I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 167 Encounter

Home Alone was humming a little tune and riding a tall white horse at the front of the team, with a smile on his face and a group of laughing friends following behind him.

They had just completed a big deal, ambushing a group of rich idiots in the canyon and making a fortune.

The tall horse under Home Alone's crotch was one of them. It was snow-white, with silky mane that shone silver in the sun. The horse's hooves stepped briskly on the mountain path, as if cheering for the victory.

Home Alone patted the horse's neck proudly and said softly.

"A good horse deserves a good master. Our efforts were not in vain!"

"Boss, this horse is so handsome, just like you!" A little friend came over, his eyes full of envy. He really wanted to lend it to me to ride for a while.

"Haha, that's natural!"

Home Alone responded without any modesty.

"But this horse is also a 'gift' from those rich fools. If they knew their precious horse now belongs to me, they would probably jump in hell!"

"Man, we've gained so much this time, what should we do next?"

Another friend asked.

"I heard the road to Bolas is open. Of course, we need to send the goods back as soon as possible and exchange them for money and equipment with Chris!"

Home Alone answered without hesitation.

"There's more than twenty carriages' worth of treasure! Even though the jewelry isn't pretty, it's all made of gold and silver, so it must be worth a lot..."

Just as he finished speaking, a crisp gunshot pierced the silence of the valley. Before anyone could react, Home Alone's body suddenly trembled, and then he fell headfirst, falling straight off his horse and landing heavily on the hard mountain road.

Immediately afterwards, in the forest to the left of where the gunshots were heard, a large group of men with blue dye painted on their faces and screaming stood up and fired at the convoy with long-range weapons such as muskets, crossbows, and javelins.

It was a surprise attack, carefully planned by the attackers, who chose terrain that was advantageous to them.

In addition, the number of blue-faced attackers was large and their firepower was fierce. In a short time, lead bullets, arrows, and javelins flew down like raindrops, making the carriage crackle and the pack horses neigh, dragging the carriage forward in fear.

The players reacted quickly. When they found that the packhorse next to them was about to run away, they immediately aimed the loaded flintlock at the horse's head and fired.

Amid the explosion of gunpowder, the attackers deliberately attacked the horses, hoping to scare them and make them run away, thus disrupting the enemy's formation. Their plan was immediately declared a failure.

Sparks flew from the horseshoes on the rocks, and Home Alone could feel the burning heat of the bullet gnawing at the back of his neck. He lay face up in the rubble, his left shoulder blade shattering in sharp pain.

"Fuck, fuck!!!"

Home Alone was very angry. Anyone who was interrupted when he was most proud and wanted to show off would have the same feeling as Home Alone.

He ignored the pain, stood up from the ground and shouted loudly.

"Maintain formation, hide behind the carriage and fire back, then the stormtroopers dismount, take out their weapons, and get ready..."

……

Wallace was furious.

As a "free man", Wallace and his brothers had a low level of education. When they first launched the massive peasant uprising, he was very happy and felt that he was a big man who was delayed by others and that it would be no problem for him to become a general of the kingdom.

But as time went on, Wallace found that the situation was getting a little out of control.

More and more farmers, or bandits, began to carry the blue flag representing Wallace and commit crimes everywhere.

Under the pretext of rebellion, they robbed caravans, looted villages, and even showed no mercy to innocent civilians. What was originally an uprising to resist oppression and fight for freedom gradually changed its nature and became a pretext for some people to take advantage of the chaos to benefit themselves.

At first, Wallace was very angry. He took his brothers and followers to attack the robbers.

But gradually, as more and more similar incidents occurred, Wallace's blue flag was soon discredited by them.

No one cares about the decent Wallace anymore, so much so that some imposters have joined forces to attack Wallace headquarters.

Such abstract and strange things made Wallace helpless, until last night when his brothers met a defeated soldier. After hearing something, he could no longer bear it and took his brothers out overnight to find the unlucky person.

Wallace was furious because he found that some people were using his name to indiscriminately kill the powerful people of the Republic, sparing no man, woman, or child, and leaving no one alive.

Even though he was not well educated, Wallace could realize that this scapegoat would most likely cause the Bagnian Republic to hunt him down to the ends of the earth.

In a rage, Wallace rushed out of the camp with his men and chased after them. His hiding place was not far from the ambush canyon, so he was able to catch up with the impostors.

