People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 919 Dragon Legion, Hear My Command!

Chapter 919 Dragon Legion, Hear My Command!

The massive propellers cut through chunks of cloud in the leaden clouds, and the engines spewed out scalding steam. The colossal aerial fortress "Ivan the Terrible" floated in the sky like a mechanical whale.

Its top is equipped with a peculiar coil-shaped device that occasionally bursts out a dazzling bolt of lightning when it comes into contact with the clouds.

The "Ivan the Terrible" was the pinnacle of the Russian military industry with French assistance. Known as the "airborne mothership," it housed six small airships with unique designs that sacrificed range for high-speed maneuverability, making it a formidable weapon in air combat.

The "Tesla coil" mounted on top of it is a new experimental device created by Nikola Tesla, a Serbian scientist in exile. It is a top-secret weapon that Tsarist Russia did not even share with its allies.

As the culmination of Tsarist Russia's manpower, material resources, and financial resources, the "Ivan the Terrible" was perhaps even stronger than the British Royal Air Force flagship "HMS London," which underwent more than ten major modifications after its disastrous defeat in Texas.

At the very least, His Majesty the Tsar and his staff and advisors all agreed on this.

Russian Air Marshal Petrov looked away from the periscope, where the lens reflected the thousands of his own infantrymen retreating like ants on the ground.

"Those incompetent bastards in the Army Ministry, with millions of men piled up on the front lines, still managed to get the Germans to advance hundreds of kilometers a day. It's clear that even if a bunch of serfs pick up weapons, they can't learn how to fight at all."

As a noble air force unit, the crew of the Ivan the Terrible were almost entirely of Boyer noble birth, with a long tradition of learning and all practicing the secret knightly breathing technique. They had every right to look down on these peasants from the army.

"An urgent telegram came from the Eastern Front Army, reporting the discovery of the enemy's air force fleet and requesting our immediate interception."

Petrov straightened his military cap and arrogantly ordered, "Attention, all men! Prepare for battle! Advance towards seven o'clock—we'll show those knights' lackeys who the true rulers of the skies are!"

"For His Majesty the Tsar, for the glory of the Boyer nobility!"

The Kingdom of Knights and Tsarist Russia have a long history of hostility.

As early as the Middle Ages, the Knights Order coveted the Novgorod Republic on the Neva River, attempting to conquer it and establish commercial hegemony in the Baltic Sea.

Unfortunately, this attempt was defeated at the Battle of Lake Peipus by the Rus' army led by Alexander Nevsky, the Duke of Novgorod of the Rurik dynasty, shattering the Teutonic Knights' greatest possibility of rising to power.

Later, the legendary general's fourth son, Daniel Alexandrovich, was enfeoffed as the Grand Duke of Moscow, which was the precursor to the Russian Empire in a de facto sense.

Subsequently, the Teutonic Knights fought with the Rus' for control of the Pskov and Novgorod regions on several occasions, a conflict known as the "Great Eastern Wars." It was not until the rise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that the situation in Eastern Europe shifted to a three-way balance of power and stabilized.

It can be said that almost every family among these ancient "Boye nobles" had ancestors who died in the "Great Eastern Wars," and they had a deep-seated hatred for them.

This is a battle for revenge, and also a battle to prove the superiority of the Boyer and Junker nobles.

As the order was given, the massive air fleet, consisting of ten capital ships and dozens of escort ships, began to turn amidst billowing smoke.

In about fifteen minutes, Petrov spotted the Prussian airship bearing the Iron Cross emblem in the clouds through the periscope of the Ivan the Terrible. It was chasing and bombing the fleeing Russian troops.

These seemingly bulky behemoths are actually far faster than infantrymen who rely on two legs or mules for mobility.

However, perhaps because they were too focused on the ground targets, the Prussian fleet, which consisted of only about twenty ships and was far smaller than the Russian fleet, only began to scramble to avoid the massive Russian fleet when it opened its broadside guns and began to fire at the Prussian airships.

Now, after the Battle of Texas exposed the weakness of the airship fleet's air defense capabilities, airships have been differentiated into dedicated "combat airships" and "bomber airships". The firepower of combat airships is almost entirely focused on air defense, and their magical cannons can completely tear apart the thick armor of airships, greatly compensating for the lack of air combat capability of steam airships.

