Mercenary’s War
Chapter 1148 - 1148 One Thousand One Hundred Thirty-One Not the Same

1148: Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Thirty-One: Not the Same 1148: Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Thirty-One: Not the Same Gao Yang picked a very good shooting position; his right arm had healed.

This was his first time back in combat using his specialty since he sustained injuries over a month ago in Aleppo Prison.

After opening the metal box and taking out boxes of bullets, Gao Yang waved at some of the soldiers in the prison and shouted, “Come here and help me change the bullets in the magazines.”

The long-distance rounds used by Gao Yang were very valuable; they were packed fifty to a box with soft fillers in between to prevent the bullets from colliding and wearing each other down.

The magazines loaded in Gao Yang’s rifle were filled with standard ammunition.

Standard rounds could be used for targets beyond eight hundred meters, but it was more strenuous.

It meant that Gao Yang would need more time to adjust his aim before firing, but with long-distance rounds, his adjustment time could be drastically reduced.

Removing the rounds one by one from the magazine and then loading it with the long-distance rounds, Gao Yang had ten magazines; the process would be quicker with a few more people helping him load.

Saidev had finished his work of deploying troops and also came to Gao Yang’s side, picking up a magazine and started to help load the bullets.

“Don’t you need to command on the front line?”

Hearing Gao Yang’s question, Saidev replied gravely, “No, everyone knows what they should do.”

After all the magazines were reloaded, Gao Yang fitted one into his rifle, strapped the rest to his body, cocked his gun, lay prone at the shooting spot, aimed and tried out his position, then said in a deep tone, “This spot is not bad; I’ll stay here.”

Having said that, Gao Yang stood up again, picked up his ammunition box and placed it behind him, then spoke into the radio, “Big Bird, are the enemies about to start their attack?”

“Not yet, but it will be soon.

They have already stood up and started moving.”

Behind Gao Yang, Saidev shouted, “I wonder if they’ll start with an artillery barrage this time and attack after preparing with artillery fire.”

No sooner had Saidev finished speaking than a booming sound of artillery was heard, and a column of smoke arose within the walls of the prison.

“Oh, it seems that they are indeed starting with artillery preparation.”

Marked by the fall of a mortar shell, the Rebel Army’s offense officially began.

Most of the prison’s defenders were positioned inside buildings.

Mortars and rocket shells posed little threat to them there, but soldiers in guard posts on the walls were at greater risk.

Gao Yang immediately said through the radio, “Little Fly, don’t stay on the wall; the enemy’s artillery will be dense.

Pull back for now, Worker Bee, take cover as well; stay away from the artillery position.”

Frey was still leading the anti-tank team, which was in a dangerous position, and Tommy needed to be in an open area to fire mortars, so they were also more threatened by artillery fire.

Withdrawing the personnel, what remained was to listen to the sound of artillery.

Explosions occurred inside and outside the prison sporadically, sounds of 82mm and 60mm mortars, as well as 107mm rocket artillery, but the artillery rounds were neither concentrated nor accurate.

After hearing a very peculiar explosion, Gao Yang curiously said, “What kind of artillery is that?

I’ve never heard it before.”

Saidev shouted back, “The Rebel Army made their own homemade cannons with gas canisters; they’re quite powerful, but utterly lack accuracy.”

The Rebel Army’s lack of gun-howitzers was fortunate since these are more accurate and can strike specific fire points in the prison—luckily, the Rebel Army lacked gun-howitzers.

Saidev looked at his watch, his face anxious as he said, “Why hasn’t our artillery support arrived yet?

It would have been great to bombard them heavily when they were amassing, but now they have dispersed, and the artillery support has yet to arrive.”

Gao Yang turned to look at Saidev, surprised, “We have artillery support?”

Saidev spread his hands and said, “Yes, Division 134 will provide us with artillery support.”

After failing to defeat the Rebel Army, Division 134’s positions had shrunk a bit, now about six or seven kilometers from Aleppo Prison.

The most numerous artillery piece in Syria’s arsenal is the D30 howitzer, and the main artillery of Division 134 is also the D30, so if we have artillery support, it would be from D30 howitzers.

But Division 134’s artillery neither fired rapidly nor accurately.

There aren’t many armies in the world that can truly wield artillery as a ‘God of War’, and the Syrian army clearly isn’t one of them.

If Huaxia’s army were here, they would not hesitate upon discovering Rebel Army assembly in the village; artillery rounds would have been fired to clear out the area long ago, unlike Division 134’s artillery battalion that hasn’t even completed battle preparations while the fight is already underway, and the densely gathered Rebel Army has already scattered.

As explosions sounded near and far, a louder boom suddenly erupted, and plumes of smoke and black fumes began rising from the village.

Division 134 finally began firing, but sadly, by this time, the artillery had little effect.

The enemy had already spread out, and the few that landed were not only scarce but also inaccurate.

A large dust cloud rose less than twenty meters from the prison walls.

The D30 howitzer rounds were the most powerful, making a distinct sound upon detonation, but this also frightened Gao Yang more because Division 134 had misfired, nearly hitting the prison and potentially bombing their own forces.

