I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 20: A Makeshift Troupe Playing House
The wheels rolled over the cobblestones, making a dull and rhythmic sound, which formed an interesting reverberation with the ticking sound of horseshoes hitting the ground.

Normally, when Flower heard such a noise, he would involuntarily start thinking about what kind of music could perfectly express such beautiful music.

However, now that his country is destroyed and his family is ruined, the former musician, now the Grand Prince of Bagnia and the leader of the Restoration Army, does not have the leisure to indulge in music.

Flower was distressed.

The King of Bohemia liked the music composed and performed by Flower very much, but such liking could not bring more help to the Restoration Army.

The emperor is a very cold, emotional, and extremely ruthless person.

It's a contradiction in terms, but that's how Flower feels about Bohemia.

This was Flower's fifth day in the Bohemian capital. He rested for the first three days, and on the fourth and fifth days, he began to attend the ball held by the Emperor in the Bohemian Palace.

To be honest, Flower really didn't understand the purpose of attending the ball. During these two nights, apart from dancing, playing the violin, and getting to know those noble men and ladies, he basically did nothing serious.

The Emperor would only meet him once before the ball started to chat about family matters, and then he would leave, leaving Flower in the ball.

Sponsorship of the Restoration Army?

Ah, I did mention this to Flower's steward of the Bohemian Palace. The latter said that the equipment of an infantry regiment was being mobilized and would soon be loaded onto carriages and transported to the border to be delivered to the Restoration Army.

To be honest, compared to equipment support, Flower hoped that the King of Bohemia could form an expeditionary force to enter Bagnia and hang all the traitors who rebelled and overthrew the royal family.

However, every time Flower brought up this matter with the Royal Steward, the latter would always say that this matter must be discussed in the Council of Nobles before it could be determined, and that mobilizing the army was a very serious act.

Flower didn't understand, but he did know that mobilizing an army was not a simple matter, because his Restoration Army of only 10,000 people was like a money-eating beast, constantly devouring the wealth of the Bagnian royal family.

It was precisely because he was about to collapse that Flower came to the capital of the Bohemian Empire to seek help.

As for Flower's father, King Bagnia, he took his remaining wife and children to the Kingdom of Minisia to visit his mother's family.

As for the restoration of the country?

Flower didn't count on his father. He knew very well that the latter was a good-for-nothing. It would be fine to let his father eat, drink, have fun and have children, but to let him do serious work... sorry, he didn't have the ability.

If King Bagnia had been capable, the royal family would not have been overthrown by the revolutionaries, and the entire family would not have run away in disgrace and fled the country in embarrassment.

Restoration of the country?

No, King Bagnia did not want to. He even asked his eldest son, a musician, to take charge of forming the Restoration Army.

It seemed like he was delegating power, but he was not really delegating power, because he did not give up the crown of Bagnia and still wore it on his head.

Flower was so helpless that he ran to the Bohemian Empire to seek help.

The royal aides who followed Flower all said that this was not a rational choice, but Flower did it anyway. It is hard to say whether there was no element of anger involved.

What should I do tomorrow? Continue to attend the ball, or go to the Bohemian Noble Council to meet with the noble members and ask for their help?

While Flower was thinking about this problem and making a difficult decision, he heard a strange knocking sound outside the carriage he was riding in, followed by a "thump".

Then, one after another, "dong dong..."

It was not until the third sound that Flower realized something was wrong, because something flew past him. Then Flower turned his head and was surprised to see a small hole in the car body through which he could see outside.

Now, Flower finally understood what was going on. Without thinking, he threw himself to the ground and lay down on the soft carpet under the car.

At the same time, the guards outside the car finally shouted loudly.

"Assassin, there's an assassin, someone is shooting at us!"

"Quick, protect the eldest prince..."

……

"Alas, it really is the Grand Prince of Bagnia, our assassination target!"

Lin Ruoyu, lying on the roof of a villa, looked at the chaotic carriage guards in surprise and listened to the panicked shouts carried by the night wind.