Wallace wants to kill them and take away their belongings... Since you are impersonating me, I will take back my things and take your heads and send them to Waterloo.

The naive and uneducated Wallace thought that what he did was fine. Now that he had met these guys holding the double-headed eagle flag, he must seek justice.

Hence, the current battle.

……

The little kid turned over and slapped his white horse's butt hard to make it run away. Then he found a nearby carriage, hid behind it, and stuck his head out to observe the situation.

There were more than 300 blue-faced attackers, who hid in the forest on the left, some far away and some near.

Enemies in the distance were shooting with muskets and crossbows, enemies nearby were throwing javelins, and at the same time they were sneaking up on us under the cover of trees and weeds. It was obvious what they wanted to do.

There were not many players following the little ghost, only about fifty people. With the enemy's continuous fire suppression, they basically hid behind the carriage, unable to raise their heads, and not in a hurry to raise their heads to fight back.

During this period, these people in Home Alone rode horses to plunder and harass the Republic's logistical supply routes, playing the game of "looting" and "robbing the poor to help the rich", and they have become experienced.

Therefore, these players were not in a hurry. They waited for the opportunity calmly and hid behind the carriage to avoid unnecessary casualties.

And this opportunity soon arrived. As the enemies throwing javelins gradually approached and the distance was less than twenty meters, these people wearing bear skins and holding double-edged axes stood up in unison, and the leader blew the horn loudly.

The Giant Bear Commandos were the name Wallace's brothers of freedom earned from the blood and fear of the Republic's tax collectors and sheriffs in their battles. Their characteristics were that they wore bear skins and wielded long double-edged axes. They were all lumberjacks, strong as bulls, and their heavy iron boots could crush rocks when they charged.

The Giant Bear Commandos launched a charge, and the musketeers and crossbowmen in the woods behind them stopped shooting and cheered in victory.

According to their past experience, when the Giant Bear Commandos successfully launch a charge in front of the enemy, it means victory has arrived.

Even if the enemy is the regular army of the Republic, or a team of knights led by a noble lord himself, or the most elite mercenaries, they cannot stop the charge of the Giant Bear Commando and the heavy axe blade that chops down.

Their strength and courage are enough to terrify any enemy.

However, this time, they seemed to have met a real opponent.

Home Alone hid behind the carriage and watched the charge of the Giant Bear Commandos with a sneer in his eyes.

"Grenade!"

He shouted, took out a wooden-handled grenade made in the border area from his waist, quickly unscrewed the lid, pulled the fuse, and threw it out.

At the same time, other players did the same thing. More than 30 smoking logs were thrown out and hit the feet of the Giant Bear Commandos who had already rushed out of the forest more than ten meters away.

What is this?
At first, when they saw the enemies in the convoy throwing things at them, some of them raised their axes and swung them hard, trying to intercept them. But when they saw that the thing falling at their feet was just a piece of smooth wood, and not the flying axes they had imagined, they immediately laughed.

It's just this little thing, with a small iron block embedded on the top of the wood. Who can it kill?
With so much iron, why not just make a small axe?
The members of the Giant Bear Commando burst into laughter, but before they could finish laughing, the despised border-made grenade exploded.

The grenades made in the border area are filled with black powder, and because of Home Alone, they have lost contact with Bolas for a long time.

These grenades were made by themselves later. The wooden handles were cut by local carpenters, and the handle heads were cast from pig iron by blacksmith apprentices. There were a lot of bubbles and cavities on the surface and inside.

As for black powder, players themselves find saltpeter and mix it, and the purity is exactly the same.

All of this results in the fact that Home Alone's border-made grenades are even more powerful than Christie's border-made grenades.

Amidst a series of dull sounds, a cloud of thick black smoke exploded in front and behind the Giant Bear Commandos. The shock wave wrapped in gravel and iron sand exploded along the ground, disintegrating into dozens of iron teeth with jagged edges.

However, the shrapnel that shattered in this way was of questionable power. It could not fly far and its force was even insufficient. It exploded near the enemy's feet, and the flying shrapnel could only tear their pants and cut their calves. It was completely unable to achieve the killing effect of blasting muscles and severing leg bones.

