From October 2016 to July 2017, the battle to retake Mosul lasted for nine months.
One hundred thousand troops, including the Iraqi anti-terrorism force, police force, tribal armed forces, Kurdish armed forces, and of course the Iraqi National Defense Forces, with the support of the air force of nine countries led by the United States, fought for nine months and just recaptured Mosul.
Viewed from the air, it is not enough to say that the entire city of Mosul has been turned into ruins. It should be said that the entire city has been turned into a construction waste dump.
The helicopter landed slowly. This was not a battle or an emergency landing, so after the rotor completely stopped rotating, Petel opened the hatch.
Gao Yi jumped out of the helicopter. He was like a veteran cadre inspecting the construction site, wearing a helmet on his head, but he also wore a body armor.
There was a stench unique to war, the smell of rotting corpses.
"gentlemen!"
A major wearing Iraqi desert camouflage came forward. He saluted Gao Yi and then said in English: "We are ready, please come this way."
Judging from Gao Yi's mobility at the moment, he doesn't need to wait long. He just needs to find someone to ask for an overview, and then call a helicopter in the name of the Secret Operations Bureau.
Lin Xianghua and his group of six surrounded Gao Yi in the middle, two in front and four in the back. In this way, Gao Yi looked more like a veteran cadre on inspection.
The battle is over and Mosul has been recaptured.
But the battle is not completely over yet, because Mosul has been bombed into ruins, and there are still some scattered terrorists hiding in the ruins in places where they are not easily noticed, so sporadic battles still occur from time to time.
After all, we have only recovered it for two days, so it is impossible to completely clear every corner immediately.
There is no building suitable for a headquarters, and the headquarters of the National Defense Forces would rather be placed in a tent.
It was a very large tent, with two large air conditioners turned on fully, but it didn't feel very cool inside the tent. It was not hot at best.
Gao Yi walked into the tent as if on inspection. An Iraqi general saluted him and stretched out his hand.
A general in his forties and fifties saluted a young man in his early twenties very naturally and smoothly.
Speaking in a language that Gao Yi could not understand, the general began to introduce him enthusiastically. The major who greeted Gao Yi translated at the side: "The general said, the person you mentioned was not found, but the mercenary you mentioned was found.
They are the team that fights with the Justice Messenger. As for the hostages, the terrorists will push the hostages ahead in almost every battle to prevent our attack. The Justice Messenger you mentioned has been captured for more than nine days. We think he survived.
There’s not much hope.”
After translating a series of the general's words, the general pointed to a group of people standing in the tent.
There were seven people in total. Anyway, they were all wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying guns. They all looked shabby and their clothes were in tatters.
"They are the team that fought with the Justice Envoy. Unfortunately, all of the combat team that the Justice Envoy was in have been killed, but they know the area where the Justice Envoy was captured."
After the major finished translating, the general said to Gao Yi, "You can ask them. If we need to cooperate, just let me know when the time comes."
After the general finished speaking, he left, leaving in the tent a small team that had just withdrawn from the battlefield in Mosul, a translator, and then Gao Yi and seven of them.
He won't make any mistakes this time. Gao Yi took out his mobile phone, called up a photo, stepped forward and said to the seven people: "Is this what you have seen?"
Li Jie's photo was very clear, but the seven people seemed to have no interest in looking at the photo, and no one answered Gao Yi's words.
The interpreter major shouted: "Answer this gentleman's question!"
Still no one spoke.
Gao Yi thought for a while and said: "He is my friend, and I am here to save him."
After hearing what Gao Yi said, someone finally said: "He was arrested. We haven't seen him since. We know he is probably in that area, but we have already searched and found his body."
Are you looking for the corpse directly?
Looking for Li Jie will not waste much of Gao Yi's time, nor will it waste too much of his energy. It only requires a small favor, so he came.
Even if Gao Yi only wanted to find Li Jie to make a gun, after reaching this point, Gao Yi really wanted to find him. After all, it was a waste of time and energy and a favor, which are all sunk costs.
It would be a pity not to look for it if I asked a few questions.
Gao Yi thought for a moment, and then he said to the people in front of him: "Are you all mercenaries?"
"I am, the three of us are, they are not."
Three of the seven people are mercenaries, and their commissions are paid by the Iraqi government, and the commissions are quite high.
At the end of a meat grinder-like battle, paid mercenaries and free tribal armed forces are mixed together, which is actually quite common.
Gao Yi took a breath and said: "I want to find him. You draw a rough range, and then someone will search. Now, please mark the range you have searched."
