Chapter 231 Airstrike

"The airship squadron reports that it has launched an attack on the units of Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun. Casualties are unknown. The units of Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun are in chaos, which will at least delay a large part of the enemy for half an hour." Another officer rushed into the command tent, reporting excitedly.

"Pass the message to the front. In fifteen minutes, I will order the entire army to advance at a slower speed, and let them stabilize the battle line for me." Dai Shihuan leaned over the sand table, raising his head slightly. The current progress was much better than he had expected. However, the problem of the army's severe physical exhaustion was becoming increasingly obvious. His order for the entire army to maintain the line was to give everyone a little time to breathe. Although this brief rest might not be of much use, even just catching their breath would prevent them from collapsing at the most critical moment.

In fact, what pleased Dai Shihuan even more was the extremely high level of obedience throughout the army. In the absence of explicit orders, the three directions each performed their duties, communicating and cooperating with each other, displaying completely different combat styles. Chi Lei's right flank fought flamboyantly, full of passion, but also with no lack of tactical scheming and agility. Cheng Chi's left flank was steady and methodical. Even when maintaining the attack line somewhat stubbornly and carrying out a rolling attack, the cooperation between the units was clear and well-organized. The central route was mainly commanded by Tan Weiran, with Ye Tao assisting. When fighting, Tan Weiran seemed to have a voice in the sky guiding him, always able to notice macroscopic problems, constantly sending messengers back to understand the progress of the two wings, and making timely adjustments. Tan Weiran also rarely bypassed regimental-level officers to directly order a certain battalion or company. Of course, the central route had the longest battle line, the most types of troops, and the most manpower, so Tan Weiran couldn't manage everything. Tan Weiran dared to command in this way, partly because he absolutely trusted every regimental commander, and also because Ye Tao was leading his guard team to be active on the battlefield.

Ye Tao had never been so excited. Although he didn't like fighting, being on the battlefield, and being someone who had to make decisions constantly, from the beginning he was trying to perform a little better, and later, he was completely infected by the fanatical atmosphere of the battlefield, becoming more and more involved, more and more excited. Ye Tao repeatedly galloped to the longbow battalion, commanding the longbow battalion to adjust a round of firing range, carefully giving the direction and distance. Then, when the arrows fired by the longbow battalion flew into the sky, he chased the trajectory of the arrows on the ground towards the front line, leading the elite soldiers around him to pounce on that small section of the enemy's line that was under intense attack, constantly tearing openings in the enemy's defense line. And when he and the guards around him were extremely tired, they would retreat slightly, jump down from their horses, take out the folding crossbows from their sides, and specifically shoot at the enemy soldiers who might harm their own people. The moderate power and extremely high accuracy of the folding crossbows were really suitable for this. … Ye Tao ran back and forth with his guards. He himself was not bound by the need to fight in the front line, but strived to be the person who could function outside Tan Weiran's command and still exert great effectiveness. With Ye Tao constantly giving immediate guidance on tactics and technology, constantly slightly adjusting the rhythm of the front line, while allowing the entire army to steadily advance according to his orders, he was also able to reduce casualties and increase the damage to the enemy. Tan Weiran himself felt that this kind of battle was very interesting. At this moment, Ye Tao didn't care about his actual status as commander-in-chief, but was doing what a field commander should do. Instead, he was very proud that he could still be a field commander.

Three short bugle calls, the blue flags erected after the array and on several command towers, and the military orders passed up layer by layer allowed the entire army to temporarily stop, and the entire line stopped without asking why. And stopping was a more difficult tactical movement than attacking. The heavy infantry, who had been resting behind the central army for quite a while, now strode forward and plunged their tower shields deep into the ground, immediately forming a steel defense line. The two wings had a large number of arrows and fire oil bombs projected by the heavy artillery battalion and the longbow battalion to help the front-line soldiers retreat without being counterattacked by the enemy. This series of tactical movements was so clean and neat that even Dai Shijin, who was watching the battle on the central command tower, couldn't help but shout "Bravo!"

On the opposite side, Jiang Xujing's heart skipped a beat. He wasn't afraid of the enemy army charging around. When he wasn't so close to the northern tribes, he had practiced dealing with that a lot. However, this sudden stop of the entire army's attack momentum made Jiang Xujing admire the Yunzhou army even more.

"Fifth formation, get ready… Sixth formation, get ready…" Jiang Xujing sighed and ordered faintly. Although the Yunzhou side's offensive was so fierce, their stopping their advance at this time did indeed indicate that they were somewhat exhausted. While buying themselves a chance to breathe, it also foiled some of Jiang Xujing's previous ideas. Originally, Jiang Xujing thought that if the third and fourth formations were broken through, he would let these two formations entangle with the Yunzhou army, the more chaotic the better, and then the fifth and sixth formations would be lined up side by side, pressing up from both sides. Then, he would invest the seventh and eighth formations in his hands at the appropriate time, directly betting on losing most of his troops to eliminate the majority of the Yunzhou army. But now, obviously Dai Shihuan didn't give him this opportunity. At this time, with a steady pullback, both sides gained a chance to breathe. Although he didn't pursue the already routed third and fourth formations, allowing the Xiling side time to reorganize, in general, the initiative on the battlefield was still in Dai Shihuan's hands.

