Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 1415 The Gates of Hell
12:15:47 AM.

The sound of mortar shells piercing the night sky is unique.

First came a sharp "whoosh," then the pitch gradually rose, followed by a brief silence, and then...
bang——

Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!

The first salvo from six 2B11 "Sani" 120mm mortars accurately covered the middle section of the convoy.

The shell was pre-programmed for an airburst, exploding at a height of five meters above the ground, with thousands of pre-formed fragments raining down like a death storm.

The defenses the mercenaries had just established collapsed instantly.

The thick fog was illuminated by the flashes of the explosion.

A soldier was thrown into the air by the shockwave, a machine gunner had half his head sliced ​​off by shrapnel, and a medic tried to crawl toward the wounded but was swallowed up by the second round of shelling.

"Machine gun team, fire!" Abbas's command was concise and cold.

High up, twenty-eight heavy machine guns roared simultaneously.

12.7mm bullets, firing at a rate of 550 rounds per minute, weave a web of death.

Armor-piercing incendiary rounds easily tore through the side armor of the armored vehicle, destroying the people and equipment hiding behind it.

Carlson crawled out of the wreckage of the overturned armored vehicle, his left arm pierced by a piece of hot metal.

He tore off a piece of his sleeve to make a quick bandage, then grabbed the radio that had fallen to the ground: "Bakda Base! Bakda Base! We've been ambushed in the Amadiyah Gorge! The enemy has heavy mortars and heavy machine guns! Coordinates—"

12:16:11 AM.

A 7.62×54mmR sniper round was fired from the mountainside 300 meters away, pierced through the dense fog, and accurately struck Carlson in the head.

The bullet entered above the right eye and tore open a fist-sized opening in the back of the head.

The former SEAL commander's body stiffened for a second before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.

The radio slipped from his grasp, the base's voice still crackling through it: "Carlson? Repeat your coordinates! Carlson!"

Less than a minute after the ambush began, five of the eight armored vehicles in the escort convoy were completely destroyed, all four armed pickup trucks were totaled, and one of the two tanker trucks was hit by a rocket, with burning fuel flowing down the road and forming a wall of fire.

But mercenaries are, after all, elites.

The survivors quickly organized an effective resistance.

A six-man squad occupied a boulder by the roadside, establishing a strong firing point with two M249 machine guns and four M4 carbines.

Another group climbed onto the top of an undamaged trailer and returned fire with AT4 rocket launchers at machine gun positions on the hillside.

"Team B, hold down the left side of the mountain! Team C, break out towards the canyon!"

A sergeant who took over command roared; he was a former Ranger named Davis.

Three rockets, trailing plumes of fire, flew toward the mountainside, one of which struck a machine gun nest.

In the flash of the explosion, a heavy machine gun and its operator were blown away.

Abbas saw this through his telescope.

“阿尔法3、阿尔法4，清除9点钟方向的火箭筒小组。贝塔2、贝塔3，封锁峡谷方向。”

The command was executed swiftly.

Four RPG-7 rockets flew almost simultaneously onto the top of the trailer, and the explosion wiped out the mercenary team along with their rocket launchers.

Meanwhile, elite marksmen lying in ambush along the edge of the canyon began to precisely pick off anyone attempting to break out to the south.

At 12:18:30 AM, the second wave of attacks began.

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division began rappelling down the mountainside.

They used black static ropes and descended at extremely high speeds.

After the first group of thirty people landed, they immediately dispersed in groups of three.

Each group consists of a machine gunner, a rifleman, and a grenade launcher, forming a perfect close-quarters combat unit.

They launched an attack from the flanks and rear of the convoy, using grenades to clear the way and automatic rifles to mop up the remaining enemy.

The battle has finally entered its most brutal phase.

Beside the wreckage of an armored vehicle, a mercenary nearly two meters tall stabbed an Iligo soldier in the throat with a dagger.
But before he could draw his knife, another soldier smashed his temple with the butt of his rifle.

Under a trailer, two wounded mercenaries tried to surrender, but were dragged out and killed by Iligo warriors.

These mountain people, northwestern Iligo warriors, harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Americans because their villages had been mistakenly bombed by American airstrikes.

"Don't destroy the transport vehicle!" Abbas's voice repeated over the radio. "Repeat, protect the transport vehicle! Concentrate fire to eliminate enemy personnel!"

His soldiers strictly followed orders.

Any mercenaries attempting to approach the transport vehicle will be prioritized for elimination, and any firefights that could jeopardize the transport vehicle will be avoided as much as possible.

Soldiers from Kold's 9th Brigade pressed in from the north.

They didn't have the same rigorous tactical formations as the 10th Division, but they were more familiar with the terrain and moved more nimbly.

These soldiers grew up in the mountains and could run on near-vertical rock faces and determine the enemy's location by hearing in the dark.

They used old AKM rifles, but every bullet seemed to have eyes.

A Kold sniper, lying prone behind a rock, used his SVD rifle, equipped with a PSO-1 scope, to kill four mercenaries who were trying to organize a counterattack.

With each shot, he would change positions, moving through the fog like a ghost.

At 12:25 a.m., the battle was basically over.

