Chapter 490: Extended Fuselage and Wingspan, Removed Engine (1/2)

Most of the survivor settlements in the oasis are in a circular layout.

The main reason for this phenomenon is the miracle given by the spirit of the sand sea - most of the "river banks" are circular.

In this case, the closer to the center, the wetter the climate.

Therefore, most of the princes and nobles lived in the central area, and most of the important administrative agencies were 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 to the target as possible.

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

However, the troublesome thing is that their Majesty is unwilling to transfer, saying that he will sit on his throne until the war is won.

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

But the adult didn't think so.

Until Myrdal's last visit, his respected Majesty still stubbornly believed that as long as Triumph City declares war on Ideal City, everything will be fine.

"His Majesty is unwilling to leave the palace. He has to wait there for Prince William's triumphant return... There is no other way. We have to do everything possible to save the palace and we must not let a cannonball fall there."

After listening to the words of the captain of the Guards, the city defense officer Bo Fu frowned, and a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face.

"The target of the castle is too big... It is impossible for us to negotiate with our enemies and ask them to move His Majesty's court away from the bombing zone."

What's more, he didn't think that the enemy would honestly drop bombs in the areas drawn on the leaflets. Maybe it was a trick to gather them together for massacre.

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

At least stay out of the way and get in the way.

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

"Deploy 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 strategic bombers dropping bombs at high altitudes, it depends on luck.

No one can say where the bomb will land.

Bofur nodded solemnly.

"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 aircraft were deployed. Not surprisingly, the Alliance's bombers probably planned to take off from there.

In order to intercept the alliance aircraft, their ace pilot Baron Arcant has led the First Air Squadron to the front line.

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

However, no one is optimistic.

After all, even the "Saber" jet fighter of the Valantians was shot down by the Alliance. Trying to wrest air supremacy from the Alliance with just a few dozen "Eagle" fighter jets is nothing short of a dream.

Just as Myrdal and Bofu were discussing which defense zone to deploy anti-aircraft guns to His Majesty the King's castle, a guard carrying a rifle trotted over.

"Report! Telegram from the front!"

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

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

"What's wrong?"

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

"According to the news from the general headquarters, Griffin believes that the Alliance may send airborne troops to raid Falcon City, so we must be more vigilant. He has already coordinated the 20,000-person team to return to defense. If it's quick... they can arrive at us tomorrow here."

"The 20,000th team...which 20,000th team is it?"

"Ours, the team that withdrew from Oasis No. 9."

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

"What's the point of sending those people here...to show us how badly the Alliance beat them up?"

Those people were all remnant soldiers who had been withdrawn from the Capital of Plenty.

I heard that the number of more than 10,000 men was reduced to only 2,000. Ten teams of 1,000 men worked together for a long time, but they could not get two full 1,000 men together.

As for replacements...

There is no manpower left to fill it up.

Seeing that Myrdal didn't speak, Bofu continued.

"In my opinion, letting those guys come is better than expanding the scale of mobilization."

Myrdal shook his head.

"There is no extra manpower available... Even if the women in the city are allowed to give birth immediately, it is too late now."

Those who could fight were sent to the front lines or labor camps, and social production almost completely stopped.

In fact, even if the war ceases immediately, their economy is already ruined. They can barely hold on because they are still fighting.

Thinking of the current situation of the kingdom, both of them fell into silence.

Looking at Bofu who was silent, Myrdal patted him on the shoulder and reluctantly encouraged 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 gotta get through tonight."

Although Griffin believed the Alliance might raid Falcon City with paratroopers, neither man took the telegram's alarmism seriously.

Airborne operations and air strikes are completely different things.

Even if the Alliance has gained air superiority, there are still five to six thousand soldiers and more than two to three million residents in the heavily guarded Falcon City.

Even if airborne troops do have to be dispatched, it is unlikely to be tonight.

We have to bomb for a few days anyway...

At this moment, an air defense siren suddenly sounded in the east direction of the city.

The piercing alarm bell interrupted Myrdal's thoughts. He looked towards the dark night sky in the east and frowned slightly.

"The Alliance plane has arrived?"

Bofu said nothing, but his mood sank to the bottom.

Alliance planes appeared in the royal capital, and it seemed that the First Air Squadron led by Baron Arcante had finally lost.

only……

Is this too fast?

He didn't even receive news of a firefight between the air forces of both sides.

If the Alliance plane really took off from near the town of Bicester, wouldn't the troops stationed on the front line at least give him a warning?

At this time, a messenger came running in panic.

Before he could open his mouth to report, Bofu immediately caught him and asked.

"What's going on in the east?"

The messenger swallowed and said with a trembling voice.

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

Bofur was stunned.

The same goes for Myrdal standing next to him.

Looking at the panicked messenger, he quickly asked.

"Heart of Steel?! Are you sure it's the Heart of Steel?"

