Volume One, Chapter 20: The Deadly Communication Blackout—The Mercenary Corps Faces Renewed Disadvantage!!!

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Nightwolf Mercenary Legion, 39th Brigade, 7th Mercenary Regiment garrison, Moonstan Kingdom.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
The technicians from the electronic support unit were pounding away at their keyboards as if to make them smoke.
The crisp typing sounded like gunfire, as if they were engaged in a fierce battle without a single bullet fired.
"Why on earth is the communication being jammed?"
"And it's not just one unit—every regiment in the 7th Mercenary Regiment, even the 6th, 9th, and the Moonstan regular army units can't be reached. What on earth is going on???"
In front of the command platform, Lt. Colonel Rodsen, commander of the 7th Mercenary Regiment, wore a grave expression.
The enemy’s sudden communication blackout was far too abrupt, catching them completely off guard.
They had just smashed the LS rebel blockade and entered Bebatsha, yet before the support mission even started, it had already collapsed.
For a modern force, a communication satellite blackout was utterly fatal.
Many tactics and strategies relied on timely communication to be conveyed and executed.
If the communications were jammed, it meant orders couldn’t be promptly issued; tactics couldn’t be deployed in time.
No matter what they did, they would always be several steps slower than the enemy—this battle was suddenly going to be much harder to win!
"Report, sir! We’ve exhausted all means but failed to break through the enemy’s jamming to restore communications."
"Based on the characteristics of the enemy's jamming, it’s very likely they’re using the Eagle Nation’s CCS electronic disruption system!"
At these words, Rodsen’s brows knitted tightly. "Those damn Eagle dogs! To meddle in the Middle East, they’re really generous—giving their space force’s tech to terrorists just like that???"
Originally, the Nightwolf Mercenary Legion’s equipment was decent, mostly purchased from Great Mao or Western allies.
It was more than enough to deal with Middle Eastern terrorists and backward nations.
But the LS rebels now were armed with advanced Eagle Nation weaponry, putting the Nightwolf Legion in a very uncomfortable position.
"Looks like once this war’s over, we’ll have to propose purchasing a new batch of advanced equipment."
"Since the Bayu War started, this Middle Eastern mercenary paradise has completely changed."
"The Eagle Nation has seized the opportunity to intervene in the Middle East, stirring up trouble in the eastern part, with the intent to move into Central Asia, controlling the five Central Asian countries and encircling Huaguo geopolitically."
"To achieve this, a large influx of American-style equipment and personnel will likely flood the region. If the Nightwolf Mercenary Legion wants to survive, we must change accordingly!"
Snapping back to reality, Rodsen turned to the matter at hand: "Can we pinpoint the source of the enemy’s jamming?"
The electronic support commander nodded. "Neither the LS rebels nor the hostile mercenaries entrenched in Bebatsha city have the capacity for aerial electronic jamming."

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"They, like us, only have a few helicopters at most. As for fighter jets or jammer aircraft, they simply can’t afford them. The Eagle Nation, considering this, wouldn’t provide such assets to them either."
"So the enemy must have set up their jamming source on the ground. But to jam the entire Bebatsha area, they must be using some sort of signal amplifier!"
As he spoke, the electronic support commander pointed to two locations on the sand table.
"There aren’t many places in Bebatsha with such facilities. One is the local TV station in Bebatsha city."
"There’s a transmission tower, transmitters, and a large satellite antenna used for broadcasting television signals—perfect for amplification."
"The other is the county-level city of Bulzado in Bebatsha, which hosts the largest meteorological satellite ground station in northern Moonstan."
"This station was built by Huaguo for Moonstan, using advanced Huaguo technology. In terms of amplifying jamming and interference frequencies, it probably outperforms the TV station!"
Hearing this, Rodsen didn’t hesitate and immediately summoned the drone operations commander.
"Deploy the drones at once. Even if we lose two or three hundred, get me the combat intelligence to the front lines!"
"Yes, sir!"
This was now the only way the 7th Mercenary Regiment headquarters could communicate with the front lines.
And it was a suicidal method.
Because severe signal interference in Bebatsha meant drones could go out of control and crash the moment they entered the area.
But there was no alternative—this was the only and fastest way to reach the cut-off units on the front lines.
Buzz—buzz—buzz—buzz—buzz—buzz—buzz—
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
Before long, one small palm-sized drone after another took to the sky.
Usually, these drones performed reconnaissance, bombing, or self-destruct missions.
But now, their task was to relay combat intelligence.
At the 7th Mercenary Regiment headquarters, hundreds of drones took flight like a flock of birds.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
Boom—boom—boom—boom—
Many companies, battalions, and squads within the 7th Mercenary Regiment in Bebatsha were already under enemy surprise attack.
Because communications were down, these units could barely organize an effective defense, much less call for backup.
In such circumstances, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and fight on.
As for those units not yet attacked, they were gathering to discuss the same issue as Commander Rodsen.
"The enemy’s jamming has to be from electronic interference devices."

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"Usually, electronic jamming devices are either on the ground or in the air, but the enemy is just a bunch of terrorists or hostile mercenaries."
"They don’t have the capacity to field electronic warfare aircraft, so the jamming device must be somewhere on the ground."
"If we find it and destroy it, we can solve our current dilemma."
All seasoned mercenaries, they reached the same conclusion after a brief discussion.
But due to information gaps, they only knew the device was on the ground, not its exact location.
At that moment, hundreds of drones approached the Bebatsha border like a flock of birds from the distant sky.
Though many lost control and crashed immediately upon entering due to interference, their sheer numbers attracted the attention of the 7th Mercenary Regiment units.
Following the drone crash sites, they soon found orders from the regiment headquarters on some of the drones.
"The headquarters has sent intelligence and orders!"
"All units, split into two groups immediately. Destroy the enemy’s electronic jamming device at all costs and restore communications!"
From that moment, units in the 7th Mercenary Regiment not yet ambushed began dividing their forces to execute the mission to destroy the jamming devices and restore comms.
Han Cheng and his mixed platoon, along with the Firestorm Company’s 3rd Armored Platoon and others, were assigned to destroy the meteorological satellite ground station in Bulzado.
On the way, Sanker kept reminding them:
"With communications jammed, units must not split their formations."
"Use tactical hand signals and signal flags to communicate between soldiers and units."
The communication blackout had effectively regressed this modern unit to primitive methods.
No comms meant relying on old-school tactics like hand signals and flags.
After the briefing, Sanker glanced at Han Cheng with some unease.
"Dragon, you don’t know the hand signals or flag signals. When the fighting starts, don’t just rush recklessly; stick close to me, understood?"
Han Cheng heard it several times before grasping Sanker’s meaning, then gave an ‘OK’ gesture: "No problem, buddy. Just leave it to me!"
Despite Han Cheng’s confidence, Sanker still felt conflicted inside.
Dragon—could he really be trusted?
Was he really someone who could be relied upon?
...