Descending On France 1780-Chapter 35: Latecomers will prevail

Anning pulled out the pistol from his waist and handed it to the Colonel.

The Colonel picked up the gun and smirked, "A gun from the renowned gunsmith Lotus, a fine piece indeed. At a dueling range, there's a two-thirds chance of hitting someone."

——Only a two-thirds chance?

Wait a minute, actually two-thirds? So the accuracy seems fairly good?

Seeing Anning's expression, the Colonel laughed, "You don't think a pistol duel is about firing blanks at each other, do you? No, in fact, most of the time, both parties hit their target with the first shot, only it's in non-fatal locations.

"Pistol dueling is about who can bear the intense pain of being shot and reload as quickly as possible.

"Normally, you have to exchange three shots in a pistol duel to determine the victor, and the winner will also have one or two bleeding holes in him. So pistol dueling is much uglier than sword fighting, both sides end up very battered, regardless of victory or defeat."

Anning was half speechless. To be honest, he hadn't really thought that pistol dueling would be like this.

If what the Colonel says is true, isn't pistol dueling just a comparison of who has more health?

Then I have a big advantage!

After all, I'm a tough guy who can ricochet bullets off my head.

The Colonel returned the pistol to Anning and then said to Talleyrand, "I've checked the pistol. It's fine."

Then Edward Ales took out his gun and handed it to Duke Tolleson.

Duke: "Can I let my servant check it? I personally don't understand pistols."

Talleyrand nodded, "Of course, as long as the inspection is done in front of everyone, there's no problem."

So the Duke snapped his fingers, and the coachman who had brought Anning to the venue immediately stepped forward, took the pistol from the Duke's hand, and began to inspect it carefully.

After a moment, the coachman reported to the Duke, "The gun is fine."

At this time, Christina, who had also come along for some reason, spoke up, "Having the coachman inspect it, isn't that a bit improper?"

The coachman explained to his mistress, "Although I am a coachman, I am also the Duke's guard, and I am familiar with various firearms."

The Duke himself explained to his daughter, "He is from Switzerland and once served the Royal Family as a mercenary."

Anning raised his eyebrows. It was unexpected that the Duke of Orleans, who had always wanted Louis XVI to abdicate in his favor, had a guard who, like the French king, was a Swiss mercenary.

Talleyrand said to Christina, "Miss Duke, please join the ladies under the parasols, as this is a pistol duel, we cannot be too close, otherwise, there might be accidental injuries."

Christina replied, "I was just about to go there."

Then she grasped Anning's hand, "You must win, I'm looking forward to going to Briena Military Academy with you."

After saying that, Christina let go of his hand and turned to walk towards the group of noble ladies.

Now there were already several groups of noble ladies gathered nearby, with servants holding large parasols and laying down picnic mats on the ground.

Picnic boxes were opened, revealing the exquisite refreshments brought by the servants of various families.

Edward Ales watched Christina walk away and suddenly said, "The young ladies are here for a picnic, but we are about to put on a bloody killing show with pistols. You really should have chosen swords, then I could have finished you off cleanly, with hardly any blood to be spilled."

Anning immediately retorted, "Using pistols won't be too bloody, as it will be over very quickly."

"Perhaps so," Edward shrugged, "Shall we begin then?"

Talleyrand spoke up, "The weapons have been inspected. Gentlemen, please step back 15 fathoms!"

Here, a 'fathom' is one of the units of distance from this era in France, and a metal rule defining the length of a fathom is embedded in the wall of Paris Chatelet Court.

At this time, French measures were very chaotic. For example, for length, several different standards, including the British foot, were popular in France: the foot, the fathom (not the British fathom), and the pace, and so on.

It was precisely because of this chaos in measures that the National Convention in Paris later decided to establish a new, unified, decimal-based system of measures.

That is the origin of the later metric system.

Anning and Edward stepped back to the required distance, and Talleyrand instructed two attendants to take a 15-fathom-long rope and carefully measure the distance between the two men.

After confirming the distance met the standard, Talleyrand raised a hand, "Gentlemen, start loading your guns, but do not raise or fire them."

Anning immediately pulled out his pistol and began to load it.

The loading process for flintlock guns required taking out a pre-made paper cartridge, tearing a notch, pouring the gunpowder together with the bullet into the barrel, then cramming the paper packet into the muzzle and using a ramrod to pack it tightly.

After completing these loading steps, one also needed to take out the powder horn, pour a little gunpowder into the external pan for igniting.

When the trigger was pulled, the resulting spark from the flintlock would land in the pan, igniting the gunpowder, thereby firing the charge in the barrel through a hole between the pan and the bore.

Anning tore open the prepared cartridge and found that the Duke had given him not a single ball but one large ball with a few small ones.

Even if the large ball missed, the smaller ones might hit, greatly increasing the likelihood of a hit.

It is said that at this time some countries' armies strictly required loading this kind of "buckshot," one large with many small, to improve killing efficiency.

On the other hand, the English redcoats across the sea absolutely refused such "devious tricks," only loading one bullet, because the British believed that at the average engagement distance for line infantry, these small balls had no power, causing hardly any pain when they hit someone.

But Anning was only fifteen fathoms away from Edward at this time, and at this distance, even the small balls had enough lethality.

