The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 260: Blocking the Russian Army
Teng Yuzhao let out a long sigh, hesitated for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and made a secret decision.

Although Teng Yuzhao's troops were already stretched to the limit, and he had even reached the point where he had to rob Peter to pay Paul, he was fighting with all his might and desperately trying. He was already in a very dangerous situation. If anything went wrong, the battle to defend the capital would immediately collapse.

Not to mention the heavy casualties, he might even be chased all the way to a desperate situation by the coalition forces.

But if this battle is fought well, it will also bring him huge benefits and advantages.

His popularity among the people at home will surely increase greatly, and it is certain that he will surpass Zhang Zhidong, one of the so-called Four Ministers of the Qing Dynasty's Restoration. Even in the court, his solid position as the "mainstay of the Qing Dynasty" will be established. His enormous and lofty reputation both inside and outside the court will make him indestructible, and it will become extremely difficult for anyone in the court to easily transfer him.

There is no need to elaborate on all these benefits.

For the powers that invaded China alone, this first battle to defend the capital would definitely teach the Americans, the British, the Japanese devils, and even the Russians a lesson.

It was inevitable that he would keep quiet for a few days and wait for the arrival of reinforcements before daring to attack the capital again. This would give him ample time to calmly implement his plan.

The longer this time is, the more time his reputation will have to ferment both inside and outside the domestic government, which will be more beneficial for achieving his goals.

Teng Yuzaoye said to the communications staff in a decisive tone, "Tell Deputy Chief of Staff Wei that I agree with Hu Dianjia's arrangement. This battle will be under the full command of Hu Dianjia."

"However, we must tell Hu Dianjia not to be greedy. After letting in about 5,000 Japanese soldiers, we will allow him to use the artillery to bombard the Japanese troops outside the city and blockade them with artillery fire to cut off the Japanese troops' path to the city."

"In addition, not only should we send out the new recruits that Wang Decheng has just organized, but we should also order Cao Futian and Pan Jinshan to leave only two squadrons of the independent battalion and his artillery squadron. Cao Futian should personally lead the surveillance and guard of the northern and eastern city walls to prevent surprise attacks by the coalition forces."

"Pan Jinshan is to personally lead the rest of the independent brigade to Qihuamen immediately to coordinate with Hu Dianjia's operations."

"Also, Deputy Chief of Staff Wei should remind Cao Futian that his troops are temporarily reduced by more than half. He should be more vigilant against the foreign devils launching attacks in the independent brigade's defense and alert area, especially Andingmen, Deshengmen and Xizhimen. He should strengthen his vigilance."

The communications staff officer had just run to the city gate tower to convey Teng Yuzao's order. Before Teng Yuzao turned around, the personal guard who had been following Teng Yuzao to protect him cried out in surprise!
"Sir, the Russians rushed out from the East Gate!"

Teng Yuzhao hurriedly turned around and looked in the direction of the East Gate. Sure enough, the East Gate, which had been tightly closed, had been broken open. Hundreds of Russian soldiers rushed out of the city despite the hail of bullets from the city.

The purpose of these Russian troops rushing out of the city wall was very clear. They did not rush towards the two battlefields where the American troops were ambushed, where intensive and fierce gunfire was still heard. Instead, they quickly split into two and rushed towards the horse paths on the left and right sides of the city wall.

The Russian army's purpose was very clear, which was to go up to the city through the horse path. After capturing the city wall, they could not only help the Russian troops still in the city wall to escape, but also use the city wall as a base to attack the defenders on the wall along the city wall, and support the Russian troops outside the city to continue to attack the outer city from the east gate.

Although there was a horse path leading to the upper city from the inner city, the Russian army had been blocked in the inner city for so long that it was obvious that the horse path had already been properly blocked by the Gansu army. At least the Russian army could not use the horse path to rush to the top of the city.

There were no Gansu troops guarding the horse roads outside the city wall. However, through the telescope, Teng Yuzhao could see that there were dozens of Gansu soldiers armed only with rifles on the city wall. They hurried to the horse roads on both sides of the city wall, seemingly preparing to block the hundreds of Russian troops rushing towards the city along the horse roads.

