Chapter Thirty-Seven: An Unexpected Encounter

  Zhang Feng led his small team, trudging through the land mixed with reeds and muddy water, taking big strides forward.

  Back to base? No! First go and destroy the Iranian base, after finding out the secret of the Iranians for so many days, then report back to the military district, see if that Uncle Izat dares to underestimate himself again.

  Zhang Feng almost made this decision at the same time he discovered this road.

  Head-on confrontation with the Iranian armored group is simply looking for death, but if they sneak past and set a fire, Zhang Feng still has this ability, which is also the task of the small team he led.

  He just didn't know that dozens of miles away at the edge of the swamp, the armies of both sides had already engaged in a fierce battle.

  When they were outside, the military boots had been covered with mud and it was extremely heavy to walk. But once they reached the reeds, the mud disappeared quickly and it became much easier to walk. Zhang Feng couldn't help but admire the Iranian commander's cleverness. He was a thoughtful and resourceful leader, exactly what would be needed in future wars.

  And the highest commander of the Southern Military Region, Izat, although he wore the rank of lieutenant general, was a short-sighted guy. Since the start of the war, the Southern Military Region had achieved victories, but it was by using tactics from World War II and piling up lives.

  Unfortunately, I don't have that much power yet. I really want to reorganize and cleanse their minds, make them understand what high-tech modern warfare is all about.

  If Zhang Feng knew afterwards, the Iranians not only used these primitive things like reeds, but also mobilized their only CH-47 medium helicopter to transport cement, and forcibly airdropped the cement to build a road dozens of miles long for the armored group to advance, I don't know what he would think.

  The snake meat I ate earlier is taking effect in my body, although it's bloody, it's very nutritious. Even Hades is reminiscing about the refreshing taste of the snake meat, and his stomach is starting to get hungry again.

  Walking on two legs is really too slow! Zhang Feng knew that what he needed most now was time, and what he lacked most was also time.

  Just then, the sound of an armored vehicle starting up came from behind.

  "Quick, hide!" Zhang Feng said, dodging the path paved with reeds and hiding in a low shrub nearby.

  The small squad followed him and also hid in the bushes one after another.

  Hades has already set up the missile, if it is discovered by the other side, then it can only be eliminated.

  Zhang Feng, however, was not willing to encourage this approach. It would be easy to get rid of the opponent, but getting rid of them wouldn't bring any benefits to himself either. He was thinking about how he could trick the opponent's armored vehicle into coming over, as driving an armored vehicle would be much faster than marching on foot.

  It seems that it's not easy, if there were Iranian military uniforms available, then it would be simple, just deceive the other side to get off the vehicle, and then eliminate them, and the armored vehicle would be theirs.

  Zhang Feng thought of countless plans in his heart, but none of them were useful.

  If all else fails, then the only option is to use anti-tank mines to blow up the opponent's tracks. Then, when they come out, engage in close combat and annihilate them completely. After that, think of a way to reconnect the broken tracks.

  This kind of thing Zhang Feng had done before, the broken track was not long enough, the only way was to bypass the idler wheel and connect directly through the drive wheel, load-carrying wheel and support roller. It was just a laborious task to remove the track.

  After some thought, this method seems to be the most suitable one.

  In the distance, an armored vehicle was rumbling over, Zhang Feng had already made preparations and threw an anti-tank mine on the side of the road.

  The outline of the armored vehicle became clearer and clearer, although it was wrapped in mud and water, and no signs were hung. Zhang Feng also saw clearly that it was a 63-style tracked armored vehicle!

  Last night in the storm, only one armored vehicle was spared, which is the No. 3 car led by Marwan.

  When the storm came, Marwan was quick-witted and did not let the armored vehicle return immediately. In the heavy rain, the muddy swamp would soon become uncontrollable, and here is still relatively far from the border, wanting to get out, the ending can only be trapped in a certain position, unable to come out.

  Perhaps it was luck, but he unexpectedly discovered a high ground, under a layer of mud, which was hard rock.

  He immediately decided to stop the armored vehicle on this high ground, shut off the engine, save fuel, and wait until the rain stopped before proceeding.

  Unfortunately, just after climbing up the high ground, a thunderbolt came down from the sky and cut off the antenna of the armored vehicle that was suspended in mid-air, and the wireless telegraph was completely destroyed.

