Chapter 203 Steam Rifle

"High power? How powerful can something driven by steam be? Isn't it just an air gun? I've seen that thing before, it's okay for shooting rabbits." Hughes muttered softly, but this was not a good opportunity to talk. Seeing that the battlefield was almost cleaned up, he let Alexei lead the team back.

Many murlocs escaped, and Ash took the Banshee Squad to harvest them. The murlocs couldn't run at all and were just fish on the chopping board.

Xiu specifically instructed to capture a few alive and send them to the Fire Moths, as interrogating them might yield some results.

Alexei took the soldiers back. This battle had shocked him so much that he felt that he was not taking the soldiers to the battlefield, but taking them on an outing.

Walk to the designated location, reload, shoot, reload, shoot, and win.

How could fighting become such a simple thing?

Before this, Alexei admired the most the Knight Commander who was beside Her Majesty the Queen. He could lead his team to disperse enemies that were several times larger than his own, and no one could be his match.

He might be able to fight off a group of enemies by himself, but could he lead this group of recruits to win a battle like they were on an outing?

Rifled rifles and Minié bullets can.

Alexei still had the scimitar given to him by Hughes hanging around his waist, but until the end, it never had the chance to be unsheathed.

Alexei learned the latest combat tactics at the Royal Army Academy, but after his first battle, he felt he was still out of date.

The advancement of technology was faster than he could adapt to it, which made him feel at a loss. Alexi glanced at the corpses of murlocs all over the ground. Well, the other side was even more uncomfortable than him, and there was no chance to adapt.

So he took a deep breath and began to issue orders one by one. After cleaning up the battlefield, he had to lead the team back. He still had a lot of work to do, including summarizing the battle performance, organizing the next step of training, rewards and punishments, and improving tactics.

For example, Alexei felt that the drummers in the army were not very useful. The tactic of line-up and shooting in which the soldiers marched in unison to the beat of drums could basically be thrown into the trash. As for what to replace them with and how to conduct future battles, he had no idea yet.

He just went to consult Hughes, who was very interested. He proposed setting up the position of a political commissar to be responsible for boosting morale.

To boost morale? It does seem to make sense. In the past, drum beats were the source of the soldiers' morale. If there were no drum beats in the future, what would they rely on?

Holy Scripture? Political Commissar? These are things that need to be figured out slowly.

Alexei felt that he had endless energy all over his body. The battlefield had become something he didn't recognize, but he was still a young man. The infantry drill manual of the Army Academy had not yet become an unchangeable dogma in his mind. If there was something better, why not give it a try?

And the tactics he formulated might be named after him, Alexei Array, Alexei Codex. It's exciting to think about it.

The soldiers were also excited, they had just experienced their first battle in their lives and won it easily. They were all islanders and did not even have Alexei's concerns about gains and losses. They could wholeheartedly embrace the victory that belonged to them.

People did not cheer, but the glances they exchanged with each other were full of excitement and excitement, and the gazes they looked at Hughes gradually became fanatical and admiring.

On the other side, Hughes and Chloe went through the underground webtunnel to the warehouse where the steam rifles were stored. Chloe's description still made him feel excited. Although the words steam and rifle were not related, it would not hurt to take a look.

There were several Crusaders guarding the gate. They saluted Zeus excitedly and looked at him expectantly.

"Don't worry, the battle is won, and your comrades have successfully killed the murlocs." Xius said with a smile.

"Yes, really? That's great. I also want to go to the battlefield, but it's my turn to be on duty. Are they brave in battle?"

Hughes thought about the soldiers who peed their pants in fear, the few who fell to the ground and trembled, the unlucky guy whose gun was stuffed with extra bullets and exploded, the cleaning rod shooter, and the record of seventy people shooting two people in one volley. "They are very brave and live up to the name of the Crusader Army."

Xius said solemnly. Several soldiers looked at each other and laughed. He entered the warehouse under the soldiers' gazes.

He was not talking nonsense. Weakness is human nature. No one is born brave and fearless. Facing the explosion and the enemy, those soldiers did not run away even though they were scared to the point of peeing their pants. They really deserve the evaluation of bravery.

Chloe looked at the soldiers, then at Hughes, smiled, and walked in with her hands behind her back.

The warehouse was filled with supplies brought in yesterday. Ever since Castel had undergone strange changes, Xius had become extremely cautious. Before finding out the price that would be paid for these things, he would rather seal them up temporarily.

Chloe brought Hughes to a wooden box. After Connor found the steam rifle, he still found Chloe to recognize what it was. Connor had worked in the Duke of Cohen's mansion for decades but still didn't recognize it, which was enough to show how rare the steam rifle was.

"I've seen this kind of thing in the Mechanical Temple. Although they don't have any extraordinary people, with all kinds of weird machines, most extraordinary people can hardly get away with it at the hands of their mechanical priests."

"Are their mechanical priests covered in all kinds of mechanical components, gears, and so on?"

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"Yes, have you seen those crazy people?"

Not only have I seen it, I have also killed it—although I was killed, Hughes thought to himself.

"Do their priests wear Candlelight robes?"

"How is that possible? Are you crazy too?" Chloe gave him a puzzled look. "Who would wear clothes from another church? This is the most serious blasphemy. It is common for people to take action after being discovered."

Hughes glanced at the nun's uniform on her, his eyes twitched, and he said nothing.

"This is a personal hobby. Look, this is a steam rifle." She took out a huge lump of iron from the box, picked it up and gestured with it a few times with shining eyes.

"This thing is the treasure of the Mechanical Temple. I spent a lot of effort to get it before but failed. Can you give me a set? As long as I can fire a few shots, it will be worth it even if it is contaminated."

Chloe looked at the steam rifle with fascination, but Hughes frowned. The barrel of the rifle was forged from brass, but the body of the gun was made of steel. The joints were connected with rivets, and blued steam pipes were arranged on them. The pipe wall was inlaid with a transparent glass observation window, so you could see the steam surging inside when using it.

(End of this chapter)