“Oh, oh, oh, F**k!

Major, quickly notify the artillery of the 134th Division to conserve some shells, and tell them to aim more accurately, don’t blow us up to heaven.”

Gao Yang shouted loudly; he certainly didn’t want to be hit by friendly fire.

The Rebel Army artillery wouldn’t have much impact on the prison buildings, but the shells from the 134th Division were a bigger threat than those of the Rebel Army.

At that moment, Jansen exclaimed loudly, “This is bad, the enemy tanks are coming at us in three groups: three tanks and five armored vehicles, all of them.”

Gao Yang lifted his binoculars to take a look, then said in a deep voice, “Has the Rebel Army changed their tactics?

Little Fly, be careful; the enemy’s tanks are splitting into three groups.”

This time, taking on tanks meant braving the enemy fire to climb up the wall and combat the tanks.

The enemy tanks approached rapidly, but again stopped about four to five hundred meters from the prison before one tank turret began rotating and fired a shell at a sentry post atop a wall.

A watchtower on the wall was blown to pieces, and though it didn’t completely collapse, the people inside were definitely doomed.

“F**k, that’s so accurate!”

Gao Yang was taken aback because the enemy tank fire was much more accurate than before.

Gao Yang felt worried and said urgently, “This won’t do, we can’t fight like this.

The enemy has changed their gunners; they’re much more formidable than last time.”

Saidev said helplessly, “Although we are learning about war, the Rebel Army is also learning, and they keep getting a steady stream of new recruits.

It seems this time they’ve got some serious players.”

In the intercom, Gao Yang said gravely, “Little Fly, be extra cautious.

The enemy tanks now know how to take advantage of their strengths.

Be very careful.”

Frey said helplessly, “Boss, we can’t reach the tanks, what should we do?”

Gao Yang responded helplessly, “Wait, wait until the tanks get close before firing.”

Frey said urgently, “The tanks won’t get that close easily.

Boss, can I try taking a few long-distance shots?”

A Rocket Launcher can hit tanks, but it’s certainly not the best weapon for it.

While armor-piercing warheads don’t care about the distance from the tank, once the range increases, hitting the tank with a Rocket Launcher becomes uncertain, and that’s the problem.

The rocket could fly beyond five hundred meters, but the RPG-27 has a direct-fire range of only two hundred meters, and the same goes for its range markings; beyond two hundred meters, you have to rely on intuition.

Frey might luck out and hit one, but the other Rocket Launcher gunners assigned to the anti-tank group won’t be able to shoot accurately.

The tank cannon rotated a bit and then aimed at another sentry post on the wall, taking another accurate shot.

The threat from the tanks was too significant, and Gao Yang, with his heart set, said sternly, “Little Fly, you can try to hit the tanks, but be very careful.”

Hitting a T72 with a rocket meant that the front armor was unlikely to be penetrated, so Frey had to aim for the side, but this severely limited the possible shooting positions, and once firing positions were thus limited, using the rocket became even more dangerous.

“Boss, I know.

Let me give it a try first.”

Frey picked up a Rocket Launcher and rushed to the top of the wall.

However, no sooner had Frey gotten up with the Rocket Launcher in hand than Jansen, monitoring the screen, yelled, “Get down from there!”

Gao Yang also shouted through the intercom, “Get out of there quickly!”

While holding his binoculars, Gao Yang noticed that as soon as Frey showed his head, the turret of another, farther away tank started turning towards him, and twin 23mm anti-aircraft guns mounted on a pickup truck also began rotating towards Frey.

Frey fired a rocket and immediately threw away the used Rocket Launcher, then ran down the stairs on the wall as fast as he could, finally jumping off when he was two to three meters from the ground.

First, a barrage of 23mm shells swept through the position where Frey had just been, and then one of the T72 tanks fired, completely obliterating where Frey had stood.

Gao Yang couldn’t help but wipe away a cold sweat and said again, “F**k, the enemy is so formidable this time.”

Saidev also spoke sternly, “The ones operating heavy weaponry in the Rebel Army this time are different, completely different.”

A weapon only displays its power in the hands of someone who knows how to use it; in the hands of someone who doesn’t, it’s just a fire stick.

The difference is stark.

Looking at some pickups to the west of the prison, Gao Yang noticed they were equipped with 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine guns and 23mm anti-aircraft guns.

Of course, these anti-air weapons were now being used for ground fire to suppress the prison’s defense forces.

Their positions were beyond one thousand five hundred meters, where their weapons still were very powerful, but beyond using mortar fire, the prison’s defenders had virtually no means to return fire.

Gao Yang had intended to preserve Glolov’s firepower for dealing with suicide trucks, but considering the situation, if the enemy could seal off the prison’s fire with anti-aircraft guns alone, the battle would become unwinnable.

Finally, Gao Yang said with resignation, “Big Dog, target the enemy’s direct-fire suppression.

We can’t let them get too out of hand.”(To be continued.

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