"You? Do you accept? ”

Not only the nobles who were watching, but even the Count of Falcone couldn't help but widen their eyes, thinking that they had misheard something.

Lawrence nodded solemnly, stared at Count Falcone and said:

"Your Excellency, in order to expose your true colors, and to drive people like you away from Miss Elvi, I accept your duel. But..."

Lawrence showed the crowd his injuries and then said:

"It's clear that my body can't use a longsword now, so I'm proposing that we have a pistol duel."

For the nobles, they actually preferred to engage in real sword duels rather than pistol duels, because in their opinion, pistol duels were unskillful, and a lightly trained commoner had a fair chance of killing a well-trained nobleman in a pistol duel.

And such a situation is rare in real sword duels, people who have not received swordsmanship training are almost impossible to defeat well-trained swordsmen, and in this era, there are basically only nobles who have money and leisure to practice duel swordsmanship, so mastering swordsmanship and conducting real sword duels is also a way for nobles to show their status.

But Count Falcone obviously couldn't care so much, he was stunned for a moment, looked at Lawrence's arm with the splint fixed, and didn't care about the opinions of others, and suddenly nodded with joy and said:

"Okay, good, good, you have a kind, then there will be a pistol duel, and I will go to the notary and the deputy, and we will fight to the death in this castle!"

Fear that Lawrence would repent, Count Falcone ran out of the banquet hall with a smug face, and in his opinion, with Lawrence's crippled arm, even a pistol duel would still be looking for death.

In the banquet hall, the nobles were even more in awe of Lawrence, and they could not imagine that he chose to accept the duel with his wounds in order to defend the truth and protect Miss Elvi from harassment.

As for Count Falcone, he was already despised to the fullest, and not only did he most likely use deceit to win Miss Elvie's favor, but he also accepted the duel with Lawrence, the wounded, without shame, as a sign of utter lack of grace.

Lawrence saluted the surrounding nobles, then gave the worried Miss Elvie and the Crown Prince and his wife a look that everything was under control, and then led Grosso out of the ballroom to get his equipment.

......

"Tsk, boy, how can you tell that the antlers are fake? I don't see anything wrong. ”

After leaving the banquet hall, Grosso, a veteran hunter, hurriedly asked Lawrence in a low voice.

Lawrence rolled his eyes, shrugged his shoulders and said:

"I've never seen a stag in my life, so how can I tell if the antlers are real or fake."

"Damn, I'll just say it." Grosso said angrily:

"I'm still wondering if I don't even see the antlers, how can you see it. This is to provoke the earl to say it deliberately, you kid is really a lie. ”

Lawrence also responded with a smile that didn't care:

"How can this be called a lie, this is called a political opinion, but the political opinion has nothing to do with the facts. And if you were an ordinary person present, who would you believe, the heroic governor of Corsica who saved the crown prince? Or the notorious playboy in Paris. This proposition comes at almost no cost. ”

"Gotta get it, I can't say you kid."

Grosso restrained his playful face and asked solemnly:

"But now that you've accepted a pistol duel with him, are you sure? Pistol duels are somehow more dangerous than real sword duels, because bullets don't last long. ”

Lawrence nodded, took Grosso back to his room, found his matching gun and handed it to Grosso.

This pistol doesn't look peculiar, it's a very ordinary engraved flintlock pistol, but the barrel is a little longer than a normal pistol, and it is more weighty to hold in your hand.

Grosso took the pistol and looked at it carefully for a while, and suddenly said:

"I see, this is the same as those muskets of precision marksmen, made by Major Trefary."

After that, Grosso picked up a few special bullets next to him and looked at them, and sure enough, they were Minnie bullets used with rifled muskets.

"Hehe, no wonder you kid specifically offered a pistol duel."

Grosso laughed twice, and finally let go of his worries about Lawrence, patted Lawrence on the back and said:

"Looks like the earl is going to suffer."

......

