"Bomb drop, bomb drop." Ren Pengfei personally piloted the No. 1 airship, sailed at full speed on the dock, and finally caught up with the time. Fortunately, there were no strong winds along the way today, so 35 airships were flying in front of the column towards Vladivostok. It's just that because of the timing of the take-off, the No. 35 airship will not be able to reach Vladivostok in an hour.

When the No. 1 airship just flew over Vladivostok, Ren Pengfei ordered the airship to start dropping bombs, so that the bombardiers were not in a hurry to aim.

"You don't need to aim, you just drop the bomb." Ren Pengfei was in a hurry, standing high and looking far away. Before entering the Russian sky, he could already see on the airship that on the distant sea antenna, the Pacific Detachment of the Navy that had come to cooperate with the army had already set up an attack formation and was heading towards Vladivostok at full speed. The navy cannot be allowed to fire first, and the first shot of China's rise must be fired by the air force.

"Cast it, as long as it can be cast in Vladivostok. Forget about the hit rate just yet. After speaking, Ren Pengfei simply pulled down the bomb throwing switch with his own hands. This first shot was not only fired by the Air Force, but also the first shot fired by his Ren Pengfei himself.

"Boom, boom, boom—" The bomb fell from the sky with a roar of death, and the rumbling explosion was like the footsteps of the Grim Reaper. The flickering fire in the explosion was the cold light on the Death Scythe, and the first flash was the Death Reaper's harvesting life. After Ren Pengfei personally dropped the first wave of bombs, he immediately transferred to the duties of the commander of the Air Force. The bombs had all been dropped at one time, and the No. 1 airship that dropped the bomb had lost four tons of weight and rose high in the air, observing the situation of each airship from a high altitude, and then he made the necessary tactical adjustments. The condescending Ren Pengfei quickly discovered the problem.

Due to the hurry, the airship could not form a formation at mid-altitude and thus could not carry out intensive bombing of Vladivostok. And high-altitude bombing, such an attack with a low hit rate of a single boat. If intensive bombardment cannot be formed, the result is that the ability to destroy the target is much lower than the repair ability of the ground engineers. They wanted to rely on the Air Force instead of Army artillery to bomb the depth of the enemy's rear. It was necessary to assemble more airships for intensive bombardment. Also due to the low hit rate, it is unrealistic to expect the Air Force and Army infantry to carry out the current infantry and artillery cooperation. If you want to solve the above two problems, the first thing to solve is the hit rate of aerial bombing. However, because of the limitations of the airship's own flight ability, it seems that it is not only a matter of hit rate to solve this problem, but also a problem of the airship's own defense ability. If there is an enemy airship within a kilometer, it is enough for the enemy to put three or five rifles on the airship to protect the safety of the airship at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Many countries, including Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, have already begun to reorganize their air forces, and German officers who are currently training in our army have proposed to develop longer-range guns to protect the safety of their airships. If it weren't for the emperor's insistence on selling airship technology to foreigners, the absolute air superiority of the Royal Chinese Air Force could be maintained for another three years, and Ren Pengfei was full of grievances to the emperor.

But as the commander of the Air Force, Ren Pengfei also knows that it is far away on the Guangxu Islands in the ocean. A small, high-speed aircraft is being developed. That is the real flying machine, the airplane, once the power of the aircraft is strong enough to carry out heavy bombs, then a large number of high-speed aircraft can carry out high-altitude vertical attacks on ground targets. In this way, both the hit rate and the frequency of attacks are enough to collapse the enemy forces that cannot dominate the air, and this high-speed aircraft that can be equipped with machine guns is a death for the airship. The emperor is the emperor, and such a far-sighted thing is not something that these officers can foresee. Ren Pengfei couldn't help but express his sincere admiration for the wise emperor, and now what he needs to do is to use airships to train more qualified air force officers and soldiers for future aircraft.

