Chapter 459: The Dragon in the Sky (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
September 2nd is the day when the dragon is showing off and the phoenix is dancing.
Seventy-nine huge airships, like the "Leviathan" in the biblical legend, were flying in the air, and they seemed to have become the patron saints of the French.
After Marshal McMahon ordered a breakout, the 7th Army led by Felix Douay attacked the town of La Monsalle. Li Du, who had been standing on the airship observing the battle situation on the ground, immediately gave orders. While he ordered to cover the French army's breakout, he also regrouped the airships using signal flares. It took the huge airship force almost three hours to complete the assembly.
In this process, the airships provided unprecedented cover to the ground, and 30mm grenades rained down on the Prussian front line. Although the small shells easily broke the Prussian defense line, their defense in the town of Na Monsal was still very tenacious. They relied on the buildings in the town to stubbornly resist the French attack.
"Don't these French know that a frontal attack won't work, so they can just attack from the side?"
Li Du was even too lazy to complain about the stupidity of the French.
“Should they do something?”
The French, whose attack on the ground was frustrated, looked at the airship in the sky and thought expectantly:
As the French watched, Li Du ordered the dropping of a giant bomb.
A giant bomb several meters long, like Thor's hammer, fell from the sky and landed directly on the edge of Na Monsalle Town. In the violent explosion, the buildings in the town that were like ruins were directly destroyed by one third. The violent explosion scared everyone.
For at least a minute, no one was able to react, not even the French or the Prussians who had survived the explosion.
All of them were stunned by the power of the giant bomb.
In the choking smoke, when the French soldiers rushed forward like a tide, all they saw were fragments of corpses. Many Prussian soldiers seemed uninjured, but their internal organs were shattered. The surviving Prussian soldiers even forgot to resist and let the French army rush forward and end their lives with bayonets.
Victory is but a matter of moments.
"God can testify that today, God is on our side!"
General Felix Douai, riding on his warhorse, waved his military cap and shouted excitedly to the sky,
All the French were like this. The French soldiers who had been bombarded to death by Prussian artillery in the past two days looked up at the sky and shouted excitedly at the airship in the sky.
Even Emperor Napoleon III was shouting excitedly towards the sky.
Once upon a time, he, like all the soldiers, was struggling on the brink of death. Not only would he lose the throne, but he would also die at any time.
Now what?
He escaped and not only survived, but also kept his throne.
All this is because of the airship.
An airship from afar saved them all.
“The French seem very excited!”
Observing the movements on the ground through the telescope, Li Du said with a smile,
"How can they not be excited? We saved them!"
Wang Xinyue said with a bit of disbelief.
"It seems that the Prussians are not as tenacious as we thought. It seems that we can..."
Just as he finished speaking, a signal came from the left wing.
"Prussians are approaching on the left wing, with cavalry!"
"Order the Third Battalion to intercept them!"
Following Wang Xinyue's order, the Third Battalion flew out of the formation according to the order. Ten minutes later, they pointed their guns at the charging Prussian cavalry and poured dense rain of bullets at the billowing smoke and dust on the ground. The continuous explosions instantly enveloped the cavalry, but in the blink of an eye, people and horses fell. Thousands of cavalry died on the battlefield before they even saw the French.
After this rapid bombardment ended, the mighty cavalry either fled in all directions or turned into a pile of minced meat on the ground.
After receiving the news that the 3rd Cavalry Division's interception failed, Moltke was silent for a moment. Then he looked up at the distant sky and said in a helpless tone.
"It seems that the goddess of victory just lifted her skirt for us..."
Bismarck did not speak. His face looked very ugly. He just smoked silently. The answer was clear. They were just a little unwilling. And those dead soldiers were the price of unwillingness.
Not far away, officers from Britain, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries - they were all military attachés from various countries stationed in Prussia. Once upon a time, they thought they were about to witness the greatest victory of the 19th century.
Now what?
What they witnessed was a change. Although no one knew how long it took Nanhua's airship to fly from the New World to Sedan, they were clearly aware that war had changed fundamentally.
"Gentlemen, I think we are witnessing a revolution!"
"Revolution... Everything is nothing in front of the airship. Rifles, cannons, and even people's courage are all insignificant. It can easily destroy everything."
"In future wars, the side without airships is doomed to fail!"
"So what now? The Prussians don't have airships. In this case, how can they win the war?"
While officers from various countries were discussing in thoughtful tones the changes that airships had brought to the war, under the cover of airships, hundreds of thousands of French troops were breaking through the Prussian encirclement like a tide. The airships in the sky were their patron saints. Not only would they use bombs in the air to clear paths for the troops on the ground, but they would also drop map tubes from time to time to tell the troops on the ground which direction to break out.
For the airships in the sky, the Prussian army's defense on the ground was in full view. Observers could always find the weak links or joints in the Prussian army's defense, and then communicate with the ground by dropping parachute signal barrels to provide them with intelligence.
"Oh my God, is this still a war?"
Kitchener came to France to participate in the war as a volunteer. The future British Army Marshal, who was known as the "Butcher" in South Africa decades later, had only one thought in his mind when he saw McMahon adjust the direction of the troops' breakout based on aerial intelligence - the war had been completely changed.
"Sir, this is war, of course!"
A French officer beside him said with a smile,
"It's just a war where God is on our side. Look, those airships are so cute. I dare say that angels are no more than that!"
For these French people who escaped death, airships were indeed the most lovely angels in the world. It was their arrival that saved them, and it was also their arrival that defeated the arrogant Prussians.
"Yes, they are angels, angels sent by God!"
A few hours later, when night fell, the French Second Army, which had "broken out of the siege" under the cover of airships, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, McMahon did not stop, but ordered the army to continue retreating towards Paris, where there were strong fortresses that they could rely on to resist the Prussian attack.
Fearing that the Prussians would pursue or even attack at night, McMahon ignored the emperor's order and ordered the troops to march overnight. Above their heads, the airships were still hovering, and even the night sky was torn apart by the airships - several beams of light falling from the sky tore through the darkness.
That was the light of a searchlight, shining brightly on the earth, like the eyes of a giant dragon, staring at the earth vigilantly. It seemed to be reminding everyone that he could see clearly even at night.
That night, the French were running, while the Prussians were licking their wounds in the darkness...
(End of this chapter)
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