So he quickly said, “Brother, this one to thirty is indeed a bit difficult. Lives here aren’t worth much. We don’t need to be so fixated on the casualty ratio… Let’s just fight hard and win, right?”
Ye Chen countered, “When you fought the Ten Thousand Dragons Hall back then, what was the casualty ratio?”
Hamid immediately became spirited and blurted out, “That time was awesome! Thanks to your command, Brother, the casualty ratio was at least one to several hundred.”
After saying that, he felt a bit unsure and explained, “But that time was different. That was a defensive battle with strong permanent fortifications as reliance, and it was an ambush, catching them off guard. This time is different; there’s no fortification to rely on.”
Ye Chen asked him again, “After fighting the Ten Thousand Dragons Hall, how was the morale of your soldiers?”
Hamid blurted out excitedly, “After that fight, morale was extremely high. Everyone didn’t expect we could defeat the Ten Thousand Dragons Hall, and it was a crushing victory. The army’s heart was very united!”
“That’s it.” Ye Chen said, “This time, it’s your first time leaving the base for a blitzkrieg. If the casualty ratio can also reach a height that others dare not imagine, it will not only greatly boost morale but also greatly strike the enemy’s confidence, making the enemy fear you. This will also help you in subsequent negotiations. So you must command and deploy well, striving for a beautiful major victory!”
“Understood!” Hamid understood Ye Chen’s intentions and said respectfully, “Brother, you think so thoroughly! Rest assured, I’ll give it my all!”
Ye Chen hummed in agreement and said, “Besides, since they have five oil fields, don’t just hit one; hit at least three, and hit the largest three. If you’re going to hit, hit them hard. If after hitting three they still don’t accept your conditions, then take them all out at once. As I said before, flip the table; no one eats.”
“Good!” Hamid felt ambition in his chest; his blood was already boiling. He blurted out, “Brother, rest assured; I’ll perfectly implement your strategic deployment!”
…
The next day, Hamid organised two thousand soldiers and carried out rapid sneak attacks on the selected three oil fields.
In this oil field sneak attack battle, he perfectly achieved Ye Chen’s “four rapid requirements” and took out three of the opponent’s oil fields in one go.
These three oil fields had a daily crude oil production of nearly twenty thousand barrels, already accounting for one-fifth of the current national annual output. Being directly crippled in one wave could be described as a heavy loss.
As for Hamid, besides consuming some fuel and ammunition, the three small-scale battles were all one-sided crushes. Seventy percent of the opposition’s defending soldiers were killed, thirty percent captured, while Hamid’s soldiers only had three lightly injured and no deaths.
This successful strike greatly boosted the morale of Hamid’s army. Everyone finally realised that they were no longer comparable to those opposition factions, making them realise that in the future, facing the opposition, they would surely be unstoppable.
Moreover, Hamid had learned to be smarter. He not only destroyed these three oil fields but also kidnapped the core workers of these three oil fields to his base. In the future, when he took over the oil fields and started extraction, these people could directly serve him.
The opposition’s core layer was furious about this.
Their first thought was to assemble heavy troops and besiege Hamid.
However, at the pre-war meeting, after everyone calmed down and analysed, they found that besieging Hamid was useless.
The chief strategist analysed, “First, before we seized the regime, Hamid, as our comrade-in-arms, had fought a beautiful hard battle. The government army and the Ten Thousand Dragons Hall jointly launched multiple offensives against his base, all ending in miserable defeats. This time he attacked the oil fields we control, further showing that his soldiers’ combat power far exceeds ours.”
“Second, now our soldiers are very afraid of Hamid’s soldiers’ combat power. The other soldiers stationed at the oil fields are even on tenterhooks, fearing being sneak-attacked by Hamid. The army’s morale is indeed greatly affected.”
“Furthermore, our weaponry is mainly guerrilla equipment, with light weapons accounting for the vast majority. Although we have seized some heavy weapons, they are mostly tanks, armoured vehicles, anti-aircraft missiles, and heavy artillery.”
“Anyone here with a bit of military knowledge can see that these heavy equipments are not suitable for mountain assaults.”
“Tanks and armoured vehicles can’t drive up to Hamid’s base. Our heavy vehicles might be greatly restricted in mobility and combat capability due to the terrain before even getting close, becoming live targets for Hamid’s soldiers at that time.”
“Those heavy artillery and howitzers can fire, but Hamid’s permanent fortifications are not only extremely solid but mostly on reverse slopes. Our artillery firing over would just be scratching an itch for them.”
“Key point: what we seized are heavy equipments that the government army didn’t have time to destroy. The ammunition left to us is very limited. Those howitzer shells: fire one, lose one. After firing them all, those artillery become scrap metal. If we finish these shells and later have to fight a ground positional war with someone, we won’t have handy weapons!”
“In contrast, that bastard Hamid has such strong fortifications and such deep caves. Even if we fire all our ammunition, it’s just loosening the soil on his head; it won’t hurt his foundation at all.”
“As for our anti-aircraft missiles, Hamid’s army has no air power besides a few armed helicopters. If he doesn’t deploy helicopters, our anti-aircraft missiles are completely useless to him.”
“Moreover, our spy inside Hamid has long told us about Hamid’s strategic reserves. Everyone should know that even if we invest a large number of troops to completely besiege Hamid’s base, Hamid can hold out for three years.”
“But the embarrassment is that Hamid can hold out for three years, but we may not be able to hold out for three years!”
