Munitions Empire

Chapter 577: 536 splits the light of the night

On the ground, a huge searchlight more than a meter in diameter suddenly charged up, emitting a brilliant light that instantly pierced the entire sky.

It was like a holy sword, slicing through the darkness and then gradually tilting, as if to cleave the night itself in two.

Aboard a Qi Country airship, the airship commander from Shireck was startled by the light before him; he had not expected the enemy to install such a bright bulb in such a godforsaken place.

"Maintain course! They shouldn’t have that many anti-aircraft the Shireck captain hadn’t even finished speaking when he saw the beam of light starting to tilt, until it was pressing down on his own airship.

The light shone on the huge Qi Country emblem on the side of the airship against the background of the night, making the mark look so clear, so dazzling.

What he wanted to say was that Tang Country couldn’t possibly deploy so many anti-aircraft guns in a place with no defensive value.

But before he could finish, the anti-aircraft guns deployed on the ground by Tang Country sounded, a succession of tracer bullets rushed into the sky, like a constantly ascending golden spot.

Before the commander from Shireck could even react to what had happened, he felt a slight vibration beneath his feet in the airship’s cabin.

Something had penetrated the thin shell of the airship’s cockpit, piercing through the floor beneath their feet and everything it encountered.

Turning his head, the commander saw one of his subordinates operating the airship torn to shreds by a shell from below.

Literally to shreds, as the shell had blown off one of his legs, then ripped through the man’s shoulder, turning the poor guy into an unrecognizable, bloody mess in an instant.

"It… it’s fine… they couldn’t possibly the airship captain tried to speak to comfort his crew, wanting to tell them that the anti-aircraft guns couldn’t continuously hit their airship without pause.

Unfortunately, before he could finish, another shell from below pierced the cockpit of the airship, accompanied by a series of clinking sounds that seemed to fly even higher.

The pale-faced captain looked up to see the fire erupting above his head. To simplify production, the airships produced by Shireck used hydrogen gas, unlike the inert helium gas that Tang Mo insisted on using.

Hit by specialized tracer bullets, the hydrogen gas filling the airship’s envelope became unstable, some of the gas ignited, beginning to torment the inner framework of the airship.

Due to the high temperature of the flames, these frameworks began to melt and deform. As they collapsed and destroyed, more air poured into the envelope, in turn igniting more hydrogen gas.

It was a vicious cycle, with everything virtually completed within five seconds. By the time the Shireck commander looked up at the fire above his head, it had already turned into an inferno of explosions.

Then the blast wave engulfed the entire cockpit, and the Shireck commander only managed to let out a hysterical scream before being completely swallowed by the flames.

On the ground, the anti-aircraft gun crew that had just been pouring tracer bullets into the airship saw it catch fire.

They saw their target fully ignited, and in the light of the flames, even the framework structure supporting the airship’s envelope was clearly visible.

Even at a distance of more than a kilometer, they could clearly see the frameworks of the airship burning, breaking, and melting in the blazing fire.

Everyone on the ground could also see the twisted wreckage of the devoured cockpit as it plummeted to the ground from the sky.

The flames in the sky illuminated everything around them and then attracted more, denser gunfire—in the sky brightened by the burning airship, the silhouettes of seven or eight other airships became strikingly clear.

In just an instant, the anti-aircraft guns on the ground targeted their mark, and once again began their assault, sending one shell after another into the sky, igniting one new airship after another.

Not far away, the second Qi Country airship immediately burst into flames, then in a moment turned into a brazen fireball, struggling and exploding in the sky.

As the third airship was hit, and before the searchlight even had the chance to reach its body, it began burning to illuminate others.

A battery of four anti-aircraft guns, along with a searchlight, managed to shoot down all of Qi Country’s airships that were closest to their defensive position in just a few minutes.

As the fourth Qi Country airship exploded, shattered, and crashed burning to the ground, the first airship that had been shot down finally slammed into the earth, setting off even more violent explosions.

The result was due to the detonation of aerial bombs aboard the airship; the violent secondary explosions made the ground tremble slightly.

The airships, laden with bombs, were like small munitions depots, with the huge flames from the exploding weapons shockingly brightening the faces of the Tang Army soldiers nearby.

This night was destined not to be peaceful, and at this moment, the Qi Country airship troops finally realized they seemed completely unable to cross the border and reach their chosen target, Anpu.

