Your war hammer is too fake

The artisans who accompanied the army worked overtime in the makeshift workshops to repair the damaged weapons; the doctors and pharmacists were busy taking care of the wounded, and those who were too seriously injured would be sent back to the rear for recuperation; the quartermasters carefully calculated the remaining supplies and distributed arrows and spare weapons to every legion and blood warband that needed these supplies. Under Ariel's order, every soldier, whether Asrai or Asur, received extra food rations today, as well as a glass of high-quality wine produced in Athel Loren.

The war dancers danced in the rising sun. Loik's followers were good at using dance to record and tell history - and it was far more accurate and intuitive than written records. Through gorgeous dance steps and unpredictable postures, the war dancers performed the origin of the wood elves and the conflicts with the dwarves, and emphasized that the final result of each conflict was the victory of the wood elves.

The night before, the Asrai mages, led by Nayis, observed the stars, and even Durthu participated in their interpretation of the omen. Most people believed that the results of astrology showed that our army would win this battle, but Nayis had a bad premonition. Although there was no evidence, she felt that something terrible was about to happen. She told Ariel about her uneasiness in private. After a moment of silence, the Queen of Mages ordered Nayis to return to Athel Loren immediately in the name of "coordinating logistics and supplies."

The spellsinger accepted the task with hesitation.

While Asrai was busy divination, the Caledonian mages (Note 1) were doing the same thing. Among the eight universal magic systems, the Heaven System and the Fire System both have the ability to predict. However, compared with the famous astrology, flame divination, which interprets the past and the future by observing the shadow of the flame, is a relatively unpopular skill. The Empire's flame mages generally do not master this skill, but the elite spellcasters from the Asur clan are another matter.

The dragon wizards told Prince Imrik that divination showed that enemy reinforcements were about to arrive. It was a huge army that filled the entire valley, led by the famous Butcher King himself. The Mountain Kingdom had not gathered so many warriors for thousands of years since the Battle of the Longbeard.

"They approached the battlefield through the tunnels, just like mice sneaking into the kitchen to steal cheese," said one of the most senior dragon mages. "The moment they emerge from the tunnels and appear on the surface, it will be our army's chance to win, Prince."

"Where?" Imrick asked, "Where will they appear?"

"I can't see clearly, Prince. The picture revealed by the prophecy is usually incoherent." The Dragon Mage shook his head, "But I promise that the prophecy is absolutely reliable."

"Send out all the dragon knights and dragon mages," Lord Caledor made a decision after pondering for a while. "Send everyone out in groups of two. Remember, don't rush to attack after discovering the enemy. Report your discovery first and get closer to your comrades... I will decide the time to attack."

As an elite Caledorian force that was originally supposed to appear near the end of time, the "Prince Dragonspine" was not only born ahead of schedule in this world, but was also much stronger than in another timeline. Under the orders of Prince Imrik, the last descendant of "Dragon Tamer" Caledor and the rightful master of the Kingdom of Caledor, all the high-end combat forces of the entire Dragon Kingdom were mobilized, except for those sent to reinforce overseas colonies.

Including Prince Imrick himself, there are now a total of forty dragon-riding princes of Caledor and six dragon wizards gathered in the Desolate Castle. This force is so powerful that they alone are enough to destroy most cities and fortresses in the world and easily raze one or more powerful kingdoms to the ground.

Their existence is the embodiment of Caledor's profound heritage, and it is also the reason why Caledor can ignore even the Phoenix King's face. The might of the dragons has created the Caledor people's incomparable arrogance, and even other high elves think that the Caledor people are simply unreasonable.

With great power comes great confidence, and the divination results of the dragon wizards dispelled the slightest worry in Imrik's heart that he had never told anyone. The dice have been cast, and the Caledonians and their dragon allies are destined to shed blood among the mountains and mountains of the old world, and Imrik only hopes that all this is worth it.

The two groups of elves, each with their own thoughts, finished the sumptuous breakfast carefully prepared by the chef. The dragon knights were the first to set out. According to Imrick's order, they went to the surrounding areas of the Desolate Castle in groups of two, patrolling and looking down at this unfamiliar land. Afterwards, the infantry and cavalry lined up in neat rows, passed the collapsed and damaged dwarf statues, walked along the flat road into the fortress, and advanced towards the lower city.

The elven coalition has controlled four fifths of the Desolate Castle, leaving only the bottom layer of the city and the cemetery area guarded by the temple of Gazul in the hands of the dwarves. Now, all they have to do is take the remaining one fifth, eliminate all resistance, and kill every dwarf that appears in their sight.

