Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Cai Xi was not tall, but his shoulders were very broad. He wore a short coat, which made his muscles bulge and he looked very strong.

Cai Qian carefully looked at Chen Gu for a while, then saluted and shouted, "Cai Qian, greetings to the leader!"

Chen returned the salute and said with a smile, "General Cai, you are welcome."

The fact that Chen Gu came in person with a light luggage showed that he had enough trust in Cai Qian.

Of course, Cai Qian had no way out at this time. He could not take Fuzhou by attack, and he had no way to retreat. Surrendering to the Chinese Kingdom became his only option.

"Leader, please come in."

"Leader, please take your seat!"

After the two entered the central army tent, Chen Gu took the main seat and asked, "General Cai, can you first report on the current strength and armaments of your troops?"

"Now my army has more than 100,000 soldiers, but only 20,000 of them are capable of fighting, and 10,000 of them are naval forces. Of course, although they are the main force, their combat effectiveness is definitely not as good as the elite troops under the leader.

As for armaments, they are actually very scarce. Currently, there are less than a hundred warships, and only two large ships for the open sea. Including small river boats, there are only seven gunboats. "Cai Qian sighed.

The navy is Cai Qian's wealth. After all, he was born a fisherman and has been roaming the sea ever since then.

There are only so many warships now, which shows that the attack on Fuzhou did cause considerable losses.

As for the 100,000-strong army, it is just for reference. It would be more accurate to say that it was 100,000 civilians rather than 100,000-strong army.

You must know that China currently has only 120,000 main forces.

Giving a person a knife or a gun does not turn him into a soldier. The initial training requires a lot of money. Physical fitness needs to be built up by food, and shooting skills need to be improved by bullets.

After all, all of this costs money and also takes time.

Cai Qian had plundered so many gentry and dignitaries that he had no shortage of money, but having money did not mean he could buy military equipment.

If Chen Gu agreed, Cai Qian would even be willing to exchange all the money in his hands for Chinese rifles and submachine guns. Even if the price was a little higher, Cai Qian was willing to accept it.

Unfortunately, Chen the assassin refused to give in no matter how much money was offered. The most he could do was buy him some detonators and bombs.

Cai Qian naturally had many complaints about this, but unfortunately he had no choice but to endure it.

Cai Qian went on to say: "In addition to the warships, there are also hundreds of small cannons, 20,000 bird guns, countless gunpowders of various sizes and lead bullets, and the rest are cold weapons.

However, during this period of time, I have been able to obtain a lot of good things from trading with Fuzhou. The most powerful of these is the mother-and-child cannon. I have to say that the imperial court's mother-and-child cannon is indeed very powerful."

Cai Qian was able to fight Lin Zexu fairly well at the beginning, but after Lin Zexu received military replenishment from the court, he was quickly defeated. The biggest reason for this was the submachine gun.

It can be said that Cai Qian was still frightened, but he was ecstatic to be able to get the mother-and-child cannon in this transaction.

Chen Gu nodded and said, "Although 20,000 people is not a lot, it should be enough.

We can't replenish your armaments for now, so just use the bird guns for now, I think it should be enough to fight the Tiandihui." If Lin Zexu and the Fuzhou Army and Cai Qian's Cai Family Army were a mob, then the Tiandihui was a mob selected from the mob.

At least the former have received certain training and can carry out unified dispatch, while the latter is completely a mess.

Facing the Green Camp Army with two guns on the battlefield, they were able to hold out in Humen for several months. In the end, Rong An must have captured Guangzhou City and won the victory. This shows the combat effectiveness of the Tiandihui army.

It has to be said that the underworld forces are quite brave and aggressive, and their individual combat capabilities are actually quite good, but compared with the regular army, there is still a big gap, even if the object of comparison is the Green Camp Army.

"Leader, do you mean to attack Fuzhou?" Cai Qian asked.

The Cai family army alone is definitely not enough to capture Fuzhou, but if there is the cooperation of the main force of the Chinese country, Cai Qian feels that it is not impossible to fight. After all, although Cai Qian's own army is weak, the Fuzhou army is not much better.

Chen Gu shook his head and said, "No, we should attack Guangdong first and wipe out the Tiandihui. Then we can consider the issue of Fuzhou. I think Lin Zexu will give me a satisfactory choice by then."

"Guangdong?" Cai Qian frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Guangdong is much stronger than Fuzhou. The Tiandihui is said to have millions of followers. Plus the troops and armaments left by the Guangzhou General's Mansion, it's not easy to attack Guangdong. To be precise, the gap in strength is a bit too big!"

"As for the attack on Guangdong, you cannot let your army serve as the main force. Don't worry, China has already dispatched 10,000 main forces and 30,000 joint defense teams to the Guangxi border, and will launch an attack today.

As for your Cai family army, you only need to deploy troops on the border between the two provinces to contain the forces of the Tiandihui. Of course, if the opportunity is good, you can also choose to take the initiative to attack."

"That's good. Thank you, leader. I will do my best to help you retake Guangdong as soon as possible." Cai Qian expressed his loyalty.

Chen Gu nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Then we should send troops immediately and arrange ships to transport soldiers to Huizhou."

"Send troops immediately?" Cai Qian was stunned, then frowned and asked, "What about this place?"

"We can only give up this place temporarily, but don't worry, Lin Zexu will not leave the city to pursue us, so it doesn't matter even if we take the main force with us. At worst, we can give the whole Fujian to Lin Zexu!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

Cai Qian frowned and thought about it. Although he was reluctant, since Chen Gu insisted, he could only do as Chen Gu said.

The transportation volume of 10,000 people is not large. Cai Qian was born a pirate after all. Although his ships suffered heavy losses in the battle with Lin Zexu, they were just transporting troops. He could easily transport all the soldiers at once.

Five days later, the fleet docked at a place called Jilong in Huidong County.

Compared with the very developed Guangzhou, Huizhou at that time was still a barren land with difficult roads.

Although Jilong belongs to Huidong County, after landing in Jilong, you still need to walk more than 40 kilometers to reach Huidong County.

Huidong was just a small county, and the county seat didn’t even have a city wall. It was easily captured by Cai’s army, and they had a foothold there.

One of the places where the Tiandihui started its uprising was Boluo, which also belonged to Huizhou. However, by then everyone had gone to Guangzhou to enjoy their lives, and there were simply not many people from the Tiandihui left in Huizhou.

So, at the beginning, Cai's army was very successful.

(End of this chapter)