Chapter One Rebuilding

  In 1993, early spring, at a certain border in China.

  Gunsmoke is everywhere! The air is filled with a choking smell of gunpowder!

  Just an hour ago, Zhao Zilong led his troops and border defense armed police to surround and annihilate the illegal armed smugglers of weapons.

  Now, Zhao Zilong's ears still echoed with General Deng Xiao's words: "Every country has a restricted area and a bottom line. In China, smuggling weapons is a restricted area, it's the bottom line. Now, according to intelligence, a group of fugitives are trampling on our bottom line, violating our restricted area. There may be mercenaries among them, go, the border armed police have made preparations, it's time to reap."

  After entering the attacking position, Zhao Zilong first assigned tasks, and the enemy's heavy weapons were all arranged for someone to "take care of".

  After the battle started, the enemy's heavy weapons were completely silenced under the first round of sniper fire. With their familiarity with the terrain, the border defense corps' combat effectiveness was fully demonstrated.

  Those smuggled armed men are not even opponents of the People's Armed Police, if there were no mercenaries, they would have surrendered or been annihilated.

  So, the high-ranking officials dispatched Zhao Zilong and his troops.

  Rich combat experience allowed Zhao Zilong to recognize the two mercenary troops mixed among the armed elements at a glance. After all, the quality of mercenaries is stronger than that of the mob in all aspects, and it's impossible not to be conspicuous.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Deprived of the support of heavy weapons, the armed police forces' firepower advantage was fully revealed. Under the sweeping fire of heavy machine guns, the illegal armed elements fell in batches, while posing no substantial threat to those mercenaries.

  "Attention all team members, our target is those two mercenaries. Leopard, take out the enemy sniper!" Zhao Zilong gave the order.

  "I understand!"

  Leopard is the only sniper who brought himself, with a strong psychological quality and accurate shooting skills.

  As soon as the order was given, Zhao Zilong raised his hand and shot one gun. The head of a mercenary immediately split into four or five pieces.

  Bang!

  Zhao Zilong was all too familiar with the sound of the sniper rifle, and the enemy's hidden sniper had been settled.

  "Well done! Leopard..." Before Zhao Zilong could give new orders.

  Suddenly, "Bang!" A sharp crack of a sniper rifle pierced Zhao Zilong's eardrums once again.

  "Damn! The enemy still has snipers."

  Zhao Zilong's heart tightened.

  "Leopard! Leopard!" Zhao Zilong shouted loudly, but the earpiece on the other end remained unresponsive.

  "Fire, machine gunner, give me a good burst! Don't worry about wasting ammo, don't care about accuracy, just empty all the bullets in your hand!" Zhao Zilong felt a pang in his heart, knowing that Baozi was now on the verge of defeat.

  A 60-meter-wide front line was equipped with four heavy machine guns, and bullets poured out like scattered beans.

  Twenty minutes later, the illegal armed elements were quickly cleared out, leaving only these two mercenaries.

  Eight minutes later, another mercenary group was annihilated. Ahead, only one last group remained!

  But in the end, it was this nineteen-man mercenary squad that inflicted heavy casualties on our side.

  Zhao Zilong's eyes, which were covered in bloodshot and seemed to be spewing fire at any moment, stared fiercely at the enemy in front of him. With a nearly perfect defensive formation, he quickly retreated, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't say a word. Watching the enemy slip away right before his eyes was like having prey that had been within reach suddenly curl up into a ball like a hedgehog, leaving him with nothing to grasp, and it felt extremely frustrating.

  Their ghostly snipers and ubiquitous booby traps constantly struck at the soldiers' morale and confidence, destroying their lives.

  When the warriors hid in the best natural hiding place with almost no camouflage marks, "Boom" sounded, and the landmine exploded. When the warriors' bodies moved forward at high speed and stopped slightly in front of the bunker, "Bang" sounded, and the enemy's blocking gun fired. Their comrades fell to the ground and could never stand up again.

  Each warrior's eyes burned with flames of revenge and thick battle intent. Zhao Zilong knew they had already made up their minds to die, and were determined to annihilate the enemy in front of them.

  His chest felt like it was being blocked by something, and it seemed like an eternity had passed before Zhao Zilong finally gritted his teeth and gave the most difficult order of his life: Stop the pursuit!

  For soldiers, especially professional ones like them, giving up the pursuit of enemies who have invaded their homeland is a huge irony and shame.

  But Zhao Zilong clearly knew that if they continued to pursue, the outcome would very likely be that after defeating the enemy, their own troops would be completely annihilated.

  Zhao Zilong is not afraid of death, and the warriors are not afraid of death. From the day they put on this military uniform, their lives no longer belong to themselves. From that moment on, their lives have been burning fiercely, destined to illuminate others and burn out themselves.

  But Zhao Zilong could never bring himself to lead his sworn brothers to their deaths!

  He can't do it, he really can't!!!

  Zhao Zilong received the order: severely strike down the arrogant and lawless armed factions, seize all the smuggled weapons in their hands.

  Now Zhao Zilong did not have the joy of completing the task, the casualties of the troops and the shame of a professional soldier, like two huge stones heavily pressed on his chest.

