Chapter 524

"Triangle Arrow Formation,." Yao Beiwu did not rush to give an order, but after observing it for a while, he quietly said his order to the signalman. The ceiling of Beiliao's airship seems to be higher than its own, at least one hundred and fifty feet more, in the battle, it is obviously impossible for the opponent to fight directly at the maximum ceiling, and there is still some margin, so it is conservatively estimated that the opponent's maximum ceiling is two hundred and fifty feet more than its own. However, the opponent's airship is much smaller than its own, and its structure is also a relatively rudimentary open structure, and at that altitude, it is more difficult to maintain a stable flight than its own, and it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of shooting. If it is a more conservative commander, it is estimated that he will let the formation spread out, bomb by himself, and the other party will attack his own side casually, basically a blind cat encountering a dead mouse, although there are some losses, but it is still acceptable, but Yao Beiwu is not this type of commander. Since the Chinese military town has already informed itself to pay attention to air combat, even if it is inferior in height, there is still a way to deal with it.

It is true that the airship is not suitable for attacking upwards, and the shooting range is very limited, but after all, there is still a certain shooting range, and the front is not good, and the side shooting range is better. The No. 4 tactic is specifically aimed at the target that flies higher than itself, six airships are grouped into a group, only for one target, ignoring the attacks and harassment of other targets on themselves, when approaching the limit range, the six airships are grouped into three groups, turn sharply in three directions, use the side to face the target direction, and rely on the side of the airship to turn to further raise the firing range, so that as long as the range of the ballista and the god arm bow can reach the target, it can form a crossfire shot, The shooters of the airship team are fully confident in their artillery skills, and if such crossfire cannot destroy a target, they will not be able to pass the level in their own hearts. Not to mention that their airships are now equipped with rockets with longer range and more powerful that are specifically aimed at flying targets.

The airship team quickly formed several arrows, each locked onto the target, and rushed straight away. The speed of the airships on both sides is naturally very fast compared to the marching army on the ground, but in the air, this kind of tense situation, this kind of battle situation in full swing, the people on the ground can only feel that there is some leisurely atmosphere in it.

Relying on the advantageous height, the airship team of Northern Liao fired first. At that height, the ballistas and divine arms they were equipped with had a much longer range than usual, and they could naturally attack first when the opponent couldn't reach them. Stout crossbow arrows flew in an arc through the air, diagonally through the array of Yunzhou's airship team. In the first salvo of the Northern Liao airship, only one of the dozens of crossbow arrows hit one airship.

"Inform Fourteen, quit the battle!" Yao Beiwu didn't have time to judge the damage of the injured airship, but he still gave the order directly for safety.

"Fourteenth replied: Minor injuries, a small amount of impairment of mobility. Ask to continue the war. Before the signalman finished sending Yao Beiwu's order, he directly read the signal sent by the other party from the signal of the fourteenth airship.

"Agreed. Go and attack the ground, keep the height, and don't give the opponent a chance. Yao Beiwu commanded.

The airship team of Northern Liao was a little surprised to see the airship team of Yunzhou approaching them at a strange speed and formation, and when the airship of Yunzhou made a sharp turn, facing them sideways in an instant, and fired a salvo, they suddenly realized that this was an extremely clever tactic. Yunzhou's attainments in airships are far more superb than they imagined. In this first contact, there was no doubt that five Northern Liao airships were directly shot down, two of which were directly hit by two rockets, which exploded in the air and turned into a fireball and fell to the ground. For these still relatively jerky airship crews in Northern Liao, this is really too terrifying prospect.

"Don't worry, after everyone fights, we will have an advantage if we fly high." Some people in the airship team of Northern Liao also thought so, this was their obvious advantage, no matter how good the airship in Yunzhou was, they would not be able to change the function of the airship itself in battle.

After an assault, the airship teams of both sides became entangled. The Northern Liao airship occupies an advantageous height, constantly shoots, and can choose the most suitable target at will, although the hit rate is very low, but it still constantly causes killing. And the airship in Yunzhou can only use the sharp turn to raise the firing boundary as much as possible to get the Northern Liao airship. However, compared with the immature tactics and control techniques of the Northern Liao airships, the airship team under Yao Beiwu's careful training constantly carried out tactical cooperation between two or three airships, forming shields for each other, and constantly forming local lore. Once a salvo is fired by more than two Yunzhou airships, it is already an extremely lucky ending to be able to withdraw from the battle with serious injuries. The airships of the two sides, entangled in the air, actually seemed evenly matched.

