36 Experimenting is Importan

Once the battle officially began there was not much for Xu Da, Ban Chao, or Baron to do. After all they could not command their massive squadron of close to 2,000 bomber and fighter planes to fight. A portion of these pilots were given an order to spread out and make sure no enemies were coming. The three of them gave a report to the pilots saying that they would be unavailable to lead this force for 2 weeks. Instead the other NPC high ranking officers would be in charge. After they left the pilots did as they were told and took turns patrolling the skies for any enemies. This set the perfect stage for Yue Fei and Han Xin to practice any and all air tactics they could think of.

The first tactic that these two employed were constant hit and run tactics designed to isolate and eliminate 2 or 3 planes in just a few minutes and fly away as fast as they could. This was a fairly basic tactic when one's own forces number less than the enemy. Yue Fei and Han Xin's strategy was to use the hit and run tactic plus setting up multiple ambushes along the way if enemy pilots were giving chase. On land this was also a pretty well known tactic, however there were different variables to consider when in the sky.

For starters, on ground ambushes were made possible because there was terrain that could hide troops and machines like hills and trees. The sky is a different matter altogether because there was no cover in the sky, save for some clouds. On ground there was terrain that could have stopped pursuers like fallen trees and swamps. In the sky the only thing that could achieve that effect would be storms, but that would put both sides at an advantage. The final important variable would be speed difference at which the pursuer and the pursued are going at. In the sky, there is basically only a straight linear path from one to the other, so it is more likely than not that both sides had to either engage in an aerial dogfight or one side no longer has the fuel to continue.

With all of these variables and other smaller factors in mind there must be a lot of careful consideration as to what strategies will put you on the most advantageous position while simultaneously denying your enemy of even countering. Yue Fei and Han Xin both have had prior experience in air warfare and had a fairly good understanding of these basic determinants. What they wanted to focus on in this simulation was to see how they fared against an army that basicallyreceived no instructions from any strategists aside from the NPC ones. The two of them put in many hours to strategically plan out every move that their planes made.

Since the larger airforce was ordered to only stay and protect their base of operations, this allowed Yue Fei and Han Xin to have a major advantage from the get go. This meant that they could attack their enemy whenever they wanted to and they would not need to worry about a sneak attack from the enemy. They had a two week opportunity to deal as much damage as they could so they meticulously planned for several attacks everyday and every night. One more advantage they had was that every one of their planes were equipped with the radio system that Baron had given to them on a blueprint. They could give out orders to their pilots instantly while their enemy could not. Showtime finally came.

On the first day of the official battle, Yue Fei and Han Xin had 60 planes at their disposal to the enemy's close to 2,000. No matter how you cut it, they required strategical dominance to deal any sort of real damage to the enemy's vast numbers. The hit and run tactics that they had their pilots engage in was quite effective especially to unsuspecting victims. During the first day only 25 of the enemy planes had been shot down. The second day would have drastically different results. The first day no enemy planes flew over to assist or give chase to Yue Fei or Han Xin's pilots, but the second day would see fierce dogfights all over the place. With the two master strategists constantly giving out orders, there wasn't many losses on their side but their enemy was a complete mess. At the end of the second day, Yue Fei's side had lost only 4 planes out of their 60 while their enemy had lost over 75.

4 jets traded for almost 100 enemy jets shot down? It was a fairly good trade, however, if the numbers of both sides continued to fall like this then it would still be Yue Fei's side who would lose. Yue Fei and Han Xin weren't fools either. If this was their result when facing a strategist on Planet 4 then they'd be overjoyed. That was not the case, they were facing an NPC at the moment and an NPC is nowhere near the strategical prowess that even an average strategist possessed. Clearly they had much to work on.

The next few days were rather similar to the second day and the losses for both sides continued to pile up. Due to an error in judgment that Han Xin had made during the fifth day of battle, they had lost 5 planes in a matter of minutes. By the start of the 8th day of battle, Yue Fei's side only had 30 planes out of their squadron of 60 while their enemy still had over half of their planes still intact. Evidently the non stop fighting had taken a heavy toll on Yue Fei and Han Xin's pilots. Still though, the two were happy that their first ever team up had produced such marvellous results. It didn't matter that they would likely lose this battle. They had plenty of time after this simulation to reflect on what they could have done better or improve on certain aspects that they had been lacking before.

They continued on the simulation and just before hitting the end of the two week mark, they had lost all of their fighter airplanes. Managing to take out 1,200 enemy planes before losing was quite a feat considering they only started out with about 60 planes. The simulation ended and all five of them returned back to their HQ in the Chinese community on Planet 4. The moment they took off their headgear they started to talk non stop.

(BM) "Wow Yue Fei and Han Xin, you two are quite adept at fighting air battles. It's a good thing that you two are to mentor us about it."

(YF) "You think too highly of me, clearly the two of us have a long way to go before we can be considered true marshalls of the air."

(HX) "Yes I agree with Yue Fei, if I was alone in that simulation even with the same situation I don't think I could achieve half of what the two of us managed together. Ha ha ha ha ha, truely we are a force to be reckoned with."

(BC) "What should we do now? Should we do what we did just now a couple more times?"

(YF) "No, that would not benefit all of us. I have a different suggestion. As an elder of the Chinese community, I have many benefits bestowed unto me. One of these benefits is to go into a simulation against an NPC, meaning I can open up simulations for all of us to practice in while not having to sacrifice anybody's time to be the enemy commander!"

(BM) "Woah, I didn't know such a thing existed. Truly the elders have it good."

(HX) "I've heard about it, but I never really believed about it until now. How about we do it like this. Yue Fei will open up two simulations one for me and one for him. Then the three of you take turns coming with me or Yue Fei so that we can share with you about all the warfare tactics, and experience that we know?"

(BM) "That's a great idea elder Han Xin. I approve."

(BC) "I second that."

(XD) "Sounds good to me."

(YF) "I had another idea, but that pales in comparison to what you just proposed. Let's go with that then since everyone else agrees."

Yue Fei did exactly as Han Xin had suggested and in no time the five of them split up into two groups and entered into the once simulation again. Yue Fei had teamed up with Baron while Xu Da and Ban Chao followed Han Xin into the simulations. With the simulation time to the time on Planet 4 being 1:7 both groups were out just before the two week mark in the simulation, or roughly two days time on Planet 4. During this time Ban Chao, Xu Da, and Baron had their horizons opened tremendously by their respective mentors. Then they entered again, but this time Baron paired up with Han Xin and Ban Chao/Xu Da followed Yue Fei. Another two days time on Planet 4 passed until the five of them met up again. This time their understanding of aerial warfare had become even deeper than before, and new ideas started to sprout from each of their minds as to how the best result could be achieved. The five of them then decided that grouping together for any upcoming simulations would no longer be as beneficial to each other so they decided that each of them would get a separate room.

Baron tried to encourage the others by suggesting that whoever gets the highest amount of enemy planes shot down during any one simulation, would get a blueprint from Baron himself. Now the others were super pumped and entered into their own simulations with a passion. This was how they spent the next few months on Planet 4.