Rust City was once glorious, and it had a nostalgic old name, "Stainless Steel City".

The name derives from the meteorite outside the city, and legend has it that a god once died and then turned into stars and fell in this area, so that the subway was covered with sand.

The high quality of iron sand that can be found at all times, coupled with the excavation of a large amount of coal pits around it, made this place slowly become the iron smelting city of the United States.

The various utensils and weapons made of meteorite iron are not only soft and hard, but also have the extraordinary characteristics of corrosion resistance and rust. These local specialties were sold to the cities of the United States through an endless stream of caravans, and were exchanged for wine, grain, spices... and many more, as well as many more iron-smelting and forging workers who came to settle here and work.

At that time, the "Stainless Steel City", also known as the City of Blacksmiths, was the "City of God's Gifts" that many American imperialists yearned for.

However, after hundreds of years of mining, even if it was really the body of a god, the meteorite iron sand around the city was also mined. At first, it was possible to rely on the accumulation of blacksmith resources to purchase iron ore from other places and reprocess it to maintain the sale of ironware.

However, when people found that the steel creations of the "Stainless Steel City" would also rust, and several high-quality iron ores were found in other parts of the United States. The city involuntarily went into decline, and after losing a large number of valuable craftsmen, the "stainless steel city" gradually became a "rust city".

The bluestone bricks that were once purchased at great expense from other places have weathered and damaged, and can only be repaired with laterite masonry mixed with the roots of the grass. The defenders of the City Guard leaned against the patched battlements, waiting boredly for the next changing of the guard.

In the vast desert, the air is stagnant, like a prism. A group of people driving mules and horses seemed to have stood still with time, and although they could see the movement, they barely came close. The guards on guard took turns counting the number of vehicles, but they were always at odds.

It was a convoy of trucks that came to haul coal, and since the loss of "stainless steel", the rest of Rust City's industry could only rely on coal mined underground to support it. On the contrary, every day, there are merchants or official buying teams from other cities who come to buy coal, the former buying a limited quantity, and the latter suppressing the price too much, unlike the former iron sales, which have a huge profit, and the family base of Rust City is getting thinner and thinner.

"It's the caravan of old camels, twenty-five carts, haha, I won the bet. Tomorrow you stand guard for me. ”

Looking at the approaching convoy, the soldier of the garrison who had lost the bet cursed twice in a low voice, but he was still busy pulling his arm and lifting the city gate with the others, so that the purchasing caravan could enter the city for trade. While doing the work under his hands, he wondered if he would go to exchange some new grain brought by the caravan in a while, so as to fill the rice and flour jar at home that had bottomed out.

The breeze suddenly blew up, stirring up the flags on the city walls and making a "hunting" sound. "Good luck, old camel, the wind started as soon as we entered the city. The guard who knew the caravan owner well and won the bet congratulated. There are only two kinds of weather in the desert, windy and windless, and when the breeze blows, it is impossible to say that a terrible storm of sand and dust will sweep in a few moments.

The shadow of a bird appears in the sky – it's normal, and when birds feel a sandstorm coming, they instinctively look for the city as a haven. The guards defending the city exchanged glances with each other - after a while of standing guard, they secretly "borrowed" their bows and crossbows to shoot two birds and fight tooth sacrifices.

The grey goose can be roasted directly, the feathers of the red-breasted black goose can be collected and sold for money, and the bony forehead of the hard-headed white goose is also valuable...... While he was thinking about how to classify the different hunts, the older captain of the garrison suddenly jumped up from the wall of the watchtower at the head of the city, and looked into the distance with his hand on the pergola.

"It doesn't seem to be a bird, it's a little too big. Yes...... Enemy attack!"

The rusty city of the old dragon bell was awakened by the sound of alarms, and the guards who were already familiar with the scene of things and people here still couldn't ignore the real "white cloud dogs" who carried the wings of the clouds.

As soon as the general gave the order, the Tengu clan launched a surprise attack on Rust City. This city, which has little presence in Medici, is a strategic point that cannot be abandoned in the eyes of the U-Sang people.

With the exception of the flagship ships of the various Senate families, which were supported by a large number of anti-gravity levitation circles, most of the ships that were connected together were lifted into the air with huge balloons sewn from leather washed with alchemical potions. To fill these balloons, a large amount of air is constantly heated by a special furnace.

Stepping on the gangplanks that were erected on both sides of the ship's side, hundreds of tall and strong slaves carried coal into the furnace in baskets. In order to supply the consumption required by the furnaces, several tandem ships suspended under the balloons had to be set aside to store fuel.

However, it has been calculated that these reserves are still not enough to support the air fleet to attack the capital of Medici, Beit. Therefore, the capture of Rust City in advance to obtain sufficient coal reserves to replenish it became a decisive move.

At the same time, it is also a good time to use the Tengu Clan to test the aerial assault tactics and test whether this new mode of warfare is feasible.

The war in the ash world, whether it is a field battle between the two armies, an attack and defense of the city, or a battle for hegemony at sea, is actually still in a relatively primitive form. The U-Sang people have the ambition to become slave masters of the heavens and all worlds, and in the large number of contacts with foreign lands, they naturally gradually compare with the inadequacy of the war mode of the ash world-

Although it is much more advanced than the more primitive "ritual war" (where the two sides predetermined the time and place, and each sent one person or one army to compete for the victory), it still did not get rid of the barrier of "hammer anvil tactics".

