The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 175 The Foreigners Attack
Wei Jinghai walked to the map behind Teng Yuzhao, pointed at the location of the concession on the map on the wall with the stick in his hand and said.

"We just received a report from the investigators that the foreign devils in the concession have already set out. In other words, the foreign devils have begun to attack."

Wei Jinghai had just finished introducing the situation of the Allied Forces' dispatch of troops to the Concession when Liu Shijiu's hoarse voice rang out.

"Come on! I've been feeling a bit bored these days. Xingfu, can you let me lead the assault team to attack the foreign devils from behind?"

In the conference room, except for Liu Shijiu who had a special status, everyone else sat upright, waiting for Teng Yuzao to speak.

Teng Yuzao looked at Liu Shijiu rubbing his hands, looking impatient, and said with a smile, "There is a battle to be fought, but not now. Along the east bank of the Baihe River to the water camp area, there are rice fields. If our people go out, they will be discovered by the coalition forces from a long distance, and an ambush will not be possible, so we have to wait and see."

Pan Jinshan stood up and said, "General, if we go into battle, the independent detachment is willing to go with the assault brigade."

Teng Yuzao gestured for Pan Jinshan to sit down without commenting, and then said, "Don't worry, the deputy chief of staff has already informed the left army and the training troops in the navy camp of what we have discovered. As long as they hold on until dawn, we will see the situation and then decide how to support them."

Teng Yuzao said with some worry, "What I am worried about is that since the coalition forces have already begun to attack the Navy Camp, they will soon launch an attack on Tianjin City, the earliest being tomorrow morning. So now we should not only think about how to rescue the left army and the training troops of the Navy Camp, but also prepare to welcome the coalition forces' attack on Tianjin City."

"Now, let the deputy chief of staff introduce the situation of the coalition forces and our two sides, and you will each report on the completion of the preparations for war."

Wei Jinghai stood in front of the map, pointed at the map and began to introduce the situation of both sides.

During this half month, the Allied Forces continued to send troops from Dagukou. Based on the reports of the reconnaissance personnel sent out to reinforce the Allied Forces from Dagukou, the General Staff Office had already estimated the approximate strength of the Allied Forces in the concession.

According to conservative estimates, the total number of coalition forces in the concession has exceeded 17,000, and may even reach 20,000, with more than 40 artillery pieces. The main force of the coalition forces is still the Russian and Japanese troops.

And now, in the city of Tianjin, the reorganized vanguard army troops have three regiments, an assault battalion and an independent detachment, an artillery regiment, plus the Second Guard Battalion of Teng Yuzhao's vanguard army headquarters, with a total strength of more than 16,000 people.

This was only the registered number of the vanguard army. In addition, since the imperial court already had a Mingzhi army and was not allowed to accept any more official groups, many non-official Boxer groups that had originally gathered in Tianjin City, and even some small groups that were originally affiliated with the No. 1 Boxer Group in the World, had either withdrawn from Tianjin City or disbanded on the spot and joined the vanguard army.

There is another very important reason why so many Boxers joined the vanguard army, and that is the exemplary role played by Liu Shijiu and Wang Decheng, the two former Boxer leaders. In the eyes of the vast majority of Boxers, these two people are now in the vanguard army and are doing very well, which makes many Boxers yearn for them.

Teng Yuzhao was not averse to these people. As long as they said they no longer believed in invulnerability and declared their withdrawal from the Boxer Rebellion, he would accept them.

Although they were accepted into the vanguard army, they were not immediately incorporated into the three regiments which were not yet fully staffed. Instead, they were all handed over to Liu Shijiu, who set up a special broadsword team under the assault brigade.

The main reason was that, although these people were all young and strong, and many of them knew some martial arts, and some were even very good at it, they had not received any systematic training and were used to being lax and difficult to discipline. They had to be disciplined by Liu Shijiu and Wang Decheng, and only after they got used to it would they be incorporated into the three regiments when the time was right.

