Legendary Captain

Chapter 354 A chilling killing intent

Xu Xian's words truly radiated military might and murderous intent that soared to the heavens. Everyone watching could feel Xu Xian's unwavering resolve.

"Li Cheng, your men are really..." Huang Jue paused, a subtle, enigmatic smile playing on his lips, it was hard to tell if he was laughing or being sarcastic, "They're truly... brimming with murderous intent!"

Although there is a saying that one should pursue the enemy with the remaining strength and not seek fame like Xiang Yu, in the current situation, it is clear that not pursuing the enemy when they are exhausted is more realistic.

Xu Xian's mission was to intercept and protect the division headquarters, not to annihilate the enemy. First, he needed to figure out the purpose of this attack in order to decide whether or not to pursue them.

Even if Xu Xian caught up with and shot down the retreating Guangdong 6th Air Division fighter jet, it wouldn't have significantly changed the overall battlefield situation. The 3rd Division would still have achieved a Pyrrhic victory in defending its headquarters; it might sound more prestigious, but its practical significance was minimal.

But if Xu Xian chases after it and gets shot down, then there's a probability issue. Is the only remaining fighter jet on a bombing mission?

At the 3rd Division headquarters, the model data of each aircraft was clearly displayed on the screens of the Western Air Force Command. However, in the Luoyang Air Force's general command center, because Luoyang Air Force was directly involved in this exercise, the battlefield data it could receive was very limited to prevent information leaks. Wang Chenchen did not know whether the last fighter jet was carrying out a bombing mission, which raised the issue of taking risks.

Xu Xian was indeed incredibly brave and invincible, fighting ten against one and almost annihilating the entire 6th Air Division of Guangdong. But now he only had his machine guns left, making his offensive methods rather limited and simplistic. The retreating 6th Division fighter jet chose to avoid a direct confrontation due to Xu Xian's imposing presence, but that doesn't mean it was no longer combat-ready.

What if Xu Xian manages to catch up but is killed in a counterattack? This leads to two scenarios. One is that the remaining fighter isn't on a bombing mission; it would likely be equipped with air-to-air missiles or anti-radiation missiles targeting radar. These types of missiles have small warheads and limited destructive power against buildings. Even if switched to ground attack, they are unlikely to cause fatal damage to the division headquarters. In this case, it's barely acceptable, since the division headquarters wouldn't be considered completely destroyed. But what if the remaining fighter is on a bombing mission? These aircraft carry specialized ground-attack bombs, which are lethal against buildings. If a ground-attack bomb lands on the 3rd Division headquarters, it would be considered a fatal attack, which would be a serious problem.

Therefore, if Xu Xian doesn't pursue, the Third Division will definitely win this time. But if he does pursue, there's a possibility that the Sixth Division could turn the tide.

Having barely escaped a seemingly hopeless situation, any reasonably normal person would naturally want to play it safe and preserve their gains.

But Xu Xian just wouldn't have it. He told Ye Qing that if they took out all eleven fighter jets from the Sixth Air Division of Guangdong, not a single one could be lost. If they were lost, it would be Xu Xian slapping himself in the face.

Li Cheng glanced at Wang Zhaoxin, who remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

However, regardless of the circumstances, Xu Xian's disobedience on the battlefield was a genuine fact.

Xu Xian is utterly lawless!

His superiors had clearly told him not to pursue, but he wouldn't listen. His words also revealed a kind of rough and unruly air about him. Li Cheng really didn't know what to say.

Xu Xian is clearly in a bloodthirsty frenzy right now, and it's unlikely anyone can persuade him otherwise.

Liao Yuan and Jing Chenfei witnessed this scene as well. Jing Chenfei shook his head repeatedly, saying, "This is outrageous! I've never seen soldiers act so recklessly. Is fighting a war his sole responsibility? How can he disobey orders on the battlefield?"

For veterans like Jing Chenfei, obedience to orders is a soldier's primary duty. War is not a solitary battle; acting rashly is nothing but reckless behavior, and moreover, impulsive actions can have a very negative impact on the overall operation.