The battle started soon. The good news was that the mysterious spellcaster from the day before did not show up, and Ariel, who went into battle personally, was defeated again. The bad news was that the dwarves seemed to have received reinforcements. Not only were there dozens of artillery pieces added to the defense line, but the troops were also greatly increased. They were all elite, and the worst were long-bearded warriors. Even thousands of Ironbreakers appeared at once. These elite warriors who were dedicated to guarding the tunnel network and the mines formed an indestructible Star Iron Shield Wall, which remained unmoved no matter how the elven coalition attacked.

Ariel used the same trick again, trying to break the deadlock with her magic. As a result, several rune lords suddenly appeared on the dwarf side, ignoring the others and focusing on Ariel. These gray-bearded grandfathers took turns to break the magic, and various precious runes appeared in turn, making up for the difference in quality with quantity, and restrained the Mage Queen.

As a wizard, Ariel was strong, but not strong enough to withstand the spells of five rune lords and release powerful spells that could turn the tide of the battle. After another failed attempt to cast a spell, the wizard queen realized with annoyance that the dwarves must have received support, because she had seen more than a dozen unfamiliar clan emblems.

The surface mountain roads had long been blocked. Although the Caledonians were arrogant, they were not slacking off. Moreover, there were rangers watching, which meant that the dwarf reinforcements must have arrived through the tunnels. The elven coalition had long expected this, but just as the dwarves had no good way to deal with the organized dragon knights, it was also difficult for the elves to block the tunnel network. After all, there were not only dwarves in the underground tunnels, but also countless night goblins and ratmen, and these two forces were also enemies of the wood elves and high elves.

The elven coalition had originally hoped that these enemies could block possible dwarven reinforcements, but now it seemed that this hope had been dashed. What was worse was that since the vanguard of the dwarven reinforcements had already arrived, the main force was expected to arrive soon, and the elves had to fight quickly.

Ariel didn't know that the Caledonians had already known about the arrival of the dwarven reinforcements through fire divination, and even divined who the commander of the dwarven reinforcements would be. Although the two sides fought together, there was no information exchange. Although the Mage Queen herself was the leading prophet in the Old World, she had not had the time to use this specialty recently.

Deep inside the fortress, the elven coalition forces launched attacks in batches. Both elves and dwarves kept falling in the bloody battle, but the dwarves' defense line remained standing. Ariel knew that this was the moment to test perseverance, and only those who persevered to the end could win.

"The Caledonians ran away!" A blood-stained forest captain rushed to Ariel. The Mage Queen noticed that almost half of his body was blackened by gunpowder smoke. "They lost the air battle... Queen, what should we do?"

"…What on earth is going on outside?"

"It's a fleet, Queen! A fleet flying in the sky!"

Note 1: Dragon-Mage, a hero unique to Caledor, a fire mage riding a Sun Dragon. Even without the dragon, these guys are stronger than ordinary fire elf mages.

The author says:

Author's Note: Reply to reader "Bergman Ranger":

Imrik is the current ruler of Caledor. The title of "Prince" of the High Elf is simply a title for a high-ranking male noble. Each High Elf kingdom has a bunch of princes, and they often come from several different families.

Chapter 281 Who is calling the fleet? (Part 2)

The night before the decisive battle, An Jiyue quietly left the Desolate Castle.

The main force of the reinforcements led by the Butcher King is about to arrive, and the Zhendan flying fleet, which set out from Xuanshui, has finally flown to the airspace near the Desolate Castle after many twists and turns, and is currently on standby outside the maximum patrol range of the Caledonian Dragon Knights. Speaking of the latter, the process of this fleet going to the Desolate Castle was simply a disaster -

This small fleet, consisting of three Kingfisher-class frigates and four standard Grasshopper-class gunboats, deviated from its course several times along the way. The most outrageous one was that it almost flew over the Apuchini Mountains and went all the way to Tirell. The reason for this embarrassment was, on the one hand, that the Aurora people were unfamiliar with the environment and lacked reliable navigation methods, and on the other hand, that the flying fleet was formed too recently, only more than half a year at most, and everyone from top to bottom was inexperienced.

This is the result of An Jiyue spending points to speed up the training process of the air force: in the area where the City Heart is deployed, the Lords of the Holy Scripture can do many incredible things by spending points. For example, Barrel relied on the krypton gold method to complete the overall upgrade of the military industry in a few months, and the full firearms of the Plateau Fort Corps. In addition, the training of personnel can also be accelerated by spending points.

