After receiving the telegram, Huo Xiaohu led his men to act quickly, and the cavalry blocked Cairns, wiped out Mayor Walcott and related personnel, and uprooted almost all government officials in the city.

There were mayors, deputy mayors, RCMP sheriffs and sheriffs, tax collectors and assistants, and other government staff, all adding up to a dozen people.

As a newly established city in 1876, Keynes did not have a city council, and Mayor Walcott was appointed by Brisbane for the seat of the state assembly, which is an omission of the imperfect democratic electoral system, which will take time to gradually improve.

In some remote cities and towns, where the basic conditions for election are not met, Brisbane generally designates the mayor or mayor as a state assemblyman, which is only a stopgap measure.

"Sir, are we doing this against the original intention of Shangfeng, the attack is too wide." Li Sijun, the commander of the first company, said with some concern.

Huo Xiaohu didn't answer immediately, he walked to the window and looked at the street outside, there were more than 30 heinous thugs hanging from the gallows, they were confirmed to be guilty of robbery, homicide, riot, rape and other serious crimes, and the bodies were lined up along the long street.

Other convicts will be escorted to the Red River Valley for hard labor in the Red River Valley, which now stands at 247 and continues to grow.

"Shen Zhen should use fierce medicine, Sijun, you are my good brother, good comrade-in-arms, I will teach you a trick today." Huo Xiaohu turned around, his eyes were shining, he raised his fists and bowed down to the south and said;

"The rise of Lord Earl and the Red River Valley, which has developed into the power of Nuoda in just a few years, are the leader and backbone of my Chinese, and everyone can see the rapid development momentum.

We and other professional soldiers eat the Earl's meal, take the Earl's salary, and thanks to the Earl's grace, I have been granted the right to take charge of the army, and we should be loyal to the Lord, be loyal to the Lord, and be loyal to the Lord, and share the worries of the Lord.

Before this operation

Several commanders have reached a consensus on this, and through this operation, they will take control of the towns in the central and northern parts of the country, and lay the foundation for the next step in the operation of this place.

The three flavors in this can only be understood but not spoken.

Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace, if we mistakenly understand the Lord's intentions, we will not regret the death of our humble bodies, but I hate to be able to fight in the north and south later, and show the passionate ambition in my chest.

When I got the telegram yesterday, I was really reassured. ”

Huo Xiaohu walked back to the table, took out a telegram from his notebook and handed it to Li Sijun, Li Sijun hesitated and didn't dare to stretch out his hand; "Sir, can I see it?"

"Even the officers above can watch it, of course you."

"Thank you, sir."

Li Sijun's gaze quickly swept over the message, and finally stopped at the number of more than 700 people, and his heart suddenly brightened.

Could it be that you have been prepared?

Just one Keynes sent more than 700 people, think about how many people are in other towns combined, how can a large number of people be drawn without preparation in advance?

"Sir, I understand, resolutely carry out the orders of the superiors." Li Sijun folded his legs, snapped a straight salute, and then respectfully returned the telegram with both hands.

"It's good that you get it." Huo Xiaohu took the message, sandwiched it in his notebook, and ordered in a decisive tone; "Today and tomorrow will comb Keynes repeatedly, sweep away the ruffians and thugs, encourage the common people to publicly report the atrocities they have suffered, and clean up the city at once.

"Understood, resolutely carry out the order." Li Sijun raised his hand and saluted solemnly, turned around and left quickly.

Around noon

A fast liner from the Red River Valley arrives at Cairns Docks, and more than 700 heavily armed Chinese militiamen will take over the city, from the mayor to the tax collector and sheriff, from the RCMP to the port officer, all with letters of appointment to take over the city.

Huo Xiaohu arranged a special reception, properly settled everyone, and began to transfer the power in his hands and the criminals in custody, and after counting them one by one, he was directly escorted to the boat, and the number of criminals had exceeded 300.

The two sides are at the time of the handover of the dock

A herald came quickly on a fast horse, and shouted when he was far away; "Sir, the third company has been besieged by a large number of bandits, and urgently asks for help."

"Oh."

Huo Xiaohu took the emergency report and glanced at it, his face immediately turned pale, and he scolded hatefully; "This group of inexhaustible social scum is really daring."

It turned out that the news still leaked.

Walcott's three sons, together with some neighbouring ranchers, gathered a large number of armed mobs, numbering about 600 people, all the way to Cairns to retrieve the prisoners, and other armed thugs who had rushed to join them along the way.

In terms of numbers, it has surpassed the strength of Huo Xiaohu's men.

The 3rd Company was responsible for searching the northern part of Cairns, and was surrounded by a large group of bandits in a mountain col, about 20 miles away from here.

The assembled mob was menacing and arrogant, trying to annihilate the outsiders in one fell swoop.

But what the frenzied bandits did not expect was that more than 700 heavily armed militiamen arrived in Cairns at noon, and this powerful military force quickly reversed the scales.

"Chief Huo, it looks like you need help?" The new mayor Gu Haikang is the master of the four halls outside Hongmen, a man who dares to fight and kill.

