Chapter 536: 536 The light that splits the night
Chapter 536 536 The light that splits the night
On the ground, a huge searchlight with a diameter of more than one meter suddenly charged up, shining brightly and instantly piercing the entire sky.
It was like a holy sword, cutting through the darkness at once, and then gradually tilting, as if it was about to split the night.
On the Qi airship, the airship commander from Cyric was startled by the light in front of him. He didn't expect that the other party would install such a bright light bulb in a place where birds don't poop.
"Keep the course! They shouldn't have many high-altitude missiles..." Before Cyric's captain could even finish his words, he saw the light beam in front of him begin to tilt until it hit the airship he was on.
The light shines on the huge Qi State emblem on the side of the Qi State airship. With the night as the background, the mark appears so clear and shining.
What he wanted to say was that it was impossible for the Tang State to deploy so many anti-aircraft guns in such a place with no defensive value.
But before he could finish his words, the anti-aircraft guns deployed on the ground in Tang Dynasty rang out, and a row of tracer bullets rushed into the sky, like a rising golden light spot.
Before he could react to what happened, the airship commander from Cyric felt a slight vibration in the airship cabin under his feet.
Something penetrated the thin shell of the airship's cockpit, punctured the floor beneath their feet, and pierced everything in its path.
The commander turned around and saw that a subordinate operating an airship behind him was shattered into pieces by a cannonball from below.
It was a real fragment. The shell shot off one of his thighs, and then tore open the man's shoulder, leaving the unlucky guy instantly **** and miserable.
"No...it doesn't matter...they can't..." The captain of the airship also wanted to comfort the men around him. He wanted to tell everyone that it was impossible for anti-aircraft guns to continuously hit his airship without stopping.
Unfortunately, before he could even finish his words, the cannonballs from below once again penetrated the airship's cab, making a series of clanging sounds as it seemed to fly to a higher place.
The pale-faced captain of the airship raised his head and saw the fire starting to bloom above his head. In order to simplify production, the airship produced by Cyric uses hydrogen, not the inert gas helium that Tang Mo insisted on using.
Hit by a specially designed tracer bullet, the hydrogen filled in the airbag of this hard-shell airship became unstable. Some of the gas was ignited and began to torture the brackets inside the airship.
Because the combustion temperature is too high, these brackets begin to melt and deform. During the process of collapse and destruction, more air flows into the airbag, which subsequently ignites more hydrogen.
It’s a vicious cycle, and everything happens within five seconds. When Cyric's airship commander raised his head to look at the top of his head, it had become a burning and exploding hell.
Then the air wave swallowed up the entire cockpit of the airship. The Cyric commander only had time to let out a hysterical scream before he was completely engulfed by the flames.
On the ground, the anti-aircraft gun team that had just been pouring tracer bullets on the airship had already seen the burning airship.
They saw that the targets they were attacking were all set on fire. In the firelight, they could even clearly see the frame structure of the airship supporting the airbag.
Even from a distance of more than a kilometer, they could clearly see that the frames supporting the airship were burning, breaking, and melting in the raging fire.
Everyone on the ground could also see the cockpit deformed and disintegrated by the flames, and then fell from the sky to the ground.
The flames in the sky illuminated everything around them, and then attracted more and denser artillery fire—in the sky illuminated by the burning airship, the outlines of seven or eight airships became extremely clear.
It took almost only a moment for the anti-aircraft guns on the ground to aim at the target. They began to attack again. The shells flew into the sky one by one, and then lit up new airships one after another.
Not far away, the second Qi State airship immediately started burning, and in an instant it turned into a ball of unruly fire, struggling and exploding in the sky.
Seeing that the third airship was also hit, the searchlight didn't even have time to shine on the body of the airship, and it began to burn itself to illuminate others.
Four anti-aircraft guns from an anti-aircraft gun battery, plus a searchlight, shot down all the Qi airships closest to the anti-aircraft gun defense positions in just a few minutes.
When the fourth Qi airship exploded and broke, burning and crashing in the sky. The first Qi airship to be shot down hit the ground, and then there was an even more tragic explosion.
That was the result of the explosion of an aerial bomb carried by the airship. The tragic explosion caused the earth to tremble slightly.
The airship loaded with bombs was like a small ammunition depot. The huge fire caused by the weapon explosion shocked the surrounding Tang Army soldiers.
