265: Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Three Departure 265: Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Three Departure The so-called detailed battle plan was, there was no plan!
And this was the only conclusion Gao Yang and his team came to after their research.
Without understanding the enemy’s strength, without understanding the enemy’s troop distribution, when knowing next to nothing about the enemy, any attempt to create a detailed battle plan would be pure nonsense.
Therefore, the plan Gao Yang and his team hashed out was to first move the troops to the outskirts of Bosaso for a force reconnaissance and then to adapt to the situation accordingly.
It was impossible to come up with a detailed battle plan, but it was possible to set in advance the desired outcome of the battle.
For the Skull Gang, the first scenario, and the most ideal outcome, would be to annihilate the armed forces of the Mokadi Faction and smoothly take control of Bosaso.
This outcome was the best and a major victory.
The second scenario, if they could not take Bosaso, but could inflict a fatal blow to the Mokadi Faction, preferably crippling them, even if it didn’t completely strip the Mokadi Faction of their combat strength, but left them unable to recover and attack the Skull Gang in the short term, that was also acceptable and could still be considered a victory.
The third scenario, which was the worst possible ending, was if the Skull Gang suffered heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack, while the Mokadi Faction’s strength was not significantly compromised, allowing them to counterattack.
The goal for Gao Yang and his company was, on the premise of ensuring the second outcome, to strive for the most ideal result.
As for the third scenario, it was absolutely not permissible.
If the force reconnaissance showed that the enemy’s strength was too formidable, and the worst third scenario might occur, Gao Yang’s duty was to immediately halt the attack and ensure a withdrawal with minimal losses.
Commanding a battle involving around a thousand soldiers was a bit too much to ask of Gao Yang and the lead members of Satan Mercenary Corps, none of whom had received training to command at the brigade level, let alone had any experience in this.
But now, Gao Yang had no choice but to bite the bullet and take charge.
Gao Yang and his companions lacked experience in commanding large-scale operations, but if they let Maide or Abu take command, it might as well be a direct declaration of defeat.
Predictably, the Mokadi Faction’s experience would not be much better.
In Somalia and in this small area of Bosaso, nobody’s command capabilities were particularly strong.
When choosing a general from among dwarfs, in terms of combat experience and command abilities, Gao Yang and his peers might very well look down on the rest.
No, they would be looking down on a crowd of dwarfs.
Before the battle, it was customary to have a rally to inspire the troops, a practice common across cultures and throughout history, and the Skull Gang, facing a life-or-death battle, was no exception.
The standing army, which was the main force, had around a thousand men, and there were about two hundred in the artillery units.
Adding the reserves, or what one might call cannon fodder who knew how to shoot, the Skull Gang’s combat strength totaled roughly two thousand men.
But what these cannon fodder could do was, after the standing army took Bosaso, to enter the city and help strengthen control and maintain order.
However, Gao Yang never even considered sending them to the front lines.
A two-thousand-strong force gathered on the beach, and though it may not sound like a lot, it had a formidable presence when assembled, at least creating the appearance of a massive crowd.
Maide climbed onto a makeshift platform constructed from planks and began his pre-battle speech.
Gao Yang and his party didn’t understand what Maide was saying, but the soldiers, already high-spirited, looked frenzied after hearing Maide’s oratory.
Gao Yang had no doubt these men were willing to die for Maide.
Maide’s speech was brief, and after about ten minutes, he finished speaking.
Amidst the cheering crowd, Maide stepped down from the platform and said to Gao, “As the supreme commander, go give them a few words.”
As the supreme commander, Gao Yang definitely had to say something.
So, he didn’t decline.
Taking the megaphone from Maide, he quickly ascended the platform.
Gao Yang didn’t plan to give a long-winded speech, but he did prepare some points to make.
However, upon reaching the platform and facing the sea of eager soldiers cheering for him below, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
After pausing briefly, the cheering gradually died down.
At that point, Gao Yang set aside the speech he had prepared, lifted the megaphone, and shouted, “I don’t know what kind of lives you lived before, but I know what your lives are like now, and it seems you’re content with the current state.
Well, I want to ask you one thing, do you want to keep the lives you have now?”
“Yes!”
A loud response came from below, but most of the men didn’t understand what Gao Yang was saying, so only a very few of them replied.
Gao Yang waited a moment, ensuring his words were translated for those who spoke English, then bellowed, “Your response is too weak.
Now tell me, do you want to keep the lives you’re living now?”
“Yes!”
The roar from two thousand men pleased Gao Yang greatly.
