Chapter 1839: The Imitators

Hamid sighed and said, "That is all we can do. I will pass down the order now, let the troops prepare, and be ready to respond to a surprise attack by the Russian Army at any time."

No sooner had Hamid finished speaking than a guard hurried in.

"Your Majesty, we have encountered an attack by the Russian Army."

Hamid's words stuck in his throat, unable to come out, and he swallowed them back.

The Viscount was startled and said in a deep voice, "Immediately mobilize the troops."

He turned back, his body leaning slightly forward, and said, "Your Majesty, I shall take my leave."

Hamid nodded, and the Viscount left the place, heading straight for the battlefield.

This place belonged to the former Poland, and the battlefield was not far from here.

The Viscount arrived very quickly, his heart burning with anxiety at this moment.

Because of Jiang Xuan's request for reinforcements, many Longyan Unit troops had been mobilized to patrol the seas, so there were not many Longyan Unit troops left behind now.

Unexpectedly, it was precisely at this time that Tsarist Russia launched a surprise attack.

The Viscount arrived at the front line and used a Telescope to look at the Russian Army below the city walls.

They were riding something very close to the Longyan Bicycle, only there were wheels on both sides supporting their bicycles.

Seeing this scene, the Viscount's face turned gloomy, and his heart gave a jolt.

Tsarist Russia had really researched the bicycle and had even improved it.

As if facing a formidable enemy, he ordered in a deep voice, "Defend the city, do not engage in a head-on conflict with the Russian Army yet!"

"Yes!"

The Viscount knew very well how the bicycle had changed the situation on the battlefield.

The riding speed of a bicycle was very fast, and it could achieve silent surprise attacks.

Now their forces were insufficient; if they opened the gates to fight, it would absolutely allow Tsarist Russia to occupy an absolute advantage.

The Longyan Army on the city walls was already standing by, ready to respond to the Russian Army's attack at any time.

Just at this moment, the Russian Army merely took one look at the defenders on the wall and the rows of Longyan Cannon, then rode their bicycles away in a dejected manner.

Seeing the enemy retreat, the Viscount could not feel happy at all.

He watched the way the Russian Army retreated; the speed was very slow, one could even say they were moving at a snail's pace.

And he did not know if it was because their bicycles had two extra wheels, but the appearance looked very comical.

The riding Russian soldiers had to pedal several times just to move forward; it did not look like they were capable of launching an attack at all.

The Viscount could not help but fall into deep thought, beginning to ponder what these troops had come here to do.

What exactly were these Russian Army troops trying to do?

Was this a conspiracy by the enemy?

Retreating on purpose, pretending to look so comical on purpose, with the goal of luring their Longyan Army out to fight.

After a series of thoughts, the Viscount did not agree with this question.

He had no choice but to cautiously instruct, "Stay alert recently, and be on guard against sneak attacks by the Russian Army!"

The Longyan Army captain performed a standard military salute.

But the Viscount looked at him, seemingly having something to say, and asked with a frown, "What do you want to say?"

The Longyan captain glanced at the retreating Russian Army and said, "General, the only reason we were able to discover the Russian Army's surprise attack was because of these bicycles they were riding."

"Not only is the speed not fast, but there is also a lot of noise."

The Viscount fell silent all of a sudden.

……

And on the other side, the surprise attack force sent by Tsarist Russia.

After the bicycle research was successful, Naleishi could not wait to apply the bicycle to the battlefield.

That was why today's surprise attack happened.

But the Russian surprise attack force was discovered by the Longyan Army not long after they set out.

This directly led to the failure of their action plan.

The reason they retreated was entirely because the newly designed bicycles not only made a lot of noise when ridden, but also had very serious problems.

That was that they were not fast at all.

Some of the vehicles would even reach a point where they could not be pedaled after not riding for long.

They did not understand these problems, and on top of that, this was their first time in combat.

Their physical strength was almost exhausted before they even reached the battlefield.

And they were discovered by the Longyan Army.

Under such circumstances, continuing to fight was obviously impossible, which was why these Russian Army troops chose such a shameful way to retreat.

After Naleishi learned about the situation his dispatched surprise attack force had encountered.

He fell into a long silence.

The bicycle project was something he had promoted single-handedly.

But the plan had ended before it had even begun.

This was undoubtedly a blow to him.

Naleishi's mood could not be calmed for a long time.

But that was all he could do.

"General, what should we do next?"

"Should we continue to produce these bicycles?"

A deputy general under Naleishi asked, and Naleishi glared at him.

His chest heaved violently with anger, and his face was incomparably gloomy.

Boerniefu, meanwhile, honestly acted as if he knew nothing, and sighed in his heart for his colleague.

The fewer people who know about a superior's embarrassment, the better; yet he had to go and bring up the very thing that shouldn't be mentioned.

This fellow's days ahead are not going to be easy.

Naleishi said in a deep voice: "Notify the Research Department, tell them to continue improving, and throw all these Bicycles into the furnace to be destroyed!"

At this time, Europe.

On Iceland.

Jones had received funding from Jiang Xuelan, and the plantation had also been set up, though the returns on cotton take a bit longer.

Currently, the way for Iceland to generate quick income still relies on the trading center established by Jiang Xuelan.

The natives on Iceland also occasionally buy some things at the trading center, such as the cod they have salvaged.

This kind of thing is deeply loved by the British.

Among the few things in Britain that can be called edible, one is fried cod and the other is fish and chips.

As for the rest, like the dead-eyed Stargazy Pie, or animal offal boiled in milk heated with boiling water.

It has deeply made people suspect whether Britain has brought the food from Hell into the human world.

Therefore, cod has always been very popular in Britain; where there are people who like it, there is a market.

If many people like it, that goes to show that the scale of this market will not be small.

By relying on selling cod, the Icelanders have made a small fortune.

Jones, as the Temple Envoy on this island, plus having bestowed countless titles upon himself.

He stipulated that a portion of the income from selling cod on the island must be given to him to obtain the protection of the gods.

Those who do not pay will encounter storms at sea.

Regarding such a claim, anyone with common sense knows that this is impossible to happen.

Jiang Xuelan also scoffed at Jones's way of amassing wealth.

But she did not say much.

Moreover, Jones, a pirate who had never studied anything, actually did not line his own pockets with the money collected, but instead had the vision to build a deep-water port on the island.

This was a bit beyond Jiang Xuelan's expectations.

One day, when Jiang Xuelan couldn't help but ask why Jones, this pirate with vision, would do such a thing.

Jones took a deep breath, looked at the lack of decent buildings on Iceland, and said very heroically: "I Have a Dream."

"To establish a dynasty of my own on this island!"

Jiang Xuelan: "......"

A few days later, Pano requested an audience with her.