604: Chapter 598: Raid War 604: Chapter 598: Raid War The battlefield had fallen into a reluctant stalemate.
Asking mercenaries to fight battles that were obviously sending them to their deaths, no amount of money could convince them to do it, so those who drove tanks and armored vehicles refused to advance, while a pure infantry assault would find the Skull Gang’s artillery waiting for them.
It was normal not to want to die, but once paid, retreating at the first sign of trouble was definitely not acceptable.
It was one thing to retreat upon defeat, but retreating before the situation had escalated to that necessity was out of the question.
The employer wouldn`t approve, so the Russian and Kenyan mercenaries tasked with high-risk missions didn`t retreat either.
If both sides of a war were composed of mercenaries, or if mercenaries made up the main force, it was quite normal for a battle that seemed unwinnable to end up in a stalemate.
Either something had to change on one’s own side to defeat the enemy, or wait for the enemy to change and then defeat them before retreating.
Both sides were now waiting for the key to victory, and coincidentally, both were waiting for helicopters.
Gao Yang was definitely eager to win, so not only would he not retreat, but he kept contemplating how to attack.
As for the British, they also wanted to win and crush the Skull Gang, so they wouldn’t retreat either, and were also thinking about how to attack and inflict maximum casualties on the Skull Gang.
Both sides had a strong will to keep fighting, and, as it seemed, were evenly matched with equal determination to win.
So despite neither side being able to surround or significantly damage the other, they ended up in a standoff.
During the day they faced off, with the British in the city, while the Skull Gang made camp on the beach to the west of Gazaley City and in the forests to the southwest.
In their first encounter, after both sides were taken aback by the other’s superior firepower, they each began specific deployments; the Skull Gang feverishly dug anti-tank trenches while the British dug artillery foxholes.
Of course, individual soldier’s foxholes were something both sides would dig whenever they had free time, whether they would be used or not.
The beach quickly became dotted with holes within half a day.
Gao Yang feared a nighttime surprise attack.
The British had not only a greater number but also higher-quality night battle equipment than the Skull Gang, which only had RPG-7’s with tritium sights that provided some night vision capability, whereas almost every British soldier had either night vision or thermal imaging devices.
It was precisely because of the fear of a nighttime attack that Gao Yang set up very detailed guard posts, placed no more than several dozen meters apart, employing all of the Skull Gang’s night vision equipment, and staffing each post with at least three people.
The desert heats up and cools down quickly.
After a day under the hot sun, the temperature cooled substantially once night fell completely.
Gao Yang, at the edge of the forest, monitored the British position with a thermal imager mounted on his rifle.
He had increased the distance from the British to almost one thousand five hundred meters, but the thermal imager he got from the Angel Mercenary Corps still worked well.
In his night vision device, he often saw enemy movements; even Cui Bo’s largest night vision device had a limit of around one thousand two hundred meters to clearly distinguish human heat signatures, and you’d have to get at least within one thousand meters for clarity.
If Gao Yang had a large-caliber sniper rifle like Cui Bo’s, with the frequent appearance of people in his scope, he might have taken some shots.
However, the range of his gun wasn’t enough, so he dismissed the idea.
Mounting the thermal imager on Cui Bo’s rifle would mean having enough range, but at a distance of one thousand five hundred meters, the rifle’s accuracy for hitting people was already too iffy to be worthwhile, and might even provoke unwanted battles.
So Gao Yang simply decided not to stir up trouble and just kept a steady watch on the enemy, making sure not to be ambushed.
Surveillance was done in shifts, maintaining dual posts; one used Gao Yang’s night vision device to monitor the British position, while the other kept close-range watch.
By midnight, Glolov and Eileen took over from Gao Yang and Li Jinfang, and Gao Yang found a spot, laid down directly on the ground, and slept.
It was deadly hot during the day, but as the night deepened, it became somewhat cold.
The ground in the forest was sandy, wearing breathable, quick-dry clothes was quite comfortable during the day, but lying directly on the ground, now was quite uncomfortable.
Gao Yang felt a bit hungry and cold, but exhausted and sleepy as he was, he still managed to fall asleep.
He had just closed his eyes for a short while and slipped into a dream when suddenly he heard a burst of intense gunfire.
Gao Yang had been lying on the ground when he was jolted awake, and before his mind was fully alert, his instinct was to roll over and lie flat on the ground.
He then rapidly drew his pistol, switched off the safety, and by the time he finished all this, he was completely awake—all in less than a second.
The gunfire and the sound of continuous machine-gun fire was intense, though it sounded quite distant.
“Gunshots over there!
Who’s shooting over there?”
