RPAGF #436 - Rescue hostages
#436 - Rescue hostages
"Wadi, what is that?" Near the settlement of the Karibu tribe, Mutim looked at the air trike flying in the sky and asked curiously.
"A big bird." Wadi glanced up and said in a bad mood.
"No, no, no, its wings don't move." Mutim continued, "Its wings don't move when it flies back and forth."
"So what? Eagles can fly without moving their wings," Wadi said. "If you have nothing to do, you can clean up the sheep pen. There's too much sheep dung."
They never thought this thing had anything to do with people. In this place, these people had never even seen an airplane.
Therefore, even if they discovered traces of Yun Rong and his team's actions in the sky, they didn't react in any way.
The 5 Cheetah all-terrain vehicles immediately searched for nearby bushes and moved over. The team members each pulled out multi-functional daggers, cut off some branches, camouflaged the Cheetah vehicles, and then left a group of people squatting in the bushes guarding these vehicles.
The heavy machine gun equipment of the entire team is on board, so there must be no loss. At critical moments, this group of people can drive the Cheetah to provide support.
Although Zhou Lei didn't think such a thing would happen.
But he still had to prepare for the unexpected.
"Battalion Commander, we found 3 different styles of markings here, and we suspect they were left by different people. One of them looks very much like the technique of the veterans of our Independent Regiment," Zuo Anjie of the first squad whispered as he approached Zhou Lei.
Zhou Lei's eyes narrowed, and he frowned slightly. He squatted down and carefully examined the three markings that Zuo Anjie pointed to. Although these markings were hidden, they were as obvious as beacons in the dark to them, who had undergone special training.
"These three markings," Zhou Lei analyzed in a deep voice, "The first one looks like a random pile, but the three branches of different lengths may be some kind of code within our brother unit. Report this pile mark back to the headquarters and let them contact the rear headquarters to inquire about the meaning of this mark. I believe someone must know. The second one is arranged in a regular pattern. If I'm not mistaken, it may be some kind of password azimuth mark; as for the third one..."
Zhou Lei carefully observed the branch lines that seemed chaotic but seemed to contain rules, "This is indeed a marking method commonly used by veterans of our Independent Regiment, used to indicate direction or convey information. It shows that it is going towards the northwest direction."
He stood up, his eyes piercing, "Zuo Anjie, you take a team of people and bypass along the direction of this mark, be careful not to expose your whereabouts. The rest of you follow me, we need to get closer to understand the specific situation of the tribe."
Zuo Anjie nodded and quickly gathered a few team members, disappearing silently into the jungle. Zhou Lei led the remaining team members, using the terrain and vegetation as cover, and slowly approached the tribal camp.
As the distance shortened, the outline of the tribal camp gradually became clear. Zhou Lei signaled the team members to crawl forward, and he used infrared binoculars to carefully observe the activities in the camp. They noticed that the people in the tribe seemed to be preparing for some kind of ceremony. A bonfire was burning in the center of the camp, and some strange totems and sacrifices were placed around it.
"Battalion Commander, it seems we've come at the right time," a team member whispered beside him.
Zhou Lei nodded, "Indeed, but we can't act rashly. We need more information to understand their purpose and strength. Pass down the order, everyone remain hidden, don't act rashly, and wait for further instructions."
The team members nodded one after another. They knew that the next action required more caution and wisdom. Zhou Lei's gaze turned to the tribe again, and he thought to himself that this mission might be more complicated than expected.
When they arrived at the small hill outside the tribe, considering that the Cheetah all-terrain vehicles were too conspicuous, they hid in the mountains and forests more than 500 meters away from them, leaving a few people to guard them, and then everyone got off and began to sneak in on foot.
Except for Captain Kobus, Zhou Lei and the others were all wearing forest camouflage uniforms. From a distance, they blended into the mountains and forests, making it difficult to see at a glance with the naked eye.
Zhou Lei and the first squad followed the markings left along the way, forming a pincer movement with the second squad, and approached one of the targets.
The third squad independently rushed towards the camp of another tribe, and together with the air squad, they carried out an encirclement. After discovering several camp targets of Karibu, the air squad descended from the air, blocking the north side of one of the camps, forming a north-south encirclement with the third squad coming from the south.
