Chapter 490 extended fuselage and wingspan, removed engines

  The survivor settlements in the oasis are mostly in a circular layout.

  The main reason for this phenomenon is the miracle bestowed by the spirit of the sand sea—most of the "river embankments" are ring-shaped.

  In this case, the closer to the central area, the wetter the climate.

   Therefore, most of the princes and nobles live in the very center area, and most of the important administrative agencies are also set up here.

  However, it is precisely because of this that the alliance does not need to carefully select the bombing area at all. It only needs to estimate the distance and height, and throw the bomb as close as possible to the bull's-eye.

  As soon as the alliance airdropped the leaflets, Bofor, Falcon City's city defense chief, ordered the evacuation of the people in the central area of ​​the city.

   However, the headache is that their majesty is unwilling to transfer, saying that he will sit on his throne until this war is won.

   Anyone with a discerning eye can see that they have already lost this war.

  But the grown-up didn't think so.

  Until the last meeting with Myrdal, his respected majesty still insisted that as long as Triumph City declares war on Ideal City, everything will be fine.

  "His Majesty is unwilling to leave the palace, he wants to wait there for Prince William's triumphant return... No way, we have to do everything possible to keep the palace, we must not let a shell fall there."

  Listening to the words of the captain of the Guards, the chief of the city defense, Bofor, frowned, and a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

   "The castle is too big of a target... We cannot negotiate with our enemies to remove His Majesty's court from the bombing zone."

   What's more, he doesn't think the enemy will honestly drop bombs in the areas drawn on the leaflets. Maybe it's a trick to gather them together and slaughter them.

  So he deliberately sent people to evacuate the civilians hiding in the "safe zone", and asked them to go to the designated area to avoid air strikes, or go home honestly.

   At least stay out of the way in the street.

  Myrdal also knew that his request was embarrassing, but he had no better way, so he could only sigh and say.

   "Configure a few more anti-aircraft guns near the castle."

  With the firepower of anti-aircraft guns, at least it can avoid the dive bombing of tactical bombers. As for the high-altitude horizontal bombing of strategic bombers, it depends on luck.

  No one can say where the bomb will fall.

   Beaufort nodded gravely.

"It can only be the."

  The alliance built an airport near the town of Bicester, and it is said that a large number of propeller planes were deployed. Not surprisingly, the bombers of the alliance probably planned to take off from there.

  In order to intercept the Alliance aircraft, their ace pilot, Baron Acante, has led the 1st Air Squadron to the front line.

  If the situation is optimistic, it should be able to intercept the alliance's bomber formation shortly after it takes off.

   However, no one is optimistic about this.

  After all, even the "Saber" jet fighters of the Willanters were shot down by the Alliance. It is tantamount to dreaming to win back the air supremacy from the Alliance with only dozens of "Eagle" fighter jets.

   While Myrdal and Bofor were discussing which defense area to deploy anti-aircraft guns to His Majesty's castle, a guard with a rifle trotted over.

   "Report! Telegram from the front!"

  Myrdal stepped forward, took the telegram from the guard's hand, opened it and looked at it twice, frowning.

   Noticing the change in his expression, Bofor stepped forward and asked.

"What's wrong?"

  Myrdal handed him the telegram in his hand and said at the same time.

"The news from the general headquarters, Griffin thinks that the alliance may send airborne troops to raid Falcon City, so we must be more vigilant. He has coordinated the 20,000th team to return to the defense. If it is quick... it will be here tomorrow. .”

   "The 20,000 Team...Which 20,000 Team?"

   "Ours, the team that was withdrawn from the No. 9 oasis before."

  Baufort's facial muscles twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but say.

   "What's the use of sending those guys over... show us how badly the Alliance beat them?"

  Those people are all remnants of soldiers withdrawn from the capital of abundance.

   I heard that only 2,000 of the 10,000-man teams were reduced. Ten thousand-man teams have been patched together for a long time, but they still can't make up two full-stacked 1,000-man teams.