However, this method has a very poor cost-effectiveness. It can only be used for emergency situations, and the acceleration level is also limited, and the maximum speed can only be ten times. So far, An Jiyue has only used the acceleration function twice. Once on the Xuanshui Steel Plant, he built a steel plant that normally takes five years to build within half a year; the other time was on the flying fleet. The Jiedushi invested more than 100,000 points to train 200 flying ship crew members.

In other words, the average value of this group of people is about 29 points per person. In comparison, the recruitment price of a Yulin Guard, including the person, the mechanical horse and a full set of equipment, is only 70 points in the War Code. The Eagle Guard is also a noble air force, but each person is only points, and these more than points are just the cost of using the acceleration function. The training cost is another thing. It's just that the latter does not require points and can be dealt with by regular currency.

Of the 200 air force personnel, a quarter was assigned to the Shuofang Army, for which Xiao Yiyue sent another batch of spirit stones as a thank you. Currently, this group of people are happily driving grasshopper-class gunboats to bombard the lizardmen in the Dragon Islands. The remaining three quarters, plus some personnel who took the conventional training route, that is, those who were not "accelerated" and were mainly responsible for relatively low-tech work on the warships, together formed the first flying fleet under An Jiyue.

As crew members of the airship, these people are qualified, but only qualified. The so-called "qualified" means that they can skillfully operate the airship for takeoff, landing, turning, and tactical maneuvers, are familiar with the use and maintenance of all the equipment on board, can independently solve various common minor problems of the airship, and can achieve a hit rate that meets the requirements of tactical regulations when using projectiles and rocket launchers to shoot targets, and can pick up guns for self-defense when necessary.

In short, you can drive a ship properly, but don't expect to learn complex subjects such as fleet coordinated operations, night flight formation, and long-distance flight based on maps alone.

Shortcomings in other areas can be overcome through longer training and gradual exploration and improvement during training, but there is no way to solve the problem of navigation - the sextant can also be used on land, although it is not as easy to use on ocean ships, but it can be used. However, there is a problem unique to the magical world: a powerful enough heavenly wizard can temporarily change the stars, and Dustan can do it. Civilian ships basically do not need to worry about this problem, but military ships cannot.

It was difficult for other races to produce so many powerful Heavenly Mages, but the elves were an exception. When An Jiyue designed the Grasshopper class, he had always considered the elves as the imaginary enemy second only to Chaos.

There is no way, this thing of Li Bitch is really too deceptive...

The great master An Jiyue originally hoped to develop a navigation system based on the Jiuzhou barrier to solve this problem. The barrier towers of the Jiuzhou barrier are strong signal sources. In the magic senses of the caster, these towers are always flashing with dazzling brilliance. If it is a specially designed sensor, it can capture the relevant signal at a very long distance and calculate the direction and distance. More importantly, this signal is extremely difficult to disguise: the signal strength of the barrier tower is too high, and the signal characteristics are extremely obvious.

As long as there are two or more barrier towers within the detection range of the sensor, the position of the sensor can be reversely calculated through triangulation. According to An Jiyue's calculations, the entire concept is technically feasible and not difficult to develop. In the Jiedushi's personal memo, the girl originally planned to complete this technology before June this year, and strive to popularize this thing on every active ship before the next generation of Swift-class frigates are rolled off the production line.

——Then the elven coalition attacked the Desolate Castle at a delicate time, and from the very beginning, they showed a posture of killing all the dwarves. Even if there was no request for help from the Supreme King, An Jiyue would not sit idly by. Although there was no evidence, the girl felt that Lilith must be behind the elves' actions.

Since its formation, it has never left the airspace near Xuanshui. The only exception was when it drove four Grasshopper-class ships ordered by Evelyn to the Zhendan Air Force in West Territory, and it set out on the expedition with such bumps and bruises.

The good news was that the operation of the warship was smooth, and the steam engine occasionally had some minor faults, which were quickly corrected by the dwarven engineers and human technical sergeants on board. As for the anti-gravity engine and other components made by An Jiyue, these devices never broke down again after they were debugged and officially delivered to the Air Force.

The bad news was that frequent navigation errors caused the fleet to take many detours, and the time wasted almost delayed the fighter plane. Moreover, these unplanned "extra trips" also caused the fuel consumption to far exceed expectations. When the fleet flew over the main force of the reinforcements, even the alcohol fuel originally prepared for the dwarfs on the ship was fed to the steam engine.

