Chapter 1 Xie Bo's Expedition

Xie Bo once again led the airship squadron on an expedition. This time, his target was Mount Dalun. Geographically, Mount Dalun wasn't particularly critical, but the Northern Liao's meticulous improvements over the years had made it important. Without removing the fortress on Mount Dalun, the Yunzhou army would be unable to continue its advance. And now, Mount Dalun was like a thorn stuck in the middle of Dai Yun's offensive.

Xie Bo was extremely proficient in airship-related matters. As the commander of Yunzhou's four air squadrons, and as Yunzhou's, and even Dongping's, number one "flying man," it wasn't easy for him to keep those hot-blooded youngsters, whose personalities had gradually become wild with flying, in check. Everyone's starting point was about the same; he was just one of the first pilots and hadn't flown that much more than the younger pilots. Especially when it came to experience with new airships, he might even have less. Xie Bo had stayed in this position because he was willing to study and practice, and his airship operating skills were still top-notch. In addition, it was also because of his understanding of various airship tactics. He knew that due to the inherent shortcomings of airships, their carrying weight was too limited. Although the airship squadron was held in high regard, Ye Tao, who also understood the strengths and weaknesses of the airship squadron, had never regarded airships as the masters of war, except for that long-distance flight to attack the Hunyuan Hall. At most, the current airship squadron was an important participant in the campaign. Xie Bo's *Strategies for Airship Ground Attacks* and the instruction manual for each airship, as well as Ye Tao's personally written *Communication Execution Manual,* were known as the three major canons of the air squadron.

This time, Xie Bo personally led the air squadron in this attack, partly because the attack was indeed important. Within half an hour of their air raid, Cheng Chi would personally lead a large army to besiege Mount Dalun. Their attack effect would directly determine the subsequent attack process. On the other hand, it was also because Yunzhou's air squadrons had never been so concentrated. Not only the military air squadrons, but also many of the message delivery bureau's airships had been borrowed this time. The troops sent by the Danyang Sect to Yunzhou to receive new airships also happily participated in the attack. Xie Bo didn't only focus on quantity, but currently, for airship air raids, since the bomb load of a single airship was really limited, quantity was indeed directly related to the effect. As for the uneven quality of the pilots, that was a secondary consideration. After all, everyone now felt that airships were very safe in the sky.

Xie Bo wasn't so optimistic. The technology to shoot down airships objectively existed and wasn't anything advanced. At the Ye Family Workshop, there were already at least four things that could pose a threat to airships. The simplest was a modified Shenbi crossbow (god arm crossbow). As long as the gun carriage was modified, it could have a firing angle high enough to threaten airships. Secondly, there were things similar to airships, made of leather balloons with combustibles tied underneath, released in batches... Although airship technology was only relatively mature in Dongping, and Chunnan only grasped a little of the superficial aspects, Xiling and Northern Liao had some understanding of the principles of hot air airships. Releasing such balloons was not difficult. The third method was rocket propelled grenades. More complex rocket propelled grenades could currently only be produced in small quantities by the Ye Family Workshop and had extremely high precision and astonishing speed, making them the best weapon for hitting airships. However, simple rocket propelled grenades, as long as the principle was understood, could be prototyped by slightly skilled craftsmen. And the last method was not something he was too worried about others mastering: artillery. This time on the front line, artillery units had already participated. Due to the artillery units' extremely troublesome mobility, they were all assigned to Dai Yun's frontal attack force. The workshop had specially developed anti-aircraft guns to deal with airships, but the accuracy of anti-aircraft guns was not very ideal, and the rate of fire was relatively low, while the manufacturing cost of anti-aircraft guns was intolerably high. In general, this was not a method that could mature in a short time.

Even though there were various threats, the attack still had to be carried out. Xie Bo compared the map every quarter of an hour, marking his current position, recording the positions of each formation reported by the signalmen, and statistically analyzing the status of the entire airship force... This was the first time in history that aerial command was being conducted.

After flying all morning, when Mount Dalun finally came into view, Xie Bo was already exhausted from the complex statistical and management work. He took Mount Dalun into the view of his binoculars and ordered, "Signalmen, transmit the order to attack separately according to the pre-arranged groups. Pay attention to order; we have plenty of time."

The current ground attack was essentially different from the bombing carried out by fixed-wing aircraft in the future. Airships had a small bomb load, and the ammunition used was mainly incendiary and secondarily explosive. This was also due to the bomb load issue; each airship had a limited number of attacks. In order to ensure the attack effect, while also taking into account safety issues, the attack altitude of the airships was generally around three hundred chi (approximately 100 meters). Although the sky was vast, when so many airships were crowded over Mount Dalun, three hundred *chi* wasn't so easy to maneuver.

For this attack, Xie Bo had been sending airships to scout in all possible weather conditions since the plan was first conceived. He had studied the plan view and model over and over again and had already sent down the detailed attack plan, ordering the captains of each squad to deploy separately, without error. And now, he saw that although the entire air squadron was a bit cramped, it was still carrying out its actions in an orderly manner. When the first batch of fire oil bombs was dropped, Xie Bo breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, the bombardier on Xie Bo's airship reported through the copper tube, "Captain, something seems wrong."

