It was a silver revolver flintlock.
Obviously, this gun was carefully designed and built by craftsmen.
Since the rotary flintlock gun was developed by the gunsmiths of Northumborg in the 16th century, this kind of gun, which triggers the ammunition by rotating the small steel wheel by the mainspring, has been loved by the nobles and wealthy businessmen. It is smaller and lighter than the traditional arquebus, and can be carried and hidden from people's sight.
Adele reached for the gun and picked it up.
The gun, which Dalton gave to the Queen as a gift, was made lighter and more conducive to concealment, taking into account the gender of the gun bearer.
Dalton watched the queen's fingertips slowly pressing past the cold gun body, as if she was feeling the heat of the bullet ejected from the chamber through the cold metal. His voice was slightly hoarse, and he asked, "Do you like it?"
"its name?"
Adele raised the gun and put it in the sunlight, and found that the metal gun mechanism was decorated with exquisite rose reliefs, and there was a line of small characters engraved under the vines, "Dedicated to the Queen of Glory of the Empire".
"No name, don't you give it a name?" Dalton said nonchalantly.
Adele ignored him, she turned the gun around, searched carefully, and finally found the small engraved word "Little Rose" in the hidden place above the trigger close to the finger.
"Little Rose?"
Adele looked at Dalton with a half-smile.
"It's very beautiful, and it can be called a special iron rose." Dalton spread his hands, "Don't you think so?"
That being said, Dalton did not expect the Queen to be so careful, and he carved the word himself. This kind of special revolver flintlock is expensive, not to mention that Dalton, as an experienced officer, made various requirements for it that almost drove the craftsman crazy.
The gunsmith knew Dalton well, and was so annoyed by his demanding demands that he couldn't help shouting: "I have never seen a boy who pursues a girl as stupid as you!" "Dalton! You villain You deserve to be single for the rest of your life!" "You don't give gems or flowers to please girls, give this thing, do you think everyone is as crazy as you!"…
He is a fool.
thought Dalton.
As early as the night of the mutiny, Dalton had sensed that something was worthy of the Queen.
Not all beautiful ladies are able to put a gun to their heart without fear, and the most dangerous thing engraved in the queen's bone marrow was undoubtedly revealed at that time. Adele said that he was "everything in the casino", so is she not a crazy and desperate gambler
This flintlock pistol was actually built three days ago. When he got the gun, Dalton sat by the window and thought for a long time before slowly engraving it letter by letter.
The queen he served was like a rose blooming in the dark, with a fragrance that bewitched the world, but each petal was as rich as it was soaked in blood.
Dangerous and charming, doomed but irresistible.
It wasn't the first day that the gun was brought into the summer palace, but Dalton never knew how to send it out.
Those bloody aristocrats were at least right about one thing, and Dalton hadn't had anything to do with affairs in the previous twenty years—he'd rather take care of his guns than spend his time on them. On the ladies who fainted at every turn.
"Did you like it?"
Dalton asked.
"It's beautiful, as you say, isn't it?" Adele replied, smiling slightly.
Dalton smiled too.
He vaguely understood what the group of young men under him were thinking when they were standing in front of their lover with flowers... In fact, they didn't think about anything, but the hand holding the gun on the battlefield suddenly started to ooze sweat , the body begins to stiffen, and the heart beats under the chest.
He wanted to reach out, to hold her hand, to kiss her fingertips.
Dalton coughed, brushed away his messy thoughts, and helped the Queen get acquainted with this pistol with many innovations.
"It's a pity that the cost is too high." Adele said regretfully, but she soon began to ask Dalton if the process of making this gun could be simplified and some things could be promoted to the imperial army.
"The wheel-type firing device was invented in 1517." Dalton replied, "But so far, the army has more traditional arquebus guns. The gun had the problem of not having enough sparks from the flint to ignite. Other than that..."
He paused.
"Besides, the Empire does not have an organized standing army." Adele took Dalton's words naturally and without embarrassment at all.
Like other countries, except for the knights of the noble class, the ordinary soldiers of the empire are often the people with the least education, and they are often farmers, and they are only gathered when the monarch needs them. Once the army is uniformly equipped with round flintlocks, it is necessary to train soldiers so that they can exert their due lethality on the battlefield.
Otherwise, a team of impromptu musketeers in front of the well-armored cavalry is simply a military exploit delivered to the door.
It was not uncommon for the musketeers to lose to the traditional cavalry, which is why the nobles were able to stubbornly insist on defending their honor.
"Why do you keep me as your knight?"
Dalton watched Adele load the ammunition, and asked suddenly. He was standing very close to the Queen, with one hand on the back of the Queen's chair and the other on the long table. He stood against the light, his face hidden in the shadows.
"Because of my army?"
"What kind of answer do you want to hear?"
Adele looked at him sideways, half of her face was bathed in golden sunlight, and half of her face was also shrouded in shadow.