  The roof leaks just in time for a continuous rainy night. Ma Erwan discovers that he has made a mistake, staying on high ground during thunderous weather makes him easy to get struck by lightning.

  But he had no way out, and there was already deep water near the high ground. If the armored vehicle continued to move forward, it would probably not be able to climb up.

  It's okay, they stayed for a night without any second accident. The next morning, they didn't dare to set off until noon when the accumulated water around had gone down and the mud was not so slippery anymore. Then they drove the armored vehicle carefully outwards.

  Actually, they had almost searched for the reed road laid by the Iranian armored troops yesterday, but a sudden rainstorm interrupted their action, so they were lucky to discover this trail left by the Iranians.

  However, Marwan was luckier as he could sit in an armored vehicle while Zhang Feng and Waleed's teams had to rely on their two legs.

  Now Marwan's armored vehicle is even more "lucky" and will hit a mine.

  Zhang Feng was still hesitant, wondering whether it was the group led by Marwan or the Iranians. It's said that the Iranians weren't so cunning and wouldn't be driving a Type 63 armored vehicle around here. However, after seeing the unique reed road constructed by the Iranians, Zhang Feng didn't dare to underestimate them anymore.

  Who knows if this is an Iranian trick to lure us out for recognition? If we stand up, the other side only needs to operate the machine gun on the armored vehicle and sweep a burst of bullets. Our small squad will have to settle here.

  At this point, Zhang Feng suddenly had an idea and took the SVD sniper rifle carried by a team member next to him, putting the large lamp in front of the armored vehicle on the crosshairs of the scope.

  "Bang!" A bullet flew towards the armored vehicle. Although it couldn't penetrate the armor, shooting out its headlights was relatively easy.

  "Bang!" The headlight was smashed to pieces, and the sound mixed with the roaring engine noise was still heard by the special forces inside the car.

  Something is wrong, there's an ambush!

  "Stop, back up!" Marwan shouted.

  The other side just fired a single shot, indicating that the other side did not have heavy firepower. In this case, the most important thing is to capture the opponent and leave one alive if they are Iranian soldiers, so as to ask them where their base is located, rather than being left in the dark.

  The armored vehicle retreated to a safe place, and several soldiers jumped down from the rear cabin door. Zhang Feng immediately saw clearly with high-power binoculars that they were indeed their own people.

  These people need to be trained properly, when jumping down, they don't even know how to use the armored vehicle as cover, nor do they know how to move quickly, at least roll on the ground and immediately evacuate the dangerous area. If I were an Iranian sniper, I would definitely not let them off.

  "Hades, call them over for assembly," Zhang Feng said: "Vilatte, get rid of that anti-tank mine from just now to prevent any accidents."

  "Squad three, fall back immediately!" Hades bellowed, his voice straining as he struggled to get up.

  Zhang Feng immediately pulled Hades down, a bullet grazed his head and flew past.

  "Which of you has lost control of his own?" Hades thundered.

  Malwan hesitated, wondering how the other side could shout out the name "Rattlesnake". This suggested that the other side might be his own comrades, but if they were comrades, why did they just shoot at his armored vehicle?

  "Marwan, I'm Kusay Abdulah, watch your gun, don't misfire." Zhang Feng shouted.

  This made Marwan believe that the other party was indeed his superior, because the name Kusay ibn Abd al-Rahman was known to very few people.

  Both sides slowly stood up and recognized each other.

  Ma Erwan ran happily in front of Zhang Feng and shouted loudly: "Report, Rattlesnake Third Squad, requesting to return to the team."

  Hades glared at him fiercely, "Who fired a shot just now?"

  After this incident, Zhang Feng also felt that his team's equipment was still very simple. On the battlefield, they actually had to rely on such primitive methods to recognize each other. The level of combat capability of a special forces unit is closely related to its ability to sense the battlefield situation. Even without an advanced positioning system, equipping individual soldiers with radios is essential.

  It's just a headache, in this era, although the West has entered the era of ultra-large-scale integrated circuits, the Soviets are still firmly on the road to miniaturization of electronic tubes. Advanced personal radios can't be expected from the Soviets, they have to be sought from Western countries.