Mercenary’s War

Chapter 2350 - 2326: The Pre-Battle Demoralization Meeting

Night had fully fallen. After dinner, Gao Yang gathered everyone together and held a pre‑battle meeting.

All of Satan’s people were present, all of the Black Demon people were present as well, and even Rebrov had left the artillery company he’d just taken over and come back to take part in this pre‑battle meeting.

It had been a long time since they’d had this kind of pre‑battle meeting. Standing in front of the map sheets spread out and pinned to the wall, Gao Yang actually felt a bit excited.

Gao Yang realized he was still more suited to standing in front of an operational map thinking through problems; spending all day on plots and schemes didn’t suit him.

After standing in front of the map and looking for a moment, Gao Yang turned around and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, after a long period of planning, our operation is finally about to officially begin!"

Gao Yang paused. Only after many people, like him, let out a long breath did he say in a low voice, "This battle will be different from any of our previous engagements. We won’t be charging on the front line. Most of the time, we’ll be hidden in the shadows. So this is a covert operation—secrecy first, action second. Confidentiality, especially keeping our identities secret, is more important than anything else. This principle must be fully enforced. Do you all understand?"

"Understood!"

Including the Black Demon members, everyone answered Gao Yang’s question loudly and in unison.

This really was a case of the same old tune, but this was a pre‑battle meeting: it was about emphasizing the critical points one more time. Everyone had to reinforce these in their minds and strictly follow the discipline. Many things that had been said before, once repeated here, became orders that had to be obeyed unconditionally.

Standing in front of the map with his hands clasped behind his back, Gao Yang said in a deep voice, "Our objective is aligned with the Houthis Armed Forces, but our ultimate goal is definitely not on the same path as the Houthis. So, in most situations, our actions will be synchronized with theirs, but in certain necessary moments, we’ll have our own operational plans."

After stating the premise, Gao Yang turned and tapped the map with the wooden pointer in his hand, saying in a low voice, "Now, based on the intelligence we’ve received, I’ll brief you on the situation in Sana’a. The locations marked with red circles on the map are targets we need to be prepared to seize. The main objectives include: the Presidential Palace, the President’s Residence, the Parliament Building, two military camps, an oil depot, and an armory."

After pointing out several locations marked with red circles, Gao Yang then pointed to the areas outlined in blue circles and said in a low voice, "To monitor these key locations at close range, we’ve already scouted several covert safe spots. When the time comes, we’ll decide where to settle based on the situation. For now, the most likely footholds are the two near the Presidential Palace."

A lot of the plans had already been brought up and discussed many times before, but some plans had only been drawn up after they arrived in Yemen. So this pre‑battle meeting had another very important role: to brief everyone on these plans.

Eileen raised her hand and shouted, "Request permission to ask a question, sir!"

"Permission granted."

Eileen stood up and said loudly, "Boss, will both of the footholds near the Presidential Palace be activated at the same time? If so, why do we have to split our personnel between them? Question complete, sir!"

Gao Yang pointed at Eileen and smiled. "That’s a good question."

He chuckled, then pointed with the stick at the foothold very close to the Presidential Palace and said loudly, "This spot can’t accommodate too many people, but it has an excellent field of view and allows us to conveniently observe the situation at the Presidential Palace. As for this foothold, it’s nine hundred meters in a straight line from the Presidential Palace, with three possible routes to reach it. Launching an attack from here, it would take at most five minutes to reach the Presidential Palace."

After he finished, Gao Yang tapped the map again and said in a deep voice, "The closer foothold is for the team protecting Hadi. The farther one is for the team preparing to assault the Presidential Palace."

Quite a few people looked confused, especially Liang Dong, who seemed very at a loss.

Gao Yang straightened up and said in a low voice, "Anyone with questions can ask right away. I don’t want you going onto the battlefield with doubts in your head. In Satan, our principle is that everyone must understand what they’re doing and what they’re supposed to do."

"Sir!"

"Speak."

Liang Dong stood up, snapped to attention, and gave a crisp salute, then said loudly, "May I ask why we have to both attack and protect at the same time?"

Gao Yang smiled and said, "Because we need the Houthis Armed Forces to take control of Sana’a, but we can’t let them wipe out all the people from the current official government, especially Hadi. His existence is very important to us, because we need a standard‑bearer who can stand against the Houthis Armed Forces over the long term. So, if the Houthis’ assault doesn’t go well, we’ll attack personally. If the Houthis’ attack goes too smoothly, then the protection team will covertly escort Hadi out. Of course, these are contingency plans designed for the most extreme and urgent situations—chances are we won’t need to use them."

Liang Dong’s face showed sudden understanding, but then he looked a bit tangled and said, "This is... Sir, I understand!"

"Sit down."

After motioning for Liang Dong to sit, Gao Yang said loudly, "From this moment on, Satan is on combat footing. The clothes and weapons prepared for you are ready. Once you get back, immediately change into local attire. Unless absolutely necessary, you’re forbidden to use your own weapons, but if you run into a dangerous situation, you may use any means you deem appropriate to get out of danger."

After he finished, Gao Yang said with a very serious expression, "Everyone, I’ll repeat this one more time: each and every one of you making it back alive is more important than us accomplishing any objective. The operation can fail, but no one is allowed to die. Your lives are more important than anything. Remember that!"

"We remember!"

Before the operation, this commander wasn’t saying the mission could not fail and everyone had to do their utmost to achieve the objective. On the contrary, he was telling everyone that if they felt something couldn’t be done, they should turn tail and pull out. He’d rather see the operation fail than have someone killed. A commander like this was one of a kind.

While everyone was loudly responding to Gao Yang, Yarebin took a deep breath. He looked distinctly unimpressed, but in the end he still didn’t say anything.

Gao Yang tapped the map again and said loudly, "Next is the most important part. The locations marked in green are our safe houses. There are six safe houses in total throughout Sanaa City. Their exact locations and detailed access procedures will be given to you in written form shortly. Memorize them and destroy the documents after reading. Everyone, commit the points and numbers on this map firmly to memory. We may be deployed separately. If I need you to converge quickly on a certain point—especially if you need to get into a safe house to hide—I don’t want you getting lost on the way."