Chapter 1 A Need for Caution

Shiliu grew more anxious at Ye Tao's nonchalant attitude. She quickly said, "Marshal Ye… On the ground, our Yunzhou army has a formidable lineup and high morale, afraid of no one. And even if some unexpected events occur, as long as we respond properly, there won't be much loss. But in the sky… once we encounter a surprise attack, there's nowhere to run. We must be careful."

"Oh…" Ye Tao asked, "What do you think is the best way to respond?"

Shiliu said in a deep voice, "The airship squadron is making its final preparations for takeoff. Immediately notify them to prepare for aerial combat. Also, if possible, it would be best to give the airship squadron in the Tanli direction a certain number of reinforcements to form an absolute advantage in numbers… Also, those few planes at the airport… can they…"

"No," Ye Tao refused outright. "If you do that, we'll win in the sky, but what about Kong Xinhua?"

Shiliu scratched her head in embarrassment. At this moment, Ye Tao added with a smile, "In your capacity as the duty commander, order the airship squadron: Strictly order them to maintain a superior flight altitude before the battle, and pay attention to the enemy's technical force strongholds. That should be enough, I think."

Shiliu pondered for a moment and immediately understood the meaning. Flight altitude is key in airship combat; airships cannot shoot upwards. The so-called superior altitude is naturally aimed at airships. As long as the airship squadron isn't stupid, they will immediately realize this meaning: the enemy also has airships. And when the two sides encounter each other, as long as they are at a superior altitude, the enemy can only admit their bad luck. Paying attention to scouting enemy strongholds is even simpler: don't kill the other side with one blow, just follow them back to their moorings. Even if the Northern Liao's airships have good performance in other aspects, they are far inferior to Ye's Workshop, which has put a lot of effort into fuel economy and endurance. In this way, Kong Xinhua will at least have enough time to leave safely. The guys from the Special Operations Battalion might even give him some cover, making Kong Xinhua a hero who escaped after a bitter battle or something.

Shiliu quickly cupped her fist to acknowledge and hurriedly took her leave to issue the order.

When Shiliu's order reached the Yunzhou Fourth Flying Battalion, the entire camp was making final preparations for takeoff. As the commander of the air support in the Tanli direction, Yao Beiwu always had a tight string in his heart. Since the establishment of the entire Dongping flying force, they had never relaxed aerial combat training, even though they never knew where the aerial opponent was. But in internal training, the four flying battalions in Yunzhou and the three flying battalions in Dongping had long simulated various tactics. After the appearance of airplanes, the four flying battalions in Yunzhou, although they knew that the future aerial masters would probably not be themselves, but those agile and fast guys, they never showed mercy in simulated combat against airplanes. Using the advantage of troop strength and volume to force airplanes into a dead end was invented by Yao Beiwu. When it comes to aerial combat, he considers himself quite qualified. Two or three months ago, the military issued a notice to the main officers at the battalion level, saying that Northern Liao was also secretly researching airships, but the results were unknown. Since then, Yao Beiwu had a feeling that the aerial battle was about to begin. Although this time he was performing a ground support mission, Yao Beiwu still strictly ordered the entire flying battalion to prepare for combat in accordance with comprehensive tasks. This meant that each airship had two twelve-shot crossbows with a range of four hundred paces and four tube-launched rocket launchers with a direct range of eight hundred paces. Although he didn't quite understand Yao Beiwu's decision, these weapons were still very useful for ground attacks, but the rocket launchers were a bit expensive, probably not cost-effective. Although everyone was a little puzzled, they resolutely carried out Yao Beiwu's instructions. Upon receiving the military order from Shiliu, Yao Beiwu breathed a sigh of relief and felt a faint sense of anticipation. They had been thinking about destroying the enemy in the air for too long.

Since there was no need to make any additional preparations, Yao Beiwu put the military order in his arms and boarded the airship.

"Release the moorings, the entire battalion will follow me and take off in sequence, and form up at an altitude of two thousand chi," Yao Beiwu ordered. When the airship squadron completed its assembly in the dark sky and entered level flight according to Yao Beiwu's order, Yao Beiwu used signals to transmit the military order to the entire team. In the quiet night sky, there was actually a faint cheer. Yao Beiwu chuckled, it seemed that everyone had been looking forward to this battle for a long time.

In Tanli, when the first ray of light appeared on the horizon in the morning, many people breathed a sigh of relief. The Special Operations Battalion had quietly withdrawn from Tanli and was preparing to meet Kong Xinhua at the agreed place. Sang Qin Guo also breathed a sigh of relief. The entire Tanli was now under his control, and the airship squadron that had completed its ascent and formation in a full hour made the entire town even calmer, as if it were a promise of safety, or a silent deterrent.

