The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 222: Encountering the Japanese Army Again
"I order, first, the original combat plan is cancelled. One regiment is to 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 in the shortest possible time;"

"Second, the independent detachment must clean up the battlefield as quickly as possible, then immediately rush back to Beiguan and evacuate through the breakthrough point opened by the first regiment;"

"Third, order Hu Dianjia's Third Regiment to attack without restraint. As long as they do not encounter any strong resistance, they should chase out of the city and destroy as many of the foreign devils' manpower as possible. "

"Fourth, after the First Regiment breaks through the Japanese defense line east of the North Gate, it will raise a red Kongming lantern. This is the signal to notify the Third Regiment to retreat. After seeing the Kongming lantern raised, the Third Regiment will immediately retreat into the city. No matter what the situation outside the East City is, they must fight their way out from the East Gate."

"Fifth, Second Regiment, prepare to attack from the east gate out of the city"

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao had been talking for a long time and still had nothing to do with his assault brigade, Liu Shijiu couldn't help but get anxious.

"Xingfu, where is our assault team?"

Exhaling heavily, Teng Yuzao dodged Liu Shijiu and said, "Immediately give the order and have the assault team gather at the southeast corner of the collapsed wall of the South City. I will follow your assault team and charge out to attack the retreat of the Japanese outside the East Gate."

"Also, temporarily hand over your artillery post to Kang Nian for unified command."

Then, Teng Yuzao told Li Xiance, "Twenty minutes later, fire three rounds of artillery fire, and then rush out immediately."

When he heard that he would have to fight another battle, Liu Shijiu immediately regained his spirits and waved his hand vigorously, "Okay! Let's eat up these little devils in one bite."

"Do not."

Teng Yuzao frowned and said to Li Xianze and Liu Shijiu in a stern tone, "We don't have enough troops to destroy these ten thousand little devils, and we are surrounded by the Allied Forces. We can't fight to the death. We will win if we defeat the little devils in the shortest time. Do you understand?"

Although he was somewhat unwilling, Liu Shijiu also understood that what Teng Yuzao said was right, so he answered with Li Xiance, "Yes."

Seeing Liu Changfa coming out from the backyard to check the effect of the unscrupulous artillery bombardment, Teng Yuzao did not have time to explain to him in detail what had happened, and said to Liu Changfa.

"Qingyun, the battle plan has changed. You must immediately gather the scattered unscrupulous artillery squadrons and bring them back to Beiguan. There, take your artillery regiment and prepare to break out with Yuxuan's regiment."

"Boom boom boom", fierce artillery fire suddenly sounded from the direction of the east gate.

In the darkness, Teng Yuzhao, his special guard squadron and assault battalion were running in the dark towards the east gate.

Although the distance was still more than two miles away, and they did not go straight from south to north, but made a small circle, their purpose was to launch an attack on the Japanese troops outside the east gate from the southeast.

"Xingfu, I haven't used these Gruson rapid-fire cannons since you handed them to me. I didn't expect that these small cannons are quite powerful when fired. At such a long distance, the explosion sound is quite scary."

Although Teng Yuzao was somewhat disdainful of this type of artillery, which had a smaller caliber than the general mortars of later generations, this type of artillery was very light and very suitable for troops that needed to move quickly, especially in mountain warfare, where this type of artillery was very convenient.

In his mind, Teng Yuzhao had already associated this small-caliber artillery with the mortar.

Although Teng Yuzao thought so in his heart, he still said, "Brother, don't underestimate this small Gruson cannon. It is convenient to carry with us, especially when we were fighting the foreign devils in the mountains that day. It was very convenient to carry this thing. If a small cannonball like this fell into the crowd of foreign devils, it would not be difficult to blow up a dozen foreign devils with one shot."

After the Japanese troops outside the East City arrived at the East Gate and discovered that the defenders at the East Gate had fierce firepower, they began to use their four artillery pieces to bombard the positions of the Second Regiment near the East Gate.

After fighting for a long time and moving the position twice, they did not see any counterattack from the enemy artillery, so they gradually became bolder. In order to maintain pressure on the defenders of the Second Regiment, they stopped moving their position and began to launch continuous artillery attacks on the position of the Second Regiment.

It was not until the Second Regiment and Liu 19th Assault Battalion's eight Gruson rapid-fire guns launched a fierce counterattack on their artillery positions that they realized the situation was not good, but it was too late to move.

After the test firing and correction of all parameters, the sixteen Gruson guns fired only two rounds at the Japanese artillery positions, and the Japanese artillery positions became silent.

"Boom boom boom."

There were also fierce sounds of artillery explosions coming from the direction east of the North Gate. Although the distance was quite far, it could still be heard. The artillery fire there was much more intense than that at the East Gate, at least the caliber used was larger than that here.

As artillery fire was heard from the direction of the North Gate, the Japanese troops outside the East Gate became somewhat chaotic. It was estimated that the commander of this Japanese army decided to come to the East Gate on his own initiative.

