Chapter 12: The Divine Gunner Li Zhen (8th Update)

  Li Zhen hid alone in the mountains and forests, staring at the official road below the mountain.

  Half a moment later, Huang Shi Hai and Huang Hu led 928 soldiers out of the mountain forest and stood on the official road that had already been marked. Huang Shi Hai's position was about one hundred meters to the left of Li Zhen, while Li Yong Bao led his troops from the right side of Li Zhen. When the two armies met, Li Yong Bao wanted to go forward and call out, and he must have been within a hundred meters of Huang Shi Hai.

  In this way, Li Zhen is between Huang Shi-hai and Li Yongbao. As long as the distance between Li Zhen and Li Yongbao is within 100 meters, even if there is a slight deviation in the distance, Li Zhen has enough confidence to shoot and kill Li Yongbao.

  Li Zhenzang waited patiently in the mountains and forests.

  Time flew by, and a black line appeared on the distant official road, rushing towards the direction of the mountain slope.

  Li Yongbao is here!

  Li Zhen took a deep breath, calmed his nerves, put on the grass hat woven from wild grasses, and quickly entered the designated position. It was summer, and the mountains and forests were lush and green. With Li Zhen wearing a fresh grass hat woven from wild grasses on his head, he was hard to spot in the woods. Moreover, Huang Shi Hai was attracting Li Yong Bao's attention on the official road, making it even harder for Li Zhen to be discovered.

  ……

  Li Yongbao led his troops forward and also received news that the Qing army was blocking the official road.

  After confirmation, it was found that the Qing army had only 800 people, and Li Yongbao didn't take it to heart. He led his soldiers to stop about 100 meters away from Huang Shi Hai, which was roughly the same distance as estimated by Li Zhen. Li Yongbao rode his horse to the front of the army formation, his eyes gleaming like electricity, staring at Huang Shi Hai who held a large gun with a white wax stick in his hand, and shouted: "Who comes? This general does not kill nameless small soldiers!"

  "Huang Shi Hai shouted loudly: 'General Huang Shi Hai!'"

  Li Yongbao murmured to himself, unable to recall any information about Huang Shi Hai. A look of disdain immediately appeared on his face as he said loudly, "A nobody, not even worth the effort of taking action."

  Li Yongbao paused for a moment and shouted: "Where is Jiang Ping?"

  Jiang Ping bowed his fist and said: "Your subordinate is here!"

  Li Yongbao pointed at Huang Shihai and ordered: "Take Huang Shihai's dog head!"

  "I will obey orders!"

  Jiang Ping bowed with his fist and responded, holding up his large knife, and rode his horse to charge towards Huang Shi Hai.

  Li Zhen hid beside the trunk of a giant tree, his rifle butt resting against his armpit, his eyes close to the scope, aiming at Li Yongbao's temple. At this moment, all of Li Zhen's attention was focused on Li Yongbao.

  Bang!

  Li Zhen pulled the trigger, a gunshot rang out, and the bullet shot out.

  "Pffft!"

  The bullet accurately shot into Li Yongbao's temple and entered his skull.

  Li Yongbao didn't even have time to let out a miserable cry, feeling a severe pain in his brain, and suddenly everything went dark before him. He fell directly to the ground without any breath left in him. The surrounding soldiers were shocked and at a loss for what to do, unable to understand how Li Yongbao could have fallen off his horse so suddenly. Several deputy generals dismounted their horses to check on Li Yongbao's situation, only to discover that there was an additional blood hole on the top of his head.

  Deep red blood gushed out from the temple and soon formed a pool of blood.

  Li Yongbao's deputy general Wang Zhong saw this and knew things were not going well.

  He made a decisive decision and shouted loudly: "The Qing dynasty is secretly calculating the small Li general, killing all the Qing dynasty to avenge General Li."

  "Pffft!"

  Wang Zhong's words had just left his mouth when another bullet flew in, hitting Wang Zhong's forehead and killing him instantly. The two main generals of the bandits were shot dead in the blink of an eye, causing them to panic even more. Li Zhen was still not satisfied, quickly aiming at the leaders of the Taiping Army and shooting three more generals in a row, completely routing the Taiping Army.

  "General Li has been killed!"

  "General Wang has been killed!"

  "The Qing dynasty's demonic powers are at work! They're using dark magic to kill several generals. Flee quickly!"

  ……

  Countless Taiping soldiers were in disarray, shouting loudly in a state of panic and unease. They turned around and ran away with their feet open, no longer charging forward. In fact, these soldiers had just been preparing to charge forward and kill the enemy, but the continuous fall of their generals made the Taiping soldiers terrified and dare not advance again.

  Li Zhen put away his sniper rifle, a hint of a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

  This is the means of a sniper!

  Huang Hu looked at Li Yongbao, who had fallen to the ground and couldn't get up, then glanced at the other rebel leaders lying on the ground. His mouth agape in shock, his eyes darted towards Li Zhen's position. After a long while, Huang Hu finally came back to himself, muttering: "With Lord Li shooting down enemy generals, do we need to fight to the death?"

  Such means are too cruel.

  Huang Shi Hai also discovered that Li Zhen Sha had killed Li Yong Bao and several other bandit leaders, and his heart became urgent. He let out a tiger's roar, the large spear in his hand suddenly exerted force, the spearhead rapidly shook back and forth, as if five pear flowers were blooming, seemingly real yet illusory, dazzling Jiang Ping so that he became dizzy and disoriented, unable to distinguish reality from illusion.