At this time, the remaining fuel of the flying fleet had dropped to a very dangerous level. The Kingfisher class with a longer endurance was better, but the Grasshopper class in the fleet had reached a point where it was difficult to even support a high-intensity air battle. Finally, after urgent coordination with the dwarves, the Butcher King ordered that two-thirds of the alcohol fuel carried by the reinforcements be divided and supplied to their Zhendan allies. For this reason, all the rotor helicopters and rotor bombers in the reinforcements would be absent from this battle.

At 4:17 in the morning of April 4, in a mountain valley south of Desolate Castle.

Amid the roar of the ship's steam engine, the seven flying ships slowly lowered their altitude and landed in a barley field that had been set on fire. This was originally the territory of an agricultural clan that served the Desolate Castle. Standing on the front deck of the Kingfisher, An Jiyue could vaguely see the collapsed stone houses on the other side of the valley.

The caster's supernatural senses allowed her to hear the roars and cries of the recently deceased souls. It was too late for the dwarves here to receive the order to retreat. When multiple dragon riders fell from the sky, the only thing they could do was to take up arms and die like dwarves. After the massacre, someone used a fire spell to set a fire to ensure that there would be nothing left for the dwarves to use in the barley fields that were about to be harvested. The wells were also poisoned, and the goats and other livestock raised by the dwarves were just the right meal for the dragons.

As soon as the Kingfisher came to a stop, Jin Zhishi jumped off the ship silently, and his slightly thin figure blended into the shadows very naturally. In order to avoid being discovered by the enemy, the flying fleet implemented the strictest blackout, and everyone had to work in the dark... Fortunately, An Jiyue was also present, and the Jiedushi's magic temporarily gave her soldiers the ability to see at night.

This place is not far from the Desolate Castle, and the people of Zhendan must act with extreme caution. If there is a choice, An Jiyue will definitely not refuel in such a dangerous place. Unfortunately, this is the only tunnel entrance nearby that meets the requirements, and the other entrances are either too small or too far away.

The flying fleet waited quietly for a moment, and Jin Zhishi led a white-bearded Shadowbeard warrior through the night to An Jiyue. "Madam!" The older Shadowbeard warrior spoke in a very light voice by dwarf standards: "Our people will be here soon. Do you need to wait a little longer?"

"No," the girl replied, "we'll start as soon as they arrive. We have to finish the supply before daybreak."

After a while, a team of dwarven miners carrying huge wooden barrels came out of the tunnel under the protection of dozens of Shadowbeard warriors, and walked around the fleet with their short legs. The Zhendan people immediately greeted them. Although they couldn't speak the same language, the two sides still cooperated well. One by one, the wooden barrels filled with alcohol fuel were carried into the ship along the lowered gangway. After a while, the empty wooden barrels were taken out and returned to the dwarves.

In order to avoid leaving any clues, all the barrels were taken away from the scene and disposed of uniformly. When the first rays of sunlight in the morning fell on the earth, the dwarves who had completed their mission had quietly retreated. The steam engine roared again, driving the three-bladed propeller to turn faster and faster. The energy extracted from the spirit stone was continuously pumped into the anti-gravity engine, and the iron-ribbed wooden hull rose gradually and steadily, accelerating forward as it climbed.

The night seemed to fade away in an instant, and the light filled the dead valley that echoed with the roar of the engine. When the Kingfisher passed over the sky above the dwarf town, An Jiyue leaned out from behind the ship and looked at this completely destroyed home.

Her eyes passed over the collapsed windmill, the collapsed blacksmith shop, and the clan hall that was reduced to rubble, and finally stopped at a body lying on the side of the street. It was a fat female dwarf. An arrow shot from her back, pierced through her chest, and then pierced through a bulging swaddling cloth in her arms.

An impulse suddenly surged into the girl's mind, and she obeyed it without hesitation, jumping off the deck of the Kingfisher frigate. The subordinates exclaimed behind her, but they knew the ability of their commander, so the flying fleet did not stop, but continued to fly forward.

The whistling mountain wind blew on An Jiyue's cheeks, and her headscarf was pulled down by the air current. Her silver hair danced in the air as if it had come alive. When the girl was about to fall to the ground, her falling speed suddenly slowed down as if in slow motion, and finally landed lightly on the ground.

