Coulter Village, next to the abandoned wooden house.
Six empty wine bottles were placed side by side on the old fence. Brandy stood ten meters away, making a gesture of drawing a gun.
On the side, Arthur was holding a cigar in his mouth, smoking it with relish while squinting to observe Brandy's every move.
The clouds slowly drifted away, the bright sunshine suddenly appeared, and the ordinary wine bottle also shone like a gem.
At this point, Brandy drew her gun.
The gunfire rang out, but within a moment, the gunfire subsided.
Arthur looked at a bottle that was still on the fence, and then at the bottle that was hit by the bullet and fell to the snow, and said: "Four out of six, I can't say it's good, but I can't say it's bad either. Even if you shoot The four winning pins were hit at different locations, so if they can be broken, luck must account for part of them."
Arthur patted Brandi on the shoulder and said, "To sum it up, rookie, you still need to practice more."
Brandi had no temper when Arthur evaluated him like this, because his evaluation was very factual and there was nothing to criticize, and in a sense, Brandi even understood what he had better than Arthur himself. How strong, in Brandi's view, there is nothing wrong with treating Arthur's opinions as absolute authority.
"It's been very good to be able to achieve this level after only three or four days of practice." At this time, a slightly older voice suddenly sounded. Arthur and Brandy turned around and saw Hosea walking over with three bottles of whiskey. Hosea handed the wine to Arthur and Brandi and said, "When Arthur was practicing this move, he didn't learn it as fast as you."
"Just talk nonsense, old guy," Arthur bit the cork of the bottle, took a sip of wine, and said angrily, "My talent is obvious to all."
Hosea nodded: "That's true, but that was before John joined us."
Arthur was immediately speechless. Because of the fact, John learned to shoot much later than him, but his talent put Arthur to shame. Although John is still not as good as Arthur now, it actually won't take more than a few years to catch up with him.
It was the first time for Brandi to see Arthur, the "King of Bad Mouths of the West", slumped, with an expression on his face that he was just watching the fun and not taking it too seriously.
"Let's get down to business," Hosea suppressed the smile on his face and said, "In three days, the train will arrive."
"So Dutch decided to rob that damn train?" When Arthur heard this, he almost dropped the bottle of wine in his hand.
Hosea immediately shouted: "Arthur! Watch your words!"
Arthur immediately restrained himself a little, and then said with confusion: "I thought... I thought we were going to keep a low profile here, but now? Dutch wants to rob that railway tycoon's train! What on earth is he... ...Does he know what our current situation is? Pinkerton is hunting us, and bounty hunters want to use our heads in exchange for money! What does Dutch... want to do?"
Hosea sighed and said, "Can I not know what you are saying? But I failed to persuade him, and now he hardly listens to my advice. He now trusts the advice of old Matthews more than His own plan."
Arthur took another sip of wine, as if he had made up his mind, and said: "Forget it, since Dutch thinks that robbing the train is the right thing to do, I won't have any objections, at least except for the vote in Blackwater Town. , there was never any problem with his plans.”
Hosea nodded in agreement. As Arthur said, except for the damn cruise ship in Blackwater, Dutch's plan has never gone wrong, which is why they can survive until now.
Arthur scratched his neck and said, "But you came here so mysteriously, you shouldn't just be talking about this, right?"
"That's right," Hosea said, "Although I couldn't persuade Dutch to give up this operation to rob the train, I proposed to send people from the gang to the town outside the snowy mountains to collect intelligence and prepare for our next transfer. , he agreed."
Arthur nodded and said, "Fortunately, he is still sane and has not gone completely crazy. I will make preparations later."
"I'm not asking you to go. You are an important force in the gang. Actions like robbing a train can't be done without you," Hosea said, casting his eyes on Brandy who was just watching the show. "Let's discuss Afterwards, it was decided to send Brandi out.”
"Him?" Arthur was a little surprised, but after thinking for a moment, he nodded in approval, "Indeed, Brandy is the most suitable candidate."
"Huh? Me?" Brandi didn't expect that the melon would even hit her head while eating.
"Of course it's you," Hosea said with certainty. "Everyone in our gang either has a huge bounty on their head or is a member of Pinkerton and a bounty hunter, but you don't Same. You only joined us in the snowy mountains, and Pinkerton and the bounty hunters don’t know you exist.”
Brandi also came back to his senses at this time and realized that he was indeed the best person to complete this task. His expression also changed from the previous surprise to serious: "I understand, tell me, what do you need me to do? "
"Come, let's go into the house and talk." Hosea said as he led Brandi into the house.
"Then I'm going to discuss the train with them. I have to make preparations in advance." After Arthur said this, he said goodbye to the two of them.
