491: Chapter 488 Welcome to the Siege 491: Chapter 488 Welcome to the Siege Although the situation was far from favorable, for ground combat, with Satan and Angel at his command, and even Ivan’s men willingly obeying orders, Gao Yang truly did not find anything terrifying.
If they were surrounded by an enemy several times their number, and the enemy had heavy weapons, Gao Yang’s first order would certainly be to quickly retreat, saving whoever could be saved, and leaving survival up to chance.
However, if they were surrounded by Colombian airborne soldiers, with only a limited number advantage and a clear lack of heavy weaponry, whose combat strength was not weak, but nothing compared to Satan and Angel, Gao Yang genuinely felt they had picked the wrong target.
It was unrealistic to expect to annihilate the Jaguars and airborne soldiers who had come to intercept them, but breaking out of the encirclement was doable, a piece of cake.
After all, if it wasn’t for the fact that there was nothing he could do about the attack from the skies, why would Gao Yang look before and after to secure a steady approach?
He would have already led the allied forces of the three and launched a counterattack, not even needing to abandon the vehicles.
Gao Yang was confident, Nate was even more so, yet Nate expressed some concerns, “We should still exercise caution.
The enemy’s will to fight is strong.
The Jaguar Corps excels in infiltration and special operations.
It’s abnormal for them to engage in encirclement tactics with the Air Force Special Command Group without confirming superiority first.”
Setting up an encirclement was typically a job for regular units.
It was indeed very unusual for two special operations units to perform such a task.
Gao Yang furrowed his brows and said, “What do you mean when you say the enemy’s will to fight is strong?
I haven’t noticed them being particularly tenacious.
We haven’t had formal contact yet, how have you come to this conclusion?”
Nate shook his head, “I’m not referring to the Jaguar Corps and the Air Force Special Command Group.
I’m talking about the Colombian government.
To deal with just the few dozen of us, they’ve deployed half their air force power.
It seems they’re determined to take us out before they’ll stop.”
Gao Yang stroked his chin, “You’re right.
Although I don’t know why, it does seem like we’re really hated.
Considering the impact we’ve currently caused, even with FAEC diverting attention, once our whereabouts were discovered, the Colombian government would undoubtedly pay any price to eliminate us to settle their domestic account.”
Nate nodded, “Therefore, we cannot afford to be tied down by the Jaguar Corps and the Air Force Special Command Group.
We must resolve this quickly.”
Gao Yang also knew they had to act swiftly, but the problem was that the woods they were hiding in were not part of a large, continuous forest, but scattered in patches.
To reach the real dense jungle, they had to travel dozens of kilometers at least.
The issue at hand was that once they left the shelter of the trees, they would be completely exposed to the fighter jets circling above.
While Gao Yang and Nate were talking, the remaining four Super Tucano aircraft launched two more attacks.
However, this time their flight altitude had increased significantly, with the remaining aircraft attacking from above three hundred meters.
Glolov did not have a good opportunity, so he had not taken a shot, and the Super Tucanos above did not drop any more bombs or rockets.
After all, Super Tucanos were light combat aircraft and couldn’t carry too much ammunition; hence, their sustained attack capability was not very strong.
By this point, the intensity of the aerial strikes had significantly decreased compared to the beginning.
Nate looked up at the sky, “The threat of the Super Tucanos is not so great anymore.
I think it’s time to break out.
Otherwise, once the Mirage 5 fighter jets arrive, we’ll be in trouble.
They have CBU-20s.
Given the current situation, I don’t think they’ll be looking to save money anymore.
If they have cluster bombs, they’ll definitely use them.”
Gao Yang couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been attacked by cluster bombs before?”
Nate nodded, “Yes, in Iraq.
Our convoy was mistakenly targeted.
Just one cluster bomb turned more than twenty vehicles, seventy-plus people, into almost none left, just like that.”
Gao Yang exclaimed in shock, “The Angel Mercenary Corps has suffered such a heavy blow?
And it was a mistaken attack?”
Nate sighed, “We weren’t the ones attacked.
A security company moving with us was wiped out completely, the dead were mostly Iraqi employees of that security company, along with seven Americans.
Our convoy left later and narrowly missed it.
If we had been with that convoy, our fate wouldn’t have been any better.
No matter how good your combat skills are, when faced with high-tech stuff like cluster bombs, everyone’s the same.
You can’t hide.”
Nate seemed to have a psychological shadow, perhaps without realizing it himself.
After quickly explaining to Gao Yang, Nate waved his arm to reinforce his point, “We need to evacuate quickly.
The Colombian Air Force has equipped their attack aircraft with forward-looking infrared devices.
Perhaps the incoming fighters right now don’t have such high-end equipment installed, but there’s no reason to believe they would to keep them from being deployed.
If attack aircraft equipped with forward-looking infrared and cluster bombs arrive, hiding in the woods will be useless.”
Gao Yang immediately made up his mind, his voice grave, “Which direction do you think we should break out in?”