Take Xu Xian's disobedience this time as an example. His pursuit endangered the safety of the entire division headquarters. If this had been one of Jing Chenfei's own soldiers, no matter how great his achievements were, he would have been demobilized and sent home on the spot.

Jing Chenfei is the kind of person who values ​​rules above all else, especially in the military field, where nothing can be accomplished without rules. If every soldier under his command had their own selfish motives, how could they possibly win a battle?

Unlike Chief of Staff Jing Chenfei, Commander Liao Yuan believed that each situation should be analyzed individually. He chuckled, "Old Jing, don't be so hasty. You think there's a risk in chasing them, but he might think there isn't!"

"You mean he thinks he can easily defeat them? He dares to say he can easily crush the opponent just because he has machine guns? Does he really have that confidence? He's just arrogant!" Jing Chenfei sneered. "How can we have soldiers like this who have no regard for the law?"

"To be precise, he's not exactly a soldier; he's part of the Los Angeles Airlines squadron," Liao Yuan said with a grin. "Don't be so smug. You think you can't win? But look at how he fought ten people at once! Some people can't be judged by ordinary standards. Just watch."

"Old Liao, you don't actually think he did the right thing, do you? This is disobeying orders on the battlefield! No matter how strong an individual is, when it comes to real warfare, there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting. An individual's strength will only be drowned out. The key to commanding an army is strict discipline and adherence to rules. Old Liao, don't you understand this?" Jing Chenfei said incredulously.

Liao Yuan is the commander of the Western Air Force; how could he not know such basic military common sense? He was thinking in a different direction: "Old Jing, this is information warfare now. Command systems can quickly and effectively transmit orders to every basic combat unit—something unimaginable before. However, this also presents a problem: if the command system is destroyed, it will cause immense damage to the entire army. As the ancients said, 'To shoot a man, first shoot his horse; to capture a thief, first capture his king.' Therefore, the most convenient and efficient means of military operation now is..."

Jing Chenfei narrowed his eyes: "Decapitation!"

"That's right, a decapitation strike! A surgical precision strike!" Liao Yuan's eyes gleamed. "The dangers and obstacles faced by this kind of operation—penetrating the enemy's core and shattering their command system in one fell swoop—are unimaginable. To accomplish such a mission, you can't just follow the rules. Of course, Lao Jing! I'm not saying that rules aren't important in the military, but they should be adapted slightly, and we can deal with each situation specifically."

Decapitation strikes are not a new military concept, and they are not difficult to understand. Due to the highly advanced communication and command systems of today, the highest-ranking commander can often even command a single soldier in combat, whereas in the past, orders would have had to be relayed down through multiple levels. This allows high-level commanders to precisely execute battlefield deployments down to the smallest detail, resulting in the entire army essentially becoming a manifestation of the will of the highest command, with virtually no autonomy.

This command method maximizes efficiency, avoiding information delays and distortions caused by hierarchical order transmission. However, it undoubtedly further solidifies the authority of high-level commanders, rendering middle and lower-level commanders virtually ineffective. This leads to a significant problem: excessive centralization of command, if it were to collapse at the top command level, would be catastrophic for the entire army. Like a person without a brain, they would be nothing more than a walking corpse—what combat effectiveness would they possess?

Although this command method carries significant potential risks, most countries still prefer it because it is extremely efficient. Overly complex and numerous command systems inevitably reduce efficiency; this is an inherent problem that cannot be solved.

As for the potential risk of destruction? It's not nonexistent, but it's extremely small. As the core of an army, its surrounding defenses are undoubtedly impregnable; attacking it would be harder than climbing to heaven.

Who doesn't know the significance of a decapitation strike? But to actually carry it out is extremely difficult.

The operational environment for decapitation strikes is extremely complex and harsh, making it difficult to perfectly handle with a so-called plan. More often than not, it requires personnel to adapt to changing circumstances. In such situations, it's understandable that some instances of disobedience may inevitably occur. After all, in that environment, the battlefield situation changes rapidly, and command cannot grasp the situation immediately. An order that is correct one second may become wrong the next. In such circumstances, should the operation continue?

