Most of the settlements of survivors in the oasis are in a circular layout.
The main reason for this phenomenon is the miracle bestowed by the spirit of the sea of sand - most of the "river embankments" are circular.
In this case, the closer to the center, the more humid the climate.
Therefore, most of the princes and nobles live in the center, and most of the important administrative agencies are also located here.
However, it is precisely for this reason that the alliance does not need to carefully select when setting the bombing area. It is enough to estimate the distance and height and throw the bomb as far as possible to the center of the target.
As soon as the alliance airdropped leaflets, Falcon City's city defense chief Bofu ordered the evacuation of people in the city center.
However, the headache is that their majesty is unwilling to move, saying that he wants to sit on his throne until the victory of this war.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that they have already lost this war.
But that lord does not think so.
Until the last time Myrdal met him, his respected Majesty still stubbornly believed that everything would be fine as long as Triumph City declared war on Ideal City.
"His Majesty is unwilling to leave the palace. He wants to wait for Prince William's triumph there... There is no way. We must do everything possible to protect the palace and never let a shell fall there."
Listening to the words of the captain of the guards, the city defense commander Bofu frowned and a trace of embarrassment appeared on his face.
"The castle is too big a target... We can't negotiate with our enemies to let them move your Majesty's palace away from the bombing area."
Moreover, 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 slaughter.
Therefore, he specially sent people to evacuate the civilians hiding in the "safe zone" and asked them to go to the designated area to avoid air strikes, or go home honestly.
At least don't stay on the street and get in the way.
Midal also knew that his request was very difficult, but he had no better way, so he could only sigh and say.
"Let's deploy a few more anti-aircraft guns near the castle."
With the firepower of anti-aircraft guns, at least the dive bombing of tactical bombers can be avoided. As for the high-altitude horizontal bombing of strategic bombers, it depends on luck.
No one can say where the bombs will fall.
Bof nodded with a heavy face.
"It can only be like this."
The Alliance built an airport near the town of Bicester, and it is said that a large number of propeller planes have been deployed. If nothing unexpected happens, the Alliance's bombers are probably going to take off from there.
In order to intercept the Alliance's aircraft, their ace pilot Baron Acanth 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 about this.
After all, even the "Saber" jet fighters of the Willant people were shot down by the Alliance. It was nothing but a dream to want to take back the air supremacy from the Alliance with only dozens of "Eagle" fighters.
Just as Midal and Boffo were discussing which defense zone to deploy anti-aircraft guns to the castle of His Majesty the King, a guard with a rifle on his back trotted over.
"Report! Telegram from the front line!"
Midal walked up, took the telegram paper from the guard's hand, unfolded it and took a look, frowning.
Noticing the change in his expression, Boffo walked up and asked.
"What's wrong?"
Midal handed the telegram paper to him and said at the same time.
"According to the news from the headquarters, Griffin believes that the Alliance may send airborne troops to raid Falcon City, so we must be vigilant. He has coordinated the 20,000th team to return to defend. If it's fast... it will be here tomorrow."
"The 20,000th team... which 20,000th team?"
"Ours, the team that withdrew from Oasis No. 9 before."
Bof'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?"
Those people were the remnants of the retreat from the City of Plenty.
I heard that only 2,000 people were left out of more than 10,000 people. Ten thousand-man teams have been trying to get together for a long time, but they can't get two full thousand-man teams.
As for reinforcements...
There is no manpower left.
Seeing that Midal didn't speak, Bof continued.
"In my opinion, it's better to expand the scale of mobilization than to let those guys come."
Midal shook his head.
"There is no extra manpower available... Even if the women in the city were asked to give birth immediately, it would be too late now."
All those who could fight were sent to the front line or the labor camp, and social production was almost completely stagnant.
In fact, even if the war stopped immediately, their economy would be ruined. It was only because they were still fighting that they could barely hold on.
Thinking of the current situation of the kingdom, both of them fell silent.
Looking at the silent Bofu, Midal patted his 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 have to survive tonight."
Although Griffin believed that the Alliance might use paratroopers to raid Falcon City, neither of them took the alarmist words in the telegram seriously.
Airborne operations and air strikes are completely different things.
Even if the Alliance has gained air superiority, there are still five or six thousand soldiers and more than 200,000 to 300,000 residents in the heavily guarded Falcon City.
