Lord of the Desert

Chapter 368 Iron and Fire

Early December of the 29th year of Zhenghe.

Northwest of Jinhai Desert, on the outer edge of the swamp.

The long and narrow Milky Way is like a giant snake, polishing the glass sky with its granular and shiny scales.

The wetlands are vast.

Green meadows are scattered among them, with ochre islands appearing occasionally.

There was a bonfire sitting in the night.

More than twenty people sat in a circle within the firelight, all wearing light armor with snake skin as the base and iron plates as the lining.

Forty or fifty war horses gathered outside, enjoying the night grass and fine feed.

"The list of geniuses we played when we left was compiled by Shenjing in October. I already know the content to some extent."

Mr. Cui was talking to the people around him while baking pancakes on the fire.

"Chu Jiange will be 24 in three months, but he is still at the top of the list; Qu Luoyi defeated the third son of Shen Clan of Shenjing and ranked 8th; Yi She of Langya State advanced to 25th..."

As he spoke, he tore off half of the softened biscuit and handed it to him.

Hong Fu took it, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly.

At this time, the little fat boy had shed all his fat and was as dark and strong as a piece of iron.

Over the past year, he first served under his father Hong Cheng in the Jinhai City Defense Division, and then was stationed in Shakou Guard Station for more than a year. His originally kind face turned into a stern one.

"Where's the Second Young Master?"

A soldier of the Hong family could not wait to ask a question.

Cui Er didn't interrupt.

"His position has not changed."

When talking about his brother, Hongfu showed a familiar smile.

"Brother Fan is still ranked 79th, third in the same realm, but the Thousand Point Star of the Tang family that he captured alive in July has risen to 90th place."

He listed them one by one, cutting the bacon with a thick knife and serving it with the biscuits.

"Has Brother Fu heard the news from the south..."

Hong Yan, who was on the other side of the campfire, suddenly asked.

"Duan Tiezhang and Lord Shouyu fought two battles and both were tied. The Hundred Victory Army attacked Duanli for a long time but failed. In the end, it was the Second Young Master who broke into the city with the White Thunder God?"

He fiddled with the charcoal with his bare hands, and when he saw Cui Er looking at him, he raised his chin slightly.

"How could I not have heard of this?"

Hongfu will return soon.

"The whole Huaiyang State is saying that Brother Fan, Duan Tiezhang, and Gu Qiang are close friends, almost like brothers..."

He spoke excitedly and kept mentioning the word "brother", but a sense of indescribable depression rose in his heart.

Life in the garrison was so monotonous that apart from the dullness of sand and iron, all that remained was the cruelty of blood.

Therefore, the memories of the past are made more vivid.

Hong Fu remembered everything related to Hong Fan - practicing martial arts, playing chess, drinking and having fun, making the hard days sweeter bit by bit.

But later on, the competition among the geniuses in Xijing and the battle of Yuanci in Huaiyang were far beyond his imagination.

The soldiers and warriors around the campfire were chatting excitedly.

Hong Fu stared at the fire and swallowed half a pancake.

Since his brother left, he has risked everything he has, and has accumulated seven snake-man heads in his tent.

There was no shortage of martial arts elixirs, and the flame force circulated day after day. His cultivation had just reached the point where all four meridians were opened.

Hong Fu thus realized that he would not be able to reach the state of perfection before the age of twenty-five.

The stars and the moon above the swamp are bright and high.

Even if the firewood burns and crackles, the ashes it sends out will still only linger on the surface.

Hong Fu let out a breath and glanced at the dozens of brand new muskets wrapped in oilcloth a dozen feet away.

[I am not naturally good at martial arts. If I want to catch up with my brother, I may have to work hard in other areas.]

He thought silently.

······
The next day.

The sky was high and the wind was strong in Onuma, there was no fog, and the sun was shining brightly, which was rare.

After the cavalry had advanced thirty miles westward, Cui Er was the first to smell the blood in the wind.

The red-robed cavalryman Xu Tingqian went out to investigate and found the target half-enclosed in a banyan forest two miles away.

With half his body covered in mud that masked his smell and body temperature, he climbed a few steps to the top of the tree and looked into the distance.

This is a typical snakeman "village", covering several thousand square meters, with more than two dozen dark caves scattered along the border.

In the center of the village, there is a Metasequoia tree that is as tall and straight as a stone pillar. On each of its three main branches is a snake-man corpse nailed to it with a wooden wedge. The blood flows along the hanging snake tail into the stone basin at the root of the tree.

Around the stone basin, broken bones and scales showing signs of digestion were scattered in the fertile mud, spreading a foul odor into the wind.

Xu Ting silently wrote down what he saw and heard, then turned back to report.

"The population of a village with twenty-four caves would not exceed thirty heads, so there could not be more than two sacrifices of warriors; the fresh sacrifices nailed to the altar meant that it had just been through a battle."

Cui Erlao made a reasonable judgment.

"It's winter now, and the weather in the Great Swamp is cold. The snake people's vitality has decreased, and their combat power is only 70% at most."

He relaxed his brows a little and looked at Hongfu inquiringly.

