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Chapter 1421 Number One in Getting Bombed!
They sat inside a large kite made of wood, silk, and cotton, being pulled down a hillside by a railcar loaded with stones. Surprisingly, instead of falling, they floated up into the air!
Not only can it fly, but it can also control which direction it flies in, and even do somersaults in the sky! From the moment he first experienced the feeling of soaring in the sky on the giant kite, the high school senior secretly made up his mind: he wanted to be the best pilot, and then a general!
The emperor said this wasn't a kite, but a glider. Those who piloted gliders were called pilots, and the pilots belonged to a new army called the Aerospace Force.

More than four years later, the high school senior has partially realized his dream, becoming the most outstanding pilot in the Aerospace Force Eagles Squadron and receiving a new name bestowed by the emperor: MiG!
There's still one unfulfilled dream: to become a general in the Aerospace Force. It's not that I haven't tried hard enough, but the Aerospace Force is currently just something the emperor talks about; whether it can actually be established depends on the operational effectiveness of the Western Theater Command.

MiG and more than 60 glider pilots have been secretly in Turkestan for over six months. Although two landing fields are still under construction, they have already begun flight training. Whether their efforts will pay off depends on today's short flight of a few dozen kilometers.

Moreover, if we miss this opportunity, nobody knows when we'll be able to take off again. The winds here are mostly from the southwest during the summer, and from the northwest after autumn. Neither of these wind directions is suitable for gliders to take off and climb westward. Today's northeasterly winds are a chance, one of the few opportunities available!
Congratulations to the Russian, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Zaporizhzhia Cossack, and Crimean Khanate armies for tying for first place in the history of aerial bombardment!
Mig's squadron had only eight gliders, and one of them had to make an emergency landing due to mechanical failure after takeoff. But having seven aircraft in 1639 would be a huge headache for anyone.

Even though they knew there were people up there, and could even see their general faces through the binoculars, they still couldn't understand how people could fly, or what those dragonfly-like objects were.

Throughout history, whenever humans encounter phenomena that defy common sense yet undeniably exist, they invariably attribute them to gods or ghosts.

The Russians, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth people, Crimeans, and Cossacks were not exempt from this rule. When the gliders reached the camp, upon hearing that the Ming army had left the city and was ready for battle, none of them fired their muskets, nor did anyone think of taking cover. Instead, they all made the sign of the cross with expressions of awe, muttering prayers.

“投弹倒计时……9、8、7……3、2、1……”

MiG tilted his head and leaned out of the window, braving the strong wind to try and see the dense crowd and tents below. He then gestured to the co-pilot, who in turn shouted the message back to the bombardier in the cockpit.

"..." Two bombardiers were already crouching under the fuselage, with two boxes of twenty large grenades beside them. Upon hearing the order to drop the bombs, they first pushed open the cover, then one of them pulled the safety, while the other dropped the grenades from under the fuselage.

"Boom... Boom... Boom..." A few seconds later, plumes of black smoke accompanied by scorching flames burst onto the ground. The explosion wasn't very powerful, but the burning effect was quite impressive.

The viscous liquid, a mixture of gasoline, rubber, and sugar, was propelled by the shockwave to a radius of more than 20 meters and immediately began to burn. Unless it was buried with soil, it was difficult to extinguish by ordinary means until it was completely burned.

Grasslands, warhorses, human bodies, tents... everything affected was smoking. Hundreds of large grenades exploded in Russian, Polish-Lithuanian, Crimean, and Cossack armies and camps, forming hundreds of circles with a radius of about twenty meters, and then began to burn.

At this point, no one prayed anymore. The riders spurred their horses and galloped away, and those without horses simply ran for their lives. No one knew where they were going or where they would escape divine punishment. They just kept running, as if moving would lessen the chances of disaster.

The once orderly camp and army instantly descended into chaos after the gliders flew overhead. The soldiers had no time to find their officers, and the officers, no matter how hard they shouted, couldn't control their men; in fact, most of the officers were running away as well. When the haystacks were set ablaze, smoke gradually filled most of the camp, further exacerbating the chaos.

More than half an hour passed, and thanks to the tireless efforts of the two marshals, order was finally restored, and the fire gradually subsided. Then, eight gliders from the 2nd Squadron of the Eagle Brigade reappeared in everyone's sight. At this point, no amount of shouting would help; the soldiers instinctively wanted to run away. Although not many people were killed or burned in the first wave of bombing, even one death would become a reason for everyone to flee.

The planned three-wave bombing was only completed in two waves. When the gliders took off for the third wave, the wind direction changed and the pilots tried their best to adjust the course, but they could not. In the end, they could only find an open space to drop the bombs and then land at the nearest landing site.

Two waves were enough. When Ma Lan and Chang Jiang each arrived with two commanders of two thousand, there were no longer any organized enemy units. The Crimean and Cossack cavalry were the fastest, followed by the Russian cavalry, and then the supply troops. They threw everything off their wagons and drove them westward at breakneck speed.

Without formation and density, there was no defense. The Ming army easily broke through the defense line and then split into several hundred-household units, advancing side by side.

Riding on horseback, shooting at the backs of an endless line of fleeing soldiers with lances, double-barreled rifles, and revolvers is easier than hunting wolves on the grasslands.

Ma Lan and Chang Jiang were no longer in a hurry to pursue the remaining enemy. Instead, they followed at a leisurely pace, eliminating whoever could no longer run or fell behind.

But it was precisely this speed that made them the most difficult to deal with. Whenever an officer tried to organize the routed soldiers and regroup them, the main force of the Ming army would leisurely catch up, and then they would have to continue their frantic march, a cycle that never ended.

However, what truly terrified them was not the Ming army that followed them like leeches, but the Kazakh cavalry that suddenly appeared.

These unarmored light cavalry were of little use in direct combat, but when pursuing fleeing soldiers, one could be worth two. Many tribes sent out children as young as ten, clearly indicating that they knew when to take advantage and when to lay low.

A defeat is like a landslide, a rout that stretches for miles – this is a true reflection of the fate of the side that loses battle on the plains. Lacking cities and strategic terrain to rely on, once a rout begins, it's difficult to stop the decline; they flee in panic, day and night.

The chase lasted for five days, finally ending on the lower reaches of the Syr Darya River. Deprived of supplies, the Russian and Polish-Lithuanian troops were unable to continue, had nowhere to hide, and feared being discovered and dying of hunger, thirst, or freezing in the wilderness. Many chose to surrender by the roadside.

The Cossacks and Crimeans, more accustomed to this rhythm, were never caught up. But east of the Aral Sea, they were met with a crushing defeat. More than 4000 Kazakh cavalrymen equipped with carbines and half a garrison of Ming army cavalrymen crushed their last will to fight with a barrage of bullets and their superior physical strength.

(End of this chapter)