"That's true, the situation is urgent, I must quickly lead reinforcements, and I hope you can come later." Huo Xiaohu didn't have time to say more, turned over and hurriedly explained, and then ordered the whole team to set off.

Gu Haikang hurriedly called out to Huo Xiaohu; "Hey...... Wait a minute, Chief Huo, we don't have a war horse......"

The war horses that have just experienced the long-distance sea transport have soft legs and weak feet, and it is okay to ride them in a short time, but I am afraid that most of them will fall after running for more than 20 miles.

"There is a big barn by the dock, you can use the war horses inside, if they are not enough, you can collect them on the spot, I have to rush to reinforcements......" Huo Xiaohu left quickly with his subordinates, and rushed to the northern battlefield at a gallop.

The unnamed col north of Cairns

A fierce gun battle broke out here, and the soldiers of the third company were besieged by a large group of thugs in a mountain col about 120 feet above the ground, and the bloodied ones were taking advantage of the terrain to block the enemy.

Bullets whizzed through the air, weaving into a barrage of death.

The crunch of the blow on the rock, the breaking of grass and trees, and the flying of rock chips all convey harsh truths.

Large-scale riots have taken place, and the situation is very serious.

The mob of about 200 people besieged them, and they abandoned their horses and walked on foot, with the help of trees and rock cover, and from time to time people were hit by bullets and rolled down screaming.

There were more than 400 bandits on horseback on the periphery, pointing and discussing the battlefield, and they all looked very excited and eager to try.

There were only more than 60 people in the 3rd Company besieged in the mountain pass, and the gap between the two sides was almost 10:1.

"Brothers, save bullets, aim at the enemy, and hit me hard." Zheng Dagen, the commander of the third company, was born as a refugee in northwest Shandong, a tall and thin resolute man.

Zheng Dagen looked at the thugs approaching step by step outside the mountain pass, his eyes were full of anger, the comrades lying in wait outside pierced his heart deeply, and the hatred burned in his chest, making him hate these rampant bandits extremely much.

The third company was equipped with a German-made Mauser 1871 carbine, which was less than one meter long, weighed about 6.5 pounds, and had a range of 200~1100 yards, which was very powerful.

This is a cutting-edge rifle specially imported from Germany by the Red River Valley in order to expand the army, and compared with the original rough sawn rifle, the shooting accuracy and stability are greatly improved.

It was with the advantage of weapons that the third company was able to hold on to the siege of several times the enemy, blocking the mob's tidal attack.

"Brothers, we occupy favorable terrain, as long as we ......"

Before Zheng Dagen finished speaking, a hot bullet whistled through the cheeks of the soldiers beside him, causing the flesh to explode and fall softly, and the warm blood splashed on Zheng Dagen's face, making him unable to speak anymore.

He looked at it and already knew that the warrior was hopeless.

Zheng Dagen's heart was like being poked by a sharp blade, and his heart tightened in pain, he picked up the warrior's carbine without saying a word, loaded it, aimed at the thugs outside and pulled the trigger.

After a crisp gunshot, a thug with half of his body exposed rang fire.

Zheng Dagen pulled the bolt, loaded it again, aimed at a bandit who was waving a revolver and shouting, and calmly fired again.

After the gunshot, the bandit's chest exploded with a bright blood flower, and he was knocked backwards by the impact of the bullet.

The gunfire on the battlefield continued, and the attacking bandits kept falling in the gunfire, although they had the advantage in numbers, but the weapons were not powerful, and the soldiers shot accurately, causing great casualties to the attacking bandits.

In just over 20 minutes, several rounds of attacks failed, and the bandits had left more than 80 corpses at the mountain pass, and they were once again defeated.

This made the bandit leader Tom Walcott furious, and cursed loudly; "A bunch of damn cowards, can't even pack a few dozen yellow-skinned monkeys, have the cowboys of the York Peninsula lost their courage?"

"Tom, these yellow-skinned monkey carbines are very powerful, and we still use breech-loading Mini rifles, as well as quite a few flintlock pistols and revolvers, and we have suffered a lot in weapons."

"Falk squid, this is an excuse for cowardice, we are 10 times more numerous than them, one person can drown this group of yellow-skinned monkeys with a mouthful of spit, Celtic, you take the cowboys of our ranch to attack it, let them see how good Walcott's ranch is."

Tom Walcott waved the gun in his hand and urged loudly, and his younger brother Celt Walcoat was a strong man as strong as a bear, and he smiled with a thin grass stalk in his mouth, and said nonchalantly; "No problem Tom, I'll take out the intestines of this bunch of yellow-skinned monkeys and strangle them by their necks, no one on the York Peninsula would dare to defy Walcoat Ranch, they need to pay the price for their hubris."

"Very good, I'm waiting for you to finish off all of these monkeys."

"Hahaha...... Piece of cake. ”

Celtic turned over and dismounted, and led more than 140 cowboys from Walcott Ranch to the col, and they gathered the defeated thugs, and the number of attackers reached more than 280, and the black pressure made people's scalps tingle.

The three companies guarding the col faced an even more dire situation, and if they could not repel the flood of thugs, they would face the end of total annihilation.

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