The fleet is composed of dozens of airships. This scale is absolutely huge in the Eternal Night Continent. The division-level combat units of the expeditionary force generally only have two or three airships that are dual-purpose for transportation and arming, and most of them are upper-level ships. Continental out of the model.
However, if you observe carefully, you will find that the vast majority of this fleet are passenger and cargo airships, and only three of them are really capable of combat. They are small fast gunboats. In the regular fleet of the empire, this is the most basic armed boat.
The cargo airships were obviously overloaded, and many thick ropes fell from below, and the cargo boxes were hung cumbersomely. Their flying speeds were originally slow, but now they were even more slow-moving like heavy-duty sand beasts in the desert, not much faster than the trucks driving on the ground.
The main ship in the center of the fleet is an airship shaped like a retro light boat, which makes it look a bit like the upper continent. But no matter the material, size, function or luxury, they are far inferior to the group of noble ladies' cars parked in Heiliu City at the moment.
On this airship, Dong Qifeng was overlooking the earth from the right porthole.
Days are short and nights are long in Eternal Night Continent. Although it is morning, the sun is still blocked by the upper continent, and it is not yet full daylight.
The weather outside doesn't seem to be very good. If you are on the deck, you will feel damp and cold. Looking around, the continent below the airship was dark, and there was only a mist at the end of the line of sight, and nothing could be seen. Only from the navigation compass can it be confirmed that you are on the correct route.
A tall and thin colonel stood beside Dong Qifeng and said: "This time we dispatched a large army, but you actually transported all the troops in airships. Such a use of troops is really unpredictable! Heiliu City must not have imagined our large army." They will suddenly appear, and besides, they have not passed the weak period of the civil strife just now, you will be able to win a battle and leave a classic battle example for the textbooks of the Imperial Military Academy!"
Dong Qifeng smiled reservedly, and said: "It's nothing, it just takes up the four words of surprise. When we get to Heiliu City, if we are negligent, we might lose something."
The tall and thin colonel waved his hand vigorously, and said impassionedly: "The general has gathered a large number of troops to attack thousands of miles away. Those mercenaries are just a mob. How can we resist our soldiers?!"
Hearing these words was very comfortable, Dong Qifeng chuckled, "Tell me, after this battle is over, those guys at the expeditionary army headquarters should look at us with admiration, right?"
All the colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors in the command cabin immediately flattered them.
Only Du Yuanze hesitated and said: "General, you still can't be careless. Dark Fire is different from ordinary mercenary regiments. The combat power of their core members may be stronger than the main force of the empire."
Dong Qifeng was immediately displeased when he heard this, "The loss last time was just bad luck, and just happened to meet with the dark fire just expanding the army. Now General Yang has given us the updated information, and they are only better equipped. There are a few It’s just a master, and even the average level of all the members is not that high, so what kind of waves can they make! I brought more than half of the elite of the family here.”
In addition, there are also two warriors, Ke Qing, who are specially used to deal with dark fire masters. After all, the focus of this battle is blitzkrieg plus beheading tactics. In Dong Qifeng's prediction, the core members of the mercenary regiment, a mob, would be defeated after being defeated. As for the original officers and soldiers of the Seventh Division, as long as they saw his power, they would know which side to stand on!
As he said that, Dong Qifeng snorted coldly, and said again: "Even if it is the main force of the empire, the equipment and level of my Dong family's elite soldiers can completely crush it. It seems that you have been scared out of your wits by those untouchables!"
Seeing that Dong Qifeng was really angry, Du Yuanze's complexion changed drastically, and he quickly apologized, not daring to say more. He felt a little relieved when he thought that the airship was loaded with a whole division of Dong Jia's private army.
At this time, a major in charge of the navigation said: "General, fifty kilometers ahead, we will arrive at Heiliu City. Are we going to land?"
According to the original battle plan, the Dong family's army should choose a place to land 50 kilometers away. This distance exceeds the daily patrol range of Heiliu City. Refers to Heiliu City. This is a very safe battle plan.
But Dong Qifeng waved his hand at this moment and said: "It's just a group of mobs who swallowed my seventh division. They must have suffered a lot. Don't rest and recuperate. Just land five kilometers outside the city and let those damned native bastards see it." Look at the military power of the family!"
Naturally, there was another frenzy of flattery.
Only Du Yuanze felt strongly disturbed, he remembered the words of the officer surnamed Duan who stopped him at the gate of Dark Fire. However, the newly obtained dark fire information did not indicate that this person had any great identity, but Du Yuanze did not think that this person was just bragging. But the atmosphere in the boat was very lively right now, and he had just been reprimanded by Dong Qifeng, so he didn't dare to pour cold water on it.
Expeditionary Force Headquarters.
Xiao Lingshi was sitting in his office and slowly looking through a thick list, which was the detailed record of the latest top-secret military information transmission and receipt. Originally, such a trivial post-inspection work was done by the adjutant himself, and the most important thing was to report to him whether there were any omissions and it was over.
But Xiao Lingshi watched it with great interest, and when he closed the folder, he showed a rare smile.