  Jiang Ping waved his knife repeatedly, wanting to protect his own safety.

  "Pffft!"

  Jiang Ping was ultimately no match for Huang Shi Hai, and was stabbed in the chest by a single shot from Huang Shi Hai. At the moment when the gun tip pierced his heart, Huang Shi Hai exerted force to twist it, crushing Jiang Ping's heart into pieces.

  Huang Shi Hai killed Jiang Ping and shouted: "Li Yong Bao is dead, kill!"

  "Kill!"

  Over 900 soldiers shouted in unison, drew their swords and charged towards the fleeing Taiping Army. Under the scorching sun, the blades reflected dazzling light that was blinding, causing the Taiping soldiers to tremble with fear and flee for their lives at incredible speed.

  "Run for your life!"

  The Taiping soldiers were in a state of utter chaos, with cries and shouts erupting everywhere. The army had completely collapsed. The leaders were all dead or wounded, no one was in command, and the soldiers all wanted to escape the pursuit and flee back to Yangzhou.

  "Ta! Ta!"

  The sound of horseshoes echoed, and Li Zhen led his horse out of the mountain forest, quickly gathering with Huang Shi and others.

  Sniper rifle on his back, Li Zhen held a steel knife and shouted: "Kill!"

  Li Zhen took the lead, and more than a hundred soldiers from the Sharp Blade Battalion charged forward with excitement. Huang Shi Hai saw Li Zhen break out and also charged forward with all his might, feeling extremely happy in his heart. Following Li Zhen into battle was indeed exhilarating, and they quickly emerged victorious.

  They pursued and killed all the way, killing the Taiping Army soldiers, who fell over each other, and were defeated.

  In a short while, another 6,000-strong army emerged from the official road ahead, blocking the Taiping Army's path.

  The leader was none other than General Wu Qigong. Li Zhen saw Wu Qigong emerge, and knew it was time to force the surrender of the Taiping Army, shouting: "Lay down your arms, those who surrender will not be killed!"

  "Spare those who surrender!"

  The soldiers all shouted loudly, their voices echoing continuously on the battlefield.

  Wu Qigong also ordered the surrender of the Taiping Army.

  The Taiping Army soldiers had no way to advance, and no way to retreat. They were already at a dead end. After hearing the shout of "Those who surrender will not be killed", all the soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered. Wu Qigong waved his hand grandly, giving orders for the soldiers to collect the Taiping Army's weapons, then surround the Taiping Army soldiers, binding them all together.

  Wu Qigong's mouth was slightly smiling, and he had already imagined the situation after returning to the camp.

  Li Zhen came to Wu Qigong's side, clasped his fists and said: "Congratulations, sir, on annihilating the bandits and achieving great merit."

  Wu Qigong laughed and said: "Li Zhen, you have also made a great contribution!"

  Li Zhen immediately said: "Thanks to the trust of adults, otherwise it would not be possible to easily defeat the bandits." Listening to Li Zhen's flattering words, Wu Qigong felt himself floating lightly and was very excited. He ordered the battlefield to be cleared and prepared to withdraw his troops.

  In this battle, the Qing army's losses were extremely small.

  Looking back at the Taiping Army, more than a thousand people were killed or wounded, and the remaining eight thousand plus people were captured.

  Wu Qigong used to think that fighting was a very hard thing, now he finds it so simple. He brought the heads of Li Yongbao, Wang Zhong, Jiang Ping and other Taiping rebel leaders, escorting more than 10,000 captured Taiping soldiers back to the main camp.

  Wu Qigong and Li Zhenduo returned triumphantly, all the soldiers were extremely excited.

  The army returned to camp, and Qi Shan personally welcomed the two into the big camp.

  Inside the Chinese military headquarters, Qi Shan had a smile on his face and said with a laugh: "This time we defeated the rebels and captured more than 8,000 of them, greatly boosting the prestige of our Jiangbei army. Good, very good!" After a pause, Qi Shan said: "Li Zhen, you killed Li Yongbao and other rebel leaders, I promote you to deputy general, leading an independent army."

  "Thank you, sir. I will definitely continue to work hard and live up to your expectations."

  Li Zhen was delighted in his heart, but his expression remained calm and composed, without revealing a hint of pride or complacency. This demeanor caught Qi Shan's attention, who was even more pleased, thinking that Li Zhen was humble and worthy of cultivation. Qi Shan turned to Wu Qigong and said: "Wu Qigong, you led the army to defeat the bandits, I hereby promote you to Deputy General, I hope you will work hard."

  "Thank you, sir!"

  Wu Qigong repeatedly thanked him and looked at the generals in the army with satisfaction.

  Qishan saw Wu Qigong's complacent expression and shook his head secretly, but didn't reprimand him excessively.

  Changing the subject, Qi Shan said: "This time we defeated the invading rebels, killing over a thousand people and capturing more than eight thousand rebels. What do you think should be done with the surrendered rebels?"

  He Ming was unhappy in his heart and said: "Sir, I think we should behead all the bandits to serve as a warning to others."

  Qishan listened and was also somewhat moved.

  To kill all the bandits is a warning to the Taiping Army, so that they dare not act rashly.

  Li Zhen observed the words and expressions, pondered in his heart for a moment, stood up and saluted Qi Shan, saying: "Sir, I think we can't kill the captured bandits. He Ming's suggestion sounds good, but if we really kill the bandits, it will definitely put you in danger, which is not good for you or the Jiangbei camp."