The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 221 The original battle plan was cancelled
Now, gunfire suddenly rang out at the east gate. It must be the troops left there by Li Xianzhe on guard, who were engaging in a firefight with the coalition forces that were attempting to launch a surprise attack on the main force of the vanguard army.

From the sound of rifle gunfire, Teng Yuzhao could hear that, except for the sound of the G98 rifles of Li Xianze's Second Regiment, the rest were the sound of Japanese golden hook rifles. The sneak attack force outside the city was the Japanese army.

Just as Teng Yuzhao was anxious to understand the situation, Li Xianze and Liu Shijiu came running hurriedly, one after the other.

According to the combat plan, Li Xianze's Second Regiment attacked the Japanese troops in the east of the city from the front. Hu Dianjia's Third Regiment was the same as Li Xianze, except that he launched an attack on the Russian troops in the west city. Liu Shijiu's assault battalion and Cao Futian and Pan Jinshan's independent detachments quickly penetrated to the south of the city along several streets in the east and west cities. Their purpose was to encircle and destroy as many Japanese-Russian coalition forces as possible.

However, it now seems that both Teng Yuzao and Wei Jinghai's operations department made a serious mistake.

They often did not expect that the power of the conscienceless artillery in street fighting would be so great, and they did not expect that the special bullets could not only injure and kill a large number of enemies, but also caused great fear among the coalition forces. Wherever this strange flame appeared, the coalition forces there would quickly flee. This made the assault brigade and independent detachment responsible for infiltrating and detouring to try to disrupt the coalition defense deployment useless.

Because the speed of the coalition forces' retreat or escape from their positions was not much slower than their speed of infiltration, the number of coalition forces surrounded by them was very small.

Such an effect naturally made the generals of the vanguard army more excited. They chased and attacked the Japanese-Russian coalition forces in the city all the way, and now they were about to drive all the remaining Japanese-Russian coalition forces out of the city.

Liu Shijiu and Li Xianze also had another mission, which was to follow the combat plan. If everything went well, the assault battalion would fight with the Second Regiment in the city to achieve their tactical goals, and then the two troops would quietly leave the city from the east gate.

Since the East Gate had been occupied by the Japanese army before today, the Japanese army did not deploy heavy troops outside the East Gate. There were only a small number of troops outside the East Gate. The initial task was only to monitor the movements of the vanguard army at the East Gate and play a certain blockade role.

However, if there were only a small number of troops outside the East Gate, after the Japanese army in the city was defeated, they would definitely not dare to continue staying in the simple position outside the East Gate, and would definitely flee quickly.

In this way, after Liu Shijiu and Li Xianze's troops left the city, they crossed the Sancha River through the Dongguan pontoon bridge and turned to the north, cooperating with the Beiguan troops to encircle and attack the Japanese encirclement troops. They did not seek to annihilate the more than 10,000 Japanese troops east of Beiguan, but only to break through the Japanese defense line in one fell swoop and allow the troops left behind at Beiguan to take advantage of the situation to break out of the encirclement of the Allied forces.

Teng Yuzhao had thought about withdrawing the entire army from Tianjin City through the East Gate. However, even if the vanguard troops withdrew from the East Gate, if they wanted to go north, they would also have to break through the blockade of more than 10,000 Japanese troops east of the North Gate. Otherwise, they would still be in the encirclement of the Allied Forces, it would just be a bigger encirclement.

Just as the remnants of the Japanese-Russian Allied Forces in the city were about to escape, Hu Dianjia, who was in charge of the unified command of the West City, had arranged for the independent detachment to quickly clean up the battlefield and prepare for evacuation. Liu Shijiu also began to gather the assault brigade who were chasing and killing with great pleasure, at which time fierce gunfire was heard from the East Gate.

Although Li Xianze and Liu Shijiu hurried over, there were still people who were faster than them. Before the two of them arrived in front of Teng Yuzao, there was a burst of rapid horse hoof sounds, and then a familiar voice from outside the Salt Administration asked anxiously, "Is the general in there?"

The person who came on horseback to look for him in the dark night must be someone sent by Wei Jinghai, which made Teng Yuzhao feel even more heavy-hearted.

At such a critical moment, there must not be any more emergencies in the north.

