Gao Fei gave them a rough account of what had happened to him, and after hearing it, every one of them looked filled with righteous indignation.
“Fuck, those bastards really deserve to die.”
“Don’t know which Moscow gang they were from. If we get the chance later, we’ll take them out.”
Sholokhov and Samir both looked furious. Only Grasky said with a face full of emotion, “So you actually came to Russia to collect a debt. Sigh, I’m different. I’m someone who owes money too, but at least I wouldn’t try to get my creditor killed.”
They all looked at Grasky. Sholokhov said, “You still haven’t settled your debt?”
“Almost. I’m almost done paying it off. Put that way, Rex, you really are ruthless. To think you could escape under those circumstances—and even more impressive, you killed those bastards too. No wonder a big shot like Osokayev values you.”
Gao Fei said, “Don’t go spreading this around for me. I’m afraid if people find out, I won’t be able to go home. Is Osokayev considered a big shot?”
Sholokhov thought for a moment and said, “He knows the company commander, and they’re probably friends. Then he’s definitely a big shot.”
All right. In the eyes of low-ranking soldiers like Sholokhov and the others, the company commander was already a big shot, so Osokayev, who was friends with the company commander, was naturally a big shot too.
Actually, in Gao Fei’s eyes, he was as well.
Samir said with unconcealed envy, “Rex, I didn’t expect you to have a big shot looking after you as soon as you arrived. Your situation will be much safer from now on.”
Grasky laughed. “We’ll benefit too. Maybe from now on, the company commander won’t send us on especially dangerous missions.”
“What are you dreaming about? There’s no such good thing. All right, let’s split the money.”
Sholokhov took out the stack of bills the company commander had given him. He counted out four and gave them to Grasky, then counted out another four and stuffed them into his own pocket. After that, he counted out eight bills and handed them to Gao Fei, while giving the remaining money to Samir with his other hand.
Gao Fei reached out and took the bills. They were all large-denomination one-hundred-euro notes, and this was his first time seeing euros.
“Two hundred each for yesterday’s daytime battle. For the night raid, you two get six hundred each. So you two both get eight hundred euros.”
Sholokhov had no intention of discussing whether it was fair or not. He merely explained the distribution, then immediately said, “Put the money away.”
Grasky slapped the four bills in his hand and said, “Euros, huh. I thought it’d be rubles. Not bad.”
Gao Fei asked nervously, “Did they always pay in rubles before?”
“Not necessarily. At first it was dollars. Later they paid in both dollars and euros, but recently they’ve been giving more rubles.”
Samir said with a bitter expression, “When I signed the agreement, the contract clearly said payment would be settled in euros.”
Sholokhov said without hesitation, “If they give you rubles at the official exchange rate, do you want them or not? If you don’t, then forget it. Do you want them or not?”
“I do. Of course I do.”
“Then what’s there to say?”
Samir sighed. “But that’s a huge loss.”
“Better than getting nothing.”
Gao Fei said nothing. First, he calculated in his head how much eight hundred euros was, then wondered how he could get the money to his family.
Eight hundred euros was five thousand six hundred. Five thousand six hundred in one day—this was much better than working a regular job.
But how was he supposed to send cash back?
Should he save up more cash and then go to a bank for a transfer? But if he died, wouldn’t all that money be gone?
Pah, pah, pah. He wouldn’t be that unlucky.
While Gao Fei was lost in thought, Sholokhov said, “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about how to get the money to my family. Can the Wagner Group help with transfers?”
“Absolutely not. Keep your cash safe. Those people would love nothing more than to snatch the euros back and exchange them into rubles for you. Find your own way to get the money to your family later.”
At first, they would not have talked about such things, but now they could speak freely.
It seemed Sholokhov and Grasky were not very satisfied with Wagner’s financial policies either.
Grasky said with an unhappy look, “They make everything sound good at the start, but once enough time passes, it all changes.”
Sholokhov sighed. “Still better than the penal battalion.”
Just then, several cannon blasts suddenly rang out in succession.
In just one day, Gao Fei could already distinguish between 152mm shells, rockets, and 122mm shells.
It was very simple to tell the types of ammunition apart. The sounds were all different in volume and character, making them easy to distinguish.
Gao Fei still could not judge the distance of the impact points, but as soon as he heard them, he knew the shells had landed on the enemy’s side. It seemed today’s battle was about to begin.
Several of them looked toward the enemy lines at the same time.
Dust and smoke rose from the shell impacts, and the locations could be clearly seen.
The shells were basically concentrated along the enemy’s foremost line. Each impact point meant a main target for the breakthrough.
This was ranging fire. First they would fire a shell according to the coordinates to check where it landed, so what came next would be a large-scale bombardment. Judging from the look of things, it was likely to be a creeping barrage. Today’s battle would not be small.
Before a major operation, there was no longer much point in further shelling scattered targets.
Why did the company commander dare to lead a group of men walking around in the trenches? It was because at this point, neither side could really hide its movements from the other. As soon as the Russian side began gathering forces, the other side knew. And if they knew a major battle was coming, then the other side would certainly concentrate its strength in preparation to withstand the assault.
The ranging fire ended. Without any surprise, the large-scale bombardment began immediately.
Once the cannons roared and shells began falling densely on the enemy positions, Gao Fei could see many figures suddenly appearing in the trenches on their side.
There were no tanks and no armored vehicles. It was just artillery bombardment followed by infantry charges. Basically, it was World War I-level warfare.
Once the penal battalion occupied the enemy’s forward positions, the artillery would shift forward, and then the penal battalion would continue charging ahead. As for how far they could advance in the end, that would depend on what the Ukrainians had in mind.
When the infantry of the penal battalion had advanced only about a hundred meters or so in a scattered formation, shells finally began falling on the open ground between the two lines. In just the first round of shelling, the penal battalion suffered casualties.
Before infantry could exchange fire, they first had to endure the enemy’s artillery.
The artillery fire from the Ukrainian side was clearly much thinner. They did not have enough shells, far fewer than the Russians.
Moreover, the Russians had held some long-range rocket artillery in reserve. When the Ukrainian guns deployed in the rear opened fire, counter-battery radar immediately locked onto the enemy artillery positions based on trajectory. So as the infantry began their charge, the artillery duel between both sides began as well.
The artillery standards on both sides were actually quite high, because one could tell from where the shells landed that neither side was firing blindly. The shells were basically landing where they were supposed to.
Even so, Gao Fei could not help criticizing the battle inwardly as he watched.
What era was this? They were still fighting with tactics from World War II. It was far too outdated.
Gao Fei was willing to keep watching a little longer, but before long, Sholokhov shouted from the side, “Everyone back into the dugout! Shells don’t have eyes. Take cover!”