The latter immediately took over the conversation.

"According to the plan, split them up and lure them out, then ambush them with guns." "The purpose of this trip is not to fight, but to test your brother's weapons and tactics..."

The command was carried away by the rushing wind into the green swamp.

The soldiers put muzzles on their horses and headed upwind from the village, where they stored their baggage in the mangroves a few miles away.

Twenty-five brand new flintlock rifles weighing nine pounds and equipped with bayonets were distributed.

A dense iron formation quickly formed on the dry hills outside the forest.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Cui Er, who served as bait, ran back at a steady speed, holding a half-dipped blood stone basin in his hand.

Fifteen snake-men chased after him like a tangled mess, witnessing the human battle formation from afar but not retreating.

Hong Fu narrowed his eyes slightly and rubbed the six-page steel hammer hanging around his waist.

He could feel the fear silently growing among the team.

Snake people have claws, fangs, scales and armor. They are powerful and tenacious, and their combat power is three times that of ordinary soldiers.

Coupled with the huge morale gap caused by the fearlessness of death, it would be difficult for the human race to fight a field battle with the snake people even if they had five times the number of people.

But that is past experience.

Cui Er accelerated and jumped over the main formation

Hongfu stretched out one arm and measured the distance with his thumb.

The two armies were seventy feet apart, far beyond the effective range obtained from testing at the shooting range.

But he still planned to give it a try first.

"Ready, aim."

"Fire!"

Hongfu raised his arm and shouted.

The combined sound of gunfire hit the swamp like drumsticks.

Gray smoke rose up and was soon blown away by the strong wind.

Four of the twenty-five flintlock rifles misfired, and only one of the remaining twenty-one bullets hit the target.

The snake man who was shot opened and closed his palms and looked at himself silently. He saw that the muscles on his forearm where the scales were blown off were sliding, and two of his claws no longer responded.

It raised its head, its scaly face expressionless as always.

It was the first time that the residents of Onuma had seen this featherless iron crossbow that could spew smoke, but they obviously didn't care and expressed their silent contempt with a steady and leisurely charge.

Sixty feet away, the human soldiers were reloading steadily and swiftly.

As they had repeated ten or a hundred times before, they bit off the tail cover of the cardboard cartridge with their teeth, held the bullet in their mouths, poured the gunpowder in the cartridge into the barrel, and then loaded the bullet wrapped in cloth, using the bullet stick to poke deep and solid.

The remaining small amount of gunpowder was poured into the ignition tank.

Twenty-six standardized disassembly actions were performed like a stream, and everyone completed loading after twenty seconds.

This is more than twice the speed of a matchlock rifle.

Hold the gun and aim.

The snake man approached within a hundred meters.

Hong Fu took a deep breath and yelled the order to shoot a second time.

He clearly heard the gunshot and saw the bullet shooting out along a transparent trajectory, followed by a cone of fire.

This time humans were lucky, firing a total of twenty-four bullets with an initial velocity of 300 meters per second and a weight of 40 grams - thanks to the seamless gun barrels rubbed by the hands of the Jincimen warriors, the amount of powder in the flintlock rifles produced by Kaimingxing was even higher than that of similar products in Hongfan's previous life.

The smoke dissipated in a breath.

Six of the twenty-four bullets hit the target, four of which hit vital points, leaving bloody holes as big as fists.

The three-headed snake man fell to the ground incapacitated.

Hong Fu clenched his fists.

Another twenty seconds later, the twelve-headed snake man rushed to thirty meters away.

The guns fired a third time at these ferocious faces and the hit rate reached 80%.

At this distance, it didn't matter where the bullet hit. It just pierced through the armor like tearing paper, and after rolling and deforming, it tore open a huge cavity...

The thunder and smoke condensed into an invisible sickle, cutting down the Hydra man in one fell swoop.

The three remaining survivors were at a loss.

They don't understand why fire burns, why iron flies, why the battle situation collapses in an instant...

At the same time, Hong Fu swallowed his saliva, pulled out the loaded pistol with his left hand, and clenched the hammer with his right hand to end the battle.

Everything ended more neatly than expected.

The moist swamp wind carried the smell of earth and decay, which mostly neutralized the pungent smell of gunpowder.

The soldiers excitedly stabbed the snake one by one, and then peeled off the scales and gall with daggers.

Hong Fu held the slightly warm barrel of his pistol and stared blankly at the battlefield.

He clearly remembered what Qian Hong looked like when he came to Jinhai with this batch of guns a month ago.

On the top floor of Tinghai Pavilion, a tall and thin craftsman slammed his rifle on the table after drinking and excitedly talked about the integrity and toughness of the gun barrel and the uniformity and purity of the ignition reed, until his neck turned red and veins bulged.

At that time, Hongfu didn't understand, but he felt that this was something his brother attached great importance to, so he took it very seriously.

Until the reloading and firing on the shooting range;
Until the wood and iron and steel were pierced and shattered by the lead bullets;
Until more than a dozen snakemen collapsed and died in several rounds of volleys...

The significance of this journey gradually became clear.

From now on, iron and fire will prevail over blood.

(End of this chapter)