Moreover, such decapitation strikes place extremely high demands on the individual qualities of the combat personnel. In conventional warfare, Liao Yuan would strongly support Jing Chenfei's view, but in special operations like decapitation strikes, this is a military act that differs from conventional warfare and cannot be entirely governed by normal military theory.

In fact, Liao Yuan could tell that Xu Xian had an overly strong sense of autonomy and was not suited for large-scale group operations. Small-scale, coordinated operations were more suitable for him.

"I can't explain this to you in a short time," Jing Chenfei said, spreading his hands. "Actually, maybe I'm overthinking it. Come to think of it, it seems like he couldn't catch up with that Sixth Division fighter jet."

The fighter jet from the 6th Air Division of Guangdong was a C-15, which has a higher top speed than the C-16. If that person was determined to leave, it might not be possible to catch up.

"Old Jing, you can't think like that. After the Guangdong Air Force's long-range raid, how much fuel do you think their fighter jets have left? How long can they maintain their maximum speed?" Liao Yuan immediately pointed out the problem: "Therefore, simply comparing maximum speed is not very meaningful. The real question is how much fuel the 6th Division of the Guangdong Air Force has left."

"However, since he has chosen to retreat, there is no guarantee that other Guangdong Air Force fighter jets will come to pick him up."

Liao Yuan snapped his fingers: "So the time left for this kid to catch up isn't actually that much."

The air defense zones of Guangdong Air Force and Xi'an Air Force are adjacent. For a fighter jet, the time required to return from Xi'an Air Force to Guangdong Air Force is actually not long. Moreover, the remaining fighter jet can easily call for friendly support.

In other words, if the 6th Division's fighter jet is not shot down before it reaches the border between the Guangdong and Western air forces, then this opportunity will be lost forever.

Although the remaining fighter jet of the 6th Air Division of Guangdong Province was limited by fuel and couldn't maintain its maximum speed for long, the C-15, being a twin-engine aircraft, still had a certain speed advantage. Liao Yuan wanted to see how this kid would catch up with the opponent in the shortest time!

Just then, Liao Yuan was shocked to find that his C16 had started to climb, with the altitude indicator near the two points constantly rising.

"He's climbing, what's he trying to do?" Jing Chenfei asked, puzzled. "He wants to climb higher and then dive to accelerate? No, that doesn't make sense!"

When an aircraft dives down, its speed increases as potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. However, climbing also means more time is needed, so the round trip doesn't actually save much time.

Moreover, this up-and-down movement increases the distance between Xu Xian's fighter jet and the Sixth Division's fighter jet, which may not only fail to shorten the distance but also cause it to drift further and further away from the fighter jet.

"I really don't understand what he's thinking." Jing Chenfei had given up trying to figure it out. This pilot from Luohang had a way of thinking and a thought process that was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

At that moment, at the Third Division headquarters, Huang Jue was also looking at Li Cheng with a strange expression: "Li Cheng, why is he climbing the ranks? Isn't he chasing after someone?"

Xu Xian's climbing maneuver doesn't seem like he's chasing someone, because that would only increase the distance between the two engines, making it seem like he's chasing someone in the opposite direction.

"Huang Jue, can't you see?" Wang Zhaoxin suddenly turned to Huang Jue: "What's the difference between high altitude and low altitude?"

"The difference?" Huang Jue was slightly bewildered. "High altitude air, low altitude air! What the hell is this kid thinking?"

After Wang Zhaoxin's reminder, Huang Jue immediately understood. The biggest difference between high and low altitudes lies in air resistance. Because the air is thinner at high altitudes, the aircraft experiences less drag, thus saving fuel.

The significance of saving fuel is that Xu Xian can engage afterburner for a longer period of time and maintain maximum speed for a longer period of time.

This time, in order to carry as many weapons as possible, Xu Xian did not attach any auxiliary fuel tanks. So Xu Xian does have more fuel than the Firefox One, but not by much, not enough for Xu Xian to squander.

Therefore, Xu Xian chose a higher altitude to reduce fuel consumption, thus allowing him to maintain maximum speed for a longer period of time.

