The little spark that the lord saw was obviously the match rope clamped on the snake's head.
This should be a matchlock gun that has just developed a rod-type trigger. Pulling the trigger can make the matchlock contact the gunpowder pool on the outside of the gun body.
Fortunately, this is just a matchlock gun in its early stages...
After the match ignites the gunpowder pool in the gun body, you need to wait for nearly half a second until the gunpowder burns from the powder pool into the bullet chamber before the bullet can be fired.
It was precisely because of the half-second of gunpowder burning time that the lord was able to avoid this fatal ambush.
Fortunately, Li Ang is a modern person and is quite sensitive to this kind of black pipe--if it were another noble knight, he might not have the consciousness to avoid it if he was pointed at by an iron pipe.
However, after the gunshot, the Lord moved quickly.
He took a quick peek from the corner of the wall - the light inside the door was dim, and he could clearly see only one spot of fire inside.
It looks like a cigarette butt in the dark.
There is only one flame head, which means there is only one musket.
That's a shame. This kind of matchlock gun cannot fire continuously. If you can fire one shot per minute, you are considered a qualified musketeer!
Li Ang rushed in with a long sword in hand. He kicked a strong man standing in front of the door with a shield.
It was a dazzling sunny day outside, but the light inside the door was relatively dark. Due to the huge gap, after Li Ang rushed in, he could only see three dark figures for a while.
Since he couldn't see clearly, the lord swung his sword and started to chop at random - it didn't matter who it was, they were all enemies anyway!
The gunman holding the matchlock was hurriedly shaking the medicine bag and preparing to fill it. When he saw Li Ang rushing in, he took a step back and then directly threw the medicine bag in his hand at Li Ang who had just rushed through the door.
This technique is quite skillful, and it seems that he often uses dirty tricks like spreading lime.
The lord's reaction was quite quick. He saw something floating towards him and he immediately stepped back to make way for the door.
And then, he smelled the unique nitrate-sulfur mixture of black gunpowder!
Everyone Celestial Dynasty is familiar with this smell. Most traditional fireworks and firecrackers have this smell.
The lord's heart skipped a beat, and he reacted very quickly again - he rushed out again.
What the hell... these uneducated underworld!
Spreading gunpowder in a closed environment?
Especially in an environment with an open flame like a match rope!
However, probably because the gunman was lucky, the gunpowder bag he scattered did not cause a big explosion - but the lord also clearly heard a "sizzling" sound of burning gunpowder.
Then, a violent burst of thick smoke floated out of the house.
A violent coughing sound was also heard.
It was obvious that part of the black powder thrown around must have been ignited by the match rope on the gun.
Then Li Ang heard Foucher screaming, "You idiot! Don't run! Put out the fire!"
But a few seconds later, two strong men ran out together, crawling and coughing.
Neither of them had matchlocks in their hands, and their faces were blackened by smoke...
These two guys were obviously choked to death, but the lord didn't see Foucher come out.
Li Ang turned over and hit two swords. The two strong men couldn't block it at all. In fact, their tears were boiling and they basically couldn't block it. One of them was chopped down to the ground easily.
Then Li Ang held Griffin Sword with one hand and put it on the other's neck.
"Where is Foucher?"
"Ahem... still in there... ahem!"
The strong man was still out of breath at this time, and his violent coughing made him bend over without any resistance at all.
But now he has an extremely sharp sword on his neck...
As a result, when he bent over and coughed, he put his neck on the blade of the sword - Li Ang didn't even have time to stop.
So the idiot slowly fell to the ground with blood spurting from his neck.
I don't know if this is a suicide or an accident...
But when the lord planned to enter this small building again, he saw a blazing fire at the door...
The gunpowder just now has set the wooden building on fire!
The gunpowder scattered everywhere caused the area inside the door on the ground floor to burn very quickly. The flames had already sealed the entire door and spread rapidly upstairs.
The weather was sunny, there was a breeze blowing in the manor by the lake, and the building was made of wood. The fire ignited in just ten seconds, and there was a violent "sizzling" sound from the door again!
It seems like more gunpowder has been ignited!
