Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

The effective shooting range of an ordinary bird gun is only about fifty meters, but the South Vietnamese soldiers were equipped with rifled guns purchased from the East India Company. Although they were not the latest Baker rifled guns, their effective shooting range was still about one hundred meters.

There was a huge gap in armaments between the two sides. Fortunately, as the defending party, the Tiandihui had the city walls and battlements to hide in, and they were able to fight back and forth with the Nanyue soldiers.

Of course, the main reason was that Nguyen Phuc Anh was not in a hurry to attack the city, so although he attacked the city every day, the fighting was not fierce.

After all, Nguyen Phuc Anh understood that it would be useless even if he conquered more territories at this moment. On the contrary, the more territories he conquered, the easier it would be to attract China's attention.

If China felt that he was a greater threat than the Qing Dynasty and tried to deal with him with all its might, Nguyen Phuc Anh would have no choice but to return home in disgrace, as he would not be sure that he could handle China's full-scale attack.

If that were really the case, Jiaqing would probably wake up laughing in his dreams in Peking. From a supporting role to a main force, Nguyen Phuc Anh is not that stupid. He would rather China not see him, and even better if he doesn't exist.

Only if China and the Qing Dynasty fight to the death will he have a chance.

Moreover, with the 10,000 troops that Nguyen Phuc Anh currently has, even though their armaments are stronger than those of the Tiandihui, there is actually no guarantee that they can really capture Panyucheng.

After all, Panyu City originally had 20,000 Chaoshan clan troops, 10,000 White Lotus Sect soldiers, and 10,000 Tiandihui soldiers. Now, there were also 20,000 elite Tiandihui soldiers brought back by Yang Yunfeng.

It is basically impossible to capture Panyu with an army of 60,000.

It is not difficult to break the city, but in the street fighting after breaking the city, the gap in armaments will be greatly weakened, and it will not be so easy to fight at that time.

Even if we go to great lengths to capture Panyu City, what happens next?

Facing the counterattack of the Tiandihui, it would be difficult for the 10,000 people brought by Nguyen Phuc Anh to escape unscathed.

Nguyen Phuc Anh's current strategic goal is to delay time, but Chen Gu cannot afford to delay. He must fight a quick battle and then have to deal with Lin Zexu's southern expedition army.

If time permits, Chen Gu even wants to rush to Nanjing to help Lao Piao.

The bamboo raft drifted downstream and entered Guangzhou at noon.

Chen Gu couldn't help but frown when he saw the people on both sides of the strait cutting down bamboo in large numbers.

It is normal for people in the south to cut bamboo. After all, daily agricultural tools such as shoulder poles, string poles, bamboo bags, backpacks, winnowing baskets, and even things for binding are made of bamboo broken into strips and twisted into ropes.

Bamboo has many uses, but apart from papermaking, not many bamboos are usually cut down.

At this time, there were too many people on both sides of the strait cutting down bamboos, and the amount cut down was very large.

There is only one possibility in this situation, that is, there is some military operation that requires a large amount of bamboo, such as the bamboo raft that Chen Gu was riding at this time, which used a large amount of bamboo.

Chen Gu frowned and thought for a moment, then shouted, "Dock and rest!"

The guards around Chen Gu immediately took out the black and white flags and waved them three times at the same time, and all the bamboo rafts immediately rowed towards the shore.

It was close to the end of the year, the river was calm, and the bamboo raft was easy to maneuver, and it soon reached the shore.

Chen Gu first sent people out to gather information, and at the same time released scouts to pay attention to the movements around.

Soon, the person who went to inquire about the news came back, and brought back a local incense master.

"Sanshui Wharf Incense Master, Tang Huiqiang, greets the Special Envoy!" Chen Gu nodded and asked, "Why are you cutting down so many bamboos?"

"I don't know, but General Yang ordered various places to cut down a large amount of bamboo to tie triangular bamboo frames and weave bamboo ropes. I don't know the specific reason because of my low status." Tang Huiqiang said.

"Triangular bamboo frame and bamboo rope?" Chen Gu said, and then said, "Take me to see what kind of triangular bamboo frame and bamboo rope they are!"

"Please come in, Mr. Special Envoy!"

Tang Huiqiang led the way in front, and soon Chen Gu saw the bamboo ropes of the so-called triangular bamboo frame.

The so-called triangular bamboo frame is a triangle formed by bundling six bamboos. Three bamboos are placed on the ground and tied into a triangle, and then three more are tied vertically to form a triangular bamboo frame.

The four corners of the triangular bamboo frame will be connected to another triangular bamboo frame with bamboo ropes, that is, the five triangular bamboo frames are connected together by a one-meter-long bamboo rope.

The bamboo rope connecting the triangular bamboo frame is only as thick as a finger, but the bamboo rope made of twisted green bamboo strips has very good tensile strength. Although it is only as thick as a finger, it can withstand even being used to lift a thousand-pound stone.

And these bamboo ropes were not specially made. When Tang Huiqiang took Chen Gu to the place where the bamboo ropes were made, Chen Gu was stunned when he saw their specially made bamboo ropes.

It turned out to be a bamboo rope as thick as a fist. First, three bamboo ropes as thick as chopsticks were twisted into a bamboo rope as thick as a finger, and then three bamboo ropes as thick as fingers were twisted into a bamboo rope as thick as a bamboo pole, and finally three bamboo ropes as thick as bamboo poles were twisted into a bamboo rope as thick as a fist before it was completed.

Moreover, this step is completed by twenty-seven people at the same time. This is to ensure that each joint has at most one smallest joint, thus ensuring the overall strength of the bamboo rope.

Twenty-seven people were only responsible for the combination of strength, and there were hundreds of people next to them who were breaking and twisting the bamboo strips to strengthen the combination.

"What on earth are you trying to do?" Chen Gu asked with a frown.

Why is such a thick bamboo rope made and still have to ensure its strength? Where is it going to be used?
This must be related to military operations, but Chen Gu couldn't figure out what purpose it had.

And this is just one of the places. It is not known how many such operations there are downstream. But from what Chen Gui saw along the way, there are no less than ten such operation points.

"I really don't know the details, but since it was General Yang who ordered it, everyone just followed his orders," said Tang Huiqiang.

Chen Gu frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "How many of these things do we need to make? When will it be finished? Where will it be transported after it's made?"

"The more bamboo frames the better. Only one bamboo rope needs to be at least thirty meters long, but not more than forty. We will finish it tonight. After the bamboo rope is made, someone will come to receive it. As for the bamboo frames, after they are tied up, they can be pushed directly into the river after dark!" Tang Huiqiang explained.

"Push it directly into the river?" Chen Gu asked in surprise.

Tang Huiqiang nodded and said affirmatively: "The order is indeed to push it directly into the river!"

Chen Gu frowned and thought about it, then his eyes lit up and he laughed, "Haha, so that's it, they're trying to intercept the Pearl River!"

"Is it to intercept the Pearl River?" Tang Huiqiang was stunned and asked casually, "What's the point of using these bamboo frames to intercept the Pearl River?"

"If there is not enough, it is useless. But if there are enough, it will be very useful." Chen Gu said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)