665: Chapter Six Hundred and Fifty-seven: The Living Legend 665: Chapter Six Hundred and Fifty-seven: The Living Legend After hearing Faisal’s introduction, although the colonel still appeared serious, he took the initiative to extend his hand toward Gao Yang.
After grasping the colonel’s hand, the colonel seriously said to Gao Yang, “I am Jihad Israes, the deputy regimental commander of the colonel in the First Infantry Regiment of the Third Independent Infantry Brigade of Syria.
I thank you for the invaluable assistance you have provided; you have saved many of my brothers.”
After shaking hands with Jihad, Gao Yang spoke in a grave tone, “We happened to arrive just in time; I am glad we could help, colonel.
We have people injured, and I need to leave here as soon as possible to attend to our casualties.”
Jihad waved his hand and said, “I am already aware.
Despite their injuries, your people saved three of our severely wounded.
Rest assured, it is now time to repay you.
Atareb still has sufficient medical resources.
We will immediately transport the wounded to Atareb, and we can first check on the condition of the injured, then send them away at once.”
After making a gesture of invitation, Jihad quickly followed Faisal and Farouk, who were leading the way to where Bruce was giving emergency treatment to the injured.
Looking at the bodies laid out on the ground, the three severely wounded soldiers who were still alive after surgery, a warrior whose chest had been opened but the incision had not yet been stitched, and Bruce, who was unconscious and being cared for by Lucica at the moment, Jihad fell silent.
The reinforcements had come with a military doctor, who was now examining the condition of the wounded.
They had already transfused blood to everyone, including Bruce.
However, looking at those whom Bruce had operated on under emergency conditions, they seemed somewhat at a loss, as if unsure of how to proceed.
After a deep sigh, Jihad urgently said to Farouk at his side, “Do not waste time.
They need more than field emergency care now.
The ambulance is right behind; send the injured to the hospital immediately.
You go personally, tell the hospital staff to spare no effort to save them, and inform our doctors that these soldiers are heroes.”
The severely injured were few, but there were quite a number of lightly injured, including Eileen and Rafael, whose injuries were neither severe nor slight, and Li Jinfang, whose ear was torn, who also had to be categorized as lightly injured.
After Jihad gave the order, the stretchers quickly carried all the severely injured away.
Yet at this moment, Gao Yang was somewhat hesitant.
He did not know whether he should let Bruce take longer to reach a hospital with better medical facilities in Turkey or save time by going to the less equipped medical facilities in Atareb.
Possibly noticing Gao Yang’s hesitation, Jihad said to Gao Yang, “Please be assured, we now have a medical team from the Damascus Military Hospital, the best surgeons in the army, and we also have the latest medications.”
Gao Yang was only afraid of medical malpractice.
After all, Atareb was just a small city with an incomplete medical system and doctors who were not highly skilled.
But since there was a medical team from the Syrian army that could save time and still provide adequate care, it was well worth staying temporarily in Atareb.
After expressing his thanks to Jihad, the injured, including Bruce, were loaded into the ambulance, while the uninjured had to follow the ambulance closely to take care of the wounded.
After the arrival of the reinforcements, the assault on the Rebel Army was still ongoing, and evaluating the battlefield and doing statistics still had to be done, so Jihad could not leave quickly.
Gao Yang also did not plan to stay, as there was nothing left for them to do here.
However, seeing that the injured had been loaded into the ambulances and the uninjured, except for Lucica who sat next to Bruce, followed in their own vehicles behind the ambulance to Atareb, he got ready to leave with Raja.
As Gao Yang was about to get in the car and leave, Jihad, amidst issuing orders, called out to him.
“Gun God, I have some issues I wish to discuss with you.
Can you stay for a moment?”
Jihad seemed very eager, but Gao Yang could only refuse, as he was anxious to leave Syria.
“I am very sorry, colonel, we were just passing through.
We have urgent matters, so after our people receive treatment, we must leave immediately,” Gao Yang replied.
Jihad, apparently expecting Gao Yang’s reaction, hesitated not a bit after Raja translated and said, “I know you are in a hurry to leave, but I will not delay you for too long.
I can arrange a helicopter if you need to leave; I can have the helicopter transport you.”
Gao Yang frowned.
If possible, he completely did not want any interaction with the Syrian government forces.
Fighting alongside the government forces was only due to coincidence, unavoidable circumstances, but staying after the conflict and not finding a way to leave quickly could easily lead to trouble.
As Gao Yang was about to refuse again, Jihad spoke sternly, and afterward, Raja looked at Gao Yang and said, “He says that Faisal told him that we are on a secret mission, possibly sent by Russia, but that is highly unlikely.
