Mercenary's War

In the Khat Room, Gao Yang met Abdullah, as well as Lavagani’s successor, Said.

As Iran’s highest representative stationed in Yemen, the original Lavagani and Gao Yang were very much at odds, but ever since Gao Yang saved Lavagani and did him a favor by turning him from a prisoner into a hero, the relationship between Lavagani and Gao Yang had become extremely, extremely good.

And as Lavagani’s successor, Said had shown strong goodwill toward Gao Yang from the very beginning, but Gao Yang didn’t have many chances to meet Said; counting this time, this was only their third meeting.

Gao Yang naturally knew what Abdullah and Said needed.

Abdullah hoped to stabilize the situation in Aden, while Said, as Iran’s man in charge in Yemen, had recently suffered several setbacks. He had to hurry to prove himself, but he didn’t dare send Iranian soldiers again; if they suffered another major blow, he’d probably have to slink back home in disgrace.

Abdullah was just chewing Khat; after warmly expressing his welcome and joy at reuniting with Gao Yang, he didn’t say much more, and although Said politely welcomed Gao Yang, he didn’t rush to jump out either.

Salim was also present, but since Abdullah was there, he certainly wouldn’t be the first to stand up and ask Gao Yang to go to Aden. He was only the messenger, but when it came time to lay the cards on the table, it would definitely still have to be Abdullah personally.

Gao Yang was in no hurry; it wasn’t like he was the one asking for favors. So he spoke slowly: "This time I came bringing some aid, including two sets of Dot U-Tactical Ground-to-Ground Missiles: two missile launcher vehicles, four support vehicles, six missiles in total. The personnel to launch the missiles have already arrived ahead of time. Once the missiles get here, they can be put into use very quickly."

These missiles were sent by Grand Ivan, free of charge, but once they were fired, that would be it. Meanwhile, the Houthis Armed Forces still had a batch of surface-to-surface missiles they’d hidden away from the former Government Forces. Gao Yang’s idea was to use these two Dot missile sets as bait to get the other missiles in the Houthis Armed Forces’ hands.

Satan was no longer the old Satan that had to personally show up for everything and rely on small arms to slug it out. The current Satan had money and resources and could fully afford a firepower upgrade. If there was a dangerous mission, just shell it with artillery; if artillery wasn’t enough, go straight to missiles. If one missile wasn’t enough, then fire two.

There were plenty of mercenaries in this world, but those who could actually use surface-to-surface missiles were very few; it was very likely Satan was the only one.

Abdullah spat out the Khat in his mouth, then, choosing his words carefully, said, "Thank you, Mr. Petram, for bringing such valuable assistance. It’s just that ground-to-ground missiles don’t have much immediate significance for us at the moment. Our primary task right now is to reverse the disadvantageous situation in Aden. I don’t know if your country can provide some advice in this regard?"

Gao Yang smiled and said, "On this issue, Salim has already talked to me once. My personal view is that as long as Mr. Sanjani makes a move, it should be easily resolved, right?"

He called it a personal view, but as if Abdullah and Said would believe that; they immediately assumed Russia was kicking the ball down the road. After all, the Northwest Border involved only Saudi Arabia’s forces, but Aden had the ten-nation Allied Forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Said nodded to Gao Yang, then said in a low voice, "Regarding Aden, we naturally have to take action. But before we launch a large-scale counterattack, we need to first deploy small units for special operations, to hit the enemy’s morale and disrupt their deployments. We can’t let the enemy get too smug."

Gao Yang smiled and said, "I believe that won’t be difficult for you."

Said said helplessly, "The thing is, I don’t have enough manpower at the moment."

Abdullah didn’t want to keep probing like this. He directly said, "Mr. Petram, the results you’ve achieved on the Northwest Border are obvious to everyone. I don’t think there’s a more suitable candidate than you. I just don’t know whether you’re willing to help us go to Aden and turn around the current deadlock there?"

Gao Yang let out a long sigh and said, quite helplessly, "For me personally, this isn’t such a big deal. Whether it’s the Northwest Border or Aden, it’s all the same. But right now I’m a bit short on manpower. If we go to Aden to fight a guerrilla war, can we get sufficient supplies? Can we get sufficient manpower?"

Abdullah said without hesitation, "Of course. The Houthis Armed Forces will certainly spare no effort to meet all your requirements."

Gao Yang shook his head, a bit helpless, and said, "I’m clear on the situation over in Aden, so I’m not counting on getting reinforcements when things get dangerous. But without enough heavy firepower, I can’t take a dozen men armed only with rifles to harass the enemy. How is that supposed to inflict any serious damage?"

Abdullah said anxiously, "Mr. Petram, as I said, the Houthis Armed Forces are willing to do their utmost to satisfy all your requirements. If you need heavy firepower, you can choose freely from all the equipment we currently have."

Gao Yang immediately said, "All right, I need artillery. No towed artillery, it has to be self-propelled artillery."

Abdullah also answered very readily, "We still have a few self-propelled guns, they’re all yours."

Gao Yang shook his head with a wry smile and said, "What models of self-propelled artillery do you have?"

Abdullah reached up to rub his head and said in a low voice, "All kinds of models."

Abdullah couldn’t go on, because the Houthis Armed Forces’ existing artillery models were a messy assortment and very old, with calibers not even unified.

At this moment, Said suddenly said, "We can provide self-propelled artillery: the 122mm Thunder-1, or the 155mm Thunder-2, both are possible!"

Gao Yang spread his hands, his face full of helplessness, and said, "Our artillery units suffered heavy losses from airstrikes on the Northwest Border, as you all know. This time I did bring new artillerymen, but they’re only familiar with Russian-style artillery, especially self-propelled guns. Gentlemen, you certainly understand how important familiarity is for technical weapons troops, so I won’t belabor the point. I just want to say we really don’t have the time to train soldiers to get familiar with a completely unfamiliar artillery system."

After saying this with great helplessness, Gao Yang sounded quite like he was trying to decline as he went on, "On the Northwest Border, the situation is relatively stable, and we have no problem using various old artillery pieces. But in Aden, that won’t do. Unless you can give me a few months to get familiar with new artillery and ammunition types, my artillerymen can’t go to the front. And without artillery support, sorry, I can’t take my men to Aden to die."

Abdullah turned a pleading gaze toward Said, and Said gritted his teeth, then said in a deep voice, "If you need Russian-style self-propelled artillery, that’s not a big problem either. We can provide it!"