And then, no one knew who issued the retreat order, but the airships began to slowly turn around in the night sky, illuminated by the light.

In the face of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns designed specifically for intercepting planes, such maneuverability was akin to an old lady trying to dodge bullets.

The officer standing beside the ground anti-aircraft guns once again signaled with his arm, and the gunner stepped on the firing pedal. The Bofors anti-aircraft guns spewed flames again, emptying all the shells in the ammo chamber.

A series of tracer bullets once again flew towards their target, as using tracer bullets could not only improve accuracy in the pitch-black night but also ignite the target.

At this moment, the Qi Army airships that were barely starting to turn were once again ablaze. The airship commander of the Qi Army in the cockpit could only close his eyes in despair.

He couldn’t stop the enemy’s attack from the ground, nor could he prevent the explosion and burning of hydrogen above his head, so he could only wait for death, tragically awaiting his fate.

Compared to the infantry on the ground, he didn’t even have the option to surrender—damn it, even if he now ordered someone to hoist the white flag, who could see it clearly?

Besides, with their appearance, practically streaking without armor, with a defense close to zero, how many chances did they have to hoist a white flag?

As he was lost in these thoughts, the airship he was on exploded, and he was swallowed by the flames, not even feeling the pain before he was completely incinerated.

In just 10 minutes, seven of Qi Country’s airships burnt and crashed to the ground, turning into fiery heaps, with another five airships exploding in the sky and evidently about to crash to the ground as well.

The remaining Qi Country airships turned around in desperation, finally managing to escape the attack range of the anti-aircraft gun battery.

The airship commanders from Shireck, along with a few Qi Country flight commanders who were there to make up the numbers, were now scared out of their wits by the fierce ground fire of the Tang Army.

They didn’t even look back at their companions, fleeing helter-skelter back to the Qi-controlled region.

An even more tragic event was destined to happen amidst the chaotic escape, as two Qi Country airships collided in the air.

The huge collision destroyed the hard shell of the airships, directly causing both to crash. The moment they hit the ground, the aerial bombs detonated, literally transforming the Qi Army’s ground positions into unrecognizable ruins.

The bright flames from the terrible explosion were even seen by the First Prince at the command post, causing the morale of the entire Qi Army to falter, sinking all the soldiers’ spirits.

The battle thus ended in a way that was laughably tragic—other anti-aircraft gun batteries deployed by the Tang Army didn’t even see the shadow of Qi Country’s airships that night.

All the glory belonged to the sole participating anti-aircraft gun battery—their skill had nothing to boast about, but what was enviable was their luck.

Probably all the luck of the Qi Country Air Force’s airship troops was taken by this anti-aircraft gun battery, as most of Qi Country’s airships didn’t even manage to cross the border defense line that night, being forced to turn around and return.

Shireck didn’t expect the Tang Army’s anti-aircraft firepower to be so fierce, not even giving them a chance.

During the return journey, the Qi Country Air Force started to blame each other for the responsibility: the pot was too big for anyone to carry!

Fourteen airships, carrying over 300 precious aviation talents, and the price of these fourteen airships was also shockingly high.

The result was a loss of so many expensive weapons and equipment in less than 20 minutes of combat, without even a glimpse of the target they were supposed to attack—how could anyone accept such a loss?

An enraged Qi Country Air Force Commander even sent a telegram during the return journey, furiously accusing Shireck’s advisors of harboring ulterior motives and sending them to their deaths.

The Tang Army was also very unhappy, having deployed 10 anti-aircraft gun batteries that night, not to mention the field airport air defense troops waiting in earnest.

You must know that moving these troops to defend positions and standing by costs fuel! So the senior commanders of the Tang Army were also very unhappy that night.

Especially when Tagg and Redman learned that the Qi Army airships had actually set out at night, attempting to attack the Tang Army, they subtly expressed their dissatisfaction to the Air Force.

Ibrahim, humiliated and indignant, was determined to launch a counterattack with fighter troops at dawn the next day, hoping to regain their honor.

In a show of fury, the Tang Army artillery units fired at the Qi Army positions throughout the latter half of the night, and the Qi artillery had to fire back in response, both sides thus making noise throughout the entire night.

However, everything stopped abruptly with the sunrise of the following day—daylight brought the technological and equipment advantage of the Tang Army to the forefront once again, returning them to their home ground!

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