Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1478 Provocation
"Fortunately, he doesn't even have a Ducat in Naples, otherwise we would have a respectable Prince of Naples here." The sarcastic young man's voice was low but just enough to be heard by the people around him. There was a burst of laughter.

The secretary just pretended not to hear the sneer.Going on to tell a group of ladies who admired his little Latin poems about his Italian experience--about his going to see the Pope, who, of course, like the other dignitaries who the secretary claimed to have met, was very concerned about his "Literary Talent" favored him a lot and bestowed him with a hand kiss. This honor drew envious sighs from the ladies.

"Dear baroness," the count said suddenly after being silent for a long time, "I saw a pair of armor on the wall. May I ask if this is a treasure handed down from your family?"

Everyone followed his gaze, and on the wall at one end of the living room hung the weapons used by the baron, long swords, short halberds, scimitars and various muskets, arranged in a semicircle, with a wooden frame supporting one in the middle. The three-quarter cavalry armor has been carefully polished, shining silver under the light.

"Ah, no. It was ordered by my husband in Milan, because he had to wear armor for the ceremony of joining the Knights of Leonza. The rest of the time, he would only wear it to the banquet—"

"Then I make a special request," the count said politely, but with no expression on his face, "please reward me with that armor."

Lucrezia nodded in astonishment.The count opened the seat and stood up unhurriedly, with his upper body straightened.The bystanders at the dining table let out murmurs of astonishment, especially some of the female guests, when they saw the count pull out a pistol with a strange shape from under the hem of his coat, they all uttered terrified exclamations. .

The deafening gunfire drowned out all noise.The count fired four shots in a very short period of time, and finally he lifted his wrist, and the helmet flew out in response to the gunshot, and rolled to the ground with a bang.

"Excuse me," the gunshot echoed in the living room for a long time, and as the white smoke gradually drifted away, Weiss said, "Who would like to see the situation of the hit?"

"Did you hear that?" Baroness Charlo said to the black slave who was stunned by fright, "Do as the Earl ordered."

The black slave quickly returned to the dining table, picked up the helmet, and showed the baroness the hole on it: the 0.44 caliber bullet pierced the iron mask, shot from the upper part of the back neck of the helmet, and pierced through. .The guests also recovered from the shock at this moment, and all stretched their necks.The black slave gestured at his heart again, and stretched out four fingers, "There are four holes there," he said slowly.Everyone heard clearly, some turned their eyes to the count, others to Esteban Sanabria.The guy's alcohol had subsided, his face was pale, and he was still sitting upright in his chair.

"I still have one bullet in my gun." The count looked at the richest merchant in the colony. "A man who is used to pinning his life on a large piece of iron and a small piece of lead is careful in his thoughts, cautious in his words, and decisive in his actions." Just the opposite of a man who lives by cheating and speculating on bonds and bills."

Sanavria gritted her teeth.There was no doubt that he had no way out, so he tore off his glove and threw it at the count's face, but his strength was misdirected, and the glove flew over the table and fell into a soup-basin.The count didn't care, bent down and picked up the glove dripping with soup.

"I accept the challenge," said the Count, "even as the insulted party, to allow you to choose your weapon, pistol, carbine, dagger, longsword, saber, or even cannon. I will accept it without objection. You hear me clearly. Is it? Anything, even throwing stones, stupid as it is, is nothing to me, and I'm sure I can win."

"Coward, braggart," screamed Sanabria, bewildered, his eyes blazing, and nearly losing his mind, "my grandfather bequeathed to me a Saracen machete with which I chopped off many The head of a cultist. Tomorrow I will use it to chop off your head too!"

"Then at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, in the woods in front of the village of Santa Cruz, we can see what is flowing in each other's veins." The count sat back on the chair, as if nothing It never happened, "Ma'am, can I have an after-dinner drink?"

"I have dueled with several noble lords in France..." The secretary suddenly found another topic that could add to his "manliness", but the earl's casual glance made him swallow the rest of the words involuntarily.