In Hosea's room.
Hosea spread out an extremely detailed map and pointed it out to Brandy while saying, "Look here, this is where we are, and here is a livestock town called Valentine."
"Is this our next destination?" Brandy asked.
"To be precise, it's here," Hosea pointed to another place on the map and said, "This place is called Horseshoe Lookout. I went to Valentine when I was young and I know this place. The terrain there is easy to defend. It is difficult to attack and has easy access to water, so it is very suitable for our next station. You also know that what we do is business, and it is not suitable for living directly in the town. "
Brandy nodded and asked, "What do you need me to do?"
"You have two tasks," Hosea said. "The first is to investigate whether there are Pinkerton detectives and bounty hunter groups in Valentine and nearby areas; the second is to settle down in Valentine and the surrounding areas. It would be best if we could build good relationships with the residents, and it would be best if we could break into the local police system and government agencies.”
"How long can you give me?" Brandi asked.
"Depending on the impact of robbing the train, it can take as little as a week or as long as half a month." Hosea looked confident.
Brandi smiled bitterly and said: "You really think highly of me. It's okay to investigate Pinkerton and the bounty hunters. But in a week to half a month, as a foreigner, you established a new relationship in a strange town." Good popularity? Or is it better to break into the police system and government agencies? How likely is this to you?"
"It's not as complicated as you think," Hosea smiled slightly. "Outside the civilized world, there are many ways to establish a good image. You are a smart person, and I believe you have the ability to express yourself freely."
Brandi was a little helpless: "Okay, I'll try my best."
"No matter what the situation is on our side, after you arrive in Valentine Town, send a letter to the local post office every Sunday, providing us with all the information you have learned and the current situation on your side. Remember, the content must be Write it like a letter home, and then go to the local post office every Wednesday to check if there is a letter sent to you. If you have not received a letter from us within two weeks, then congratulations, our ship The ship has capsized and you are free." Hosea closed the map and said.
Brandy asked, "Who should I send the letter to?"
"Tacitus Kilgore," said Hosea, "that's the common alias, and each of us has his own alias, but that's not important, because it changes from time to time. You have to think of one for yourself too. Fake names, at least when sending letters to gangs, make them less likely to be detected.”
"I understand," Brandi nodded and said, "When do I leave?"
"The sooner the better," Hosea said. "Besides, this is your first time to perform this kind of mission, so I have discussed it with Dutch and will try our best to meet your needs. Of course, there is no way around money right now. Now we are all paupers."
Brandi thought for a moment and said, "In that case, I have three conditions."
"Tell me about it." Hosea looked at Brandi.
"First, I need a carriage, the smallest one will do, but one thing is, I want that particularly big black shire horse to drive." Brandi said.
"No problem." Hosea nodded.
"Second, I need a detailed map, just like the one you just showed me."
"I can give it to you now." Hosea said, taking out a map that looked much newer than the previous one and handing it to Brandy.
Brandi put away the map and said, "Third, during my execution of this mission, all the personal gains I made will belong to me."
"This..." Hosea was embarrassed, "Brandy, gangs have rules. In gang tasks, the gang has to take a cut of personal income."
"Oh? Is there such a rule?" Brandi asked, "What percentage is usually taken?"
"Fifty percent."
"Fifty percent?!" Brandi almost shouted, "The U.S. government isn't that bad, right? Come on, whoever wants to do this can go, I won't bother, I'm leaving." After that, he stood up. Just walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey," Hosea quickly grabbed Brandi and said, "Why are young people so impatient? It can still be discussed."
"Oh?" Brandi heard that it could be discussed, sat back in her seat again, and said, "How can we negotiate?"
"I can discuss with Dutch. You only need to hand over 40% of your personal profits from this mission to the gang." Hosea set out his conditions.
"Forty percent?" Brandi said with a embarrassed look, "It still feels like too much."
"What do you think?" Hosea asked.
Brandy didn't say anything, just held out two fingers.
"No," Hosea shook his head, "This way I can't explain to Dutch, the minimum is 30%, and it can't be reduced any further."
"Deal," Brandy tapped his fingers on the table to signify the deal. He stood up and extended his right hand to Hosea, smiling, "I wish us a happy cooperation, Mr. Matthews."
Hosea stood up helplessly and shook hands with Brandi, saying, "You kid, you are better at settling accounts than Strauss, that loan shark. I might as well let you handle accounts with him from now on."
"Hey hey hey, haven't we had enough hard times and are afraid of being poor? It's okay if we don't make the same example next time." Brandy said with a smile.
"You said it, it won't happen again."
"It must, it must."
At three o'clock in the morning, a carriage pulled by a huge black horse drove out of Plow Village and headed southeast.