Probably because the amount of gunpowder was not particularly dense, there was no explosion in the building, but there was continuous deflagration!
'Peng... peng...'
There were constant flashes of fire and smoke in the building.
The lord had no choice but to retreat far away - it was obvious that Foucher had placed gunpowder everywhere in this building, and such explosions would soon engulf this wooden building.
Looking at this, Foucher is afraid that he won't be able to escape...
There was such a loud movement in the house, including the sound of gunfire and smoke, which naturally attracted the attention of others.
In the manor outside, a group of people were still fighting in a melee, but the smaller party had already gained the upper hand - the Great Swordsmans were well-equipped, with thick armor and long swords, and could withstand the enemy's attacks and slash at random.
Now they are chasing the pirates and gangsters all over the fields.
At this moment, after the small building began to explode, all the enemies seemed to pause for a moment, then suddenly dispersed and began to flee in all directions.
The pirates ran straight into the lake, while the Crimson Brotherhood guys scattered in all directions, all running very fast.
Great Swordsman are wearing heavy armor and are few in number, so it is impossible to catch up with everyone.
Those rogue knights and a dozen or so miscellaneous troops also planned to run into the building, but were immediately blocked by Kloze and the others waving their big swords.
Those minions dispersed in a hurry. Great Swordsman blocked a few rogue knights and hacked at them, and the situation was quickly controlled.
In fact, these rogue knights also planned to run, but they were dressed like cans and couldn't run fast at all. The Great Swordsmans cut off their legs one by one with swords from behind.
The lord has already walked around the side of the building, wanting to see where Foucher is.
Li Ang is not trying to save the illegitimate son who was trapped in the fire, he wants to save the matchlock gun...
This building was built close to the lake, and there is a balcony on the second floor at the back.
The balcony on the second floor faces the wide lake, and there is a wooden boat on the side of the lake.
At this time, a dozen pirates were pushing the wooden boat towards the back of the house, then jumped on the boat and started paddling. In this case, they definitely couldn't catch up. Since they have special skills, since the pirates have boats, they can probably escape.
But Li Ang still cannot see Foucher.
There is only the pirates' boat on the lake, and Foucher is not on the boat.
"Foucher! Come out and surrender! You must have died inside, right?"
Li Ang shouted loudly.
The entire building has been surrounded by fire, and the second floor is about to be completely swallowed up. There will definitely be a dead end in the building.
In such a short period of time, Foucher, a fat guy with no physical strength, would not have just disappeared without a trace.
"Get out of the way!"
This is the voice of Amy, coming from behind Li Ang.
Amy was riding a horse on the side of this building, just a few dozen meters behind Li Ang, holding her lady's crossbow in her hand, aiming at the second floor where flames were rising and thick smoke was filling the air.
Li Ang only looked back at Amy and found that Amy looked quite nervous. Realizing that something was wrong, he rolled on the spot holding his head.
'Bang!' 'Whoosh!'
At this moment, a gunshot was heard from the balcony on the second floor.
Amy's crossbow arrow also shot out at the same time.
Then, a figure fell from the balcony on the second floor of the wooden building and fell into the lake.
Great Swordsmans also reacted and swarmed towards the lake, intending to find the shooter.
"Li Ang! Are you okay!"
Amy After shooting the crossbow, he saw that the lord rolled around and stopped moving, so he quickly dismounted and ran over nervously.
Then he threw away the crossbow in his hand and started to pull at Li Ang.
When she gets nervous, she no longer uses the title "teacher"...
"Hiss... it hurts!"
The lord bared his teeth and clutched his lower back, his face twisted in pain.
"Are you injured? Where are you injured..."
Amy opened Li Ang's hand in a panic, tears almost coming from his eyes.
There was no external injury to the lower back area that Li Ang was covering.
But his pain was not an act - he rolled subconsciously and was knocked hard by a stone on the ground. His half-armor could not protect his waist, so he had indeed suffered internal injuries.
After rolling around just now, I almost lost my breath.
And right where he was standing just now, a small hole had appeared in the ground, and white smoke was coming out.