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

Multiple outposts witnessed it at the same time, so it seemed that there was no mistake.

The Heart of Steel might have already crossed the border of Oasis No. 2, which is only 200 kilometers away from the royal capital at most!

And it might actually be closer!

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

"It seems they plan to send airships to bomb us..."

He had heard of the Heart of Steel.

It is said that ordinary anti-aircraft guns have nothing to do with it.

However, such an aerial monster is not invulnerable. As long as you find a way to limit its mobility, even if you can't do anything about it for a while, you can still make it useless.

For example, a phalanx composed of balloons and steel cables is dropped on the path that 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 steadily following the attacking troops.

Why is it suddenly out of character this time?

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

Compared to command errors...

He is more inclined to think that this is a deliberate risk taken by the other party.

…

Myrdal did guess one thing.

Uncharacteristically pushing the Heart of Steel into the No. 2 Oasis was indeed a strategic risk intentionally taken by the alliance's top brass.

However, to Chu Guang's surprise, Griffin's reaction was a little faster than he expected. He had just penetrated less than a hundred kilometers into the No. 2 Oasis when he bumped into Griffin's "balloon formation." .

Balloons dragging steel wires rose from the ground at night, slowly passing through the clouds bathed in the tracer light falling from the sky.

These balloons are partitioned on the inside and have thin metal partitions on 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 are launched side by side, and the blocking steel cables are interlaced with each other by thinner steel wires, forming a skirt-like steel cable curtain.

Although the crew of the Heart of Steel discovered the situation on the ground immediately, it was too late to slow down and had to turn off the propeller to prevent the steel cable from getting entangled in the propeller.

Hundreds of balloons were like giant soap bubbles, clustering around the even larger soap Heart of Steel.

The powered-off Heart of Steel is still moving forward slowly under inertia, but the speed has been much slower. The propeller, fixed by the steel cable, creaked and trembled in the cold wind.

Looking at the balloon suspended outside the French bridge's floor-to-ceiling window, Chu Guang had an unexpected expression on his face, but it soon turned into a smile of approval.

"...Yes, I'll let you learn this trick."

In fact, during the Battle of Ruigu City, using a dense balloon array to capture the Heart of Steel was originally one of the alliance command's alternative combat plans.

The low-speed balloons were powerful enough to break through the Heart of Steel's deflector shields, and the wires suspended between the balloons were able to wrap around the propellers.

As long as there are enough balloons, it will be difficult to turn in time or change speed to avoid it due to the maneuverability of the Heart of Steel.

However, due to a series of reasons, this envisioned plan was not ultimately adopted.

The main reason was that time was tight and there was no time to prepare a sufficient number of air defense balloons before the Heart of Steel evacuated.

Another reason is that all the balloon can do is make the Heart of Steel lose its mobility. It can neither destroy it nor paralyze its firepower.

Compared with the price paid, the benefits gained 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 acting captain.

"Report damage."

After asking about the crew's situation, the acting captain arrived immediately.

"The propellers on both sides were entangled in the steel cables...but they were not broken!"

"How long will it take to repair 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 royal 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 team to cover the deployment of the Storm Troops to the ground!"

The acting captain stood at attention and took the order.

"yes!"

Following Chu Guang's order, twenty W-2 attack planes took off from the deck, avoiding 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 and hit the plain below the airship. After dragging for a while, the airship slowly stopped.

Under the guidance of the flares, the artillery in the airship's gun cabin quickly opened fire on the ground, unleashing ferocious firepower on the enemy troops who released the balloons.

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

At the same time, the Storm Troops deployed to the ground in an orderly manner through the elevator of the airship, infiltrated into the hinterland of the Falcon Kingdom in company units, and began a combat operation codenamed "Punishment."

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 of the airship losing its maneuverability, and even made plans for the airship to completely lose its combat capability.

Compared to the worst-case scenario, a twelve-hour delay and a deviation of more than ten kilometers are nothing to mention.

Everything is going on in an orderly manner.

At this moment, the Falcon Kingdom and the Legion are most likely ignorant of the alliance's strategic intentions, and they only stay at the level of air strikes or raids on the royal capital.

Holding the handrails by the wall with both hands, McClun finally stabilized his body.

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

While he was gloating about his misfortune, he couldn't help but say something weird.

"...Haha, even if they learn the tools of civilized people, barbarians will still be barbarians after all. It's a shame you can think of it when you break away from the ground troops and go deep alone."

"oh?"

Chu Guang cast an unexpected look at him.

Good guy.

So you know?

However, McClun obviously misunderstood something. He thought Chu Guang was surprised by the Legion's methods, and the corners of his mouth turned up 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 all agreed that even if Griffin was prepared, it would be difficult to stop us before we were fifty kilometers closer to the royal capital... As a result, his reaction speed was more than ten kilometers earlier than we expected. "

Not paying attention to McClun's cynicism, Chu Guang paused for a moment, with a trace of disappointment on his face.

