Chapter 218: The Enemy's Lightning-Fast Reaction

Li Yunlong took a deep breath and was just about to give an order when he suddenly thought of something: "Wait! This guy definitely has a backup plan."

Just as Li Yunlong expected, the reconnaissance plane suddenly changed course after descending to 5,800 meters and began to climb rapidly.

"It's climbing! 6,000 meters... 6,500 meters... 7,000 meters..."

"Damn it, the cunning fox!" Li Yunlong realized in a flash, "This guy is just testing when we will open fire! He wants to determine our anti-aircraft limit!"

Zhao Gang nodded: "If we had opened fire just now, regardless of whether we hit it or not, we would have exposed our anti-aircraft capabilities. This pilot is too smart."

The reconnaissance plane continued to climb, soon returning to the safe altitude of 10,000 meters, and began a new round of reconnaissance work.

"Son of a bitch, playing quite the game!" Li Yunlong gritted his teeth, the anger in his chest unable to dissipate yet he was helpless.

For a full three hours, that reconnaissance plane circled above the Long Country positions like a Ghost, its camera flashing constantly, capturing every detail below.

Li Yunlong could almost imagine the smug smile on that Di Guo pilot's face.

"Frontline Commander-in-Chief, it has started flying back!" the Radar Operator finally reported.

Li Yunlong clenched his fists, watching the silver dot gradually moving away in the sky, his eyes filled with unwillingness and anger: "You're lucky today, don't let me catch you next time!"

That evening, Li Yunlong convened an emergency meeting of all officers.

"Comrades, the situation is not good," he said with a grave expression, "The enemy has figured out our anti-aircraft blind spot. Judging from the performance of that reconnaissance plane today, they already know that our Anti-aircraft System cannot hit targets above 6,000 meters."

Zhao Gang added: "This means they will soon adjust their tactics, send high-altitude Bombers and more reconnaissance planes, and we will be powerless to fight back."

There was silence in the command post, and every person's face was filled with worry.

Li Yunlong slapped the table hard: "Damn it, this war is getting harder and harder to fight!" He turned to the communications officer,

"Contact the rear immediately, tell Li Mingyuan that we need new weapons capable of hitting 10,000 meters, and we need them fast!"

The night grew deep, and Li Yunlong stood alone at the edge of the position, looking at the starry sky.

That high-flying reconnaissance plane today was like a silent slap to his face. He knew that even harder days were still to come.

"Li Mingyuan, oh Li Mingyuan," he muttered to himself, looking up at the star-studded night sky, "If you don't come up with some real skills soon, I'm really going to be bullied to death by these sons of bitches!"

In the distance, the enemy's campfires flickered like countless prying eyes.

……

On the other side, the U-2 returned safely, bringing back valuable intelligence.

In the intelligence analysis room, officers couldn't wait to spread out the photos and use magnifying glasses to study every detail.

"Look here, these are their anti-aircraft positions; their launchers are clearly this shape."

"These should be the logistics lines for Li Yunlong's troops; supply trucks enter the front line from this direction."

"And this, it should be their makeshift factory, possibly producing those weapons."

General Johnson nodded with satisfaction: "This reconnaissance was a great success. Most importantly, we now know that the Long Country's Anti-aircraft System is basically powerless against targets above 6,000 meters."

"General, this means we can resume high-altitude bombing."

"That's right, start modifying our Bombers and fighters immediately to optimize their high-altitude performance. At the same time, arrange more U-2 reconnaissance flights; I want to know everything about the Long Country front line, including what they eat for every meal!"

The general turned and left, a smile of certain victory on his face.

In the following days, the U-2 Reconnaissance Plane became a lingering shadow over the heads of the Long Country troops.

They came every day, taking photos at a safe altitude, and then left quietly.

Worse still, the supply lines of Taiyang began to suffer frequent attacks.

The Di Guo Bombers dropped bombs from an altitude of 10,000 meters, precisely hitting several key bridges and roads, while the Long Country's Anti-aircraft System could only sigh at the "planes."

"Damn it, the enemy has grasped our weakness." Li Yunlong gritted his teeth as he looked at the new red marks on the map; those were yet another supply route destroyed today.

Zhao Gang's expression was equally grim: "Not only that, we have also discovered that small enemy units have begun to operate everywhere on the front line, seemingly testing our firepower range."

Li Yunlong sneered: "Want to test our bottom line? Fine, let's play with them."

He immediately gave the order to let several fire points expose their positions voluntarily to lure the enemy squads closer, then suddenly used Cloud Bombs to annihilate them in one fell swoop.

This tactic was quite effective at first, and the enemy lost several elite reconnaissance squads, but they soon became more cautious, starting to use long-range observation equipment, and even utilizing balloons and high observation points to safely measure the maximum range of the Long Country's weapons.

"It seems the Di Guo people have figured out our bottom line." Li Yunlong stood on the mountaintop, observing the enemy activities in the distance through binoculars; they had stopped exactly 500 meters outside the range of the Cloud Bombs, clearly having mapped out a "safe zone."

Just then, a roaring sound came from the sky.

Li Yunlong looked up and saw several small black dots appearing at high altitude; those were the new high-altitude Bombers of Di Guo.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat immediately!" Li Yunlong shouted, but it was already too late.

Precision-guided bombs fell like raindrops, and several fire points on the Long Country front line were destroyed in an instant.

The sounds of explosions followed one after another, and smoke filled the entire battlefield.

……

"Lao Li, this can't go on." Zhao Gang looked at the shrinking control area map, worried, "Our advantage is being rapidly dismantled."

Li Yunlong sighed heavily, the exhaustion on his face evident: "The Di Guo people are very shrewd; they didn't attack rashly like last time, but are using our weaknesses to slowly wear us down."

Inside the frontline command post, the atmosphere was heavy.

The Taiyang officer in charge of communications had just brought disappointing news: "General Li, two more strongholds have fallen, and our troops' morale is extremely low."

Lieutenant Colonel Jin Zhengzhe also came to the command post in person; he looked exhausted:

"General Li, our supplies are nearing exhaustion, and the soldiers are starting to go hungry. If this continues..."

Li Yunlong understood what he hadn't said: if this continued, the Taiyang army might collapse and flee on a large scale.

"Gather all officers, we need to formulate a new defense strategy." Li Yunlong ordered, a flash of determination in his eyes.

In the conference room, the situation was even worse than imagined.

"The inventory of Cloud Bombs is insufficient, with only 50 left, enough to support two medium-scale defensive battles."

"There are only 120 Feilong-1 Rockets left, and enemy planes almost never fly into our range anymore."

"Logistical supplies have been cut off by 70%, and food and medical supplies are severely lacking."

One report after another was depressing, and everyone present could feel the approaching crisis.