Chapter 1348

Seeing Hamid walking up the stairs with a limp, Ye Chen was somewhat curious and asked casually: "Brother, was your leg injured?"

Hamid looked back at him, then at his left leg, and sighed: "My left leg was seriously injured in a battle. It was hit by fragments after a bomb exploded. At that time, there was almost only the path of amputation, but fortunately, I managed to save the leg after great effort. However, the leg also suffered irreversible damage, so after recovery, the muscles atrophied seriously, and the function degenerated severely, so it became lame..."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but sigh: "In a place like Syria, the difficulties of a lame commander are truly hard to describe!"

Although being lame is not a very serious disability, Hamid is the supreme commander of an armed force after all. Being lame in one leg has a great impact on his personal image and prestige.

And the biggest impact is that his self-confidence has been hit hard as a result.

Once upon a time, Hamid was also a general with great ambitions, longing to make achievements in the chaotic war situation, and even hoping to become the supreme commander of the entire opposition force.

However, since his leg became lame, his influence has declined a lot, and his self-confidence has also been hit hard.

Originally, his team had nearly ten thousand people, which was considered a relatively powerful force among the opposition. But several confidants saw that his leg was lame and his self-confidence was seriously damaged, so they took the opportunity to incite some subordinates to go out and set up their own business, causing his strength to plummet suddenly.

Sometimes reality is just that cruel. When a person has enough majesty to deter subordinates, subordinates will appear as docile as cats and as loyal as dogs.

However, once this person's own strength declines and his body declines, subordinates will develop the heart of tigers and wolves.

Setting up their own business is considered relatively worldly and righteous, and those who have no integrity will even take the opportunity to kill their boss and replace him.

Such things have indeed been common since ancient times.

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was originally the palace commander of the Later Zhou Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Shizong of Zhou, he had just passed the throne to his seven-year-old son, Emperor Gong of Zhou. As a result, Zhao Kuangyin turned around and launched the Chenqiao Mutiny, seizing the young master's country.

Similar things are countless in history.

Hamid in Syria is the same.

The economic development in this kind of place is very backward, and there are many mountains. The degree of motorization of the troops is very low. Most of the time, they have to rely on legs and transport livestock, mules, and horses. In this case, Hamid's physical disability is infinitely magnified.

When soldiers fight mountain warfare, he cannot go to the front line to cheer for the soldiers;

When the troops start to move on a large scale in the mountains, he cannot participate in it at all.

The opposition soldiers were born in the grass roots and needed the commander to lead by example or integrate into them, but Hamid's leg became a huge shortcoming.

At this time, Hamid walked out of the cellar with a limp, followed closely by Ye Chen and Gu Qiuyi.

After coming out, they saw an armed helicopter parked in the courtyard, and the armed personnel from before had all withdrawn.

The weapons and ammunition originally hung under and on both sides of the helicopter had basically been dismantled, and the machine guns, which were the main firepower, had also had all ammunition removed.

The reason Ye Chen asked them to remove all ammunition was also to ensure that Hamid would not suddenly go back on his word after he arrived at the meeting point.

After all, the Ye family arranged civilian aircraft, and the helicopter coming to pick him up would definitely be a civilian helicopter. In front of an armed helicopter, a civilian helicopter is made of paper. A burst of machine gun fire would turn it into a sieve.

At this time, a pilot stood next to the helicopter. Seeing Hamid coming out with two strangers, Ye Chen and Gu Qiuyi, he felt something was wrong and subconsciously wanted to touch the pilot's sidearm at his waist.

Hamid immediately said: "Throw away the gun, these two are my friends!"

When the pilot heard this, although he was suspicious, he didn't dare to act rashly and immediately threw the sidearm on the ground.

Hamid ordered again: "Start the helicopter immediately!"

The pilot hurriedly climbed into the cockpit to start the propeller, while Hamid, Ye Chen, and Gu Qiuyi sat into the cabin.

After entering the cabin, Ye Chen used the watch Vasily gave him and pressed the emergency call button.

Syria's infrastructure is very poor, and the war is a mess. Except for the cities, there is almost no communication signal, so even international roaming mobile phones have no service here. The only medium that can communicate is satellite.

Fortunately, this watch, which is specially equipped for paratroopers, has the function of satellite communication.

Once the call was connected, Ye Chen heard Han Guangyao's voice: "Young Master, is everything going well on your side?"

Ye Chen replied: "Everything is going well, and it's ahead of the original plan. You arrange for a helicopter to go to the scheduled location now. I can arrive within fifteen minutes."

Han Guangyao was dumbfounded and said: "Young Master, it's dozens of kilometers of mountainous terrain, how can you arrive so quickly?!"

Ye Chen smiled: "Commander Hamid of the opposition personally arranged a helicopter to send us over."

When Han Guangyao heard this, he immediately realized that Ye Chen must have controlled Hamid. He was so shocked that he didn't know how to reply to Ye Chen for a while.

Chen Zekai on the side hurriedly asked him: "Mr. Han, how long will it take if we fly over now?"

Han Guangyao came back to his senses and blurted out: "I will have the helicopter ready now. We will set off in five minutes. It is estimated to take about forty minutes."

"Good." Ye Chen said: "Then I will wait for you at the scheduled location."

Han Guangyao hurriedly said: "Okay, Young Master, we are setting off now!"

After hanging up the phone, Ye Chen told Hamid the GPS coordinates of the destination and asked him to tell the pilot. After the pilot set the coordinates, Hamid said to Ye Chen: "Brother Ye, the pilot is ready and can take off at any time. Everything is under your command."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Then let the pilot take off."

