The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 154 The Power of Maxim
The flashlights at that time were much larger than those in later generations, mainly because of the dry batteries, which are very large nowadays.

Due to technical reasons such as the battery power and voltage, the flashlight bulb, and the fact that the coating of the reflective cover inside the flashlight cannot be as smooth as in later generations, the light of the flashlight is still a little dim. However, using such a flashlight to march on a moonlit road like now, especially for the search team ahead, is barely enough.

Teng Yuzhao's guards have them in their hands, and they are carrying two of them now.

It looks like this should be the coalition's vanguard search force.

After waiting nervously for more than twenty minutes, the noisy noise finally died down and the official road became quiet again.

"Sir, should our troops go up?" Li Jinyu asked in a low and urgent tone.

Although Teng Yuzao was also somewhat anxious, he was worried that the Allied supply train behind him would speed up during this period, forcing Liu Shijiu to start the battle ahead of time.

But he is the president of the vanguard army after all, so he still needs to be calm.

Teng Yuzao reached out and patted Li Jinyu on the shoulder, and whispered, "Wait for orders. You should know that the highest commander here today is Captain Li, not me, the president."

As soon as Teng Yuzao finished speaking, the soldiers ambushed nearby began to pass on orders, "Pass the message back, all troops enter the ambush position."

As the order was given, the rustling sound of sorghum stalks and leaves rubbing against each other began to be heard in the green tent. This sound was much louder than the sound made by the night wind.

Only then did Teng Yuzao stand up, touch his already wet buttocks and say, "Let's go, we have to move forward."

The brief noise in the green gauze tent soon disappeared, and both sides of the official road became quiet again. Except for the faint "rustling" sound of the night wind blowing through the green gauze tent, no other movement could be heard. It was as if nothing had happened in the green gauze tents on both sides of the official road.

Since they had to ambush a large coalition force of more than 2,000 people, the ambush circle had to be very long. Even if the coalition forces marched in four columns, 2,000 people would have to be arranged over a thousand meters. With such a long ambush range, even if the coalition forces were eager to rush back to rescue the baggage troops, it would be easy to discover the ambush troops lying in ambush on the roadside after passing through an ambush area of ​​more than 1,000 meters.

In particular, these officers and soldiers of the vanguard army were probably participating in such a close-range ambush with the coalition forces for the first time. Especially at night, it was inevitable that some of these soldiers would be nervous and do things they shouldn't do, such as subconsciously firing their guns in advance because of nervousness.

Therefore, in order to avoid being discovered by the coalition forces, the ambush area of ​​the ambush troops was still not placed at the very edge of the green gauze tents on both sides of the official road, but was chosen in the green gauze tent five meters away from the edge.

Although the distance of five meters is very short, it can ensure that there will be more than a dozen sorghums in front of the ambush troops. At night, this is enough to hide the ambush troops.

In order to prevent someone from firing prematurely due to nervousness and disrupting the ambush plan, except for the Maxim heavy machine guns held by the veterans, the safety of all other guns must not be removed. They must wait until the heavy machine gun personally controlled by Li Xianze fires before others can remove the safety and shoot in the shortest possible time.

Teng Yuzhao was very confident about this ambush, of course, unless the target was exposed in advance before all the returning coalition forces entered the ambush area.

Because the ambush area was carefully selected and designed by Teng Yuzhao after careful consideration of all aspects.

This section of the official road is not only relatively straight, but also long enough, about five miles. Moreover, the road surface is about half a meter higher than the fields on both sides, and there are drainage ditches less than one foot deep on both sides of the official road.

Because the road surface is high, the ambush troops need to have a certain upward angle when they are lying in the ambush position in the green gauze tent. It is precisely because of this angle that even with the obstruction of the green gauze tent, the figures of the coalition forces on the official road can be clearly seen under the moonlight, and there is no problem of not being able to aim at the target and shoot.

Moreover, although there were ambush troops on both sides, after the ambush began, both sides did not open fire at the same time, but the side opposite Teng Yuzhao started shooting first.

When the coalition forces, who were rushing to rescue the baggage troops, were suddenly hit by heavy fire from the other side, their random reaction would inevitably be to quickly hide on the side of the official road where Teng Yuzhao was located, and lie on the roadbed to launch a fire counterattack on the opposite side. At this time, the ambush troops on this side would suddenly launch a sudden and fierce shooting at the panicked coalition forces from behind, and the muzzle of the gun would almost be equivalent to firing at the coalition forces' backs. The damage caused to the coalition forces can be imagined.

After a brief but extremely fierce shooting, the officers and soldiers of the ambush troops on both sides would simultaneously charge at the panicked and chaotic remnants of the coalition forces, squeezing the remaining coalition forces into the middle of the road and encircling and annihilating them.

This ambush plan also has an advantage. That is, because the roadbed here is slightly higher, shooting at the coalition forces on the road from one side requires a certain elevation angle. Therefore, as long as the ambush troops on the other side do not stand up, the bullets flying from the opposite side will be guaranteed not to hurt their own people on the other side.

