Mercenary’s War Chapter 1888 - 1865: Persuade Him at Gunpoint

Gao Yang and Rebrov went outside, listening to the sound of artillery.

"How far?"

Rebrov listened intently, gestured with his hand for Gao Yang to keep quiet, and after a mont of tension, said nervously, "The shells are landing very close to us, no more than three kiloters. This is the sound of a 122mm shell."

After listening again for a mont, Rebrov suddenly said, "152! This is the 152 artillery!"

Gao Yang dared not speak, afraid of disturbing Rebrov. Suddenly, a dense explosion sounded like one unbroken roar. As the sound passed, Rebrov imdiately said, "122mm rocket barrage! Otherwise it wouldn’t reach this density."

After concentrating and listening for a mont, Rebrov nodded at Gao Yang and said, "Nothing else, just these three types of artillery, firing from beyond ten kiloters but not too far, we can still hear the faint sound of gunfire. Listen! Do you hear it? That muffled sound, it’s the firing of the 152 artillery, Governnt Forces don’t have many large-caliber guns, maybe only three."

Gao Yang swallowed his saliva and said, "Amazing? How can you tell?"

Rebrov smiled and said, "Very simple, you can always recognize the sound of the 152 shell explosion, three simultaneous explosions at most, then continuous firing, that’s the normal rapid-firing speed of three guns, very easy to distinguish."

Gao Yang gave a thumbs-up and then urgently asked, "What about the 122 artillery?"

"Can’t tell how many, about ten or so, roughly, as for the rocket artillery, around six. Looking at this configuration and the number of artillery pieces, it’s a mixed artillery battalion launching the bombardnt, nine 122 artillery, three 152 artillery, six 122 rocket launchers, there are temporary mixed battalions like this in the Ukrainian Artillery Troops, shouldn’t be wrong."

Gao Yang said sincerely, "Impressive! I didn’t expect you could tell all this, I can only roughly distinguish what type of artillery, can’t tell the distance, and certainly can’t discern the number of artillery pieces."

Rebrov wiped his nose and, listening to the artillery sound with one ear, said, "It’s a plain here, easier to distinguish these things, but if it were mountains, or where buildings are especially tall, it wouldn’t be possible. First, sound wouldn’t travel this far, and there would be echo interference, it wouldn’t work then."

After speaking, Rebrov suddenly looked at Gao Yang and shouted, "There’s trouble, this is artillery preparation."

Gao Yang of course knew what artillery preparation was. Before launching an attack, they would first focus artillery to bombard the enemy, implenting an organized, planned, and targeted artillery strike, that’s artillery preparation. Since it’s preparation, once it’s over, they’d naturally launch an attack.

"Are you sure this is artillery preparation?"

Rebrov said confidently, "Of course, the artillery density and firing speed, it’s textbook artillery preparation, I studied this, impossible to mishear. It’s not a large-scale artillery preparation, but certainly preparation, you’ll soon see. Once preparation ends, the next will be barrage firing."

Gao Yang imdiately asked, "According to your training, how long does artillery preparation last?"

"There’s no fixed ti limit, but it has to reach a certain density and intensity before it ends. Uh, the opponent’s artillery has observers, they’ll judge based on the damage effects. Right now, it’s the phase of intensive artillery bombardnt, just the start of preparation. I estimate at least a few more minutes to destroy the militia’s defense line and proceed with barrage firing, then Governnt Forces tanks and infantry will charge."

Gao Yang said, slightly tense, "The Governnt Forces have already taken the highway, are already on the city’s edge, if the artillery extends, and the combined arms assault charges in, it’ll hit the downtown, that’s urban warfare!"

Rebrov looked at Gao Yang and then loudly said, "Boss."

"Hmm?"

"We’re at the city’s edge, the northwest corner, the governnt’s artillery extension and combined arms assault, they may not necessarily go directly into downtown. They might intend to complete the encirclent of Khartsyzk."

This is where small-scale special operations differ from those trained for large-scale regular army battles; expertise varies. Gao Yang and Rebrov co from different starting points of thought.

Gao Yang is thinking of a rapid, clean decapitation strike against the enemy command, so he’s envisioning how, since artillery preparation is already done, to completely capture the city next.

Rebrov, anwhile, isn’t thinking about capturing Khartsyzk in one go. He’s considering using artillery to clear the town’s outlying defenses, then how to have tanks and infantry encircle the city. As long as Khartsyzk is surrounded, and the militia loses fixed firing points and anti-tank heavy weapons, Khartsyzk can be left alone. With enough reinforcents, there’s urban warfare; without sufficient forces, just completing Khartsyzk’s encirclent suffices, achieving the tactical objective once encircled.

With Rebrov’s words, Gao Yang broke into a cold sweat, then imdiately shouted into the radio, "Panda! You two hurry back, also, tell Doleisherlian’s people to evacuate quickly! Must transfer the wounded imdiately! The enemy is about to conduct a shelling, acknowledged, over!"

"Panda acknowledged, the wounded have already been transferred, the bodies buried, we’ve been transferring the wounded imdiately after aid here, there are only a dozen lightly wounded left now, report completed."

Gao Yang let out a breath, then urgently said, "Whatever you’re doing, drop it and co back into the basent imdiately. Once the enemy’s artillery preparation ends, they may launch an assault, we could be the target, can’t wait any longer."

"Understood, but this has already beco a field hospital, I can’t persuade the person in charge here, he refuses to leave until he receives a withdrawal order."

"F**k! Is he nuts? This is war, why are there such stubborn guys?"

"Yes, he’s too responsible, insists on staying at his post, as long as there’s a chance of wounded being sent here, he won’t leave."

Nate couldn’t possibly know everything happening on the front line, and Khartsyzk’s commander might not yet realize the opponent’s intentions, or hasn’t had ti to consider this field hospital.

Gao Yang, who didn’t want to ddle, couldn’t watch the field hospital be destroyed by artillery, he took out his phone and called Nate while shouting, "For idiots like this, persuade them with a gun!"