My words can barely withstand scrutiny, and raising suspicions is quite normal, but we cannot give in.”
Raja added his personal comments while translating.
Jihad suspected their origins, but Gao Yang wasn’t particularly surprised, claiming that the idea they were sent by Russia didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
It might fool a low-ranking officer like Faisal for a short while, but deceiving senior officers was wishful thinking, especially when they hadn’t escaped in time.
Jihad only needed to report upward to confirm it.
After thinking for a moment, Gao Yang said solemnly, “Can your boss help us escape?
I mean, if we get detained.
Uh, just tell him we are on a secret mission and are friends, not foes of the government forces.”
Taking advantage of the fact that Jihad hadn’t translated yet, Gao Yang could conspire with Raja face-to-face.
However, after Raja spoke to Jihad, he turned to Gao Yang with a bitter smile, “The Colonel said that he actually doesn’t care about our background.
He isn’t concerned with political matters; he only focuses on what a military officer should care about.
He said he doesn’t believe our words at all, but it doesn’t matter.
Considering the significant help we have provided, he won’t trouble us.
Moreover, he said he is the highest commander stationed in Atareb.
He will definitely ensure our safe departure and even send people to escort us to the border.”
Jihad was a sensible man and had shown enough goodwill that Gao Yang found it difficult to insist on leaving immediately.
Gao Yang nodded and said to Jihad, “Do you have something you want to discuss with me?”
At that moment, a warrior hurried to Jihad, saluted, and then spouted a long string of words, his face filled with joy.
Jihad listened with a shocked expression and his gaze fixed on Gao Yang without shifting.
After the warrior left, Jihad suddenly said, “No wonder they call you the Gun God.”
Gao Yang just shrugged, then Jihad visibly became excited.
He said animatedly, “We have 76 killed, nine severely wounded, thirty-four slightly injured, but now, a rough estimate suggests that over four hundred Rebel Army members have been killed.
The Rebel Army has about one hundred forty with serious and minor injuries.
The fight isn’t over yet, but the Rebel Army has no escape and it can be expected that the numbers of the dead, wounded, and captured will exceed a thousand after this battle ends.”
After speaking, Jihad waved his hand vigorously and said, “You know, this is a tremendous victory, significant both militarily and politically!”
Gao Yang was somewhat aware of the situation in Syria.
Jihad was right; to the Government Forces, this was indeed a profoundly significant victory, for since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the Government Forces had never achieved a substantial victory, retreating continuously while important cities faced constant crises.
The strategic Aleppo had mostly fallen into the hands of the Rebel Army.
In many people’s eyes, Syria was just another Libya, despite Russia’s support; almost no one believed Bashar could maintain his rule.
Gao Yang kept his composure and quietly said to Jihad, “Congratulations, Colonel.”
Jihad struggled to control his excitement.
He looked around and then sighed, “If it weren’t for your help, I can’t imagine what this battle would have become.
They say you are the Gun God, which I initially struggled to accept, you know, as a military man, but now, I truly acknowledge it.
My people tell me that out of the five hundred Rebel Army members killed, at least three hundred were killed by you alone.
This is almost unbelievable, incredible.”
After speaking, Jihad said with a sigh, “Now I believe it.
The facts are right in front of me; I can’t deny them.
Honestly, I didn’t have anything important to ask you to stay for; I just wanted to talk to the Gun God.
I just wanted to know more about you.
You know, living legends aren’t so easy to come by, and I thought, if I let you go, I might never have the chance to see you again in my life.”
After laughing, Jihad observed Gao Yang and sighed, “We can’t idolize anyone, but I, including others, can’t stop the warriors from worshiping you.
You are a living legend.”
Gao Yang hadn’t kept track of his achievements, but hearing Jihad’s words startled him.
Due to the reinforcements being blocked, the battle had lasted about an hour, half of which was extremely intense relative to the rest.
However, within an hour, killing three hundred people was something Gao Yang didn’t believe.
In the history of warfare, the top sniper with known achievements, Simo Häyhä from Finland, the White Death, killed 542 Soviet soldiers—a number verified and official.
Even counting the ones not recorded in the official tally, White Death’s achievements were undoubtedly staggering, but Simo Häyhä achieved this over the course of almost four months.
If anyone told Gao Yang that someone killed at least three hundred enemies in one hour, Gao Yang would spit in his face-stupidities meant for fools!
An hour to kill three hundred, even a conservative estimate, fooling idiots!) (To be continued.
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