Fifteen top-rank and middle-rank daughters, together with the fact that Bowang Hou's son gathered in Yongye Heiliu City, were listed as top secret military information. Only the general at the deputy commander level in the expeditionary army headquarters knew the exact situation, and the rest of them carried out the order according to their duties. They didn't know the specific content, and they were not allowed to inquire about each other.
In order to prevent the news from leaking and being ambushed by heavy soldiers of the dark race, the guards and schedule arrangements on the road were all arranged by the Third Army of the Empire. Even the local generals of the expeditionary army who received the order to cooperate did not know the identities of the big shots passing by their territory.
Finally, those noble girls arrived in Heiliu City safely, and another trouble followed.
It is impossible to completely hide the news that there are thousands of people in such a small place out of thin air, and it is difficult to raise only the surge in daily necessities. Therefore, the expeditionary army headquarters issued a top-secret military order to the entire Sanhe County, requiring the surrounding cities to give priority to supplying various daily necessities to Heiliu City during this period, and not to spy or spread news.
No matter what the expeditionary army thinks about the nobles of the empire, they don't want these noble girls to have accidents in their own land. If they die, they will not affect the strength of the family, but it will cause big troubles of impeachment and inspection.
The headquarters of the expeditionary army did not forget the newly appointed Commander Dong Qifeng. The number of the Seventh Division is still there, and the garrison area is in Sanhe County, so his name is also on the top-secret military dispatch list. It's just that grassroots personnel who don't know anything about local changes, delivered the military order to the Division Headquarters of the Seventh Division, North District of Heiliu City.
The door was knocked, and Xiao Lingshi's adjutant came in and took away the processed official documents placed in the corner of the large desk, and the list would also be included in the file room with numerous documents.
Xiao Lingshi turned the high-backed chair in the other direction, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked at the scene outside the expeditionary army headquarters that hadn't changed in ten years. This is Yongye, and every outsider will eventually realize this and integrate into the rules of Yongye, and Yang Shuo, who was airborne not long ago, will be no exception.
The huge and bloated Dong family floating fleet continued to move forward slowly, and the outline of the city slowly appeared on the distant horizon.
In Heiliu City, the alarm for martial law had sounded an hour ago.
That was the message from General Zhang Ziqi of the Empire's Third Army Corps to Qianye, and the defense system of the Seventh Division had only sent an alarm about the approach of a huge unidentified fleet ten minutes ago.
On the Eternal Night Continent, the outer security of most human cities is composed of ground watchtowers, independent checkpoints, and village guards. Floating boats, which burn money, are generally only used for directional reconnaissance and communication. Even after Wei Bainian took over Heiliu City, he didn't make any changes to this, because the value of this war zone can only support such military expenditures.
According to the different terrain, the warning range in all directions of Heiliu City averaged 35 kilometers, which was about an hour's distance for a rapid ground march. It can be seen that this kind of guard is not used to defend against air attacks. At the beginning, the fleet escorted by the third imperial army to escort the noble ladies was enough to ignore the ground defense line regardless of its flying height and speed.
However, on the Eternal Night Continent, no matter the human race or the dark race, there is no military target that is so valuable that it needs to launch an extremely expensive air strike.
However, this state of city defense obviously did not satisfy the Third Army. After entering Heiliu City, Zhang Zi first asked for "co-defense". Now within 30 kilometers of Heiliu City and its surroundings, there are two small armed boats constantly flying around for reconnaissance, while a battleship hovers over the city at all times.
Qianye had no objection to this, and was happy to let the third legion burn money.
Dong's fleet of airships was huge, and the cargo boats were not flying high enough, so they were spotted by the patrol boats of the Third Legion almost immediately.
At this time, Dong Qifeng was looking at the floating battleship above Heiliu City, his face was already a little ugly, and he turned to Du Yuanze and asked, "What's going on? You never mentioned the armed floating ship of Dark Fire." It's a light frigate!"
The size of the airship in the distance has indeed reached the level of a frigate. Even if it's just a light frigate, it's still a regular battleship. The three small gunboats pulled out by the Dong family have all performances.
Du Yuanze was also sweating on his forehead, desperately trying to recall what type of dark fire airship he saw in his panic, "I have never seen this warship before, but in a place like Yong Ye, even if there is a warship, it must be an imperial ship." Junk goods eliminated by the military."
Dong Qifeng's face looked better now, but his eyesight was better than that of the school officers present, the more he looked at the frigate, the more he felt something was wrong. The appearance is very similar to the "Skylark" class battleship. This is the latest model. The first batch of ships has been manufactured for less than ten years. How can it be retired
However, at this time, it was difficult to ride a tiger. Even if Heiliu City did not set up peripheral sentries at this distance, their fleet could be seen from the watchtower in the city. Dong Qifeng stared at the frigate for a while, and his original idea of using the floating fleet to fly to Heiliu City to coerce the opponent and win the victory without a fight disappeared.
He immediately ordered: "The gunboats will come out to guard, and the transport boat will land on the spot. The whole army will be assembled within half an hour! Go and invite the two elders over."