After letting Zhang Zhe stay behind, Chen Gu led 5,000 soldiers and took a small road around Luoding City to return to Guangzhou. He also took away 50 rockets and left 20 for Zhang Zhe in case of emergency.

After the Annan and foreign coalition forces attacked Guangzhou, Yang Yunfeng, who was attacking Yunfu County, immediately led his troops back to provide support. So at this time Yunfu County was still in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, while Zhaoqing was in the hands of the Tiandihui.

When Chen Gu passed by Yunfu, he thought about it and decided to leave Yunfu to Rong'an. Although having an extra city would provide more strategic depth, it would also require dispersing troops to garrison it.

Rather than dividing the troops on your own, it would be better to let Rong An divide the troops.

After bypassing Yunfu and arriving at Zhaoqing County, Chen Gu obtained accurate information about Guangzhou.

Annan only sent 10,000 troops for the expedition, and the East India Company had only 2,000 people, but it had more than a hundred ships. Although most of them were troop transports, there were also 20 ocean-going warships.

The East India Company's shipborne guns were very powerful, and the Annan soldiers were all hot weapons troops. The Zhaoqing defenders did not know what specific guns and cannons they were, but they were anyway more powerful than the city defense guns of the two cities of Guangzhou, and the guns were also more powerful than ordinary bird guns.

Of course, there is still a big gap compared with China's rifles and submachine guns.

This is enough. Although Chen Gu traveled lightly and did not bring any cannons, he brought fifty rockets, as well as a lot of conventional bombs and detonators. As long as they were used well, the chance of winning the battle would not be small.

Since Yang Yunfeng had already rushed back with the elite members of the Tiandihui, Chen Gu was no longer in a hurry. He ordered his men to collect boats, and if there were no boats, they could make bamboo rafts.

Chen Gu planned to take a boat down the Pearl River to Guangzhou to preserve the soldiers' strength.

Three days later, Chen Gu finally gathered all the bamboo rafts needed for his 5,000-strong army.

Early the next morning, Chen Gu personally took the first batch of bamboo rafts and went downstream. Fifty rockets were also on the first batch of bamboo rafts. Chen Gu planned to try to attack the enemy's warships.

Guangzhou.

Nanhai County is located in the south of the Yangtze River, while Panyu County is located in the north of the Yangtze River. From the Sui and Tang Dynasties until now, Guangzhou has always been facing each other.

The coalition forces of Annan and the East India Company launched a surprise attack on Nanhai County, easily taking it under control and gaining supplies and a foothold.

Fortunately, the Tiandihui and the Chaoshan clan coalition reacted quickly and relied on their numerical advantage to defend the Panyu County, preventing the Annan coalition from continuing to expand their victory.

Nearly ten days had passed, and the two cities were fighting every day, mainly the Annan coalition attacking Panyu City, while the Tiandihui coalition had always been on the defensive. Even though Yang Yunfeng brought back 20,000 elite troops to support, it only increased the defensive force and had no power to counterattack.

The main reason was that the Annan coalition had a huge advantage in armaments, and there were also twenty ocean-going warships blocking the river. The Tiandihui coalition had no ability to cross the river at all.

The sun rose again from the east, and as soon as it appeared, it cast thousands of golden rays of light, and the whole land suddenly became bright.

Seeing the Annan army gathering across from them, Feng Yuanni couldn't help but frown and asked Yang Yunfeng beside her, "Their attack intensity is not strong, but they keep attacking the city every day. What does that mean?"

Yang Yunfeng thought for a moment and said, "It's just that they want to take Guangzhou but don't want to suffer too many casualties!"

Li Jianming sighed and said, "If Cai Qian can't leave, we are not completely powerless to fight!" "How can we not leave when we can't even protect our old nest!" Feng Yuanni said with a smile.

Lin Zexu sent troops first, forcing Cai Qian to return for assistance, which allowed the Annan coalition forces to take advantage of the situation. If Cai Qian's warships were in the Pearl River, the Annan coalition forces would not have been able to successfully launch a sneak attack on Nanhai County.

"Annan is just a small country, yet it dares to get involved in China's dynastic struggle. Aren't you afraid of being retaliated against?" Li Jianming said hatefully.

Feng Yuanni smiled and said, "I know something about this. It is rumored that after Nguyen Phuc Anh seized power, he sent people to us to ask for rewards. After learning about our current situation, he first went to Wuchang to meet our great leader.

As a result, the leader did not recognize Annan as a country at all, and only said that Annan was a province of our country. It was impossible to crown Nguyen Phuc Anh as king. At most, he could only be given a high-ranking official position, which was almost the same as a governor.

The Annan envoy had no choice but to run to the capital to ask the Tartar emperor for a title. Jiaqing was more easy going. Although he denied that Nguyen Phuc Anh changed the name of Annan to South Vietnam, he still gave him the title of king.

In this case, it is not surprising that Nguyen Phuc Anh stands on the side of the Tartar emperor. Otherwise, when our leader is free, the Kingdom of Annan will not be able to continue to exist. "

Yang Yunfeng couldn't help but curl his lips and said, "Our leader is really strong enough. He has seized the title of king before he has conquered the world. Now he has caused such a big disaster. What should we do?"

Li Jianming sighed and said, "It is normal to be strong. Think about it, when the late emperor started his army, there were only tens of thousands of people and thousands of soldiers, but he was able to conquer half of the world in just two or three years and compete with the Qing Dynasty. How could such a person not be strong?

Moreover, when the late emperor was alive, he never compromised with anyone, never compromised with the Qing court, never compromised with the powerful gentry. He would rather move slowly than give up a single Qing official. No matter how much resistance there was, he implemented the policy of equal land distribution and low taxes. It can be seen that the late emperor was not a person who would compromise.

How could they compromise with a small country like Annan?

It's a pity that such a person as the late emperor was plotted against by a villain. If the late emperor were still alive, even if Nguyen Phuc Anh had a hundred guts, he would never dare to invade Guangzhou."

Feng Yuanni and Yang Yunfeng could not help but fall silent.

There were many people who were against the Qing Dynasty. The Tiandihui and the White Lotus Society could be said to be professional anti-Qing people. The White Lotus Society had followers all over the world, and the Tiandihui was also very powerful south of the Yangtze River.

However, these two organizations with huge influence among the people were unable to organize large-scale anti-Qing activities. They always rebelled on a small scale and were quickly suppressed by the Qing court.

Facts have proved that anti-Qing is not that easy.

On the contrary, Chen Gu started out as a mountain stronghold, but in less than a year he established his own regime in Sichuan and also implemented equal distribution of land and low taxes.

In the next two or three years, they occupied half of the world. This was the result after they abandoned the powerful gentry. If Chen Jue could accept the powerful gentry, I am afraid that he would have overthrown the Qing Dynasty and occupied the whole world by now.

Yang Yunfeng and others had complicated feelings towards Chen Jue. They admired his achievements but were also afraid of his power. After Chen Jue's death, China's unification cause became uncertain, and it also gave these ambitious people like them an opportunity.

(End of this chapter)