Airships No. 2 to No. 10 have completed their bombing and are returning home, but the bombing of Vladivostok by the Royal Chinese Air Force continues. Ren Pengfei, who was observing the ground situation at high altitude, discovered a fun phenomenon. Because the Russian army in Vladivostok cannot counter the airship. Their first choice, of course, is to hide. Perhaps in the past two years, Vladivostok has only focused on the reinforcement of military facilities, and ordinary civilian facilities and ordinary surface defense areas have not been able to ensure that they can be intact in the bombardment of airships, and the direct result is that whenever a Chinese airship arrives over a building or trench, the people inside will choose to escape. Because under such low-density bombardment. As long as you can avoid the attack range of a single airship, it is far safer than hiding inside a building. So, the entire Vladivostok people all looked up at the sky. Then choose to run in the opposite direction of the airship. Judging from the bombing effect of the three airships of the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth, although the damage to the target building was very small. But it can cause panic among the people on the ground, because the crowd in the direction of the airship is always moving away quickly. And as soon as the airship flew over, the crowd on the ground immediately calmed down.

Ren Pengfei suddenly ordered the No. 14 boat, which was bombing, to stop its current mission and fly towards the city instead. Ren Pengfei directed the No. 14 airship around the city through radio and signal flags, and only dropped a small number of bombs on crowded places. However, this bombardment caused panic throughout the city, and every turn of Boat 14 caused panic in the city, and the non-directional flight and a small number of bombs caused the whole city to lose its original order.

Judging from the effect of the bombing of Vladivostok, the continuous bombing will cause panic among the people on the ground, and if the bombing not only includes military targets, but also focuses on the enemy's rear production facilities, transportation agencies, and hubs, and even ordinary residential and commercial areas, the result can completely destroy the enemy's country's ability to wage war, and can this panic further cause the enemy's government and people to lose the will to continue the war? If it could, then this bombing was extremely strategic.

Ren Pengfei wrote such a paragraph in his notebook when he received a telegram from the navy. This fleet consists of two super-sea-class heavy cruisers and two Dinghai-class light cruisers, with four destroyers as the main force. Since the only two heavy cruisers of the Russian Far East Fleet arrived in Singapore ahead of schedule, the entire North China Sea, except for the German Far East Fleet, was the world of the Chinese Navy. The main purpose of their visit was to provide long-range heavy artillery assistance in conjunction with the army's attack on Vladivostok. No way. The maximum caliber of the new equipment in the artillery division was also only 152 mm, and it was not easy to transport. The commander of the detachment was Zhou Haicheng, the newly appointed captain of the former Huludao test ship. But when he reached the coast of Vladivostok, he was furious. According to the original plan, the Air Force had already completed the first round of bombardment of the shore artillery, but what he saw was that the Air Force was still marching towards the target in a long line.

"What the hell are you Air Force doing. How did it get there? ”

"It was delayed due to the weather. At present, the main coastal defense batteries have been hit, and the effect is yet to be evaluated. Moreover, there are only a few destroyers of more than 100 tons in the port, so there is no threat to you for the time being. But I think you can go back. ”

"You mean that just your air force can cooperate with the army to take Vladivostok?"

"If the operation is good, the army can receive it after the air force attack."

"Heh, you're going to jump down from the sky to fight Vladivostok?"

"No, I have a new idea, and I'll know after I try it out. Don't do anything for the time being, I'll report the matter to the General Staff Headquarters immediately. ”

Talking over the radio takes a long time to translate, just a few simple words. The 25th airship has completed its bombing and has begun to counteract. While dictating the contents of the telegram, Ren Pengfei asked the correspondent to send a report to the General Staff Headquarters. Soon Zhou Haicheng received a telegram from the General Staff Headquarters to suspend the attack and stand by on the spot. At the same time, the order was received by the army, which was marching towards Vladivostok, and they received an order to advance to a distance of 10 kilometers from Vladivostok and stand by.

Vladivostok, which means "ruler of the East" or "conquest of the East", is the largest Russian city in the Far East and the headquarters of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Since the former commander Withoff was captured in the Battle of Tsushima, Stepan? Ospovic? Makarov became the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the highest commander in Vladivostok.

Makarov was not a military bureaucrat like Kuropatkin, the commander of the Russian Far Eastern Army. He was not only a naval admiral, but also an expert in military theory. Few people know. The Russian admiral who was killed by a mine was also a naval scientist, and he proposed a method of dividing the ship into several watertight compartments, installing drainage pumps and drainage pipes with high power on the ship, and equipping special plugging pads to plug the damage. It has been praised as a classic by the shipbuilding circles of later countries, so Makarov was also called "the founder of the theory of unsinkability of ships" by the later Soviet Navy. And he also invented the first shell cap, known as the Makarov cap. The effectiveness of armor-piercing shells can be greatly increased. But Makarov didn't know that the theory of unsinkable ship and the armor-piercing shell he had just put forward had already been plagiarized by someone. And it has been tested in real combat and has been greatly improved.

