North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 44: Carrion Vultures
The chimney belched black smoke and the bow of the ship cut through the calm water.

After entering the Sacramento River, the paddlewheel steamer lowered its sails and relied entirely on steam power.

In the cockpit, Azu stood beside Captain Vic at the helm, looking at the vast water ahead.

All the preparations made by the Cameron family these days came to mind one by one.

Before yesterday, he had been circling Cameron Manor from a distance and had visited it several times.

Finally, he chose the sniper position on an uninhabited mountain opposite Cameron Manor.

The wide view here makes it easy to sniper, the lush vegetation makes it easy to hide, and the deserted mountains also minimize the chance of being discovered.

The only problem is that the distance is quite far, more than seven hundred meters.

A few days ago, whenever A-Zu had time, he would lock himself in the room and use pure handmade tools to modify the Springfield M1842 rifle.

"Renovation" may not be the right word, because apart from the barrel, it's almost like building a new gun from scratch.

Using the Mauser Kar98k rifle, which was not invented until decades later, as a template, Azu completely transformed a muzzle-loading rifle into a bolt-action breech-loading rifle.

To this end, he sawed off a section of the primer cap at the rear of the barrel of the M1842 rifle and drew six spiral rifling grooves inside the barrel.

Then, the bolt-action bolt and receiver were completely hand-made.

There is also a scope and a silencer.

Finally, there are the hand-forged bullets.

Mercury fulminate is used as a primer, and nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin are mixed to make propellant.

This small batch of bullets, which were completely hand-crafted, were more accurate than most machines of the era.

After manually making this sniper rifle, A Zu test-fired it several times in the wild, and through continuous fine-tuning, he finally achieved a satisfactory level of accuracy.

Yesterday, when old Cameron bought the pair of lions, A Zu felt that the opportunity given by God had arrived!
Lions, this rare beast in the African continent, once sent to Cameron Manor, will surely attract the curiosity of the entire family.

It is very likely that Cameron Sr., as a core member, his second son Paul Cameron, and other family members will appear outdoors in an orderly manner.

So, he decided to take action immediately.

The only thing they were not prepared for was that after several rounds of calibration test firing, there were only five bullets left!

When A Zu arrived at the sniper position that he had prepared in advance, he found that the Cameron family appeared outdoors in an orderly manner, watching the pair of lions that had just been delivered to the manor.

He did not attack directly, but first fired a test shot at an empty target to conduct the final calibration.

Then, the second shot blew up Paul Cameron's head!

The third shot blew up old Cameron’s head!

The fourth shot knocked off the lock of the iron cage and released a pair of hungry beasts.

After doing all this, he cleaned up the scene calmly and left.

The sniping distance of more than 700 meters has far exceeded the limit of this era.

Even the newly introduced rifled Minié rifle only had an accurate range of about 500 meters.

Not to mention that the current mainstream is still the smoothbore rifle, and the range is almost impossible to exceed two hundred meters.

It’s not that the defense of Cameron Manor is not tight enough, but that A-Zu uses methods that are beyond his time to launch a dimensionality reduction attack!
Recalling the entire process of yesterday's fight, A Zu didn't even feel a ripple in his heart.

But he didn't expect that if he hadn't seized the opportunity yesterday and killed the enemy with one strike, the unlucky ones would be himself and the entire Huamei Company!
Old Cameron's sharpness is not even inferior to that of the great detective Edgar Allan Poe. Based on just a few insignificant clues, he judged that A-Zu might be related to the death of his eldest son.

Old Cameron was not like Edgar Allan Poe, who relied on evidence for everything. He only trusted his own judgment and intuition, and even the slightest doubt was enough to make him kill. This old lion bought a pair of lions to show his prestige.

What happened was counterproductive!

Poor old Cameron, his reputation was ruined in an instant!
"San Francisco is likely to be in chaos for a while!"

A-Zu stared at the calm river surface, his tone extremely calm.

"Lee, what are you talking about? Why is San Francisco in chaos?"

Captain Vic, who was at the helm, asked.

"Old Cameron and Paul Cameron both died yesterday!"

"What......?"

Vic was shocked when he heard the news. "But they were at the auction yesterday at noon!"

"They died shortly after the auction!" Without waiting for Vic's response, A-Zu continued, "In just one month, the three core members of the Cameron family were all dead. The Cameron family is now like a headless snake."

"Vic, do you think those enemies of the Cameron family, and the countless jackals that covet the Cameron family's property, will swarm over like vultures smelling rotten meat, ready to devour the Cameron family completely?"

"Lee, are you telling the truth?" Vic was speechless. "Old Cameron and Paul are both dead?"

A-Zu shook his head calmly: "Not only them, but also many Camerons were torn to pieces by two hungry lions!"

"How did you know...!" At this point, Vic suddenly turned around and stared at A Zu: "Could it be that you did all this...?"

Ah Zu did not answer, but said: "Captain, please send us to our destination as quickly as possible and then return immediately."

"Of course!"

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Vic quickly agreed.

"Harley, turn the fire up to the highest setting and open the steam valve. We are going to move at full speed!"

Vic put his mouth to the brass megaphone and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Okay, Captain!"

"Woo...wow!"

Captain Vick blew the whistle, and the paddlewheel steam sailboat began to accelerate gradually.

A Zu added, "Captain, when you return, please ensure that no one in our company participates in any conflict. Even if there are benefits before our eyes, we must not be greedy."

"Just take care of our own business and let them mess around."

Vic said puzzledly, "The Cameron family is the biggest and most delicious piece of cake in the entire Bay Area! Shouldn't we take advantage of this opportunity to grab some benefits?"

"No! The one who rushes the fastest and eats the most will most likely die the fastest!"

"Don't forget, old Cameron, you still have a little son who's a major!"

"Anyone who participates in this feast may eventually become the target of Major Daniel Cameron's crazy revenge. Especially those who eat the most and jump the highest!"

Vic was shocked: "Lee, you are right! We can't touch the Cameron family's property!"

"Haha!" A Zu smiled and said, "It's not that we can't touch it, it's just that the time has not come yet."

(End of this chapter)