Moreover, during the loading process, Anning realized another detail: he was loading faster than his opponent.

On further thought, this makes sense, as he has the system, and this loading process is likely also managed by the system. The proof was that Anning didn't have to focus on the load; his body completed the loading as if it were performing muscle memory actions.

Anning had been a musician in the army and had never received firearms training, so it was impossible for him to have developed such muscle memory.

Talleyrand, seeing that both had finished loading, said, "I, Charles Morris Talleyrand, the abbot of Saint Remi Monastery, announce the duel between Edward Ales and Andy Frost has officially begun! Gentlemen, please raise your guns!"

Anning and Edward raised their guns together.

As Anning raised his gun, the sight appeared, and at this distance Anning found that the sight was larger than Edward's entire body—Given such a spread in the sight, there's no way the hit rate is two-thirds! One-third is more like it!

""

Talleyrand took a step back, signaling the two witnesses to do the same.

After everyone had moved back a sufficient distance, Talleyrand shouted the order aloud: "Fire!"

Edward pulled the trigger immediately. The flint sparked and ignited the powder in the pan, and the pistol discharged a large puff of white smoke, followed by a sharp report.

Anning felt a twitch in his shoulder, likely hit by a bullet.

But due to the surge of adrenaline, he felt no pain.

Anning did not fire back, instead, he stepped forward with his gun raised!

As he gradually approached his foe, the sights slowly lined up with the silhouette of his enemy!

Edward, because of the smoky haze caused by his shot, did not notice Anning rapidly closing in; he was busy reloading his firearm.

From the crowd, Marquis Li Xia'er exclaimed loudly: "Foul! This is cheating! How can he close in like this?"

Talleyrand: "The rule in Paris is that both sides start fifteen paces apart; there's no rule against closing in on the enemy. In fact, there have been instances in pistol duels where participants rushed forward with the intent to shoot point-blank!"

By this time, Anning had already approached within ten paces!

It felt as though the enemy's outline must have filled up the entire sight by now! This meant a shot at this moment would surely hit the enemy!

But at this point, the billowing smoke from the enemy's earlier shot had completely dispersed, and Anning couldn't even see the enemy's feet.

Anning decided to wait.

The enemy would definitely move, circumventing the smoky veil between them—Anning awaited this very moment!

Finally, Edward's figure emerged from the white smoke!

The moment he saw Anning, he immediately raised his pistol to aim, but Anning was faster.

After all, he had a ready-made sight.

Anning placed the sights over the upper half of Edward's body and fired.

The large bullet and several smaller ones loaded in the barrel were immediately plastered onto Edward's upper body.

Regrettably, Anning couldn't observe the effects of his shot due to the white smoke from firing.

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He did one thing: he stepped to the side.

The sound of the enemy's gunshot reached him.

Anning did not feel like he had been hit. In fact, under the influence of a massive adrenaline rush, he even forgot that he had been shot in the shoulder just moments before.

He swiftly reloaded his pistol and continued moving to bypass the smoke that had formed from firing.

Then he saw Edward also reloading his bullets!

Furthermore, he noticed that due to injuries on his body, Edward's reloading had become clumsier.

Clearly, that last shot had exceptional impact!

Anning pulled the ramrod out of the barrel and then tossed it aside. This meant he couldn't load another bullet, but it significantly shortened the reloading time!

He was determined to settle the matter with this next shot!

He lifted his gun, the sights locked onto the enemy.

Because the distance had closed in even more, this time the sights encompassed only the enemy's chest.

There was no chance of missing!

Anning fired.

His vision was once more obstructed by white smoke.

But the next second, Anning heard the sound of something heavy falling to the ground, followed by the crisp sound of the enemy's ramrod bouncing off the ground.

The gun that the enemy was loading had dropped!

This was promptly followed by the sound of a more cumbersome item hitting the ground.

Then came Talleyrand's voice: "The result is clear! The one still standing is, Andy Frost!"

Christina screamed.

Anning took a deep breath and only then did he feel a bit of pain in his shoulder. Glancing down, he discovered his entire left shoulder was stained crimson.

At that moment, Marquis Li Xia'er roared: "No! Are you blind? He cheated! That damned leatherworker's son cheated!"

Marquis Li Xia'er rushed forward and grabbed the collar of Talleyrand's priestly robes, bellowing hysterically: "You must have been bribed by the Duke!"

Talleyrand: "How could that be possible, I only learned last night that I was to be a witness!"

"I don't believe it! I get it now, it's all the Duke's conspiracy, but we country nobles won't concede so easily!"

With that, Marquis Li Xia'er drew the colonel's sidearm next to him, snatched the powder horn and poured powder into the pan—

However, at this moment, the bullets that had been loaded in the gun rolled out of the barrel.

Colonel: "Marquis, you cannot raise the gun so forcefully; you'll cause the bullets to fall out. The lifting of the gun must be gentle..."

It seemed the Marquis was not listening to the Colonel's words, nor had he noticed the bullets had been shaken out.

He aimed at Anning and pulled the trigger.

After the shot, nothing happened to Anning—after all, the bullets had already slipped out.

Anning: "Gentlemen, you saw it! I am going to sue Marquis Li Xia'er; he attempted to murder me!"

After all, Anning had put so much effort into getting a top-notch lawyer; it would be a shame not to use him.