After receiving the response from the soldiers of the Second Regiment who were on guard outside the door, the newcomers did not stop, but urged their horses to rush into the Salt Administration through the smoke-filled gate of the Salt Administration, and jumped off their horses in front of the moon gate of the second courtyard, and then hurried shouts were rang out.

"General, General, where are you?"

Following the shout, a staff officer from the headquarters and two communications soldiers hurried into the Moon Gate.

When he heard the questioning, Wu Peifu had already run towards the Moon Gate. When he saw the staff officer, he immediately called out his name and brought him to Teng Yuzhao.

Before he could stand still, the staff officer reported in a hurry, panting heavily, "General, there is an emergency. The deputy chief of staff sent me to report to you."

"speak."

"A personal follower of Yu Zhongtang who came from Beicang has just arrived at the Beiguan Command Headquarters after traveling more than ten miles along the South Grand Canal. He said that he was assigned by Yu Zhongtang to convey Yu Zhongtang's order to the military commander."

"The person who came said that more than 20,000 foreign devils with dozens of cannons suddenly drove to Beicang early this morning and launched a fierce attack on the defensive positions of Beicang at dawn. When attacking the positions of the Wuwei Left Army and the Lian Army, the foreign devils used shells that would explode with poisonous green smoke, and anyone who smelled or came into contact with it would die instantly. When he left Beicang, the positions of the Lian Army had been breached by the foreign devils, and Yu Zhongtang and his men were moving."

The staff officer continued almost without taking a breath, "Yu Zhongtang wants someone to tell the general that if the general is still holding on to Tianjin City, he should withdraw immediately. There is no need to stay in Tianjin City. He will withdraw to the vicinity of Yangcun and wait for news from the general."

Although Teng Yuzhao had expected the foreigners to divide their forces to attack Beicang, they were still surprised to hear the news.

Especially when they heard that the foreigners had used such vicious and poisonous shells in Beicang, Liu Shijiu and Li Xianze couldn't help but gasp.

"Any more?"

Teng Yuzao did not take the coalition forces' poison gas bombs seriously. Although the British themselves might not know the composition of their poison gas bombs, from the green smoke, Teng Yuzao could probably tell that it was something like chlorine.

Chlorine gas bombs can almost be said to be the simplest type of poison gas decades later. Although extremely toxic, they are harmless to the human body as long as it is not inhaled or contaminated. It is one of the best poison gases to defend against.

Unless it is used on a large scale, the threat is not significant and can be completely avoided as long as you know how to protect yourself.

This type of chlorine-based poison gas bomb is far less powerful than the poison gas bombs used by the great powers during World War I more than ten years later.

Therefore, Teng Yuzhao did not take the British poison gas bombs that shocked Li Xianze and Liu Shijiu so seriously, and just laughed it off.

Since the British used poison gas bombs, he had a reason to be more ruthless towards the British. Although the British listened to his warnings and did not use poison gas bombs on his vanguard, he only needed to be more obscure so that the British could not find any evidence. The fall of Beicang was something Teng Yuzao had expected, and Yu Lu really retreated to Yangcun as in history. Teng Yuzao remembered that Yu Lu committed suicide in Yangcun after Beicang was breached.

What made Teng Yuzhao feel a little guilty was that Yu Lu was still thinking about him staying in Tianjin after Beicang fell, and even before he was about to flee in a hurry. This made Teng Yuzhao sigh in his heart.

The staff officer took a breath and replied, "That's all about Beicang. But the man who came said that he came with a stable of horsemen. He was going to take a detour from the west to Beiguan, but they encountered a large group of Russian horsemen ten miles west of the city. He was the only one who escaped. When he tried to come from the west again after dark, he accidentally discovered a large number of Russian troops about ten miles west of the city. He had no choice but to find a piece of wood and quietly float along the bank of the South Canal to Beiguan. The deputy chief of staff asked me to report this situation to the military commander."

"Damn it, the Russians really want to destroy us in the west of the city!"

Before Liu Shijiu finished speaking, a staff reporter said, "Also, our investigators just reported a very important situation."

The staff officer ran too fast and started breathing heavily in the middle of his speech, which made Liu Shijiu so anxious that he kept urging him.

Teng Yuzao waved his hand to stop Liu Shijiu and comforted the staff officer, "Don't be anxious, talk slowly."

The staff officer finally caught his breath and said, "The scouts sent to the east of Sancha River reported that although there are still Japanese soldiers defending the front-line positions of more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers blocking our way to the east of Beiguan, the positions behind them seem to be empty."