Flying, even in Dongping, a country that has already regarded flying as an important part of military, commercial, and transportation, and has tens of thousands of people who have experienced the feeling of flying, is still mysterious and awe-inspiring to the vast majority of people. And in a place like Northern Liao, people's feelings about aircraft are even more complicated. That is something that many people, and even many soldiers who have long heard about and witnessed airships, cannot understand. Airships have thus become a force of deterrence.

The airship crew members of Northern Liao were especially serious today, not only because this was the first time they had carried out a real military order, but also because they were now in the battlefield… Fighting against Dongping, fighting against Yunzhou, was inherently unsettling for them. The more they trained in the air and accumulated more flying hours, the more they understood how amazing and complex flying was. Precisely because of this, they would not blindly believe the touting of those high officials in Yanjing, saying that the airships of Dongping were not worth mentioning and that they could all be shot down. The airship crew members knew that things could never be so simple. The Northern Liao's airships were named "Lingjiu-type" (Vulture-type), alluding to the airship's superior flying altitude. In fact, in this regard, according to various data, Northern Liao may indeed be ahead of Dongping. At least according to observations, no airships that could match the Lingjiu-type in flying altitude had ever been found in Dongping, or even near the Ye's Workshop Research Institute in Yunzhou. However, the airship crew members understood that at that altitude, the flying stability was extremely poor, there was not much maneuverability to speak of, and it was very susceptible to air currents. Although airships cannot shoot upwards, being at a higher altitude means safety, but wanting to threaten those stable and reliable large airships of Dongping on a swaying airship requires more than just luck.

An even more important problem was that Dongping's airships had considered aerial communication from the very beginning. Signal boxes, light boxes, command indicator flags, and other settings were all available, and there were clear norms and systems from the very beginning. The Northern Liao's airships initially focused on manufacturing and performance. Although they realized the problem of command and coordination during training, it was still due to various technical problems. Now, the coordination and command of the Northern Liao's airships after takeoff is still quite primitive, and basically relies on flag signals. This is also due to the insufficient payload of the Northern Liao's airships and the immature mechanical parts. The airships do not have the capacity to equip an additional communications officer, and besides weapons, there is no more payload to bear a heavy and complex signal box, not to mention the electrical lighting devices that they never seem to understand. Insufficient payload meant that the crew members' cold-weather equipment was not very adequate. In a flurry of operations, it was too difficult to free up one person to send signals and pay attention to the signals of other airships at all times. It was not difficult for Dongping's airships with six or more crew members to do this, but it was not so simple for the Northern Liao's airship squadron.

After the airship squadron took off, it formed a formation. A total of twenty-two airships were divided into two rows, front and rear, and slowly flew westward. The reconnaissance mission began. Even though the crew members had this and that doubt, and were not so confident about the upcoming battle, at least in the air, overlooking the entire Tanli and the surrounding scenery, it still made people feel relaxed and happy.

"Damn it, I was sent here at this time. I thought it was training and garrison, who would have thought that we would really have to fight."

"Don't say that. After making that kind of formation, people mixed into the city, and there was a large group of people outside the city waiting for an opportunity to move. If it weren't for General Sang Qin Guo suppressing it, I'm afraid it would have been taken by surprise last night."

"Hehe, the people running on the ground still have legs to escape, what should we do if the city is really broken? We can't carry the airship to run, can we?"

"Alas, who says not? We can't run with the airship, and if we abandon the airship… hehe, we'll be beheaded even if we run away."

"Fortunately, we are in the sky now… if the situation changes, we can always find a deserted corner to land and hide. If we were really in the city, I think it would be better to surrender to Dongping."

"Alas, yes, I have never heard of Dongping killing prisoners."

"You don't have enough experience… it may have happened before, but in the Yunzhou army, under Ye Tao, if this happens, the official will be removed from his post. The Flying Tiger Battalion of the Western Route Army also has this rule, that is what the young general learned after returning from Yunzhou."

Suddenly, the lively discussion on the airship quieted down. They swallowed hard, looking into the distance with some confusion and fear.

The dust from the marching army was not a big problem for them. This was originally expected. But those black dots that became clearer and clearer in the morning mist were a big problem for them: the Yunzhou army's airship squadron… their most terrible enemy had arrived.

"Climb! Climb!" The same words were shouted on different airships.