Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 160: Fire and Fire Again
At this time, the best option for the imperial army was actually to escape. The Eight Banners soldiers evacuated the battlefield, and the navy risked their lives to rush out of the Naxi River as soon as possible to retain their strength for future actions.

However, under the influence of the intense gunfire, Liu Qing realized that his shouting was futile and a sheer waste of energy. In the end, Liu Qing had to give up shouting.

"Chen Gu, how come your rifle has such a long range and such a high firing frequency?" Liu Qing asked finally.

Chen Gu glanced at Liu Qing sarcastically, "Do you think I will tell you?"

"Since you won, can't you just let me die with peace of mind?" Liu Qing asked helplessly.

"No!" Chen Gu shook his head and said, "As for whether you will die or not, it's hard to say now. Just wait. If you deserve to die, I won't show mercy. If you don't deserve to die, there is still a way to survive."

If Liu Qing was really honest all his life, then Chen Gu would not hesitate to let him go so that he could gain a good reputation. If Liu Qing was just a fraud, then Chen Gu would take him to Chengdu, hold a grand public trial to prove that there was no good official in the Qing Dynasty, and then kill him.

Therefore, Liu Qing will not die for the time being. In order to avoid accidents, Chen Gu will naturally not tell him any secrets.

"boom!"

"Crash!"

A cannonball hit the bamboo platform. Chen Gu immediately rolled off the platform and rolled several times before he got up.

The entire bamboo platform has collapsed, and the bamboo used to build the platform has scattered everywhere.

Seeing Chen Gu in danger, the guards who had died guarding the bamboo platform rushed towards Chen Gu without regard for their own lives. Even the sound of gunfire on the battlefield was silenced.

Chen Gu quickly stood up and shouted, "I'm fine. Go save people. Save our comrades first. Then check to see if Liu Qing is dead. If he is not dead, save him."

After giving instructions to the guards who had gathered around him, Chen Gu immediately ran forward a few steps and appeared on the river bank to reassure everyone.

Seeing Chen Gu appear unharmed, the gunfire on the battlefield became more frequent again.

Chen Gu couldn't help but look towards the direction of the river mouth. The cannonball just now was fired by one of the two red cannons on the bow of the Feilong ship. It was a thousand-jin heavy cannon with a maximum shooting distance of two or three kilometers.

Although they were solid shells, their power was still amazing. One of them hit the top of the trench, directly smashing a large area of ​​mud and sand, causing several soldiers to be buried alive. Fortunately, the soldiers nearby rescued them in time and dug them out. At this time, they were lying in the trench resting in shock.

There are actually quite a few cannons on the sampans, but most of them are small cannons weighing about a hundred pounds. Although they can fire two or three hundred meters away, they do not pose much threat to the soldiers on the ground. As long as they are not unlucky enough to be hit directly, the mud splashed by the solid shells has basically no lethality.

After all, the river bank is not flat ground, so solid shells have no chance of rolling and crushing. Moreover, the firing frequency of the cannon is very slow, and it takes at least one or two minutes to fire a shell.

The two flying dragon boats were the biggest threat. Two more shells were fired, both hitting the river bank. The collapsed soil filled up a section of the trench.

The enemy’s artillery is very accurate!
Unfortunately, Chen Gu had no way to resolve this threat. The two Flying Dragon boats, probably because they were too large, did not originally enter the river mouth. After seeing the power of Chen Gu's rifle, they moved some distance upstream of the Yangtze River, beyond the effective killing range of the rifle.

Chen Gu looked at the situation below, frowned and thought for a while, then said to the messenger: "Tell Yuanbao to take action, first destroy the enemy's large sampan, and then burn all the way up.

Kang Minghui was ordered to lead a team to cut bamboo in preparation for building a floating bridge.

Tell Feng Yuanqiao, Yunhua, and Lao Piao to prepare to pursue the enemy. "The messengers scattered.

As soon as the messenger left, Yuanbao's side took action. The kerosene tank first smashed onto the large sampan at the river mouth, immediately causing a sea of ​​fire.

With the cover of fifty snipers, the soldiers on the warships that were hit by kerosene cans were suppressed to the point that they had no chance to show their heads and could only take the beatings.

A large sampan can be dealt with with five kerosene tanks, while small boats such as sampans, river pilot boats, and rowing boats only need two kerosene tanks to catch the entire boat on fire, especially the river pilot boats with canvas hanging, the fire can spread instantly.

Fires caused by gasoline are not so easy to extinguish. Once a ship catches fire, it is basically finished.

After more than twenty warships were set on fire in succession, the remaining warships finally became frightened and began to flee desperately to both sides. However, the river mouth had been blocked, and it was basically impossible to escape by running outward. The only way to survive temporarily was to run into the Naxi River.

Chen Gu did not let Yuanbao pursue.

After the navy escaped, the remaining six or seven hundred Eight Banners soldiers also began to flee.

As for the navy, it is only necessary to block the river mouth and prevent them from leaving. But as for this elite Eight Banners Army, Chen Gu must annihilate them, as the threat left behind is too great.

Because the Eight Banners soldiers had just rushed down the opposite bank of the river, the only way to escape was to climb up the bank, so they suffered another devastating attack. In the end, perhaps only two or three hundred people escaped.

However, Chen Gu still had no intention of letting them go. He ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge. After it was big enough for people to pass, he let Feng Yuanqiao lead the sword and shield soldiers to cross the bridge first and pursue.

"After crossing the river, don't chase them too closely. Just drive them away and consume their energy to avoid causing unnecessary casualties!"

"I understand!" Feng Yuanqiao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly led the team across the river.

After the floating bridge was able to accommodate horses crossing the river, Chen Gu personally led Yunhua's special forces company to chase after them.

The imperial army not only had more than 300 Eight Banners soldiers, but also 1,000 Green Camp soldiers who had not suffered much damage. Those cunning guys were killed in the battle led by Yang Kui and his men, and most of them lay on the ground and pretended to be dead at the beginning of the battle between the two sides.

When the two sides were fighting fiercely, deserters began to appear. Before the warships were burned, the Green Camp soldiers had all run away when they saw that their side was at an absolute disadvantage.

These Green Camp soldiers and their executioners cannot be let go just like that. If such a defeated army is left unattended, it will easily cause trouble to the local area in the future.

Now the whole Sichuan is in Chen Gu's pocket, so he naturally cannot let these Green Camp troops run away and do whatever they want. Instead, he captured them and incorporated them. Even if it cannot increase their combat effectiveness much, it will be good to strengthen their momentum.

When Chen Gu led his war horse across the river and landed, he found that the enemy's camp was not only on fire, but also had a secondary explosion. The entire camp was in a mess, and supplies were scattered everywhere. Fortunately, Feng Yuanqiao left a hundred soldiers to put out the fire, and now the fire has been basically under control.

"It must have been done by the escaped Eight Banners soldiers!" Yunhua said gritting his teeth.

"Chase and kill them all!" Chen Gu jumped on his horse and roared.

Waste is shameful, not to mention that what is destroyed is his own property.

(End of this chapter)