The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 163: Change of plan
Because it was wartime and emergencies could happen at any time, Teng Yuzhao had never undressed to sleep since he traveled through time. Today was still the same, he just slept with his clothes on.

After being woken up by Li Xianze, he quickly glanced at the watch on his wrist in the dim, flickering candlelight that was still on in the room. The time was just 3:30 in the morning.

Teng Yuzhao stood up swiftly, grabbed the belt with a pistol next to his pillow and tied it around his waist. He then took out another Browning from under his pillow and put it in the holster on his back. He opened the door, and Li Xianze and Wu Peifu, who was holding a basin of water, walked in together.

While listening to Li Xiance's report, he hurriedly washed his face, blew out the candle on the table, and followed Li Xiance out of the room.

During this period, lighting candles was more expensive than lighting oil lamps and was also a bit extravagant, but candles were not only easy to carry but also relatively safer, so candles have always been the lighting supplies for officers in the Wuwei Army.

According to the time, it was Yin hour, or the fourth watch, the darkest time of the night, and the time when people were fast asleep. Although he had wiped his face, Teng Yuzhao was still a little groggy, until he walked out of the room and was blown by the cool morning breeze, then he felt refreshed.

As usual, the main room of this wealthy family was still used as the operations room. Naturally, the command center of Teng Yuzhao and Li Xianze was here. The left wing was the staff's room, and the right wing was both the command center and Li Xianze's bedroom.

In the main hall, although the doors and windows were closed, the room was very bright with more than a dozen candles lit. Li Jinyu and several young staff officers from the Second Regiment of Li Xianze were busy.

The officers of the vanguard army have one common characteristic, that is, they are all relatively young.

Except for Liu Nineteen who is nearly thirty years old, Teng Yuzao is only twenty-eight years old, Li Yulin is one year younger than Teng Yuzao, Liu Yuzhi, Li Xianze, Liu Changfa, Sun Shijun and others are all twenty-five or twenty-six years old. The remaining captains, sentries, and platoon leaders are all students of the Beiyang Military Academy, especially the nearly one hundred recent graduates, and some of them have not yet graduated. They are even younger. These new students are generally between eighteen and twenty years old.

This makes the officers of the vanguard army not only full of energy but also more energetic. Teng Yuzhao likes this atmosphere very much. Young people are always the ones who accept new ideas and concepts the fastest and dare to think and act. This is what Teng Yuzhao is most happy to see.

The map of Zhili Province obtained from Beiyang Wubei Academy was left in the Dongjuzi Staff Office. It was the best map Teng Yuzao could find. It was even the only complete military map of Zhili Province in the world, so Teng Yuzao naturally hid it like a treasure.

The staff members of the General Staff Office have begun to copy this map. Now there is a map of Tianjin area hanging on the wall, which was copied from the base map of Dongjuzi.

Seeing Teng Yuzao striding into the operations room, Li Jinyu hurried over and brought Teng Yuzao, Li Xianze and others to the map. Li Jinyu pointed at the map and reported the enemy situation to Teng Yuzao.

"Sir, ten minutes ago, our sentry five miles west of the village discovered the enemy. The sound of horse hooves came from the northeast. Judging from the sound of the hooves, it should be a large group of cavalry marching, and we also heard the voices of foreigners shouting."

Li Jinyu shook his head with some regret. "It's just that because it was dark, the sentry couldn't see the specific situation. He only said that there were no less than a thousand people. These foreigners have stopped five miles away."

"besides."

Li Jinyu received the report, "Just now, five minutes ago, the guard post in the east also sent back news that a large number of foreign devils were coming on the official road in the north. The foreign devils were not progressing very fast. They were using a large number of flashlights to search the green tents on both sides while driving forward. Also because of darkness, no further intelligence could be obtained."

Instead of advancing from the east, the coalition forces sent cavalry to the west to cut off their retreat. Did they want to destroy them?

Although it is not clear how many troops the coalition forces have sent this time, the Japanese and Russian troops have the most troops landing, while the other powers have only hundreds to thousands of troops, and there are even double-digit symbolic troops sent by Western powers. The tens of thousands of troops sent by the Germans are still floating on the sea.

As they had just been ambushed and lost more than 3,000 people, the troops sent by the coalition forces this time would not be small, at least 5,000 to 6,000 people. Therefore, Teng Yuzhao judged that this time the main forces should still be the Japanese and Russian troops.

Moreover, the fact that the coalition forces sent a cavalry unit to the west of the village had already explained some problems, which made Teng Yuzhao feel completely at ease.

Teng Yuzhao frowned slightly and walked to an octagonal table nearby. On the table was a map of his village drawn by the staff officer of the Second Regiment.

Li Jinyu, who followed, looked at the map on the table and said, "If we want to evacuate now, we still have time."

In Li Jinyu's opinion, the coalition forces cut off the retreat route of the vanguard army right from the start, which was more terrifying than giving up the fierce attack.

But Teng Yuzao's judgment was just the opposite. He believed that this showed that the coalition forces not only wanted to defeat them, but also wanted to destroy them.

Teng Yuzao shook his head. "Don't panic. The coalition forces sent cavalry to block our retreat. Their purpose is very clear. They don't want to completely cut off our retreat. They just want to delay us while we retreat, and then let their large forces catch up and destroy us."

"There is a cavalry of more than a thousand men following us. We can't retreat quickly even if we want to. Otherwise, they will seize the opportunity and pounce on us and bite us hard."

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "In fact, we should have known that the coalition forces were coming. They said that they would wait until today to collect the bodies of their fallen soldiers. This must be their purpose. They wanted to test whether we would leave immediately."

"Then what should we do?" Wu Peifu asked.

"Just wait and see what happens."

Teng Yuzao looked at the map and said, "The coalition forces didn't surround us, and it wasn't the infantry that cut off our retreat, which means they still don't have enough troops, so we don't have to worry for the time being. However, we have to change the plan we agreed with the assault brigade to break out from the north."

According to the agreement with Liu Shijiu last night, once Teng Yuzhao wants to break out, he will send a signal, and then Liu Shijiu will lead the assault brigade to attack from the outside of the encirclement in the north, and Teng Yuzhao will lead the troops to break out from the inside and kill their way out from the north.

Teng Yuzao turned to Li Xiance and said, "Kangnian, what I mean is that we should break out from the west."

Wu Peifu asked in confusion, "Teacher, since you have already determined that the foreign cavalry in the west is here to hold us back, wouldn't it be a mistake for us to break out from the west?"

(End of this chapter)