He nodded and declared, “We are about to head into battle, and the purpose of this fight is to protect everything you now possess from being snatched away by those damned bastards.
In my opinion, your lives now are nothing more than full stomachs, a far cry from being wonderful.
However, now the opportunity has come.
If we win, you will have better lives.
Soldiers, I can’t describe to you how wonderful a new life could be because you haven’t experienced it; you have no idea how good life can be.
But now, you have the chance to create a better future for yourselves.
Now tell me, do you want to live better lives than you’ve ever known?”
“Yes!”
Although the responses were uneven, Gao Yang was still quite satisfied.
Giving a speech to a group of people who didn’t speak the same language, one couldn’t expect them to answer in a perfectly uniform manner.
“To protect the life you now have, to create a life so wonderful it’s beyond your imagination, let’s go kill every enemy now!
Kill them dead!”
After speaking, Gao Yang swung his arm forcefully and bellowed, “Kill them dead!
Move out!”
“Kill them dead!”
At Gao Yang’s command, coupled with a thunderous response, the soldiers of the Skull Gang began to move in an orderly fashion.
Gao Yang stood on the platform, watching as only the regular army soldiers began to move.
Their heavy equipment had already been loaded onto the fishing boats, and the soldiers were boarding the speedboats one after another, then heading off to rendezvous with the fishing boats anchored in the distance.
Using fishing boats to transport heavy equipment and soldiers was a reluctant choice.
Gao Yang and his team had wanted to purchase some vehicles for troop and artillery transport, but unfortunately, they couldn’t get them ashore.
However, if they could take Bosaso, it wouldn’t just be cars; Uriyangko could even deliver tanks directly.
The Skull Gang did have vehicles now, but only a total of eleven, and four of them were sedans.
There were only four pickup trucks, and the remaining three vehicles were SUVs, an insignificant transport capacity unable to haul rocket launchers and mortars to the outskirts of Bosaso.
Fortunately, the Skull Gang now had ten fishing boats with a displacement of over a hundred tons each, and over forty speedboats as well.
The fishing boats towing the speedboats in the coastal waters could deliver the soldiers close to Bosaso, then let them land for combat; whereas the eleven vehicles would tow eleven rocket launchers, along with their crew, moving along the coastline with the fleet.
So, the role of each vehicle was still significant.
Some rocket launchers had already been disassembled and delivered to the fishing boats.
Now, the task was to get the soldiers on to the speedboats.
It wasn’t long before Li Jinfang ran back, saluting Gao Yang with a smack and loudly saying, “Report to the Major, the Instruction Platoon is ready.
Awaiting orders!”
After returning a military salute, Gao Yang shouted, “Move out!”
Jokingly assigning oneself the rank of Major had now become Gao Yang’s official military rank within the Skull Gang; and no one took it as a joke.
Whenever anyone saw Gao Yang, they would stand at attention and salute him.
It had not been easy for Gao Yang and his team to establish the concept of officers for the Skull Gang’s soldiers, to train them to salute immediately upon seeing an officer of higher rank.
The ranks they had jokingly assigned themselves had now become something they must maintain thoroughly.
In a hierarchical military, the presence of military ranks is indispensable, and surely, to promote officers, there must be a ranking system in place.
After defining a clear hierarchy of ranks, the main benefit was simplified command.
For example, during combat, if a platoon leader fell, deciding who would take over command was a significant problem for the Skull Gang before.
With ranks, however, it was simple: the highest-ranked surviving member would take charge automatically.
Because of a shortage of officers, the regular army’s largest unit was only at the platoon level; the rank of platoon leader was Captain, and these officers were selected from the original Instruction Platoon.
As for the current Instruction Platoon, it was only after new recruits joined that it regained full strength.
Even if the officers were freshly minted and half-baked, they were certainly better than none at all.
Under the command of the platoon leaders, the soldiers boarded the speedboats by platoon.
Then the platoon leaders would immediately run back to salute Gao Yang, leading to a succession of reports.
“Report to Major, the Regular Army’s Second Platoon is ready.
Awaiting orders,”
“Move out!”
When Gao Yang ordered the last platoon to depart and watched as they connected the speedboats to the fishing boats and began heading westward, Gao Yang stepped down from the platform and said solemnly to Maide, “It’s time for us to leave.”
Maide, with his remaining arm, hugged Gao Yang briefly and spoke gravely, “I’ll be here waiting for the good news of our victory.
I believe we will certainly be victorious.”
Gao Yang smiled faintly and said, “Of course, victory will surely be ours.
I’m very confident about that!” (To be continued.
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