detect anything amiss and assumed it was a mission from the brigade that had to be completed to a high standard.

He immediately replied loudly, "Yes, Political Commissar, I will definitely pass it on."

Just as he was about to hang up, Staff Officer Yu realized that this was not quite right, so he quickly changed his mind and said, "No, I will now use the radio to call our battalion commander and political commissar. Please wait a moment."

Finished.

Before he could even put down the microphone in his left hand, he grabbed the radio microphone with his right and called out, "Vulcan, Vulcan, this is Firebird, answer me."

"Vulcan received, please speak," Battalion Commander Chen, who was sitting in the car, replied.

"Battalion Commander, Political Commissar Xu from the brigade just called you personally to inform us that an observation team from the army group is coming to our battalion for a half-hour observation. There are only eight people in the team. When will you be back?" Staff Officer Yu asked.

"We are on our way back now. Please tell Political Commissar Xu that the First Artillery Battalion guarantees to complete the mission." Battalion Commander Chen had no doubts either.

"Yes!"

Staff Officer Yu hung up the radio call and picked up the microphone again to relay the message: "Political Commissar Xu, our battalion commander asked me to tell you that he thanks you for your concern, sir."

"Alright, just make sure the performance troupe is well taken care of. Remember, they can't stay too long; they still have to go to other units." Wu Liuyi almost laughed out loud at how smoothly the plan was going.

"Yes."

Staff Officer Yu was overjoyed and immediately began making arrangements.

"Take them all, no problem."

Wu Liuyi breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. Cheng Cai and the others were also in high spirits, with smug smiles on their faces.

The thrill of outsmarting your opponent is far greater than the satisfaction of shooting them.

"Everyone, hurry up and get ready. They're already on their way back. This scene has to be performed well; we absolutely can't let anything slip," Wu Liuyi instructed.

"know."

"We're all veteran actors, haha."

"Fooling them is a piece of cake."

……

Everyone expressed their opinions, and each one was very confident.

After all, they are all veteran marines who have undergone hellish training and whose individual soldier skills are comparable to top special forces soldiers. They should not be too proficient in camouflage.

After we had mentally prepared ourselves and made the necessary preparations, Xu Sanduo's team had already arrived and joined us.

Wu Liuyi then led the group to the roadside to wait.

The convoy of the First Artillery Battalion is on its way back. We can run into them on their way back and hitch a ride back to camp.

The reason for choosing to risk hitch a ride along the way instead of heading directly to the distant fire camp was...

The main concern is that they're afraid of being exposed.

By impersonating Political Commissar Xu and issuing false orders through signal access, only the Red Army's long-range artillery battalion was deceived; other Red Army units were unaware of the deception.

This does not preclude the possibility of encountering other units besides the long-range artillery battalion along the way.

For example, the air defense forces responsible for protecting the long-range artillery battalion, the logistics forces that provide supplies to the long-range artillery battalion, and even the reconnaissance units responsible for guarding the area.

If you encounter these troops on the road, they will definitely ask you about your identity and background.

The more people know, the greater the chance of being exposed.

and so.

Getting a ride would be ideal. (End of Chapter)