Chapter 6: The Sixth Bureau's Strangulation (5)

  (5)

  The Republic of Uruguay under the knife of the Argentine military government, oh! Now it should be called the province of Uruguay in the Argentine Republic. Even at midnight, the streets of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, can still see the shadows of fully armed Argentine army soldiers.

  Leaving Buenos Aires and arriving in this city, known as the "new gem on Argentina's crown", a suffocating atmosphere hits you in the face, making Zhang Shengping feel almost stifled.

  As a cover for entering the country as an expert in counter-guerrilla warfare with China's internal security forces, Colonel Ren Shengping of China's National Security Bureau unexpectedly received great attention from the Argentine military government. After staying in Buenos Aires for less than 24 hours, Colonel Ren boarded a military transport plane bound for Uruguay and arrived at his second stop in Argentina - the headquarters of the Argentine-Uruguayan Special Military Zone located in the city center of Montevideo.

  The Argentine Army has 5,000 troops deployed in the Military Zone of Comodoro Rivadavia, including an armoured brigade, two mechanized infantry brigades, a mountain brigade and various special forces units. With a total population of just over 3 million people

  Uruguay and Argentina maintain such a large garrison not only to deter the powerful northern neighbor, Brazil, but also to reflect the poor security situation in Argentina's new territory.

  Uruguay's total area is 176,000 square kilometers, but its strategic location is very important. The main rivers are the Río de la Plata, Uruguay River and Negro River. The Río de la Plata allows for ocean-going vessels to navigate directly to Europe and North America. The capital city of Montevideo has a population of nearly 1.4 million, accounting for about 43% of the country's total population, and is the political, economic and cultural center of Uruguay. It concentrates three-quarters of the country's manufacturing enterprises, has the largest international airport and deep-water port in the country, and 90% of foreign trade imports and exports are carried out through this city.

  Uruguay's urban population is about 83%, and European descendants (Spanish and Italian) make up about 90%. The population distribution is extremely uneven, with the southern five provinces covering only 12% of the country's area, but concentrating 66% of the country's population. The official language is Spanish. These aspects are basically similar to its neighbor Argentina, which has a strong garrison in Montevideo and its surrounding southern five provinces, and its rule is still relatively stable.

  However, in northern Uruguay, Argentine rule was severely challenged by a guerrilla force known as the Liberation Forces of South America.

  The emergence of the "Liberation Forces of South America" cannot be mentioned without mentioning the wrong issuance of the "Uruguayan Land and Agricultural Law" by Juan Carlos Mu?oz, Chairman of the Argentine Military Committee.

  Argentina has a developed agriculture, being one of the main food producers and exporters in the world. The country's cultivated area is 26.62 million hectares, with a total grain production of 67.48 million tons. Main crops include wheat, corn, soybeans, sorghum, sunflower seeds, etc.

  To meet the demands of the domestic farmers and self-cultivators in Argentina, who bore the main military expenses during the first Pan-American War, to expand Argentina's "comparative advantage" in agricultural production. In December 2006, Juan Carlos Mu?oz announced the implementation of the "Land and Agriculture Law" in the Uruguayan province: requiring Uruguayan farmers to pay high "land taxes", if they are unable to bear them, Argentine farmers have priority to buy their arable land and pastures. In addition, the Argentine military also seized large tracts of land in Uruguay on the grounds of military use, establishing state-run "state farms" which were then leased to large farmers in Argentina.

  This kind of strong grabbing similar to the "land enclosure movement" in early Qing Dynasty China will certainly trigger a strong backlash from farmers in northern Uruguay. Uruguay is also an agricultural country, with pasture areas accounting for about 3/4 of the national territory.

  A country known as the "land of sheep and cows", it is a major producer of meat, wool, hides and other animal products. The main agricultural products are wheat, corn, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, oats, barley and rice. The agricultural population is approximately 420,000, with an agricultural labor force of 160,000, accounting for about 13% of the total labor force. Uruguayans who lost their land and production tools had to take up arms against Argentina's powerful military machine.

  The United States and Brazil, who also felt threatened by Argentina, secretly invested a large amount of manpower and resources to support the "All South American Liberation Force", which rapidly expanded in just a few months. The initially insignificant resistance force recently developed into a thorn in the side of the Argentine military government. In the hilly areas of northern and eastern Uruguay, several large-scale clearing operations by Argentine troops were met with fierce counterattacks from the "All South American Liberation Force".

  It is said that among the experts sent by China's National Security Bureau this time, there was Ren Shengping, who was good at counter-guerrilla warfare. The Argentine military government hastily invited him to go to Uruguay to guide the action. This has a bit of "desperate disease seeking cure" meaning, because in the eyes of the Argentine people, the Chinese army is the best guerrilla warfare master in the world.

