Steel & Sovereignty

Chapter 5 Jungle Gunfight

The situation suddenly became deadlocked. The other side didn't seem to have any good ideas about dealing with a carriage and didn't want to waste arrows, so no more arrows came.

After reminding Tang Mo and Roger, Wes fell silent, presumably hiding in the shadows and observing everything around him.

Strange insect chirps drifted by from time to time, and the distant howls of wild animals could even be faintly heard. The forest at night was far from silent; on the contrary, it was more bustling and vibrant than during the day.

Time passed by, and after loading another rifle, old Roger found a suitable angle to help Tang Mo guard the other side of the carriage.

"Wes?" Tang Mo seemed to see a vague figure at the edge of the light's reach. He called out, not knowing whether he was confirming friend or foe or simply calling for his companion.

Soon, the ugly face of the first man carrying an axe burst out of the darkness. He charged straight at Tang Mo, shouting to bolster his momentum.

Tang Mo kicked open the carriage door, slightly adjusted the position of the gun, and aimed it at the target. Because the two gas lamps were on the outside of the carriage, the interior was not clearly visible from the outside.

The man who was charging forward with his axe raised above his head saw the carriage door suddenly open, and the arrows stuck in it were even broken off. He paused for a moment.

Then, he saw a flash of light and heard a sharp gunshot. He felt something hit his chest, then his legs gave way and he stumbled forward.

After hitting his target, Tang Mo threw the rifle behind him and picked up a second rifle from where it was conveniently located.

"Bang!" A second gunshot rang out outside the carriage. It was unclear whether it was Wes who fired the shot or whether the bandits also had firearms.

"Ah!" The second bandit burst out of the darkness, holding a tattered longsword in his hand. He wore an iron helmet, but no armor.

"Bang!" Tang Mo didn't hold back and pulled the trigger again. A bullet flew from the muzzle, and the helmeted man's roar instantly turned into a scream. Then, like the first fool, he fell in front of the carriage.

Tang Mo reached out, and old Roger handed him the specially made, engraved K1 rifle that was intended to be shown to Count Fisher.

The next second, Tang Mo assumed a shooting stance for the third time, continuing to vigilantly watch the darkness not far away through the white smoke billowing in the light.

Before they knew it, the horrifying chirping of insects and the growling of wild beasts had disappeared, and the surroundings were eerily quiet.

"Hmm..." Outside the carriage, a muffled groan came from the silence. Tang Mo could even hear the faint sound of a long sword piercing into a body and hitting bone.

It was unclear whether Wes had been killed or whether he had taken down another bandit who was trying to flank them. In any case, after the rustling sounds subsided, there was no more noise behind them.

It wouldn't be accurate to say there was no sound, because old Roger, who had been keeping watch on the other side, was struggling to insert a cardboard cartridge into the chamber with his tense hands.

"They're loading! Charge!" A voice shouted from the woods, clearly the leader of the gang.

As he shouted, another man approached with a long sword. This time, however, he neither shouted nor ran, but cautiously approached.

Tang Mo, of course, gave him no chance, aiming directly and pulling the trigger.

"Bang!" Another gunshot echoed through the jungle, making the night even more silent and terrifying. It seemed as if the entire forest was shouting, the gunshot reverberating back and forth before gradually fading into the distance.

Tang Mo handed the rifle he had fired to old Roger behind him again, but Roger was so nervous that he failed to load the first rifle properly.

By the standards of a well-trained soldier's reload speed, Roger's reload speed was far too slow. This caused gaps in what should have been a continuous barrage of fire.

Knowing the importance of preserving one's life force, Tang Mo understood that this was no longer the time to hide any trump cards. So he discarded the K1 pistol and drew his secret weapon from his waist—the world's only revolver.

Although it was just a percussion cap revolver with only six bullets, there was no more ferocious close-combat firepower in this era.

This was his greatest reliance and his most reliable weapon. Tang Mo figured that by the time he ran out of six bullets in his pistol, Roger should have at least loaded three quick-firing guns.

By then, he could fire three more shots! Adding the previous three shots and the one that Wes might have fired, the continuous barrage would take down at least 13 bandits. Even considering the guards of a caravan, this was already incredibly powerful firepower that bandits wouldn't want to provoke.