After the dinner was over, the rain had stopped, and the guests dispersed, and naturally there was talk about today's "sideshow"—needless to say that tomorrow this matter will definitely spread throughout the high society in Manila.Sanabria left in a daze.The count kissed the hostess and the mayor's wife who kept wiping tears when she saw that she was about to participate in a duel, and then left, but he did not take away the armor as a target.The hostess returned to the upstairs room, the candles were extinguished one by one, and the large living room, which had been brightly lit just now, gradually dimmed.

After all the guests left, a figure came out from the dark corridor and walked into the living room.A rough black robe with a hood was wrapped around him, so that even with the candlestick in his hand, it was difficult for others to see his face clearly.The servants who were busy cleaning and tidying up the living room walked around him one after another, as if it was a walking ghost.

The man in black walked up to the armor that had been shot, and took a close look at the candlelight. He searched the ground for a while, but he failed to find the scattered bullets as expected, perhaps they were cleaned up by the servants.He took a silver peso from his robe, approximately 38mm in diameter, and placed it on the left breastplate, the silver coin completely covering the four bullet holes.The man in black stared at Weislando's marksmanship, "It's too accurate," he said softly to himself, "Either that guy is too good at marksmanship, or he must have something good in his hands."

In the brightly lit living room, Lucrezia Charlo played the role of a dignified, hearty and generous noble lady very successfully.Once back in the bedroom, she fell into that gloomy and sensual mood, and even the largest room on the second floor was filled with a similar atmosphere.Candelabra dimly lit the whole bedroom and the great bed hung with pink muslin--the finest Chinese tulle, "like a cloud of smoke"; Single, fine and soft.The armchairs in the room are covered with velvet and embroidered cushions, which are as soft as the beds.Incense is lit in the delicate and small Japanese smoke cage. It is neither light Japanese incense nor sandalwood that Chinese people love, but it is only sold in the market in Constantinople. It can stimulate the nerves and arouse the desire Incense was only used in the harem of the Turks.

Lucrezia was lying in the big tub at the end of the room, her eyes closed as if she was asleep. Two half-race maids carefully added hot water to the tin-plated copper tub, and sprinkled dried stone catalpa and jasmine petals into the water. .

Someone walks in.Although the girl's steps were light, she pushed the door a little faster than usual.The baroness noticed it immediately, "Flora?" she called softly, her eyes still closed.

"Madame," said Flora, "the count has sent this for you."

The baroness opened her eyes and saw Flora holding a carved lacquered wooden box, the patterned lacquered surface was glowing dark red under the dim candlelight.She was not in a hurry to open the wooden box, "Did the earl hand it to you? Where is he now?"

"No, it was sent by one of his servants," Flora hesitated for a while before thinking of a word to describe the person.

"And attendants?" Mrs. Charlo seemed interested, "It seems that he is a real nobleman?"

"Ma'am, I don't know what to say about that man. I don't know if it's a Chinese or an East Indian, but the Earl must have raised him from among the butchers or the gangsters, used to the business of killing, and he's staring at people." The look in his eyes is like a knife stabbing me. But he did come in the earl's carriage, and he also left in the earl's carriage. There is absolutely no other such carriage here."

Lucrezia gave a noncommittal smile, but when the box was opened, she was amazed. There was a small pistol in it. mother of pearl.She had never seen a Delinger before, and the four-barrel pistol was so small and delicate that it looked like a toy.

"This is not the weapon that punched holes in your husband's armor," said a sullen male voice in Portuguese.

Following the sound, a secret door embedded in the wall behind the tapestry quietly opened.

"Come in, Paul." Lucrezia greeted lazily.Flora put the gun case on the low table by the bathtub, led the other two maids out of the bedroom, and closed the door.

Even if Weiss was sitting opposite Hale at this time, it was impossible to recognize this person who had been on the same boat as him at a glance.The Jedi survival on Dongsha Atoll, traveling from Malacca to Zhongzuo and then to Manila, the arduous march and endless battles to conquer Baguio and the heavy work of building a military factory made him lose at least 20 pounds.The steam from the strong acid had blackened his teeth, the acid had left burns on the skin of his hands, and his face had become thin and dark, but one had only to look carefully to see that some kind of passionate passion was burning like a flame. It is burning in his eyes, which is very in line with the fanatic image Paul Gaoshan created for himself.

(End of this chapter)