Chapter 602 “Assassination” (Part 2)
Captain Calvin immediately shouted "All hands on alert!" and was shot through the head with a bullet.
In fact, when the carriage loaded with logs suddenly appeared, everyone was already in a fighting state.
Because in theory such large trucks are not allowed to enter on this street, even if some people want to make money, they will choose to come at night, after all, it is not easy to be discovered that way.
And if you transport this wood during the day, you will easily be spotted by the police and gendarmes, and you will inevitably be exploited. Even if the police and gendarmes are dismissed, pedestrians on the two bustling streets in front and behind will be in big trouble.
The sudden appearance of an obviously overloaded carriage was too sudden, and when the guard captain drew his pistol, the driver on the opposite side obviously panicked, which is why the carriage suddenly lost control.
Otherwise, the logs would not have been scattered on the ground, but would have been thrown at Baron Brooke's carriage.
Seeing that the plan had changed, the attacker was not hesitant and actually chose to shoot directly.
The first shot was followed by successive shots, but the main targets were the coachmen and horses.
It's a pity that the attackers still used muzzle-loaded rifles, and even a skilled veteran would need more than twenty seconds to reload.
The escort accompanying Baron Brooke immediately fired back with guns, killing several gunmen who did not hide in time.
But at this time, another group of gunmen shot out from both sides of the street. They also used revolvers, and a fierce battle immediately broke out between the two sides.
The attackers wanted to use their numerical advantage to end the battle quickly, but what they didn't expect was that just four air rifles suppressed the charge of dozens of people.
The range of an air rifle is 150 meters, but in fact it cannot kill anyone beyond 50 meters. Even if it is shot at close range, it cannot penetrate a 3mm (millimeter) steel plate.
But air rifles have unparalleled shooting speed and continuous shooting capabilities before the invention of submachine guns. Four air rifles rain bullets on the rushing gunmen at a speed of two rounds per second.
In 15 seconds, 120 rounds of bullets directly knocked the twenty gunmen at the front to the ground. The remaining gunmen had never seen such fierce firepower, and they all retreated for a while.
At this time, it was the lever rifle's turn to exert its power. The fierce and precise bullets kept reducing the number of attackers.
Of course, there are also attackers who use the commanding heights to shoot cold arrows at the guards. But the attacker soon discovered the problem. Pistols and muzzle-loading guns had no advantage at all when shooting against lever-action rifles.
In particular, the revolver seems to only rely on ricochet and "god" to kill the opponent, while the lever-action rifle can accurately shoot it.
At the same time, the attackers discovered a problem, that is, the expected situation of the guards not standing in front of the carriage to physically block the bullets occurred. Instead, everyone hid behind the carriage.
What's even more outrageous is that the carriage's carriage was unscathed after being fired by dozens of rifle bullets and hundreds of pistol rounds. The leader of the attackers was also worried.
Just hearing the sound of a flower pot breaking, all the gunmen rushed towards the carriage as if they were on fire.
They thought the silent, rapid weapon had been exhausted, but they miscalculated. The four air riflemen had changed their gas bottles just now, and bullets rained down again.
But this time the attackers did not retreat and rushed towards the carriage despite huge casualties. The guards also knew that the last moment had arrived, so they dropped their spears and drew their revolvers to fight.
The close combat shooting was very brutal. People on both sides fell down one after another. Soon the last guard and the last attacker who rushed up were shooting at each other and fell to the ground.
At this time, nearly a hundred corpses were lying on the street. In fact, there was still a team of attackers left. However, because the carriage was too strong, long-range shooting was ineffective, so they could only get close to the carriage to ensure that they killed the target.
"What the hell! How can these bastards be so good at fighting! They've been fighting for so long. It seems we can't escape either!"
One of the attackers said very reluctantly.
Another attacker said expressionlessly: "The buyer has paid enough hush money. Our task now is to confirm that the target is dead, and then the balance will be left to our families."
"Damn it! Damn it!"
When the attacker walked near the carriage, he discovered that the entire carriage was made of forged and welded steel.
While they were thinking about how to open this "steel-cased bastard", Klaus overturned the stall beside him and used the air rifle again. As the gas in the high-pressure cylinder was exhausted, the last attacker also died in convulsions.
Klaus drew his revolver and stood guard against the stall until the city defense troops arrived and lost consciousness.
Looking at the corpses on the ground and the messy streets, they felt like they were on a battlefield. They had never seen such a brutal battle.
80% of the attackers were killed directly or bled to death, and the situation of the remaining ones was also very pessimistic.
Eight of the guards died on the spot, ten of the remaining thirteen lost consciousness, and the other three also lost the ability to move.
Baron Brooke himself only hit his forehead on the steel plate and suffered some minor trauma and concussion.
After interrogation, it was determined that the attack was planned by several large families.
What's the purpose? Naturally, it is the position of central bank governor, because Brooke blocks too many people's financial paths.
Since Baron Brooke was supported by Archduke Franz, those people naturally did not dare to do anything to the latter, so they could only find ways to deal with the former.
So a hundred gunmen were hired and decided to assassinate Baron Brooke on the street in front of the Central Bank, but Franz knew that the matter was far from simple.
Who has the ability to clear away all the nearby military police and police, while at the same time keeping the escorts affiliated with the Central Bank stationary.
Just when Franz was about to investigate thoroughly, Count Xussel found the former and warned Franz not to continue the investigation.
He knew that this was what his mother meant, so Franz immediately rushed back to Schonbrunn Palace to ask Mrs. Sophie face to face.
"Mother, why is this? They took the initiative to provoke us, do you want me to swallow their anger? The same was true for the previous assassination of my father. What are you thinking about?"
Mrs. Sophie: “Franz, I hope you can understand that this country does not belong to you before you ascend the throne.
And by sacrificing Brooke alone, you can get the support of many people. "
Franz asked angrily: "Is it necessary to use a financial expert who is loyal to the country to exchange for the support of a group of rubbish who only know how to scheming?"
Mrs. Sophie was not in a hurry, she seemed to have known that Franz would say this.
"Mr. Brooke is indeed a loyal man, but he is not irreplaceable. There is no shortage of people in the empire who are more capable and have better background than him.
You are not the emperor yet. You need to win over those big families to support you, instead of going against them and forcing them to support your opponents and prevent you from ascending the throne. "
Mrs. Sophie's words confused Franz, who didn't know what other "opponents" he had. Could it be Maximilian, but that's too ridiculous.
Just the edict and Salic law left by Franz II made Franz feel that he could not lose to Maximilian.
In addition, if his brother is really so confused, although he will not commit parricide, he will still have to teach him a lesson.