Retreat (4)

When Jarvis and his friends reached the dock, the small sailboat had already left the dock and sailed more than twenty meters away. Jarvis and his friends didn't know the light-footed skill of walking on water, so they couldn't just shout and leap into the air, stepping on each other's feet to fly onto the boat. However, they jumped into the sea without hesitation, just like a group of penguins splashing into the ocean.

However, their movements in the sea were far less agile than penguins'; instead, they were as clumsy as penguins on land. Captain Jarvis, in particular, was so heavy with his belt full of gold coins that he had to use more of his strength to keep himself afloat rather than to propel himself forward.

However, the others weren't much better off. Even if they swam a little faster, they couldn't compare to the boat, even one powered by sails. As the boat drifted further and further away, the distance between them increased from twenty meters to thirty meters, then to forty meters. No matter how much they shouted or struggled, the boat continued to move further and further away.

Finally, the cries for help and pleas turned into curses. They hurled insults like "The King is a madman!" and "The Crown Prince will be beheaded!" These pronouncements clearly violated the laws of the United Kingdom. But the Britain military police on that ship disregarded their duty and failed to turn the ship back to arrest them.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the defensive line, more and more "Security Army" found themselves abandoned, and they cried out in alarm, like a landslide. These "Security Army" ran chaotically toward the port, and the dust they kicked up could be seen from a distance.

Such commotion would naturally attract the attention of the Independence Army and the France over there. Captain Jarvis estimated that it wouldn't be long before the France artillery would be firing at them.

The boat was now more than a hundred meters away from them, but it suddenly slowed down and even slowly turned around, beginning to approach them!

"Thank God! They've finally seen us! I love the United Kingdom!" someone shouted joyfully.

"I knew it! The United Kingdom wouldn't abandon any of its loyal dogs!" another man exclaimed joyfully. So excited, he choked on his water and coughed violently, almost sinking to his death.

But although the ship came towards them, it didn't stop beside them. Instead, it passed them and headed towards the dock, where a large yellow dog sat on the pier, wagging its tail and barking. Indeed, the United Kingdom would never abandon any dog loyal to them.

The boat slowed down and approached the pier. A gangplank was lowered and placed on the pier. The people on the boat were shouting the dog's name, "Spike, Spike, where have you been? Come on up, come on up!"

Spike stood up, wagging its tail, and hopped towards the diving board. But just as its front paws touched the board, it suddenly hesitated, then turned its head to look behind it—over there, a gray-blue cat was slowly walking across the pier.

"Woof woof woof!" Spike barked, turned around, and charged at the cat.

"Spike, you stupid dog! Come back! Come back!" a Britain military policeman shouted as he rushed off the ship.

"Spike's a good dog!" Jarvis thought to himself as he swam back quickly. He needed to get on the boat before the Britain military police dragged that stupid dog—no, I mean good dog—back, otherwise, given the Britain's behavior, they might not wait for them.

Just now, because of the belt, Jarvis was almost the slowest swimmer. But as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and now he is also the closest to the dock.

Jarvis dropped the two large revolvers hanging from his belt—they were useless now—and swam frantically back. As he swam, he prayed that the dog would buy them a little more time.

The dog was very helpful, or perhaps it should be said that the cat was extremely helpful, so the dog and the Britain military policeman hadn't returned by the time Jarvis swam back to shore, climbed up, and ran to the diving board.

However, Jarvis was still stopped by several military police officers.

"What are you doing!" the military police exclaimed.

"Sir, the governor said we can board the ship," Jarvis said.

One of the leading military police officers frowned and said, "This isn't the ship you're supposed to board. Your ship won't be here for a while."

Jarvis glanced out to sea; there were no ships approaching. On land, the commotion grew closer—the remaining defenders had collapsed. Meanwhile, a hot air balloon rose into the sky— the Irish Independence Army's attack and the France artillery bombardment were about to begin!

