The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 208 This Horse Bone is Worth Buying

The arrow tower that Wei Jinghai mentioned is the tower at the east and west gates.

During these days, although the vanguard troops in the city had been pressed to the north of the city by the coalition forces, Teng Yuzhao never gave up the two arrow towers.

In order to protect the east and west gates, even though the entire defense line of the vanguard army in the city had been pressed into a concave shape by the Allied Forces, Teng Yuzhao still forced the troops defending the east and west gates and near the city walls not to retreat even a single step, which caused the troops defending there to suffer heavy casualties.

The reason is simple. By keeping the arrow tower, not only can the two city gates be protected, but also the east and west city walls can be controlled.

This is the inner city of Tianjin. Except for the inner city of the capital, like all the walled cities in the country at that time, the city is not very big. If the coalition forces occupied the east and west walls, they could be in a dominant position and use firepower to suppress the vanguard troops in the city who were still engaged in fierce street fighting with the coalition forces.

Because of the existence of the arrow tower, the vanguard army now firmly controls the east and west city gates and the city walls to the north of the two gates. This, to a certain extent, greatly helps the troops fighting in the street battles in the city, and puts the two armies under many restrictions when attacking.

This is also the reason why the vanguard army was able to resist the coalition forces with superior manpower and powerful artillery in the city for so long, and even created favorable conditions for the troops inside the city to inflict huge casualties on the coalition forces in street fighting.

Although he was very reluctant, Teng Yuzhao could not afford such heavy casualties. Sometimes one has to be resolute in giving up something.

Teng Yuzhao gritted his teeth and gave orders to Wei Jinghai into the microphone.

"First, order Liu Changfa to send someone to help move the captured shells of different calibers that we can't use at the moment to the two arrow towers. Make sure the explosive power is strong enough to blow up the two arrow towers."

"Second, the people of the independent detachment on the city wall will withdraw to the north gate for repairs. They will only need to maintain a certain amount of firepower and a small number of personnel on the city wall to prevent the coalition forces from taking advantage of the opportunity to occupy the city wall."

"Third, the coalition forces have small cannons, and we have them too. Order Liu Changfa to move two small cannons to the city. To prevent being suppressed by the coalition forces' cannons and heavy machine guns on the city wall, dig out bricks on the city wall at the junction of the north city wall and the east and west city walls to build a semi-hidden firing position for the cannons. Once the two city towers are blown up and there is no arrow tower to hinder them, they will immediately open fire to destroy the cannon positions on the coalition forces' city wall to the south."

After giving the order, Teng Yuzao added, "They must execute the above order immediately. I will be there soon."

"grown ups."

Feeling that Teng Yuzao was about to put down the phone, Wei Jinghai hurriedly said, "The current defense line has been held for a day and a night. Many places have been bombed into ruins by the foreign devils, and some places are already under attack from three sides."

"And according to the foreign devils' practice these days, once they break contact with our troops, they will immediately launch artillery fire on our defense line. Should we move the entire defense line back a little?"

Before each attack, the coalition forces would launch fierce artillery bombardments on the vanguard army's street defenses, which had almost reduced the southern city to ruins in the past few days.

Moreover, there is a characteristic of street fighting. Due to the layout of houses and streets, and even the solidity of the houses and courtyards, the defense line of street fighting cannot be a straight line. In many places, the battle lines are jagged. There are enemies among us and enemies among us. This puts some entrenched positions and defense support points in a state of being attacked from three sides.

Moreover, there is one major difference between the street fighting at this time and that in later generations, and that is the issue of firepower.

Since there were no large numbers of submachine guns, light machine guns and mortars that were easy to carry and move to provide strong firepower support at that time, without the ruins of the house walls to rely on, the small troops could not hold on to the ruins at all. This forced Teng Yuzhao to retreat again and again, and now he has lost more than half of the city. If he retreats further, the vanguard army will have no room to maneuver in the city.

Teng Yuzhao let out a sigh of relief. He knew that now was the time for him to make a decision.

"Okay, let's retreat to our next preset defense line."

Amid the fierce gunfire and explosions of Teng-style grenades that could still be heard in the streets and on the city walls, Teng Yuzhao braved the flying stray bullets and reached the city wall.

Although he had not been to the city for only a few days, the scene on the city wall still greatly surprised Teng Yuzhao.

On the city wall, not only were the arrow towers at the east and west gates blown down and still emitting smoke, but most of the arrow battlements on the east and west walls were also blown away, especially the section of the city wall to the north of the east and west towers. Not only are the arrow battlements almost completely invisible, but even only one in ten parapets remains, and the city wall has been blown down in many places.

After seeing Pan Jinshan, whose arm wound had not yet healed completely, with a bloody bandage on his head, sunken cheeks and bloodshot eyes, Teng Yuzhao was almost choked with emotion. They had not seen each other for just a few days, but Pan Jinshan had become like this. It showed how fierce the battle to defend the city was, and how great the pressure on Pan Jinshan was.