Li Ang gritted his teeth and sat up, covering his waist and eyes and moving a bit. Fortunately, the internal organs should not be hurt.
Looking at the bullet holes around him, he let out a long breath.
Fortunately, Amy saw the enemy, otherwise he would have been hit hard!
"Why did you get in? Didn't I tell you to hide..."
Most men are like this - if they receive help from a woman passively, their first reaction is not to say thank you, but to ramble...
"You told me that to make sure you don't get caught, it's best to stay behind the person with the strongest combat power - so ever since you broke out of the siege, I've been on guard behind you."
Amy saw that nothing serious happened to Li Ang, and his mood became calmer.
"Fortunately, the gunman didn't attack you..."
Li Ang poked into the bullet hole a few times and dug out a deformed lead bullet.
"Sir! This guy is dead..."
In just a moment, Sammer had dragged out a wet person, or rather a corpse, from the shallow water by the lake.
By the way, I also fished out the matchlock gun.
This is the person who just fell from the second floor balcony into the lake, the person who just shot Li Ang - this is Foucher himself.
But at this time, the blond young man had a crossbow arrow stuck in his neck and was already dead.
Looking back at the boats rowed by the pirates, and then at Foucher's body, Li Ang sighed.
Obviously, Foucher randomly scattered gunpowder in the living room on the first floor, causing an accidental fire. Two of his men failed to put out the fire and ran out choked by the thick smoke.
As for Foucher, his legs and feet probably weren't that flexible and he couldn't run. This basically created a real self-immolation situation...
Then Foucher retreated to the balcony on the second floor with a gun. He probably originally planned to jump into the lake to escape. But when he saw Li Ang coming to the side, he planned to kill Li Ang with a cold shot before jumping into the lake and running away.
As a result, Amy saw him and directly gave him a crossbow arrow.
Amy's shooting skills are really quite accurate...
"Amy, good job! Do you know who he is?"
The lord made a gesture with his thumb, indicating Sammer to throw the body down.
Amy shook his head. "Isn't he the leader of Crimson Brotherhood? What? He has a good background?"
Li Ang raised his eyebrows. "It does have a good background. This guy is the illegitimate son of Duke Alma...Foucher."
Amy was stunned for a moment, but then he shook his head indifferently. "I heard sister Sarah mentioned him... It is said that he is a scumbag?"
Li Ang nodded. "Probably he is indeed a scumbag."
"Then I guess sister Sarah will be very happy - who made him plan to attack you? Anyway, we are enemies with the Horton Family, so he will be killed."
Amy behaves quite calmly. After experiencing two wars, she is no longer a weak girl.
Li Ang smiled and shook his head, "That's right, we are all enemies anyway."
Although he said he didn't care, the lord still felt a little regretful in his heart.
It's not because of anything else, it's just that I failed to maximize my benefits.
Foucher may be Alma's favorite son, and judging from his age, he should be the eldest son.
If he is caught alive, it can be a means to coerce Duke Alma, or it can be a bargaining chip to plunge Horton Family into civil strife.
In fact, even if Li Ang does nothing, this illegitimate son allows the underworld to cause trouble everywhere and calls himself 'Child of Prophecy'. This kind of behavior will probably lead to civil strife in the Horton Family.
But Amy is right - who made him plan to attack the lord? Just kill him, it's not worth pity.
"Sammer, what kind of weapon is that? It looks very powerful... you can't even see the arrows!"
Amy pointed at the musket.
"This should be Barkley's new musket... it's really powerful."
Seeing that Amy kept looking at the matchlock gun in her hand, Sammer handed the gun to her.
Amy took the gun, and the heavy gun body made her hand feel heavy and she almost dropped it to the ground.
The match rope had been extinguished due to immersion in the lake water, but the gun body was intact.
This is a double-sleeved matchlock gun. The barrel is made of two layers of steel pipes nested inside and outside.
The outer tube is octagonal and the inner tube is round.
It's about half an inch in diameter -- it's quite large.
High-tech equipment such as muskets is actually no secret in the Pande Continent. Many nobles have seen it, especially on the west coast of Fieltzwe.