Nate hesitated, then said, “West.
It’s the direction that allows the shortest time to enter the rainforest.”
“Good, then we’ll break out south.”
Nate frowned, “Why?”
Gao Yang said seriously, “Your luck is terrible.
Every choice you make is wrong, while my luck.
.
.
well, you’ve seen it.
So, as long as you’ve made a decision, I just have to do the opposite.”
Nate let out a laugh, “That makes sense.
Your luck indeed seems much better than mine.
Alright, we’ll do as you say.”
Although Gao Yang wasn’t sure if there were already enemies to the south, he had chosen to break out in that direction, so whether there were enemies or not, they would just have to force their way through.
Just as Gao Yang was about to order the breakout, someone suddenly said in his earphone, “Report, we’ve found and captured a parachuting pilot; he’s injured.
Another one has escaped; should we continue the pursuit?”
Gao Yang was greatly energized and immediately said, “Having one is enough, bring him over.”
After giving the order, Gao Yang said to Nate, “I’ve changed my mind; now that we have a captive, I think we should interrogate him first before making a decision.”
Nate looked at his watch and said, “You make the decision, but don’t take too long, solve it within two minutes.”
The injured pilot had landed on a tree during his parachute jump, and although he wasn’t hanging in midair, he was scraped all over by branches and had injured his leg in the process, which is why he couldn’t escape after parachuting down.
The injured pilot was quickly brought to Gao Yang and Nate, but by then Gao Yang didn’t even have a chance to interject.
Nate, with his wealth of experience, naturally knew what to ask.
As he questioned the pilot in Spanish, Gao Yang just listened quietly by his side.
The injured pilot looked very frightened and cooperated completely with Nate’s interrogation.
When Nate had finished, Gao Yang immediately asked, “What did you find out?”
Nate, with a smile on his face, said, “There won’t be any planes coming with cluster bombs, is that good news?”
“That is indeed good news, but can a pilot know all this?”
Nate smiled and said, “Colombia only imported six cluster bombs in total, and they haven’t imported any more after using them up.”
Gao Yang nodded and asked, “What else?”
Nate shrugged his shoulders and said, “The president has sworn to annihilate us, so after we were exposed at the checkpoint, he ordered a pursuit.
However, they don’t have the right troops for this order, so they deployed the Air Force Special Command Group, which was a reserve force, and some members of the Jaguar Corps.”
“How many men?
Do you know that?”
Nate touched his chin, speaking gravely, “They dispatched four C-130s, six Super Tucano aircraft, five Black Hawks, three Iroquois, all fully loaded.
About eighty men of the Jaguar Corps will conduct a heliborne assault using the Air Force helicopters, and the Air Force Special Command Group will perform a parachute drop from the four C-130s, with a total of two hundred and forty men.”
Gao Yang gasped, “That’s a lot of men!”
Nate nodded and said, “That’s how many they are.
There are many; that’s the bad news, but there’s good news too.
The Colombian military has sent all their rapid deployment forces, not one left, meaning, for the time being, no troops can come quickly.
At most, some fighter aircraft might come for support, but only Mirage 5s left.
The Super Tucano aircraft must return to the airfield to rearm if they want to re-enter the battle; they no longer have spare aircraft to send.”
Gao Yang, also touching his chin, said, “Three hundred plus men sound pretty scary, but when you think about it carefully, it doesn’t seem to matter much.
If they unite and attack together, we’ll be in trouble.
But what they’re doing now is spreading out to surround us, in which case we actually have the numerical advantage in local confrontations.”
Nate smiled slightly and said, “You’re right, the local force advantage is ours, not the enemy’s.”
A smile also appeared on Gao Yang’s face as he said, “Whether it’s a heliborne or parachute drop, that still counts as airborne troops, which means they won’t have heavy weapons.”
“Exactly, they don’t even have mortars, just rocket launchers and grenade launchers; so, we have the advantage in heavy firepower too.
Besides, this pilot just said that their aircraft have basically used up all their ammunition, so the Super Tucano aircraft have to return to base.”
Gao Yang couldn’t help wanting to laugh now; he grinned and said, “So, it means we can put up a fight, gain a favorable situation, and then drive off.
This way, our severely wounded have a much better chance of survival, but what if the Super Tucano aircraft rearm and come back after we drive away?”
Nate laughed and said, “Their rearming time is forty-five minutes, and we can head back to No.
40 Motorway, travel by single vehicles, don’t form a convoy and it’ll be fine.
Let’s hope they’re quick enough to close down the motorway and all the small access roads as well, otherwise, let those fighter jets distinguish whether each car on the motorway is the target they’re looking for.”
Gao Yang laughed out loud and said, “If this were a computer game, the difficulty would’ve gone from hell mode to normal mode.
Alright, how about the combat effectiveness of the Air Force Special Command Group?”
Nate boldly declared, “Don’t know, we can evaluate them after we take them down.”