Three months later.
Venezuela, Margarita Island vacation area.
Early in the morning, when the first rays of sunlight pierced through the thin mist and sneaked into the bedroom through the gaps in the curtains, Song Heping's electronic watch alarm beeped and beeped.
He woke up from a dream, and as he opened his eyes, he was blinded by a piercing ray of sunshine.
"Hiss—"
Song Heping sat up in bed, stretched, and suddenly felt weak and suffered from a splitting headache.
He had drunk too much the night before.
This was the company's first retreat of the year.
According to the rules set by Ferrari, company officials above the departmental level and flight personnel could enjoy a public-funded trip once a year, one of the benefits of the "Musician" defense system.
This time, half of the company's executives came to Venezuela and rented out several of the best-located and most scenic guesthouses on the lovely island to start the first 15-day vacation round.
Taking this opportunity, Song Heping, who had been in Venezuela overseeing the construction of a school for the past three months, could also listen to the work reports of executives like Ferrari.
During these three months, Song Heping felt as if he had reached the pinnacle of his career.
First was with Illiguo, the US Army's transportation contract payment for the first half of the year had been received, and the $120 million in revenue was successfully processed and transferred to the old account designated by General Peter after Heping's signature.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten to add another two million US Dollars to his son's charity fund.
The business with Illiguo was currently the smoothest-running and most profitable part of the company, and even without Song Heping in Illiguo, the company could operate normally without any issues.
He was getting the hang of playing the game under these democratic rules.
Recently, he heard a saying that he found quite true.
The world is essentially a makeshift stage.
If one hasn't seen through the essence behind it, they're truly foolish.
Another matter involved the ELN armed forces. News from Morins reported that a week prior, the AUC militia had suddenly announced its dissolution.
That's right.
Dissolution.
This meant that from then on, there would no longer be a group called the AUC militia in Colombia.
The spokesperson for the AUC militia claimed to the public that this was because the government had begun to take their demands seriously. Originally, they established the anti-government armed forces to protect the interests of their class. Since the government had paid attention to their political demands, the organization was no longer necessary.
Seeing the grandiose reports in the news and newspapers, Song Heping almost laughed crookedly.
The world was indeed magical.
The reason for dissolution was simple.
All the high-level leaders were annihilated in that airstrike.
If it was just the leaders being killed, that would have been the end of it.
Morins asked Song Heping what to do next, and Heping gave him a line from a heroic couplet—It's best to use the remaining courage to chase down the enemy, don't simply seek fame like an overlord.
This poem initially confused Morins.
So Song Heping explained it to him simply—if they didn't seize this opportunity, by the time the AUC regrouped and selected a new leadership, reorganized the structure, and recruited more soldiers with the support of the government army, they would definitely target the ELN armed forces with fierce retaliation.
Therefore, they must take advantage of this counter-attack opportunity to snatch away all of AUC's territories and kill all their commanders.
Even if necessary, they should reach out to the FARC armed forces for cooperation to divide all the influence of the AUC militias, allowing no space for them to survive.
Morins seemed to take it to heart.
He didn't have enough troops to take over the entire territory of the AUC militias without overextending himself.
That's why he called Song Heping for advice on what to do.
In Morins' eyes, the current Song Heping was like his spiritual guide, the revolutionary leader, and the honorary chief military advisor of the ELN armed forces.
Whatever Song Heping said, Morins would not ignore.
So, the guy implemented Song Heping's directives to the letter, joining forces with FARC to divide all of AUC's territories.
The FARC took over all the traditional AUC territories to the southwest of the Tbilisi Mountain Range.
While the ELN armed forces annexed all of the AUC's territories in the northeast and southeast near the Venezuela border.
Beyond that, Morins had recruited a force of seven thousand troops during this war, bringing the strength of the ELN armed forces to fifteen thousand, doubling their original numbers.
"The source of defectors from AUC was not so few, still, it was Song Heping who reminded him not to bite off more than he could chew.
The soldiers who came over were certainly a fighting force, but they were also mouths to feed. ELN didn't engage in drug trafficking, relying on kidnapping, extortion, and oil revenues.
If they took on too many people at once, they would inevitably get involved in some drug trafficking activities.
Such unsavory affairs were not good for the reputation of an armed organization, especially since the Americans were watching ELN, waiting for them to slip up.
If they stayed away from drug trades, then no matter what troubles ELN forces faced in the future or how they fought with the Colombian government army, it was all internal affairs, with no excuse for American intervention.
If they got involved with drugs, the Americans would wake up from their dreams laughing and would even send Special Forces and military advisors overnight to launch a second encirclement campaign.
For the ELN forces, that was akin to courting death.