"Good!"

Hamid immediately ordered the pilot to take off through the headset walkie-talkie.

The helicopter immediately began to rise and then headed towards the coordinates agreed upon by Ye Chen and Han Guangyao.

Dozens of kilometers of mountainous terrain might not be reached by ordinary people walking for a day, but a helicopter only needs ten minutes.

Soon, the helicopter arrived at the coordinate location. This was a mountain top with relatively gentle terrain. The altitude was not high, and the terrain was not steep. However, there were no roads within a few kilometers, so there was almost no human presence.

After the helicopter landed on the top of the mountain, Ye Chen said to Hamid: "Brother, I have to trouble you to wait here for a while. After the plane picking me up arrives, you can leave."

Hamid said without hesitation: "Should be, should be. This way you can be more at ease!"

After finishing, he ordered the pilot: "Turn off the engine and lights, we will wait here for a while!"

The pilot immediately followed suit.

When the plane engine stopped turning, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Once it was quiet, Gu Qiuyi's sobbing could be heard. At this time, she didn't know how many tears she had shed.

Ye Chen reached out and took off the hood stuffed in her mouth. The first sentence Gu Qiuyi said was: "Send me back! Or you go yourself, let them take me back again!"

Ye Chen said with a hint of sarcasm: "Your father told me that you are a very smart person and also a talent who is very good at business and management, but I really didn't expect you to be so stupid."

Gu Qiuyi begged: "You don't understand. If I leave like this, it will become my inner demon and nightmare for the rest of my life. I beg you to let me go back. If my friends all die and only I survive, I will suffer and be tormented for the rest of my life. Instead of that, it's better to let me stay..."

Ye Chen realized that this mentality of Gu Qiuyi might not be stupidity, but her own personality traits.

Most people can easily forgive themselves, but some people won't. This kind of person will not only not easily forgive themselves, but will suffer for the rest of their lives.

If those seven people really died like this, Gu Qiuyi might really not be able to forgive herself. In the long run, she might fall into extreme depression and end her own life until she can no longer bear it.

Thinking of this, Ye Chen asked her back: "Is it that as long as these friends of yours survive, you can get over this hurdle in your heart?"

Gu Qiuyi nodded gently and asked: "Can you save them?"

Ye Chen looked at Hamid and said: "Brother, to tell you the truth, those seven people, even if you kill them all, the White House won't give you a penny."

Hamid also realized this and nodded: "Indeed, they have no intention of giving money at all, and they have already blocked this news in the Western world. Even if I kill them all, the Western media will not report it, and it will not have the effect of forcing them."

Having said this, he sighed and gritted his teeth: "Alright, brother, if you need it, then I will let them go, or send another helicopter to send them over."

Gu Qiuyi was suddenly pleasantly surprised.

But at this time, Ye Chen immediately waved his hand: "No, I just need them to survive. I don't want to take them away."

Hamid hurriedly asked: "Brother, then what do you mean?"

Ye Chen said: "How about this, don't kill them, keep them as laborers. Let them do odd jobs, cook, dig trenches, transport goods, etc., in your troops. I believe they are still capable of doing these things. Spare their lives and let them stay in Syria to work for you for the rest of their lives. It can be considered that you didn't kidnap them back in vain."

Hamid immediately understood what Ye Chen meant.

He knew that Ye Chen didn't want to save those guys either, but just wanted to save their lives for Gu Qiuyi's sake.

So he immediately agreed and said: "Since brother says so, then don't worry, I will make good use of them, give them a meal, let them survive, and honestly be coolies for me."

Ye Chen nodded and asked Gu Qiuyi: "They won't be killed. Are you satisfied now?"

Gu Qiuyi asked angrily: "You could have taken them away, why do you have to do this?"

Ye Chen also asked her back: "What a joke, I spared their lives, which is already giving you enough face. Why should I save them and take them away?"

Gu Qiuyi couldn't help but say: "It's clear that as long as you say one word, they can regain their freedom, but why are you unwilling to help them?!"

"Help them?" Ye Chen sneered and asked her: "Why? There are millions of refugees in Syria and over seven hundred million people in Europe. It's clear that as long as every person in Europe donates a fist-sized piece of bread a day, they can fully support them and let them eat well. But why are these refugees still homeless and starving?"

As he spoke, Ye Chen asked again: "There are four hundred million people in extreme poverty in Africa, and the total population of developed countries in the world is nearly one billion. It's clear that as long as every two people in developed countries support one African, there will be no more extreme poverty in Africa. But why don't they do that?"

Gu Qiuyi was suddenly speechless, her face flushed red, but she couldn't find a suitable reason to refute.

Ye Chen asked coldly at this moment: "You always feel that it is easy for me to save him with one word, so you feel that I must save him. This itself is a brainless paradox! Bill Gates is so rich, and it is very easy to take out ten billion dollars. Why don't you let him pay seventy million dollars in ransom to save his seven compatriots?"

Gu Qiuyi blurted out: "You... you are changing the concept!"

Ye Chen sneered: "Changing the concept?"

"Alright, I ask you, among these seven people, is there one who is my relative?"

"I ask you again, among these seven people, is there one who is my sibling?"

"Among these seven people, is there one who is my friend?"

"Among these seven people, is there one who is my compatriot?"

"Not my relative, not my sibling, not my friend, not my compatriot, not of my race!"

"For such people who have nothing to do with me, if I help them, it is a favor; if I don't help them, it is my duty!"

"Even if I can help them with just one word, why! should! I! help!"