What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 534: Underestimated
"Damn it, we can't let those gay guys beat us to it!"

In addition to Marin's team, the Flying Tigers also sent a considerable number of ground personnel.

Mirage 2000s were assigned to low-altitude obstacle clearing, a task with a high casualty rate. If they didn't perform well, Marvel would not only be exiled to the south, but would also be dismissed and held accountable.

After all, the Chicken still has many conflicts with the Empire on colonial issues, and getting too close would make them a lackey!
Marvel carefully selected a team of over 200 people, most of whom were foreign mercenaries, so it would be easy to deal with them if they died.

However, these guys were also promised huge rewards, and they charged forward with great enthusiasm.

The soldiers had hardly ever come into contact with such old relics as fortresses after the war, so when the unparalleled air force unleashed its power, they naturally thought that mere anti-aircraft towers had become easy prey.

Not only them, but even the highest-ranking beings in the heavens think so.

现在天空中还剩下7架F15和11架F16、3架幻影2000。

The Flying Chickens' air force, unable to gain the upper hand against the Gnatants, suffered heavy casualties and retreated to their base. However, the Empire's aircraft, except for a few on alert, were still confirming the results of the battle, and the electromagnetic suppression had not been lifted.

When almost all 18 fighter jets had entered the range of 10 kilometers and below 8000 meters, new sailors began to work around the 128mm gun emplacements on the top of the anti-aircraft tower.

The gunner picked up his binoculars but couldn't see anything, but as everyone knows, night and dense fog do not affect observation and aiming.

After seven or eight minutes of silence, the anti-aircraft tower suddenly burst into flames, and the eight anti-aircraft guns opened fire again in rapid succession, flying towards the aerial target in the darkness.

The anti-aircraft gun crews prioritized locking onto five relatively densely packed aircraft at a low altitude of 4 to 6 kilometers, and dozens of shells flew out of the gun barrels in the blink of an eye, rushing towards the aircraft group.

This sudden turn of events was completely unexpected by everyone. So much so that when the two F-16s collided with the barrage of bullets and were hit by shrapnel, no one knew what had happened until they discovered that a piece of each wing had been sheared off.
"Cannonball!"

In addition to the anti-aircraft guns firing, four more Gnat fighters phantom-like broke through the smoke, using their usual ultra-low-altitude tactics to maneuver at a wide angle, skimming the treetops before launching all their infrared missiles at once.

In less than a minute, three F-16s were hit by artillery fire and crashed, while other fighter jets were forced into dogfights with the gnats.

Imperial pilots all knew the AIM-9B was stupid, but after all, it was an air-to-air missile with much greater maneuverability than an aircraft, and maneuvering would also result in the loss of crucial speed to contend with gnats.

The fragile mosquito gnats certainly couldn't withstand even a single cannonball, but their real killing move wasn't there.

After overcoming the initial shock and focus solely on escape, Tang Wen was finally able to seriously direct the battle and made a rational decision:

Anti-aircraft guns fired at the fighter jets battling gnats.

Friendly fire? What's that?

During dogfights, the speed of fighter jets usually drops to the high subsonic stage, which is exactly within the range of anti-aircraft guns.

After a barrage of indiscriminate attacks, another F-16 was hit and crashed.

The remaining friendly forces in the sky initially wanted to rescue him, but upon discovering that Hans was indiscriminately firing at the chaotic air formations, they immediately accelerated and fled. No one wanted to perish with those inhuman clones or vacuum tubes.

The air force had already completed its mission after dropping the bombs. Although it was unclear why none of the six bombs had taken effect, they didn't care about that at the moment.

At least fly out of the anti-aircraft gun's range first, otherwise staying in place is just suicide!

While the air force suffered setbacks, the ground assault teams fared no better.

The deployed T4 and T6 drones completely abandoned concealment, operating at full power and maneuvering nimbly through the darkness with their gasoline piston engines, only to discover that they were surrounded by a large number of combat personnel. The anti-aircraft guns were too busy to fire at the ground, and the gnats were temporarily preoccupied with dealing with the aerial fighters, but don't forget the crocodiles in the swamp.

It's not a real crocodile, but a 1-ton ultralight underwater amphibious unmanned combat vehicle designed by Tang Wen himself.

Over the past month, more than 100 "crocodiles" that had been sleeping in the nearby swamp have been carried by U-boats and crawled on their own power. Now, they have all been awakened and brought to the surface by command.

The "Crocodile" is armed with a Panzerfaust rocket launcher, a 40mm grenade launcher, and a 37mm autocannon. All three are produced in equal numbers. At this time, the Panzerfaust and the grenade launcher are the most useful in the forest.

Trees and terrain provide cover, making it difficult to kill someone with an explosion, but it's easy to inflict minor wounds.

More than thirty "crocodiles" suddenly emerged from puddles of all sizes to attack, immediately sobering up the team members who were feverish in the darkness as if they had been doused with cold water. They immediately lay down on the ground to avoid the grenades.

Originally, the total number of combat personnel involved in the attack was only a little over a thousand, with only two or three hundred in the front-line "suicide squad." The offensive that had just begun came to an abrupt halt.

Charles, who was about to continue advancing from the rear, heard the sound of anti-aircraft guns and realized something was wrong. He quickly fired a green signal flare to signal everyone to retreat.

……

"Trying to run away? It's not that easy."

Relying on the field of vision gained from using drones without any scruples, Tang Wen finally regained the feeling of being in control of the overall situation and could see the situation on the ground directly.

The IAA's increasingly aggressive behavior had already annoyed him. He had intended to cooperate with the sudden sneak attack, but the Empire's lack of support and subsequent abandonment of the operation left Tang Wen speechless, even with his great patience.

Ultimately, however, it was the Empire's underestimation of them. Their main force consisted of only about 20 aircraft, and they regarded the Lost Empire as some kind of horde of stars getting beaten up in the desert.

At least in their attitude toward the Amazon air defense towers, the Empire did not attach as much importance to them as the Assamese general, let alone the Southern Union.

Although there were many troops stationed there, Tang Wen learned from the local newspapers that the key military bases selected by the empire, such as Santaren, were almost all key transportation hubs in northern Baxi, and therefore did not pose a significant threat to the lost empire.

The facts are clear: Prism Building is attempting to completely control South Mei, just as La Mei has.

Suppressing bandits is both unprofitable and risky, while using the pretext of suppressing bandits to forcefully take over key areas of the largest country in the South Mei and intervene in the local area is not only easy but also very profitable.

Therefore, the Empire's previous lack of aggressive attacks was not entirely due to transportation and climate issues. Perhaps the Prism Building wanted "Hans" to always exist, to remain in a superposition of impending destruction and barely surviving, so that there would be ample time and reason to manage South Mei and bring it into its own territory.

Including the previous generous donations of money and supplies to help Britain build the Falkland Islands, it is essentially a direct response to the second largest country in the United States.

If the Fern fleet hadn't been destroyed, and the first and second largest powers in the South were under the suppression of the Imperial army, how much benefit could half a continent have brought?

Ultimately, however, everything is based on the premise that the Empire does not consider the newly emerged Raoshi to be a priority target for elimination; if they really want to crush them, they can simply move their fingers.

As a long-time viewer of "Let the Bullets Fly" (a popular Chinese TV show), Tang Wen certainly couldn't tolerate Master Ying profiting from his name.

There weren't many "crocodiles," and the multiple small teams in the forest were relatively scattered, so their killing effect wasn't significant. Besides, no one could run fast enough.

However, Tang Wen's original purpose was simply to get them to retreat back to their base and regroup.

(End of this chapter)