"Think about it all."
Dalton replied.
The next moment, the cold muzzle of the gun pressed against his forehead.
Every muscle in Dalton's body tensed up at that moment, and he subconsciously propped up his right hand that was pressed on the table, trying to hold his Hidden Blade—everyone who has experienced hundreds of life-and-death struggles , will have this instinctive response to threats. Their muscles developed a conditioned reflex to kill.
When his fingers touched the hilt of the Hidden Blade, Dalton forcibly restrained his instinctive reaction.
The silver revolver flintlock pistol was held in the queen's hand, the muzzle was pressed against his skull, and the queen's white and slender hand rested firmly on the trigger. As long as her joints flexed and the bullets were released from the chamber, the smell of saltpeter and sulfur would fill his head intensely.
Then, not even the best doctor in the world could save him.
Dalton lowered his eyes and confronted the Queen.
He saw his own shadow in those rosy eyes, blood and smoke. He couldn't tell what the emotion in the queen's eyes was.
So he looked away and looked down.
His eyes fell on the Queen's hand holding the gun, but what he thought of was not the scene where his brains were splashing, but...
It was really beautiful, and the gun was held in the Queen's hand like an iron rose.
He didn't give the wrong gift.
"You didn't kill me because of my army, right?" Dalton was definitely a lunatic, and he could still ask with a smile, "If I didn't have that army, you would immediately Pull the trigger, right?"
Adele raised her eyebrows and asked, "Who do you think is my enemy?"
In the golden dust of the sun, the tip of her eyebrows was like a thin sword drawn from its sheath, cutting Dalton sharply and thinly.
"You have a great army, so you can be my enemy as well as my knight."
Adele spoke slowly.
In the era when there was no organized standing army, generals could only rely on salaries to drive their troops. Normally, the discipline of the military is actually pretty... touching.
Think about it! These soldiers who usually undertake agriculture and are called in during wars have not received any training at all, and they don’t even know their generals before the war. How can this kind of army discipline come about? It is precisely because of this that there are mercenary groups active in the Sea of Mercury and the Sea of Heaven.
However, as professional soldiers, the mercenary group's combat effectiveness is objective, but there are too many guys without credibility among them.
Dalton, however, was different.
He has an absolutely elite unit. He managed his soldiers more strictly than the mercenary leader, provided them with sufficient financial resources, and trained a rare firearms unit. Dalton's troops possessed a discipline rarely seen in this era. He used this to gain a foothold in Roland's upper class.
This is exactly what the Empire needs.
"When you are Roland's enemy, you are my enemy. When you are Roland's soldier, you are my knight." The Queen said calmly, "And I—"
"I have no enemies of my own."
She is the queen, and Roland's love and hatred are her love and hatred.
Dalton was stunned for a moment, and the cut wound suddenly began to subtly and secretly reveal sadness.
He let go of his hand, stood up, looked at the queen sitting in the light and shadow, looked at her calm and beautiful face, as if he saw how she walked straight step by step during those long days.
Surrounding her is prejudice, suspicion, hatred and injustice.
She is always just, firm, and never broken.
Adele retracted the gun and put it on the table.
"The privateer license will help the empire attack Yager, and it will also anger Yager." She spread out the map and spread it on the table, "Allying with the Root Empire will only prevent Yager's fleet from sailing. But they can cut off the Empire's dealings with Tuva and the Free Merchant Cities."
"You want to open up a new trade zone?"
Dalton suppressed the sadness.
Grief for another is more terrible, more dangerous than any strong emotion. Because it is like an irreversible trap, making people do all kinds of things that they would never do before. At that moment, he was even thinking—
If she wanted to smash him to the bone and suck the marrow, then just smash him to the bone and suck the marrow.
Make swords for her, blades for her.
"Currently, nearly two-thirds of Roland's foreign trade is conducted with these two places. Once the Yager Kingdom cuts off our trade route in Tuva Harbor, it will deal a major blow to the empire's economy." Adele said, Move your finger to the southeast side of the Sea of Heaven.
Elmia continent.
Different from the domestic dispute between the New God sect and the Old God sect, it is a land of real pagans.
They worship the sun.
"We need sailors and adventurous merchants who are brave enough and outstanding enough. The empire needs them to arrive here and open up new markets."
Adele pressed her fingertips together, and she looked at Dalton.
"I know there's always been underpayment in Congress. You don't get enough money to support your military—I'm sorry for that. You've done a great job over the past few years, however. The task of guarding the port of Cohemia, and formed a very good musketeer team."
"Originally, I thought that the money should come from the taxation of the Port of Cohemiah, but I checked the taxation of the Port of Cohemiah in the past ten years. Although it has decreased, it is a good thing done by the tax officer, not you. Then , a question—Dalton, how did you build and maintain this army?"
Dalton guessed what the Queen wanted to ask.
"You know where there are sailors and merchants like that, don't you?"