"Sir, please! Look at the current situation, where can we expect to see a ship?" Jarvis said, carefully shielding himself from view as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bag (a spare part containing several Jarvis coins) and handed it to the military police captain in charge. The captain weighed the small bag in his hand, glanced at the other military police officers beside him, then put the bag away, saying, "Never mind, there's still some room on deck, so you can come up! Only deck space is available, so find somewhere to stay on deck yourself."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir," Jarvis said as he went up to the deck. After him, the other "die-hard traitors" also boarded the ship after paying their tolls.

The ship wasn't large; it was an old-fashioned two-masted vessel. In the past, it would have had a few iron cannons on its deck. However, now, those cannons, like the ship itself, were outdated. Although the ship was no longer suitable for long-distance ocean voyages, it could still manage coastal runs, while the cannons were completely useless. So, the ship was still in use, but the cannons were gone.

The ship wasn't large, so with so many people on board, even the deck was quite crowded. But for Jarvis and his men, as long as they could get on the ship, nothing else was unbearable. Anyway, once they reached Britain, Ça Ira.

At that moment, a sound like a train rushing through the air came from above. Everyone's expression changed—it was the sound of a France 280mm cannon shell whizzing through the sky. These shells were incredibly powerful; a two-masted ship like Jarvis's, let alone being hit directly by such a shell, could easily be destroyed even if it exploded at a relatively close distance.

The whistling sound grew louder and louder, and then the shell struck the port authority's office building about 300 meters away, exploding violently. The walls of the three-story office building were swept up by the blast wave like leaves in a gale, flying high into the air. Some small pebbles even landed on the ship.

However, the landing of the shells did give everyone a sense of security—this cannon had a very low rate of fire, and it usually took at least four or five minutes to complete a single shot. So, for at least a few minutes, everyone was safe.

But then two smaller shells fell, fortunately far away from them.

In fact, considering only the artillery, the so-called last line of defense was clearly a deception. As the France continuously abandoned their positions, their artillery got closer and closer to the port. Initially, only 280mm guns could reach the port, but later 203mm guns could also hit it. If they abandoned another line of defense and retreated to the so-called last line of defense, even 100mm guns could bombard the port.

"Why haven't they returned yet!" The military police captain was getting anxious. He kept checking his pocket watch, almost ready to order the ship to leave.

"Why hasn't that stupid dog come back yet? Damn it, forget about that stupid dog! If we don't leave soon, we'll be hit by cannon fire!" Jarvis thought to himself. Just a moment ago, he was calling that dog "good dog," hoping it would run far away, but in the blink of an eye, the dog had become a stupid dog. Actually, the dog itself hadn't changed; only his position had.

It's like in later generations, some people, when sitting in a car seat, think those riding electric bikes are recklessly darting around and have low manners; but when they sit on an electric bike seat, they think those cars don't slow down at crosswalks and honk erratically, and have no manners. This shows that how one's perspective is influenced by their position is a timeless and unchanging aspect of human nature.

Just as the military police captain was about to give the order to set sail immediately, they saw the military policeman running towards them from afar, carrying the silly dog and waving and shouting as he ran.

Once the man and dog boarded the boat, more people could be seen running towards them, waving and shouting as they went.

These were the soldiers and low-ranking officers of the "Security Army" who had noticed something was wrong. But they were still far away, while the military police's ships had already left the dock, their sails hoisted, and were heading out to sea.

Jarvis stood on the deck, looking at the dock a hundred meters away. A large number of "Security Army" soldiers rushed onto the dock in a chaotic manner, shouting at the ships. As more people crowded over, they couldn't stand still and fell into the sea row by row, just like the ghosts jumping into hell from Charon's ship.

Jarvis let out a sigh of relief, deeply pleased with his good fortune. He gazed at the unfortunate souls struggling in the sea, his heart filled with happy anticipation for a better future. Little did he notice the Britain military police captain, peering at them from the shadows of the sails, whispering among himself with a group of military police.