Moreover, even in this era, a bandit gang of 13 people was extremely rare. Even if the opposing force had 20 people, after losing half of their members, they would more likely choose to flee immediately.

A unit that doesn't retreat even after losing a third of its troops is a well-known iron army these days. How could bandits possibly have the discipline to fight to the death even after losing half their troops?

The only thing to blame is that these poor bandits chose to attack at night, resulting in extremely close-quarters combat and ensuring the accuracy of their muskets. If the fighting had been at a greater distance, in those days, hitting even one out of ten shots would have been considered a stroke of good luck.

Just as Tang Mo was pondering these things, the bandits on the other side made another move. Perhaps driven mad by hunger, or perhaps certain that Tang Mo and his group couldn't possibly have prepared so many muskets, two more men charged out wielding weapons.

Tang Mo didn't hold back either. This time, because he had a relatively short revolver, he had more room to maneuver.

However, he wasn't without disadvantages, because the smoke from the three consecutive shots was starting to obscure his vision.

There was no way around it; gunpowder in this era was just that terrible. So Tang Mo had made up his mind that if he could get out of here alive this time, he would definitely work on smokeless gunpowder technology first.

He squinted, peering through the sulfurous white smoke, and saw two bandits charging towards him. Both were very tall and seemed to be using the smoke as a cover, silently charging forward with their weapons.

"Bang!" A crisp gunshot rang out once again in the woods. Tang Mo saw through the gap in the sights that he had aimed at the man beneath him, clutching his chest as he fell to the ground.

When he aimed at the bandit on the other side, he saw Wes emerge from the side, carrying a bloodstained longsword.

His movements were very nimble; his longsword moved like a snake spitting its tongue, launching a surprise attack that slashed the bandit's arm.

Relying on his fierce and ruthless nature, the bandit actually brandished his longsword and forced Wes, who was trying to entangle him, back with a single strike.

As a result, just as Wes was retreating, Tang Mo fired his musket again, and a bullet just happened to hit the burly man in the neck.

Blood splattered instantly. The man's artery had been pierced. He covered the hole in his neck with his hand, but found that he could not stop the gushing blood.

He tried to speak but could only cough up blood. When he turned around to look at Tang Mo, he involuntarily collapsed.

Just now, from the shadows, Wes saw Tang Mo fire a shot with his pistol and guessed that Tang Mo had no chance to reload, so he appeared to fight hand-to-hand and stopped the burly man from getting closer to the carriage.

But he never expected that Tang Mo had hidden a second pistol! After the second shot rang out, he stood there, seemingly reassessing the danger level of the young man in the carriage.

What kind of naive weapons workshop owner would carry two pistols on his person when he went out? He had seen Tang Mo when he got on the carriage, and judging from his bulky appearance, Tang Mo should have had a pistol on his waist. But he never guessed that Tang Mo had another pistol on his person!

He certainly couldn't have guessed that Tang Mo was holding a musket capable of continuous firing. Even though he was a skilled fighter, he couldn't defy his experience.

While he was standing there in a daze, a bandit hiding in the darkness approached him from the side with a long sword, wanting to ambush and eliminate this fat sheep on the outskirts.

Tang Mo cleared most of the smoke from his eyes, finally getting a clear view of everything. He decisively raised his pistol again, aimed it at Wes's side, and pulled the trigger once more.

"Bang!" The gunshot rang out like a heavy cannon, striking Wes's mind. He watched in disbelief as Tang Mo's pistol fired twice in quick succession!

As the gunshot echoed, the bandit who was about to launch a sneak attack paused for a moment as if electrocuted, then hunched over and collapsed with a muffled groan.

By this time, six gunshots had been fired from the woods. Even the most oblivious bandits sensed that something was wrong.

Another bandit, defiant of the odds, rushed out of the roadside bushes, and to Wes's astonishment, Tang Mo fired another shot—this shot was so fluid and seamless that he didn't even need to prepare.

The stubborn fellow staggered a couple of steps, dropped his weapon, knelt on the ground, and curled up, groaning.

Clearly, the shot didn't hit a vital spot, but it completely rendered him incapable of causing any further trouble.

The whole affair had clearly gone beyond the bandits' robbery plan, and the continuous gunfire carried an eerie and incongruous feel in this era.

Who could have imagined that the world's first real combat use of a revolver would take place in such an unknown forest, on such a dark midnight...