Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 153: Daqing Navy
The next day, Chen Gu kept his troops in place, waiting for the arrival of the imperial army, and also waiting for the arrival of the Green Camp army behind him.

Chen Gu still had three or four days' worth of food and grass, so there was no need to worry. Luzhou City was just nearby, and there were many landlords' estates outside the city. He could replenish food and grass by beating the landlords and dividing their land, so he didn't have to worry about having no food to eat.

Gather the last remaining troops in Chengdu and besiege Chen Gu in Luzhou, waiting for reinforcements from the capital. This idea itself is indeed a good one, but the prerequisite is that you have to be able to stop him.

If we fail to stop him, we will be helpless and Chengdu will no longer be able to resist Chen Gu.

After years of maritime bans, the Qing Dynasty's shipbuilding technology actually regressed compared to the Ming Dynasty. It was slightly better during the Shunzhi period due to frequent wars, but it completely regressed after the Kangxi period.

Otherwise, they would not have mobilized the entire country to attack a small country like Taiwan, and would not have even issued a maritime ban to block the exchange of materials between the coastal areas and Taiwan.

The total military force of the Qing Dynasty was 800,000, of which 200,000 were from the Eight Banners, 600,000 were from the Green Camp, and one-tenth were from the navy. However, 60,000 navy troops were stationed along the coast and in major river basins.

The Yangtze River Navy has 12,000 soldiers, but its base is in Hunan and Hubei downstream, while Yibin upstream has only a pitiful 1,000 soldiers.

Not only were they small in number, their ships were also not very good. They only had one of the most powerful large Tongan warships, and it was seized by Chen Gu.

There are two Changlong ships, which are half the size of the Tongan warships. However, their firepower configuration is not much different. They also have a thousand-jin heavy cannon at the bow and stern, and four small cannons on each side. There are sixty soldiers on board, equipped with muskets, swords, shields and other weapons.

The rest are small boats such as large sampans, small sampans, river pilot boats, and flying boats. Among them, except for the river pilot boat, which is a small sailing boat, the other three types still need to be rowed by manpower.

There were several small cannons on the large sampan, and the other ships could only attack by boarding.

Fortunately, these boats were moving very fast down the river. We passed Yibin in less than a day, and saw Luzhou city in less than half a day the next day.

But they only know their own business. These ships are good for transporting troops, but if they really want to fight a naval battle, they can only rely on a few gunboats to hold the scene.

Standing on the only dragon boat, Yang Kui looked at the hundreds of boats in the river and sighed. He asked Liu Qing, "Songzhai, the rebels led by Chen Gu are very powerful. Can we really trap him to death in Luzhou?"

"Don't worry, brother Tong. No matter how powerful the rebels led by Chen Gu are, he has no navy. Luzhou is surrounded by several rivers. As long as we can block the Yangtze River, Chishui River and Naxi River, Chen Gu's only way out will be to go into the mountains." Liu Qing said confidently.

Le Bao mobilized all the Sichuan troops to encircle and suppress Chen Gu, but ended up dying and destroying his army. When the news of Le Bao's death and the annihilation of 9,000 troops reached Chengdu, both Yang Kui and Liu Qing were stunned.

Originally, the two thought that it had nothing to do with them, and no matter how powerful Chen Gou was, the imperial court would naturally find a way to deal with it. But after Chen Gou came out and two thousand Green Camp soldiers in Jiangjin County surrendered, Yang Kui and the other man could no longer sit still.

When Chen Gu led his army westward, the two began to think of countermeasures, and at the same time urgently asked for help from the court and Dajianlu.

Chengdu was short of military forces and would certainly not be able to resist Chen Gu who was coming with the momentum of a great victory. Besides, the two of them were the Sichuan Governor and Sichuan Censor. Not to mention Chengdu, even if other places were attacked and occupied by Chen Gu, the two of them would also be responsible for the loss of territory.

Afterwards, Chen Gu crossed Hejiang without attacking and continued to advance westward. The two were completely at a loss, as it was obvious that Chen Gu was heading directly for Chengdu!
Hejiang controls the Chishui River. The benefits of taking Hejiang are no less than taking Luzhou. However, Chen Gu just let Hejiang go and did not attack. Isn’t his purpose clear?
Moreover, Chen Gu's marching speed was surprisingly fast. He reached Hejiang in two days. In this way, he would be able to reach Chengdu in about ten days. The imperial court would definitely not be able to rescue him in this short time, and Chengdu would be in danger by then.

After looking at the Sichuan map and thinking about it, the two finally decided to mobilize the last troops in Chengdu to intercept Chen Gu in Luzhou. Their confidence came from the navy, because Chen Gu had no ships.

Moreover, in order to speed up the journey, Chen Gu traveled light, so he must have brought little food and fodder. As long as we besiege Chen Gu for a period of time, he might be able to collapse on his own, which would be a great achievement.

Staying in Chengdu is just waiting for death anyway, so why not give it a try?

If you win, you'll get promoted and make a fortune, but if you lose, it won't be any worse than being trapped in Chengdu and waiting to die.

Liu Qing thought for a moment and said, "Brother Tongshu, I want to go meet that Chen the Assassin!"

"No!" Yang Kui objected without hesitation: "Chen Gui has never been defeated, and now he is coming with the power of a great victory. He is at the peak of his power right now. It is useless to persuade him to surrender.

Judging from his usual behavior, he is extremely cruel. Song Zhai must not take risks at this time. Our army's morale is already low. If something happens to you before the battle, I'm afraid our soldiers will lose their will to fight, which may affect the overall situation!"

Liu Qing was an honest official who cared about the people. Even when dealing with rebels, he mostly tried to persuade them to surrender, and he would treat the rebels' families well. He was known as Liu Qingtian in the upper reaches of the Jialing River.

In the first year of Jiaqing (1796), Liu Qing, with the reputation of "Liu Qingtian", recruited 500 local warriors to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion. The following year, he was appointed as the governor of Dongxiang and captured the leader of the rebel army, Wang Xueli. He once persuaded the leader of the rebel army, Wang Sanhuai, to surrender and later served as the prefect of Zhongzhou. He persuaded more than 2 rebels to surrender and was awarded the title of Dao for his merits.

Now Liu Qing wants to use his good reputation to try to persuade Chen Gu to surrender.

Liu Qing thought about it and said, "We have to give it a try. Otherwise, if Chen Jue comes, everyone will be killed and the people of Luzhou will be devastated!"

Yang Kui sighed and said, "Even if we want to persuade him to surrender, we have to wait until the battle is over. At least we have to let Chen Gu know that he has no better way out now. Then it will be easier to persuade him to surrender!"

"My imperial army has blocked the rivers and he has nowhere to escape. Isn't the situation very clear?" Liu Qing said with a smile.

As the saying goes, when two armies are fighting, envoys should not be killed. With the imperial army backing Liu Qing up, Chen Gu should not have killed Liu Qing directly.

Yang Kui hesitated for a moment, and finally agreed to let Liu Qing go ashore to try to persuade Chen Gu to surrender.

So when Chen Gu saw the imperial navy appear outside the city of Luzhou, the imperial navy was divided into three parts. One part, with dozens of small boats, entered the Naxi River, one part docked along the river, and one part continued downstream, probably to the downstream to block the Chishui River.

As the fleet was sailing down the river, another flying rowboat broke away from the fleet and slowly approached the river bank. An old man wearing a peacock robe and a sapphire crown on his head got off the boat and walked towards the camp where his army was stationed.

Soon after, a soldier came to report.

"Sichuan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Liu Qing requests an audience!"

(End of this chapter)