In the ambush areas on both sides of the official road, a Maxim heavy machine gun was set up less than 100 meters apart. Except for the artillery, Li Xianze's Second Regiment was not fully equipped according to Teng Yuzao's organization plan, but the Maxim was fully equipped. Teng Yuzao had enough heavy machine guns to ensure that the first and second regiments would be equipped with heavy machine guns according to the standards of the two regiments. However, if more troops were to be added, Teng Yuzao could not do it. Now, the first and second regiments each have 66 heavy machine guns, and the firepower density is sufficient, but the luxurious scene like today is still not easy to see.

In such a close-range ambush, the firing time of these heavy machine guns would definitely not exceed half a minute.

These Maxim heavy machine guns were on both sides of the official road, with thirty-three on each side. A few meters in front of Teng Yuzhao, there was a Maxim heavy machine gun. The heavy machine gun shooter had already grasped the Maxim's handle with both hands, and a long canvas ammunition belt was already hung on the Maxim. In addition to the ammunition supply operator on standby beside the heavy machine gun, their squad leader also knelt on one knee beside the heavy machine gun so that he could command the heavy machine gun to fire at any time.

Although he didn't hear any sound, Teng Yuzhao suddenly felt a flash of light in front of his eyes. He turned his head and saw two flares just hung in the night sky in the east.

At night, its brightness is like that of a small sun flare, but much brighter than a Kongming lantern. It can be seen from far away in the plains.

As the two flares rose, the faint sound of firing from the Maxim heavy machine gun was heard from the east in the night wind.

The sound of ordinary gunfire would basically not exceed one thousand meters. At a distance of five miles, the sound of rifle fire could not be heard. However, at night, Teng Yuzhao could still barely hear the louder sound of the Maxim heavy machine gun firing.

These two flares are not only the signal for the assault brigade to start the ambush, but also can illuminate the ambush battlefield, allowing the soldiers of the ambushing assault brigade to clearly find their respective shooting targets.

Another very important use of flares is to tell the large coalition forces in front that something is wrong with the baggage train behind them.

“It finally started as planned.”

Teng Yuzhao breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. The assault brigade's attack was launched after the flares were raised, which showed that the ambush was successful. Now it depended on how the main force of the ambushing coalition would perform.

In less than ten minutes, Teng Yuzhao heard the sound of a large group of people running hurriedly from the west. The footsteps were not only hurried, but also more chaotic. It was obvious that the large coalition force that had passed by was running back to rescue their baggage troops.

As the hurried and chaotic footsteps got closer, one could even hear the Russian officers shouting desperately, urging the soldiers to speed up.

Through the gaps in the green gauze tent, Teng Yuzhao could already see a large group of dark figures running towards him in a line on the official road.

Sure enough, among the coalition forces that came back to support, no one paid attention to whether there was anything unusual in the green tents on both sides of the area they had just passed, but just spread their legs and ran backwards. These tall and strong Tsarist Russian soldiers did not believe in or expect how strong the combat effectiveness of those little Japanese dwarfs was.

Not only did the Tsarist Russian soldiers look down on these Oriental dwarfs, but the Western powers at that time did the same. Although the Japanese army sent a large number of troops, their position in the Allied Forces was the lowest, and their voice and presence were extremely low.

The Russian army brigade, rushing all the way, soon entered the ambush circle of the Second Regiment. "Da da da da da da da", the creepy sound of continuous shooting from the Maxim heavy machine gun was first heard on the official road on the easternmost side of the ambush circle.

As soon as the Maxim opened fire, there was a burst of intensive heavy machine gun fire and the sounds of thousands of rifles and pistols firing from the other side of the official road. The gunfire was so dense that it was almost impossible to distinguish them. The dense bullets were like a violent storm, which immediately knocked the large and densely-packed Russian army troops running hard on the official road like duckweed in the wind, making them fall to the ground and howl in pain.

Teng Yuzhao even saw many small objects flying from the Russian troops on the official road against the backdrop of the starry night sky.

Teng Yuzao knew that these were the shattered limbs of the Russian soldiers that were blown away by the powerful kinetic energy 11mm bullets of the Maxim heavy machine gun fired at close range.

At this time, although the caliber of the Maxim was only 11 mm, which was much less powerful than the 12.7 and 14.5 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns of later generations, it was still extremely powerful in sweeping targets more than ten meters away. In particular, many of the heavy machine gun bullets fired were blocked by sorghum stalks during flight, and the firing rate was slowed down. However, such bullets caused greater damage to the Russian army. If they hit the arm, they could even directly break an arm of a Russian soldier. Many of the small objects that flew up were the remains of Russian soldiers' limbs and arms.

The dense rain of bullets not only killed and wounded the Russian soldiers on the official road in large numbers, but the dense rain of bullets flying across the official road even caused the green tent on Teng Yuzhao's side to fly all over the place, and the broken sorghum stalks and leaves fell on the soldiers' heads and bodies in large pieces. At the same time, it also made many soldiers who had never seen the Maxim shooting deeply feel its tremendous power for the first time!

Amid the intensive gunfire, the Russian soldiers who were lucky enough not to be killed or injured on the road jumped down from the pipeline without any orders, and some even lay down and rolled down the road to hide on the other side of the road without caring about the danger of being trampled.
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(End of this chapter)