She knelt on one knee and turned the body of the female dwarf over with her own hands instead of telekinesis. Looking down, the girl saw a wrinkled, dark blue face. After the arrow pierced through the female dwarf's chest, the sharp arrowhead pierced through her newborn child. In addition, there was a wound on the female dwarf's neck left by a sharp weapon.

After she was shot, someone grabbed her hair from behind, forced her to look up, and then cut her throat with a dagger or a short sword. Driven by a premonition, An Jiyue opened the swaddling clothes and saw the same wound on the neck of the dwarf baby.

An Jiyue took a deep breath. It didn't matter who did it. What mattered was that the murderer was right in front of him.

There is no doubt that today is a good day to kill.

The author says:

Author's words: There is only one update today. I agreed to write today and don't want to be disturbed. My mother promised me the day before, but today she said, "Ask your readers for a day off!". I must fulfill my promises to her without any compromise, even if they were made under her coercion. But she doesn't even need to find a reason to go back on her promises to me.

Chapter 282 Who is calling the fleet? (Part 2)

In addition to the flying fleet, An Jiyue did not forget the more "traditional" air force units.

Both Anshi Zhendan and Official Zhendan possess powerful air forces, but their military construction ideas are almost completely opposite: Anshi Zhendan's air force specializes in air combat, and is good at suppressing and annihilating the opponent's flying units, and is completely specialized in air control; while Official Zhendan's air force specializes in ground combat, has excellent ground control capabilities, and is not very good at air combat.

There are many types of flying units in the official Aurora, but the most important ones are the two types of magic hot air balloons. The Sky Lantern is fine, but the Sky Boat, which is equipped with a Yanlin rocket launcher and can accommodate three bombs at the bottom of the pod, has a ground attack capability far exceeding any of An's Aurora's air units. In contrast, these large Kongming lanterns are extremely bad at dealing with enemy flying units, so the Sky Boat fleet has to rely on carrying Si Tiancheng to counter the Chaos air force.

Different ideas for building the army reflect the different military needs of both sides: the birth of Tianzhou was to cooperate with the active defense strategy proposed by its inventor, Nangao legendary craftsman and "blind teacher" Shi Hong, which was to send the Tianzhou fleet to actively penetrate into the eastern prairie and use large-scale air strikes to weaken the enemies that threatened Changyuan, so that the enemy would suffer heavy losses before they saw Changyuan. For this reason, these magic hot air balloons, which are larger and heavier than sky lanterns, must have powerful anti-ground firepower.

Shi Hong's strategy actually has a special name in the "hometown" of the group members, called "reducing the number of men". An's Aurora also regularly reduces the number of men for the northerners, but the specific methods are completely different. The official Aurora relies on the air force to carry out the reduction task, while An's Aurora, which has a strong cavalry, relies on the army. Compared with the official Aurora, An's Aurora's biggest advantage is that its cavalry is extremely strong.

Every unified dynasty in the history of An's Aurora would go on an expedition to the north of the desert and razed the Huns' royal city at least once. In Wei, Chu, Wu, Qi, Liang, and Qin Empire 1.0 and 2.0, the Huns' royal city was violently bombarded by the Aurora people more than ten times in history... Infantry held the line, artillery controlled the field, and cavalry output. The task of the air force in the entire combat system was mainly reconnaissance and countering the opponent's reconnaissance. The task of killing the enemy's living forces was mainly completed by the army. The job of the air force was to search and find the Huns' tribal camps and assembly areas, and to ensure that the Huns' reconnaissance units could not find the main force of the Aurora people.

Killing people is not the job of the air force. In the eyes of the generals of Anshi Zhendan, the lives of the Xiongnu herdsmen were not as valuable as a lead bullet. Using heavy firepower to deal with these poor people with only one life was a complete loss-making business. Cheap swords and guns were more suitable for harvesting the northern barbarians.

As a reflection of this idea, An's Zhendan's air force mainly consists of two types of units: the Eagle Guards, which are responsible for long-range attacks and are not afraid of close combat, and the Thunder Guards, which are responsible for close combat. The former is a rare long-range flying monster cavalry in Warhammer. In An Jiyue's impression, the only similar units seem to be the falcon cavalry of the wood elves and the pterosaur cavalry of the lizardmen. The latter is the shame of the monster cavalry. Whether it is long-range or close combat, it is not worthy of the identity of monster cavalry. It can be said that it has no advantages except flying.

