The town of Cullenbridge, southern Scotland. In a forest northwest of the town, there lurked a reconnaissance team from the reconnaissance company directly under the 209th Infantry Regiment of the Scottish Army. They have been holding on here for a whole day since the coalition forces captured Cullenbridge and the 209th Regiment and friendly forces retreated. Their mission is to closely monitor the opponent's every move and find ways to transmit information back to the regiment headquarters. However, due to poor radio communication, their contact with the rear is intermittent. The commander of this reconnaissance team is the burly Master Chief Edlen Roy. He has served in the Scottish Army for 11 years. His military skills and professional ethics are impeccable. However, because of his low educational level and lack of understanding of flattery, he has become a typical "hardcore sergeant" - referring to those who are expected to An old non-commissioned officer who cannot advance to the ranks of officers until he retires. Until noon, he saw that the coalition troops in and outside the town were still busy building fortifications. Roy was lying in the bushes, covering his face with his military cap. He wanted to take a nap, but he fell into a deep sleep until He suddenly woke up when someone slapped his shoulder hard. Seeing the faces of his fellow soldiers and hearing the faint sound of gunfire, Roy hurriedly asked: "What's wrong? What's going on? The enemy is coming?" "No, no, judging from the direction of the sound, it seems to be one of ours. Breaking out!" replied the soldier who woke him up. "Breakout? The order is to hold on for three days, and this is only the second day!" Roy's eyes widened. "Yeah, I can't figure out what's going on!" Roy frowned and thought for a while: "Well, maybe it's because the supplies have been cut off by the enemy, and we really can't hold on! However, the enemy has occupied the transportation and consolidated the position. We It will be very difficult for the troops to break out!" After that, Roy climbed up carefully, hunched over to the edge of the woods, and used a telescope to observe the situation outside. It¡¯s about 30 kilometers from Dumfries. Gunshots can be heard, and the firefight is not too far away. "It seems to be just a fire reconnaissance, or a small unorganized force breaking through." Roy said to himself. The town of Cullenbridge, which has more than 200 buildings of various sizes, is only three or four kilometers away from the woods. The reason why Roy's reconnaissance team was able to lurk here for a day was inevitably related to the clear-cut combat deployment of the coalition forces: after occupying the town of Cullenbridge, the coalition armored and mechanized troops quickly moved westward along the road, presumably to carry out "blitzkrieg" "The essence of this is to cut off the retreat route of the Scottish frontline defenders as quickly as possible, thereby eliminating the effective strength of the Scottish army and avoiding falling into a war of positional attrition - the coalition forces remaining in Cullenbridge Town used the fortifications abandoned by the defenders to rebuild They established a ring defense system and deployed towed artillery and wheeled rocket launchers. Within the range of the artillery, the coalition forces built multiple defensive positions based on the terrain. With their forces relatively concentrated, they did not attack the surrounding villages and woods. Instead of a dragnet-style search, fixed guard posts and mobile patrol units were set up, together with aviation units dispatched day and night to monitor the battlefield in real time, firmly grasping the initiative on the battlefield. From this point of view, before the situation changes, as long as Roy and his soldiers remain "quiet", the coalition forces controlling this area are unlikely to come here to cause them "trouble". According to Roy's observation, the coalition forces in Cullenbridge Town had only two or three battalions at the beginning. After receiving reinforcements, the number increased to three to four thousand, as well as fifty or sixty artillery pieces of various types, and more than one hundred tanks and armored vehicles. Considering that the coalition aviation forces basically have the ability to support the battlefield all day long, even if Dumfries's defenders concentrate their forces to break through in this direction, the chance of winning will not exceed 20%. Thinking of this, Roy quickly picked up a pen and drew in his notebook, tore off the page, then called a senior soldier and ordered: "Steven, you and John ride a bicycle each and try to find the regiment headquarters." , give this to them. If there is no special instruction from the commanders of the regiment, after completing the task, you will stay at the regiment and wait for us. There is no need to come back here." The superior soldier accepted the task without hesitation. Saluted: "I wish you all good luck!" Roy returned the salute: "I also wish you good luck!" After the two soldiers left, Roy knelt on one knee and continued to observe the situation outside from a hidden position on the edge of the woods. . Not long after, the gunfire from the direction of Dumfries became sparse until it completely subsided. "The breakout failed." Roy said to himself, "Were all of them captured, or did they retreat on their own initiative?" No one here could answer his doubts. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the sound of fighting came again from the direction of Dumfries, and this time there were not only gunshots, but also quite dense explosions. The fire and smoke caused by the explosion appeared in the sight, and they had just started to leave. It has to be farther away, as the sky changesAs it gradually became darker, the location of the fierce exchange of fire between the two sides continued to move westward. In some relatively open places, Roy even saw combat vehicles and soldiers from both sides. Just as he was praying secretly for his troops, the rumbling sound of war drums and artillery suddenly sounded from the nearby town of Cullenbridge. In the view of the four-fold telescope, at the artillery position to the east of the town, a whole row of howitzers took turns spraying orange flames and gray smoke. The self-propelled artillery parked under the camouflage net also fired at the front at a high rate of fire. Tilt gunfire. While Roy was observing, he was making notes in a notebook with a yellow cover. Although his labeling method is somewhat different from that of officers who came out of the military academy, this purely hand-drawn diagram of the enemy situation is sent to the regiment headquarters, and the senior staff officers can accurately identify the intelligence content. "Boss, we just received half of the telegram, signed by Dumfries Operations Command!" The communications soldier came to Roy's side with a tired and heavy face. The so-called "half telegram" usually refers to a telegram with incomplete content or ambiguity in important content. Roy turned his head and looked at the signal soldier: "Bad news?" The signal soldier answered with his expression. Roy took a deep breath, took the handwritten scratch paper from the signal soldier, and quickly scanned it. "The general breakout will be at ten o'clock tonight?" "Yes, ten o'clock, I'm sure of that, but" the communications soldier paused, "We are so close to them, and we are not yet able to obtain the complete contents of the telegram. The command headquarters located in the rear The situation must be worse, if they didn't receive the telegram at all" Roy also thought of this possibility. He glanced back into the woods and ordered: "Go and call Kim over for me!" After a while, A tall and thin corporal came to Roy carrying an SM-44 submachine gun imitated by Breda. Roy handed the draft paper with half of the telegram written on it to the corporal, then lowered his head and added some content in his notebook, and tore out the pages for the second time that day. "Go ahead and bring the news and intelligence back to the regiment headquarters - if you encounter friendly forces and if they can contact their superiors, you can leave it to them." After that, Roy lowered his head and thought for a while, "You take Neil with you. "Greg, ride your bicycle and be careful to avoid the enemy patrols! It's getting dark, you have to hurry up!" "I understand!" The corporal folded the two pieces of paper and put them in his chest pocket, and said to Dunfer. Reese looked in the direction, turned around and left decisively. After watching the most capable general of the reconnaissance team leave with two brave soldiers, Roy turned his attention to the town of Cullenbridge again. The coalition artillery troops were still firing recklessly from a distance, without any fear of being counterattacked by artillery fire or air strikes from their opponents. The situation was not only that bad, Roy saw billowing dust and smoke on the road east of the town of Cullenbridge. , he carefully identified it and found that it was an armored column of the enemy. He had seen the tanks in the front row in the technical atlas, and they were the "Irish Leopards" developed and equipped by the new United Kingdom. Except for another new tank developed by the country, the "Irish Tiger" and the "German Warrior" that the Germans served at the same time, no tank can match it, and there are even few tanks that can threaten its safety, which shows that this The advanced level of this tank! 15 Irish Leopards, 22 "Mule" armored personnel carriers, 9 "Shield" self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery vehicles, 6 "Rhinoceros" heavy self-propelled artillery, 20 six-wheeled trucks (half of them are suspected to be equipped with multiple rocket launchers) Roy recorded the enemy situation he detected in his notebook. Just one day ago, the coalition forces raided the town of Cullenbridge with an armored force of similar size. A single charge defeated two Scottish infantry regiments and an artillery reinforcement battalion stationed here. Such armored forces are not only good at rapid assaults, high-speed penetrations, and strong attacks to seize points, but their defensive capabilities and defensive efficiency are also much higher than ordinary infantry-based troops. Moreover, no matter where they appear, they can give the opponent a huge blow. psychological shock. In view of this, Roy marked a very scrawled line at the bottom of the page: Cullenbridge Town - an absolute restricted area that needs to be avoided during a breakout! After hesitating for a long time, Roy called the communications soldier: "Can you think of a way to send a report to the Dumfries Combat Command?" The communications soldier answered frankly: "The enemy's radio interference is very powerful. We need to try multiple backup frequencies. It is possible to contact them - provided that their radio equipment is still functioning normally. The biggest problem is we are almost under the enemy's nose. Once we send the signal, the enemy will immediately detect our position. Surround them from all directions. If it gets dark and we evacuate immediately after sending the report, we may be able to escape the enemy's pursuit, but now" Dusk is approaching, and the night has not yet arrived. There are only three roads in front of Roy. : Send late, not send or send immediately. Roy gritted his teeth and said: "It concerns us."To survive 10,000 soldiers, we must take a chance. " The communications soldier thought for a while and said calmly: "Although the enemy may not even give us a chance to surrender and send us to the sky with a single shot, but for the sake of the brothers who held on for two days and one night under the enemy's fire, for With little hope of final victory, I am willing to take the risk with you! " Roy nodded solemnly: "Take a chance! "