Teng Yuzao admired the courage of the Gansu Army. Historically, after Empress Dowager Cixi had led the main force to the west, the remaining Gansu Army and a small number of Boxers persisted to the end, even after their commander Ma Fulu had died in battle and the Allied Forces had already entered the city, their remaining troops not only did not disintegrate, but even stubbornly held on to the walls of the Forbidden City and part of the inner city walls to resist to the end.

Take the current situation for example. If it were other Green Camps, Training Army, or even Wuwei Army troops, they would have probably collapsed or retreated long ago, because with only dozens of rifles, they would definitely not be able to stop the hundreds of Russian troops rushing up along the horse trail.

You know, the Russian army has always been famous for its ferocity among the great powers.

As the rear guard of the Wuwei Army, the Gansu Army also had Maxim heavy machine guns, but they only had two of them. Moreover, Dong Fuxiang, who had deep connections with underworld figures, over-recognized the personal bravery of his Gansu Army and was not very concerned about the Maxim heavy machine guns that consumed a lot of bullets.

It is said that what the superiors teach the subordinates. Dong Fuxiang had this attitude, and the generals of the Gansu Army also had the same attitude.

In addition, the military funds allocated by the Qing court to the various armies of the Wuwei Army were also very speechless. The military funds given to each army did not take into account the weapons and equipment equipped by each army, but were approved based on the number of people. This also made the various armies not very positive about equipping Maxim heavy machine guns and artillery, because equipping too many of these weapons meant that they would need to spend more military funds to purchase ammunition.

Moreover, it now seems that the Gansu Army’s only two Maxim guns were probably taken away by Dong Fuxiang to protect the emperor.

Because, at least until now, Teng Yuzao has not heard any Maxim heavy machine gun firing from the East Gate."

"Da da da da da", just as Teng Yuzhao was thinking about the Gansu Army's Maxim heavy machine guns, the sound of intensive Maxim heavy machine gun shooting suddenly came from the direction of the East Gate.

With the intensive firing of the Maxim machine guns, the Russian troops who were swarming along the horse road of the East Gate City and charging towards the city were knocked down one after another on the horse road. The Russian soldiers who fell behind and were hit by the Maxim heavy machine guns even rolled directly off the horse road.

Teng Yuzhao saw through his telescope that on the rooftops not far behind the horse paths on both sides, there was a Maxim heavy machine gun each spewing hot rain of bullets, fiercely strafing the Russian troops who were charging along the horse paths towards the city.

"Bang, bang, bang", the Gansu troops blocking the city wall also braved the rain of bullets from the Russian army and stubbornly insisted on shooting at the Russian troops on the horse path. Although some of the Gansu troops were constantly knocked down on the city wall by the Russian bullets, they still fought to the death.

Moreover, several Gansu soldiers carried heavy logs and threw them from the city wall onto the horse path. Then, regardless of casualties, the Russian soldiers who rushed towards the city wall were knocked down by the rolling and bouncing logs, causing the Russian charge to come to a halt.

This opportunity also gave the vanguard and Gansu troops, who were shooting at the Russian troops on the horse trail from the front and rear directions, a good opportunity to shoot calmly. Soon, the remaining Russian troops on the horse trail stopped their charge and retreated from the horse trail in a panic, rolling and crawling.

However, the Russian troops withdrawing from the horse trail were still unable to escape the strafing of the Maxim heavy machine guns of the vanguard army and the volley attacks of the Gansu Army on the city.

What made the Russian army even more desperate was that another sentry led by Li Xianze from the Second Mixed Brigade had already rushed over shouting from the street behind the city wall where they were ambushing.

Part of the scouts of the Second Mixed Brigade rushed to the open gate of the city wall to block the Russian troops that were still rushing out, while the other part first fired volleys at the few dozen Russian soldiers who were still trying their best to avoid the dense rain of bullets from Maxim.

After two rounds of shooting, several Teng grenades were thrown into the remaining Russian troops gathered in the corner of the bridleway in the city. After several violent explosions with blood and flesh flying everywhere, they quickly rushed forward and fought with the remaining Russian troops.
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(End of this chapter)