"Boom boom boom", the sound of artillery at the east gate sounded again after a short pause. This time the shelling was not aimed at the Japanese artillery positions, but at the depth of the Japanese army hiding in the darkness. Although it was an aimless bombardment at the beginning, with the help of the flash of the exploding shells, the traces of the Japanese army could still be found and discovered. Soon, the sixteen Gruson rapid-fire guns of the Second Regiment began to concentrate on one area and launched a fierce bombardment.

Then, faint shouts of killing suddenly came from the direction of the east gate. Teng Yuzao said to Liu Shijiu beside him, "Brother, don't wait any longer, charge forward."

Li Xianze grasped the timing of the charge very well. Just when the Japs began to become confused, he commanded the Second Regiment to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese army.

After receiving Teng Yuzao's order, Liu Shijiu rolled up his sleeves and said to Wang Decheng, the deputy captain of the assault brigade who was following behind him, "Chengde, tell the brothers not to shout, but to form a battle formation and quietly approach me before charging."

Afterwards, the thousands of people in the assault brigade did not shout, but quietly moved towards the direction of the Japanese troops in the darkness.

Teng Yuzhao did not follow the charge. In such a dark night, it was somewhat unwise to fight in person. In the darkness, he might be injured or even killed by the Japanese army.

"Sir, look at the Kongming lantern!"

Xu Ting excitedly exclaimed in a low voice behind Teng Yuzhao.

Hearing the sound, Teng Yuzhao looked towards the north, and sure enough, a red light was rising in the northern sky.

Teng Yuzhao looked at his watch in the moonlight and was surprised. It had been less than ten minutes since the fierce artillery attack on the Japanese positions was launched from Beiguan, and the First Regiment had broken through the Japanese positions!

Could it be that as soon as the artillery attack started, the more than a thousand Japanese soldiers began to flee!
Teng Yuzhao looked at the Kongming lantern rising higher and higher in the northern sky and couldn't help but feel worried.

Those who broke out with the group not only had a lot of supplies, ammunition and weapons, but also more than 100,000 taels of silver left with them. These were nothing, and even if they were all lost, Teng Yuzhao would not take it too seriously.

What he was most concerned about were actually the doctors in the field hospital.

Although these doctors trained by the Beiyang Medical School are not very skilled in medicine, they are all Chinese and are doctors of our own people. In today's era when people generally only recognize traditional Chinese medicine and not Western medicine, these people are particularly important. Whether the wounded on the battlefield can save their lives depends entirely on them.

Although Teng Yuzhao was eager to know the situation at Beiguan, he was now out of reach and had to wait patiently.

Thinking of the precious field hospital, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but think of those young children studying in the United States. He asked the Lin brothers to help him contact those people, and even told the Lin brothers that for those who were willing to come to the vanguard army, not only would they be treated well, but they could also be paid money now. In other words, Teng Yuzao could pay them before officially hiring them.

They can temporarily go to Xuzhou to find Ning Xingpu, who will provide them with proper accommodation, and once the war is over, he will give them the opportunity to display their talents.

"Kill!" A thunderous shout suddenly came. Teng Yuzhao threw away the random thoughts in his mind and looked up hurriedly. It turned out that Liu Shijiu had led the assault brigade to charge towards the area where the Japanese troops gathered.

Although the shouting and screaming was followed by a burst of gunfire from the Golden Hook rifle, the sound of the gunfire was very chaotic. It was obvious that Liu Shijiu had quietly approached the Japanese army while they were preparing to retreat, and then suddenly launched a charge, catching them off guard.

Although the number of Japanese troops was slightly larger than the Second Regiment and the Assault Brigade combined, Teng Yuzhao didn't care too much. At this time, the Japanese troops were much inferior to the Chinese in terms of height and physical strength. As long as the Chinese were brave enough to fight, they would only gain advantages in close combat and hand-to-hand combat, and would not suffer any losses.

Teng Yuzhao listened attentively to the movements in the south of the city. The sounds of gunfire and grenade explosions there had long since moved outside the city and were now gradually sparse.

Teng Yuzao guessed that this was probably the retreat signal from Hu Dianjia after he saw the Kongming lantern.

As long as the three regiments withdraw, Teng Yuzhao will be completely relieved.

At this moment, there was one thing that worried Teng Yuzhao, that was the tens of thousands of Russian troops ambushed in the west of the city. If these Russian troops suddenly arrived before the Third Regiment withdrew from the battlefield, not only the Third Regiment would be in danger, but the entire vanguard army would also face a huge threat.

Even if the Allied reserve troops in the concession arrived in time, it would not be something the vanguard army could easily withstand.

At this moment, on the battlefield outside the east gate, there were shouts, screams, and even the occasional explosion of a grenade and the sudden sound of volley gunfire. However, if you listened carefully, there were relatively more sounds of pistol firing, especially the Mauser pistol, which was clearly different from the Japanese Army's Meiji 26-type revolver.

The battlefield outside the east gate was getting larger and larger. There were even two small Japanese troops in panic who were chased by the assault team, wielding swords, to the vicinity of Teng Yuzhao's location.

Fortunately, the number of Japanese troops in these two groups was small, and they were quickly eliminated by the soldiers of the Special Guard Squadron commanded by Xu Ting and in cooperation with the assault battalion.

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(End of this chapter)