On the winding road from Red River Valley Ranch to Brisbane

Four tall, sturdy quart horses dragged the heavy bulletproof wagon, and the sturdy weighted steel vehicle crushed against the rubble, shattering it in an instant.

This bulletproof carriage imported from the United States, often used in the western wilderness to transport bank and postal valuables to prevent robbery by the endless stream of cowboys and bandits, the carriage is large and comfortable, located on the front of the rotating gun mount, impressively placed with a hideous weapon.

This is the American mechanic Richard Jaydan Gatling's invention of the hand-cranked multi-barreled heavy machine gun in 1862, with a total of 9 shiny barrels.

Gatling mounted nine barrels side by side on a rotating cylinder, and with each rotation of the handle, each barrel completed the kinetic energy of loading, firing, and shelling in turn, which was a great killer in this era.

A skilled shooter who can fire 400 rounds per minute. The Gatling gun was the world's first full-fledged machine gun that could be used in real combat, and was widely used in the wild and turbulent western states of the United States, and was widely used in the escort carriages of banks and postal companies.

A complete carriage with attached Gatling guns costs £117 6 shillings, and the North American manufacturer also comes with two smoothbore guns under the driver's seat and a full set of leather horse rigging with thick North American bear skin pads.

Is this expensive?

It's not just expensive, it's extremely expensive.

A regular revolver can be bought for 2 shillings and 12 pence, and a new British Spencer post-race rifle costs only 7 shillings and 10 pence.

There is a reason why you are expensive

If nothing else, the Gatling Heavy Machine Gun had nine barrels alone, and required the most sophisticated machining and the best steel of its time, and the overall weight of the rotating base was more than 1,180 pounds.

The cost was much more than a six-pounder gun, and it was by no means a simple stack of 9 rifles.

Secondly, the weight of the bulletproof carriage is considerable.

The high carburizing hard steel used in the bulletproof carriage belongs to the bulletproof steel sheet of the ironclad ship, and the shock absorbing springs, wheels and axles are all heavy, which can cope with the wild impact of the war horse and run over it fiercely.

Covered with a beautiful layer of North American maple planks and intricately carved ornaments, such a heavy carriage weighed three times as much as an ordinary carriage and required four sturdy Quarter horses to pull it.

Although the road is bumpy, Li Fushou can't feel the bumps when he sits in the carriage, and he has to marvel at the solid foundation of the North American manufacturers in the shock absorption of the carriage, which is indeed extraordinary.

In addition to the 5 armed guards on the carriage, there were 16 mounted gunners accompanying him, all of whom were equipped with a short gun and a carbine, and the yellow-orange-orange bullet belts crossed the chest to protect the carriage very tightly.

Li Fushou went to Brisbane to meet with Mr. Wexford, the Director of Queensland's Immigration Department, to discuss the next step of cooperation.

With more than 200 naturalization applications and a large amount of cash in the carriage, and many more naturalization applications at the headquarters of the Fulinmen Hotel, there was so much backlog at hand that we had to put down the Red River Valley Ranch project and make a trip.

The carriage travels about 10 kilometers away, leaving the Red River Valley and entering a lush hilly area, where the tall trees on both sides are full of greenery, and the sound of the rushing waves of the Brisbane River can be faintly heard.

Suddenly, a dense burst of gunfire rang out.

The three gunners who were at the forefront were caught off guard and were hit by a dense stream of bullets flying from nowhere, and immediately fell headlong with blood gushing from their bodies.

The sturdy Quarter Horse was shot by a bullet and tumbled in grief, kicking up clouds of dust on the rough dirt road.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack ......"

Nan Huaiyu, who was sitting next to the driver of the carriage, was stunned when he saw this, and roared and took out a spear from the seat under his buttocks, raised his hand and released two shots, shouting loudly; "Son of a bitch, quickly suppress the bandits in front, let's speed up and rush over."

The rider flicked the whip vigorously, and a loud whip flower urged the horse to accelerate.

This moment

The Quarter horse galloped on all fours, dragging the heavy wagons at high speed, making a loud roar.

Needless to say, the gunners accompanying the escort drew their carbines and fired at the bandits in the hilly area, galloping with their legs tightly between the belly of their horses, and from time to time leaning down to avoid the bullets.

In the hail of bullets, several more accompanying gunmen fell with bullets.

