Chapter 61: Mountain Road Pursuit

  "This is bloody awful weather!" James cursed again, in the team, following the transportation, Pakistani soldiers disguised as civilians, transporting this batch of supplies.

  Compared to James, the Pakistani warriors are more calm, after all, they are helping their Afghan brothers. Since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, not only has the war spread throughout Afghanistan, but also the border areas of Pakistan have become unstable. There were often Soviet planes crossing the airspace and entering Pakistani airspace, and there were several dogfights.

  Their feet trampled the thick snow on the ground, and the people in front had already trampled out a series of snow pits, which were then flattened. When the people behind walked over, they had become a layer of dark ice. Their military boots were all soaked through.

  James gazed at the undulating mountain range, cursed a few times, and then continued to trudge through the snow. He also knew the importance of this mission, vented his dissatisfaction, gathered his emotions, and continued to trudge through the snow.

  The mules were all used for hauling goods, and even James himself had to trudge through the snow in tandem.

  At the very back, there were several rocket artillery pulled by mules. The barrels were not heavy, but the snow was too thick. Pakistani soldiers followed behind and pushed hard, exhausted.

  In this way, step by step, they walked along the mountain road of several hundred kilometers, and they had a hard time.

  "Alert." Suddenly, a Pakistani soldier walking in front shouted back.

  At his shout, all the soldiers quickly pulled out their automatic rifles from the mules' backs and vigilantly looked into the distance and to both sides.

  On both sides are groups of mountains, and only in the middle is this valley, long and narrow, extremely easy to be ambushed.

  Even if they just threw some stones from the top of the mountain on both sides, it would be enough for them.

  In the distance appeared a dozen or so horsemen, which inexplicably excited them. The ones approaching were not Soviets, but...

  Afghan guerrillas!

  Horses' hooves trampled on the snow, leaving behind footprints one by one. The people on horseback had equally excited expressions, gazing in this direction.

  "Long live the holy war!" The man in front shouted, loudly addressing this transportation team: "We are Instructor Muhammad's men who have come to meet you. You've had a hard time."

  James threw away the cigar in his mouth and said to the rider at the front: "Khawaja, I know you. We met in the guerrilla."

  "Mr. James, you've worked hard," Khwaja said.

  After entering the Afghan mountains, James' hard days finally came to an end as he handed over these goods to the Afghan guerrillas and himself rode off on one of their horses.

  Khawaja looked at the goods with a smile on his face, and as soon as he learned that the US side had transported the goods, Muhammad immediately dispatched Khawaja to lead a dozen people to greet them.

  At the same time, it was also to protect them, the Wakhan Corridor was too dangerous, in Muhhamed's memory, after this passage was discovered by the Soviets, they would often come here for a sneak attack.

  Khwaja looked at the multi-barreled rocket launchers behind him, and he was even more excited. With these weapons, it would be easy to fight against the Soviet Union in the future. Moreover, these rocket launchers were so compact that they could be pulled by horses, making them perfect for guerrilla warfare in mountainous areas.

  It's just...now it seems a bit troublesome, the heavy snow has made these mules and Pakistanis suffer, looking at their embarrassed appearance in the back.

  "Come on, let's lend a hand." Khwaja said, dismounting from his horse.

  "What are you going to do?" the Pakistani soldier asked, looking at the dozen or so people who had arrived, pulling out wrenches and pliers and starting to work on the multiple rocket launcher.

  "Take it apart," Khwaja said, already quickly removing two tires and starting to disassemble the rocket launcher on top into individual parts.

  After disassembling the rocket artillery, Khwaja and others put these rocket artillery on their own horseback. A multi-barreled rocket artillery can be easily carried by three horses after disassembly.

  As they watched the rocket launchers being dismantled, a fellow Pakistani soldier said: "This method is not bad, disassemble and reassemble after going back, right? How are you so familiar with this kind of rocket launcher?"

  Khawaja unscrewed the last screw and put it in a cloth bag, saying: "Actually we are not familiar with this, it's our first time disassembling."

  The rocket was seen just a month ago, and this rocket launcher is the first time they have ever seen it.

  Pakistani soldiers were shocked: "Aren't these rocket launchers all scrapped?"

  "We just take it apart," Khwaja said. "When we get back, Lieutenant Muhammad will put it together again."

  They thought about the weather before they came out, Muhamed considered it would be very troublesome to transport those multiple rocket launchers under such weather conditions, so he assigned the task to Khwaja, disassembled them and loaded them onto the horses they brought with them, and reassembled them after returning.

  As long as Khwaja doesn't disassemble it too violently and there are no missing parts, Muhammad can easily reassemble it.