The night in front of them was destined to not be a peaceful night. At this time, the Qi airship troops finally realized that they seemed unable to cross the border and go to Anpu, their chosen target of attack. As a result, no one knew who gave the order to retreat, and these airships began to turn slowly in the illuminated night sky.
In front of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun, which is completely designed to intercept aircraft, such maneuvers are like an old lady dodging bullets.
The officer standing next to the ground anti-aircraft gun once again lowered his arm, the gunner stepped on the firing pedal, and the Bofors anti-aircraft gun once again spit out tongues of fire, destroying all the shells in the magazine.
A series of tracer bullets fly towards the target again. Using tracer bullets can not only improve your hit rate in the dark night, but also have the effect of igniting the target.
At this time, the Qi Jun airship, which had just begun to turn around slightly, was already burning again. The Qi Jun airship commander in the cockpit could only close his eyes in despair.
He was unable to stop the enemy's attack on the ground, and he had no way to stop the explosion and burning of hydrogen above his head, so he could only wait for death, miserably waiting for his end.
Compared to the infantry on the ground, he doesn’t even have the option of surrender—what’s more, he’s ordering people to hoist the white flag. Who can see clearly?
Besides, they look like this, almost running naked without any armor, their defense power is about zero, their skins are thin and have eighteen pleats, so what chance do they have to hang a white flag?
Just when he was thinking wildly, the airship he was in exploded, and he was engulfed in flames. He didn't even feel pain and was completely reduced to ashes.
Within just 10 minutes, seven Qi airships burned and crashed, turning into burning fires on the ground. Another five airships were exploding in the sky and were about to land.
The remaining Qi airships turned around desperately and finally got out of the attack range of this anti-aircraft gun battery.
These airship commanders from Cyric, as well as some Qi flight commanders who came to make up the numbers, were frightened by the fierce ground firepower of the Tang army at this moment.
They didn't even bother to look back at their companions, so they fled back to the Qi-controlled area in a panic.
An even more tragic thing eventually happened. During the chaotic escape process, two Qi airships collided in the air.
The huge collision destroyed the hard shell of the airship, directly causing the two airships to crash. The aerial bomb exploded the moment it landed, destroying the Qi army's position on the ground beyond recognition.
The flames raised by the tragic explosion were even seen by His Royal Highness the Prince who stayed at the position headquarters. For a time, the morale of the entire Qi army was shaken and the mood of all the soldiers was very low.
The battle ended in a ridiculous way. The anti-aircraft artillery batteries deployed elsewhere by the Tang Army did not even see the shadow of the Qi airship all night.
All the results belong to the only anti-aircraft gun company that participated in the battle - their skills are nothing to brag about, what is enviable is their luck.
Perhaps the luck of everyone in the Qi Air Force airship unit was taken away by this anti-aircraft gun company. Most of the Qi airships were not even able to cross the border defense line that night and were forced to turn around and return.
Hyric did not expect that the Tang Army's anti-aircraft firepower was so fierce, leaving them no chance at all.
During the return flight, Qi's air force began to shirk responsibility from each other: This pot is too big, and no one of them can bear it!
14 airships carry more than 300 valuable aviation talents. At the same time, the prices of these 14 airships are shockingly expensive.
As a result, the battle lasted less than 20 minutes, and so many expensive weapons and equipment were lost, but there was not even a shadow of the target to be attacked - who can accept such a loss?
An angry Qi Air Force commander even sent a telegram on the way back, cursing Cyric's advisers for having ulterior motives and asking them to die.
The Tang Army was also very unhappy because they deployed 10 anti-aircraft artillery batteries that night, not counting the field airport air defense forces that were ready.
You must know that it costs fuel to move these troops to the defensive position and stand ready! Therefore, the senior commanders of the Tang Army were also very unhappy that night.
Especially when Tiger and Redman heard that the Qi Army airships were dispatched at night to try to attack the Tang Army, they tactfully expressed their dissatisfaction to the Air Force.
Brahim was so ashamed and angry that he made up his mind to dispatch fighter units at dawn the next day, preparing to avenge the previous humiliation.
In order to express their anger, the Tang Army's artillery troops opened fire and shelled the Qi Army's positions in the latter part of the night. The Qi Army's artillery also had to fire back. The two sides continued to be noisy all night long.
But everything came to an abrupt end with the sunrise the next day - at dawn, the Tang Army's technical and equipment advantages once again appeared, and they returned to their home court again!
(End of this chapter)