When Lawrence returned to the banquet hall, Count Falcone had not yet returned, and the discussion in the banquet hall was still centered on the upcoming pistol duel between the Doge of Corsican and the Count of Falcone.

Although the people recognized Lawrence's courage and will, they still had little confidence that he would win the duel, so as soon as Lawrence stepped through the door of the banquet hall, many nobles came forward to persuade Lawrence to abandon the duel.

"Dear Lawrence, you are so young that you need not put your life on the same scale as that scoundrel."

The nobles bitterly persuaded him:

"What's more, you are injured, this duel is not in accordance with the rules, and you have every right to give up this duel unconditionally."

Lawrence bowed to the persuaded nobles, and said in a righteous manner:

"Thank you for your concern, but this duel is for both Miss Elvie and His Royal Highness Dauphin Louis, and I cannot afford to watch these two friends of mine continue to be insulted by Count Falcone, so I am willing to stand up even if it is all too difficult."

There was a brief silence in the ballroom, but it was followed by a round of applause and cheers, and the people looked at Lawrence in amazement, and did not hesitate to applaud and praise them.

Many elderly aristocrats even said that in this Corsican, they saw all the fine traditions of the French aristocracy.

The ladies beside Miss Elvi looked at her with envy, and said with some jealousy:

"Oh my God, Elvie, did you hear me, he said it was a duel for you, like a loyal knight, and I bet you won't find a second man like that in Paris."

Miss Elvie only smiled and nodded in the face of the envy of her companions, she was now more concerned about whether Lawrence could survive the duel.

"Oh! Lawrence, you've been so loyal to do this for me. ”

Crown Prince Louis looked at Lawrence with tears in his eyes, although he knew that Lawrence would take revenge on Count Falcone for himself, but he really didn't expect Lawrence to have a life-and-death duel for this.

Crown Princess Mary on the side glanced at her husband with some dissatisfaction, and said with a small mouth:

"Hmph, you don't try to persuade Monsieur Bonaparte, I don't want him to die here."

After listening to the translation, Crown Prince Louis scratched his head, and then realized that he was a little unrighteous in this way, but he didn't know what to do.

Crown Princess Mary sighed helplessly, and directly ordered:

"You send someone to call the court physician and get them ready, and if Monsieur Bonaparte is wounded, you will interrupt the duel directly, and this duel will be illegal anyway."

"Ah, that's a great idea, indeed." Crown Prince Louis nodded again and again, almost obedient to his wife, so he hurriedly sent someone to make arrangements according to what the crown princess said.

At this moment, I saw a man hurrying to the door of the banquet hall, but it was not Count Falcone, but the Duke of Choiseul, who had arrived immediately after hearing the news of the duel.

The Duke of Choiseul had just been out of the ballroom, so he had learned the news from his men, and as soon as he learned that Lawrence was going to have a duel with the Count of Falcone, the Duke of Choiseul rushed over without stopping.

The Duke of Choiseul, who entered the door, frowned and looked around, and soon found Lawrence in the crowd, stepped forward and patted Lawrence on the shoulder, led him to the corner, and asked in a very unhappy whisper:

"Doge Bonaparte, are you serious? I don't think you're the one who is so impulsive. ”

For the Duke of Choiseul, whether it was personal emotion or interests, he did not want Lawrence to have any accidents at such a time.

"I'm really not an impulsive person." Lawrence said with a smile.

"Huh...?" The Duke of Choiseul looked puzzled, looked at Lawrence for a few seconds, and then asked:

"Are you sure you'll win?"

"I don't dare to say that I will win, but I am 90% sure." Lawrence said with his head bowed.

Duke Choiseul squinted his eyes at Lawrence, and the displeasure on his face vanished, although he didn't know where Lawrence's confidence came from, but according to Duke Choiseul's knowledge of Lawrence, this young man would not take an unsure risk.