"Our scouts observed for half an hour but didn't see anything happening behind the Japanese, so they quietly crawled over there. When they got to the Japanese position, they found that there was no one there, even many of their tents were empty. But they didn't dare to go any deeper because they were afraid of being discovered by the Japanese."

Although the investigator was too timid and could be said to be not a qualified investigator, Teng Yuzao could not blame him too much at this time. He would have to urge Wei Jinghai to do so later.

In fact, Teng Yuzhao was just thinking that although the coalition forces would definitely leave reserve troops in the concession in the south of the city, and with so many troops besieging Tianjin City, the number of coalition reserve troops would not be small. Teng Yuzhao estimated that the reserve troops would be at least more than 10,000 people.

In addition, the coalition forces will also have accompanying protection troops at the artillery positions in the south of the city, but there will definitely not be too many troops there.

In other words, if the Japanese army wanted to enter the city from the east gate and launch a surprise attack on the flank of the Allied Forces' vanguard army that was attacking the city, and form a pincer attack on the attacking vanguard army together with the Allied forces in the south of the city, the number of troops required could not be too small. After all, the Allied Forces knew that the vanguard army's strength, including casualties, would always be more than 10,000. Fewer troops would not be able to deal a fatal blow to the vanguard army.

If the Japanese troops in the east of the city came from the concession, they would not have reached the east gate so quickly.

Moreover, the most important thing for the Allied reserve troops in the concession to do now is to support the troops inside the city who were stunned by the sudden and fierce counterattack of the vanguard army, instead of taking the risk of going around to the east of the city to launch a flank attack.

If this is the case, then the Japanese troops that suddenly appeared in the east of the city must be the more than 10,000 Japanese troops who were confronting the vanguard army across the river east of Beiguan.

"Yuxuan, what's the situation at the East Gate?"

Li Xianze said excitedly, "Sir, we can't see clearly at night, but judging from the firepower, the enemy must be a large Japanese force. They have few Maxim heavy machine guns, but it is estimated that there are nearly 10,000 people."

"Sir, judging from the sound of gunfire, it must be the Japanese troops on the east side of Beiguan. We are fighting well, and they want to launch a surprise attack on us from the side and rear. This is a good opportunity to break out from Beiguan!"

After figuring out the situation, Liu Shijiu also said excitedly, "Xingfu, this is a godsend opportunity. If the regiment left at the North Gate launches an attack on the Japanese positions now, the more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers there will not be able to stop them. Then we can immediately withdraw the troops, return to the North Gate, and rush out through the breakthrough point."

"No." Teng Yuzhao shook his head firmly.

"Why? This is a great opportunity for us to break out!"

Liu Shijiu and Li Xianze both asked anxiously in surprise.

Wu Peifu, who was standing by, opened his mouth with a puzzled look, wanting to speak, but in the end, no sound came out.

Teng Yuzao did not rush to answer their questions, but suddenly asked, "Brother, how is the battle in South City going now?"

Liu Shijiu shook his head and said, "Xingfu, don't worry. The foreign devils were bombarded by our heartless artillery and they simply had no power to fight back. Sometimes when we fired, large groups of foreign devils abandoned their positions and turned around to run. If we were not in a big rally tonight, it would be like chasing the foreign devils. It was very easy. I guess Hu Dianjia would have chased them out of the city by now."

After learning about the situation in South City, Teng Yuzao said, "We can't withdraw our entire army from Tianjin City through the North Gate. If we do, the more than 10,000 Japanese here will fight back. Although it will be too late by then, they can't stop us even if they go back, but it will be easy for them to stick to us, which will be a bit troublesome."

"So, since the foreign devils have been confused by our sudden attack on their troops in the city, we should just give them another hard blow."

Then Teng Yuzao said to the staff officer who came to report the news, "Record it."

"I order that the original combat plan be cancelled. One regiment will protect the field hospital and the weapons, ammunition and other related supplies we are going to take away. There is no need to wait for the main force. We must start breaking out as soon as possible."

感谢：20171214142046247、炸天帮.夏流、20210301105267512670、20230902435-DC、wlxk726、///81///、仙道凭证、121022092051640等书友的月票、推荐票支持！！！

Second update today.

Your support is the driving force of Zuima!


(End of this chapter)