The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 272 Zailan and Prince Qing
Wei Jinghai handed over a cup of herbal tea. After Teng Yuzhao drank it, he felt his throat felt better.

Wei Jinghai smiled bitterly and said, "The foreigners in the embassy area refused to surrender. Liu Shijiu and his men have already started using catapults to throw bundles of burning hay mixed with peppers and the things in our incendiary bombs into the embassy area. These things are very effective. Not only are they extremely difficult to extinguish, but wherever they land, they catch fire. Now there are already several places in the embassy area on fire, and the fire is very large. I guess the foreign devils inside won't be able to stay for much longer."

"But the smell is really unbearable. There's nothing we can do. We are too close here. We are the innocent ones who have been affected!"

It was not until then that Teng Yuzao realized that he had been distracted by thinking about the Italian cannon. He couldn't help but say to Wei Jinghai with some apology.

"Ningbo, go on."

Wei Ningbo noticed that Teng Yuzao was distracted and did not disturb him. He just thought that Teng Yuzao was too tired these days. When he saw Teng Yuzao come back to his senses, he continued to report.

"At the Second Mixed Brigade, Commander Li called and said that Commander Liu of the Artillery Brigade had brought the Unconscionable Artillery Squadron to him. Since the British and American Allied Forces in the outer city occupy a larger area, the Unconscionable Artillery may not have much effect if they fire less. Commander Li wanted to use the Unconscionable Artillery to clear the way. He wanted to fire a few more rounds and specifically asked if it was okay?"

Teng Yuzao did not answer directly, but asked, "How many conscienceless shells do we have now?"

"There are less than five hundred left."

Wei Jinghai then added, "I was planning to bring some back when I deliver supplies to Yi County next time. I just saw the Marshal was thinking about something, so I agreed to Li Xietong's plan without asking for his permission."

As the chief of staff, there is no need to ask for instructions on every combat issue, especially the use of ammunition and supplies, otherwise you would be an incompetent chief of staff.

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "Very good, let them use it boldly."

"However, there is no need to take any more shells from the conscienceless cannon. The remaining ones are enough for us to use until the end of this month."

Wei Jinghai was surprised by Teng Yuzhao's words, and he asked in a lowered voice.

"Marshal, do you mean that we will only stay in the capital until the end of this month?"

Teng Yuzao knew that he had let the cat out of the bag, so he nodded and said, "We have expanded our forces a little too quickly recently. I am very worried that our combat effectiveness will be affected, especially in this battle. We have eliminated so many coalition forces, and our own losses will not be small. It is possible that there will be three to four thousand casualties, which will have a greater impact on our troops."

"Fortunately, after today's battle, the coalition forces outside the city will be quiet for a while, which gives us a good opportunity to reorganize and train our troops. We can seize the time to train and reorganize our troops."

It is certain that the large-scale expansion of the troops has led to a decline in combat effectiveness, but since the vanguard army has been winning battles and almost always caught the coalition forces off guard, and there were no offensive battles, the losses were not very large. This gave his new recruits the opportunity to gradually learn in the war and to grow rapidly to a certain extent, which prevented a significant reduction in the combat effectiveness of the vanguard army.

"However, they will definitely increase their troops. Not to mention other powers, just take the Japanese for example. They will be able to have full manpower again within a week at the earliest, and they may even increase their troops."

"As for the Russians, I can say for sure that they will definitely take advantage of this loss to send more troops into the country. By then, it will be like a large army approaching our border. It will not be so easy for us to leave then."

"This time, we were lucky enough to take advantage of the situation. I still say that if we confront the coalition forces head-on, the best case scenario is that both sides will suffer similar losses."

"So, we can hold out until the end of the month at most, and then we will withdraw our troops."

What Teng Yuzao said was not all of his thoughts, but only part of them. Teng Yuzao also knew that the German army would arrive in Beijing next month. More than 30,000 German troops were definitely more worrying than 50,000 or 60,000 Japanese troops. Teng Yuzao remembered that the German army should arrive on the 12th of next month.

However, he was now very worried about one thing, which was that his time travel would change history to some extent. At least some historical events might be advanced or delayed.

Wei Jinghai also agreed with what Teng Yuzhao said. If they could stop while they were ahead and hold out in the capital until the end of the month, it would be acceptable to everyone, and then they could safely withdraw from the capital. This would indeed be the best and safest way.

But this is the capital after all! Wei Jinghai was somewhat unwilling to give up so easily.

Although Wei Jinghai felt somewhat unwilling, he knew his responsibilities and quickly put aside these fanciful thoughts and continued.

"Before you came back from Qihuamen, Li Yaoting came to report that the family of Prince Fuguo Zailan went to Liu Zhigang and Zhou Zhan for a secret talk at noon today. The content of the conversation is unknown."

As for this Prince of the State Zailan, Teng Yuzhao knew him. He was Zai Yi's biological brother, but Zai Yi was adopted by Prince Ruimin Yizhi.

Zailan should have been very clear about his brother Zai Yi's thoughts. He was one of the important promoters of the Boxer Rebellion. He even set up a boxing ring at home, wore Boxer uniforms, and became the eldest brother of the Boxer Rebellion. After the Boxer Rebellion, he was also one of the culprits that the powers wanted to pursue. He was originally stripped of his official title and sentenced to immediate execution by Cixi, but after the news died down, he was exiled to Xinjiang.

This time, when Cixi went hunting in the west, he was one of the princes and ministers who followed her to protect her.

Teng Yuzhao didn't care too much about why his family came to see Liu Zhigang and Zhou Zhan. He was still very happy that Li Yaoting was able to get the news in time as soon as he entered the capital.

Although he allocated 150,000 taels of silver to Li Yaoting, he also tried his best to instill some of his memories as a former agent into Li Yaoting.

But what Li Yaoting did was indeed very effective. Not only did he now have personnel in major cities such as Beijing, Baoding, Xuzhou, Qingdao, Jin'an, Anqing, Jinling, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Changsha, Nanchang, Hankou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Taiyuan, Kaifeng, and Luoyang, but also, given the current period, in order to facilitate their actions, the cover identities of these people are all small and medium-sized businessmen.

A stronghold has now been established in Tianjin. According to what Li Yaoting reported to him, there is a small grain merchant in Tianjin who is currently preparing military rations for the coalition forces.

The above-mentioned city arrangements are still temporary. Once these places gain a foothold, they will not only expand to surrounding cities of all sizes, but will even recruit people from all walks of life to join this organization. Naturally, more silver will be needed at that time.

But Teng Yuzao did see some results. For example, as soon as he entered the capital today, Li Yaoting learned that Zai Lan's family had had a secret talk with Liu Zhigang and Zhou Zhan. This was obviously information obtained by his people.

"besides."

Wei Jinghai said carefully, "Marshal, this morning, Prince Qing sent a family member from his residence to pass on a message to you. The attitude was very arrogant. He said that Prince Qing sent a message to you, asking you to find a way to get all the foreigners in the embassy area out of the city immediately and not to embarrass them."

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(End of this chapter)