Chapter 1787 - 1371: On the Eve of the Great Battle

Two days later.

Sixty kilometers south of Hulmatu, temporary command post at Lavo Town.

When Song Heping pushed the door open and got out of the vehicle, the luminous hands on the dial had just overlapped at nine o'clock sharp.

The roar of the diesel generator came from a corner of the yard, mixed with the distant, faint engine noise of armored vehicles, weaving an invisible web in the dry desert air.

"Old squad leader!"

Jiang Feng stepped quickly out of the shadow of the warehouse area, the beam of his tactical flashlight cutting a rapid track across the sand.

"All units are in position."

Jiang Feng's voice was kept very low, but was exceptionally clear.

"Samir's people have locked down all exits of Highway No. 1 on the eastern line, Naxin's Holy City Brigade is groping forward through the desert in the west under cover of darkness, Abu You's Kurd Brigade is hidden in the river valley to the north. Our men and the government army special company have already infiltrated south through the night and have crossed the Tigris River. Estimate they need another half day to complete their maneuver."

Song Heping didn't slow down, heading straight toward the warehouse: "Confirmed the headcount for all participating units?"

"Confirmed three times." Jiang Feng matched his pace: "Thirteen thousand on the east, six thousand on the west, eight thousand on the north, nine hundred and fifty on our southern axis. Total a bit over twenty-two thousand."

The warehouse doors stood wide open, the interior bright as daylight. Six military floodlights hung from the steel beams, throwing sharp-edged shadows off the mountains of supplies.

Ammo crates were stacked from the entrance all the way to the back of the warehouse, the yellow-brown wooden cases stenciled in black with specs and batch numbers.

Dozens of soldiers were counting the last few cases of anti-tank missiles, their metal bodies glinting coldly under the lights.

"What's the situation on the east line?" Song Heping asked.

"Samir hid all his T-72s in the ruins of the precast concrete plant." Jiang Feng said, "This time he's brought eighty-six vehicles, each loaded with forty HE rounds and twenty AP rounds. The artillery positions are five kilometers away in a jujube grove, forty-eight howitzers have completed coordinate registration. The recon teams grabbed a 'tongue' when they pushed forward, a fifteen-year-old child soldier, scared out of his wits. Says there are at least twenty anti-tank teams in the city, using 'Short Arrow' missiles looted from government army depots back in the day."

Song Heping's brow creased. The "Short Arrow" anti-tank missile could penetrate one meter of homogeneous steel armor from three thousand meters; the T-72's frontal armor was only four hundred eighty millimeters.

"Tell Samir, during the assault have the infantry clear the buildings first, don't push tanks blindly into narrow streets."

"Already told him." Jiang Feng nodded, "He replied that this time he's brought dedicated counter-sniper teams, two men per team, equipped with thermal imagers and 12.7mm anti-materiel rifles."

The two of them passed through the warehouse and entered the open-air storage yard behind it.

Two heavily modified Mercedes panel-command vehicles were parked here, butterfly-shaped satellite antennas mounted on their roofs.

A technician with Glasses stuck his head out of a vehicle compartment: "Boss, all drones are on standby. The real-time satellite data stream the US Army promised is hooked up and tested, latency under two seconds."

Song Heping checked his watch: "What else from the US Army side?"

"Major General Duke says their Carl Vinson has already taken station in the Persian Gulf, the carrier air wing is at maximum readiness."

Jiang Feng flipped through the tablet in his hand.

"B-1Bs are loaded with JDAMs, F-15Es are carrying 'Sniper' pods. The key is the drones: starting at four a.m. tomorrow, six 'Grim Reaper' birds will rotate, twenty-four-seven nonstop. For air strikes, response time in emergencies can be compressed down to eight minutes."

"JTACs deployed?"

"Twelve teams sent over, two men per team, already embedded in the assault echelons."

Jiang Feng swiped the screen, his gaze passing over the data.

"Three of those teams are assigned to our Mercenary Camp. They're currently setting up an observation post in the ruins of a textile mill on the South Bank of Tigris River. They can see large numbers of armed personnel massing in the city hall square."

Song Heping stopped and looked toward the darkness to the north.

Forty-five kilometers away, Tikrit was asleep—or pretending to be.

The 1515 Armed weren't idiots.

With this much troop movement in the last two days, they'd have to be blind not to sense something coming.

He also knew how many pairs of eyes in that city were open in the dark right now, how many guns already had their safeties off.

"What about the west line? Any issues on Naxin's side?"

"Short on night vision gear." Jiang Feng answered briskly: "I've already coordinated it. At two a.m. tomorrow, a US Army C-130 will airdrop three loads of supplies, including two hundred AN/PVS-14 sets and matching batteries."

"And Abu You's side?"

"The Kurd people are very well concealed."

Jiang Feng's mouth tugged slightly, rare for him, showing a smile.

"All eight thousand men and forty-two tanks are crammed into a Dry River Valley more than ten kilometers long, camouflage nets stretched overhead, with a few torn tents left outside on purpose to make it look like a refugee herder camp. Their scouts have found three tunnel exits, all in the old district of North City. Abu wants to send special teams to seal them early and asked if I can divert a small detachment to help."

Song Heping thought for a few seconds: "Give him one squad, twelve men, with thermal imagers and suppressed weapons. The tunnel mouths may connect to the entire underground network; do not go deep. Plant sensors and vibration alarms and that's it."

"Understood."

They headed toward the main building of the command center.

It was a school building.

Four different types of antennas were mounted on the roof, quivering slightly in the night wind.

The command center was about half a basketball court in size, originally the school's air-raid shelter, later reinforced and expanded for military use.