"Damn, we actually stopped the real culprit!"

The other two players who were also lying on the side, holding their muskets, shouted in surprise.

From the very beginning, players actually know that the assassination has little hope of success.

There are no fools among players who have received a complete compulsory education.

To carry out an assassination, one should have a complete plan, scout the assassination location in advance, determine the time and route of the assassination target, and ensure the ambush location is correct.

The evacuation routes after the assassination attempt is successful or fails should also be planned in advance. If evacuation fails, how should the assassin commit suicide? These kinds of things should be prepared in advance.

However, although they knew it, Lin Ruoyu and others did not do it.

The reason is simple: I don't want to.

It’s like when a player plays Agent 47, someone in the game transforms into the god of death and designs ingenious death traps, causing the target to die in various accidents. Except for the assassin, no one else knows the cause of the target’s death.

Some people don't want to use their brains and just want to show off their killing skills, so they let 47 transform into a berserker, rushing around with a pistol, killing gods and Buddhas, killing Buddhas, and killing people until the blood flows like a river and the ground is covered with corpses!

Lin Ruoyu and others now belong to the second type.

Without any intelligence support, they also knew that it would be difficult to find the mission target in the Noble City, but the players still did it because they didn't think too much about it.

Whether you have a mission or not, come into the Noble City first.

Because of an accident on the road, half of the players died, and then they got sophisticated firearms and a map of the Noble City with routes and timetables written on it.

Lin Ruoyu and others actually didn’t know what this information meant, but since they had the map, they decided to go in and take a look.

The three of them were actually thinking very simply. Game planners shouldn't have included unnecessary props. Since we'd "coincidentally" run into these three killer NPCs, this information must be somehow related to our goal. Players' brain circuits are somewhat magical, and the core of their thinking is this: since we're already here, it's not a good idea to turn back. The worst that can happen is that we die and can use a spot to revive.

With this idea in mind, the three of them set off.

The tunnel inside the house was not very long. Lin Ruoyu and the other two walked inside for more than ten minutes before reaching the end.

Outside the iron gate of the tunnel is a secret room filled with food and clean water, and outside the secret room is a luxurious brick and stone house with a pointed roof, full of life, but empty inside.

Lin Ruoyu didn’t know whether this situation was normal. He just felt sorry that the mastermind behind the human traffickers was not at home, allowing the latter to escape. It was such a pity.

Arriving here, the three players were at a loss, because there would be patrols passing by on the street outside every half an hour. In addition, there were armed guards in most of the houses in the aristocratic area.

In this situation, Lin Ruoyu could only use the clothes he found in the house.

He changed into the noble's clothes, and the other two players put on the attendant's uniforms, and took the muskets with them in violin cases.

Then the three players swaggered out of the house, narrowly avoiding being spotted by the patrol, and quickly headed towards the map marking point they got from the NPC's corpse, ready to see what was going on there.

When they arrived at the place, they randomly picked a house without a dog, then the three of them climbed over the wall, found a ladder in the yard, and climbed up to the roof of the house which had only one floor. The three of them lay on the roof and waited patiently.

After waiting for more than two hours, except for Lin Ruoyu, the other two felt regretful and were about to log off when they finally saw a carriage with more than 20 guards slowly approaching along the road.

How conspicuous the faint light emitted by the kerosene lamps hanging on the four corners of the carriage is!
Then, one of the players, impatient with waiting, took the initiative to fire at the light.

Pull the trigger, the spring flint hits the primer pool, creating a ball of fire and smoke, and then ignites the black powder in the barrel. The thrust generated by the explosion pushes the lead bullet toward the muzzle, and under the action of the barrel, it rotates and flies straight out.

A muzzle-loading musket with a rifled barrel is very accurate, but this player randomly fired at a carriage a hundred meters away in the dark, so it was a surprise that he hit the target.

The first player fired, and the second followed closely behind. As expected, the cylindrical round-headed lead bullet flew out, and no one knew where it flew.

