Chapter 601 "Assassination" (Part 1)

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

In the education hall, seals cried "oh, oh" and bounced away when they saw Franz coming. Several great auks also made unpleasant alarm sounds.

Maria, who was still playing in the water, ran back to the classroom as fast as she could. Then she heard a rustling sound inside, and soon the noise turned into the sound of reading.

Franz could only sigh helplessly. Through the window, he could see the disdainful eyes of the second brother. Maximilian seemed to have a lot of opinions about his eldest brother.

Ludwig still had a dumbbell in one hand and a book in the other, just like usual, but it was unknown whether he could understand what was written in the book.

The other reading companions also tried very hard. After all, Franz should be checking up at this time, and the former also knew that the latter would rule the country. No matter what he did, he had to deal with him as long as he was still in Austria.

In fact, Franz also hopes that these people can be smarter. After all, these guys have too high a starting point. Even Franz cannot guarantee that these people will not be in high positions in the future.

However, so far, Franz has not found that these people are extraordinary, but at the same time, the resources, connections, and vision they have are almost beyond the reach of an ordinary person.

Who is the most hated person in Vienna? Is it Mrs. Sophie, who is tough and demanding feudal etiquette? Is it Count Korolav, who has been corrupt and bribed for decades and has controlled the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Is it Lord Sammer, who claims to command a secret police force of 100,000 to monitor people's every move? Or is it Prince Metternich, who is known as the "first traitor in Austrian history"? Or is it the college student Ludwig von Lens, who dragged Austria into war twice?

None of them!

Baron Bruck, the president of the Austrian Imperial Central Bank, may be the man who has suffered the most assassinations and slanders in the Austrian Empire.

In three years in California, he encountered more than 100 gunman attacks. Although it was related to the poor local security and radical policies, it was really too exaggerated.

But there is something even more exaggerated. In the three years that Baron Bruck officially served as the governor of the central bank, he encountered 35 assassinations and attacks in Vienna, and the articles criticizing him were piled up to two meters high.

You must know that Vienna is the ruling core of the Austrian Empire. It is considered the safest city in the entire empire.

But even so, there are still people who take the risk of almost 100% certain death to assassinate and attack Baron Bruck. What kind of deep hatred can do this?

In fact, among the royal family members, Mrs. Sophie has been assassinated seven times, which is already the top of the list. The second place is Archduke Albrecht, who has only four times, and the third place is Franz Joseph and his father Franz Karl, who have three times each.

In the most recent attack, Baron Bruck was accompanied by 21 people, eight of whom died and thirteen were injured. The severity of the incident has made Franz unbearable.

The Baron's residence was less than 300 meters away from the Imperial Central Bank, and nearly a hundred gunmen were stationed in such a short distance.

What was even more outrageous was that the two sides fought for nearly ten minutes, and the nearby police, gendarmes, and the guards affiliated with the Central Bank all had no reaction.

June 5, 1845, cloudy.

Klaus was an excellent soldier with an amazing talent for shooting moving targets, so he was selected early to be trained as a bodyguard.

After five years of hard training, he was still not selected into the Royal Guards, but he still got a good job - as Baron Brook's bodyguard.

Although Klaus didn't know what the Central Bank and the Governor of the Central Bank did, he knew that this must be a great man.

After all, usually big men would only bring 2-4 bodyguards, even the Imperial Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior had only eight guards.

And the adult in front of him actually had 20 full-time guards, which showed his importance.

However, what he didn't know was that this gentleman had a company of guards when he was in California. Of course, this was also related to the local people's tough customs. After all, the western part of North America is still wilder.

"Klaus! Don't be dazed! Remember what your duties are!"

The speaker was Captain Calvin. It is said that his experience is definitely legendary among the guards. After all, he has encountered more than 20 attacks in his life and survived.

"Okay, okay, Mr. Captain. It's only more than 200 meters away. We will be there in the time it takes you to drink coffee. And this is Vienna"

"Vienna, so what?"

"Does anyone really dare to attack here?"

In fact, almost no one among these bodyguards in the school dares to carry out assassinations in a bustling urban area or an important city like Vienna, because the cost is too high, and local officials cannot sit idly by.

"Where do you think I encountered those 20 attacks? I was the same as you when I first came here, but I advise you to take it seriously. After all, life is only once."

Klaus still knocked on the special steel carriage of the carriage in disbelief.

"This thing weighs one and a half tons and requires four horses to pull it. Bullets don't even make a dent in it, and it can withstand the blast of a 1.5 kg grenade at close range. I doubt anyone can do anything with this four centimeters thick steel plate unless they use a cannon."

But despite his nagging, Klaus still carefully checked his weapons, two latest military revolvers and a new air rifle.

Although the air rifle needs to be carried on the back of a bottle to use, it looks like a toy, but in the close-range combat of this era, this thing has unparalleled lethality.

There are only four air rifles, and the rest of the people also have two short and one long, but the rifles they are equipped with are all lever-action rifles.

The lever-action rifle originated in Italy, but it was not taken seriously. Since Franz asked to develop a breech-loading rifle, the Austrian army directly bought the patent.

Then after a group of experts improved it, and the Austrian technology level at that time was far higher than that of Italy in 1820, the lever-action rifle that can be used in actual combat was still made.

The advantages of this gun are obvious, with a large number of loading bullets, fast loading speed, fast shooting speed, and rifling with a fairly high accuracy.

But the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, instability, poor power, high mechanical failure rate, and difficulty in prone shooting, but it is very suitable for queue shooting tactics.

It can be said that the guns designed by the Austrians are quite in line with the characteristics of the times. It seems that they are ready to carry out the line-up shooting to the end.

Back to the story, the time has come, Baron Brooke got on the carriage on time, and the team marched towards the Imperial Central Bank.

However, as soon as they went out, they encountered an unexpected thing. A carriage full of logs suddenly lost control, and the huge logs broke free from the ropes and scattered everywhere.