Xie Bo's airship, since it had to undertake the work of aerial command, actually carried three signalmen, while the bomb load was reduced to a minimum. Since it was basically impossible to enter the attack sequence, the bombardier was actually observing from that excellent position at the bottom of the cabin. And the careful bombardier discovered that the layout on the top of Mount Dalun was actually different from the results of previous reconnaissance.

Xie Bo's heart tightened, and he quickly checked the model that he had already memorized by heart. Sure enough, many things had been added in several places on Mount Dalun. They looked green, like the surrounding trees, but upon closer inspection, some clues could still be seen.

Before Xie Bo could transmit an order to remind everyone, the change occurred. Pieces of camouflage netting were lifted, and groups of Shenbi crossbows were pushed out and placed in front. The Northern Liao side was obviously well prepared for the air raid. These Shenbi crossbows were all triple-barreled, firing three spear-like arrows in overlapping succession. These arrows had even undergone special treatment. The tip of the arrows didn't have anything tied to them; they were actually burning directly, carrying the power of flames and heading towards the airships.

In the next second, Xie Bo saw the clues. The Northern Liao were probably using a very basic phosphorus incendiary agent, but even with the Western Route Army being so invested, the gap in craftsmanship was still too large. Only one-third of the arrows fired could be successfully ignited in a hurry.

However, for the airship squadron that wasn't prepared for the attack, this was already enough. The Northern Liao side concentrated several firing positions, densely firing at the airship squadron that was attacking the main body of the fortress on the top of the mountain. In this first wave of attacks, three airships were hit by arrows. In two of them, the arrows directly pierced the airship's envelope. What was even more fatal was that this attack caused the airship squadron's formation to become a mess, and the originally smooth attack rhythm was disrupted.

Although the concentrated airships were flustered, the training these pilots received on weekdays was not fake. They had experience dealing with various situations. They quickly put out the fire, increased the speed of inflation and heating of the airship's envelope, and then turned around and wobbled dangerously, retreating from the combat zone. Suddenly, an airship exploded in mid-air. The fire oil bombs loaded in the airship mixed with the airship fuel, turning into a huge orange-red fireball in the sky. Subsequently, the flames that flew in all directions caused the entire airship squadron to become a mess, dodging one after another, and the shock wave of the explosion made this normally simple action extremely difficult. On Mount Dalun, it was clear that the Northern Liao soldiers were cheering there.

"Send people to meet them and notify the ground troops to help. We must not let the airship fall into the hands of the enemy," Xie Bo directly ordered to the signalman. There were also two airships that were very clever and turned on the rocket boosters from the beginning, relying on extremely fast speed to escape far away, and were less affected.

"Order, each unit is free to attack, the original target remains unchanged," Xie Bo said decisively. At this moment, it could only be regarded as a bit of harassment. The withdrawal of three airships from the battle was only a small loss for the entire airship squadron. However, the fact that the airship squadron finally suffered combat casualties had a relatively large psychological impact on everyone.

"Order the First Air Squadron and the Second Air Squadron to concentrate their attacks on the Shenbi crossbow positions," Xie Bo ordered again. Now, the air raid finally looked like a war. It was no longer a drill where the soldiers enjoyed the treatment of gods, attacking without worrying about retaliation. Xie Bo wasn't worried that the soldiers wouldn't be able to adapt. After the initial shock, they would definitely take the right action. He was very confident in his training. The airship squadron had never had an enemy that could threaten it before, but the Ye Family Workshop, the Jinglue Command, and the airship squadron itself had actively studied various methods to deal with ground threats and had deployed targeted training one by one. The threat of Shenbi crossbows, which anyone could think of, was naturally also in their training syllabus. And the soldiers who could enter the air squadron were all elites among elites. How could they possibly lack the courage to deal with casualties?

Sure enough, Xie Bo soon saw two airships sliding out of the formation sideways. They were making small-radius arc maneuvers, and their speed was more than twice as fast as when they were conducting ground attacks. They dived at an unpretentious angle, dropped bombs, and then dropped bombs again, making full use of the slow reloading speed of the triple-barreled Shenbi crossbow and also taking advantage of the opponent's advantage in seeking effect in the first strike, firing across the board without leaving any reserves, using four heavy fire oil bombs to directly cover a high-shooting Shenbi crossbow position...

Seeing the effect, those bold pilots also began various attack attempts. They increased their speed but reduced their altitude, and the tricks in flight became more and more numerous, so many that they were suspected of showing off. Although airships were still being damaged and withdrawn from the battle or disintegrating in mid-air, one by one, the high-shooting Shenbi crossbow positions were being eliminated... Xie Bo approached the battlefield and also flew over the top of Mount Dalun. He didn't see everyone's fear; on the contrary, this kind of fighting seemed to be what the soldiers loved. The entire space was filled with the pilots' excited shouts. Hey, there was even a crew member on an airship howling a noisy war song while diving, dropping bombs, and pulling up heartily... Their dive angle far exceeded the airship's safety standard...