Chapter 18 Tribal Elders

The guerrillas were full of fighting spirit. Under the leadership of Muhammad, they won battles one after another. Just now, they shot down an arrogant helicopter. They were at their most excited. They admired Muhammad very much. Even Khwaja was completely convinced that this man was indeed an instructor from the regular army, and his ability was much higher than his own. He was best at sniping, not commanding this guerrilla.

Now, hearing Muhammad's order, all the guerrillas ran towards the trucks, even those carrying heavy machine guns ran very fast.

Muhammad knew that the danger was not over yet. If another Soviet helicopter came, he could not guarantee that he could shoot it down. If the helicopters covered the area with rockets, none of them would be able to escape.

Moreover, the Soviet ground forces must be arriving quickly.

"Buzz, buzz." After Muhammad jumped onto the truck, he immediately started the car. As the motor turned, the engine of Kamaz was started by Muhammad.

"Should we just pour it out?" Hewaja, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked Muhammad.

There is no road ahead, and there is no way to turn around. There is no other way except to back out directly.

Now, Hewaja has great admiration for Muhammad. Not to mention fighting, just taking driving as an example, he is a good driver. Many experienced drivers who have been driving for a long time may not be as skilled as Muhammad. It may be very difficult for others to reverse more than a hundred meters, but for Muhammad, it is a piece of cake.

"No." Muhammad said, stepped on the clutch, pulled the gear lever back, and shifted into reverse gear. With the roar of the engine, the huge truck moved backwards.

Hearing what Muhammad said, Khawaja was a little confused. Wasn't he supposed to not fall backwards? Why was he falling backwards again?

Muhammad had no time to pay attention to Khawaja. At this moment, no one was directing him to reverse the car, and he had to back the car out as quickly as possible. He was highly focused, looking at the huge mirrors on both sides. At the same time, his hands were constantly fiddling with the steering wheel. Just as fast as when he just came, Kamaz skillfully retreated more than 30 meters.

"Puff!" Muhammad stepped on the brake, then pushed the gear lever forward, shifted the gear, and turned the steering wheel all the way to the right.

When you are surrounded by mountains and rivers, you may think there is no way out, but when you look up, you will find another village. Muhammad remembered this saying of the great country in the East. Just now, he was in a panic and walked forward, but it turned out to be a dead end. However, he could get out on the right side.

Hewaja also saw clearly that what Muhammad said just now was correct, but he had to reverse first. After all, there was no road ahead. After reversing, he could drive to the right, so that he might be able to get rid of the pursuers.

However, if you turn right, you will reach another mountain road, so it will probably take more time to go back.

Now, it's almost dark. As long as we can hold out until dark, we will be much safer.

"Instructor, what should we do if there are more trees blocking our way ahead?" asked Hewaja.

Although it seemed like they could get through, but in the woods, driving such a large truck, it would be lucky to get just a hundred meters. Now, Hewaja really didn't have the confidence that he could get through completely.

"If there's any obstacle in our way, we'll go around it. If that doesn't work, we'll just ram or blast our way through to make a path," said Muhammad.

Muhammad is determined to take this path, building roads through mountains and bridges over rivers.

This is because, when the helicopter just discovered their whereabouts, it may have reported them to its superiors. In this way, it is very likely that Soviet soldiers are already lying in ambush on the road ahead.

The only way to be absolutely safe is to take another route, run back to the mountains in the shortest time and reunite with the team of more than a dozen people who have returned earlier.

Although this truck could not reach the guerrilla base in the end, it could be hidden first, and then the weapons could be moved into the mountains calmly.

With this truckload of weapons and ammunition, there is no need to worry about supplies for at least a few months.

These ideas of Muhammad almost all came to him suddenly in the intervals between battles, or in other words, these ideas just popped up on their own without him having to think.

Muhammad was born to fight. Now, it seems that all his five senses have become more sensitive, as if he can smell the opportunity of war.

"Hurry, fold the rearview mirror." Muhammad shouted, stretched out his arm from the glass, and swiftly bent the mirror frame back.

Military vehicles are simple and practical, so the windows of military vehicles are not rollable, but push-pull. Muhammad stretched out his hand from the glass window very skillfully. However, Hewaja was slow.

"Crash." The rearview mirror on the right was immediately hung by a tree trunk on one side, but the one on Muhammad's side was luckily intact.

The small path we just passed was only wide enough for the front of the car, while the rear carriage needed to be a little wider.

Muhammad did not hesitate and stepped on the accelerator to the bottom.

