Chapter 1 Qiu Hao Hui Experiences the Benefits of Air Power

Qiu Hao Hui began to experience the benefits of having air power on the battlefield early the next morning. The airships that had taken off in the morning reported that a supply train was under threat, giving Qiu Hao Hui ample time to send out cavalry units to meet them. As the Tianxuan Army's cavalry surrounded the supply train and moved slowly, the enemy was already in sight. But in this situation, the Northern Liao army could only retreat dejectedly. Because the airships were careful to conceal their movements, this Northern Liao cavalry unit did not even know why their whereabouts had been exposed.

But from the reports, Ye Tao knew that the situation was not very optimistic. The unit carrying out the raids on the supply lines was actually the Flying Tiger Camp of the Western Route Army. The one leading this unit, which needed to be active behind enemy lines and would likely have to rely on looting supplies to meet their own needs, might very well be Gao Senqi, with whom he had some past acquaintance.

Friends were friends, but he couldn't afford to be sentimental on the battlefield. But Ye Tao knew that Gao Senqi was no simple character either. The best-case scenario now was that Tan Xiaopei's method of protecting the supply lines would really be effective, causing the enemy to fail several times and finally be forced to retreat and reorganize due to lack of supplies. After this kind of high-intensity combat, even an elite unit like the Flying Tiger Camp would need more than just a few days to recover their morale and be able to carry out similar operations again once they relaxed during reorganization. And a few days of buffer time would be enough.

In fact, neither side was prepared to give the Flying Tiger Camp a few days' time. Just after noon the next day, the Tianxuan Army, which had dealt with the morning's attacks with a minimum of troops, made its move. First, several camps of cavalry swarmed out of the three towns, deploying in front of the towns in a mutually supporting formation, all within sight of each other. This made the Northern Liao army, who were eating lunch, nervous and they immediately began to assemble their forces to prepare for battle. But the Tianxuan Army's cavalry was only there to buy time and space for the heavy infantry to form ranks. The deployment of the heavy infantry units would take longer than that of the cavalry units.

But the well-rested heavy infantry, led by Qiu Hao Hui, possessed this kind of explosive power. Qiu Hao Hui, wearing Jingtailan heavy armor, was the first to stride out of the open city gate, and behind him, teams of heavy infantry marched through the gate in four columns, quickly and accurately moving into battle formation. Before long, when the cavalry units separated to the flanks, what appeared before the Northern Liao army was a well-ordered square of heavy infantry.

This made the Northern Liao army panic, especially Su Xin, the Northern Liao general in charge of this route. Although he knew that the Tianxuan Army had not been using its full strength, he had always believed that he was wearing the Tianxuan Army down. Although he was attacking the city, he combined cavalry archery with infantry, constantly shifting his attack points, making it impossible for the immobile Tianxuan Army heavy infantry to use their full strength and fight him head-on. Unexpectedly, today, the Tianxuan Army had suddenly adopted a posture, simply giving up the geographical advantage of the city walls, seemingly planning a decisive battle. But Su Xin had no intention of accepting the challenge. He had fought heavy infantry before, and the Tianxuan Army's heavy infantry had given him psychological trauma these past few days. On the city walls, the Tianxuan Army continued the tradition that had started with the Blood Kirin Army's heavy infantry: heavy infantry cutting down people in front, longbowmen indiscriminately firing arrows from behind. This trick was universally effective, leaving the Northern Liao army, which was far behind in terms of equipment, with no room to maneuver.

And now, with the Tianxuan Army arrayed in formation, Su Xin was extremely worried. He could only urgently order the entire army while rushing to the front line to observe the Tianxuan Army's formation.

"Look at the mess you've caused," Su Xin said angrily. No wonder the Tianxuan Army had only sent out melee infantry and some elite guards to defend this morning when they were briefly breached into the town. Everyone thought that the Tianxuan Army's heavy infantry was extremely fatigued, and Qiu Hao Hui had had to send out his own personal guards to participate in the defense, to give the heavy infantry time to rest. Everyone thought that victory was at hand, because once the heavy infantry collapsed, melee infantry alone could not hold out for long. What was unexpected was that the situation had suddenly reversed itself before noon. Had the Tianxuan Army directly launched an attack operation relying on such a short period of rest last night and this morning? What kind of change had occurred that had led the Tianxuan Army to make this change?

Su Xin's subordinates constantly offered suggestions to Su Xin, and in a very short period of time, they adjusted their formation to prepare for battle. Heavy infantry was not without its weaknesses. Heavy infantry was like a sword made of profound iron, without an edge, having no speed. After unfolding their formation, they marched step by step towards the enemy in front of them, even the most sluggish enemy could make what they thought was the most thorough preparation, but whether it was really thorough was uncertain.