However, the power of the local-made grenades was questionable, but it did not mean that they were useless. The noise caused by the successive explosions of more than 30 grenades and the thick black smoke that spread out frightened the warriors who dared to fight the giant bear.

It's not that they are not brave enough, but that they have never seen such a thing before.

What people fear most is actually the fear of the unknown.

The dull explosion in their ears, the black smoke in front of them, and the sudden pain under their feet all made these men panic, and many of them fell to the ground in fright.

Not many people died from the grenade explosion. Only two unlucky guys had shrapnel piercing their eyes and throats. The rest of the enemies were just confused.

The players who threw the grenades did not miss the opportunity. They stood up immediately, raised their flintlock rifles and fired at the enemies shrouded in thick black smoke.

A row of gunshots rang out, and a row of enemies fell.

After the shooting, more than 20 players dropped their muskets, picked up axes or swords nearby, left the cover of the carriage, and silently rushed towards the enemies wearing bear skins and in chaos.

If you walk too much on the road at night, you will encounter ghosts. If you walk too much by the river, your shoes will get wet. Players who hang out with ghosts often do bad things and often encounter battles where they are attacked.

As this happened more and more, they naturally formed a set of defensive counterattack routines. The tactics used by players now are old tricks, which are very familiar to them, and there is no need for Home Alone to make any unnecessary commands.

Players wearing full armor launched a charge, while those wearing only helmets and breastplates quickly reloaded their ammunition in the back and continued firing, their guns pointed at enemies farther away to avoid accidental injuries, while also suppressing and eliminating the enemy's musketeers.

Wallace, who was hiding in the distance, saw the whole scene. His eyes widened instantly, and he immediately realized that he had kicked the steel plate... Those guys were actually wearing full sets of armor while marching, and they didn't take them off and put them on the carriages.

The enemies rushed out of the carriage formation and charged silently. The armor on their bodies gleamed with metallic luster in the sun. The heavy armor did not slow down their pace, but made them more intimidating when charging.

The enemy at the front had already engaged in close combat with the Giant Bear Commandos who were in chaos. The axe spear and double-edged axe collided, making a crisp and harsh metal collision sound, and the long sword and shield collided, splashing a series of sparks.

The giant bear was caught off guard and its already disorganized formation was completely disrupted under their charge. In a one-on-one battle, they could not even beat the enemy.

This was an extremely incredible scene for Wallace. He could hardly believe that the invincible Giant Bear Commandos were actually at a complete disadvantage in a battle of many versus few.

Not only that, the gunfire fired by the enemies who stayed behind the carriage was too dense. The whistling lead bullets made a crackling sound in the mountains and forests. It was the explosion made by the bullets embedded in wood and hitting stone.

Many archers and musketeers who wanted to open fire to support their brothers who were caught in a tough battle in front of them were either shivering behind trees and rocks under this intensive fire, or were shot and killed when they risked sticking their heads out.

Wallace saw with his own eyes the warrior wearing the breastplate of a Republican officer fall forward without a sound after being shot. The enemy's lead bullets had such high penetrating power that the breastplate that should have been able to protect the wearer was completely useless.

"Retreat, retreat!"

Wallace finally realized that continuing to fight would only cause his team to suffer greater losses, and he shouted loudly, trying to make his soldiers hear his orders.

However, the noise and explosions on the battlefield drowned out his voice, and only a few people heard his orders.

This is why we have to "sound the retreat signal", because if the retreat signal is not penetrating enough, the soldiers on the front line will not be able to hear it.

Wallace was not a professionally trained officer, and without this kind of knowledge, he could only use folk methods to spread his Marlowe... and let the people around him shout along with him.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

After shouting for a while, the Giant Bear Commandos at the front finally heard the order, and half of them had already fallen down, so they hurriedly retreated.

At the same time, the musketeers and crossbowmen deep in the forest also stood up desperately and fired indiscriminately at the area where the carriage was located to cover the retreat of their brothers on the front line.

The chaotic shooting of lead bullets and arrows was quite intimidating to the small group of players. Besides, they all understood the principle of "stay out of the woods".

Therefore, the melee players also stopped chasing, quickly returned to the carriage, reorganized themselves, and waited for the next wave of enemy attacks.

However, there was no next wave. After retreating from the battle, Wallace led everyone into the depths of the mountains and forests without looking back and soon disappeared.

(End of this chapter)