   As for filling in...

   There is no manpower left to fill in.

  Seeing that Myrdal did not speak, Bofor continued.

   "In my opinion, it is better to expand the scale of mobilization than to let those guys come."

  Myrdal shook his head.

   "There is no extra manpower to use... Even if the women in the city are asked to have children immediately, it is too late now."

   Those who can fight are sent to the front line or labor camps, and social production is almost completely stagnant.

  In fact, even if the war is stopped immediately, their economy is over, but because the war is still going on, they can barely hold their breath.

  Thinking of the current situation of the kingdom, both of them fell silent.

  Looking at the silent Bofor, Myrdal patted him on the shoulder, reluctantly encouraging him.

   "Don't worry too much... Even if the alliance has ideas about our king, it is impossible to cross the tens of thousands of troops on the border."

   "At least we got to get through tonight."

   Although Griffin believed that the alliance might use paratroopers to raid Falcon City, neither of them took the alarmist words in that telegram seriously.

  Airborne operations and air strikes are completely different things.

  Even if the alliance has obtained air supremacy, there are five to six thousand soldiers and more than two to three hundred thousand residents in the heavily guarded Falcon City.

  Even if an airborne force is to be sent, it is unlikely to be tonight.

   It has to be bombed for a few days...

   At this moment, the air defense alarm suddenly sounded in the east of the city.

  The ear-piercing alarm bell interrupted Myrdal's thoughts. He looked at the dark night sky to the east, and frowned slightly.

   "The alliance plane has come?"

  Baufort did not speak, but his mood sank to the bottom.

  Alliance planes appeared in the capital, and it seemed that the No. 1 Air Squadron led by Baron Arcant lost in the end.

   Just…

  Is this speed too fast?

  He didn't even receive news of the exchange of fire between the air forces of the two sides.

   If the Union planes did take off from near Bicester, would the troops stationed at the front at least give him a heads up?

  At this time, a messenger ran over in panic.

  Before he opened his mouth to report, Beaufort immediately caught him and asked.

   "What's the situation on the east side?"

  The orderly swallowed, and said in a trembling voice.

   "Steel, the Heart of Steel! That airship! Appeared due east of us!"

   Beaufort froze.

  The same goes for Myrdal standing next to him.

  Looking at the panic-stricken messenger, he hurriedly asked.

   "Heart of Iron?! Are you sure it is the Heart of Iron?"

   "I'm sure!" The orderly nodded vigorously, and said in a trembling voice, "More than one outpost has found it."

   Multiple outposts witnessed at the same time, it seems that there is no mistake.

  The Heart of Steel might have crossed the border of Oasis No. 2, and it is only 200 kilometers away from the capital!

   And it might actually be closer!

   Bofor frowned, and there was a trace of solemnity between his brows.

   "Looks like they plan to send airships to bomb us..."

  He had heard of the Heart of Iron.

  It is said that ordinary anti-aircraft guns can't do anything about it.

  However, such an aerial monster is not invulnerable, as long as it finds a way to limit its mobility, even if it cannot be dealt with for a while, it can still make it useless.

  For example, a phalanx composed of balloons and steel cables is dropped on the only way the airship must pass...

   A long time ago, Griffin ordered the establishment of two special "balloon troops" just to deal with that guy.

   It's a pity that the alliance has always been very cautious, never letting the airship go deep alone, but following the attacking troops steadily.

  Why did you suddenly act uncharacteristically this time?

   "Send the airship to go deep...Are they crazy?" Myrdal muttered, his eyes filled with disbelief.

  Compared to a command error...

  He is more inclined that this is a deliberate adventure by the other party.

  …

  One thing, Myrdal really guessed.

   Uncharacteristically pushing the Heart of Iron into the No. 2 oasis is indeed a strategic adventure intentional by the alliance's top management.