"These airships have impressive turning speeds; they must be the Knights Order's most prized possessions. Pass on my order: increase speed and charge the enemy like our ancestors!"

Petrov urged excitedly.

Compared to Tsarist Russia, the Kingdom of the Knights was a small country. The loss of more than twenty new airships was a serious blow to Tsarist Russia, but for the Kingdom of the Knights, it was a catastrophic disaster that threatened the very foundation of the nation.

That means that when Russian airships approach the ports of Danzig, Königsberg, and Riga, the Knights Order will no longer be able to muster a strong air force to cooperate with ground-based anti-aircraft fire to defend against the aerial threat.

At Petrov's command, all the boiler operators of the airships were mobilized.

Scoop after scoop of high-quality white coal mixed with magic stone powder was fed into the insatiable boiler, and the airship's steam engine roared furiously, just like the fully armed Boyer knights of the Middle Ages charging through the sky.

"Their formation is broken; they're scared!"

"Continue to accelerate! We must not let a single enemy airship escape! We will achieve our most glorious victory since the start of the war and celebrate His Majesty the Tsar's birthday!"

Petrov shouted excitedly. The enemy's more than twenty ships of various sizes were only concerned with escaping at full speed. The light escort ships completely ignored the slower heavy capital ships and took the lead.

"Be careful of fraud!"

Adjutant Mikhail grabbed Petrov's arm and dissuaded him, saying, "Normally, these light airships would sacrifice themselves to cover the capital ship, but they're doing the opposite."

Petrov was clearly displeased with his adjutant's dampening of his enthusiasm: "It's obvious that these Germans are terrified of our invincible fleet. Sacrificing the slow capital ships and light airships might give them a chance of survival, but if they stay, they will be wiped out. I think any rational commander would make the right choice—even though it seems counterintuitive."

Mikhail opened his mouth, but didn't say anything more.

Petrov was right. With their massive fleet, which could be described as "invincible" and consisting of hundreds of light and heavy ships, it was futile for the enemy to send a dozen or so small boats to stop them.

Once we've dealt with them, hunting down those slow-moving capital ships will be a piece of cake.

Seeing that his partner had stopped saying anything inappropriate, Petrov smiled and reassured him, "Buddy, you're being too sensitive. In the past, these Prussian airships always operated together with the German airships, and with the support of land-based anti-aircraft guns, we were always unable to achieve anything. If we can swallow up the Prussian main fleet today, the balance of the war will be broken, and our invincible fleet will drop the 'Tsar Bomba' on Riga, Danzig, and even Berlin."

The piercing alarm suddenly shattered the eardrums of every crew member on the Ivan the Terrible.

A colonel shouted in alarm, "Sir Petrov, there is an unidentified giant flying object rapidly approaching from the outside!"

"Is the enemy lying in ambush?"

Petrov glanced at his partner with some surprise: "Lookout, observe the enemy situation! Order the Kazan and Astrakhan frigates to provide close protection for the flagship and pinpoint the enemy's location as soon as possible!"

Although he didn't understand where the enemy had come from to create another ambush fleet, Petrov still responded immediately.

He believed that even if the enemy had gathered all the airships on the Eastern Front, and even borrowed airships from the German Empire, his fleet, with the Ivan the Terrible as its flagship, could still achieve a great victory in a fair and square manner!

But soon, with a terrified scream, the enormous shadow that appeared outside the porthole forced its way into their minds like a demon from hell.

It was an enormous dragon, its entire body covered in obsidian-like scales.

Its eyes are as beautiful as jewels, and its body is as graceful as a creation bestowed by God, but what it brews from its slowly opening maw is a terrifying dragon flame that can destroy the world.

Even more frightening was that the cries for help came as thin as scraps of paper.

"This is the Lviv. We have been attacked by a three-headed dragon! Our fuselage has been severely damaged. Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

"This is the Novgorod. We have been attacked by four dragons. They are very agile and seem to know a lot about our ship. They are attacking our engines! Requesting backup!"

In an instant, countless ships were attacked by the demonic dragon.

Petrov even thought he was dreaming, or that he had been tricked by an enemy spellcaster and pulled into a dream.