Precisely because Makarov was not a pedantic officer, he took a series of measures after his arrival. Although he only had two heavy cruisers. However, the frequency and scope of the Pacific Fleet's activities were still strengthened, so much so that the Chinese General Staff Headquarters had to have the North Korean fleet docked at Pusan to monitor and prevent the Russian fleet from potentially rushing into China's inland waters; He also persuaded the French who were the best fortress builders in the world to design the first fortress in the Russian Far East. It turned out that the French designed more than 100 guns of various calibers for the fortress, as well as a complex underground transportation network and various facilities. The design was perfect, but I couldn't get to work in the first few years of construction, for the simple reason that I didn't have the manpower and couldn't buy enough supplies, even if you had the money. So much so that the salvage of shipwrecks and mines in the port had to finally invite Chinese deminers who "have a lot of experience".

Makarov has seen the Chinese clear mines, and the chaotic scene is not as experienced as Ben, but it is a little stronger for Russian sailors who have never cleared mines. Makarov was sad because the Chinese were training their own soldiers with Russian money. Therefore, this strengthened Makarov's determination to build the Vladivostok fortress as soon as possible.

Finally, taking the opportunity of the Sino-Russian agreement on the joint construction of the Far Eastern Railway, after the Qing people relaxed the economic blockade of Vladivostok, Makarov finally had sufficient manpower and materials. But in a northern region where you can only work for four months a year, progress is not much faster. Fortunately, after reviewing the design of the fortress, Makarov focused on strengthening the construction of key points, although the entire fortress as a whole was only completed before the start of the war, but the main battery and other key facilities have been completed. Makarov remained confident in the fortress, as he sent back to the country: Vladivostok could hold out for at least a year. For this reason, he decisively abandoned almost all the eastern cities, including Burleigh. The entire 50,000 troops were concentrated in Vladivostok, and even the outlying cities of Vladivostok were only symbolically arranged with 5,000 troops. Makarov is well aware. It is easier to disperse the forces and be broken by the Chinese army individually, so it is better to concentrate all forces to defend Vladivostok. Just hold Vladivostok. In the future, Russia's new Pacific Fleet, having defeated the Chinese fleet, will have a stable logistics base. Not so much that after defeating the Chinese fleet, you won't even be able to find coal. Therefore, while Makarov gave up Boli and other places, he also brought all the military supplies in these cities to Vladivostok.

As for Makarov's arrangement, the Russian top level affirmed it. In their opinion, as long as the Chinese Navy is eliminated, the entire Chinese coastline will be the domain of the Russian Army, because the Chinese Army has never been taken into account. As for the defeat of Mukden City a few years ago, the result they concluded was only insufficient troops and insufficient logistical supplies.

Watching the airships floating in the sky drop bombs on Vladivostok one by one, Makarov wanted to laugh. He had previously feared that China's high-density bombardment would undermine the fort's defenses, and that it could serve as the world's only independent air force with combat experience. They still seem to be immersed in the effects of the bombing of Tokyo. They forgot that Vladivostok was a military fortress and not a city, and that such a low-intensity bombardment could not cause panic among the soldiers of the fortress. And Makarov, the Chinese Navy that has already appeared on the surface of the sea, did not even think about it, because as soon as the Chinese Navy comes into the range of shore artillery, the shore artillery will immediately attack. In fact, the Chinese Navy is always out of range.

After all 35 airships of the Chinese Air Force returned home, the hour-long non-stop bombing ended. As soon as the 35th airship turned to the northwest, Makarov ordered his soldiers to rush out of the fortifications and start repairs to prevent a possible attack by the Chinese army.

The Chinese Army quickly appeared in Makarov's field of vision, but the Chinese Army in the telescope stopped far away. Makarov's astonishing discovery. The Chinese Army has set up a standard defensive formation not in an offensive posture, and has already begun to build fortifications. What does the Chinese Army want to do? They want to trap Vladivostok? This was impossible, because Vladivostok had hoarded enough food and ammunition for five thousand troops and tens of thousands of people in the city for three years. Then let's see if in cold Siberia the Russians with thick houses in the city fell first, or the Chinese with only tents in the field fell first.