Although it has not been confirmed which camp the hostages are being held in, since Zhou Lei and the others chose a military solution, they were not prepared to let go of a single armed element.
These kidnappers are awed by power but do not appreciate kindness. Only a heavy blow can solve the problem.
Zhou Lei and the others did not want such lawless tribes to exist on this road in the future.
The squads dispersed one by one, spaced hundreds of meters apart, using the cover of the mountains, forests, and trees to approach the tribal camp step by step.
The markings left behind became less and less, but having arrived here, Zhou Lei was no longer worried about losing the target.
The air squad in front had already reported that the tribal camp was in front, so when they arrived at the lair, these tribal personnel gathered together, making it even more difficult for the hostages to escape the eyes of the tribal personnel, so there was no chance to leave markings.
Zhou Lei climbed up to a high point on the mountainside from one side. After lying behind a rock and seeing the dome-shaped thatched huts in the mountain depression, Zhou Lei did not act rashly.
Outside the camp, several tribal personnel carrying rifles were wandering around, obviously acting as sentries. However, these tribal personnel obviously did not have much military quality. They simply assigned personnel to the four directions, without any hidden or open哨, nor any哨卡碉堡 or anything like that.
It seems that they are used to running away when the situation is not right, so they built a dozen round thatched huts in the mountain depression to shelter from the wind and rain.
However, Zhou Lei did not underestimate the enemy, but took out infrared binoculars and began to search carefully. Soon, he found more than a dozen red dots in the largest thatched hut!
Zhou Lei counted carefully, and the number basically matched the number of hostages kidnapped.
"Attention all, the thatched hut on the right side ahead is suspected to be the hostages. In the next action plan, first avoid this place. The first squad is responsible for clearing the surrounding thatched huts, and the second squad is responsible for searching the left side of the camp! If there is resistance, kill them directly, action!"
Zhou Lei no longer hesitated and directly ordered.
"Captain Cobus, we can't look after you in the upcoming operation. Stay here with me." After issuing the order, Zhou Lei turned to Captain Cobus, who was following him, and said, this high vantage point was suitable for remote command. Zhou Lei also had a large sniper rifle, set up on a rock, controlling the dozen or so thatched huts below. If he noticed anything amiss, he could promptly open fire to provide support.
Captain Cobus only carried an Enfield rifle and a pistol. Compared to Zhou Lei and his team's automatic firepower, he was pathetically weak and would be of little help in combat. His translation skills would only be useful after the fighting ended.
"No problem, Major. I wish you a successful operation." Captain Cobus was clearly aware of his limitations and didn't try to be a hero.
Cobus followed Zhou Lei's example, crawling into the bushes beside the rock to conceal himself, pointing his rifle towards the tribal camp ahead.
At a command, the two squads began to crawl forward. The lead soldiers cautiously inched closer to the tribe's sentries.
Soon, these vanguards reached the sentries. They leaped up one by one, grabbed the tribal sentries' heads, and twisted them with all their might. The tribal armed men didn't even utter a sound before they were done for.
Seeing the enemy sentries taken out silently, the remaining soldiers got up, hunched over, and moved quickly, approaching the thatched huts in pairs, cooperating with each other!
Hong Ming and Tan Zhibo, responsible for the largest thatched hut, quickly rushed to the front of the hut. Tan Zhibo shouted loudly, "Are there Dongda students inside? If so, lie down immediately and answer in Chinese if there are any kidnappers inside!"
"Comrades, we are all Dongda students. It's safe inside, there are no kidnappers!" As soon as Tan Zhibo finished speaking, a voice replied from inside.
"Old Tan, I'll go in and take a look first! You stand guard," Hong Ming said to Tan Zhibo after hearing the reply, then rushed in!
Inside, Dongda students were lying all over the place, their hands and feet tied with grass ropes. No wonder there were no guards here; these people were strung together with grass ropes, all tied to a large rock inside.