"Boom, boom, boom." The Kamaz was emitting black smoke and passed between two trees. The body of the car collided with the tree trunk. The sturdy Kamaz only scraped off some paint, while behind it, countless pieces of bark, branches and leaves fell to the ground.

With the lessons learned, the guerrillas in the back car tightly grasped the handrails in the car, and as the car bumped, they listened to the sound of branches breaking outside, with smiles on their faces, as if they were riding a donkey cart to the market. They were all very confident that under the guidance of the instructor, they would definitely escape safely.

Durani's face was even more excited. What they were sitting on were weapons, ammunition and food. The guerrillas made a lot of money by attacking the outpost this time!

Darkness gradually enveloped the earth, and Kamas was also surrounded by the darkness.

The woods had long disappeared, and now they were walking on a mountain road. However, the road was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, and soon the truck would be unable to pass.

Muhammad's eyes were fully focused. Driving in the dark was already very dangerous. Moreover, he could not turn on the headlights and had no night vision goggles to use. He could only rely on the dim starlight to drive forward vaguely, and the speed of the car also slowed down.

"Instructor, the village of Gost is ahead. We have two guerrillas from this village. It should be relatively safe," said Hevaja.

Now, Khawaja's attitude towards Muhammad has completely changed. He used to be somewhat rebellious, but now, he worships Muhammad in the same way.

"Can we mobilize the people in this village to help us move the things in the car to the mountains overnight?" asked Muhammad.

Muhammad knew that although the guerrillas were very brave, it was still far from enough for them to carry such heavy ammunition. The most important thing was to transport the ammunition to the mountains at night. Otherwise, they would probably be discovered by the helicopters overhead when daybreak came.

Moreover, during the Afghan War, the local indigenous people were very welcoming to the guerrillas. After all, the Soviets were invaders.

Therefore, the only way now is to mobilize the masses and ask them to help carry the ammunition so that this batch of ammunition can be transported back to the base as soon as possible.

"No problem," said Khawaja.

"Puff!" With the sound of brakes, Kamaz finally stopped in front of the village called Gost. Going further, the road was no longer wide enough for Kamaz to enter the mountains.

"Aga, Khadim, both of you, follow me into the village." Khawaja jumped out of the car and said to the people behind him.

These two people are from the village that Khwaja mentioned.

After a bumpy ride, the guerrillas jumped out of the car one after another. However, from inside the car, they could only see the dust rising from the back and had no idea where they were going.

When Aga and Khadim heard Khawaja calling them, they jumped down and immediately ran towards Khawaja.

"Come on, follow me into the village and meet the elders," said Khwaja.

Meet the elders? When they heard what Hewaja said, they were stunned at first. What elders? Then they looked carefully and found the surroundings so familiar. They were overjoyed. It turned out that they were home!

"Rest where you are, Durani. Open two boxes of canned food, one can for each person to fill your stomach first," said Muhammad.

After his truck entered the outpost, he moved all the things in the outpost up. Fortunately, when he came, the truck was not fully loaded for the convenience of movement, so he was able to load more things now.

In addition to ammunition, there was also food. For example, Muhammad knew it was canned fish just by looking at the words on the outer packaging.

Although it was not the canned beef that Muhammad was expecting, fish was also a good food to fill his stomach and it was filling.

"Yes." After hearing what Muhammad said, Durani happily jumped onto the truck and took out the box.

At this time, Muhammad was not in the mood to eat. He was thinking about what Hewaja had just said, to go to the village and see the elders first.

One of the important reasons why Afghanistan has been plagued by frequent wars and has been unable to control the situation in later generations is the numerous tribes in Afghanistan.

It is not just the differences between ethnic groups. Afghanistan has Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Nuristanis and Balochs, and there are conflicts between these ethnic groups. Moreover, although the Pashtuns make up the majority of the population, this ethnic group is composed of two major factions that are hostile to each other.

Moreover, each tribe is divided into several tribes, and there is cooperation and disputes among them.

After these few days, Muhammad's understanding of Afghanistan has been further improved. Coming from the future, he knows that driving out the Soviets is an inevitable result. But after driving out the Soviets, will Afghanistan be peaceful?

No! The war has made the people of this country full of distrust and scramble for power. There are weapons and gunfire everywhere. In the end, this country, which has suffered many disasters in history, has been crying in the flames of war...

Muhammad traveled here, and after several days of war, he has linked his destiny with this place.

Can Afghanistan become the place where war never stops in the future? The place where the Taliban regime, which committed atrocities, was born?

No! Muhammad told himself in his heart, absolutely not!