The aerial bombardment of the Chinese stopped two and a half hours later. With the arrival of the second wave of airships, Vladivostok was once again attacked by the Chinese.

Ren Pengfei looked at Vladivostok under his feet with a sneer, and gave the order to attack. This attack brought not high-explosive shells, but eight 500-kilogram barrels. In the middle of the barrel was explosives, with a clockwork delay deactivation device that had been determined by numerous tests. The outer layer of the explosive is petroleum that has been solidified into a viscous state by adding sugar and waste rubber. At the beginning, many people in the staff headquarters didn't understand why the emperor had to add high-end goods such as sugar to the oil. But after the measurement, everyone kept their mouths shut. After a 500-kilogram incendiary bomb explodes 100 meters above the target, the flames generated by its combustion are enough to cover a radius of 500 meters, and this viscous oil will also adhere to the steel and burn. The cost of a white phosphorus incendiary bomb, which also has such an effect, is more than three times that of an oil incendiary bomb. As soon as the same weapon of mass destruction appeared, Ren Pengfei immediately sent a report requesting that the Air Force be equipped with a large number of such weapons, but was rejected by both the General Staff Headquarters and the Military Department. The reason is that although it is cheaper than white phosphorus incendiary bombs, the price is still high. The War Headquarters and the General Staff Headquarters agreed that such weapons would only be effective against ground trenches, and would not have much effect on tightly protected facilities such as artillery batteries. It is said that the weapons laboratory in the town of Ming Tombs is developing an armor-piercing high-explosive bomb weighing one ton, hoping to use the impact force generated by falling from the air at high speed to penetrate the thick cement protective layer such as the fort and explode inside. Although research and development have been blocked, there is still little interest in the equipment of oil incendiary bombs. Only the emperor overrode public opinion and used the funds of the internal government to purchase oil incendiary bombs for the air force, and so far more than 4,000 have been equipped. And these 4,000 oil incendiary bombs are where Ren Pengfei dares to say that the army will receive Vladivostok.

Makarov watched the flames falling from the sky and simply ordered the troops to return to their bunkers and take shelter, leaving only observation posts on the surface. With the passage of time, in the end, there was not even an observation post left, because Vladivostok at this time had fallen into a sea of fire, and at this time, no matter which country in China and Russia knew that it would brave such a fire to launch an attack and seek death. Makarov, who was hiding under a thick concrete bunker, ate dinner calmly, and joked that if the Chinese attacked like this all winter, it would be the warmest winter in Vladivostok. The commander-in-chief's joke put all the Russian soldiers at ease.

Flames can't burn through concrete bunkers, not to mention the fact that important bunkers are made of harder stones. As for the toxic gases from the combustion of oil, the fortress was already considered at the beginning of the design of the fortress, and it was only necessary to plug the firing holes to prevent the flames from seeping in. However, Makarov looked at one thing, oxygen is needed for combustion. But Ren Pengfei thought of it, so the attack did not stop all night. Calculated as a four-hour round-trip, the airships took off and landed at fifteen-minute intervals, and like a transport line, they kept dropping oil incendiary bombs into Vladivostok. In order to cooperate with the bombing by the air force, Li Ming, who was far away in Xi'an, directly ordered the army to light fire all night along the road from Harbin to Vladivostok to guide the direction of the air force. The whole of Vladivostok was literally engulfed in flames, and the surface of the sea began to burn. The only two mine-striking ships in the harbor have been completely burned out.

The next day, when Makarov got up, he reacted that something was wrong. Because the large-scale and violent fire drained the entire Vladivostok of oxygen, although the bunker was not affected by the flames, the people in the bunker also needed oxygen to breathe. Makarov did not wake up normally, but was awakened. The inside of the bunker, which was not replenished with oxygen from the outside world, was quickly exhausted by human breathing. If this continues, when the fire stops, there will not be many Russian soldiers alive, and maybe Vladivostok will not be able to hold Vladivostok for even a day. Makarov decided to break through, but there was a raging fire outside the observation or shooting holes in either direction, and each time the hole was opened, the oxygen in the room was drained faster. Makarov finally got scared, but the bombing by the Chinese air force did not stop. (To be continued......)