Moreover, if Lawrence is really sure that he will win the duel, then the Duke of Choiseul is also happy to see this result, after all, that Count Falcone is not only the grandson of the Duke of Richelieu, but has also been harassing his own daughter recently, and the Duke of Choiseul also wants to teach this damn bastard some lessons, and it is best to let him die at gunpoint.

"In that case, I choose to believe you, Governor Bonaparte."

The Duke of Choiseul nodded and said:

"But to be on the safe side, I'll still send someone to watch you, and if something happens, I'll immediately interrupt the duel, you have no opinion, right?"

Lawrence smiled and nodded in acceptance, it seemed that he still had a very important position with the Duke of Choiseul.

And while Lawrence was talking with the Duke of Choiseul, the Count of Falcone also returned to the banquet hall with his lieutenant and the notary, looked at Lawrence with a gloomy face, and said:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, I am ready, I hope you will not have stage fright."

Lawrence glanced at Count Falcone with contempt, and said aloud:

"I'm just standing here, how can I have stage fright, but it's been so long for you to show up, it can't be that you haven't been mentally prepared, right?"

"Hmph, look at how clever you are when you fall in a pool of blood for a while." Count Falcone wrung his nose and said viciously:

"Then don't waste time, hurry up and check the weapon, I can't wait to shoot you with my own hands."

It is also a necessary process to check each other's pistols before a pistol duel.

This process also originated in the early days of pistol duels, when duelists exploited loopholes in the rules in order to achieve victory, using many weapons designed specifically for duels that could hardly be called pistols at all.

For example, a pistol with six barrels, or a hand cannon the size of a baby's fist, or even a shield gun with a shield fixed to the body.

In order to prevent the pistol duel from turning into an arms race, later duelists also designed a process for inspecting weapons, completely excluding these strange weapons from the duel.

But Lawrence still relieved himself to hand over his pistol to the other party's deputy for inspection, although his pistol was engraved with rifling, but there was still no difference between it and ordinary pistols in appearance, and the inspection weapon was basically just a check of appearance.

Sure enough, Count Falcone's deputy only looked up and down for a while after taking Lawrence's pistol, and then quickly returned the pistol to Lawrence, after all, in the eyes of everyone, this duel was not good for Lawrence, and if he still made it difficult for Lawrence with weapons, it would be impossible to say.

Grosso also took Count Falcone's luxurious pistol decorated with gold and silver and looked at it for a while, indicating that there was no problem.

"Hmph, then let's go to the castle courtyard, you don't have weak legs and can't walk."

After checking each other's pistols, Count Falcone gritted his teeth and looked at Lawrence.

"Wait."

Lawrence did not rush away after inserting the pistol back into his waist, but looked at the notary brought by Count Falcone and said:

"I should have the right to negotiate the rules of the duel, right?"

"Uh... Of course, as long as you both agree on it. The notary nodded hesitantly.

"Very well, then I propose to set the duel distance from the normal thirty steps to sixty steps." Lawrence looked at Count Falcone and said.

"Sixty steps?"

Count Falcone sneered, thinking that Lawrence deliberately widened the distance of the duel in order to delay time, after all, sixty paces away from the pistol estimated that it would take seven or eight rounds to hit the target.

But in the opinion of Count Falcone, his shooting frequency must be faster than that of Lawrence, who was wounded, and even if he increased the distance, he still had an advantage, so he replied directly:

"Okay, sixty steps is sixty steps, I'll see what tricks you can play."

......

Moments later, Lawrence and Count Falcone arrived in the courtyard of the castle.

The nobles and ladies crowded the platform on the second floor, from which they watched the duel, and most of them prayed silently in their hearts for the valiant Lord Bonaparte for his victory over the vile Count Falcone.

Both took off their coats and stood back to back in their shirts, also to prove that neither was wearing protective gear.

The bandages on Lawrence's body were still faintly visible under the thin shirt, and the aristocratic ladies who were watching him shook their heads and sighed when they saw this, admiring his courage and character even more.

