After the weapons craftsman inspected the weapons, Desmoulin and Paulina walked to both sides of the table where the firearms were placed.
Polina smiled as soon as she touched the gun. She was a veteran and was quite familiar with breech-loading rifles.
The weapons craftsmen at An Ning prepared the gun for Polina. The rifling was deliberately carved to make it less obvious, and the craftsman also deliberately disguised the loading position of the breech.
But people who are familiar with firearms will know something fishy as soon as they see that gun.
It's a pity that Desmoulins couldn't see it.
Polina had no resistance at all to using this weapon to win the duel. Rather, she was eager to try it.
It should be said that Napoleon's sister, like Napoleon himself, has no concept of victory without force. He thinks that all means are used as long as he wins in the end.
The gun that An Ning gave to Polina was already loaded. Because the design of the breech-loading gun is more advanced, the waiting time after loading is much longer than that of ordinary flintlock guns, and it can be loaded in advance.
But Polina picked up the gun and still pretended to perform a series of loading movements before raising the gun to her chest and taking a deep breath.
Robespierre walked to the center of the arena and began to play his role.
"Both of you, are you ready?"
Desmoulin became nervous at this time. He adjusted the front of his clothes, then held the gun steady, and after taking a few deep breaths, he nodded to Robespierre: "I'm ready."
Robespierre turned to Paulina, who immediately said: "I can start at any time! Come and die!"
Desmoulins sneered: "Huh, if you die, maybe we can see Frost crying. That is a scene that everyone in the Jacobin Club has never seen before."
Polina: "I won't die. After all, the area I was hit by is much smaller than yours, so the probability of the bullet hitting me is much smaller than hitting you."
Desmoulins: "Then let's wait and see."
At this time, Robespierre coughed and intervened in the conversation: "I want to emphasize that this is a civilized duel. As long as someone is hit, the duel will be over. No one can do anything after what I say!"
"We are different from the nobles. We are all people who have read books and have knowledge and insights, so we must show the difference!"
Robespierre's words were cheered by the Paris citizens who came from all over to watch.
At least at this time, Robespierre was still a positive figure in the eyes of most Parisians.
Robespierre took out his pocket watch to confirm the time, and then shouted the decree: "The duel begins!"
A band of soldiers had been prepared nearby and started playing drums.
An Ning was speechless: "Is this using drums to coordinate the pace of two people? I didn't do this during a duel before."
Dandong, who was also a witness, nodded: "At least on a formal level, this duel has already surpassed the duel of that year."
Desmoulins and Pauline walked to both ends of the square to the beat of the drums.
The moment the drum beat suddenly stopped, Desmoulin turned around and raised his gun.
However, Polina was more agile and turned around faster, and her gun fired first.
Then the accident happened.
The breech-loading gun that An Ning racked his brains to install on Polina was clearly as accurate as the flintlock pistols of the same era.
However, Polina fired a shot from this distance, but it missed the target at all, and the bullet didn't even know where it went.
Anning Khan has come down. If Polina fails here, Napoleon will turn against himself.
Polina immediately began to reload, not looking at Desmoulins at all, as if she was not worried that Desmoulins would shoot her down.
Desmoulins opened fire, and the bullet disappeared.
He immediately lowered his head and started reloading. Just because he lowered his head, he didn't see Polina opening the locking mechanism at the back of the gun to reload from behind——
But at this time, Robespierre shouted: "Stop!"
Pauline and Desmoulins looked up at Robespierre.
Robespierre: "Mademoiselle Bonaparte, how do you load the gun in your hand from behind? No, that's not fair. Either you two use an ordinary flintlock pistol together, or you load it from the breech together.
arms."
At this time, An Ning spoke: "Maximilian, do you think a person who is used to front-loading firearms can adapt immediately after getting a breech-loading gun? A person like Desmoulins who has no military experience, can he get a breech-loading gun?"
I'm afraid guns are not a greater disadvantage."
Robespierre was not convinced: "No, I also heard that if your muzzleloader has a rifle inside, the shooting accuracy will be higher. This is obviously unfair!
"Since Desmoulins doesn't know how to use a breech-loading gun, let's do this: you both duel with old-fashioned, standard pistols."
Polina: "I have no objection. I originally planned to use my own cleverness and luck to defeat him. I never considered using a rifle."
Robespierre seemed to understand and glanced at An Ning without hiding his anger at all.
An Ning curled her lips.
If An Ning had known that the third party witness of the duel was Robespierre, he would definitely not have done this.
Robespierre was a man who could not tolerate sand. When he found out about fraud, he would definitely not care about Frost or the General. He would seek justice first and worry about the rest later.
After a while, both Pauline and Desmoulins put on old-style pistols.
Robespierre deliberately ordered that the guns be served empty so that the interrupted duel could begin with loading bullets.
Robespierre personally threw the inspected gun in front of the two people's feet. He slowly took the witness position and said loudly: "You can start!"
Desmoulins and Paulina rushed towards the gun and bullet bag on the ground.
Polina started loading with familiarity. After all, she graduated from the Brienne Military Academy and this is her old profession.
Desmoulins was obviously not as easy to load as Polina, and he was also influenced by Polina and would look at Polina's reloading progress from time to time.
Seeing Pauline pretending to be smooth, Desmoulins became obviously nervous.
Then his hand shook, and the gunpowder and projectiles that were supposed to be poured into the barrel suddenly spilled out of the paper package.
Desmoulins made a quick decision and immediately took out a new pack of premade paper ammunition bags, tore off the seal on it, and poured the projectiles mixed with gunpowder into the gun——
By this time, Polina had finished loading her ammunition. She raised her gun, carefully aimed at Desmoulins, and then pulled the trigger.
Desmoulins was shot in the right chest, and then the gun in his hand fell to the ground.
He clutched his chest and knelt down in pain.
Robespierre waved his hand: "Okay, that's it! The winner is Pauline Bonaparte!"
An Ning breathed a sigh of relief, but Danton rushed to Desmoulin and shouted: "Doctor! Where is the doctor? Desmoulin - my friend, he is bleeding all over the floor!"