Chapter 1564 - 1267: Buckdadi's Wrath

In a small town in Raqqa Province, Siria, deep beneath a concrete building ravaged by war.

This former government office building is now riddled with bullet holes and charred black marks on the walls, silently telling of the fierce firefight that once took place here.

Deep underground, over five meters below, in a reinforced room, a basic generator emits a constant hum, providing unstable power to the basic communication equipment.

The face of 1515 leader Baghdadi, full of dense beard, is twisted with anger and anxiety, his gaze so dark it could kill a bull.

"... The information has been repeatedly confirmed. Song Heping and his heretic mercenaries, along with Samir's 'Liberation Forces' militiamen, after a long period of rest and replenishment in Hulmatu, have begun a large-scale move south. Their forward reconnaissance units are less than a hundred kilometers from Titrick."

A robed advisor reported in a heavy tone.

His finger pointed at a map of Northern Illiguo, spread out on a simple wooden table and densely marked.

This news was like a massive stone thrown into a stagnant pool, instantly stirring up suppressed and panicked ripples in the room.

"They tasted the sweetness in Hulmatu and now want to swallow Titrick in one go? Such a big appetite!"

"Song Heping surely understands the value of Titrick!"

"We must stop them at all costs! Titrick must not fall into their hands!"

"Shut up!"

Baghdadi slammed his hand onto the rough wooden table, shifting his gaze to the advisor who had been reporting earlier.

The room instantly fell silent, with only the monotonous hum of the generator remaining to irritate the nerves.

He growled, "Get to the point! What does it mean for us if Titrick is lost? The consequences!"

The advisor, with a sinister gaze, took a deep breath of the foul air, as if to muster his courage, and his finger heavily stabbed the "Titrick" point on the map, then drew a line connecting the Siria and Northern Illiguo regions:

"Leader, Titrick is an irreplaceable chokepoint between our Illiguo Military Group and the Siria headquarters area! It guards at least three key highway routes and an important river valley corridor. If… I mean, if it is successfully taken by Song Heping, it would be like driving a massive wedge right between the two main battle zones in Illiguo, completely splitting our previously united forces apart!"

His finger then moved to the vast area between Ozham and Titrick on the map:

"Look here, we have gathered over 30,000 loyal and brave warriors near Ozham, Sinjar Mountain, and surrounding areas of Titrick! If Titrick falls, the brothers in the eastern Ozham direction will be completely cut off from the reinforcement of troops, weapons, ammunition, and logistical supplies from the west! They will become isolated forces, trapped in a desperate and untenable situation!"

Another slightly older advisor, who once served in the Old Iraq army, immediately supplemented the current situation, his tone even more severe than the former:

"Emir, the situation could be even worse. If Song Heping successfully captures Titrick and then forms a strategic resonance with the 'Abu You Brigade' in the Mosul Region to the northwest, they can establish a solid barrier in Northwest Illinois. From now on, it will become extremely difficult, almost a daydream, for us to dispatch reinforcements from the Siria headquarters to the Northern Illinois battlefield! At that time, the tens of thousands of brothers trapped in the Ozham direction will have no choice but to make a desperate breakout to the south, heading towards the vast desert expanse of Buckdadi, with no other way out!"

The previously speaking sinister advisor immediately added, with a hint of barely noticeable fear in his voice:

"Breakout to the south? Into that vast, extremely open desert area? There's virtually no complex terrain for concealment or reliance there! American fighter jets will bomb us like tireless vultures, twenty-four hours a day! Once our men leave the complexity of urban and mountainous environments and are exposed in the unprotected desert, it will be a… a one-sided massacre!"

Baghdadi stared intently at the "Titrick" on the map, which seemed to carry the life-and-death fate of tens of thousands of his subordinates.

"Therefore…"

Baghdadi gritted his teeth with resolve, "Titrick absolutely, absolutely cannot be lost!"

"Yes, Leader! It must be held at all costs!"

The older advisor immediately agreed loudly, quickly offering his strategy:

"I believe the most urgent thing right now is to immediately order the battlefield commander in the Ozham direction to dispatch at least 10,000 experienced, relatively well-equipped elite warriors to rapidly reinforce Titrick! Simultaneously, order all the scattered brotherly units in the area surrounding Titrick to abandon their current positions and converge entirely into Titrick City. This way, the defending forces at Titrick can be increased to over 30,000 in a short period!"

He cautiously observed Baghdadi's expression, seeing no objection from the leader, then continued to analyze:

"According to the intelligence we have, Song Heping currently has a total available force of more than 8,000 people. Moreover, there is reliable information that his core mercenaries, possessing strong fighting capabilities, amount to only about two battalions, while the rest are Samir's ragtag militia."

"Titrick is not a small border town like Hulmatu, it's a considerably sized city with a vast urban area, complex internal streets, and dense buildings. Even if Song Heping's mercenaries have strong individual combat capabilities and manage to break through our defensive perimeter set outside the city, as long as we resolve to drag them into a brutal and time-consuming urban street fight and intercept them layer by layer, their fatal flaw of severely inadequate total forces will inevitably be exposed, ultimately leading to a complete collapse!"

He deliberately paused, lowering his voice with a distinct undertone of provocation and a tinge of hope:

"Moreover, based on intelligence we recently obtained through special channels, there seems to be a rift between the Americans and Song Heping, the mercenary leader; their relationship is rapidly deteriorating. The Hulmatu that Song Heping painstakingly captured was forcibly taken over by another military contractor, named 'Thunder Defense,' assigned by the Americans, who unceremoniously ousted the 'Musician's' men."

He displayed a sinister smile at this point:

"I strongly suspect that Song Heping's hasty move to attack the heavily defended Titrick might also be a compelled action under immense pressure from the Americans. The Americans' move is extremely vicious; it is evident that they intend to use our strength to weaken or even completely eliminate Song Heping, this increasingly uncontrollable armed group! Therefore, we can basically conclude that even if Song Heping falls into a bitter struggle in the siege of Titrick, facing the danger of total annihilation, the Americans and their led Alliance Headquarters are very likely to remain on the sidelines, or even secretly hope for us to remove this trouble for them!"

This speech precisely ignited the deep-seated hope in Baghdadi's heart.

His eyes flashed with ferocity toward Song Heping, the "Eastern Devil" who repeatedly sabotaged his grand plans, someone he longed to eliminate swiftly.

"Well said!"

Baghdadi resolutely issued the order, "Immediately use all communication means to urgently contact the highest commanders of Ozham and Titrick! Execute according to this plan! Reinforcement forces must arrive at all costs, as quickly as possible! Inform Az Omar, who is holding Titrick, to dig in and hold his ground with all his men! No matter what, Titrick must become the burial ground for Song Heping and his group of mercenaries!"

He paced around the small underground room restlessly for a few steps and then suddenly stopped:

"Also, immediately issue the highest bounty order in my name to all the warriors! The bounty is five million US Dollars! Cash! No matter who it is, no matter what method they use—sniping, demolition, ambush, or even mutual destruction— as long as they can accurately eliminate Song Heping, and permanently remove this thorn in all our sides, this huge bounty will immediately belong to them! I want Song Heping and every one of his men to clearly understand what a painful price it will cost to oppose the most loyal and fearless warriors of Allah!"

The order was rapidly transmitted through the encrypted communication network to the 1515 command in the Titrick area.

A bloody storm over this strategic stronghold had started its heavy prelude.