Chapter 1539 The Mission Is in Progress
Not every one of the seven airships performing reconnaissance missions went as smoothly as the Twin Griffins. The first hurdle they have to pass is to pass through the 'window' where the wind and snow are calmer from above the cursed Fengdi Mountains.
Don't think that such a passage is a straight line, and the airship can just drive through it. This window, where the wind force and direction are relatively calm, is actually curved.
In particular, there is no clear boundary line in the sky to indicate which side is easy to fly and which side is not. How to accurately fly in this kind of window requires that in addition to the ability of the helmsman, the observation of the lookout, the judgment of the captain, and even the entire airship all have their own responsibilities.
But even if it accidentally enters those restricted areas, the airship will not fall immediately. The crash of the boat and the death of everyone is a possible outcome, but it is not the only one, let alone the most likely outcome.
After all, airships are not comparable to ordinary birds or flying monsters. In the cursed wind and snow, operation will be more difficult and the use of powers will be hindered. But as long as your luck is not too bad, leaving safely is not a big problem.
But I can’t guarantee whether the location I left is where I want it to be. In a harsh environment, it is a blessing to be able to escape. How can there be so many choices?
The people who can be selected by the old Lord Kawei to carry out this task are not mediocre people. There is still the ability to fly accurately in the window passage, across the Fengdi Mountains, and to the north side of the mountain, but everyone has different speeds.
The difference in speed does not entirely depend on the skill of maneuvering the ship. Different routes and passages have been chosen, varying in difficulty and length. But everyone still came to the north of the mountain at dawn.
In fact, what worried the senior officials who planned the entire rescue operation was whether the airships of the subsequent rescue team had the same level of maneuverability and could pass through the cursed Wind Emperor Mountain Range. A little further away, there are airships cooperating with the counterattack.
In the past, when traditional airships had to go from the south of the mountain to the north, the safest option was to take a detour. Few boat owners choose to venture across the mountains unless they have to.
The airship force of the Hydel Empire, even if it has the worst ship maneuvering skills, can still be rated as outstanding among all the airships. This dance-like operation is not a big problem.
What worries the old man is the airship teams from the private sector. Most of them rushed into the army in a hurry, or there were some minor flaws in the structure of the airship itself.
These errors may not cause any major problems when used under normal circumstances. But if it is put under extreme conditions, such as extremely harsh weather, or fighting with humans and dogs in the air, and constant tactical operations are carried out, small problems may be magnified into catastrophes.
Therefore, for the subsequent formation of the rescue team, Lao Dagong still adopts a voluntary system. Let all airship captains evaluate for themselves whether they can participate in such a mission of special intensity.
Even if they don't cross the mountains, staying on the south side of the mountains, the airship still has tasks to perform.
The terrain on the north side of the Fengdi Mountains is mainly hilly, with a few basins here and there. Several rivers originate from the Wind Emperor Mountains and flow through large areas from south to north, nourishing countless lives.
And at the end of this deep winter, it is especially a window period in terms of climate, and there is no scene of wind and snow in the sky. There is even a rare winter sun rising from the east, and the sky is even clearer.
You must know that a day ago, the scene on the south side of the mountain was thick clouds covering the entire sky. The strong wind and heavy snow bring a biting chill just by looking at it with your eyes. You don't have to go outside to experience this, you have to be blown by the wind and snow.
After this day, the weather on the north side of the mountain was good. Although the thick snow on the ground had not melted, there was almost no wind and snow, and the visibility was even clearer. It can be said that the weather is the best for reconnaissance, but it also means that the airship is easily noticed.
Not all airships can imitate the Twin Griffins and fly to the stratosphere. At such a height, those with poor eyesight on the ground would not be able to see it at all.
But taking the seven airships that perform reconnaissance missions as an example, they fly at the minimum altitude required by the mission. When seen by people on the ground, they are probably not much bigger than ants or bugs. Most people would never realize that this is an enemy flying in the sky.
Logically speaking, staying at such a high altitude and observing the ground with arcane eyes is the most reliable way of investigation.
But the operators of the first seven airships were all capable people; in other words, they were not good boys. The old man only wanted information and didn't care about the method of obtaining it, or even their life or death.
Speaking of the selection of personnel to perform tasks, it is to select those who have the ability to complete the task and have the highest survival rate. If these people commit suicide, who can control them? They are not these people's biological parents. Conditions and restrictions are mentioned everywhere, but these people may not listen.
Therefore, the captain of each airship chose the investigation method that best suited his own characteristics to complete this mission.
To take a step back, in terms of the function of using the Arcane Eyes, not to mention being on par with a certain magician, even the version of the Twin Griffins cannot keep up. So in many cases, judgments can only be made with the human eye.