However, to Chu Guang's surprise, Griffin's reaction was a little faster than he expected. He had just penetrated into the No. 2 oasis for less than a hundred kilometers, and he ran into Griffin's "balloon array" .

  Balloons dragging steel wires rose from the ground in the dark of night, bathed in the tracer light falling from the sky, and slowly passed through the clouds.

  The interior of these balloons is partitioned, and a thin layer of metal partitions are added to the outside. Even if they are hit by machine guns and high-explosive bombs, they will only be partially damaged, and the total lift can still be basically maintained.

  Several balloons connected by steel cables were launched side by side, and the blocking steel cables were interlaced with thinner steel wires, forming a skirt-like cable curtain.

  Although the crew on the Iron Heart discovered the situation on the ground at the first time, it was too late to slow down, so they had to turn off the propeller to avoid the steel cable from entanglement on the propeller.

  Hundreds of balloons are like huge soap bubbles, clustered next to the larger soap, the Heart of Steel.

  The Heart of Iron with its power turned off is still moving forward slowly under inertia, but the speed is much slower. The propeller, fixed by steel cables, creaked and trembled in the cold wind.

  Looking at the balloon floating outside the French window of the bridge, Chu Guang had an expression of surprise on his face, but it soon turned into a smile of approval.

   "...Yes, you have learned this trick."

  Actually, during the Battle of Ruigu City, capturing the Heart of Iron with a dense balloon formation was originally one of the alternative combat plans of the Alliance Command.

  The low-speed balloon is enough to break through the deflector shield of the Heart of Steel, and the steel wire suspended between the balloons can entangle the propeller.

  As long as the number of balloons is large enough, with the maneuverability of the Heart of Steel, it is difficult to turn or change speed to evade in time.

   It's just because of a series of reasons, the plan in this idea was not adopted in the end.

  The main reason is that time is tight, and it is too late to prepare a sufficient number of air defense balloons before the withdrawal of the Heart of Steel.

   Another reason is that what the balloon can do is to immobilize the Heart of Steel, it can neither destroy it nor paralyze its firepower.

  Compared to the price paid, the benefits obtained are too limited!

   Waiting for the airship to stabilize, Chu Guang looked away from the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the young man standing aside as the acting captain.

   "Report damage."

  After inquiring about the situation of the crew, the acting captain arrived immediately.

   "The propellers on both sides were entangled in the steel cables...but they didn't break!"

   "How long will it take to fix it?"

   "Within twelve hours!"

   Twelve hours...

  Chu Guang glanced at the map on the holographic screen, confirmed the distance from the current location to the capital, nodded slowly, and continued to give orders.

   "Drop the anchor chain!"

   "In addition, let the carrier-based aircraft take off, and cooperate with the artillery group to cover the deployment of the Storm Corps to the ground!"

  The acting captain stood up straight and took orders.

"yes!"

   Following Chu Guang's order, twenty W-2 attack planes took off from the deck, bypassed the balloons wrapped around the airship, and threw flares into the airspace around the airship where enemy troops might be present.

   At the same time, the heavy anchor chain fell heavily, hitting the plain below the airship, and after dragging for a while, the airship slowly stopped.

  Under the guidance of the flares, the artillery in the airship gun bay quickly fired towards the ground, unleashing fierce firepower on the enemy troops who released the balloons.

   Dozens of trucks were instantly turned into scrap iron under the cover of the 155 artillery.

  At the same time, the Stormtroopers deployed to the ground in an orderly manner through the elevator of the airship, and infiltrated into the hinterland of the Falcon Kingdom with the company as a unit, and began to execute the combat operation code-named "Retribution".

  Although it was an hour earlier than expected, this small change did not have any impact on the execution of the plan.

  When formulating the plan, the Army Command had already considered the situation that the airship would lose its maneuverability, and even made plans for the airship to completely lose its combat capability.

  Compared to the worst case, the delay of twelve hours and the deviation of more than ten kilometers are not worth mentioning at all.

  Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

  At this moment, the Falcon Kingdom and the Legion probably don't know anything about the alliance's strategic intentions, and they only stay at the level of air strikes or raids on the capital.

   Clutching the handrails by the wall with both hands, McLennan finally stabilized his body.

  Although he was a little embarrassed due to the temporary bumps, seeing the enemy in front of him deflated still made his heart as sweet as honey.

  While gloating, he couldn't help but say something strange.

   "...Hehe, even if you have learned the tools of a civilized person, a barbarian is still a barbarian after all. It's hard for you to figure it out."

"oh?"

  Chu Guang cast an unexpected glance at him.

   Good guy.

   So you know?

   However, McLenne obviously misunderstood something, thinking that Chu Guang was surprised by the methods of the legion, and the corners of his mouth were raised even more proudly.

   "...As long as Griffin is not a pig, he will definitely be wary of the airship in your hand. I thought you would put down the ground troops immediately after entering the No. 2 oasis, but I didn't expect you to be nothing more than that."

   "I admit that I was a little surprised. We agreed that even if Griffin was prepared, it would be difficult to stop us before we were 50 kilometers away from the capital... As a result, his reaction speed was more than ten kilometers ahead of our expectations."

   Didn't care about McLenne's cynicism, Chu Guang paused for a moment, with a hint of disappointment on his face.

   "However, I'm still a little disappointed. I thought you had a more surprising countermeasure... I didn't expect that your hole cards turned out to be just a bunch of balloons."

  Anyway, the war is coming to an end, so there is nothing wrong with testing the cards in the hands of the legion, and it is better to be prepared if there is a conflict in the future.

  He originally wanted to see what hole cards Griffin had left for his Iron Heart, but he didn't expect it to be a bunch of balloons.

   Bai Xia played so cautiously before.

  Maclun blushed, obviously wanting to argue, but realized that this guy might be trying to trick him, so he held back.

   "Heh... do you need to use very powerful weapons to deal with you? Once you lose your mobility, this thing is a living target."

   Chu Guang looked at him pretending to be surprised.

   "So you know."

  McLen froze for a moment, didn't realize it at first, but soon came back to it, his face became liver-colored visibly, his lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word from embarrassment.

   Appreciating the wonderful expression changes, Chu Guang laughed and teased him.

   "I thought you had forgotten about Ruigu City, but it turned out that you just didn't remember it for a while."

  Finnold couldn't bear to look straight away and looked away.

   To be so humiliated by the enemy...

   Is this guy really his General McCollen?

   Ignoring McLenne who was so angry that he lost his mind, Chu Guang turned his attention to the vast sea of ​​balloons and clouds outside the bridge.

  The Stormtroopers have completed their deployment.

   Based on the information collected by the Skeleton Corps from Bicester Town, they will destroy the main road network and industrial facilities in the Falcon Kingdom.

   The Goblin Corps stationed in Bicester Town will cooperate with their actions, where he has deployed a sufficient number of W-2 ground attack aircraft and 100 kilograms of aerial bombs.

  They are confident that they can completely destroy the industrial achievements and infrastructure of the Falcon Kingdom, so that they will not be able to stand up within ten years, and remember this lesson with their bodies.

   As for the "air attack" on Falcon City.

  He has handed over the alliance's strongest trump card—the Burning Legion.

   Those Awakened who are fully equipped with exoskeletons will deal a heavy blow to the soldiers of the subordinate army who are short of supplies and can't even make up a few automatic weapons, completing the final make-up of this war.

  Chu Guang's mouth curled up into a faint smile.

   "It's up to you next."

  …

at the same time.

  On the deck of the Heart of Steel, the cold air was blowing.

Looking at the gust of wind sitting in the pilot's seat of the cockpit, and at the plane with only a windshield and the hatch can't even close, Lao Bai, who was wearing a light cavalry exoskeleton, was stunned for a long time before carefully asking sentence.

   "Can you...can you?"

