Munitions Empire

For the numerous and dispersed Qin Country troops in the open fields, the Tang Empire Air Force has a relatively mature approach.

They use guided munitions to strike the discovered command nodes, while preferring to attack the Qin Army troops congested on the roads with cluster bombs.

Of course, on the land they are about to occupy, the Tang Empire does not use those strange fuses; they use simpler impact fuses, as they are targeting exposed forces anyway.

A large number of Qin Army infantry will soon be eliminated by these cluster bombs, as they are ultimately not guerrilla fighters and cannot disperse too much to evade these bombs.

Ultimately, about 30,000 Qin Country soldiers died in the bombings, and approximately 50,000 soldiers were wounded.

These troops eventually surrendered to the Tang Empire; within the encirclement, the Qin Army barely resisted and was thoroughly annihilated by the Tang Army.

However, not all Qin Army soldiers were willing to surrender their weapons. Wang Luo and a portion of the Qin Army soldiers continued fighting within the encirclement for several days thereafter.

By that time, though, the Tang Empire's main forces ignored the collapsed Qin Army soldiers behind them.

Strauss' troops stayed to rest and were responsible for eradicating the remaining enemies, while General Bolton's troops immediately advanced, launching an attack towards Dongqing.

The Tang Empire's Armored Corps pushed forward along the railway, and even though the Qin Army fought desperately, they could not stop the Tang Army's progress.

In less than two days, Bolton's 1st Armored Corps arrived near Dongqing, while the main forces of Qin Country, led by Ying An, were preparing to engage the Tang Empire in a bloody battle near Dongqing.

They indeed had no retreat options, as immediately north of Dongqing lay the Heishui Oilfield, and Qin Country naturally couldn't willingly hand over their oilfield to the Tang Empire.

On the other hand, the high-level consideration of Qin Country was that they had been managing for at least several days in Dongqing, constructing some defenses to some extent. Coupled with Dongqing City's bustling downtown area, engaging in street fighting could at least delay actions for a few days.

As long as they could delay, snowfall would soon arrive, possibly halting the Tang Empire's offensive due to weather, thus granting Qin Country time and opportunity to reinforce their defenses and drag the war into a confrontation stage.

Once the front stabilizes, Qin Country could dispatch reinforcements to the frontline. A solid defense line makes troop maneuvering easier, allowing Qin Country to continue the war in a manner more suitable to their rhythm.

Therefore, Ying An's received orders were: "Defend Dongqing to the death. Even if parts of the city are lost, it doesn't matter; as long as we hold out until the snowfall arrives, Qin Country can stabilize the situation."

That was also Ying An's thought process: he ordered the troops to build defenses around Dongqing, occupying buildings within the city to construct barricades and prepare to fight the Tang Army to the death.

This tactic of street fighting was familiar to the Qin Country when dealing with the Tang Army. In previous wars, this was how they dragged the battle into urban and positional warfare, offsetting the Tang Army's technological advantage.

Unfortunately, this time they seemed destined to fail: Bolton's army groups quickly bypassed Dongqing from the flanks, using their excellent maneuverability; the Tang Army surrounded Dongqing along the city's periphery.

This thoroughly panicked Ying An, stationed in Dongqing. He had never thought the Tang Army would abandon street fighting, bypassing his fortified defenses with encirclement.

It seemed the opponent lost interest in urban warfare; the Tang Army relied on good supplies and abundant trucks, showing no intention to engage the prepared Qin Army in street fighting.

In contrast, the Qin Army lacked the courage to engage in open battles outside the city. The Tang Empire left enough troops to keep an eye on Xiajian's Qin Army, which at this time was starting to endure the disasters experienced by Wang Luo's army.

The Tang Army's armed helicopters took off from the newly repaired airport in Xiajian, and they could leisurely participate in battles near Dongqing.

Meanwhile, after brief maintenance, Xiajian's field airport could also support the takeoff and landing of Thunderbolt and Intruder advanced attack aircraft, thanks to the Great Qin Empire's engineer corps.

They were originally constructing a large airport for their TA-183 fighter jets, but unexpectedly, halfway through, Xiajian came under Tang Empire's control.

These Qin Country engineers were forced to abandon the field airport that they had repaired 90% of, withdrawing with the main forces.

Ironically, these engineers did not escape. They failed to destroy the airport they had almost completed, all time wasted in congested roads.

Now, these engineers became the main force constructing POW camps for the Tang Empire, not only building POW camps but also field hospitals, as the injured Qin troops were overwhelming.

The Tang Empire's engineers repaired Xiajian's field airport and easily airlifted numerous equipment, directly transforming it into a large comprehensive air force base.

Here, not only can Thunderbolt and Intruder attack aircraft take off and land, but also J-7 fighter jets, Type 3 early warning aircraft, various armed helicopters, transport helicopters, and Type 130 transport aircraft.

In sum, the efforts Qin troops spent building the airport ended up benefiting the Tang Army, and this airport became the strongest reliance for the Tang National Air Force attacking Dongqing.

Pilot Wang Hai patrolled his designated airspace with his J-7 fighter jet, a newly modified model capable of launching two Thunderbolt air-to-air missiles.

Though the J-7 can only fire air-to-air missiles in dogfight status without beyond-visual-range attack capability, it remains one of the top aerial combat fighters in the world.

This is truly undisputed, for even accounting the naval F4 Phantom fighters, the J-7's air combat prowess remains among the best.

An all-out dominance by a third-generation fighter jet over the J-7 hasn't been achieved yet; the Tang Empire is arduously attempting to produce the SU-27, an "ultimate third-generation" fighter worthy of large-scale production.

Compared to the bulky F-15, SU-27 fighter jets have distinctly superior aerodynamic designs. Plus, their range is impressively massive and possesses ample scope for upgrades.

After all, the atrocious electronic technology of Maoxiong forced them to find ways to fit a gigantic nose and ample interior space on the aircraft to accommodate their refrigerator-sized computers and an outdated radar with a diameter over a meter.

The result is that when the rabbits obtained superior electronic technology, the performance of SU-27 and its subsequent improved series of fighter jets easily surpassed other competitors.