Chapter 106

In the blink of an eye, time had entered December; the north was already bitterly cold, and Ha Cheng's nights could even drop to minus twenty degrees! At extreme times, temperatures had even fallen to minus thirty degrees or more.

Meanwhile, the southern border still had temperatures around twenty degrees above zero, the climate cool and pleasant, the most comfortable season for the south.

But there are always some people who insist on ruining a good life; after latching onto a powerful big brother, they think they're invincible, go around picking fights, and end up getting beaten black and blue.

Exactly, it's the monkeys.

Xiao Deyuan lay on the grass, chewing on grass roots, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds overhead, feeling a bit bored.

"How come the monkeys' artillery still hasn't moved? How long has it been…?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a whistling sound came from the distant sky—it was…

"Again those frogs, popping out to jump a couple of times for no reason, their aim is off, errors often exceed a kilometer—hmph, if only our range were sufficient… Hey, you guys, can Qin Miao develop an extended-range shell for us, so this artillery shell's range reaches seventy kilometers?"

"That's impossible, Commander; something that can hit seventy kilometers isn't a cannon—it's directly a missile."

Boom!

An explosion sounded, detonating several kilometers away from their artillery regiment; the big guys were already accustomed to this kind of harassment.

The monkeys' reconnaissance troops are surely still constantly scouting and infiltrating; they might even come here, record the location, and then guide their missile launches.

They desperately hoped to destroy the northern artillery, so as to give this desperate war a sliver of confidence—but… contrary to their wishes, the northern artillery simply ignored them!

Wait!

Xiao Deyuan felt the ground vibrate, instantly sprang up, shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand, and looked toward the distant road where a… round‑shaped truck appeared—an Old Liberation!

Even the off‑road version of the Old Liberation with the CA30 designation is terrible performance; the south uses more Dongfeng EQ240s, and if we're talking about the best, it's still those imported vehicles…

After discovering they were under attack, the convoy didn't push forward but halted in place; then, behind the Old Liberation, a cylindrical body began to slowly raise itself.

Looking at that big guy, Xiao Deyuan was stunned.

"Red Flag‑2? What are they bringing this missile over to do?"

The southern border had been fighting for a full ten years, all ground warfare; the Air Force hardly participated at all—this was the result of various limiting factors, with our fighters not flying over and theirs unable to come over, so the troops hardly needed ground‑based air defense cover.

Xiao Deyuan looked up again at the sky—no enemy aircraft in sight!

He wanted to go over and watch the excitement, but when he saw the soldiers putting on chemical‑protection gear and beginning to fuel up, he immediately called out to his own clueless subordinates.

"Come back, what are you doing? That thing—inhale even a whiff of the white vapor it emits and you'll kick the bucket! Besides, it wouldn't even count as dying in action; it'd be an accident!"

His subordinates bolted backward at the sight of the chemical troops—nothing good ever comes from seeing them!

Soon the fueling was finished, the missile continued to raise to an angle of over thirty degrees; various command voices drifted from afar, which this old artilleryman Xiao Deyuan didn't fully grasp, but he knew they were really about to fire.

He lifted his head again, gazing at the sky—not even a pheasant could be seen, let alone an enemy aircraft.

"Fire!"

When that command rang out, Xiao Deyuan was stunned—was this just some idle fooling around?

The missile shot up trailing thick flames, leaving everyone else staring in shock; a few seconds later Xiao Deyuan shouted, "Get out of the way!"

The Red Flag‑2 missile weighs a full two tons; the front is the warhead, the rear the booster, which is responsible for pushing the missile out—it burns out in four or five seconds and then separates, after which the main rocket engine ignites.

And wouldn't you know it, this thing landed right on the artillery position!

That big fellow with four tail fins came down with a clang; luckily it didn't hit anyone, but… Xiao Deyuan was already seething with anger, he strode over with long steps.

"Damn it, which unit are you from? I haven't died under the monkeys' frogs, and now I'm going to die at the hands of your missile troops!"

"We're here to hit the monkeys' missile troops."

"What?"

That sentence from the other side left Xiao Deyuan stunned: "That missile?"

"To strike the enemy's missile positions."

"Well, I'll be damned, you've finally come just as we hoped!" Xiao Deyuan went forward to shake hands, but the next moment he turned back, watching the missile trace a graceful arc as it flew toward the opposite side.

On the other side, sixty kilometers away, the monkeys' newly formed missile unit.

"Damn it, what are you doing?" shouted the old Russian military adviser Varisi: "Before launch, why didn't you measure wind speed? The impact point is off by a kilometer!"

"Do missiles… even need wind measurement?"

"Of course!" Varisi said: "If you don't measure wind speed, the missile will definitely be blown off course by the wind."

At export, the Russians hyped the 9K‑52 as a missile, but in reality only their domestic versions got a simple guidance device; the exported ones are just big rockets!

"Re‑calibrate, and in the next volley fire all six 9K‑52s, aiming to completely destroy their artillery position!"

Beside them, the monkeys' missile unit commander Ruan Jianfeng frowned, thinking this missile's firing procedure is no different from artillery; during this period, the Easterners' artillerymen have also been careless—even after being struck they didn't shift positions, we…

Wait, there's a situation!

It seemed as if he had a premonition; Varisi also lifted his head, looking northward, where a missile was rapidly descending in the sky!

As it came screaming in at high speed, the warhead, moving so fast, compresses the air ahead, giving the target advance warning—but… even if they sense it, it only adds a bit more terror to their final moments!

Mach 3, Mach 4…

Converting the Red Flag‑2 into a surface‑to‑surface missile brings, aside from guidance system issues, another problem: whether the warhead's own structure can withstand re‑entry into the dense atmosphere!

A surface‑to‑air missile goes upward, its speed decreasing as the air thins; a surface‑to‑surface missile, however, must come down, and after passing the apex of its trajectory it begins to accelerate.

"SAM‑1?" Varisi muttered: "What the heck is this? How could…"

Boom!

As that thing loomed larger in Varisi's pupils, he had already made out its shape—but the next second it exploded in the sky!

Sure enough, it was a surface‑to‑air missile; after falling, its speed was so great that it caused the missile to break apart in mid‑air…