In addition to the two dueling men and the notary in the courtyard, the Crown Prince Louis and the Duke of Choiseul also stood below, ready to rush up to interrupt the duel.

Crown Prince Louis himself stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking at Lawrence with anxiety.

Soon, the notary began to give orders skillfully, directing the two men back to back to move forward, accurately widening the distance of sixty paces.

The summer evening breeze had subdued at the right time, and there was silence in the castle courtyard, as the onlookers watched with bated breath and swallowed nervously.

"Both sides began to reload." The notary also announced with some nervousness.

As Lawrence and Count Falcone drew their pistols and reloaded, the notary finally shouted at the top of his voice:

"The duel begins!"

As soon as the words fell, the two turned around almost simultaneously and raised their pistols at each other.

The distance of sixty steps is almost fifty yards, that is, more than forty meters, and at this distance it is only enough to barely distinguish the head, body and legs of the other party.

Coupled with the pistol's poor shooting accuracy, experienced duelists will not pursue a single shot, but will shoot the most times in the shortest amount of time by skillfully reloading.

Count Falcone was obviously experienced, and as soon as he turned around, he did not hesitate to pull the trigger as soon as he aimed the barrel of his gun at Lawrence.

A puff of white smoke erupted from the muzzle of his gun, and the projectile came out, but it only hit Lawrence a dozen yards of dirt in front of him, and sixty paces was indeed a long way from the accuracy of the pistol.

But Count Falcone was not discouraged when he saw this, and very skillfully took out the ammunition in the paper bag and began another round of reloading, which in his perception would take more than a dozen rounds to determine the winner or loser.

However, Count Falcone, who was in the middle of the loading, also sensed that something was wrong, he had just heard only the sound of his own gun, and Lawrence on the other side did not seem to have fired the first shot.

Through the slowly dissipating smoke, Count Falcone glanced at Lawrence, who was still standing in place, his pistol held flat with both hands aimed at him, and did not pull the trigger.

Seeing this scene, even Count Falcone, who was in the duel, suddenly laughed from ear to ear, and scolded bitterly in his heart:

"It turned out to be an inexperienced mud leg, laughing at me, still aiming there, did he think it was archery?"

At the same time, the aristocrats who were watching on the second floor also noticed Lawrence's strangeness and discussed in a panic:

"What's going on?! Why didn't Lord Bonaparte shoot yet? ”

"It can't be a pistol malfunctioning, right?"

"No, he didn't report it to the notary, he really looks like he's still aiming."

"Oh my God, it's useless to aim at this distance."

"Hey! Governor Bonaparte! Can you hear me! Shoot now! ”

Even the Duke of Schwarcel frowned and looked at Lawrence, and he could see from Lawrence's performance that this was a rookie who had never experienced a pistol duel at all, and Duke Schwarcel couldn't help but regret agreeing to Lawrence for this duel.

However, Lawrence, who was all watched, just stood calmly in place, blocking out all shouts from the outside world.

For a humanoid target at a distance of more than 40 meters, as long as the shooting skills are in place, there is at least a seventy percent hit rate.

Lawrence was still silently waiting, waiting for the white eyes in front of Count Falcone to slowly dissipate, and only then could he aim at Count Falcone's head with complete precision.

"What a fool looking for death."

Count Falcone, having finished his second load, pointed his pistol at Lawrence, muttering to himself disdainfully.

The gray-white smoke slowly cleared away as if it had dissolved into the air, briefly revealing the head of Count Falcone hidden in it before the second shot rang out.

"It's now."

Lawrence's face froze, and his wrist suddenly used force to hold the musket more steadily, and pulled the trigger almost at the same moment.

Driven by the gas in the chamber, the Mini bullet swirls at high speed in the constraints of the rifling and ejects from the muzzle, squeezing the air through the air to form a brief but visible transparent bullet mark.