Compared with the bandits who had been prepared for a long time, the exposed accompanying gunmen were undoubtedly at a disadvantage, so they could only bend down and shoot at the opponent, accelerating through the danger zone.

After paying heavy casualties, the gunmen escorted the wagon to finally rush through the ambush circle, but did not escape the danger.

A large number of bandits emerged in the hilly area behind, at first glance it seemed that there were no less than 60 people, and in the dense bushes, there were still bandits emerging from them, who were riding on horses and waving the guns in their hands and chasing after them, and shooting their guns in a disorderly manner.

This was a premeditated large-scale ambush, and the group was more than lucky.

"Ah......h

One of the guards gunners who were shooting hard at the back of the carriage was shot several times and fell heavily from the carriage, and the knights behind hurriedly rode their horses to avoid it.

Bullets slammed through the wooden planks against the hard steel carriages, making a dull "poof" sound like a malicious talisman.

Li Fushou looked down from the observation port with a gloomy face, and ordered in a deep voice; "Nan Huaiyu, order all the men who are covering in the back to come to the front of the carriage, and let the carriage block a bullet for them, or all the people will be exhausted in a while."

"Young master, the carriage is too heavy to run fast, and someone must cover behind to delay the pursuit of the bandits."

"Do as I say."

"Oh...... Yes, sir. ”

The guards and gunners who had received the order, almost seeing hope of life in the mortal situation, crouched on their horses and drove their horses forward with all their might.

One by one, they rushed into the front of the carriage, and the bullets fired from the rear were blocked by the huge carriage, which greatly increased security.

There are pros and cons to this, and while security is greatly increased, the gunmen are not a threat to the pursuing bandits.

The bandits became even more rampant, and simply spread their legs and chased after them, screaming loudly and strangely.

The two sides chased and fled

The gunners on the carriage fought back, and kept shooting the pursuing bandits off their horses, and the two sides suffered casualties on each other, and 6~7 kilometers passed in a blink of an eye.

The masked bandits in the rear galloped side by side with five or six horses, and the dense projectiles fired from the pistols made the gunners lying on the carriage unable to raise their heads, and the bandits approached step by step with a sneer, seeing that they were only a dozen meters away from the carriage.

The impatient bandits had already stuck their revolvers at their waists and stood on their galloping horses ready to jump and seize the wagons loaded with large amounts of cash.

At this critical moment

The upper floor of the carriage opened, and a hideous-looking nine-barreled Gatling heavy machine gun flashed out and slowly rose up along the steel rails.

Nan Huaiyu held on the heavy machine gun handle with one hand, and tightly grasped the machine gunner's crank with the other, the anger in his eyes simply erupted, and he scolded wildly; "I'll grass you guy, let me die!"

The words are not finished

"Dadada...... Dada......da

The blazing projectiles from the heavy machine guns were spewed away, and in the desperate shouts of the terrified bandits, like fiery scythes that harvest life, they shot off their horses and bloomed with blood.

For a moment, the road behind rolled down like a killing field, and blood stained the dirt road of pursuit.

The poor large group of bandits rode their horses and chased wildly together, the nearest distance was only a dozen meters, and after the powerful heavy machine gun bulleted through the bandits in front, they dug into the quarthorse in the rear, setting off a bloody storm.

There was no need to aim at all, and the hand-cranked handle turned the barrel to vent the firepower to the fullest, hitting a no-man's land.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem......"

Li Fushou got out of the gunsmoke-filled carriage, coughed wildly, and angrily pushed away Nan Huaiyu standing in the shooter position, which made Nan Huaiyu shocked; "Young master, it's too dangerous."

"Get out of here, you kid is having a good time on it, Lao Tzu was almost choked to death in the carriage."

"Uh...... Well, you're the boss and you have the final say. ”

Nan Huaiyu touched his nose and stood aside, picked up a gun and loaded it, and the guard with a vigilant expression was on the side.

Li Fushou gritted his teeth and grabbed the handle, and shot wildly at the rear, knocking all the remaining bandits into pieces, and desperately running into the surrounding bushes, tripping and falling from the branches from time to time.

The frightened horse rolled and stood up, spreading its hooves and running away without a trace.

"Dada...... Click......"

The last bullet belt was empty, the rotating barrel made a crisp "click" sound, and the nine shiny barrels still rotated.

Li Fushou was too addicted to guns, and casually threw away the Gatling heavy machine gun, his face was smoked gray and black by the thick gunsmoke, and his eyes were filled with dust and smoke.