  Guang Feng, who was holding on to the joystick, froze for a moment.

   "Will what work?"

  Old Bai couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry.

   "No... Brother, I don't believe you, I just want to ask... When did you learn to fly a plane?"

   Mosquitoes can fly a plane and forget it.

   After all, that guy died so many times and fell so many times.

   But you are an intelligence player who has never even touched an airplane before. When will you be able to drive this thing? !

  Guang Feng looked puzzled at Lao Bai, who was hesitant to come up, and asked a question after holding back for a long time.

   "When did I say I would open."

  Old Bai: "???"

  Ye Shi, who was sitting at the machine gun position, interjected with a hippie smile.

   "Don't listen to the wind beeping blindly, we actually practiced when you were away, and flew a few times! This thing is really not as difficult as you think."

  Old Bai finally couldn't help asking.

   "How many times?"

  Guangfeng thought for a while and replied.

   "There should be three times."

  Old Bai: "..."

   "Trust me, brother," Guafeng gave a thumbs up, making a reliable expression, "Sure enough!"

  Facing the serious eyes, Lao Bai was silent for a long time, finally sighed, and stepped into the open cabin.

"Fine…"

   At worst, it is a life.

  Before he came up, he had already saved a file, and he died as soon as he died, so it was a pity that he was wearing this exoskeleton that cost 10,000 silver coins.

  Looking at the crude layout in the cabin, Mr. Bai felt that something was wrong, and asked cautiously.

   "Is this made by mosquitoes again?"

  Guang Feng said concisely.

   "W-1A is an improved version of W-1. Now a plane can seat three people. It is actually measured that overloading is not a big problem. You may not know it in the rear, but we only came into contact with this thing in the past two days."

   It turned out to be a W-1 modification.

   No wonder there are so many of them.

  Old Bai turned his head and glanced at the blackness on the deck where he was parked. For some reason, he was not surprised at all.

   It's just that the shapes of these planes always give him an ominous premonition.

  Although he arrived at the front line a few days ago, he only boarded the Heart of Steel today. During this period of time, Guafeng has been acting as the acting regiment commander, and Guafeng is naturally in charge of commanding this operation.

  However, before the operation started, Lao Bai still carefully read the mission briefing.

   Under the cover of the Goblin Corps, they will take a glider to break through the anti-aircraft firepower of Falcon City, land in the city together with the aerial bombs of the air strike, and capture the palace of Falcon City with the support of air units...

  However, he originally thought that at least the pilots from the goblin corps would drive the transport plane to their destination, but he didn't expect that they had to drive the transport plane by themselves.

  Although I believed that Kuangfeng would definitely not deceive himself, and that the brothers would definitely not make fun of such a critical task, Lao Bai still asked cautiously.

   "This W-1A, what exactly has been changed?"

  Guangfeng replied casually.

   "Extended fuselage and wingspan, eliminated engines."

   "Oh..." Lao Bai, who doesn't know much about airplanes, nodded in confusion, but soon came to his senses, "Wait, what the **** was canceled?!"

  Guangfeng didn't answer, but looked outside the cabin, where several power animals mixed with the airship made an OK gesture.

   "The wind speed is good, ready to go!"

  That Mengxin smiled, and also made an OK gesture, then took out the lighter, and ignited the two forearm-thick rockets hanging behind the plane's buttocks.

  The hot tail flames spurted out, and the huge thrust pushed the light glider to accelerate forward. The shaking of the wings made Lao Bai's heart almost rise to his throat.

   "Fuck?! Seriously?!"

  He'd rather skydive than sit on this thing!

  However, unlike him, Kuangfeng's eyes were full of excitement at the moment, and that expressionless face was shining with a different kind of madness.

  He has never done anything so exciting.

   And still with good brothers—

   "Trust me, I've calculated...you can get there."

   Pulling down the eyepiece on the helmet, his hands gripped the joystick tightly.

   "Sit tight!"

  (end of this chapter)