"Where are the scouts? Haven't the units of Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun arrived yet?" Jiang Xujing turned his head and asked. The generals didn't know how to answer. Jiang Xujing's head, which had turned back, suddenly froze. He saw the airships slowly passing through the sky. The direction they came from should be the direction of the units of Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun. Looking in this direction from here, the view was blocked by a hill. Originally, this was also within Jiang Xujing's expectations. He also had a plan to slowly retreat to the side of the hill when the battle was unfavorable, and then let the units of Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun kill out, attacking from two directions. But at this moment, the hill that blocked his view made him feel anxious.

The airship squadron had just thrown all the fire oil bombs and other things, and the fuel on the airships was running low. They had no choice but to fly aimlessly over the battlefield. "What is that?" Now, Jiang Xujing was certain that Ye Tao had invested not only the gliding bombs with the ultra-long range in this battle, but also these things that flew slowly in the sky. Jiang Xujing's heart couldn't help but feel another wave of helplessness. He had no reaction to the small murmurs, curses, and terrified cries that were beginning to appear among the soldiers. He had never been a believer in gods, and his opponent, Ye Tao, had the ability to display miracles on the earth. Now, had this ability extended to the sky?

"Pull back the third and fourth formations first, and press the fifth and sixth formations forward in full force. Don't stop." Jiang Xujing said, gritting his teeth. Then, he drew out the long sword from his waist, turned and pointed at several officers behind him, and said, "Go, urge Ni Sigui and Jia Qingyun. If they don't come, they'll only be able to collect my corpse."

Jiang Xujing actually led his personal guard team up, directly charging up with the fifth and sixth formations. The remnants of the third and fourth formations, which had almost collapsed, split open a path, watching the awe-inspiring Jiang Xujing pass through them. Jiang Xujing's cold expression and slightly raised eyebrows immediately gave everyone unparalleled confidence. Compared to the previous fierce battles and melee, the performance of the third and fourth formations was already very good. Compared to the Yunzhou armies, their combat power was indeed far inferior. But these tens of thousands of men in these two formations had managed to take down quite a few Yunzhou soldiers. This was the first time that the army led by Ye Tao had suffered such heavy casualties.

But just as the Yunzhou army paused, Ye Tao, who was fighting on the front line, was surrounded by soldiers. He was having fun killing on the front line, but the guards felt uneasy. After all, it was too dangerous. Although they were all elites among the elites with high skills and great courage, who could say what might happen? Ye Tao was on the very front line. After the Yunzhou army paused, the only large team of infantry and cavalry, numbering two or three thousand men, that turned back to attack was clearly coming for Ye Tao. But Ye Tao didn't retreat at all, and met them head-on, ordering his heavy infantry to put up their shield wall.

"Ye Tao, be careful!" Suddenly, Liu Yong shouted. In the enemy army, which seemed to have been thrown into some chaos by the guards' killing, three gray figures suddenly pounced out, one of them even leaping directly from under the belly of a cavalry horse, heading straight for Ye Tao. Ye Tao was shocked, but there was no time to dodge at this moment. Caught off guard, Ye Tao's first reaction was to raise the cavalry sword in his hand and slash backhanded.

Clang—

This sound was actually the reaction of Ye Tao's mount, Night Star. Night Star actually made a small jump in place, turned around, and kicked out hard at one of the attackers. Although it almost threw Ye Tao off, Ye Tao managed to grab the reins and stabilize himself. However, the most dangerous attacker, who was flying in the air, was hit by a hoof in a way that he couldn't avoid, and flew backwards. With this delay, the surrounding guards reacted, and whips, lassos, flying knives, and iron pellets rained down on the other two assassins. Even more deadly were the two palms imprinted by Liu Yong, who pounced over…

After Ye Tao narrowly escaped danger, the guards quickly separated Ye Tao from the enemy, surrounding Ye Tao and retreating behind the shield wall. It was enough for the soldiers to see Ye Tao on the front line. It was the last thing all the Yunzhou soldiers wanted to happen for Ye Tao to encounter danger. But Ye Tao was also everyone's highest commander. What should they do?

The regimental commander of the heavy infantry battalion, Little Xu, jumped forward and shouted loudly, "Marshal Ye, you are disrupting our formation. Please retreat behind our battalion."

Ye Tao was stunned, but the guards very consciously surrounded Ye Tao and walked backwards, not giving Ye Tao a chance to refute. Ye Tao knew that if he stayed in front, he would be disliked by everyone. He could contribute earlier, but in defensive operations, iron discipline was even more necessary, and he would be adding to the chaos.