On land, the main frontal force of the opponent is dragged by the attrition-resistant infantry like an anvil, and then the elite troops such as cavalry are used to repeatedly attack the opponent's formation like a hammer; in naval warfare, that is, the opponent's fleet is entangled with a special broadside warship, and then the battleship equipped with long-range attack weapons is surrounded by a single column or repeatedly attacked the opponent's ship in a horizontal formation.

Aerial battles are often left to riders on flying mounts such as vultures and griffins, and it is impossible to achieve effective three-dimensional strikes by attacking from the air to the ground with weapons such as bows and spears. At this time, in order to cooperate with the Tengu clan's aerial attack, the Utsugashi Workshop also prepared some new weapons for them.

"Watch your altitude and don't waste your strength shooting at the defenders with your arches!"

"As soon as you find your target, unleash your Falling Flame Strike!"

"The vigilance team should pay attention to search for the mage who has risen into the sky, and attack on its own once it is discovered!"

The Tengu Patriarch vividly recounted the words of the tactical staff under the command of the General Commander, and it did not seem noisy at all.

The Spirals roared, and the vigilant team members scattered in search of a potential threat caster, with more Tengu Pilots flying swiftly forward with their Patriarch.

There was a slight glitch when using the "Falling Flame Strike" - due to the first time he threw the alchemy bomb containing white phosphorus, a tengu accidentally rubbed it on his body. Thankfully, his screams of pain and tragic fall raised the attention of the rest of the clansmen, and most of the rest of the falling flame blasts bombarded the Rusty Archon's mansion.

With the large army, the vigilant team specially used to deal with the mage guards was quite smooth. Rust City's city taxes can only support a small number of spellcasters to stay here, and the most powerful of them is only a senior gray-robed mage who is applying for advanced black-robed certification.

When the city is attacked by the Tengu forces, a mage who tries to take to the air on the flying carpet to defend himself against foreign enemies is sniped with a continuous stream of bows and arrows - compared to ordinary humans, the tengu with the claws of a bird can shoot with a special foot bow while controlling the wings of the clouds in one hand and holding a knife in the other.

In the pre-engagement exercise, U-sang's tactical staff considered dealing with the mage. Not only did the tengu of the vigilant team receive long-term training in sniper shooting, but each of them was given three enchanted armor-piercing arrows with the "Anti-Defensive Arrow Spell" before they set out.

As soon as the unprepared Medidic spellcaster faced these well-prepared and powerful enemies, they were severely damaged, and several valuable gray-robed mages died in succession from the accumulation of enchanted armor-piercing arrows. The white-robed apprentices who were driving the flying carpet died down one after another, and hurriedly looked for an opportunity to land before they escaped.

The Archon of Rusty City, like Egu of Spath, is a rare consul of a city as a prince of the blood of the Pharaoh. But unlike Egu, his family had been in the city for generations, and his ancestors had been entrusted by the Pharaoh with the responsibility of overseeing the city because of its great value at the time.

At this time, the consul's mansion was already protected by flames, and the soldiers of the garrison who arrived could not rush in to the rescue. And the alchemy bomb of "Falling Flame Strike" can burn on its own for a long time after exploding, and all mortals who are contaminated with this alchemy flame: the family members of guards, eunuchs, and consuls...... And so on, just like that careless tengu, turning into a humanoid torch that howls in pain.

Trying to extinguish this alchemical flame with water would not only be counterproductive, but would also produce an even more lethal toxic smoke. It can only be completely extinguished by using a large amount of sand to isolate the air. Unable to rise into the air to defend against the Tengu forces, the Rust City mages hurried in, mobilized the power of the spells stored in the obsidian orbs, and began to prepare to open a path with the earth and stone mats.

A shrill "hum" sound fell from the sky, and the Tengu troops fiddled with their joysticks and adjusted the speed of the wings. Hastily wrapped in a special asbestos burqa, the Tengu transformed into agile warriors, drawing their daggers and charging towards the center of the Archon's mansion.

As no surprise to everyone, the Archon of Rust City, who had been held hostage, chose to surrender outright. And the first order he "gave" was to arrest the mages in the city, and the result was naturally a rush of chickens and dogs jumping - after breaking a few white-robed apprentices, the mages were climbing on the poisonous snakes of the samurai's scimitars and the little devils on the shoulders of the guards...... With the help of illusion spell tricks, the mages who fled into the city held on to the fortress.

However, this stubborn resistance was soon shattered, and the arrival of the Uso airship fleet marked a complete change of hands in Rust City. The Tengu Army's aerial assault and decapitation operations created a precedent for the Ash World to have never had a form of warfare. A large amount of stored coal that was supposed to be transported by the merchants was quickly loaded into the cabin by large mechanical buckets hanging from the airships, and the airships of the Usang collected sufficient "rations".

However, the gains of the Usang Empire in this air battle led by the general can only be regarded as a "Pyrrhian victory" compared to the losses in the financial crisis prepared by the Great Veille across the ocean.

From this point of view, the last factor influencing the trend of the two "battlefields" - Abe Fui, the fascination of Izumo Castle, and the princely archon of Rust City, the former is more important than the latter.

It is the so-called "cloth clothes can also be proud of princes", as the title suggests.

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Sogou