However, this was not the only reason Xu Xian chose a high altitude.

Wang Zhaoxin shook his head: "There's more."

"And another thing!" A thought flashed through Huang Jue's mind, and he asked incredulously, "You mean high-altitude winds?"

"That's right!" Wang Zhaoxin tilted his head back, revealing an expression of immense pride. "Both fighter jets are currently flying with a tailwind, but at high altitudes, the wind is stronger, making the tailwind even more powerful!"

"He even considered the wind at high altitudes!" Huang Jue exclaimed in amazement.

High-altitude winds or air resistance aren't difficult concepts to grasp. However, to be able to simultaneously gather this intelligence and knowledge in a tense combat environment speaks volumes about the exceptional combat talent of this pilot from Luohang. He was able to integrate various pieces of information in the shortest possible time to find the most advantageous path for himself.

Wang Zhaoxin said calmly, "Isn't verifying the high-altitude winds in the operational airspace something a pilot should be doing?"

"Is knowing something the same as being able to use it?" This time, Huang Jue surprisingly sided with Xu Xian, looking at Li Cheng with some envy: "Li Cheng, Luohang has really struck gold."

"Found a treasure?" Li Cheng smiled modestly. "He's just a troublemaker."

"A troublemaker?" Huang Jue knew Li Cheng was referring to Xu Xian's earlier disobedience, but he said seriously, "If I had to choose between an obedient mediocre person and a troublesome genius, I would definitely choose the latter. If you don't like this kid, you can give him to me; I'd be more than happy to."

Li Cheng was genuinely surprised that Huang Jue was poaching his girlfriend right in front of him and Wang Zhaoxin: "Commander Huang, isn't that a bit too blatant?"

"I was just telling the truth," Huang Jue said dismissively.

"You should at least consider my feelings! I'm still here!" Wang Zhaoxin couldn't hold back any longer. "You're poaching my people right to my face, treating me like I'm invisible!"

"Didn't you say he was a troublemaker? You don't like troublemakers, but we Sixth Division do!" Huang Jue laughed. "If you don't want him, then give him to me, and everyone will be happy."

"What's so great about that?" Wang Zhaoxin snorted. "Who said we Third Division Masters don't like troublemakers? I, Wang Zhaoxin, love disciplining troublemakers the most."

Huang Jue curled his lip, his face full of disdain.

air.

Xu Xian climbed all the way to 16,000 meters, which is the service ceiling of the C-16. The C-16 is a good aircraft in many ways, but its service ceiling is not so great. A service ceiling of 16,000 meters is not considered an outstanding performance among fighter jets of the same generation.

In comparison, except for the C-15E variant, the service ceiling of most C-15 series fighters is close to 20,000 meters, significantly surpassing that of the C-16. The C-15E, however, is an anomaly in the C-15 series, as its primary mission is ground attack; strictly speaking, the C-15E should be classified as a fighter-bomber. Due to the different mission requirements, the C-15E has a service ceiling of only 15,000 meters, even lower than the C-16.

At service ceiling, the overspeed and stall ranges of an aircraft are very close together. An aircraft can only operate within a very small speed range, otherwise it will either be overspeeding or stalling.

During this process, the aircraft was actually in a relatively unstable state, requiring the pilot to quickly and promptly correct its behavior. However, for Xu Xian, who is known for his piloting skills, maintaining the stability of the aircraft at its service ceiling was not a difficult task, and the weather was also favorable that day, with little turbulence at this altitude.

Of course, 16,000 meters is definitely in the stratosphere, where the airflow is relatively stable.

On Xu Xian's radar, he could consistently see the position of the retreating Sixth Division fighter jet. As Xu Xian climbed, the distance between him and the enemy aircraft rapidly increased, and it was clear that the enemy aircraft was also using afterburner and flying at near-maximum speed. The distance between the two fighter jets grew further and further.

However, Xu Xian wasn't in a hurry. The enemy planes looked fierce and powerful, but they were only at their last gasp. He didn't believe they could keep their afterburners on indefinitely. Taking advantage of this time, Xu Xian even had the leisure to recalibrate the cannon sights. After all, he had just set the sights based on C-16 data, and what he would be dealing with later was a C-15.

