126: Chapter 126 The North Wind Sweeps Across the Land, Blood and Fire Rage in the South River

"The Dragon Country's delegation to the United Nations has received word. The proposal put forward by the USA, UK, and other nations explicitly defines you as an 'illegal armed leader,' calling for international sanctions and authorizing 'all necessary means' to restore Myanmar's territorial integrity."

"'All necessary means?'" Zhang Cheng laughed. "Does that include sending planes to bomb me?"

"The Dragon Country representative has clearly stated they will exercise their veto power," Old K said. "Commissioner Zhao Gang sent a secret telegram: The motherland will always be your strongest backer. Fight, fight hard, and show them our might!"

Zhang Cheng turned to look at the busy officers in the command center, then at the black flag with a gold star on the wall.

"Tell Zhao Yuxun that the northern front can begin. I want to see our flag planted on Banwa Mountain before the sun rises tomorrow."

"Tell all front-line troops." Zhang Cheng's voice pierced through the night, carrying a cold, bloody tone. "Tonight, many will die. But when dawn arrives, those who survive will witness the birth of a new era."

"For the glory of the Sovereign!" In the command center, all officers growled in unison.

Zhang Cheng picked up the encrypted communicator and connected to the "Thor" Brigade headquarters.

"Wang Yuanshan."

"Present! Sovereign, please instruct!"

"Target: The west bank of the Salween River, the Myanmar Army's 33rd Division artillery positions, river-crossing equipment assembly points, and command posts." Zhang Cheng spoke word by word. "Coordinates sent. I want you to burn through half your ammunition reserves and plow the west bank for me."

"Understood!" Wang Yuanshan's voice carried suppressed excitement. "'Truth Express,' shipping immediately!"

A few minutes later, deep on the east bank, twenty-four guardian-2d long-range rocket launchers raised their thick launch tubes.

"Whole battalion, volley fire! Fire!"

With Wang Yuanshan's order, the earth began to tremble.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!!"

Streaks of blazing tail-flame tore through the night sky. The rockets trailed long plumes of fire like the arrows of the Grim Reaper, arcing across the heavens and lunging toward the west bank.

At that moment, the entire Salween River basin was illuminated by the fire of explosions.

Operation "Double-Edged" officially began its bloody prelude.

Northern front, Banwa Mountain area, 3:00 AM.

Wu Lajue, wrapped in a thick military overcoat, squatted in a command post deep within a karst cave. Kerosene lamps hung on the cave walls, their dim light making the face of this commander of the Kachin Independence Army remnants look exceptionally haggard.

"Commander, Zhang Cheng's troops have reached the foot of the mountain." The adjutant's voice trembled. "Scouts report at least fifty armored vehicles, as well as self-propelled artillery..."

"What are you panicking for!" Wu Lajue feigned composure. "Banwa Mountain is easy to defend and hard to attack. We've spent over a decade fortifying it. Every ridge has a pillbox, and every path is mined. No matter how powerful Zhang Cheng's armored vehicles are, can they fly up here?"

He walked to the cave entrance and looked down the mountain. In the darkness, he could see a long line of headlights forming a steel dragon, deploying at the foot of the mountain.

"Are the javelin missiles provided by the USA in place?"

"Deployed, twenty units, hidden in three reverse-slope positions," the adjutant said. "As long as their tanks dare to climb the mountain, I guarantee..."

Before he could finish, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from the sky.

The sound was faint at first, like wind blowing through a valley, but in an instant, it turned into a piercing shriek!

"What's that sound?!" Wu Lajue snapped his head up.

The next second, he saw a sight he would never forget—

In the night sky, dozens of points of light trailing tail-flames fell like a meteor shower, accurately slamming into the main peak of Banwa Mountain and several important surrounding hilltops!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

Continuous explosions were deafening! The entire mountain shook, rocks and dirt soared into the sky, and fire instantly swallowed the hilltop positions!

"Shelling! It's heavy artillery!" the adjutant screamed at the top of his lungs. "Take cover!!"

But it was already too late.

The 36 M109A7 self-propelled howitzers from Zhang Cheng's "Thor" Brigade assigned to the Northern Front Group, along with the 24 120mm self-propelled mortars from the "North Wind" Group, conducted their first round of fire coverage under the guidance of artillery reconnaissance radar and drone spotting.

These weren't the obsolete towed artillery Wu Lajue was familiar with. These were modern self-propelled guns—shoot and scoot, high rate of fire, high precision, and—plenty of ammunition.

"Second volley! Fire!"

On the artillery positions twenty kilometers away, the muzzles spat fire once more.

