I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 125 The plan actually succeeded?
The gathering ground in the morning mist was filled with the smell of rotten straw. Fifty crookedly positioned halberd bearers stood in the mist, and the mold growing in the gaps of their armor resonated with the smell.

Marlowe noticed that the soldier on the far left of the third row was sharpening the blade of his halberd with a whetstone, but when the curled iron filings fell into the mud, they revealed not a cold gleam but dark red rust.

These weapons, which should have been scrapped, should have been melted down and recast last year, but the funds allocated by the Senate only exist in the account books and have not been delivered in the form of clinking silver coins.

Thanks to his father's efforts, when Marlowe was appointed as the quartermaster, he still thought about whether he could be a little corrupt, but in the end, he never had the chance to embezzle...

All the visible cash was taken away by the congressmen above, without leaving a single cent behind.

This opened Marlowe's eyes and made him sigh in amazement. He couldn't help but wonder how this new republic could be even more corrupt than the decadent feudal kingdom of Bagnia.

At least when the kingdom still existed, according to what Marlowe's father, the Marquis, described, there would still be funding for equipment replacement. Although it would be less occasionally, there was never a shortage of money.

Although the old king above us is a wimp, he never cuts military spending.

Although the Marlowe family also contributed to overthrowing the old king's rule and driving the royal family out of the kingdom, now he actually missed the rule of the kingdom.

"Go, replace the halberd bearers' halberds, and bring fifty finest armoured swords to give to them. I've paid for this, so just go and get it."

Marlowe turned around and instructed the clerk to take the civilians to exchange for a batch of weapons.

This made the two people who were secretly watching the show among the group of civilians standing at the edge of the assembly ground feel very regretful. The man who deliberately brought them the worst quality halberds was actually discovered by the quartermaster.

After Marlowe asked the clerk to replace the halberd, he continued to check the soldiers' weapons and equipment. Because the halberd was rusty, he did the inspection himself this time and did not dare to be negligent.

The plate mail for the halberdiers is in good condition, the mail rings are well riveted, and the plates are free of rust.

The musketeers' matchlocks were also in good condition, with clean muzzles. The matchlocks, stored in oak barrels, were soaked in saltpeter, and the lead bullets...

Well, the musketeers were pouring their lead bullets into boiling pine resin, a border smugglers' trick to reduce the number of explosions of inferior lead bullets in the gun chamber.

Marlowe knew that the lead bullets issued were impure, and that all the lead ingots in the entire arsenal had the same problem because the order for purchasing lead had been forcibly placed with a certain company by a senator.

As far as Marlowe knew, this business was owned by a certain congressman who did not want to be named.

So, even though he knew there was something wrong with the lead bullet, Marlowe could do nothing about it.

Just make do with it, it's not like it can't be fired. Reduce the gunpowder and boil the lead bullets in rosin, and it will definitely be fine... although boiling the lead bullets in rosin will cause the barrel to wear faster.

Because inferior lead bullets often have bubbles or cracks inside, the resin seeps into the gaps after boiling and forms a supporting structure after cooling, preventing the lead bullet from disintegrating in the barrel during firing.

Finally, it was gunpowder. Marlowe opened the gunpowder barrel and took a look at it with the dim light of the candle in his hand. Then he reached in and rubbed it a few times. When he couldn't feel any lumps, he closed the lid of the gunpowder barrel.

Black powder is a flammable and explosive substance. Even if Marlowe wanted to examine it in detail, he really didn't dare to bring open flames near it.

By the time the clerk brought back the halberds and armed swords, the weapons and equipment for the fifty halberdiers and twenty musketeers would be ready.

Finally, it was food. Considering that this was a forced march and that he was leading the troops fighting in the rear, it was impossible and should not be possible to leave the quartermaster castle for too long.

So Marlowe rationed seventy soldiers enough cheese and bread to last them two days.

After the halberds and armoured swords were delivered, the halberdiers stepped forward one by one to receive their weapons. Marlowe then inspected the soldiers' appearances again, confirming they were all in good condition. He then waved his hand. "Go, soldiers! After you eliminate twenty rebels, I'll give each of you five silver coins."

Marlowe's words slightly boosted the morale of the castle guards and allowed the team to "quickly" move out of the castle.

Xiaodao, who was wearing linen clothes and had disheveled hair, and Five Nuclear Bombs stood on the side of the road and watched the counter-insurgency team go away. The latter was filled with infinite emotion.

"I didn't expect our crude plan of infiltrating and luring the tiger away from the mountain would actually succeed. These NPCs aren't as smart as I thought."

"It was just luck. He didn't check on us seriously."

"By the way, the rusty halberd we brought specially for him has been replaced, and the black powder seems to have escaped detection. What did you add to it?"

"Wood ash. I added a handful of wood ash to the black powder."

"What's the use of this thing?"

"It's not very useful. At most, it will cause the combustion of black powder to be incomplete, which is equivalent to artificially adding impurities."

Xiaodao explained as he turned and walked back.

"Follow us. Once this NPC is far away, we will start our action."

Sneak into the quartermaster castle. This was Xiaodao's plan after he learned about the existence of the castle from the militia.

The plan was simple. They would have people pretend to be the supply team from Dora Town. When they delivered the supplies, they would try to send twenty disguised players into the castle to serve as laborers and then cause damage.

In order to increase the success rate, Xiaodao deliberately took himself and 19 other players offline when the plan was being carried out, allowing the players' intelligent butlers to take over the control of the characters, making the players become dull and numb.

Xiaodao doesn't trust the players' acting skills. Sometimes, if their performance is too forced and exaggerated, people will notice that something is wrong.

Perhaps because of this reason, or perhaps because the nobles here were too arrogant and had never played a similar operation, the lurking operation of the twenty players went smoothly. Almost no one checked them and let them in.

The "Republic Quartermaster" named Marlowe did not ask the leading player for any documents, and did not even have any doubts about the ring seal in the latter's hand.

Of course, the thing must be real, because it is what the player found in the mayor's room in Dora Town, but the person is fake.

If Marlowe had been willing to ask a player who was idle a few questions at that time, he would have definitely noticed that something was wrong.

Unfortunately, he didn't do it.

As for the rebels, Xiaodao didn't know anything about it. He just asked the players who stayed in Dora Town to send a few people out to make some noise and attract the attention of the Republic.

As for whether he could lure the people out and how big a noise it would cause, Xiaodao didn't know.

No plan is 100% successful, so just do it for fun.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if we fail. At most, we can just sneak in and attack. There are five cuirassiers on the scene. It's not a big deal.

(End of this chapter)