Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 126: People Survive and Land Lost, People and Land Survive
The sour scholar was no longer in the mood to teach, and he had no way to dissuade Chen Gu. After all, Chen Gu was now facing a life-and-death battle, but he could not just watch his family members die at Chen Gu's hands every day.

Ever since the imperial court sent laborers to build the road, the sour scholar has been sitting in his room in silence all day.

It was not until two days later that Bian Shichun and Bai Wencheng went into the mountains. They did not say anything to Chen Gu. It was drizzling, and they knelt in front of the gate of Zhongyi Hall, soaking wet.

Inside the Loyalty Hall, Chen Gu sat in the main seat with a gloomy face, while Zhang Haomin, Lao Nian and others who were sitting on both sides also looked embarrassed.

The current good situation of Fobao is due to the efforts of the wealthy families in Jiangjin, especially the Chen and Bian families, who have close ties with Fobao.

But now Fobao is facing a battle of life and death, and he cannot retreat even a single step. If it were just those bachelors from the original mountain village, it would be fine, but now there are many local people in the army, and some of his former brothers have married local women and started families.

If they wanted to leave, they had to take everyone with them, including five hundred veteran soldiers who had been trained for several months, five hundred new soldiers, five hundred logistics soldiers, nearly a thousand craftsmen, and more than two thousand civilians.

Where should so many people go?

What’s more, the Buddhist treasure has hoarded so many supplies, how can we take them away?
Moreover, there are nearly a thousand people here who have just been recruited. If they leave, it will be a problem whether these people will run away.

There is also oil. Without the Buddha treasure, we will lose oil as a source of income. If we lose many other materials, what will we do in the future?
Finally, everyone's eyes turned to Chen Gu. No one was afraid of fighting the imperial court with real swords and guns, but facing the current dilemma, no one could think of any way to deal with it.

"Prepare to evacuate the Buddhist treasure!" In the end, Chen Gu made the decision to leave the Buddhist treasure.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh and feel relieved at the same time.

Lao Sha clenched his fist and asked, "Why don't you go out and fight to the death?"

“Because it’s meaningless. Although we may not necessarily lose, we definitely won’t gain much advantage. Our weapons are indeed powerful, and we can have an absolute advantage over a small elite force like the Jianrui Battalion. But when facing a large army, we are at a great disadvantage in terms of numbers.

After all, it takes the same amount of time to kill an ordinary soldier and an elite soldier from the Jianrui Battalion.

If it is a jungle battle, with the defense we have arranged, even if Lebao's troops are increased five times, we will be able to defend the Buddha treasure. But Lebao obviously will not give us this opportunity.

He will only send civilians into the mountains to build roads, and build roads that can run horses. However, there is no end to the civilians, and they will only waste our ammunition. When our ammunition is used up, Lebao will naturally be able to come in. "Chen Gu smiled bitterly.

Lao Gao sighed and said, "This is our base. It's really hard to leave it like this!"

"Let's go. If we save the land but lose the people, we will lose both the land and the people. Only if we save the people and lose the land can we save both the land and the people. Nothing is more important than people. As long as we are alive, the Buddha treasure will not disappear here. Sooner or later, we will be able to come back." Chen Gu sighed.

Zhang Haomin frowned and asked, "But where can we go?"

"We can go anywhere, to Guizhou, to the border between Sichuan and Shaanxi, or even to Yibin or Chengdu. Let the people take refuge in the mountains, and the army can travel light. Without geographical constraints, I can lead you to fight so hard that the imperial court won't know which way is which!" Chen Gu said with a sinister look on his face.

With the advanced weapons in Chen Gu's hands, if there were no geographical constraints, he would not be afraid of the imperial court's encirclement and suppression. If he had fewer people, he could fight; if he had more people, he could retreat. Even if he was facing an army of 100,000, he would always be able to find a weak point and break through it.

After all, Chen Gu would not charge head-on against an army of 100,000.

Chen Gu glanced at Bai Wencheng and Bian Shichun who were kneeling at the door, raised his voice and shouted, "You two come in!" The two wiped their faces, bowed to everyone after entering the door, and then knelt in front of Chen Gu. They didn't say a word from beginning to end, but their meaning was very clear.

“We can go, but we need time to prepare, so you still have to wait for two days. But I hope you understand that although your people were killed by me, Chen Gu, they died at the hands of Le Bao and Na Yancheng.

Although I, Chen Gu, killed your people, you still owe me a favor, and one day you will have to repay me for it!" Chen Gu said coldly.

The two men kowtowed to Chen Jue, and Bai Wencheng said in a trembling voice: "The Bai family thanks Young Master for your kindness. The Bai family is willing to accept this favor. If Young Master needs anything in the future, please feel free to ask the Bai family for it. The Bai family will never refuse."

"The Bian family will never shirk its responsibilities, including those of other ethnic groups in Jiangjin County!" Bian Shichun followed.

It can be said that the entire Jiangjin County is now on the brink of life and death. If Chen Gu continues to maintain a stalemate, Le Bao and Na Yancheng will definitely do something like sending all the young and strong people in Jiangjin County into the mountains.

The reason why the White Lotus rebels are difficult to wipe out is because they have no fixed territory, and the Fobao place has now become Chen Jue's Achilles' heel.

However, in the fight between Chen Gu and the imperial army, the first to suffer misfortune were the major clans in Jiangjin County. It can only be said that the weak have no resistance in the face of power.

At this time, facing Chen Gu and the imperial army, the major clans in Jiangjin County were the weak ones.

Chen Gu sighed and said, "Okay, you guys go back. Although people will continue to die in the next few days, I will ask Yunhua to be more restrained. I hope that fewer people will die!"

Bian Shichun and Bai Wencheng kowtowed again before getting up and leaving.

Next, Chen Gu and everyone else began to discuss the evacuation.

It is not an easy task to evacuate so many people, especially more than 2,000 civilians. Even if they go into the mountains, they need a place to settle down.

Otherwise, few of the elderly and children would survive.

The first thing was to send craftsmen into the mountains to build houses that could accommodate more than 2,000 people, and at the same time, as much food as possible should be transferred in.

Not to mention food, food is absolutely indispensable. Not having enough food is simply a disaster. If people are extremely hungry, they can do anything.

Fortunately, there are plenty of bamboo and wood in the mountains, so it doesn’t take long to build a temporary house.

It is impossible for so many people to stay in the mountains forever. After Chen Gu leads the army away, he will definitely find a way to transfer these people out as soon as possible.

After the common people came the craftsmen. These people could only temporarily live in the mountains and at the same time they had to continue making military equipment. After all, Chen Gu needed a stable source of logistics, and war was all about logistics.

If there is no bullet in the gun, it is just a fire stick.

(End of this chapter)