Even if they really want to send out airborne troops, it is unlikely to be tonight.
At least they have to bomb for a few days first...
Just then, the air defense alarm suddenly sounded in the east of the city.
The piercing alarm interrupted Midal's thoughts. He looked at the dark night sky in the east and frowned slightly.
"Are the Alliance planes here?"
Bof didn't say anything, but his mood sank to the bottom.
The Alliance planes appeared in the capital. It seems that the First Air Squadron led by Baron Acanter finally lost.
But...
Isn't this speed too fast?
He didn't even receive the news that the air forces of both sides had exchanged fire.
If the Alliance planes really took off from near Bicester Town, the troops stationed on the front line would at least remind him, right?
At this time, a messenger ran over with a panicked look.
Before he could open his mouth to report, Bof immediately caught him and asked.
"What's going on in the east?"
The messenger swallowed his saliva and said in a trembling voice.
"Steel, Iron Heart! That airship! It appeared in our east!"
Bofur was stunned.
The same was true for Midal standing next to him.
Looking at the panicked messenger, he hurriedly asked.
"Iron Heart?! Are you sure it's the Iron Heart?"
"I'm sure!" The messenger nodded vigorously and said in a trembling voice, "More than one outpost discovered it."
Multiple outposts witnessed it at the same time, it seems that there is no mistake.
The Iron Heart may have crossed the border of Oasis No. 2, and is only 200 kilometers away from the capital at most!
In fact, it may be closer!
Bofur frowned, and a trace of solemnity appeared between his brows.
"It seems that they are planning to send an airship to bomb us..."
He has heard of the Iron Heart.
It is said that ordinary anti-aircraft guns have no way to deal with it.
However, such an aerial monster is not invulnerable. As long as we find a way to limit its mobility, even if we can't do anything to it for a while, we can make it ineffective.
For example, we can use a dense array of balloons and steel cables to drop them on the road that the airship must pass...
Long 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 and never let the airship go deep alone, but followed the attacking troops steadily.
Why did they suddenly act out of character this time?
"Sending an airship deep alone... are they crazy?" Midal muttered, his eyes full of disbelief.
Rather than a command error...
He is more inclined to believe that this was a deliberate adventure by the other party.
...
There is one thing that Midal did guess.
Pushing the Heart of Steel into Oasis No. 2, contrary to its usual practice, was indeed a strategic adventure deliberately taken by the Alliance's top leaders.
However, to Chu Guang's surprise, Griffin's reaction was a little faster than he expected. He had just penetrated less than 100 kilometers into Oasis No. 2 when he ran into Griffin's "balloon array".
Balloons dragging steel wires rose from the ground in the night, bathing in the tracer light from the sky and slowly passing through the clouds.
These balloons were partitioned inside and had a thin layer of metal partitions on the outside. Even if they were hit by machine guns and high-explosive bombs, they would only be partially damaged, and the total lift could still be basically maintained.
Several balloons connected by steel cables were lifted into the air in parallel, and the blocking steel cables were interlaced with thinner steel wires to form a skirt-like steel cable curtain.
Although the crew on the Heart of Steel discovered the situation on the ground at the first time, it was too late to slow down, and they could only turn off the propeller to prevent the steel cable from entangled with the propeller.
Hundreds of balloons, like huge soap bubbles, gathered next to the Heart of Steel, a larger soap.
The Iron Heart, with its power turned off, was still moving forward slowly under inertia, but its speed had slowed down a lot. The propeller fixed by the steel cable trembled slightly in the cold wind.
Looking at the balloons floating outside the French window of the bridge, Chu Guang had a surprised expression on his face, but soon turned into an approving smile.
"... Not bad, you learned this trick."
In fact, during the battle of Ruigu City, using a dense balloon array to capture the Iron Heart was originally one of the alternative combat plans of the Alliance Command.
The low-speed balloons were enough to break through the deflector shield of the Iron Heart, and the steel wires suspended between the balloons could entangle the propellers.
As long as there were enough balloons, it would be difficult for the Iron Heart to turn or change speed in time to avoid it with its maneuverability.
However, due to a series of reasons, this envisioned plan was not adopted in the end.
The main reason was that time was tight and there was no time to prepare enough anti-aircraft balloons before the Iron Heart evacuated.
Another reason is that the balloon can only make the Heart of Steel lose its maneuverability, but it can neither destroy it nor paralyze its firepower.
