I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 177 The Temptation of Human Heads

"A bunch of stupid thieves, actually planning to ambush us, they really don't know how to live or die."

Roderick held up a telescope and observed the forest on the side in front of him. Although there was nothing unusual in the forest on the surface, in the eyes of him, who had fought in many battles, something was wrong, as obvious as a big white goose among a flock of chickens.

As a low-ranking officer in the former Republic's Third Infantry Regiment, Roderick had extensive combat experience. It was not his fault that he was defeated and surrendered. He had no other choice as he was tired and hungry.

Now that he had joined the army of Prince Chris, had received good equipment, and had fifty veterans under his command, Roderick was not afraid of the attacks of a few petty thieves at all... He even thought that these were good friends who came to give him military merits.

Thinking of this, a bright smile appeared on Roderick's face. He put down the telescope, turned his head and said to Joachim beside him.

"Whisper the order, everyone prepare for battle. When the fighting starts, chop off a few more bandits' heads. For every head chopped off, everyone in our transport team will receive an extra five silver dollars in bonus."

Having said that, Roderick licked his lips and became excited.

Needless to say, when the news spread, not only were the soldiers excited, but even the civilians who were not supposed to bear any combat responsibility quietly reached under the car and grabbed the armed swords and spears hidden underneath.

Because according to the bounty order issued by Prince Chris, the transport team would get five silver dollars for killing one enemy and guarding one person, and the civilians would also make a profit of two silver dollars.

Although the laborers did not receive as much reward as the guards, two silver dollars were not a small amount of money that would be ignored if dropped on the ground.

As long as ten bandits were killed, the laborer could earn an extra twenty silver dollars per trip.

This model of killing one person and benefiting the whole team made everyone in the caravan only afraid that there would be too few bandits.

The bandits were completely unaware that they had been exposed to Roderick's sight and were still nervously setting up an ambush circle in the mountains and forests.

They wove branches and vines into simple camouflage in an attempt to hide themselves, but these crude disguises were nothing more than a trick to cover up their true intentions in the eyes of experienced veterans like Roderick.

Roderick raised the telescope again and observed the woods where the bandits were hiding. Although he could not see how many bandits there were, he was able to roughly determine their ambush position.

He whispered to Joachim.

"Joachim, go make some arrangements. Have the team slow down and maintain formation. Once we enter their ambush circle, proceed according to our previous plan."

Joachim nodded and turned to convey the order. The soldiers in the transport team adjusted their postures, and the laborers put their hands on the lasso of the carriage, ready to drive the horses to the roadside at any time.

Finally, the front end of the transport team entered the ambush circle carefully arranged by the bandits, and then the convoy stopped. The guards holding shields had already quietly gathered forward. The moment the convoy stopped, they rushed forward quickly and formed a shield wall in front.

Then the rest of the guards stepped forward quickly, pulled out their flintlock pistols from the leather bags at their waists, extended them through the gaps in the shield wall, and pointed them at the mountains and forests on both sides.

The grooms in the caravan quickly stopped the carriages, drove the pack horses off the dirt road, removed the harnesses from the horses' necks, and led the horses back.

Everyone's movements were smooth and fluid, which stunned the bandits who had been waiting for the convoy to move forward so they could cut off the front and tail and eat the middle. By the time they realized they were exposed, the convoy was already fully prepared to fight back. With no other choice, the bandits could only launch a forceful attack.

At the sound of a whistle, the gangsters, all dressed in fancy clothes, stood up from the woods on both sides. Amid the howling of ghosts and wolves, they drew their longbows and raised their muskets to fire.

However, after the bandits stood up, amid the flying arrows and the blast of muskets, the attacked transport convoy did not fall into the chaos they had expected.

On the contrary, the counterattack from the convoy was more intense than they expected.

Hundreds of civilians pulled out the spring crossbows distributed by Chris from under the car, and together with the twenty flintlock pistols of the guards, they fired at the mountains and forests on both sides.

The steel arm crossbow is an experimental projectile weapon made by Chris in order to save gunpowder. Its shape is similar to that of a wooden crossbow, except that the crossbow arm is replaced with modern industrially produced, highly elastic spring steel.

For Chris, this steel arm crossbow has a simple structure, low cost, a range of about 100 meters, and decent crossbow penetration. It is very suitable for civilian equipment, and it would not be a pity even if it was lost.

Therefore, half of the two hundred civilians in the caravan had steel arm crossbows.

During the first wave of enemy attacks, sparks flew from the front shield wall, and arrows and lead bullets fell on it with crackling sounds.

The matchlock guns of this era were more powerful than bows and crossbows, but they were not unstoppable. For example, the guards used shields made of multiple layers of leather, tough rattan, and steel sheets to block and reduce the damage of matchlock gun bullets.

Even if a bullet penetrated the shield wall and hit the guard behind it, it would at most make him cry out in pain, but it would not kill him.

The design is inspired by the cotton armor of the Ming Dynasty, which is a primary soft bulletproof vest that can provide good protection against musket fire.

After blocking the first wave of attacks, twenty flintlock pistols and one hundred steel arm crossbows were divided into two parts under Roderick's roaring command to shoot at the exposed bandits, and the crossbow arrows and gun bullets were fired back.

The green smoke from the shield wall condensed into a thin wall of mist in the forest. The white birch trees sixty steps away made a creepy muffled sound, and the sound of crossbow arrows nailing into the wood was like a group of hungry woodpeckers foraging, making a thudding sound.

The bandits who originally wanted to charge or continue shooting were stunned by such long-range firepower. With crackling sounds, more than ten bandits were hit by lead bullets or pierced by crossbow arrows. Wailing and wailing sounds rang out in the mountains and forests.

After Roderick commanded the guards and civilians to fire a wave of intensive shots at the woods, he immediately jumped off the carriage, raised the armed sword in his hand and swung it forward.

"Go ahead and chop off heads!"

"Kill, kill, kill!!!"

More than two hundred civilians and fifty guards all followed Roderick's steps, holding spears and armed swords, and rushed into the mountains and forests excitedly, with great momentum and like crazy.

Wallace, who thought it was going to be an easy and enjoyable robbery trip, was stunned at this moment and was at a loss for a moment.

(End of this chapter)