Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 9 Major Amir is still an artilleryman in the making.
At the Nukoshir outpost, in the forward artillery position, Lu Lin is exchanging shooting tips with gunner Abbas.

The F.Mk.6 that flew last night was shot down by Abbas.

"Major, to be honest, the accuracy of these old-fashioned guns we have is really too low when it comes to shooting down jets." Abbas slapped the gun mount hard, shaking off a patch of rust, and said loudly, "This thing is probably older than my father's dentures."

"That's why we need to set up reasonable artillery positions so that our bullets can more easily penetrate the enemy aircraft's fuel tanks." Lu Lin squatted down next to the artillery and used his dagger to draw a deployment map on the sand: "Right now, the weapons we have for anti-aircraft combat are a 12.7mm machine gun and a 40mm Bofors rifle."

Do you know about the '88mm gun anti-aircraft array' used by the Proscenics during World War II? I require three groups of guns arranged in a triangular formation, spaced 200 meters apart, forming an asymmetrical anti-aircraft network.

Abbas's eyes lit up. The core of positional tactics is to create crossfire and force enemy aircraft into the pre-set kill zone. He thought to himself that the major does have some real skills.

“The people of Zion are very rigid. If the same tactics work in Masr, they won’t question the tactics themselves; they’ll just curse the pilots for being stupid.” Lu Lin poked a few holes in the sand with his dagger. “Analyzing the battle reports, don’t they like to penetrate at extremely low altitudes? Let’s target their flying habits, use that to our advantage to deploy our positions, and keep the enemy planes in our firing angle for longer!”

"Major, it's all talk, why don't you show us how it works so we can learn faster!" a soldier nearby jeered.

Lu Lin didn't waste any more words. He skillfully used the crowbar to rotate the gun mount, feeling as if he had found the feeling he had when he was still training in the military camp.

"Find me a mirror." Lu Lin prepared to show off his skills to his soldiers: "Let's use the sand dunes in the distance as targets. I bet you guys I can hit them with one shot using this old relic."

Meanwhile, a new recruit nearby was secretly tugging at Lieutenant Saleh's sleeve: "Lieutenant, do you think Major Amir can hit him?"

Lieutenant Saleh scoffed, slamming his helmet against the edge of the trench, sending a scattering of sand and dust. "Hit? Last year in tactics class, this young master was a legendary figure who drove an armored vehicle into the swamp! Cowards wouldn't even dare fire a cannon! His record of missing the target during shooting practice still hangs on the mess hall wall as a negative example."

A cannon shot rang out from the nearby position, followed by a gasp of alarm.

"boom!"

The sound of cannons boomed in the distance, followed by a chorus of gasps.

"Holy crap, it actually hit me?!"

Lieutenant Saleh sat up abruptly, his eyes wide.

"When the mirror is at a 15° angle to the gun barrel, the reflected point roughly corresponds to a distance of 2000 meters." Lu Lin was giving a demonstration of the makeshift surveying method on the spot. Abbas stared at the shell craters on the sand dunes and suddenly found his superior much more pleasing to the eye.

“To be honest, you’re quite different from the other princes,” Abbas grinned. “You actually know the ins and outs of these iron lumps.”

Lu Lin raised an eyebrow smugly: "We'll see! You'll see even more of my good points!"

"It's just that the drawing is really ugly, even worse than what my youngest son could draw with his toes," a corporal added, and everyone burst into laughter.

Lu Lin looked embarrassed and argued, "The key to military drawing is practicality!"

He was saying things like "pay attention to understanding" and "grasp the meaning," which I didn't understand. The atmosphere inside and outside the position was cheerful.

Just then, Fahad ran over and saluted Lu Lin: "Major, Lieutenant Ahmed has urgent business with you."

Lu Lin adjusted his hat and called out, "Tell him I'll be there right away!"

"I heard you're teaching artillerymen how to fire at the artillery position?" Ahmed seemed a little suspicious. "Actually, you could go and have some fun with the eagles."

“You can go ask on the front lines. I hit a target two kilometers away in front of the entire company!” Lu Lin argued.

But the latter's suspicion deepened: "Our ammunition depot was just bombed, don't waste ammunition."

Lu Lin was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

“Ahem, let’s get down to business.” Ahmed stared into his eyes and said, “I think I’ve found the reason why Zion’s offensive is so aggressive.”

"Oh?" Lu Lin immediately became interested.

"Just now, the United Nations passed Resolution 242, demanding an immediate ceasefire between Zion and traditional Arab countries. However, the United Kingdom, as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and France mediated the situation, providing an additional week of buffer time. Clearly, there is still a week left before the war ends."

“It seems Zion has no intention of returning the occupied territory.” Lu Lin instantly understood: “They are preparing to go all out and take as much as they can in this war.”

“That’s right.” Ahmed took out a battle report and handed it to him: “This was sent two hours ago. The Sinai Peninsula has been captured by Zion’s army. Zion’s 16th Armored Division is heading to Tiran to prepare to set up an airfield there.”

Tiran is only a few dozen kilometers from the border between Zion and the two nations, which is equivalent to having an explosives depot built over the head of the Nukoshir outpost. No matter when Zion plans to launch an attack on Zion, the situation is far from optimistic.

This attack route coincided with Khalid's prediction, and Lu Lin joked, "I didn't expect that kid to be right. If we send him to military academy, we might actually be able to train a general."

"Huh? Is someone calling me?"

Khalid popped his head out.

"Go away, kids shouldn't interrupt adults." Lu Lin suddenly remembered, "Didn't I tell you to manage the supplies the headquarters needed?"

Khalid's expression was a bit strange: "You probably won't believe it, but the headquarters is being so enthusiastic, it's like they're giving us a dowry. It's like they're going to throw all of the headquarters' equipment over here."

"Huh?" Three question marks appeared above Lu Lin's head.

"What did the headquarters send over?"

"Not only did they give us anti-aircraft guns and an artillery regiment, but they also gave us five hundred sets of United States uniforms." Khalid shrugged. "I suspect you bribed their warehouse manager beforehand."

Even Ahmed was puzzled: "Everything else is fine, but why send United States military uniforms?"

"Uh, they said it was left over from the previous garrison, maybe they thought our uniforms weren't fashionable enough?" Khalid said nonchalantly, "Anyway, why not take it if it's free?"

Lu Lin couldn't figure out what the headquarters was up to, but Zion's offensive was fierce and they didn't know when they would reach the border between Shuangzhi and Zion, so he accepted everything they offered.

“Oh, by the way,” Khalid leaned over again, “The Tabuk armed forces are coming up soon. They’re led by Major Bandar bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud. They’ve had a relatively smooth journey, narrowly avoiding Zion’s airstrikes. They should arrive at the outpost this afternoon.”

So fast?
Lu Lin was stunned for a moment before he realized that once the reinforcements arrived, he should retreat to the rear for coffee.

(End of this chapter)