This time, the shells seemed to have eyes, specifically targeting exposed fire points and suspected command post locations. The mountain defenses Wu Lajue had painstakingly built for over a decade were as fragile as paper in front of modern artillery.

"Commander! Hilltop positions one, three, and five have all lost contact!" the signalman cried out. "The pillboxes took direct hits, the people inside... they're all gone!"

Wu Lajue's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling: "Impossible... how do they know so clearly..."

How could he know that long before the shelling started, the Shadow Blade special ops squad had already infiltrated the mountains? Using laser designators and reconnaissance equipment, they had mapped out the entire defense system of Banwa Mountain. Every shell was aimed at a vital point.

The shelling lasted for a full fifteen minutes.

When the sound of artillery finally ceased, Banwa Mountain had changed its appearance. The originally lush hilltops were now covered in charred craters and collapsed fortifications. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.

"The... the armored units are coming up!" the soldier at the observation post screamed.

At the foot of the mountain, Zhao Yuxun stood in the command vehicle, watching the footage sent back by the drones, and coldly ordered:

"'Lightning' Brigade armored infantry battalion, feint from the front. 3rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, flank through the western valley. 2nd Battalion, the eastern side."

"Tell them not to save on ammunition. Rockets, grenade launchers—if you see a suspicious target, blast it. We have plenty of money; if we run out, we'll just restock."

"Yes!"

More than thirty stryker wheeled armored vehicles roared their engines and began advancing up the slope. Their vehicle-mounted 30mm chain guns and 12.7mm heavy machine guns fired frantically at the remaining fortifications on the mountainside.

Wu Lajue's soldiers had just recovered from the shelling when they were hit by a steel storm from the ground.

"javelins! Use the javelins to hit those armored vehicles!" Wu Lajue roared with bloodshot eyes.

In several reverse-slope positions, surviving missile operators tremblingly hoisted their launch tubes and locked onto a stryker leading the charge.

"Locked... Fire!"

"Whoosh—"

The missile flew out, trailing fire.

But just as the missile was about to hit its target, the "Trophy" active protection system on the roof of that stryker instantly activated!

"Bang!"

The interceptor projectile blew the javelin missile out of the air!

"What?!" The operator was dumbfounded.

Before he could react, the "thud-thud-thud" of rotors came from the sky.

Two Black Hawk helicopters appeared above the valley out of nowhere. The cabin doors opened, and sharpshooters, propping up M107 anti-materiel sniper rifles, pulled their triggers.

"Bang! Bang!"

The 12.7mm armor-piercing rounds punched straight through the camouflage nets and sandbags, shredding the two missile operators along with their launchers.

"It's over..." Wu Lajue slumped to the ground.

This wasn't a battle; it was a massacre. The opponent was using modern reconnaissance, command, and fire systems to conduct a dimensionality reduction strike against them. Their so-called mountain warfare experience was meaningless in the face of absolute technological superiority.

"Commander! The western valley has fallen! The eastern side is also..." The adjutant's report was cut off by an explosion.

A 120mm mortar shell landed near the command post, causing rubble to fall from the cave ceiling.

Wu Lajue watched the gunfire and explosions getting closer outside the cave, despair flashing in his eyes. He knew Banwa Mountain could not be held; the last forces of the Kachin Independence Army would be buried here today.

But he was unwilling to give up.

"Send a message..." Wu Lajue gritted his teeth and said to the signalman, "To Naypyidaw, to the Americans. Say we're about to break, request air support, request..."

Before he could finish, a burst of dense gunfire and screams came from the cave entrance.

Several dark figures rushed in like ghosts. They wore black optical camouflage combat suits and face paint, moving so fast they were a blur.

"Don't move!"

A cold muzzle was pressed against Wu Lajue's forehead.

Night Owl tore off his mask, revealing a cold face: "Commander Wu Lajue? Our Sovereign would like to invite you for a cup of tea."

At the same time, southern front, east bank of the Salween River, 4:50 AM.

Morning mist drifted over the river surface.

On the opposite bank, the vanguard of the Myanmar Government Army's 33rd Division had already boarded over a hundred assault boats and rubber dinghies. The roar of engines echoed across the river as the dark mass of the fleet began heading toward the opposite shore.

At the east bank positions, inside the observation post, a sentry saw everything clearly through a thermal imager.

"Enemy forces starting to cross! Distance eight hundred meters!"

The news reached the forward command post. Zhang Cheng was eating breakfast—a steaming bowl of beef noodles. He wiped his mouth and picked up the communicator:

"Wang Yuanshan, has the 'delivery' arrived?"

"Reporting to the Sovereign! The first volley destroyed three enemy artillery positions on the west bank, two river-crossing equipment assembly points, and one command post!" Wang Yuanshan's voice was full of excitement. "Observation posts report at least twenty howitzers destroyed and over forty assault boats turned into splinters!"