  After it was dismantled, the Pakistani soldiers behind relaxed, their task had been completed.

  Apart from Jamshed, all other Pakistani soldiers completed their mission and turned back in the mountains ahead to return to Pakistan.

  James rode on the back of a horse, humming a tune.

  "Your Excellency James, before we set out, His Excellency Muhammad repeatedly warned us to be careful and keep a low profile, not to reveal our whereabouts." Khwaja couldn't help but say as he saw James puffing on his cigar and riding his horse.

  "The secret passage here, the Soviets would never find it. Now that the weather is so cold, no one would believe anyone is walking around here." James said: "If I didn't have to discuss further support with Mr. Muhammad, I wouldn't bother going to the mountains with you guys, it's as cold as hell here."

  James spoke curtly, with an air of a rich man bestowing alms on a beggar.

  Khawaja looked around and now they have entered the Afghan area. The whole way here has been very calm, so the road back should be smooth too.

  The Soviets will not act at this time.

  Khawaja didn't know it, but at that moment, a reconnaissance satellite flew quickly over his head.

  The satellite's camera was constantly rotating, finally aiming at the ground, locking, zooming in, and transmitting back to the ground through the synchronous satellite signal.

  Several KGB intelligence analysts stared at this enlarged satellite image with utmost seriousness.

  "Send the intelligence immediately to the 40th Army's 108th Division, they know what to do." a KGB leader said.

  "Director, those people from the 108th Division are too weak in combat. We should mobilize the GRU's men to go over there and avenge A Corps!"

  "This is what it means," said the leader of the KGB. "The captain of A team who was sacrificed last time, was the son of the commander of the 108th division, don't worry, this time the 108th division will not lose."

  Very soon, top-secret intelligence was placed on Kuznetsov's desk.

  With this intelligence, Kurkov's eyes again floated in front of his son's firm face. The last time he saw his son was three years ago when his troops had not yet entered Afghanistan. Now, however, they would never meet again.

  Facing the attack on his own airport, Kurikov did not immediately mobilize all troops to enter the mountains to fight a decisive battle against the guerrillas. Kurikov gradually realized that this approach would only lead to more casualties and was ineffective in combating the guerrillas.

  Sending out a whole regiment or even a division of troops is not as effective as sending out just one platoon, or even just one squad after the guerrilla base has been discovered.

  Kurkov held his troops in place, focusing his gaze on the Wakhan Corridor. Since the guerrilla group's weapons were coming from Eastern countries, the Wakhan Corridor was a necessary route.

  With the help of reconnaissance satellites on its head, it inspected the Wakhan Corridor several times a day. After a month, it finally discovered this transport detachment and followed up several times to confirm that it had made contact with Afghan guerrillas.

  "Order, 181st Reconnaissance Company, parachute into the Chakhan Corridor." Kurikov said: "Follow the Afghan guerrillas transporting weapons, find the base of the Afghan guerrillas and completely destroy this guerrilla force!"

  Kurkov's fist slammed onto the table, a thick Huanghuali wood table that cracked with a fissure.

  Take revenge for your own son! Kurikov, if he weren't shouldering the heavy responsibility of commanding the whole regiment, would really want to personally participate in the battle, holding an AK-74 rifle and annihilating this guerrilla squad!

  "Sir, why don't we just send a few men to follow them and wait until they discover the base of the Afghan guerrillas before calling for reinforcements?" said Chief of Staff Belgrade. "Now it's freezing outside, if we follow from here, I'm afraid we'll have to circle around in the mountains for several days before finding any trace of the Afghan guerrillas."

  Belgrade instinctively felt that Kurkov's tactics were somewhat inappropriate, after all, the Wakhan Corridor was still a long way from the Afghan guerrilla base.

  Kurikov shook his head: "No, if it were another Afghan guerrilla group, we might be able to do that. But with this one, we must be cautious. I have a feeling that our doe, as soon as she approaches the mountains, that cunning Muhammad will discover her and immediately hide in even deeper mountains, where we'll never find her."

  This guerrilla team can accomplish big things like raiding the airport, showing the commander's exceptional abilities. Kurikov, although eager for revenge, also knows that he must be cautious.

  In the pitch-black night, a rumbling sound came from the sky. Three Mi-8 helicopters landed on a vast ground in the Wakhan Corridor. This type of helicopter is nicknamed "hippopotamus" because it has a big belly.

  Wearing winter combat uniforms, Soviet soldiers jumped down from above. They were all elite warriors of the most elite reconnaissance company. From their posture when they got off the plane to even a small alert movement, it could be seen that they were excellent soldiers who had experienced many battles.