The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 164 Breakout Signal
Three nights later, in the main room of the only wealthy family in the village.

In the wing next to the huge operations room, which was Li Xianze's bedroom, only a few candles were lit. The light in the room was not only dim, but also stuffy because the doors and windows were blocked tightly with quilts.

This was for the purpose of firing artillery. Two days ago, the coalition forces not only surrounded the village from the east, north and west, but also began to bombard the village. Although the artillery fire was not fierce, with only four artillery pieces, it posed a great threat to the Second Regiment of the Vanguard Army in the village, forcing most of the personnel of the Second Regiment to move out of the village. Teng Yuzhao even moved his headquarters into a machine gun bunker in the trench.

During these two days, the vanguard troops would take turns returning to the village to rest only after dark, and they could only drink hot soup in the morning and evening.

Fortunately, the doors of the wing rooms and the front hall were wide open, and the night breeze blowing in from outside was still a little cool, which kept the temperature inside at a barely bearable level.

In the room, Teng Yuzhao, Li Xianze, Li Jinyu, and Wu Peifu had just finished their meal. Teng Yuzhao, who had just wiped his face with a towel soaked in cool well water brought by the soldiers of the guard platoon, was leaning back in a chair, thinking silently about something.

Although Teng Yuzao was only wearing a shirt with all the buttons undone and was waving a folding fan in his hand, he still felt the heat and stuffiness was unbearable.

Li Xianze, Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu were all wearing only sweatshirts, and they were holding folding fans or other things in their hands and fanning themselves constantly.

Li Xianze and Li Jinyu both sat near the door, where the wind was cooler.

Wu Peifu was walking around the room, fanning himself with a book in his hand.

"Damn it, this damn weather is really hot and annoying."

Perhaps because he had been in contact with Liu Shijiu for a long time, Wu Peifu had unconsciously begun to use the swear words that Liu Shijiu often used.

Li Xianze smiled and said, "You should be content, kid. This is much better than the machine gun bunker where we have been staying for three days. It is not only hot and stuffy there, but also very humid. Although this house is hot and stuffy, it is still drier."

Although Li Xianze and Wu Peifu were only two or three years apart in age, he and Teng Yuzao had always treated each other as brothers. He could not help but speak more casually to this student of Teng Yuzao.

Seeing soldiers from the guard platoon carrying a large wooden barrel filled with well water and placing it at the door, Li Jinyu stood up and took out a few bottles of beer chilled by the well water. He opened the barrel and handed one bottle each to Teng Yuzhao, Li Xianze and Wu Peifu, and then took one for himself.

Wu Peifu found the beer, took a big gulp immediately, and then said comfortably.

"The foreigners are really good at tinkering. Drinking this on a hot day really helps to cool down."

Li Jinyu teased in a low voice, "If you don't tell me, this thing smells like horse urine."

Wu Peifu was about to speak when he suddenly saw a staff officer running in in a panic.

He rushed to the door and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

"Three red Kongming lanterns rose in the southern night sky!" the staff officer replied.

Hearing the staff officer's words, Teng Yuzhao threw away the folding fan in his hand and rushed out of the house.

There was a ladder next to the outer wall of the main room, and the staff officer who reported the situation came down the ladder.

This situation not only made Teng Yuzao rush out of the room, but Li Xianze, Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu also ran out after Teng Yuzao. The four of them used their hands and feet to quickly climb up to the roof along the ladder.

The main house where Teng Yuzhao and his family lived was not only the best and most spacious house in the village, but also the tallest house in the village. Standing on the roof, there was no obstruction to the view. If it was daytime, one could see very far away.

At this moment, three red dots of light were rising slowly in the southern night sky. "Teacher, telescope."

Wu Peifu handed Teng Yuzhao a telescope. Teng Yuzhao quickly raised the telescope to his eyes and looked at the three red spots. The three red spots in his field of vision instantly became clear.

Although the three spots of light could not be clearly seen, it was clear that they were three Kongming lanterns from the way they kept swaying and rising.

After confirming that they were three Kongming lanterns, Teng Yuzao handed the telescope to Li Xiance. After Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu had looked at them, Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Go back to the room."

After saying this, Teng Yuzhao took the lead in going down the ladder and walking back to the room.

Li Xianze, Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu also hurriedly followed Teng Yuzhao down into the room.

The lighting of three red Kongming lanterns in the south was a secret signal for Teng Yuzhao to contact Liu Shijiu, who had been leading the assault brigade outside the encirclement.

Although the coalition forces only surrounded the village from three sides, there were not only coalition cavalry patrolling constantly on the south side, but also many sentries. Teng Yuzhao believed that there should be a large number of secret sentries.

If people from outside or inside the village communicate in and out of the village, it will not only be difficult for them to escape the eyes of the coalition sentries, but they will also be easily captured.

Therefore, Teng Yuzhao in the encirclement was cut off from the outside world, and could only rely on Liu Shijiu for whatever happened outside.

Because they were worried that the person transmitting the message might be captured by the Allied Forces' secret sentries during the communication and leak the news, Teng Yuzhao and Liu Shijiu agreed that if there was an emergency and Teng Yuzhao had to break out, Liu Shijiu would raise a red Kongming lantern in the south of the village at night.

The three red Kongming lanterns were telling Teng Yuzhao to break out from the north at three o'clock in the morning.

It was impossible for Teng Yuzhao to break out from the south side deliberately left by the Allied Forces. He would be squeezed to the seaside by the Allied Forces pressing in from the east, south and north, leaving him no room for maneuver.

"Sir, what's going on? Did the foreign devils bypass the village to attack Dongjuzi?"

As soon as he entered the room, Li Jinyu couldn't help asking questions.

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "It's not impossible. We wiped out more than 3,000 coalition troops in one battle. They must have thought that our main force was here. This is why they didn't launch a decent attack in the past three days, but only made a few tentative attacks on our positions."

"So, the coalition forces surrounded us here while sending troops to Dongjuzi via a detour, hoping to open the passage to the concession as soon as possible and rescue the foreigners inside."

Li Xianze saw that Teng Yuzhao looked a little sad, and said comfortingly.

"Maybe the situation is not that serious. Although we don't know how many troops the foreign devils who surrounded us on three sides have, it will not be less than 5,000. How many troops do they have available? Even if there are 1,000 or 2,000 foreign devils who attack Dongjuzi, Yuxuan has more than 2,000 people. It will not be a problem to defend Dongjuzi."

Wu Peifu shook his head and said, "Not to mention that the foreign devils are increasing their troops every day, even if they transfer troops from Japan, it will not take a few days, and transferring troops from Korea will be even faster. If they attack Dongjuzi, their troops will definitely not be reduced."

Teng Yuzao nodded in agreement with Wu Peifu, "It is not difficult for the coalition forces to increase their troops. Moreover, whether it is the Russians or the Japanese, they are very willing to send more troops, so that they can gain greater benefits."

Teng Yuzao looked at his watch and said, "No matter what, we must break out tomorrow morning. Kangnian, hurry up and prepare. Except for weapons and ammunition, don't take anything else with you."

(End of this chapter)