As for Lei Zhenzi, this mechanical beast is about the same size as an ogre, but not as fat. It can basically be regarded as the Aurora version of the Bloodthirsty Sky Demon. Both are rare monster infantry with the ability to fly, and both fight close to eat. The difference is that the Bloodthirsty Sky Demon is a unit that tends to output, while Lei Zhenzi is positioned as a tank. The granite body gives Lei Zhenzi a strong ability to resist attacks, and as a mechanical beast, this thing has no vital points except the core.

In this joint operation with the dwarves, An Jiyue did not bring Lei Zhenzi with him, but instead assembled ten teams of Eagle Guards as auxiliary combat forces for the flying fleet. Lei Zhenzi was not brought along because the two enemies they were facing this time were both of the type that could restrain Lei Zhenzi: the falcon cavalry were essentially a group of flying archers, and although the war falcons had good melee capabilities and the riders on them were also good at using spears in addition to bows and arrows, they were still archers.

Lei Zhenzi's flying speed is much slower than that of the War Falcon, and he has no long-range attack capability, so he is easily kited; as for the Caledon Dragon Knight, even a Fiery Sun Dragon can easily tear apart Lei Zhenzi's rocky body, and Lei Zhenzi's claws can't even scratch the dragon scales, unless An Jiyue is willing to spend a lot of money to give their claws some tough work.

After comprehensive consideration, the Jiedushi chose to withdraw all the Eagle Guards in Sanhe Prefecture, leaving only Lei Zhenzi to look after the house. Now, in addition to the Eagle Guards left in Xuanshui for emergency use, and the three Eagle Guards stationed in Kewang Fort for a long time, all the air knights in the Anxi Army system were requisitioned, and they were coordinated with the special tracking rockets specially prepared by An Jiyue.

This group of Eagle Guards and their ground crew did not move with the flying fleet, but after several transfers, they joined the dwarves led by the Butcher King. This is mainly because the Eagle Guards' own range of activities is not that large - the Kingfisher class has a range of 2600 kilometers, and the Grasshopper class has a range of kilometers, and the combat radius of both of them exceeds kilometers. Even if the Eagle Guards do not consider energy replenishment and the tolerance of the Sky Knights themselves, the combat radius is at most just over kilometers.

None of the existing flying ships of the Shenzhou Fleet have the ability to carry the Eagle Guard, even for a temporary landing. In addition, there are cabins on the flying ships for the crew to rest, even if the conditions are a bit simple; as for the Eagle Guard's air knights, even if the iron man can't ride a mechanical bird to fly continuously for a whole day, even if the mount can bear it, the human can't bear it.

Therefore, the Eagle Guard had to and could only act together with the dwarves. The Eagle Guard could fly to Hornburg on the mechanical bird, and there were bases under Dustan's command for landing and resting. Ground crew and supplies were transported by several grasshopper-class transport boats, and the Eagle Guard happened to escort these ships. After a lot of effort, this group of air forces finally arrived at Hornburg in time.

In An Jiyue's plan, Asrai's air force and Caledon Dragon Knights must be separated and must not be allowed to join forces, otherwise the pressure on the flying fleet will be too great. During the battle in Midden, the girl disguised as a wood elf saw the ability of the falcon cavalry with her own eyes. As a type of archer cavalry without any armor, the falcon cavalry flies very fast. Even the Kingfisher class at its maximum speed is not as fast as this thing. Their existence will bring great variables to the entire battle.

The key point of the "anti-dragon tactics" designed by the girl for the flying fleet is to take advantage of the range, continue to carry out accurate and deadly long-range strikes outside the attack range of the dragon, and rely on a faster speed than the dragon to maintain the distance between the two sides, in other words, it is like flying a kite. Although the Caledonians have dragons, they have no other flying arms, neither the Sky Slasher airship nor the Giant Eagle, let alone the Phoenix. The Sky Slasher, which belongs to the Triton system, is fine, the Giant Eagle and the Phoenix are faster than the Kingfisher-class frigate.

Another component of the enemy army, the Wood Elves, who were out in full force, brought with them not only several Falcon Cavalry Bloodlines, but also a number of Giant Eagles. These intelligent birds of prey are not unique to Ulthuan; the Forest of Athel Loren also houses the ancient allies of these elves. The only good news for the Cathay people is that all intelligence channels and reconnaissance activities have confirmed that the Forest Dragons did not participate in this battle... There was one originally, but it had already left.

The flying fleet would take on the Caledorians and their dragon companions, while the Eagle Guards would deal with the Asrai air force alone, ensuring that they could not disrupt the main force's battle with the Dragon Riders.

