623: Chapter 616: Decapitation Operation 623: Chapter 616: Decapitation Operation Two soldiers from the second platoon escorted a prisoner to Gao Yang’s location.
The prisoner looked to be over forty, with a broad back and sturdy build.
His face bore a naturally fierce appearance, yet at this moment, it was devoid of any ferocity and instead painted with panic.
When he was brought before Gao Yang, his legs even trembled.
After such a prolonged battle, the Skull Gang had suffered significant casualties, but the pirates’ losses were even greater.
What Gao Yang could not understand, however, was why the clearly outmatched pirates could still manage to hold out.
The pirates lacked combat strength, but close-quarters battles usually occurred at very short distances.
Most of the pirates were poor marksmen, but with many firing their weapons, they inevitably posed a great threat.
They were also hiding behind fortifications and bunkers, which naturally made the fighting quite difficult.
What Gao Yang desired most was to understand why the pirates had been able to hold out for so long.
Without asking anything, Gao Yang aimed his shotgun at the pirate boss’s head and simply said, “I ask, you answer.
I ask, you don’t answer, and I’ll blow your head off immediately.
I assure you, I won’t ask the same question twice, so seize every opportunity to respond to me.”
The pirate boss nodded repeatedly and answered in heavily accented English, “Yes, yes, I understand, but the Skull Gang doesn’t kill prisoners.”
The principle of the Skull Gang was to spare lives whenever possible if there was a surrender.
Although they couldn’t be said to treat prisoners with much leniency, they indeed managed not to execute prisoners.
Gao Yang snickered and said, “Obviously, we are not from the Skull Gang, so stop worrying about whether or not prisoners are killed.
Now, tell me your name.”
“Eddie, my name is Eddie.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “That’s a good start, Eddie.
I know you’re a pirate boss.
Now tell me, how many men do you have?
The area you’re in charge of.”
Eddie, having surrendered, answered swiftly, “I had about five hundred men under my command, with roughly two hundred casualties.
Now, the remaining three hundred have all surrendered under my leadership.”
Eddie’s surrender immediately stopped the resistance in a large area.
The Skull Gang had now taken over the defensive zone they were responsible for, amounting to roughly one-fourth of Gesale.
On the inland side, away from the sea, the Skull Gang had taken control of about half of Gesale following Eddie’s surrender.
Gao Yang pondered for a moment before saying, “Tell me about your battle plans, in detail.”
Eddie urgently said, “Our battle plan was to hold out.
You came too quickly; we weren’t prepared when you arrived.
The British brought tanks and armored vehicles; we thought it would be easy to win.
But we didn’t expect all the tanks and armored vehicles to be destroyed by you.
At that time I wanted to leave Gesale, but the British said their reinforcement would arrive soon and that they would definitely eliminate the Skull Gang completely.
Plus, they were going to have helicopter support, so, well, that’s why I stayed with my men.”
Eddie seemed very disheartened.
After speaking, he waved his hand vigorously and said, “But the British helicopters didn’t arrive, yours did.
The sea was blockaded too, so even if I wanted to retreat, I couldn’t.”
Gao Yang spoke in a stern voice, “If you didn’t want to keep fighting, why didn’t you surrender at the beginning?”
Eddie’s face fell.
He looked reluctant to answer, but considering the consequences of not responding, he finally said, “The British promised that their helicopters and reinforcements would arrive today, and that you wouldn’t be able to conquer Gesale within a day.
As long as we held out, we were sure to defeat you.
But your assault was too fierce; my men couldn’t hold on, and too many were dying.”
Eddie, quite straightforward, once he started talking, he laid it all bare.
Waving his hand again, he spoke with a frightful look, “Your men were too fierce.
I was planning to pull back to the British position, but before we could move, we were surrounded.
If I didn’t surrender right then, I was going to die, so of course I had to surrender.
Since I surrendered, it wouldn’t make sense for my men to die as well, so I ordered everyone to surrender together.”
After a sigh, Eddie said, “We are pirates, but our men aren’t very good at fighting.
It’s normal for us to surrender.”
As if justifying his actions, Eddie added another sentence after his explanation.
Gao Yang, however, was not interested in Eddie’s psychological activities.
He immediately asked, “How many British are left?”
After pondering for a moment, Eddie hesitantly said, “There should be about two hundred left.
They lost quite a few to artillery on the first day, but I don’t know the exact number.
Also, several were killed by mortars yesterday, and some died inside tanks; I saw it with my own eyes.
About ten died yesterday, and today, twenty were sent to help defend my position.
Now that you’ve taken our positions, those twenty must be dead.
All in all, about fifty or more of the British have died.