Burning vehicle wreckage, corpses, and scattered equipment littered the highway.

The air was thick with the mixed smells of gunpowder, fuel, and burning flesh, so strong that it could almost be cut with a knife.

The cries of the wounded rose and fell, some calling for help in English, some praying in Arabic, and others just making meaningless screams.

A few mercenaries raised their hands in surrender. They were roughly forced to the ground and their hands were handcuffed behind their backs with plastic cuffs. Abbas walked down from his command post, past the still-burning armored vehicles, past the corpses, and past the prisoners kneeling on the ground, trembling.

He walked up to the first heavy trailer.

The trailer was mostly intact, except for the cab, which was riddled with bullet holes. The driver was dead in his seat, his head tilted to one side, his eyes still open.

Abbas used a dagger to cut open the waterproof tarpaulin.

The thick canvas ripped open with a "rip," revealing the goods inside.

Boxes of weapons bearing U.S. military serial numbers came into view.

"Report to command center."

Abbas, suppressing the excitement in his voice, began to call out: "Calling headquarters, ambush successful. The guard force has been cleared, approximately 180 killed, 72 captured, and our casualties are 37. All transport equipment is intact. Repeat, all transport vehicles are intact."

There was a brief silence on the radio, followed by Samir's reply: "Roger. Good job. Clear the battlefield and prepare to withdraw. US drones are likely heading towards your area; I recommend completing the withdrawal within half an hour."

Abbas glanced at his watch.

12:42 am.

"Attention all units, commence the cleanup procedure. Engineers remove unexploded ordnance, medics treat the wounded, and the transport company prepares to receive vehicles. We have only 30 minutes; act quickly!"

Four thousand people poured out from their hiding place, like a busy swarm of ants.

The engineers carefully inspected the space beneath each corpse to remove booby traps.

The medics categorized the wounded, prioritizing the transport of the seriously wounded in captured Humvees.

The transport company driver climbed into the trailer cab and tried to start the engine.

All vehicles can start normally.

The evacuation began at 1:15 a.m.

The captured convoy was reorganized and driven slowly south by Iligian soldiers.

The soldiers of the 10th Division followed on foot, while the Kold soldiers led some of the prisoners into the depths of the northern valley.

Abbas sat in the passenger seat of a Hummer, looking back at the battlefield one last time.

In the canyon, the burning vehicles resembled giant torches, turning the fog into an eerie orange-red.

"Let's go."

Abbas said to the driver.

The convoy drove into the thick fog and disappeared at the end of the winding mountain road.

Behind them, the Amadiye Valley returned to silence.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, eventually obscuring all traces, as if nothing had ever happened that night.

At 1:47 a.m., Samir received a full report from Abbas at the Mosul command center.

"Confirmed results: 180 mercenaries killed, 72 captured. Our casualties were 37. All 50 transport vehicles and their cargo were captured. The inventory has been sent."

Samir silently read the words in the report, his breathing quickening as he watched the scrolling list of spoils on the screen.

He turned to Song Heping: "Boss... these devices are too sensitive..."

Song Heping, however, showed little joy as he stared at the list of sensitive equipment: "Switchblade drones, Stinger missiles... these are too hot to handle. They must be dealt with immediately; they can't remain in Iligo."

"what do you mean?"

"Proceed as planned, transport them separately." Song Heping quickly made the decision: "Sensitive equipment will be transported to Hurmatu, while ordinary equipment will remain in Mosul."

"What are you planning to do with those hot potatoes?" Samir asked.

“Switchblades and Raven drones…” Song Heping pondered for a moment before saying, “I will arrange for them to be shipped to Eastern Europe. There is a Ukrainian buyer who has been wanting these kinds of things for a long time. Their relationship with the Russians has been very tense in recent years, and they are willing to pay a high price to buy them.”

Samir nodded: "The news of the Amadiye ambush will spread throughout Irigo tomorrow, and we must prepare our story."

"It is said that the remnants of the 1515 forces ambushed an 'unidentified armed transport convoy'."

Song Heping had a contingency plan.

"The 10th Division happened to be conducting exercises nearby, and arrived in time to defeat the terrorists and seize a large number of weapons. As for why these weapons are the same as the equipment that was to be delivered to me in the contract, well... let Walker explain that himself."

After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled.

Just then, the encrypted communication channel rang; it was Abuyu calling.

"Boss, we found a satellite phone on the convoy commander's body. The last recorded call was to a Bakda number, two minutes before the attack."

Song Heping's eyes sharpened: "What's the number?"

Bashir recited a series of numbers.

Song Heping quickly checked his phone.

Then he laughed.

This is Major Walker's satellite phone number.

“It seems he received a warning,” Song Heping said slowly, “but it’s too late.”

Samir asked, "What will Walker do now?"

“He will be furious, then panic.” Song Heping analyzed: “With hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment lost, he can’t explain it to the buyers, let alone to the protectors behind them. I guess he’s doing two things right now: one is to block the news, and the other is to find a scapegoat.”

Will we become a target?

“No.” Song Heping shook his head: “I will go back to Bakda tomorrow. I will talk to Walker about what happened tonight in person. As for the rest, let him explain it himself.”

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(End of this chapter)