After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

tsk...

As soon as the skull popped open, blood and yellowish-white stuff bloomed like flowers, and the stench of blood and filth instantly hit her face... Ning Nan pursed her lips. Luckily, Shangguan Xiuxiu was in front of her, otherwise, if that stuff had splattered on her face, she would probably have nightmares tonight.

The horse was startled and neighed a few times, its hooves pounding wildly. The headless corpse swayed a few times and then fell off the horse like a lump of mud.

Seeing the two riders fall, the woman in the dress chuckled, reached into the carriage, grabbed an iron shield, and dragged it out with a single arm.

Xiuxiu held a gun in her right hand, the barrel tucked under her arm, and a shield in her left hand, held horizontally in front of her, like an iron wall blocking the carriage.

"Make way, General Ning Nan." Ning Nan patted the other person on the shoulder.

"Damn it! I'm afraid they'll throw spears!" Shangguan Xiu's face, covered in makeup, flared with anger as he banged the barrel of his spear against the edge of his shield in protest against the term.

The male voice in women's clothing was even more vulgar than when he was dressed as a man.

Ning Nan chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Xiao wouldn't bear to kill a beauty like you."

Xiuxiu gritted her teeth: "Say that again and I'll kill you!"

"Haha." Ning Nan smiled and squinted his eyes.

The gale swept through the long canyon road, and the mournful howls of ghosts continued.

Clatter, clatter... The sounds of horses' hooves, neighing, the wind whistling of cavalry spears, the clanging and scraping of armor, the angry curses and exclamations of men... all sorts of chaotic sounds mingled together on the long canyon road, so loud that some rocks fell from the mountain walls on both sides.

"Who?" "A musket?" "A firearm!" "Stop the horses!" "Don't panic!" "Kill them!"

Not only the two enemy cavalry units in front and behind, but even though the thirty-odd Imperial Guards had stuffed strips of cloth into the horses' ears beforehand as instructed, the horses were still somewhat startled by the sudden explosion.

The crowd watched with some alarm as the young man suddenly emerged from the carriage, holding a strangely shaped musket with white smoke still rising from the muzzle.

Firearms are not unusual, but firearms of this power... a firearm that can shatter a person's skull with a single shot... no one has ever seen anything like it!

Firearms have too many limitations. Not to mention the risk of barrel explosion, their power is not necessarily stronger than that of a strong bow, and their accuracy is also poor. Beyond twenty zhang (approximately 33 meters), it is difficult for firearms to hit the target.

Even if a shot hits beyond thirty zhang (approximately 130 meters), it is difficult to penetrate armor. Moreover, only one shot can be fired at a time, and multiple shots cannot be fired in succession. Even among the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion, few liked muskets, let alone ordinary soldiers.

But with such a bloody and violent scene unfolding before their eyes, and the sound still booming like thunder in their ears, everyone couldn't help but feel a chill when they looked at the gun barrel again.

Fortunately, there was only one enemy. Reloading the ammunition would take time, and firing another shot would pose a significant risk of the barrel exploding.

The cavalrymen's hearts were quickly calmed by the corporals' angry shouts... Firearms? What use are your firearms when the cavalry charge?! By the time you reload, the cavalry's lances will have already pierced your chest! ... This understanding is common to both the south and the north.

The cavalrymen's eyes sharpened, they spat out a mouthful of saliva, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, and aimed their spears at the young man in the carriage wearing a loose-fitting robe.

Originally, he wanted to make a flintlock musket, but the time was too short and the experiment was unsuccessful. The blueprints needed to be polished again. Although he made a stock and trigger, they were not very useful. The final product was still a matchlock musket... Ning Nan lowered the musket with some regret.

The main reason for gun barrel explosions in that era was the poor toughness and high impurity content of cast iron.

The same reason applies to the inaccuracy of a gun: if the barrel is not stiff enough, the trajectory of the bullet will not be stable enough, and the bullet will always deviate after being fired.

The blacksmith Dahei was extremely skilled, but even the most skilled cook cannot make a meal without ingredients. He could not forge the kind of musket he had now using only pig iron or even wrought iron.

He had known all this for a long time. A few days ago, a blast furnace was built on the back mountain. With thirty people taking turns to work, they used rudimentary methods to smelt steel. The manpower-driven blowers were blowing like crazy, and they finally managed to heat the furnace to a sufficient temperature and produce some crude steel for making guns.

In addition, the gunpowder was ground more finely and mixed more evenly, and then dried and polished. This resulted in a batch of gunpowder and firearms with decent power and stable performance.

Ning Nan shook the still-hot musket in his hand and smiled at Xiao Chun and Chen Mu in the distance, "Don't worry, this shot is already fired."

The horse beneath Chen Mu shook its neck, and after he pressed down with his large hand, the horse's restlessness was calmed, and it only breathed out white steam from its nostrils.

Musket… Chen Mu’s lips twitched slightly.

Artillery might require going around to the back, but muskets don't have that kind of face.

He was shot once in the Northern Dynasty years ago. He was wearing leather armor at the time, which at most could only graze the skin. The group of musketeers who shot at them were eventually trampled into mincemeat by this group.

Zheng Gou'er's dog corpse was too close, and he was caught off guard by someone who was deliberately trying to take advantage of him. That's how this female scholar managed to get her hands on him. It's like his ancestors' graves were not prosperous, and he had a terrible stroke of bad luck.

Chen Mu rubbed the long spear between his fingers a few times, licked his lips, and planned to rush up and stab both the effeminate man in women's clothing and the female scholar through the neck, and ask these two scoundrels why they didn't use a musket to blow his head off this time.

"Hey," Chen Mu chuckled, his eyelids drooping, "Second Master Xiao, you really guessed right."

He glanced at the bandit scholar whose face had turned serious.

This bandit is quite something; he actually guessed some things correctly.

They were worried that Qin Yuanyao, that dark-skinned woman, was up to something, hiding the young lady in the village and using the capital garrison to draw the main force of the mountain bandits to attack.

Therefore, they sent the other half of their forces to massacre Li Family Village, while their own team deliberately moved slowly, intending to wait until Xiaobai River before making their move and wiping out the Jinyiwei team.

If the young lady is there, we'll just send her away by boat; if she's not, the brothers from Tu Village and that valley village should send her over... Ha, this Xiao Zhuge really predicted everything!

Xiao Chun's smile faded, and his expression was not as relaxed as Chen Mu had thought; he frowned.

What's this little cook... this little staff member... doing here?

Xiao Chun narrowed his eyes, glancing at the purple-clad figure holding a gun and shield. He hadn't expected... the other side would send that opera singer to impersonate the young lady... This was truly...

"Heh." A strange smile appeared on his lips.

Things were somewhat unexpected, yet not entirely unexpected.

There were three carriages. The first and third carriages were filled with boxes and other luggage, and the second carriage carried the same two people.

This means the young lady is not here.

She had sent many scouts to keep a close watch on the village, so the other side had no chance to send the young lady out from other places, and Qin Yuanyao would not take such a risk... Well, the young lady was still hidden by these people in that tortoise-shell-like mountain stronghold behind Li Family Village... Hmm... Judging by the time, that tortoise shell should have broken by now.