  The headquarters of the Uruguayan Special Military Zone was located inside the former government administrative center in Montevideo, where a heavily guarded checkpoint could be seen at the entrance, with tanks and infantry fighting vehicles occasionally rotating their turrets. Ren Shengping could feel the panic among the commanders inside the headquarters. With special permits, Ren Shengping and his entourage passed through four checkpoints and entered the core office building of the Special Military Zone Headquarters.

  Like most government offices, the bright corridors were filled with brightly dressed female secretaries flitting between various offices. General Martínez, commander of the Argentine-Uruguayan Special Military Zone, was a typical Latin American, sporting a general's paunch as he received Ren Sheng in the middle of the night, his bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep giving Ren Sheng an incorrect impression of his distress.

  After the usual courtesies, General Martínez will brief Ambassador Arregui on the latest phase of the Argentine Army's military operations in the Melo area, code-named "Muerte Súbita". The Argentine Army has deployed a mountain brigade and several special forces units to launch a frontal assault on several secret camps of the "Fuerzas de Liberación del Sur" (FLS). According to General Martínez, their troops have killed or captured large numbers of Uruguayan resistance fighters as well as American and Brazilian mercenaries.

  However, he also emphasized that the enemy is increasing its combat forces in Uruguay through various means, and the Argentine army lacks tactics and training to counter guerrilla warfare, so he hopes that China and other allied countries of Argentina can provide assistance in this regard. Ren Shengping said: He himself is not an expert in anti-guerrilla warfare (this is not modest) and also hopes to start work as soon as possible.

  In a row of dimly lit interrogation rooms 50 meters underground at the Argentine-Uruguayan Special Military Zone Command, a white man with blood and flesh blurred and tattered clothes was still hung high by iron chains. 4 or 5 Argentine military interrogators were apparently exhausted from beating him, standing aside panting slightly while holding whips, steel bars, and electric batons.

  "Hello! Blond boy." Seeing Ren Shengping in charge of interrogating the beautiful Argentine army colonel, Etormasi, Benita Masola walked over, flirting with Ren Shengping's masculine nerves with cat-like eyes, and said gently in English with a Latin accent.

  "What kind of man is he?" Ren Shengping asked in fluent Latin, gazing at the suspended man through the iron window. "I don't know. Uruguayan? Brazilian? American? British? Or maybe a mercenary from Eastern Europe, who knows? 2 days ago he and his team were captured by us when they tried to attack our helicopter unit's camp in Rivera area. Still refuses to speak until now."

  "Let me try?" Ren Shengping untied his tie, took off his suit, and prepared to push open the iron door. "This is Argentina, if you think you can do it, go ahead and try, but I have to tell you that a month ago one of your Russian colleagues, who claimed he could kill Muslims with his eyes in Chechnya, died in our interrogation room."

  Colonel Masora's cold laughter echoed behind Ren Shengping's back……

  The small town of Malang in eastern Java has finally seen the end of a fierce battle. The destroyed armored vehicles of both Chinese and Japanese armies are still emitting wisps of smoke. In the past hour, two main battalions of the 22nd Airborne Division of the People's Liberation Army have annihilated nearly 1,000 enemy troops, including the headquarters of Japan's 4th Mixed Brigade and the vanguard of its 1st Light Infantry Regiment.

  For the current battle situation, the commander of the 1st Airborne Mechanized Infantry Regiment of the 22nd Airborne Division, Colonel Tang Jian, is still satisfied. However, such a surprise attack can probably only be carried out once. It is believed that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will soon gather superior forces to launch a new offensive against Tamatsukuri.

  "Team leader has found something!" Leading the special task force to enter the city of Danmu earlier, Little Liu appeared in front of Colonel Tang Jian with great excitement, "What good thing did you pick up? Japanese comfort women?"

  Tang Jian was planning for a possible new round of attacks from the Japanese side, and saw that Little Liu seemed to be in a bad mood.

  "No! They are comrades of the 10th Independent Regiment of the Southern Ocean Liberation Army. We met them when we entered Tamura, a total of 12 combat teams. From the North Ka coast all the way to here, originally prepared to ambush Japanese airborne troops. But later they fought side by side with us."

  Xiao Liu finished speaking in one breath and picked up the water bottle on Tang Jian's desk, gulping down a large amount of water.

  "Is that so? No wonder your special task force eliminated so many devils. Hurry up and take me to see!" Upon hearing this news, Tang Jian was overjoyed, although the 10 combat teams had limited manpower, they were familiar with the terrain and geography which would provide great help for the next phase of defensive operations.

  Next to the downed "Longbow-Apache" stood Chen Jian, who came from Australia, still carrying the Negev light machine gun and wearing the heavy "Toxic Sting" man-portable air defense missile launcher on his back. Behind him were nearly a hundred soldiers of the 10th Independent Brigade of the South Seas Liberation Army, who had fought their way here from the North California coast. In the battle at Sanbao Ridge, nearly nine brigades of the South Seas Liberation Army were defeated by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. However, as the counterattack began, they gradually regrouped and fought side by side with the Chinese airborne troops who had parachuted in earlier.