Before the time travel, Teng Yuzhao had never thought about how to fight an offensive or defensive battle on the city wall, and there had not even been any information about it. This made Teng Yuzhao take it for granted that the troops on the city could not be deployed, and that it would not be of much significance for the coalition forces to have superior forces. The defensive operations on the city wall should be relatively easier, which was also the reason why Pan Jinshan's independent detachment was arranged on the city wall.

Teng Yuzao thought that the weapons in his hands were not bows and swords, but modern rifles with a range of several hundred meters or even Maxim heavy machine guns. As long as he was well prepared, he could completely block the coalition forces from gaining a foothold in the city. But now, Teng Yuzao knew that he was not only wrong, but also a little too wrong.

Before Pan Jinshan put down his saluting hand, Teng Yuzhao rushed forward and grabbed Pan Jinshan's hand.

"Rui Guang, I'm sorry for putting this on you. It's all my fault for not thinking it through."

Pan Jinshan smiled and said, "Teacher, what are you talking about? I thought it was easy to defend the city wall. I even thought about asking you to let me fight in the streets inside the city. But once I got there, I realized that defending the city wall is not easier than fighting in the streets below. On this bare city wall, we have to stop the coalition forces from attacking along the wall. It's like fighting the foreign devils head-on."

Pan Jinshan said with some emotion, "However, this is also good. Not only does it help the students to avenge General Nie, but it also gives the independent detachment a chance to exercise hardship. I promise that from now on, the independent detachment will also be a sharp blade in the hands of the teacher."

"And fortunately, the students have fulfilled their mission and have managed to keep the city wall intact for the time being."

Teng Yuzao was also very emotional. He patted Pan Jinshan on the shoulder and said, "After this battle, your independent detachment has withstood such a cruel battle test. Now it is not only a sharp blade, but also a first-class strong force of our vanguard army."

Teng Yuzao still has deep feelings for Pan Jinshan.

Although Pan Jinshan seemed a bit eager for quick success and opportunistic by clinging to himself as his teacher, Teng Yuzhao did not look down on Pan Jinshan at all. On the contrary, he thought that Pan Jinshan was smart, willing to go with the flow, and understood the general situation.

What Teng Yuzhao valued most about Pan Jinshan was not these, nor was it his bravery in battle, nor was it that he was the first to stand up and express his willingness to follow him, but that Pan Jinshan was always obsessed with avenging Nie Shicheng.

Teng Yuzhao believed that Pan Jinshan did not forget his old master and was loyal and reliable, and that this was exactly the kind of subordinate he needed to win over.

This is also the reason why Teng Yuzhao entrusted Pan Jinshan with such an important task even though Pan Jinshan was just a battalion commander who joined the vanguard army later.

Although his position as the captain of the independent detachment was not comparable to that of Hu Dianjia, Liu Yuzhi, Li Xianze, and even Liu Shijiu, the position of this captain was already between the captain and the regiment commander, and it was an independent army, so his treatment was much better than that of Wang Decheng and Cao Futian.

Moreover, giving Pan Jinshan such a position, like letting Liu Shijiu serve as the captain of the assault brigade, can be attributed to "spending a fortune on bones", which is to attract people like them to join the vanguard army.

Since Teng Yuzao only valued people who graduated from the Beiyang Military Academy and Nie Shicheng's Military Academy, he was very worried that people who wanted to join the vanguard army would be discouraged in the future.

However, it seems that he made the right move. At least Liu Shijiu and Pan Jinshan are not only not mediocre, but also have outstanding military command capabilities, which is extremely helpful to the development of the newly established vanguard army.

Teng Yuzhao thought to himself that this horse bone was worth buying!
Both Liu Changfa and Pan Jinshan moved very quickly. When Teng Yuzao climbed up the city wall, not only had a semi-hidden bunker for the 57mm Gruson rapid-fire gun been dug at the northernmost end of the east and west walls, but a sandbag bunker for heavy machine guns had also been built behind the artillery position.

All the city walls are only covered with bricks on the outside. They are not solid bricks. Instead, they are made of rammed earth on the inside, or have something added to enhance their strength, such as glutinous rice juice.

Therefore, it was not very difficult to dig a semi-hidden artillery bunker on the city wall.

The so-called half-covered bunker is actually a pit dug in the city wall that is large enough for the artillery to hide, leaving only the gun barrel exposed to reduce the artillery's bullet-proof surface.

Sufficient artillery shells have been transported to the two arrow towers that had collapsed mostly. According to Liu Changfa, the power of the explosion could definitely wipe out the two arrow towers.

The shells moved into the arrow tower were all captured in the ambush near Da'an, but these shells were of various calibers, not only the 75mm and 57mm calibers that Teng Yuzhao could use now, but also 81mm, 83mm, and 100mm and above calibers. Although they could not use these calibers, it was definitely impossible to throw them away. They could only be used to dismantle the explosives, and then use their explosives to make explosive packs and grenades.

"Sir, everything is ready. Can we blow up the tower now?"

After Liu Changfa and Pan Jinshan made their final inspection, they came together to ask Teng Yuzhao for instructions.

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(End of this chapter)