Moreover, the original form of arcane eye is like clairvoyance. When it is focused on somewhere, it can only see the scene in that place. In the past, it was projected in a crystal ball, and on the airship it was converted into a flat image. There is no scanning function, and certainly no programmed batch processing.
Based on this rudimentary function, in order to obtain enough intelligence, their investigation methods were limited. The risk of detection increases.
The simplest way is to fly close to the ground. Then send enough lookouts to watch the ground with the naked eye from the airship.
Such a bold action will certainly attract the attention of the ground. Although not all camps have lookouts keeping an eye on the sky. But as long as one or two people look up inadvertently, they have a chance to spot the airship in the sky.
Fortunately, the combined forces of demons and orcs did not have air superiority. Even if there are demons who are good at flying, they may not be able to operate in such a cold winter, or fight against aerial fortresses like airships.
Especially those that perform reconnaissance missions are airships that are known for their speed. If there really is a demon or an orc that can control flying monsters and takes off from the ground, the airship can accelerate and escape at any time. The speed of the new airship is no joke.
Therefore, even if everyone's actions are indeed discovered, no airship has yet launched a battle with the coalition of demons and orcs. Everyone still prioritizes the reconnaissance mission.
For a while, the demon coalition did not realize what the airship's movements meant. Coupled with the influence of the cold winter, most demons or orcs still muddle along and let these little bugs fly high in the sky. At most, they can scare the opponent and drive them away.
It means that even if they want to argue, they have no good way to deal with an airship flying at such a height.
These are not two allies pretending to maintain peace, and they can also issue diplomatic condemnations to each other. Of course, both sides in the war are willing to take any damage they can. If you can't cope with it, you can only swallow it hard and find other ways to return it.
Therefore, the dangers encountered in this reconnaissance mission were far less than what everyone imagined before setting off. The collection of intelligence was also smooth.
It's just that the humans trapped in the demon-occupied areas are still alive, but the situation is worse than expected. Because some people are more than just surrounded.
The worst situation for those who are still alive is to be locked up in something like a prisoner-of-war camp. To put it bluntly, it's like being on a ranch, being raised by demons and orcs.
What is the purpose of this, people who discover this situation cannot imagine at all. But everyone agrees that it is difficult to carry out rescue in such a situation.
The original rescue plan was to move in and out quickly, without any thought of engaging the enemy. So for the surrounded humans, the most ideal situation is that their defense line is still maintained. As long as this line of defense can delay time, the airship troops will have a chance to withdraw from the surrounded humans.
But if humans have been controlled, it is impossible to evacuate the humans without defeating the demon or orc guards.
The only thing worse than this is the humans who have been dispersed into the orc military camp. Such people are likely to die before the rescue plan can be implemented or drawn up.
These pitiful examples were accidentally discovered when the airship used its arcane eyes to scan the ground barracks from a long distance. Whether there would be more of the same victims, the people who carried out the investigation mission simply didn't want to think about it. They know very well that such a person will definitely be ranked last in the rescue order.
As for those human gathering places that are surrounded and have not yet been conquered by the demon coalition, the areas that have the best chance and are easiest to rescue are those areas that can still rely on magic towers to survive.
In addition to the people being protected by it, there are also organized soldiers who cooperate with the magic tower to establish a strong defense line. But these locations seem to be in danger because they don't have much food reserves and it will be very difficult to survive this winter. If there were no supplies, it might be over without waiting until spring.
As for other large human gathering places, the coalition of demons and orcs just besieged them but did not attack them. These places usually have geographical advantages, such as canyons and hills.
The demon coalition forces that were previously on the offensive were not in a hurry to divide their forces and remove these strongholds, so they sent some troops to block them. And their situation also became very difficult after a winter.
All in all, the problem of food shortage is the biggest reason why these gathering points were saved with great efforts before, but as time goes by, the hope will become increasingly slim.
Being able to survive more than half of the winter was not only a result of their extraordinary performance, but also an inadvertent act of mercy by the Demon Alliance. Perhaps this was not the original intention of those evil creatures, but the demons chose to attack mainly in the south first instead of sweeping the entire north side of the mountains. This is indeed the reason why these human gathering points can exist.
On the one hand, it is also because these locations are not at the traffic junctions of the advance, so they have a chance to be saved. Especially those few remaining magic towers.
In fact, after seeing the current situation, those who conduct reconnaissance missions will feel that any location that can still be maintained is suitable to be preserved and become a nail for the human side on the north side of the Fengdi Mountains. Of course, civilians, the elderly and the weak still have to evacuate.
But how to operate it depends on the arrangements of the big shots. And in order to retain these nails on the north side of the mountain, regular supplies would have to be available.
Even if airship traffic is relatively smooth now, whether air superiority can always be maintained is still an unsolved problem.
In short, whether to withdraw or not to withdraw, it is still a difficult problem.