This weapon comes from the Bacchus Empire on another continent.
But Bacchus Empire will not sell muskets to outsiders - the emperor of Barkley obviously knows the value of this weapon better than the average person.
However, since Emperor Barkley had begun the pace of maritime colonization, weapons such as matchlocks were occasionally brought to ports on the west coast by ocean-going merchant ships from Barkley.
But in inland areas like Long River Town, it is very rare.
In fact, even in Barkley's homeland, muskets have just begun to be deployed in the army in the past few years, and they are still a supporting role in the war.
Because this is roughly equivalent to the matchlock gun of the fifteenth century, the rate of fire is very slow, and it can only be used when the weather is good.
Rain will cause the match to go out or the gunpowder to get damp, and wind will blow away the gunpowder in the gun barrel, making it impossible to fire.
In fact, it is quite laborious just to keep the match rope alive...
And it must be held steadily, and the gun body cannot shake or turn sideways - the powder pool is a shallow pit on the outside of the gun body, with a hole leading to the gun chamber, and the gunpowder will fall out if you are not careful.
As for when the weather is nice - you have to be on guard against fires. After all, the fire pool and match ropes are exposed, so it is normal for these things to catch fire...
Moreover, this is a muzzle-loading gun. After each firing, the barrel, fire door and powder pool need to be cleaned to ensure that the heat in the barrel does not directly ignite the gunpowder before reloading can begin.
The interval between firing a shot is often as long as one minute - anyone who can fire three shots in two minutes is considered a skilled shooter.
However, although the matchlock gun has many shortcomings, it has two huge advantages.
One is powerful enough, the other is short training time.
This kind of matchlock gun has a range of 200-300 meters and can penetrate plate armor within 100 meters, which is obviously difficult for ordinary bows and arrows to achieve.
Of course, the accuracy is actually not very high - since there is still nearly half a second of response time after pulling the trigger, good opportunities are often missed, and it is actually more difficult to hit a moving target.
Although smarter shooters will make predictions, due to the heavy weight of the gun, it is difficult to maintain stability when held flat, and the recoil is so huge that improper operation can even break the ribs.
In addition, there is no front sight cover, and the match rope and gunpowder burning in the fire pool will also interfere with the aiming, so its accuracy in actual combat is different from that of modern firearms.
However, just the fact that it can penetrate plate armor remotely is enough for it to become a weapon valued by the Bacchus Empire.
After all, accuracy is not enough and can only be combined with the number of people. Huge power is the first pursuit.
Moreover, muskets do not require long-term training. A farmer can go to the battlefield after two weeks of training.
Although the manufacturing cost of the musket itself is relatively high, the cost to the farmer is so low!
Therefore, Bacchus Empire has been vigorously promoting the batch installation of muskets in recent years.
But people at the Pande Continent are actually not too keen on this kind of weapon - this is caused by ideology.
Pendor's knightly culture is the mainstream, and no noble knight is willing to let such a weapon without training appear on the battlefield - the nobles have used the knight class to monopolize force for thousands of years, and the emergence of muskets will obviously break this monopoly.
No one wants to see the possibility of the peasant mud-legs turning over.
For kings and nobles, class status is far greater than disputes between countries.
Just like a certain emperor of a certain dynasty in another time and space would order the destruction of his country's extremely advanced weapon inventions.
All to maintain their dominance.
Therefore, things like matchlocks rarely appear in Lion Territory, and even their existence is deliberately hidden.
But if nothing else, the Fieltzwe lords on the west coast probably all know about muskets.
However, as a new kingdom, the leaders of Fieltzwe who have just transformed from pirates and smugglers into nobles are also pursuing long-term class status and hereditary rule, and they will probably make the same decision as Lionheart Kingdom.
The nouveau riche who have just achieved a class jump tend to oppress the proletariat more harshly than the traditional aristocrats, and are more concerned about how to maintain their class status...
But now, something like a matchlock gun has actually appeared around Long River Town, and it is still in the hands of Foucher. I don't know how he got it.
But Foucher is completely dead, so now I can probably only ask Frederi.