"Very good." Zhang Cheng walked to the observation window, looking at the small black dots getting closer on the river. "Now, it's BigDecimal own's turn to take the stage."

In the sky, the roar of engines approached from the distance.

Six AH-64E apache attack helicopters, divided into two three-ship formations, swept low over the river. The 30mm M230 chain guns under their noses rotated slowly, and the Hellfire missiles mounted under their short wings glinted coldly in the morning light.

"This is Scourge-1, we have eyes on the enemy crossing force." The lead pilot reported calmly. "There are... quite a lot of them. Requesting permission to fire."

Zhang Cheng pressed the talk button: "Authorized. Free hunt."

" receive. Brothers， Dinner is served.."

The next second, hell descended upon the river.

"Thud-thud-thud-thud—!!"

The apaches' chain guns began to roar. 30mm shells, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, carved lines of blood across the river surface. Assault boats were blown apart, rubber dinghies were shredded, and soldiers who fell into the icy water struggled briefly before being swallowed by the following rain of bullets.

"Missiles! Launch!"

"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!"

The six apaches fired a volley; twelve Hellfire missiles trailed white smoke as they lunged toward the west bank. There, the Myanmar Army's follow-up forces were assembling, preparing for the second wave of the crossing.

"Boom-boom-boom-boom—!!"

Violent explosions turned the west bank beachhead into a sea of fire. Trucks, armored vehicles, and piles of ammunition and supplies were all reduced to nothing in the flames.

On the river, the surviving Myanmar Army vessels turned back frantically to escape. But the apaches were relentless, like falcons hunting rabbits, diving and strafing one after another.

"Help! Save me!"

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Screams, cries, and explosions mixed together. The originally peaceful Salween River had now become a living hell.

West bank, 33rd Division headquarters.

Major General Wu Naiwen, the division commander, looked at the carnage on the river through his binoculars, his face ashen. His walkie-talkie was filled with reports and desperate pleas for help from collapsing units.

"Commander! The vanguard is wiped out! We've lost at least a thousand men!"

"The artillery positions are destroyed! Our cannons..."

"What kind of helicopters are those! Our anti-air missiles can't lock on at all!"

Wu Naiwen slammed his binoculars down and turned to roar at the USA military advisor beside him: "Didn't you say the Gray Eagle drones could suppress their air power?! What now?!"

The USA military advisor—a white man in civilian clothes but with a fierce aura—also looked grim: "Our drones were electronically jammed as soon as they took off and completely lost control. Zhang Cheng's forces have more advanced electronic warfare systems than we do..."

"Enough!" Wu Naiwen interrupted him. "What do we do now?! My troops are being slaughtered on the river!"

The USA military advisor gritted his teeth: "Activate 'Plan B.' Have the Blackwater people move out. Their mission is to destroy Zhang Cheng's command system and artillery positions. If they succeed, the tide of battle can be turned."

He picked up a satellite phone and dialed an encrypted number: "'Vulture,' this is 'Eagle's Nest.' The prey is in the cage, you can close the net now."

...

East bank, three kilometers from the perimeter of Zhang Cheng's command post, in a dense forest.

Twelve figures wearing Myanmar Army uniforms but equipped with high-end gear were silently infiltrating toward the command post. They were the "Vulture" squad, the most elite of Blackwater International, each a veteran retired from special forces who had participated in countless battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The captain, "Gray Wolf," crouched behind a bush, observing ahead with a thermal imager.

"Target spotted. Eight hundred meters ahead, suspected enemy forward command post. Heavily guarded, at least a company of troops."

The vice-captain, "Viper," whispered: "According to intelligence, Zhang Cheng is likely inside. If we can succeed in a decapitation strike..."

"Stop dreaming," Gray Wolf said coldly. "Zhang Cheng isn't that stupid. This is likely a decoy. Our main task is to destroy their long-range artillery and communication nodes."

He pointed northeast: "The 'Thor' Brigade's rocket artillery positions are five kilometers from here. Split into two groups: Team A follows me to blow up the artillery; Team B, led by Viper, will attack the communication center."

"Move out."

The twelve men scattered like leopards, blending into the jungle.

But what they didn't know was that from the moment they stepped into this area, they were already being watched.

On a large tree less than two hundred meters away, a Shadow Blade sniper draped in a camouflage net was coldly watching them through his scope. Night Owl's voice came through his earpiece:

"The 'Vultures' are in the net. Let them go another kilometer deeper. Once they split up, Team A is yours, and I'll handle Team B."

"Understood."

The sniper's finger rested lightly on the trigger, his eyes showing no emotion.