Compared with the price paid, the benefits are too limited!
While waiting for the airship to stabilize, Chu Guang retracted his gaze from the French window and looked at the young man standing beside him as the acting captain.
"Report the damage."
After asking the crew about the situation, the acting captain arrived immediately.
"The propellers on both sides are entangled by the steel cables... but they are 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 position to the capital, nodded slowly, and continued to give orders.
"Drop the anchor chain!"
"Also, let the carrier-based aircraft take off and cooperate with the artillery group to cover the Storm Corps' deployment to the ground!"
The acting captain stood at attention and took the order.
"Yes!"
As Chu Guang's order was issued, twenty W-2 attack aircraft took off from the deck, bypassed the balloons wrapped around the airship, and threw flares into the airspace around the airship where there might be enemy troops.
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 fired at the ground, venting fierce firepower on the enemy troops that released the balloons.
Dozens of trucks were instantly turned into scrap metal under the coverage of 155 artillery.
At the same time, the Storm Troops deployed to the ground in an orderly manner through the elevator of the airship, infiltrating the hinterland of the Falcon Kingdom in companies, and began to carry out the combat operation code-named "Punishment".
Although it was one hour earlier than expected, this small variable did not have any impact on the implementation of the plan.
When making the plan, the Army Command had already considered the situation where the airship lost its maneuverability, and even made plans for the airship to completely lose its combat capability.
Compared with the worst case scenario, the twelve-hour delay and the deviation of more than ten kilometers are not worth mentioning at all.
Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.
At this moment, the Falcon Kingdom and the Legion probably still know nothing about the strategic intentions of the Alliance, and only stay at the level of air strikes or raids on the capital.
Holding the handrails on the wall with both hands, McLen finally stabilized his body.
Although he was a little embarrassed because of the temporary bumps, he still felt as sweet as eating honey when he saw the enemy in front of him being defeated.
While gloating, he couldn't help but say something sarcastic.
"...Haha, even if they learn the tools of civilized people, barbarians are still barbarians after all. You really thought of leaving the ground troops and going deep into the enemy alone."
"Oh?"
Chu Guang cast an unexpected look at him.
Good guy.
So you know?
However, McLen obviously misunderstood something and thought that Chu Guang was surprised by the Legion's methods. The smugness on his lips became even more naked.
"...As long as Griffin is not a pig, he will definitely be wary of the airship in your hand. I thought you would immediately put down the ground troops after entering Oasis No. 2, but I didn't expect you to be just like that."
"I admit that I was a little surprised. We all agreed that even if Griffin was prepared, it would be difficult for him to stop us before we approached 50 kilometers from the capital... As a result, his reaction speed was more than ten kilometers earlier than we expected."
Not paying attention to McLen's sarcasm, Chu Guang paused for a moment, and a trace of disappointment appeared on his face.
"But I'm still a little disappointed. I thought you had more surprising countermeasures... I didn't expect your trump card to be just a bunch of balloons."
Anyway, the war is about to end, so it's not bad to test the trump cards in the Legion's hand, so that we can be prepared if there is a conflict in the future.
He originally wanted to see what kind of trump card Griffin had left for his Iron Heart, but he didn't expect it to be a bunch of balloons.
It was a waste of his previous caution.
McLen blushed and obviously wanted to argue, but he realized that this guy might be trying to trick him, so he held back.
"Heh... Do I need a very powerful weapon to deal with you? Once it loses mobility, this thing is a live target."
Chu Guang looked at him in surprise.
"So you know."
McLen was stunned for a moment, and didn't react at first, but soon came to his senses. His face turned visibly liver-colored, his lips trembled, and he was so angry that he couldn't say a word.
Appreciating the wonderful change of expression, Chu Guang smiled and teased him.
"I thought you had forgotten about Ruigu City, but it turns out you just forgot about it for a while."
Finold couldn't bear to look at it and looked away.
Being humiliated by the enemy like this...
Is this guy really his General McLen?
Ignoring McLen who was so angry that he lost his mind, Chu Guang cast his eyes on the vast balloons and sea of clouds outside the bridge.
The Storm Corps has completed its 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. He deployed a sufficient number of W-2 ground attack aircraft and 100 kg bombs there.
They are confident that they can destroy the industrial achievements and infrastructure of the Falcon Kingdom, making it impossible for them to turn over within ten years and remember this lesson with their bodies.
