Chapter 3513: Let Him Hurt!

In the few days after Ye Chen and Xiao Churan returned, Xiao Churan was busy at work every day until very late; as she put it, many projects had been delayed for too long and needed overtime to catch up.

However, Ye Chen had no suspicions, but he did not know that Xiao Churan was already preparing for something a month later.

A few days later, Ma Lan and Xiao Changkun returned to Jin Ling with many bags.

This time, the two of them had a great time in Dubai, spending several hundred thousand US dollars almost completely, finally making up for the regret of their previous trip to Dubai.

After Xiao Changkun returned, he resumed his involvement in the calligraphy and painting association, while Ma Lan, as usual, did nothing all day.

Ye Chen thought life had returned to tranquility, and each day he would spare some time to visit the Xiangxieli Hot Spring Hotel to help Ito Nanako and other martial artists improve their strength, and he also often met with Yun Ruge and Song Ruyu to study how to break the deadly poison in their bodies.

Lin Wan'er recently returned to campus life; as she said, she actually enjoyed studying at school, and for hundreds of years she had traveled the world's universities, studying countless professional degrees, but since entering the information age, fearing exposure of information, she simply gave up the idea of studying.

However, Jin Ling is different; Jin Ling is Ye Chen's territory, and she and Ye Chen are both enemies of the Anti-Qing Association and also targets of Wu Feiyan's search; with Ye Chen and her sticking together for warmth, she felt much more relaxed in her heart.

For so many years, this was the first time she felt a sense of security, simply because she was in Ye Chen's city.

When Ye Chen's life returned to a brief calm, Hamid suddenly concentrated his forces and launched an attack on several nearby oil fields.

A few days earlier, Hamid, following Ye Chen's hint, approached the core layer of the opposition for compensation, proposing to hand over the recent oil fields to himself, with everything settled in one stroke.

But the core layer, which did not follow the routine, directly refused his demand.

The core layer felt that although we had previously acted without scruples and directly tried to assassinate you, this was not a reason for you to demand money from us; every penny of the opposition came from oil, and every drop of their oil was won by fighting; Hamid wanting oil fields from them was nothing short of stealing their money.

In their view, Hamid's demand was no different from a petty thief asking a big thief for money—utterly absurd—and they could not agree to it under any circumstances, and they also explicitly warned Hamid that if he continued to pester them, they would directly send troops to attack his base.

Hamid feared nothing more than war.

After Ye Chen analyzed the situation for him, he realized his current strategic position.

Don't look at his base where no bird would defecate; the key is that he is in the heartland of Syria.

If the opposition confronts him, he is like a nail in their heart, a tumor growing in their body, and his base is impregnable; after they turn against him, they cannot break in, and they would have to expend great manpower and material resources to defend against internal threats, which would put them in a difficult position both internally and externally.

Therefore, Hamid also saw no point in analyzing whether these people were bluffing or truly intending to act; he simply decided to strike first.

So he called Ye Chen and reported his battle plan.

He said to Ye Chen: "Old Brother Ye, I have locked onto their five oil fields as targets, planning to first take out one of them, then surround the remaining four and negotiate with them, ultimately striving to seize the one closest to me—what do you think?"

Ye Chen asked him: "Where is the opposition's military currently concentrated?"

Hamid said: "Currently, most of the opposition's forces are concentrated at the border and in Damascus."

As he spoke, he analyzed: "After all, they have just seized this江山, so they have not yet begun to consider how to govern the country as a legitimate government or allocate military forces; what's on their minds is simply to concentrate their forces around themselves to prevent what they have just seized from being taken by others."

"Therefore, these oil fields around me have no substantial armed forces guarding them; at most, there are only a few hundred armed militants."

Ye Chen asked him: "How is the morale of your troops at this stage?"

Hamid laughed and said: "My troops, after this long period of rest and recuperation and arduous training, plus the large amount of funds you, Old Brother, have previously given to upgrade our equipment, have combat power that has completely surpassed that of other opposition soldiers; the opposition basically still just runs around with AK47s firing wildly, and if we really fight, the casualty ratio can at least be controlled at 1:3!"

Ye Chen said: "If we fight, we must catch them off guard; don't say a 1:3 casualty ratio is acceptable—1:10 wouldn't even be passing; you must lead your soldiers to be swift and mobile, swift in deployment, swift in combat, and swift in withdrawal, keeping the casualty ratio above 1:30."

Hamid exclaimed in shock: "1:30?... This... this might be a bit difficult?"

A casualty ratio of 1:30 also means that if we lose one soldier, we must kill at least thirty of the enemy, which is still quite rare in modern warfare.

But Ye Chen did not think so.

Having the first-move advantage itself already gives us a great lead over the enemy; adding the advantages of troop condition and weapon equipment, we will inevitably continue to expand the casualty ratio; although 1:30 looks unattainable, it may not be impossible to achieve; I want to set Hamid a high target so he strives for it with all his might—whether he can achieve it remains to be seen.

Hamid felt somewhat apprehensive about Ye Chen's demand, feeling that he was not some commander but rather Ye Chen's student, and Ye Chen had set him an unattainable evaluation target.

So he quickly said: "Old Brother, this 1:30 is indeed a bit difficult; here, lives are not worth much, we don't need to be so stingy about the casualty ratio... just fight hard and win, that's enough?"