When Count Falcone heard that Lawrence had finally fired, he subconsciously opened his mouth to mock the dull fool, but when he opened his mouth, instead of mocking words, a chilling scream came out of it:

"Ahh

”

The onlookers looked at Count Falcone in amazement, and by the dim light, they could barely see that Count Falcone's crotch was immediately stained red with blood.

"Huh... Did you miss it? ”

Lawrence frowned and looked at the screaming Count Falcone, although his shot hit, it was still far from the expected headshot.

And just as Lawrence was about to reload the second shot, Count Falcone couldn't support his body and fell backwards, even if he fell to the ground, he was still screaming loudly, and the facial features on his face were almost twisted.

Count Falcone's deputy, like the nobles onlookers, had no idea that Lawrence would be able to bring down Count Falcone with one shot, but as a deputy, he still hurried to the dueling arena and shouted:

"Admit defeat and admit defeat, we admit defeat! Damn it, doctor, call a doctor! He's the grandson of the Duke of Richelieu! ”

Seeing this, the notary also hurriedly stepped forward to stop Lawrence's loading, and announced in a loud voice:

"In that case, I declare His Excellency Lawrence Bonaparte that he has won this duel!"

The aristocrats on the platform, despite their faces full of disbelief, cheered in unison when they heard the victorious verdict from the notary's mouth, and the thunderous applause lasted for a long time.

Crown Prince Louis also hurriedly ran to Lawrence's side, patted him on the shoulder and said excitedly:

"I, I don't really know how you did it, but anyway, hearing his screams made me feel a lot better. Hey, let's go see how this bastard goes. ”

Crown Prince Louis said excitedly, pulling Lawrence forward to check on Count Falcone's injuries with the court doctors.

I saw Count Falcone fall to the ground, his body twisted in pain, the pistol had already been thrown aside, and the roots of his trousers were already stained with blood, but it didn't seem to be a lot of blood.

The corners of Lawrence's mouth twitched, and he probably guessed where the bullet hit would make the count so painful, so he patted the doctor who was examining Count Falcone's injuries, and asked:

"How's his injury?"

"Uh... Well, how to put it. ”

The doctor looked strange and said:

"Your bullet pierced his... A symbol of men. After we help him stop the bleeding, his life should not be in danger, even in the future..."

Lawrence and Crown Prince Louis looked at each other very tacitly, and both of them felt a chill in their lower bodies and a surge of sadness.

"It's a pity, dear Count Falcone still has a lot of love to enjoy, and you must cure him."

Lawrence said to the doctor with regret while Count Falcone had not fainted.

"Alas, what a pity." Crown Prince Louis also rarely raised his eyebrows, shook his head at Count Falcone and said:

"He may never be able to do the night runs he loves again."

"You! You guys! Ahhh ”

Count Falcone, who was wriggling on the ground, raised his finger to Lawrence and Crown Prince Louis with all his might, and as soon as he spit out two words, he fainted, and he didn't know whether he was stunned by breath or pain.

"Looks like we've got an extra eunuch earl." Lawrence said as he looked at the fainted Count Falcone.

Crown Prince Louis nodded almost with reverence in response to Lawrence's words, and without the loyal governor of Corsica, he could not have imagined that he would have raised his eyebrows at the Count of Falcone.

"I don't know how to repay you, Lawrence." Crown Prince Louis said from the bottom of his heart.

"Oh, Your Highness, you said that."

Lawrence put his arm around Crown Prince Louis's shoulders very intimately, shook his head nonchalantly and said:

"We're friends, aren't we, and are we getting paid to help our friends? I, Laurence Bonaparte, am not that kind of person. ”

When Crown Prince Louis heard this, he was even more excited, shook Lawrence's hand and said:

"You're so right, we're friends, and it's a great blessing for me to have a friend like you."

"It's my blessing, Your Highness." Lawrence looked down and smiled.

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