After Gao Yang shouted twice, Glolov, who was monitoring, said loudly into the radio, “Those bastards are shooting inside the city.
They’re doing it on purpose.
There’s no attack.
They just want to startle us, wake everyone up.”
After cursing angrily for a moment, Gao Yang disengaged the safety on his pistol and put it back in its holster before rolling over and lying back down on the ground.
Once he lay down, he spoke into the radio, “Three Cannons, respond.
What’s your situation over there?”
Zhou Zhou also said indignantly, “Those sons of bitches.
They scared everyone awake.
I just ran to the position and realized that the enemy is deliberately disturbing our sleep.”
After cursing bitterly again, Gao Yang said, “What goes around comes around.
These idiots have forgotten that we’ve got artillery.
Three Cannons, no one sleeps tonight.
Hit them every hour—a round of rockets and mortars.
Don’t need to fire too much, just twenty or thirty rounds should do.
I don’t believe they can outlast us.
Even if the British aren’t afraid, those pirates will have their nests bombed!”
Zhou Zhou replied with pleasure, “Alright.
Once every hour.
Sleep, not a chance!
Unlike theirs with only harassment effect, we will directly hit their camp.
Bomb them to death!
There’s just one issue: the enemy might be living amongst civilians in the city.
Um, is collateral damage allowed?”
After pondering for a moment, Gao Yang said, “Stop joking.
What collateral damage?
Gazaley is full of pirates.
No one would be wronged if they died.
Collateral damage to whom?
The issue doesn’t exist at all.
Don’t you have the satellite map of the main areas occupied by the enemy in Gazaley City?
Bomb their main gathers at the coordinates, and don’t worry whether they’re British or pirates.
It’d be best to blast all those bastards to death!
Just start firing.
As long as we have a base number left by the time the ammunition arrives, that will suffice.”
With a sly laugh, Zhou Zhou said, “Consider it done.
Watch me bombard Gazaley.”
The reason Gao Yang hadn’t bombarded Gazaley was that he was worried about running out of ammunition.
A large-scale bombardment wouldn’t solve the problem and would waste too much ammunition.
After all, he only had light artillery; it wasn’t like in World War II when heavy artillery could level a city into ruins.
However, since the enemy was provoking them, Gao Yang didn’t mind trying to see if he could flatten a small town with light artillery.
The artillery soldiers were already in position after being disturbed by the enemy.
As soon as Gao Yang gave the order, the bombardment began immediately with rockets whooshing away.
Gao Yang notified all combat personnel via radio to prevent any misjudgment of the situation.
After he finished coordinating these tasks, Cui Bo shouted, “Brother Yang, since we can’t sleep anyway, how about a late-night snack?
Get up and gather some branches; once we start a fire, we can have our midnight snack.”
Feeling cold and hungry, Gao Yang, after hearing Cui Bo’s suggestion, waved his hand and said, “Rabbit, dig out a stove.
Everyone else bring out the 78 pots and gather branches.
Time for a midnight snack.”
Gao Yang’s rations were U.S.
Army individual soldier rations.
They were convenient to purchase, provided enough calories, and were easy to eat, but the taste was truly awful.
It was said that the military purposely made them taste bad to prevent soldiers from snacking on their issued rations.
In fact, individual soldier rations from any country are hard to swallow, and Gao Yang had never tasted any that were good.
Once the fire was lit and water poured into the 78 pot’s cooking container, compressed biscuits and chocolate from the rations were also added.
The lid was put on and set over the fire to boil.
When the water boiled and the contents turned into a mushy mess, the taste was still terrible, but a sip of it quickly warmed the body.
After taking a sip, Gao Yang smacked his lips and said, “It’s disgusting, so damn disgusting.
Not sweet, not salty, what the hell is this crap?”
Holding his ration pot, Li Jinfang quickly finished his share, then smacking his lips, he said, “Brother Yang, after all, you’ve never served in the army.
Back when we were thrown into the woods to learn survival, eating this would have made us laugh to death.
This tastes way better than eating snakes and mice raw, right?”
Looking at his ration pot, Rafael said, “Good stuff, indeed not bad.
It’s a pot and a water bottle in one, very practical.”
Gao Yang, ignoring the heat, quickly finished his portion and said, “It’s terrible, but at least it’s comforting.
No longer cold, at least.
You guys continue, I’m going to replace Big Dog and Eileen for a bite.”
Gao Yang walked over to Glolov, took his rifle, and said, “Go and eat.
I’ll cover for you for a while.”
As he spoke, Gao Yang brought the scope to his eye.
However, after just a glance, he immediately yelled, “Be alert!
The enemy is leaving the city, extinguish the fire, all hands on deck!”(To be continued.
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