"Everyone, don't panic. I'm from Dongda's rescue squad. Now, everyone calm down, stay where you are, and wait for our troops to disarm the tribe before getting up. Are all the hostages here? Were any taken elsewhere?" Hong Ming soothed them while holding a gun in his left hand and pulling out a dagger with his right to cut the grass ropes.
"Comrade, we were all brought here, there's no one anywhere else. There are probably a dozen armed men in this tribal camp. All we saw were rifles and pistols, we didn't see any heavy weapons," a burly man with thick eyebrows said. "We are all recently retired soldiers. This little scene doesn't scare us. If you hadn't arrived, we would have rioted in two or three days after we figured out the situation."
"Report, the first squad has discovered and rescued all the hostages. Repeat, the hostages have been completely rescued, everyone is safe! According to the hostages, there are about a dozen armed men in the camp, report complete!" Hong Ming's words instantly relieved the rescue team, and they began to focus on their respective targets.
After Hong Ming reported the hostage situation, he glanced at the burly man. As expected, none of these people showed any signs of excitement; it was clear they were not ordinary people.
"Who made those indicator marks left along the way?" Hong Ming asked while cutting the grass ropes.
"Da Niu, Xiao Pu, and I all left a lot of marks. Did you find us by following the marks?" the burly man with thick eyebrows said.
"Not entirely. We found you by following these marks all the way, but we had another way to discover the tribal camp, otherwise we wouldn't have found you so quickly." Before Hong Ming could finish speaking, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out outside.
"Comrade, how did you get here so fast?" the burly man with thick eyebrows asked curiously. "I've never seen your equipment before, not even the special forces had such clothing and weapons."
Hong Ming didn't expect these hostages to be so fearless, and they even had the mood to study his weapons. Their rapid reaction force was uniformly equipped with the new Type 56 submachine gun with a folding stock, with a grenade launcher attached to the gun. The overall shape was very different from the previous Type 56 and was very modern.
The folding stock Type 56 was somewhat similar to the Type 81 rifle developed later in the main world.
"Everyone who has served in the military, raise your hands," Hong Ming ignored the burly man's curiosity, cut the grass ropes of these hostages, and asked them.
"Comrade, we have all served in the military. My name is Hu Dahai. I retired three years ago. I was in the 16th Army," the burly man with thick eyebrows continued Hong Ming's words. "Can you lend me your pistol for a moment? I'll go kill these bastards. Not only did they lock us brothers together, but they even made us go to the toilet tied together!"
Hong Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this. Thinking about them together... that was indeed a bit much.
Not very harmful, but extremely insulting.
"So you are old comrades. I am from the 16th Army's rapid reaction force now," Hong Ming took out the pistol from his waist and handed it to Hu Dahai along with a magazine of bullets. "The battalion commander said, leave no armed men alive! Old comrades, you take your brothers and stay here first. My comrades and I will clean up the battlefield first, and then come and pick you up."
Hearing that he was a senior, Hong Ming, who had only been in the army for three years, stood in awe. He retired three years ago, which meant he was a veteran who had fought in the Korean War. With a gun, dealing with these tribal armed men should be no problem.
On the high ground, Zhou Lei, who had received the news that the hostages were safe, relaxed. "All teams, pay attention, speed up the operation and wipe out the armed men!"
After speaking, he saw a tribal armed man rushing out of a thatched hut, raising his gun to shoot. Without saying a word, Zhou Lei turned his gun and aimed at his head, decisively firing and blowing his brains out!
The seamless action left Captain Cobus, who was beside him, dumbfounded.
This marksmanship was simply amazing.
Although the target was only 300 meters away, Cobus was confident that he could hit it if he had a sniper rifle with a scope. But the key was that Zhou Lei's movements were too smooth. The whole process probably took less than two seconds!
Cobus had never seen such marksmanship!
After rescuing the hostages, the squad members, without any worries, launched a massacre against the armed men, quickly sweeping the camp, and controlling the remaining young and middle-aged men. Next, they would be sent to Harare as accomplices to be punished. For them, a minimum of three years in prison was inevitable.
The other squads that were besieging other camps also sped up their operations after receiving the news. They showed no mercy to these tribal armed men, and there was no reason to spare these tumors on the road.
A crisis was quickly resolved by the rapid reaction force.