Once Yunzhou's airship is injured, as long as it is not too serious, it will lower its altitude and join the ranks of ground bombardment. Although the airship team of Northern Liao seemed to have the advantage, they only destroyed three Yunzhou airships in total, and most of the others were damaged. On the one hand, the lack of power of the anti-aircraft weapons in Northern Liao played a more crucial role in the safety guidelines that the Yunzhou side consistently implemented in the development of airships.

Although it is a hot airship, the huge airbags of Yunzhou's military airships are made of lightweight leather or other materials to form partitions, so that the entire airbag becomes several relatively ** spaces. Even if they are damaged, as long as the heat generator is still intact, they can still maintain a certain amount of power, at least make a slow descent and landing, and it is not difficult at all to wait for the containment of their troops. While fighting in the air, the Yunzhou army had already approached Tanli and entered the sight of the Danli defenders, who fully shrank back to the city. As long as the airship does not make a forced landing in Tanli City, it will be safe. Although the airship team suffered unprecedented heavy losses, in fact, the loss of manpower was very small.

When the aerial grappling lasted for half an hour, the siege battle on the ground began. Several battalions attacking Tanli only gave Tanli a stick of incense time to decide whether to fight or surrender. They had been looking forward to fighting for too long, and they didn't want to give each other many other options. While waiting for the other party's reply, the ballistas were already assumed on the ground, and various siege equipment were prepared. The infantry marched and prepared as they chanted slogans, while the longbowmen examined their bows, wiped the shiny composite bows, and finally tightened the bowstrings, their fingers pulling their white tail feathers into their quivers......

And this atmosphere finally made the defenders of Tanli a little unbearable, and a nervous archer slipped his hand, and an arrow accidentally slipped out and fell in front of the feet of the heavy infantry at the forefront of the Yunzhou army. This was a long-awaited "provocation" by the commanders of Yunzhou, and they did not hesitate to order a full-scale attack.

"In five minutes...... I will see my soldiers standing at the head of the city. A lieutenant of the light infantry battalion said.

On the 300-foot-wide head of the city under his command, two airships accurately dropped a series of fire and oil bombs, and this extravagant fixed-point bombardment made the entire section of the city wall glow orange and red. This was followed by a series of feathered arrows, mercilessly burrowing into the fire and smoke for a second blow. Under these two successive waves of attacks, the light infantry had rushed to the city at the fastest speed, and the counterattack was almost negligible. Less than eighty feet from the city, some of the elite archers in more thoughtful light armor stopped, raised their bows, mounted their arrows, and killed the enemy soldiers who were rising on the top of the city one by one, the soldiers who wanted to push away the ladders, the strong men who wanted to splash the boiling oil, the archers who wanted to lean out and shoot arrows, and the officers who shouted and pushed the soldiers to resist, were their priority targets. In front of each elite archer, there is a heavy infantry who specializes in protecting them, holding the tower shield in front of them, waving a round shield in his hand, blocking the enemy's arrows for the elite archers, and even blocking those arrows with his body...... Standing at the forefront of the handover of blood and fire, hovering on the edge of life and death, entrusting your life to your comrades, and using the weapons in your hands to take the lives of one enemy soldier after another, and the distance you are at is enough for you to see the despair of the other party before death...... Elite archers are undoubtedly the most exciting job in the Longbow Battalion.

In fact, less than four minutes later, a small group of light infantry was already standing at the head of the city. It is inevitable that there are some large and small wounds on their bodies, and it is even more difficult to avoid the traces of smoke and fire, but they planted the military flag of Yunzhou on the head of Tanli City in an incredibly short time. Subsequently, their comrades-in-arms climbed up on a group of ladders and began to fight at the head of the city. And when a small group of heavy infantry reached the top of the city, the battle was almost doomed. The heavy infantry rumbled forward on both flanks, losing the protection of the city walls, and was attacked by the enemy's lightning speed, and the morale was robbed, and the battle was almost one-sided. From the beginning of the attack, until the Yunzhou army took the city gate and began to enter the city to sweep, until the defenders of Tanli fled out of the city, and the Yunzhou army conquered the whole city of Danli, it took less than two hours.

It was only at this time that the battle in the air became insignificant, and the Northern Liao airship team could only flee westward, and they could not take care of the facilities and equipment on the ground...... And Yao Beiwu ordered the pursuit with a cold face. The two sides of the air battle gradually disengaged, and the curtain came down on this first air battle in history.