Chapter Eighteen: The Tribal Elder

  The guerrilla fighters were in high spirits, and under Muhamed's leadership, they had been winning battle after battle. Just a while ago, they had even shot down an invincible helicopter, which was the most exciting moment for Muhamed. Even Khwaja had complete faith in this man, who was indeed a regular army instructor with abilities far superior to his own. His specialty was sniping, not commanding this guerrilla force.

  Now, upon hearing Muhammad's order, all the guerrilla fighters rushed towards the truck, even those carrying heavy machine guns were swift as if they had wings on their feet.

  Muhammad knew that the danger had not yet been eliminated, and if another Soviet helicopter came over, he could not guarantee that he would be able to shoot it down again. If the helicopters were to cover this area with rockets, none of them would be able to escape.

  And Soviet ground troops were also rushing in quickly.

  "Vroom, vroom." After Muhammad jumped onto the truck, he immediately started the car. With the engine roaring to life, Kamaz's engine was started by Muhammad.

  "Are we going to pour it out directly?" asked Khwaja, who was sitting on the deputy seat, to Muhammad.

  There's no road ahead, and it can't be turned around, except for going backwards directly, there's no other way.

  Now, Khwaja is very impressed with Muhammad. To say nothing of fighting, even just talking about driving, he's a good hand. Many old drivers who have been driving for a long time may not be as skilled as Muhammad. For others, reversing over 100 meters might be difficult, but for Muhammad, it's a piece of cake.

  "No," Muhhamed said, pressing the clutch and shifting into reverse. The big truck backed away with a roar of its engine.

  Hearing Muhammad's words, Khwaja was somewhat puzzled. Wasn't he supposed to fall backwards? How come now he wants to fall backwards again?

  Muhammad had no time to bother with Khwaja, at this moment, no one gave him instructions to reverse the car, he himself had to quickly back out of the car, his attention was highly concentrated, looking at the large reflective mirrors on both sides, while his two hands were constantly fiddling with the steering wheel, almost as fast as when he first came, Khamas skillfully backed up more than 30 meters.

  "Vroom!" Muhammad slammed on the brakes, then pushed the gearshift forward, shifting into first gear while turning the steering wheel all the way to the right.

  Mountains are heavy and waters are repeated, with no road in sight. The willows are dark and the flowers are bright, another village appears. Muhammad recalled this saying from a great eastern country. Just now, he was flustered and walked forward without choosing a path, but that turned out to be a dead end, whereas this path on the right actually leads to a way out.

  Khawaja also saw clearly, what Muhammad just said was right, but he had to back up first, after all, there was no road ahead, and after backing up, turn right, maybe they could shake off the pursuers.

  Just go right and you'll be on another mountain road. This way, when you head back, it might take a bit more time.

  Now, it's almost dark, and as long as we can hold out until nightfall, it will be much safer.

  "Sir, what if there are more trees blocking our way ahead?" Khwaja asked.

  Although it seemed possible at first, in the forest, driving such a large truck, being able to drive out just one hundred meters is already very lucky, now, Khwaja really doesn't have confidence that he can completely pass through.

  "If there's an obstacle in our way, we'll go around it. If that doesn't work, we'll crash into it and blast a path open," Muhammad said.

  When encountering mountains, open roads; when encountering rivers, build bridges. Muhammad is determined to take this road.

  Because the helicopter just now, at the same time it discovered their trail, may have reported their trail to its superiors. In this way, it is very likely that Soviet soldiers are already ambushing on the road ahead.

  The only way to be absolutely safe is to take another route, and in the shortest time possible, run back into the mountains and join forces with the small advance team of over a dozen people who had left earlier.

  Although this truck can't drive all the way to the guerrilla base, it can be hidden first and then these weapons can be moved into the mountains at leisure.

  With the ammunition and weapons on this vehicle, at least for several months, there is no need to worry about replenishment.

  Muhammad's ideas were almost all thought out in the intervals of fighting, or rather, these ideas came to him suddenly, without thinking.

  Muhammad was born for battle and now his senses seemed even more acute, as if he could sniff out the opportunity.

  "Quickly, fold up the reflector." Muhammad shouted loudly, stretching out his arm from the glass and nimbly folding back the frame of the reflector.

  The military vehicle, mainly simple and practical, so the glass of the military vehicle is not a drop-down type, but a push-pull type. Muhammad stretched out his hand from the window with ease. However, Khwaja was slower.

  "Whoa." The rearview mirror on the right side was immediately knocked down by a tree trunk, but Muhammad's side was fortunately intact.

  The small path that just passed by can only accommodate the front of the car, while the back carriage still needs a bit more width.

  Muhammad didn't hesitate, and his foot pressed the accelerator all the way down.

  "Boom, boom." Kamas, emitting black smoke, scraped through between two trees, the body of the car colliding with the tree trunks. The sturdy Kamas merely lost some paint, while behind it, countless pieces of bark, branches and leaves fell to the ground.