Lin Ruoyu was a little annoyed, but he didn't know what to say. The other two players called him boss, which was just a courtesy. Don't really think that he is their big brother and can yell at them.

Lin Ruoyu was not so naive, so he said nothing and could only hold the handle of the musket tightly and aim at the carriage.

It was not until Lin Ruoyu opened fire, after the third shot, that the lead bullet hit the gorgeous and exquisite four-wheeled carriage, making a bullet hole in the body of the carriage.

Then the guards walking in front and behind the carriage realized that someone was firing at them.

Immediately afterwards, the twenty-odd people were in chaos. Some were stunned, while others boarded the carriage in panic. It was not known whether they were preparing to be human shields, or whether they felt that the carriage was safer and were preparing to hide in it.

This assassination was full of trifling, taking things for granted, and carelessness from beginning to end.

However, due to various accidents, the players still found the real culprit.

The guards around the assassinated person were so incompetent that they just shouted and looked around. None of them thought of going over to help their own prince get out of the car and away from the danger.

The guards didn't even notice the direction of the shooter. This was not only because of the long distance, but also because of their own low vigilance and ignorance.

"Reload, let's fire the second shot!"

As Lin Ruoyu spoke, he stood up, took out the gunpowder bag from his waist bag, tore open the top seal with his mouth, and poured the black powder inside into the barrel of the gun.

Then he tore open the back half of the paper bag, took out the lead bullet at the end, and prepared to stuff it into the barrel of the gun.

"It's too late, Boss, look over here!"

Someone shouted, interrupting Lin Ruoyu's attention and making him turn his head to look in the direction pointed by the person in front of him. He then saw a bright light a few hundred meters away.

There were ten cavalrymen on horseback, carrying windproof kerosene lamps.

It was the patrol from the noble district. They must have rushed over after hearing the gunshots.

In addition, the guards in the nearby houses also noticed the unusual movement and were peeking out from the doors.

Once they realize what is happening outside, there is a high probability that they will come out with weapons to help.

Well, the experienced Lin Ruoyu knew at a glance that now was the best time to escape. If it was too late, when the cavalry approached, none of the three would be able to escape.

If there was a hope of killing the target, then death would be death, but the problem is that because of the first person's reckless firing, the assassination is now impossible to succeed, and if you don't run, your death will be in vain.

Then let’s run.

Realizing this, Lin Ruoyu was the first to drop the rifle in his hand without saying a word, and then ran towards the ladder hanging on the side of the house.

"Run separately. Those who can't escape will find a way on their own..."

After saying this, Lin Ruoyu quickly slid down the ladder, climbed over the wall with a running start, and then disappeared into the darkness without looking back.

Even though Lin Ruoyu knew the instability of the players, he was still a little annoyed at the moment, so he didn't plan to run with the other two because he was really scared.

Lin Ruoyu's quick disappearance immediately made the other two realize the seriousness of the situation.

One of the smart ones followed Lin Ruoyu's example, threw away the musket in his hand, and ran in a safe direction. The remaining one was reluctant to give up the rifle, so he carried it on his back and ran away.

The result of this was that his fleeing figure was seen by the guards of the houses on the roadside, and then with loud shouts, cavalrymen waving sabers and lances were attracted over.

They rode their horses quickly, and when they came over, they saw the fleeing player. The musket on the latter's back proved that this guy was an assassin, so they launched a charge.

Realizing they've been spotted, the player turns back to resist, pulling out a multi-barreled pistol and opening fire.

It turns out that the multi-barreled pistol is just a piece of scrap metal that looks good but is difficult to use. It is both clumsy and difficult to use.

The player fired at the fastest speed, but apart from making three loud noises, which attracted more patrols nearby and created a favorable opportunity for Lin Ruoyu's stealth, it was of no use at all.

Apart from startling a horse from a charging patrol, he failed to hit a single soul before the flat of a cavalryman's saber struck him.

(End of this chapter)