The major took out a combat map, or a very large and detailed aerial photo. He spread the map on the table and said, "Do as he says."
The English-speaking mercenary stood in front of the map. He looked at it for a while, put his hand on a building, and said to the person next to him: "Is this here?"
"yes."
"I don't think so..."
Several people gathered around the table, and they got into an argument, but the results came out quickly. After about twenty minutes, about a small area was marked on the map.
"We were here at the time, and the area drawn on the map was in the hands of terrorists. We only searched this small area and found six remaining terrorists, all of whom were injured, but no hostages were found."
Gao Yi doesn't have to worry about this. He doesn't understand and doesn't need to be responsible for rescuing hostages. It's even a crime for him to let Petel and others carry out the rescue mission.
Of course, this kind of thing should be left to the Iraqis.
The major got the map, took a general look at it, and said: "The area is not very large. I will send people to search immediately. With a group of people, the results should be available soon."
"Thanks."
The major took the map and hurried out.
There is no need to shout out orders or recruit a group of people to perform for Gao Yi. This is not a rescue operation, it can only be regarded as a small battlefield cleaning.
You have to see the person alive, and you have to see the body after death. Even if nine days have passed, you still have to find clothes, bones, and everything that may be related to Li Jie.
It is difficult for one person to do this thing, and it is not easy for a group of people to do this thing, but if an army of thousands of people is mobilized to this small area and has to get into a crack in the wall to take a look, then
This thing is really not too difficult.
Gao Yi found a chair and sat down. He had no intention of talking to the soldiers. However, the seven soldiers did not get the order to leave and couldn't find anything else to do for a while. They quickly fell asleep in the tent.
.
There were not enough chairs in the tent, but these people stood, lowered their heads, and fell asleep like that, and then snored slightly.
Gao Yi was surprised. He looked at Lin Xianghua. Lin Xianghua hesitated for a moment and whispered: "I'm so tired. I can still sleep even if I get shot."
Well, it's an area Gao Yi doesn't understand anyway, so don't say anything more.
After only a few minutes, the major came back. He stepped forward and patted the soldiers awake one by one. After telling them that they could find a tent to sleep, several soldiers staggered out.
"We can just wait here. It may be very fast or very slow, but we will definitely get a result today."
The major was very polite, but actually Gao Yi was not in a hurry.
About two hours later, the walkie-talkie that the major placed on the table rang, and then someone said something very quickly on the walkie-talkie.
The major said to Gao Yi in surprise: "We found a basement hidden under the ruins. There are many people in it, at least twenty people. They have already begun to arrange for commandos to enter. Maybe the person you are looking for is there.
in."
Before he finished speaking, another urgent call came from the intercom. Then, the major was even more surprised. He said to Gao Yi: "It is confirmed that there are hostages inside! And most of them are alive. It is very likely and very promising.
, your friend really might be in there."
Gao Yi couldn't sit still anymore. He stood up and said, "Go over and take a look?"
"No, no, it's best not to. It's still very dangerous. Terrorists are very likely to have bombs nearby. Believe me, you will never want to go in. Believe me, please believe me!"
The major had always been polite and smiling, but now, the smile on his face could no longer be maintained, and his expression began to turn sad. After several times to convince Gao Yi to believe him, he whispered: "Then
It is definitely not a place that normal people should set foot in, it is... hell, you will have nightmares if you look at it."
Gao Yi looked at Lin Xianghua, who didn't have much of a reaction, but Petel suddenly said: "Major is right, don't go, don't step into the battlefield, let alone... a... you know,
Don’t go, just wait here for news.”
Gao Yi didn't know what he knew, but he knew how to listen to others and eat enough.
Maybe if I actually went to see it live, I wouldn't be able to eat for a long time.
Gao Yi sat back again.
After waiting for less than ten minutes, the intercom rang again. Then, before the intercom finished speaking, the major shouted to Gao Yi in surprise: "Found it! He's alive! Found it!"
Gao Yi stood up and said in surprise: "Really alive?"
"Yes, yes! He is still alive. Our people rescued him and sent him over immediately. Sir, he is still alive!"
The major probably didn't know Li Jie, but he was even more excited than Gao Yi. After saying a few words about being alive, he said with genuine joy on his face: "It's great, this city... has four more people."
A survivor."
Didn't you say there were more than twenty people? Why did it become four survivors?
Gao Yi thought for a while, and after understanding the key, he decided not to say anything.
War is ugly, war is terrible, and war is disgusting. Gao Yi has never seen the horror of war, and now, he doesn't want to see it anymore.
Chapter completed!