The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 102: Time That Cannot Be Delayed
Li Xianze, who was also holding a telescope, also noticed the problem. He continued to observe and said with some concern.

"Sir, something is wrong. These foreign devils don't seem to be in a hurry to attack. I'm afraid we can't afford to delay this long!"

This was also the reason why Teng Yuzhao frowned. More than 700 coalition troops a mile away were still slowly organizing their ranks, and there were even a few people who looked like officers sitting aside smoking.

The position of the Second Regiment was no secret to the Allied Forces in the concession. Standing on the roof of the concession in the afternoon, one could observe the situation here with a telescope. What's more, the Allied Forces also set up a high tower in the woolen factory in the concession, with an observation post on it, which was specifically for the Allied Forces to observe the situation outside the concession, including guiding the firing of their artillery.

More than a thousand people spent the entire afternoon digging trenches today. It is impossible that the coalition forces did not see it.

However, they knew that the vanguard’s position was just ahead, but they stopped just before they reached the position?
Under normal circumstances, this coalition force should be eager to quietly continue to approach the position, and then suddenly launch a fierce attack in an effort to break through the position in one fell swoop.

But now, this coalition force looked like it was ready to move, but it didn't want to move at all. It was obvious that this coalition force came out of the concession without really wanting to attack the vanguard army's defensive positions. Their purpose should be to delay Li Xianze's troops.

Teng Yuzhao thought for a moment and found the problem. The battle at Beiyang Military Academy must have scared the Allied Forces. The color of his Vanguard Army's uniforms was easy to identify. Now they could not spare too many troops, with only less than a thousand people. Naturally, they dared not stroke the tiger's whiskers of the Vanguard Army.

Moreover, Teng Yuzhao had already understood the meaning of Li Xiance's words, and he really couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Seymour had been running around Xigu for two or three hours and could escape into the concession at any time. Once they learned that the remnants of Seymour had already fled back to the concession, there would be no need for the coalition forces in front of them to continue pretending here, and they would immediately flee back to the concession.

Thinking of this, Teng Yuzhao did not dare to hesitate any longer and immediately gave the order decisively.

"Kang Nian, order the artillery to bombard the area where the coalition forces are located. Fire two rounds rapidly, which will also give the artillery a chance to fire live ammunition. After the bombardment, blow the horn and start a charge. The rest of the plan remains unchanged."

"Yes."

Li Xianze quickly ran back to the machine gun bunker to call the artillery to give orders, and also asked the two battalion commanders to prepare for the entire regiment to charge.

Three minutes later, as a flare was raised, the whistling sound of artillery shells was immediately heard in the air. The Allied troops a mile away suddenly became panicked. At the shouts of several smoking officers, the Allied troops in formation lay down and took cover on the spot.

Not far behind the coalition forces, a white light flashed, followed by a loud "bang".

This was a test firing, and these coalition officers were very well versed in military matters. They knew that the next moment, a shell would fall into their ranks, so they stood up and shouted, urging the coalition forces to disperse and avoid the shells.

However, because the first test fire hit too close, it was too late for the coalition forces to run away. Many of them had only taken a few steps when the sound of artillery shells whistled in the air, and then large balls of dazzling white light exploded among the coalition forces. "Boom boom boom", huge explosions sounded continuously.

In order to observe the effect of the shelling, flares were launched into the air one after another, illuminating the area where the coalition forces were located. In the light and shadow, one could clearly see the broken rifles and the coalition forces' limbs and arms flying into the air with flashing white light, and even whole people were thrown high into the air by the strong air waves.

Artillery fire is not like gun shooting. As long as it is within the effective range and you aim and shoot normally, even if you miss the target, the bullet will not deviate too far and will basically fly past you. If the shooter is well-trained, he can even hit the target accurately with several consecutive shots within a certain distance.