When the two armies were only a few dozen steps apart, the Northern Liao army, weighed down by the heavy atmosphere, roared and rushed forward. The Tianxuan Army stood firm at the command of their officers. The first row of heavy infantry heavily planted their tower shields into the ground. The second row of soldiers stepped half a step to the side, aligning themselves with the gaps between the tower shields. When the enemy charged to the front of the wall of steel formed by the tower shields, the first row of soldiers did not even frown, making no movement at all, as if they were metallic statues. The second row of soldiers raised their long sabers high above their heads in unison and heavily chopped down… Under this ordinary chop, sprays of blood splashed everywhere.

Su Xin spat and ordered, "Where are the catapults? Bombard them for me."

"General, the two armies are engaged in close combat. It will hit our own people," the adjutant reminded him.

"Yes," Su Xin said viciously, "but it will also smash those damned Dongping bandits. If we don't do this, we'll be completely finished here today."

The adjutant responded obsequiously and hurried to give the order.

Huge stones smashed down on the Tianxuan Army's heads. But the Tianxuan Army continued to fight like walking steel statues, without any change. Soldiers who fell were immediately given slight cover by their surrounding comrades, and then dragged to the back of the battle line by melee infantry rushing forward to receive treatment. The Tianxuan Army's indifference to their own casualties greatly surprised Su Xin. But overall, it seemed that the Tianxuan Army's casualties were not very heavy. While some soldiers did die on the spot, there were also soldiers who only had varying degrees of soft tissue injuries, bruises, and even one lucky soldier was only knocked unconscious. Indeed, the Northern Liao side's catapults were too unreliable, and the accuracy of the launches made Qiu Hao Hui shake his head repeatedly.

However, even this level of precision could not be sustained. The crossbow cannons that the Tianxuan Army had brought were pushed out of the town gate, loaded with oil bombs, and fired several rounds in succession. Immediately, the difference between the Tianxuan Army and the Northern Liao Army in operating heavy machinery was faithfully reflected. In just the first volley, the Tianxuan Army directly hit two catapults, turning them into torches. And that wasn't the end of it. The second and third volleys that followed quickly spread flames across the entire catapult operation area. In this environment, don't expect the catapults to work properly. Su Xin was even more annoyed. It wasn't that the Northern Liao side didn't have ways to use fire attacks, but the Northern Liao's usual method of stuffing vine balls with oil-soaked rags lacked accuracy due to its light weight, and it also didn't have the powerful power of the Type II oil bomb that splashed open and burned a large area.

The Tianxuan Army steadily advanced, like a moving mountain range. They always cleared the enemy in front of them, and then the first row of soldiers pulled their tower shields out of the ground, took a big step forward, and then planted them again, then attacked once or several times from the gap that was left. Although the Tianxuan Army was displaying the same old-fashioned formation of heavy infantry in the middle and cavalry guarding the flanks that everyone was tired of seeing, this tactic just happened to leave Su Xin with no way to deal with it. They were now fighting relying on the city, so they didn't have to worry about their rear, but Su Xin didn't have enough troops to defeat the Tianxuan Army's flanks in a short enough time, so he could only watch helplessly as the Tianxuan Army rushed toward him like a boulder sliding down from the top of a mountain, or like an avalanche rolling and constantly gathering even greater strength.

And just as the Tianxuan Army was advancing smoothly, the airship squadron appeared. The airship squadron flew low over the battlefield, and the line of airships spread a sea of fire. Su Xin's battle formation immediately fell into chaos.

"Hold steady, hold steady!" Su Xin shouted loudly, but it was somewhat in vain. Faced with the aerial attacks, everyone's reaction was about the same. Even if some officers who were quick-witted had already realized that it was something made by human power, not some punishment from the gods, they could not slightly reduce the panic in their hearts. But bombing was something the airship squadron was familiar with, becoming more and more skilled, and their bombing was becoming more and more accurate. Now, some bombardiers had figured out the principle of the airspeed tube-adjusted bombing sight that made people dizzy, and they had roughly figured out how to adjust it to be able to bomb accurately. They were already able to accurately attack ground targets while hovering. And the airship squadron was now even more skilled at performing the trick of bombing once or twice and then dispersing to drive away the target. So far, they had not yet encountered an enemy who could survive two rounds of bombing without scattering and fleeing. And the reason for the first two rounds wasn't because they were brave or because the damage caused was small, but because the enemy hadn't reacted yet…

"Is it over just like that?" Qiu Hao Hui curled his lips and asked the guards beside him. Everyone chuckled. With the airship squadron's bombing, the enemy, who had been fighting fiercely just now, fell into chaos. The heavy infantry's original arduous and steady advance turned into a stroll. Although the soldiers were still careful and wary, not carrying any baggage because of the enemy's chaos, and carefully guarding against the enemy's return bite at any time, but… it seemed that this was just the inertial reaction of the Tianxuan Army after Qiu Hao Hui's consistently rigorous and meticulous training…

The rumbling steel torrent seemed to have been lubricated, rolling towards Su Xin's camp…