  With the lesson of just now, the guerrilla fighters in the back carriage all tightly grasped the handrails in the carriage, as the carriage bumped along, listening to the sound of branches breaking outside, their faces still smiling, as if they were riding a donkey cart to a market. They were very confident, under the leadership of the instructor, they would absolutely escape safely.

  Dulanni's face was even more excited, and what they were sitting on under their buttocks now were all weapons, ammunition, and food. The guerrilla team made a big profit this time by attacking the sentry post!

  Darkness gradually shrouded the earth, and Kamas was also surrounded by this darkness.

  The forest is no longer in sight now. We are walking on a mountain road, but the road is getting harder and harder to walk on. Soon it will be impossible for this truck to pass through.

  Muhammad's eyes were fixed intently, driving in the dark was already very dangerous, and he couldn't turn on the headlights, nor did he have night vision goggles to use, so he could only rely on the dim starlight to drive forward vaguely, and the speed of the car also slowed down.

  "Sir, just ahead is Gorst Village. We have two guerrilla fighters who are from this village and it should be relatively safe," Khwaja said.

  Now, Khwaja's attitude towards Muhammad has completely changed. Previously, he was still a bit unruly, but now, he is also worshiping Muhammad in the same way.

  "Can we mobilize the people in this village and have them help us move the things from the car to the mountain overnight?" Muhammad asked.

  Muhammad knew that the guerrilla fighters were very brave, but moving these heavy ammunition was far from enough. Taking advantage of the dark night to transport the ammunition into the mountains was the most important thing; otherwise, by dawn, they might be discovered by the helicopters overhead.

  Moreover, during the Afghan War, the local indigenous people were very welcoming to the guerrillas, after all, the Soviets were invaders.

  So now the only way is to mobilize the masses and let them help transport the ammunition, in order to transport this batch of ammunition back to the base as soon as possible.

  "No problem," Khwaja said.

  "Whoa!" With the sound of screeching brakes, Kamaz finally came to a stop in front of this village called Gost, and further ahead, the road was too narrow for Kamaz to enter deep into the mountains.

  "Agga, Hadim, you two, come with me into the village." Khwaja jumped out of the car and said to the people behind him.

  These two people are from the village mentioned by Khwaja.

  The guerrilla fighters jumped off the car one after another, but all they saw inside the carriage was the dust rising from behind, and as for where they arrived, they had no idea at all.

  Aga and Hadhim both heard Khwaja calling him, jumped down and immediately ran towards Khwaja.

  "Come, follow me into the village and meet the elder," Khwaja said.

  See the elder? Hearing Khwaja say this, the two were stunned at first. What elder? After taking a closer look, they found that their surroundings were so familiar and suddenly felt great joy. It turned out that they had returned home!

  "Let's take a break here, Dulaney," Muhammad said. "Open two cases of canned goods and give each man one can to fill his belly."

  He drove the truck into the checkpoint and loaded everything from the checkpoint onto it. Fortunately, the trucks were not fully loaded when they arrived, so they could load more things now.

  In addition to ammunition, there is also food. For example, Muhammad only looked at the words on the outer packaging and knew it was a can of fish meat.

  Although it was not the canned beef that Muhammad had expected, fish meat is also a good filling food and can withstand hunger.

  "Yes." Upon hearing Muhammad's words, Durrani immediately jumped onto the truck and took out that box.

  At this time, Muhammad didn't have an appetite for food. He was thinking about what Khwaja had just said and decided to go to the village first to see the elder.

  One of the most important reasons why Afghanistan has been plagued by frequent wars and turmoil throughout history, and fundamentally unable to control the situation, is that within Afghanistan, there are many ethnic groups.

  It's not just the differences between ethnic groups, Afghanistan has Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Nuristanis and Balochs, among others. These ethnic groups have conflicts with each other. Moreover, although the Pashtuns make up the majority of the population, they are also divided into two major rival factions.

  Moreover, each tribe was divided into several clans, which had cooperation and disputes with each other.

  After these few days, Muhammad's understanding of Afghanistan has deepened. He comes from a later era and knows that driving out the Soviets was an inevitable outcome. But after driving out the Soviets, did Afghanistan become peaceful?

  No! War has filled the people of this country with distrust for each other, and filled them with thoughts of vying for power. Everywhere is filled with weapons, everywhere is filled with gunfire. In the end, this country, a country that has been plagued by disasters throughout history, has always been in tears amidst the flames of war...

  Muhammad has been through thick and thin here, after these few days of baptism by fire, he has already tied his fate to this place.

  Can Afghanistan become a place that will never stop in the flames of war for future generations? A regime that has been brewing Taliban's evil deeds?

  No! Mumhamed told himself in his heart, absolutely cannot!