But artillery fire is completely different. As long as it is an indirect fire artillery, the shells will definitely be affected by the wind and even the temperature difference between high altitude and low altitude due to the long distance they fly in the air. Even if the artillery is fired continuously at the same predetermined firing angle, it is difficult for the shells to fall and explode at the same point. " "In addition, the artillery positions are spaced apart. Generally, the distance between the artillery and the artillery is at least 20 to 30 meters. Therefore, the artillery battalion's 19 artillery pieces have a large dispersion area. Nearly 40 shells have blown up a large area of ​​50 meters wide and 200 meters long, causing smoke and dust to rise everywhere.

As soon as the two rounds of shelling ended, Teng Yuzhao put down the telescope in his hand and waved to Li Xianze.

"Blow the bugle, the entire army charges." Li Xianze shouted to the two buglers behind him.

As two bugles sounded, the loud sound of the bugles suddenly resounded throughout the wilderness, "Kill."

With the sound of the bugle call, deafening shouts of killing immediately rang out from the vanguard army's positions. A large group of vanguard army soldiers, holding their sharp bayonets, jumped out of the trenches and rushed towards the remaining coalition forces that had been blown to pieces by thirty-eight 75mm artillery shells and were defeated in the smoke.

There is no need to watch any further, because there will be no accidents. This coalition force is not a well-trained force from Britain, France, Germany and Russia. Although there are also well-trained Austrian troops among them, they are outnumbered after all, and they cannot support themselves alone. Except for escaping back to the concession or surrendering, they will only die.

Teng Yuzhao walked towards the team led by Li Yaoting and Hu Daqiu. He also had his own tasks to complete. Of course, Teng Yuzhao's tasks were not assigned to him by others, but were tasks he assigned to himself.

In a green gauze tent two miles away from the concession, Wu Peifu and Liu Shijiu with more than a hundred members of the death squad were hiding inside, sweating profusely, squatting or sitting.

Although the weather in the north in June was not the hottest season and the sorghum was only half a person's height, the people hiding inside were still feeling stuffy and uncomfortable. Not a breath of wind blew through the densely packed green gauze tents. The people from the Qian Group, including Liu Shijiu, had already opened their clothes and were sitting on the ground in all directions with their breasts exposed.

The sixty-odd vanguard officers and soldiers, although they had basically unbuttoned their uniforms to let the air cool down, were still generally neat and tidy.

Only Wu Peifu, although he kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, still had all the buttons of his military uniform buttoned up tightly, and even the top discipline button was not undone.

Liu Shijiu suddenly said with some concern, "Zi Yu, did you hear the gunfire? Will Xingfu and the others be in any trouble?"

Wu Peifu had been paying attention to the movements in the rear, so the sound of artillery fire naturally did not escape his ears.

"No, please rest assured, Master." Wu Peifu shook his head decisively.

Thanks to: Black Sky, Zither Tree Flower, 2023501195803994, Zhu Zhinan, Chi Tianshi, Pi Lansi, Guangzhou Sima, 20170109203714455, Shenlan and other book friends for their strong support!
Your support is the driving force of Zuima!
********Recently, some netizens have been discussing the issue of weapons used in China from the late Qing Dynasty to before World War I. In fact, there is a phenomenon of generalizing. For example, Japanese and Russian weapons, both of which appeared in China before and after World War I, or at the earliest after the Russo-Japanese War. Initially, they were only used in the Northeast region, and then some troops of the Beiyang Army used them. As for Fengzao, it was still nowhere to be seen at that time.

There are indeed a large number of committee rifles, such as the Hanyang rifle, which is actually an imitation of the committee rifle. But some book friends said, "The committee rifles were used at that time", which is a generalization. At least the troops of Nie Shicheng and Yuan Shikai in the Wuwei Army were not like that. Their rifles were mainly Mannlicher rifles, Mauser 1871, G98 and other rifles.

Moreover, the weapons in the Xigu arsenal were not fabricated. When Seymour retreated through Xigu and occupied the warehouse area, he did find more than 98 artillery pieces and at least Gs. After he was picked up by the troops coming out of the concession, he detonated the Xigu warehouse. This is verifiable.



(End of this chapter)