  "A gentleman's revenge is never too late, today's gift will be repaid double tomorrow." Zhao Zilong took a deep breath and gazed into the distance.

  "Sweep the battlefield and see if there are any survivors." Zhao Zilong gave his final order and fell silent. Chao Tian raised his gun and fired a salute to bid farewell to his fallen comrades.

  Suddenly, gunfire erupted all around.

  "Head, why don't we just wipe them all out and take this batch of arms? The price of these arms on the black market is frighteningly high, enough for us to take a good rest for several years." A mercenary said reluctantly as he saw his opponent go back to clean up the battlefield.

  "Yeah, right!" Another team member chimed in, "If it weren't for the money, we wouldn't have taken this job!"

  "You think I don't want to? Fool, didn't you see that they sent a special forces unit this time? Even if we can annihilate them, we'll have to pay the price." The man called Tou glared at the speaker: "I won't lead my brothers to do something stupid just for money! Besides, this is China's territory. If their reinforcements arrive, we're all done for. Retreat!"

  For them, money is important, but life is ultimately first!

  In fact, the mercenaries should be grateful that they have a wise leader. On the battlefield, a wrong decision can often bury thousands of precious lives!

  Supporting the wounded, this mercenary force quickly left China's territory and set foot on the journey back home.

  Brother two days, night.

  Beijing, China, Military Commission Conference Room.

  The members of the Military Commission at that time were sitting upright on an oval conference table, and the meeting was convened by the then Chairman of the Military Commission.

  This was an emergency meeting of the Military Commission, and all members of the Military Commission were notified by phone to attend the meeting at 8 pm sharp. The members of the Military Commission did not know the theme of this meeting until they sat down at the conference table, which was about the reorganization of the mobile force codenamed "Divine Dragon".

  They were now listening to General Deng Xiao's report:

  Yesterday, the Dragon Team executed a mission to intercept smuggled weapons at the border and seized all of the enemy's contraband. This time, our enemies numbered 200 people, including two groups of international mercenaries. We eliminated 181 enemies, wounded three. On our side, among the 150 armed police officers who participated in the battle, 61 were killed and 18 were injured; while four members of our mobile team were killed, five seriously injured, and three lightly injured. Of the 22 team members who fought, only 13 still have normal combat effectiveness. It was that escaped mercenary unit that caused such losses to our troops. According to intelligence, this mercenary unit came from the United States, led by a man named Leshawn James, former commander of the US Navy SEALs and mentor to the current commander of the US Navy SEALs.

  After listening to Deng Xiao's brief report, all the military committee members looked solemn and remained silent.

  Everyone knows that the mobile troop codenamed "Divine Dragon" was established in January 1990. Each member of the team is an elite selected from various troops across the country, and this mobile troop consisting of 50 elites is currently China's most elite special forces unit. They undergo rigorous training and are well-equipped, and have successfully completed their combat missions in the previous five battles after bloody fights. Although some members were injured, they were all lightly wounded and recovered fully with their combat effectiveness intact. However, this time only 13 of the 22 participating members still had combat effectiveness in the end, a truly heavy casualty toll.

  After analysis and research by five domestic experts, it was finally determined that there were three main reasons for this defeat:

  One is that this mercenary army led by Leshao En has rich combat experience and excellent equipment, and we still have some gap with them.

  Second, because each team member is drawn from various units, the time spent living and training together is not long, resulting in an insufficient level of mutual understanding among them, and on the battlefield, they are still unable to quickly form the most perfect offensive and defensive systems.

  Three is that our comprehensive combat effectiveness is not strong enough. In the country, although it has already reached the top level of being one of the best, there is still a gap compared to foreign countries. Although the gap is not big, on the battlefield, it is the strong who are respected, and a slight difference in strength often means failure and death!

  "Comrades, now please express your opinions and discuss how to rebuild a crack troop with iron-like willpower and the combat effectiveness of destroying all enemies." The Chairman of the Military Commission stated the theme of this meeting.

  "Everyone knows that Hong Kong will return in 1997, followed by Macau. Our country may soon face unimaginable difficulties. In order to complete this grand event safely, we should prepare ahead of time, so the rebirth of this elite team is imminent!"

  "I think building such a team should not be rushed, it takes time and blood, we should take a long-term perspective," said a committee member.

  "I agree with this view. As for the current troops, we can make some improvements in training and equipment to meet the various unexpected needs at present." Deng Xiao continued: "The personnel of the newly formed troops should be re-selected, and our training methods can refer to the international advanced countries and troops, combined with our actual situation, summarize a set of training methods suitable for China's characteristics. As for weapons and equipment, please ask our scientific research department to cooperate, speed up the production of new-style weapons, and equip this troop as soon as possible."

  Deng Xiao is a veteran of this team, so he naturally understands the situation best, and his words carry the most weight.

  Other committee members nodded frequently and opened a new round of discussion around his topic.

  The meeting ended at 2 am the next day, not only clarifying the person in charge but also clarifying the operation plan and steps. As soon as the meeting was over, work surrounding the decisions made at this meeting immediately began.

  Years later, a Chinese soldier and the name of a Chinese army were listed at the top of special forces from various countries around the world. Because of their existence, China was called the forbidden zone for special soldiers in the world.