As for the "air strike" on Falcon City.
He has handed over the strongest trump card of the alliance - the Burning Legion.
Those awakened people who are all equipped with exoskeletons will deal a heavy blow to the soldiers of the entourage who are short of supplies and can't even get a few automatic weapons together, completing the final blow of this war.
A faint smile appeared on the corner of Chu Guang's mouth.
"It's up to you next."
...
At the same time.
On the deck of the Iron Heart, the cold air whizzed.
Looking at Kuangfeng sitting in the cockpit, and then looking at this plane with only a windshield and the canopy that couldn't be closed, Lao Bai, who was wearing a light cavalry exoskeleton, was stunned for a long time before asking carefully.
"Can you... do it?"
Kuangfeng, who was holding the joystick, was stunned.
"What can you do?"
Lao Bai said with a smile.
"No... I don't disbelieve you, brother. I just want to ask... when did you learn to fly a plane?"
It's okay that Mosquito can fly a plane.
After all, that guy died so many times and fell so many times.
But you are an intelligence player who has never even touched a plane. When did you learn to fly this thing? !
Kuangfeng looked at Lao Bai who was reluctant to come up with a puzzled look on his face, and asked back after a long while.
"When did I say I could fly it."
Lao Bai: "???"
Ye Shi, who was sitting in the machine gun position, interrupted with a smirk.
"Don't listen to Kuangfeng's nonsense. We actually practiced it when you were away. We flew it several times! This thing is really not as difficult as you think."
Lao Bai finally couldn't help asking.
"How many times?"
Kuangfeng thought about it and answered.
"It should be three times."
Lao Bai: "..."
"Trust me, brother," Kuang Feng gave a thumbs up and made a reliable expression, "It's very stable!"
Facing that serious look, Lao Bai was silent for a long time, and finally sighed and stepped into the open cabin.
"Okay..."
It's just a life at most.
He had saved the game before coming up, so if he died, he died. It was just a pity that the exoskeleton on his body cost 10,000 silver coins.
Looking at the simple layout of the cabin, Lao Bai always felt that something was wrong and asked cautiously.
"Is this another mosquito?"
Kuang Feng said concisely.
"W-1A is an improved version of W-1. Now one plane can seat three people, and the actual overload is not a big problem. You may not know it in the back, but we have only come into contact with this thing in the past two days."
It turned out to be a modification of W-1.
No wonder so many of them can be put together.
Old White looked back at the dark mass on the deck, and for some reason he was not surprised at all.
It was just that the shape of these planes always gave him a sense of foreboding.
Although he arrived at the front a few days ago, he only boarded the Iron Heart today. Kuangfeng has been acting as the corps commander for some time, so this operation is naturally commanded by Kuangfeng.
However, before the operation began, Old White 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 with the bombs of the air raid, and capture the palace of Falcon City with the support of the air units...
However, he originally thought that at least the pilots of the Goblin Corps would fly the transport plane to take them to their destination, but he didn't expect that they would have to drive the transport plane themselves.
Although he believed that Kuangfeng would definitely not cheat him, and his brothers would definitely not joke about such a critical mission, Old White still asked cautiously.
"What exactly has been changed about this W-1A?"
Kuangfeng answered casually.
"The fuselage and wingspan have been extended, and the engine has been cancelled."
"Oh..." Lao Bai, who didn't know much about airplanes, nodded in confusion, but soon reacted with a start, "Wait, what the hell has been cancelled?!"
Kuangfeng didn't answer, but looked outside the cabin, and a few power-related animals who followed the airship made an OK gesture.
"The wind speed is good, ready to go!"
The newbie smiled and also made an OK gesture, then took out a lighter and ignited the two forearm-thick rockets hanging behind the back of the plane.
The hot tail flame sprayed out, and the huge thrust pushed the light glider forward to accelerate, and the shaking of the wings made Lao Bai's heart almost rise to his throat.
"Fuck?! Really?!"
Compared to sitting on this thing, he would rather parachute!
However, unlike him, Kuangfeng's eyes were full of excitement at the moment, and his expressionless face flashed with a different kind of madness.
He had never done anything so exciting before.
And it was with his good brothers——
"Trust me, I calculated... it can be reached."
Pulling down the eyepiece on the helmet, he held the joystick tightly with both hands.
"Hold on!"