Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
If that truly happened, it would undoubtedly be a major step in the process of the revival of his homeland. The entire Heavenly Bow Empire lands would be relatively open to him as the Kalise Empire’s forces would be greatly reduced. It could be said that in just this short period of time, Zhou Weiqing would be expending all his efforts to recover at least half of his empire’s original lands. This would definitely be a great advantage to him… if he could succeed and survive.
As such, to Zhou Weiqing, and to the Heavenly Bow Empire, this was probably the most important battle for a long time to come. Once they succeeded, even if the Kalise Empire sent more troops, they would likely have to shrink back into the area around the Heavenly Bow City and have a standoff with Zhou Weiqing.
Towards this, Zhou Weiqing was already very clear, having thought through all the various possible scenarios in the past few days. As such, no matter what, he did not choose to retreat and would go all out to hold off the enemy.
In truth, with Zhou Weiqing and his Peerless Regiment forces, if they wanted to escape from the Crescent City, it would be easy for them to breakthrough any encirclement. However, he would never do such a thing. If he escaped, he would lose all credibility and the heart of the populace. In the future, if he wanted to regain the support of the populace, especially that of the Crescent City and the nearby citizens, it would be just too difficult.
Furthermore, there were still five thousand logistic troops in the Crescent City that the Fei Li Empire had sent to them. How could he just abandon them like that? If he really did so, perhaps the alliance with the Fei Li Empire would just be broken like that.
Lastly, if the Kalise Empire side actually took back the Crescent City, they would definitely fortify it and station a large number of troops there. It would be many times the trouble for them to take it back again once all that occurred, and things could possibly be even tougher.
Although Zhou Weiqing was not too experienced at commanding troops, he definitely knew that defending a city was a totally different concept from sieging and invading a city. For the attacking side, if they did not have three times the power as the defense, it would be tough to succeed, and the losses in doing so would definitely be high. Instead, now that they were on the defending side, it would also be a good opportunity to destroy as many enemies as they could. Of course, this chance was also pushing himself onto the barbeque pit to cook, and whether or not he could succeed would depend on his own capabilities.
The enemy grew closer and closer. The Kalise Empire armies were definitely very careful in the attacking process. Besides the siege vehicles and other siege weapons at the front, right behind him at the vanguard of the entire force were all heavy infantry soldiers. Although a large number of them had been slain during their first attempt, they still numbered more than a thousand five hundred. As they marched forward, they held their massive tower shields layered upon one another, slow and steady in formation. At their backs, the Heavy Cavalry soldiers were also arranged in a powerful defensive formation.
With the thickness of those tower shields, even the Peerless Regiment archers and their Consolidated Bows would have a tough time piercing through.
As the enemy advanced to a thousand yard radius, by now Zhou Weiqing was starting to feel the pressure on him increase. They could already see the enemy clearly, and that the trebuchets were filled with stones. Although those weapons could only be useful at the two hundred yard range, but if they truly got into action, then it would be a disaster, especially for the ordinary Heavenly Bow soldiers on the walls.
“Peerless Air Force, prepare yourselves to rise up with me. Ready your javelins!” Zhou Weiqing gritted his teeth and finally made the decision. He could not allow these enemies to reach the foot of the city walls and attack them at will. With the protection of the siege vehicles and other weaponry, it was hard for the Peerless Regiment archers to unleash their true power. Once the actual siege began, the numerical advantage of their enemies was just too great, and there were barely over a thousand men on this side of the wall, how could they possibly take care of every inch easily? He had to take down the heavy armoured troops first, and especially take care of the siege weapons, or at least slow them down greatly. Only then could the Peerless Regiment archers be of greater use in fighting off the enemy.
“Come with me!” As he shouted out loud, the wings behind Zhou Weiqing’s back unfurled. His entire body soared into the air like a cannonball, and he passed the command of the remaining soldiers to Lin TianAo at his side.
To the shock of the entire battlefield, the two hundred Peerless Regiment soldiers also released their Consolidated Wings simultaneously. Just like two hundred rays of light, they surged up into the skies.
When the Kalise Empire armies saw the sight, their first reaction was that the Heavenly Bow Empire soldiers had gone crazy! Were they just jumping off the walls like that?
However, the next instant, their jaws dropped. That was because the two hundred figures did not fall to the ground like they imagined, instead each and everyone of them had wings appear behind their backs, sending them soaring into the skies.
Zhou Weiqing’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Facing such a major battle, his emotions immediately calmed down. His character was the sort that would explode into his true potential the greater the stress he faced. Currently, in his heart, it was as if a huge ball of fire was burning. Strangely, he did not feel any fear. All along, he had always been the kid who feared death, but when his heart was burning with righteous fury, he was always the craziest. This… this was the bloodline of Admiral Zhou that he had inherited!
Under the leadership of Zhou Weiqing, the two hundred Peerless Regiment Air Force soldiers disappeared above into black dots. By the time the Kalise Empire soldiers reacted and wanted to shoot at them with arrows, it was far too late and they were beyond range. Any ordinary longbow would only be accurate or have the force behind it at a range of two to four hundred yards. Yet, in just a matter of moments, the Peerless Air Force had already soared to a height of over five hundred yards.
Not a single Kalise Empire powerhouse rose up to follow them. Taking aside the fact whether or not they had Consolidated Wings or the ability to fly, just looking at the sight in front of them, they were just too startled and frightened to do so.
As Jewel Masters, they knew more than any ordinary soldiers what these two hundred flying soldiers actually meant. To have Consolidated Wings… that meant they were the very least two-Jeweled Physical Jewel Masters.
Perhaps in the eyes of the powerhouses, a two-Jeweled Jewel Master was nothing. However, that was such a numerical difference! Two hundred Jewel Masters! What kind of notion was that? Even the entire Kalise Empire did not have two hundred Jewel Masters in total. Even for larger empires like the Bai Da Empire or Fei Li Empire, two hundred Jewel Masters was already a considerable amount. As the saying goes, sometimes a quantitative change can result in a qualitative change. So many Jewel Masters together… the offensive and destructive power on the battlefield could just be imagined.
Just as the Kalise troops were staring, stunned, a patch of fine black dots suddenly descended from the skies.
The throwing javelins of the Peerless Regiment had been changed and improved many times over. When they first started, the throwing javelins were just a smaller version of the normal javelins and lances. However, after many versions and repeated improvements, there was truly a major difference by now.
For the current throwing javelins that the Peerless Regiment Air Force was using, the entire front third of it was a tapered spike, fully crafted from titanium alloy. Although the weight was light, it was extremely tough and durable, with a powerful piercing effect. As for the remaining two thirds, they were far thicker and tougher, in order to increase the total weight.
At the end of the javelins, there was a cross-shaped tail fin. This was to ensure that as the javelins fell from the skies, they would be balanced to remain facing tip first, and not skew or deviate from their path.