The total number of these people exceeded two thousand, and most of them only had a broadsword. Only five or six hundred could use quick-firing guns or long weapons such as rifles.

In order to facilitate unified command, Teng Yuzhao handed over the three remaining training battalions to Hu Dianjia for command.

As for Zhang Decheng and his No. 1 Boxer Group, they had taken the initiative to ask Teng Yuzao to withdraw from Tianjin City because they were worried about the revenge of Hu Dianjia and others. They were active in the western suburbs, harassing the coalition forces and supporting the vanguard army in defending Tianjin City. The remaining Boxers, big and small, were under the command of the Boxer leader Cao Futian. Cao Futian had a good relationship with Liu Shijiu and Wang Decheng. He not only found Liu Shijiu privately, hoping to establish a good relationship with the vanguard army, but also clearly expressed his obedience to Teng Yuzao's command and his willingness to stay in the city to fight the enemy with the vanguard army.

Teng Yuzao had no animosity towards Cao Futian. Ever since Cao Futian brought his Jinghai Boxers to Tianjin City, he had been wholeheartedly assisting the government troops in attacking Laolongtou Railway Station and had never complained. Teng Yuzao was already considering how to subdue Cao Futian and his Boxers.

After Wei Jinghai introduced the military strength of both sides, he began to report on the combat readiness of each unit.

First, Wei Jinghai once again clarified the defense tasks of each unit.

Among them, Hu Dianjia's Third Regiment and the Third Battalion were responsible for training troops and defending the southern wall of the inner city.

In addition to defending the East City and West City walls, Li Xianze's Second Regiment also had to be ready to support the defense of the South City at any time.

Liu Shijiu's Assault Battalion and Pan Jinshan's Independent Detachment remained in the north of the city as reserve forces.

"Once the city is breached, all units of the army must be prepared to engage in street fighting with the foreign devils."

Wei Jinghai began to introduce the preparations of various units for street fighting. He not only had to report the preparations to Teng Yuzhao, but according to Teng Yuzhao's instructions, everyone should listen so as to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"In the past half month, all units have been actively training their troops. The shooting, bayonet and street fighting training are all very good. In particular, the broadsword team of the assault brigade and the grenadiers of various units have been training even harder."

During this reorganization, Teng Yuzhao specially set up a separate platoon of grenadiers in each company of the vanguard army, the assault battalion, and the squadron of the independent detachment.

The reason why the grenadiers, a branch of the military that had long lost its practical significance in the West, were established was because Teng Yuzhao's version of the hand grenade was not only highly lethal but also too heavy. It was quite difficult for an average person to throw a grenade weighing one pound ten meters away, and it was very easy to injure oneself at a distance of twenty meters.

Therefore, through this reorganization, a grenadier platoon composed entirely of tall and strong soldiers was set up in each company and squadron. Each person had only a pistol and was specifically responsible for throwing grenades.

Although the broadsword team all knew some martial arts, and many of them were very good at using broadswords, Teng Yuzhao had seen their training and found that even when these people practiced martial arts, the sword techniques they learned were not only from different schools, but also mixed with many complicated and fancy moves, which were not suitable for melee combat. As a result, they were completely unable to conduct unified training.

Therefore, Teng Yuzao taught the "Eight Swords to Break the Front" which he remembered was commonly practiced in the Northwest Army more than 30 years later to the Big Sword Team.

The "Eight Broken Swords" were well-known in the Occupy Central movement. When the swords were out, they were almost all offensive moves, and every sword could kill the enemy. At one time, the Japanese invaders were terrified by the swords.

After seeing the "Eight Blades to Break the Edge", even a sword expert like Liu Nineteen was full of praise.

Now, all the broadsword teams must train in the "Eight Blades of Breaking the Front".
Zuima just got home today. I am out these days and I have not updated in time. Please forgive me for the inconvenience caused to you. I especially thank Xuelanghua for her understanding and support!!!

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(End of this chapter)