"But I'm still a little disappointed. I originally thought you had more surprising countermeasures... I didn't expect that your trump card turned out to be just a bunch of balloons."

The war is coming to an end anyway, so there's nothing wrong with testing the cards in Legion's hands so that they can be prepared if conflicts arise again in the future.

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

It's no wonder he was so cautious before.

McClun blushed and obviously wanted to argue, but realized that the guy might be trying to trick him, so he held back.

"Huh... Do I need to use a powerful weapon to deal with you? Once it loses its mobility, this thing will be a living target."

Chu Guang looked at him pretending to be surprised.

"So you know."

McClun was stunned for a moment. He didn't react at first, but he soon came to his senses. His face visibly turned the color of liver, his lips trembled, and he was so angry that he couldn't say a word.

Admiring the wonderful change of expression, Chu Guang teased him with a smile.

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

Finold couldn't bear to look away.

Being so humiliated by the enemy...

Is this guy really his General McClane?

Ignoring McClun, 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 intelligence 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, and he has deployed a sufficient number of W-2 ground attack aircraft and 100 kilograms of aerial bombs there.

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

As for the "air raid" on Falcon City.

He has handed over the strongest ace in the alliance - the Burning Corps.

Those Awakeneds who are all equipped with exoskeletons will deal a heavy blow to the soldiers who are short of supplies and can't even get a few automatic weapons to complete the final blow of this war.

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

"The rest is up to you."

…

at the same time.

On the deck of the Heart of Steel, the cold air blew whooshing.

Looking at the strong wind sitting in the driver's seat of the cabin, and then at the plane with only a windshield and a hatch that couldn't be closed, Lao Bai, who was wearing a light cavalry exoskeleton, was stunned for a while before he asked cautiously. sentence.

"Can you...can you?"

Guang Feng, who was holding the joystick, was stunned for a moment.

"What's okay?"

Lao Bai couldn't laugh or cry.

"No...it's not that I don't believe you, brother, but I just want to ask...when did you learn to fly a plane?"

It doesn’t matter if a mosquito can fly a plane.

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

But your intelligence player has never even touched an airplane. When will he be able to fly this thing? !

Bangfeng looked at Lao Bai who was reluctant to come up with a puzzled look on his face, and after holding back for a while, he asked a question.

"When did I say I would do it?"

Lao Bai: "???"

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

"Don't listen to the strong wind. We actually practiced it while you were away and flew it several times! This thing is really not as difficult as you think."

Lao Bai finally couldn't help but ask.

"several times?"

The wind thought for a moment and replied.

"Three times should be enough."

Lao Bai: "..."

"Believe me, brother," Kuang Feng gave a thumbs up and made a reliable expression, "It's a stable group!"

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

"Fine……"

The worst case scenario is a life.

He had already saved the file before he came up. If he died, he would be dead. It was a pity that he only had this exoskeleton that cost 10,000 silver coins.

Looking at the simple layout in the cabin, Lao Bai always felt that something was slightly wrong and asked cautiously.

"Is this caused by mosquitoes again?"

Kuang Fengyan said concisely and concisely.

"W-1A is an improved version of W-1. Now one aircraft can seat three people. According to actual tests, overloading is not a big problem. You may not know it in the rear, but in fact we only came into contact with this thing in the past two days."

It turned out to be a W-1 change.

No wonder they can come up with so many fights.

Lao Bai looked back at the dark area on the deck where he was parked, and for some reason he was not surprised at all.

But the shape of these planes always gave him an ominous feeling.

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

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

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 did not expect that they would have to drive the transport plane themselves.

Although he believed that Guangfeng would definitely not trick him, and his brothers would definitely not joke about such a critical task, Lao Bai still asked cautiously.

"What exactly has been changed about this W-1A?"

Stormy replied casually.

"The fuselage and wingspan were extended, and the engines were eliminated."

"Oh..." Lao Bai, who didn't know much about airplanes, nodded confusedly, but he quickly reacted, "Wait, what the hell was canceled?!"

Fengfeng did not answer, but looked outside the cabin, where several power beasts were following the airship, and made an OK gesture.

"Good wind speed, ready to go!"

The new guy smiled and made the same OK gesture, then took out a lighter and lit the two forearm-thick rockets hanging behind the butt of the plane.

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

"What the fuck?! Are you serious?!"

He would rather skydive than ride on this thing!

However, unlike him, Guangfeng's eyes were filled with excitement at the moment, and his expressionless face flashed with a different kind of madness.

He has never done anything so exciting.

And still with my good brothers——

"Believe me, I've calculated... we can get there."

Pulling off the eyepiece on his helmet, he firmly grasped the joystick with both hands.

"Sit tight!"