I don't know when the carriage has stopped, and I can no longer hear the sound of galloping horses.

"Hurry up and load your bullets to prevent the attack of bandits who still have slipped through the net."

"Yes, young master."

In the carriage, Nan Huaiyu and three guard gunners hurriedly opened a large pile of hot bullet casings, pulled out the long canvas gun belt, and then pressed the bullets into it one by one.

It's cool to fight, but it's hard work to press bullets.

The cold wind blew, and the smoke of gunpowder in front of him slowly dissipated, and what appeared in front of Li Fushou was a scene of slaughter like hell.

The half-pulled skull was broken, the huge bloody hole carved out by the heavy machine gun bullet, and the bloody internal organs flowed all over the ground, which was too miserable.

According to a rough estimate, nearly 50 bandits were killed along the route, accounting for almost two-thirds of the people involved in the ambush, and a little stronger.

Fang Cai couldn't see clearly on the carriage, but all this was clearly presented in front of him, Li Fushou could no longer suppress the churning nausea in his heart, and a mouthful of "wow" squirted out.

Nan Huaiyu was sitting on the bullet pile and diligently pressing the bullets, and this time he was sprayed all over his face, and he was immediately stupid.

What's the situation with the young master?

Li Fushou felt much better after spitting it out, but he couldn't look at the miserable situation in front of him anymore, turned his head slightly and beckoned to the rest of the people, ordering them to inspect the battlefield.

It didn't take long

The remaining eight guards and gunmen came over with a few dejected bandits, all survivors who had been thrown off their horses, and the battle had frightened them, and they were forced to pour beans under the threat of guns.

It turned out that this group of bandits was composed of two ranches in the southwest and some white stray cowboys recruited, with a total of about 70 people.

The leaders are rancher Smith and Ludendorff, and the main force is also cowboys from two ranches, and I don't know how many more.

They don't know, but Li Fushou knows;

It must be that these two neighboring ranches are red-eyed, thinking that if they kill Li Fushou, they will be leaderless, and everything will fall into their pockets.

This calculation is inevitably too wishful, and then again, there is no need to think about how complicated these Tuao are.

These guys are used to being arrogant in the world of Queensland, they have never encountered any survival pressure when they have grown up, there is no intrigue, no deceit, no strong competitive environment and no need for cooperation.

Therefore, he has formed a straight-hearted and fast-talking straight temper, almost a intestine leads to the end, and if he is not satisfied, he will do it, and he will not turn at all.

It is estimated that they have not thought about the consequences and serious effects of the assassination of Li Fushou, which is too difficult for them.

Li Fushou secretly glanced at him, and then turned around and left.

A crisp gunfire rang out behind him, and the bandits were killed alive on the way, and the gunmen rode on their horses to continue to replenish the guns for the wounded gangsters, and from time to time there were sporadic gunshots.

A moment later

Nan Huaiyu, whose head had been cleaned, came back to report; "Young master, it's all settled."

"What about our people, are there any people alive?"

"Alas, no, so many horses are not even intact corpses."

Although he had already thought of this ending, Li Fushou still couldn't help but feel heavy, a total of 21 guards and 10 gunmen were killed, which was really a painful victory.

After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice; "Each fallen brother will be given a settling-in allowance of £20, and the other brothers will receive £10, and they will be promoted to squad leader according to their performance, and two people will be arranged to notify the ranch and the Queensland police respectively so that they can deal with it."

"Understood, do it right away."

"Uh...... By the way, did the dead bandits check clearly, and were rancher Smith and Ludendorff included? ”

"Young master, Ludendorff's characteristics are very obvious, it is certain that he has died, but repeated inspections have not found Smith, we suspect that he took advantage of the chaos to escape, whether he is going to send someone to pursue."

"No...... Let him go. Li Fushou shook his head indifferently, looked at the southwest direction and said; I expect this man to live in terror in the future, and the more prosperous the Red River Valley ranch becomes, the more terrified Smith becomes, he has a wife and children, and he is always afraid of retribution from the Red River Valley, and he is shrouded in the shadow of death, and he will eventually destroy himself, so why should we deprive him of his pleasure? ”

These words made Nan Huaiyu feel cold and his hair stood on end, and he hurriedly gave a salute, turned around and walked away.

In this way, the young master is the most ruthless.