The projectile fired from the musket left a cone-shaped penetrating wound on the chest of the first mate, and from the side of the body, you could even see the scenery behind it.

With a look of surprise, Golden Fang looked down at the wound on his chest, and before he could say a word, he collapsed and never lived again.

Holding on to the edge of the wooden platform, Aisha, who struggled to get up, raised the short sword to protect her chest, and shouted: "If there is still a bastard with bad intentions, I don't mind opening such a hole in him too!"

The rebellious pirates, who witnessed the death of the first mate, suddenly lost the fighting spirit to resist, and they lost their backbone, and they were tied to the mast by the captain's cronies.

Ten minutes later, the armed clippers in the night returned to their former calm.

Those who died in battle were first cut by knives and then thrown into the sea, where their bodies were instantly buried by waves and storms.

The blood stains on the deck were washed away, but the heavy smell of blood in the air did not dissipate for a long time.

Instructing her cronies to keep an eye on the rebels, Aisha invites Todd and Rachel back to the captain's room. Entering the room, she lifted her trouser leg without hesitation, and slowly cut through the skin of the wound with a red-hot knife.

The faint hissing sound, the curling white smoke, and the faint smell of burnt flesh in his nose, Todd frowned a little uncomfortably.

Large drops of sweat rolled down her forehead, Aisha clenched her teeth, gently parted the bloody wound with one hand, picked up the sharp-nosed pliers with the other, clamped the tail of the crossbow, and pulled it out hard.

The blood-stained bolts fell to the floor with a dull sound.

Looking closely at the wound that was bleeding, Aisha's pale face finally felt a little relieved. She breathed a sigh of relief, threw the tools back on the table, bandaged them briefly, and looked at the two guests in the room, "Why do you want to help me?"

Hearing the other party's question, Todd shrugged his shoulders in some confusion and responded, "Why don't you help?"

"I've brought a lot of 'cargo' with me, and they've never thought of helping when they encounter something on the voyage. ”

Todd glanced at the musket on the table and said with a smile, "If something happens to you, I don't believe those guys will continue to honor the delivery agreement you promised before." ”

Aisha nodded, agreeing with the answer.

Later, noticing Todd's observation, she followed his gaze to the musket in front of her and asked, "Are you interested in this?"

The latter smiled and stretched out his right hand: "If I can get your permission......"

Aisha thought for a moment, picked up the musket and handed it to Todd, and said, "Mr. Derek, be careful, don't break it!"

Nodding his head in response, Todd picked up the musket and looked at it repeatedly.

This weapon is heavy to start with, and the material is exquisite, with a single-shot loading in the breech and a double medicine compartment in the tail.

Leaning closer and sniffing it, Todd could smell a faint smell of castor oil in addition to the smell of gunpowder, and then looked closely through the light of the fire, and the burned linen cloth was applied to the fire, which looked like a black ash.

Aisha watched Todd's movements, her aqua blue and amber eyes gently moving, and she remained silent from beginning to end.

Todd held the musket and sat there in deep thought for a while.

During his college years, he and his fellow boys often discussed military affairs and weapons. Although he is not his own major, he still knows a little about firearms.

The evolutionary history of the development of early firearms can be roughly divided into arquebuses, tinder muskets, reed wheel muskets and flintlock muskets.

The musket in his hand, from a technical point of view, should be between a tinder pistol and a flintlock pistol, and from the point of view of age, it appeared at the end of the 15th century in Europe.

Speaking of the history of muskets, the earliest can be traced back to the end of the 10th century AD, when the Northern Song Dynasty invented the world's earliest arquebus, the bamboo musket (later evolved into the assault musket in the Southern Song Dynasty), and then in the thirties of the 14th century, medieval Europe gave birth to the earliest prototype of the Western arquebus, the musket.

In 1206 A.D., after the rise of the Mongols, they not only destroyed the Western Xia, the Western Liao, and the Jin Dynasty in a short period of time, but also went south to overthrow the Song Dynasty, causing the research and development of gunpowder weapons in the East to plummet and collapse; on the other hand, in the Middle Ages in Europe, due to the late introduction of gunpowder weapons and the suppression of church forces, it was not until the early 16th century that Europe began to upgrade the arquebus.