The author says:

Author's note: Reply to reader "barkhorn":

Just ignore the TOW stuff except the parts related to Aurora.

Chapter 283: Caledor's Sorrow (Part 1)

At 4:17 in the morning of April 6, in the airspace of Desolate Castle, the Shenzhou Fleet sounded the combat alert.

The current battlefield situation is this: the main army force of the Asrai-Caldor coalition is storming the last line of defense of the dwarves inside the fortress, while the real core combat power of the Caledor expeditionary force, the dragon knights and dragon mages, are scattered in groups of two in the airspace around the Fortress of Desolation, trying to deliver a devastating blow to the dwarf reinforcements as soon as they emerge from the tunnel.

Ten minutes ago, with the help of steam drills and mining gunpowder, a group of experienced dwarf miners from Torrent Pass managed to blast open a passage that had been sealed for many years and widened it to the point where the Eagle Guard could fly out directly. After completing this work, the dwarves did not set off immediately, but waited patiently.

According to the battle plan, the Cathay Air Force will bear the pressure of the Caledor Dragon Knights alone. Agrim must take this opportunity to lead the main force of the reinforcements to complete the deployment, and strive to cut off the retreat of the elven coalition in the shortest time possible, blocking these unscrupulous pointy ears in the Desolate Castle. The first shot of the entire operation will be fired by the Shenzhou fleet. After the dragon group is pinned down, the dwarf reinforcements will leave the tunnel. The lead will still be the Cathay people, that is, the Eagle Guards.

The Butcher King didn't like this plan very much, because the most dangerous part was borne by the allies. Whether it was out of the honor of a warrior or the butcher's pursuit of his own doomsday, Agrim firmly believed that he was the one who should face the dragons. However, it was the decision made by the Supreme King to seek support from the Aurora Air Force, and the specific combat plan was formulated by An Jiyue, so the Butcher King had to obey.

The scheduled departure point for the dwarven reinforcements was to the north of the Fortress of Desolation, even though they had tunneled all the way from the south; the Shenzhou fleet was originally going to enter the battlefield from a slightly southeasterly direction, but due to frequent navigation errors and a landing midway to receive fuel supplies, it ended up entering from directly south of the Fortress of Desolation.

The Caledonian Dragon Knights were now scattered in groups of two around the Desolate Castle. These powerful forces were not concentrated, giving the Chinese people the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

Facing the rising sun that covered the tops of the mountains, the Shenzhou Fleet switched from a marching formation to a pre-planned battle formation. Standing on the bridge of the Kingfisher, An Jiyue, who had been standing motionless for an hour, suddenly turned his head and glanced at the Guantongchang who had been waiting for orders. The latter subconsciously straightened his helmet, turned around and walked out of the bridge quickly.

A moment later, in the lookout on the main mast of the Kingfisher, a messenger sergeant waved two small triangular flags, one red and one green, and quickly typed a string of flag signals and repeated them twice. On several other ships in the fleet, the sergeants who were staring at this side with monoculars saw the flag signals clearly and then immediately conveyed the order from the flagship to their respective direct superiors - the chief of observation and communication on the frigate and the first mate on the gunboat. A standard Grasshopper has only 21 crew members in total, and they do not have a complete structure like a frigate. In addition to his job, the first mate also has to serve as the chief of observation and communication.

After receiving the order, the mini fleet turned as a whole in a slightly chaotic rhythm, adjusted its flight attitude and lowered its altitude. The roars of the captains/captains were transmitted through the brass communication tubes to the deafening roar of the machinery in the engine room. After the chief engineers put down the trumpet-like receivers, they adjusted the working status of the two sets of thrusters according to the order. The propellers on the right side of all ships began to reduce the speed until they stopped completely, while the propellers on the left side were increased to the maximum gear. The bows of the seven large and small ships slowly tilted to the east.

The Shenzhou fleet entered the battlefield from the south of Desolate Castle. While the lookouts were still holding telescopes and searching for traces of the enemy, An Jiyue's psychic perception had already captured those souls that were as hot as magma and as stubborn as blue plates, those scaly flying beasts that once ruled the world before the arrival of the ancient saints. With Desolate Castle as the center, the flying fleet turned to the northeast, drawing a counterclockwise arc. At the same time, the Eagle Guards were dispatched.