Yesterday, when we were discussing plans together, the British boss was very angry.
He warned us that even if this war ended, they wouldn’t spare those of us who surrendered.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Very well, your candor pleases me, so your chances of surviving have increased significantly.
Now, tell me, among the British there are some who belong to the Holmesny Mercenary Corps.
How much do you know about this?”
Eddie shook his head blankly and said, “I don’t know, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Gao Yang thought for a moment and said, “I mean snipers.
You know what snipers are, right?
A bunch of snipers grouped together.
Do you know their location?”
Eddie’s face lit up with understanding as he said, “I get it now.
You’re talking about those people with scoped rifles, all secretive, right?
I know, I know about them.
There’s quite a few of them.
I’ve seen them twice, but these people are all secretive, wandering around the town, and during combat, they don’t stick with anyone else.
Today, there were three of these people on my defensive line, along with their companions, uh, in total there should be, that is, seven of them, these seven always stick together, but only three with scopes on their rifles.
Now that you mention it, I remember these guys don’t seem to listen much to the British boss.
The British boss has to discuss things with them if he has issues.
I’ve seen this happen.”
Gao Yang couldn’t help but become anxious and said, “And the rest of them?
Those secretive fellows, where are the rest?”
Eddie pointed westward and said, “Over there, on the far end.
Yesterday some of them got into a tank and all died, which really pissed those guys off.
They’re all on the west side of the town.”
Gao Yang stroked his chin and said, “Now that the battle has started and your defensive line has been breached, why aren’t those secretive British coming to help?”
Eddie spread his hands and said, “The British won’t help.
I’ve been asking for a long time for everyone to defend the whole district together, but the British refused.
They only care about their own area.
I said if they don’t help, I’ll take my men and retreat.
They had no choice but to send twenty people over this way.
These guys just want us to die first, to buy them time.
Of course, they’re unwilling to support us now.
I think they’re probably waiting for the reinforcements and helicopters to arrive before they really start to fight.
It must be like this.”
Eddie turned out to be an understanding person; it was simpler to talk to someone who understood.
Gao Yang immediately said, “Do you know what time the British reinforcements will arrive?”
Eddie nodded and said, “The British just said their reinforcements and helicopters would arrive together.
We just need to hold on for another four hours.
But I’m sure I can’t last that long.
The others might try to hold out a bit longer, or else they would have surrendered by now.”
Gao Yang hadn’t expected an answer, but to his surprise, Eddie indeed knew the time of the arrival of British reinforcements.
Upon reflection, it made sense; to boost morale and provide some confidence to their less reliable allies, the British would surely keep them updated about when reinforcements were due, and that information would likely be accurate.
If reinforcements failed to arrive when the time came, the morale of the deterred pirates would plummet, leading to immediate surrender.
Thus, even if the reinforcements weren’t arriving soon, the British would have to tell the truth.
Besides, four hours was a very short time given the current state of the battle.
Gao Yang pondered for a moment before asking, “Do you know where the British reinforcements will come from?
I mean, where they will land, how they will enter the town?
And the number of reinforcements, do you know that?”
Eddie shook his head and said, “I don’t know where they will come from, but about the number, the British said there would definitely be three hundred people, all tough guys, and four helicopters named Cobra, plus some anti-aircraft missiles.
They reassured us over and over that as soon as the reinforcements arrive, we will surely win this fight.”
If the helicopters are called Cobra, they must be the AH-1.
Three hundred reinforcements with four helicopters and anti-aircraft missiles—Eddie was right; once the British reinforcements arrived, they really could turn the tide.
After carefully considering, Gao Yang concluded that to win, he either had to cut off and attack reinforcements or finish the battle before British reinforcements arrived and let them retreat on their own.
Even if he still had to fight, he could then focus all his forces to deal with the incoming reinforcements.
Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “Those pirates, the remaining pirates, what is the quickest way to make them surrender immediately?”
Eddie hesitated before saying, “To them, it doesn’t matter how many of their men die; recruiting pirates is easy.
But their own lives, those are precious.
So if you want them to surrender, you have to threaten their safety.
However, their positions are all in the rear.”
Eddie was obviously referring to the remaining pirate leaders.
Gao was quite satisfied and nodded, saying, “Good, look at this map.
Can you point out their positions?”
After looking at the satellite map Gao Yang had taken out, Eddie nodded and said, “I know where they are hiding, but this map looks different from what I’m used to.
However, I should be able to figure it out.”
“Take a good look, no rush, you must not make a mistake.
Find all the hiding places of the pirate leaders.”
After speaking to Eddie, Gao Yang turned to those beside him and said, “Prepare for a decapitation strike!” (To be continued.
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