However, in the long history of the previous life, there was a country that was selectively forgotten by the world regarding the research and application of gunpowder weapons.

That was the Arab Empire.

Through trade and proselytizing, gunpowder technology from the Northern Song Dynasty was introduced to the Arab Empire as early as the end of the 11th century.

Compared with the turbulent situation in the East and the repressed religions in the West, the relatively stable political situation, more enlightened religious tolerance and advanced ideas advocating science in the Arab Empire created an unparalleled "golden age" for the development of gunpowder.

In the *** army at that time, there were some incredible gunpowder weapons, which are now regarded as "black technology" and remain in the history books. For example, in the 13th century, the Syrians made a powerful torpedo against ships, and the famous Discovery channel program "Mythbuster" even made a special program for this purpose.

However, later generations of academics have a negative and skeptical attitude towards the gunpowder weapons of the Arab Empire, whether in the East or in the West. The reason is simple, because of years of war and division, as well as man-made wanton destruction, there are no relics and antiques preserved in the region, and the lack of evidence has caused this period of gunpowder history of the empire to gradually disappear into history.

Aisha interrupted Todd's thoughts, "You don't look new to this musket. ”

The latter avoided the question: "Captain, can you tell me how you got this weapon? ”

Aisha raised an eyebrow: "There is nothing inconvenient, about a year ago, I plundered a messenger ship of the Abbasid Empire, and this musket came from one of the ship's commanders. ”

"A year ago?" Todd flipped the musket over and over a few more times, and found a line of small writing underneath the base of the handle.

"Only a shooting star in the night sky can catch up with Allah."

"Aisha, I'm very interested in things in the south, can you please introduce one or two?"

Hearing Todd's words, Aisha laughed: "Finally, there is a people of the Church who are willing to prick up their ears to hear the deeds of Allah, instead of indiscriminately slandering. ”

Aisha retrieved the musket, put it on the shelf and fixed it, then limped to the bedside and said loudly, "The south you call is actually composed of two empires and many small countries. The two empires, the Abbasids and the Ayyubids, have been at war since late last year. ”

"Ayyubids, I've heard people say, aren't the two great empires of the South Abbasid and Fatima?"

"The Fatimid Empire has fallen...... Just last year, Saladin, the original prime minister of the Fatimid Empire, overthrew its last caliphate and established a new empire, the Ayyubid. ”

"So that's the case, so in your opinion, who can win this war?"

Aisha tilted her head and muttered for a moment, then said uncertainly: "I am optimistic about the Abbasid Empire, which has more soldiers, a wider territory, and more wealth...... However, the Ayyubid Empire had a wise caliph - Saladin ......"

Todd nodded, bringing the topic back to the musket: "So, how many such weapons are there in the Southern Empire, and how are they made?"

Aisha didn't speak, looked at the man in front of her vigilantly, and finally smiled self-deprecatingly, and said indifferently: "It doesn't matter if you tell you anyway, as far as I know, as early as a hundred years ago, the technology of muskets was introduced to Allah's territory." I don't know the exact number of firearms, but unlike you cowards who are afraid of new things, the Abbasids focused on gunpowder in their military research. ”

Richel, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but interject: "It's just a hundred years of research, what kind of point can it go." ”

Aisha laughed: "That's why I said, the people in the north are just strange! I have heard the voice of the progress of the times, but I want to bury my head in the sand and pretend that nothing has happened!"

"The Abbasid Empire had 19 provinces, each with a capital of no less than 500,000 people, and no fewer than 100 well-known universities and colleges throughout the country. The University of Mary, the capital of the empire, is home to thousands of scholars. The Empire's harbor is filled with hundreds of Antola-class three-masted battleships......" Aisha turned her gaze to Todd, whose face was getting darker and darker: "Just the Abbasid Empire's caliphate guards, do you know how many there are?"

"100,000!"