Ye Chen countered him: "When you fought the Wanlong Palace earlier, what was your casualty ratio?"

Hamid immediately became spirited and blurted: "That time was impressive! Thanks to your command, Old Brother, the casualty ratio was at least 1: several hundred!"

After saying that, he himself felt uncertain and added: "But that time was different; that time we were fighting a defensive battle, relying on strong permanent fortifications, and it was also an ambush, catching them off guard; this time is different—this time we have no fortifications to rely on."

Ye Chen asked him again: "After fighting the Wanlong Palace, how was your soldiers' morale?"

Hamid, with an excited tone, blurted: "After that battle, morale was very strong; no one thought we could defeat the Wanlong Palace, and it was a crushing victory, with the army very united!"

"That's exactly it." Ye Chen said: "This time, it's your first time leaving the base to conduct a lightning strike; if the casualty ratio can also reach a height others dare not imagine, it will not only greatly boost morale but also greatly strike the enemy's confidence, making them fear you, which will also help you in future negotiations with them, so you must command and deploy well, striving for a splendid great victory!"

"Understood!" Hamid, having understood Ye Chen's intention, said respectfully: "Still, Old Brother, you thought of everything! Rest assured, I will give it my all!"

Ye Chen hummed in agreement and added: "Besides, since they have five oil fields, don't just hit one—hit at least three, and hit the largest three; if you strike, strike hard; if after hitting three they still don't accept your terms, then wipe them all out at once, just as I said before—overturn the table, and let no one eat."

"Good!" Hamid felt his ambition and passion burning in his chest, his blood already boiling, and he blurted: "Old Brother, rest assured, I will perfectly realize your strategic deployment!"

……

The next day, Hamid organized two thousand soldiers and launched a swift surprise attack on the three selected oil fields.

In this oil field surprise attack, he perfectly realized Ye Chen's "four fast requirements," wiping out the three enemy oil fields in one go.

These three oil fields produce nearly twenty thousand barrels of crude oil per day, already accounting for one-fifth of the current national annual output; this wave was directly abolished, and the loss can be described as heavy.

As for Hamid, aside from consuming some fuel and ammunition, the three small-scale battles were all one-sided routs; the opposition's defending soldiers were killed seventy percent and captured thirty percent, while Hamid's soldiers only had three lightly wounded and no deaths.

This successful sortie greatly boosted the morale of Hamid's troops; everyone finally realized that they and those opposition forces were no longer in the same league, making them realize that in the future, when facing the opposition, they would certainly be able to advance like a bamboo splitter.

Moreover, Hamid also learned his lesson: he not only destroyed these three oil fields but also captured their core workers and brought them to his base; in the future, when he takes over the oil fields and engages in mining, these people will be able to serve him directly.

The opposition's core layer was furious about this.

Their first thought was to muster heavy troops and surround Hamid.

However, at the pre-war meeting, after everyone calmed down and analyzed, they found that surrounding Hamid would also be of little use.

The chief strategist analyzed: "First, before we seized this江山, Hamid, as our comrade, had already fought a splendid hard battle; the government forces and the Wanlong Palace jointly launched multiple rounds of attacks on his base, all ending in miserable defeat; this time, his attack on our controlled oil fields shows even more clearly that his soldiers' combat power far exceeds ours."

"Second, our soldiers here are indeed terrified of Hamid's soldiers' combat power; even the soldiers guarding the oil fields are anxious and fearful, worried about being ambushed by Hamid, and morale is indeed greatly affected."

"Third, our weapons and equipment are mainly guerrilla-style, with light weapons making up the vast majority; although we have captured some heavy weapons, they are mostly tanks, armored vehicles, anti-air missiles, and heavy artillery."

"Anyone here with a bit of military knowledge can see that these heavy weapons are not suitable for attacking fortified positions in mountainous terrain."

"Tanks and armored vehicles cannot climb onto Hamid's base; our heavy vehicles might not even reach the front before being severely limited in mobility and combat ability by the terrain, becoming at best live targets for Hamid's soldiers."

"Those heavy artillery and howitzers, although they can fire, Hamid's permanent fortifications are not only extremely strong but also mostly built on reverse slopes; our artillery firing at them would be nothing but tickling them."

"Crucially, the heavy equipment we captured is what the government forces had not yet had time to destroy; the ammunition left for us is also very limited; those howitzer shells, once fired, are gone forever; after firing them, those cannons become scrap metal; if we fire these shells, and later we need to fight anyone in a ground position battle, we might then have no suitable weapons!"

"Looking at that bastard Hamid, his fortifications are so strong and his tunnels so deep that even if we fired all our ammunition at him, we'd just be loosening the soil above his head—we couldn't possibly damage his foundation."

"As for our anti-air missiles, Hamid's army has only a few armed helicopters besides, and no real air force; if he doesn't deploy those helicopters, our anti-air missiles are completely useless against him."

"Moreover, our spies inside Hamid's ranks have long since told us about his strategic reserves—everyone should know that even if we poured in massive troops to completely surround his garrison, Hamid could hold out for three years."

"But the embarrassing part is, while Hamid can hold out for three years, we might not be able to last that long ourselves!"