Teams of Eagle Guards took off one after another, with mechanical birds flapping their wings, carrying heavily armored riders on their backs out of the dilapidated, bumpy road surface of the underground tunnels, following the winding passages marked by lanterns hanging on the rock walls, and after a short flight out of the tunnel network, plunging into the warm sunlight of the early morning. When the last team of Eagle Guards also flew out of the tunnel, a large army of dwarves in distinctive armor, led by King Agrim Ironfist of Butcher's Castle, followed closely behind and came to the surface.

At this time, two Caledor dragon knights wandering on the edge of the battlefield were patrolling the assigned security area. They rode on their dragon companions, holding shields with family crests and lances with silk banners, with swords, longbows and quivers hanging on both sides of their saddles, and the painted dragon armor forged from the anvil of Vaal reflected the bright light.

They did not notice the arrival of the Zhendan people. An Jiyue used psychic energy to cover the existence of the flying fleet, and even the roar of the steam engine was erased by the spell. When the flying fleet began to turn, these dragon knights were already within the range of the projectile cannons and rocket launchers, but An Jiyue did not order to open fire. After the turn was completed and the distance between the two sides was closer, the Jiedushi suddenly dispersed the [Psychic Shield] that enveloped the entire fleet and issued an order to open fire.

Both the elves and the dragons had highly developed vision. They immediately noticed the uninvited guest who was already 700 meters away, but no matter what they wanted to do, it was too late.

The Shenzhou Fleet was located southeast of the Desolate Castle at this time, facing the distant dragon knights with its port side. The two projectile guns of the Kingfisher class had turned around, with their muzzles facing the Caledonians. Due to the special working principle of the projectile gun, the ammunition of this weapon does not contact the inner wall of the barrel when fired, so there is no requirement for airtightness. This makes the projectile gun compatible with shells of different calibers, and can even fire the steel forks used by steam harpoons, and all the gun barrels are loaded with this stuff at this time.

To be exact, it was a star iron harpoon engraved with cutting runes. Ordinary steel forks could not break through the defense of dragon scales, so An Jiyue specially equipped the flying fleet with this kind of ammunition specifically designed to deal with dragons.

At the gunner's command, the two 75mm projectile guns located at the front of the frigate, arranged on the central axis of the hull in a backpack turret layout, immediately threw out the slender Star Iron Harpoon. Psychic energy surged in the barrel, turning into telekinesis and explosively acting on the Star Iron Harpoon, pushing it out. When the tail end of the Star Iron Harpoon left the muzzle, this oversized "needle" reached a muzzle velocity of Mach under multiple levels of acceleration, and the sonic boom announced the arrival of death to the enemy.

At 6:34, the vanguard met the enemy. The two dragon knights realized the danger, but their dragon companions did not have the strong reflexes of the elves. Except for one star iron harpoon that missed, the remaining five harpoons pierced through the dragon scales and skin without missing a beat. The barbed tips bit deeply into the tough muscle layer and finally stopped in the internal organs.

The high-priced ammunition proved itself to be worthwhile in actual combat. The two Fiery Sun Dragons howled miserably, their fanged dragon mouths opened and closed, coughing up blood non-stop, and their sturdy bodies covered with solid scales spun and fell to the ground. The riders on their backs were not directly hit by the attack, but they just lived a little longer than their dragon companions. No matter how noble their bloodline, how prominent their family background, or how magical their enchanted armor and magic amulets were, they could not stop them from hitting the ground with a "smack" and breaking into a piece of rotten meat that was difficult to distinguish its original appearance.

The Shenzhou Fleet had made a good start, but everyone knew it was just the beginning. The gunners shouted as they reloaded their ammunition, stuffed the extremely expensive Star Iron Harpoon into the gun barrel, and then closed the breech block.

The projectile gun of the Kingfisher-class frigate is somewhat similar to the main gun on the Aurora. The front, sides, and top of the gun are all steel plates with protective functions, but the rear is an open structure. When designing this weapon, An Jiyue once considered using a fully enclosed turret structure, but found that it was technically unfeasible: due to the completely different force mode, the keel of the flying ship is not at the bottom of the ship, but under the deck. This makes it impossible for existing flying ships to arrange ammunition compartments and ammunition transport mechanisms under the main gun because they are blocked by the keel and the steel ribs extending from the keel.

The shells for the projectile gun can only be moved by the crew from the ammunition depot under the deck using manpower. It would be very inconvenient if the turret was made fully enclosed, so in the end it could only be designed into this semi-open structure.

"Keep moving forward," An Jiyue ordered, "and reload the rocket launcher."