As expected, in the cockpit, Firefox 1 kept changing landing airports. From the base airport of the Sixth Division headquarters, it was changed all the way to a primary airport near the border of the Western and Guangdong air forces. Even so, after engaging afterburner for a while, the fuel warning light was expected to come on again.

At this point, he had no closer airport to choose from. If he wanted to land any closer, he would have to land at an airport within the western air defense zone, which would be like sending himself into the lion's den. Moreover, such an operation, landing on enemy territory, could very well become a laughing stock.

If he still wants to land in Guangdong airspace, he can only turn off the afterburner and cruise at normal subsonic speeds.

"They shouldn't be chasing us, right?" Firefox One thought for a moment. The Third Division had already thwarted this attack, so logically, there was no need for them to keep pursuing him.

However, he never expected that Xu Xian was such an unreasonable person.

Because of the current flight path, his onboard radar couldn't see what was behind him. Firefox One hesitated for a moment, then finally reduced the throttle, gradually lowering the aircraft's speed from supersonic to subsonic.

He's not far from the border between the Western and Guangdong airspaces now, so he shouldn't be caught up, that's what Firefox One thinks.

He has already contacted his family, and friendly aircraft will come to pick him up near the border. He just needs to hold on a little longer.

Just then, a faint static sound came through Firefox One's headset. He tried calling out, and sure enough, there was a response.

The distance is now quite close, and Firefox One can make contact with the friendly aircraft that are coming to pick it up.

"Firefox One, aren't you alone?" a friendly aircraft suddenly asked over the channel. It had spotted a fighter jet signal not far behind Firefox One on its radar.

"What do you mean?" Firefox One didn't understand for a moment.

The IFF system of the friendly aircraft behind you never received a response signal from the fighter jet behind Firefox One: "Oh no, there is another 3rd Division fighter jet behind you."

Because Firefox One was so close to the fighter jet behind it—so close that if the jet behind it were an enemy aircraft, it could be shot down with a missile at any moment—his first thought was that the aircraft following Firefox One wasn't an enemy aircraft. But little did he know, it wasn't that Xu Xian was unwilling to launch missiles, but rather that he simply didn't have any; he only had a short-range machine gun.

However, after the IFF system failed to respond, he realized the seriousness of the problem, even though he didn't understand why the fighter jet behind him wasn't attacking.

"Behind you!?" FireFox One's hair stood on end. He never expected that the Third Division's fighter jet would still be haunting him.

Just as Firefox One was in shock, a fighter jet swooped down from high above. The position above and behind was the best position for the fighter jet to attack, and Xu Xian aimed his machine gun at the enemy aircraft almost the instant he brought Firefox One's fighter jet into view.

"Firefox One, it's diving towards you!" The friendly aircraft couldn't see the two fighters with the naked eye, but it could see on the radar that the 3rd Division's fighter was rapidly decreasing in altitude and was quickly approaching Firefox One's relative position.

"Damn it!" Firefox One knew that the enemy plane had already reached its attack position as it swooped down.

He wouldn't just sit and wait to die; he immediately prepared to press the lever to reverse the movement. The machine gun is extremely difficult to hit, and effective maneuvering can greatly reduce the chance of being hit.

However, his reaction came too late.

Just as he was preparing to maneuver, Xu Xian had already pressed the fire button. As the simulated cannon signal was emitted, the last signal point of the Sixth Division's fighter jet disappeared without a trace on the division's battlefield situation screen.

At this moment, the twelve aircraft of the Sixth Air Division of Guangdong Air Force, which had attacked the headquarters of the Third Division with the intention of striking directly at the enemy's stronghold, were completely wiped out!

In the cockpit, Firefox One received the order to return to base, thus ending its training exercise. The twelve fighter jets, on the verge of victory, had their efforts wasted.

A resolute glint flashed in Firefox One's eyes, despite his somewhat dejected state. He switched to the public channel and shouted, "Who are you? I will definitely avenge this arrow!"

However, his response was a curt, "No, you'll never have that chance!"

(End of this chapter)