The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 296: Boast of the General
Although these generals were not in the mood to drink tea, under Teng Yuzao's urging, except for Liu Shijiu, everyone else drank some.

Teng Yuzao then stood up and said, "Today's casualties are a bit heavy, but in my opinion, this is normal. There are two main reasons for such heavy casualties."

Teng Yuzao stood up and said, "Today's casualties are a bit heavy, but in my opinion, this is normal."

Faced with such heavy casualties, everyone originally thought that Teng Yuzao would be very angry, but Teng Yuzao not only did not show his unhappiness, but instead he comforted them, which made the generals feel even more ashamed.

"There are two main reasons for such a large number of casualties."

Teng Yuzao continued calmly, "First, in today's battle, we spread the battlefield too wide, with almost no reserve troops. The battle started in the inner and outer cities at the same time, and we only started fighting after we let the foreign devils in."

"This means that our forces on various battlefields do not have an advantage over the foreign devils, let alone an absolute advantage. This is true for both the two ambushes in the outer city and the ambush inside the Qihua Gate in the inner city. It can be said that these ambushes were fought with some difficulty, and even a little dangerous."

"Also, the preparations before the war were rather hasty, and the time left for you to prepare was somewhat insufficient, which led to some minor omissions in your specific arrangements. These are facts that cannot be denied. Of course, there was also the factor of underestimating the enemy."

"However, the most important reason is still the second one."

"That is because our soldiers are still not proficient in technical and tactical skills. For example, when it comes to group coordination tactics, although they are all very brave in battle, many soldiers only care about charging bravely on their own and completely forget to cooperate with their comrades."

"So much so that we suffered losses in hand-to-hand combat with the British and American soldiers who were tall and strong. Many of our casualties occurred in hand-to-hand combat."

"As for the reason why the Third Mixed Brigade of Xuanqing suffered the most casualties, there are more to it."

"In addition to the reason of teamwork, there is another factor, that is, the number of the Japanese is too large, 3,000 to 4,000 more than your Third Mixed Brigade. Even if we give you some reinforcements, we don't have much advantage in numbers."

Seeing that, except for Liu Shijiu, the generals under his command were in low spirits, Teng Yuzao raised his voice slightly and said with a smile.

"What Big Brother said just now is very true. Not only you, but also me, we should not be discouraged. We should not be discouraged. After all, we have won a great victory, and the casualty ratio is very high. This is a real victory, the biggest victory since the establishment of our Vanguard Army. This is a great event worthy of celebration."

"The memorial to the court has been written. It will be sent out immediately after the Queen Mother and the Emperor confirm their itinerary for the western hunting trip. Your contributions will be highly praised in this memorial. I guess the court will not be stingy with rewards this time. You will all be promoted to higher positions for sure."

Teng Yuzao smiled and glanced at Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian, Wang Decheng, Zhu Kaishan and other people who were from the Boxer Rebellion.

"Brother Chengxiang, Brother Cao, Deputy Captain Wang, and Brother Zhu, I have listed your contributions separately. The court understands what I mean. I believe that those people in the Military Affairs Office will definitely not deliberately suppress you this time."

Liu Shijiu curled his lips and said, "I don't care about promotion. As long as I can follow you and our vanguard army can keep winning battles, I don't care even if they let me be the captain for the rest of my life." Unlike Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian and Wang Decheng were grinning from ear to ear.

Especially Cao Futian. This battle had nothing to do with him. It was Pan Jinshan who led the troops to assist the assault battalion and the third mixed brigade. But Teng Yuzhao insisted on listing him in the list of merit. Naturally, he was grateful and extremely happy!
As for Zhu Kaishan, his face was full of surprise.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Zhu Kaishan, "Brother Zhu not only made great contributions in attacking the foreign devils' embassy district, but also made a clear statement to join our vanguard army, which set a good example for everyone. This is why our vanguard army successfully completed the incorporation of the Boxers in the capital. His contribution is indispensable, and these contributions should naturally be written about in great detail."

Zhu Kaishan is a righteous and generous person. He can give selflessly to others, but he can't stand others taking advantage of him. He has already accepted this commander-in-chief in his heart.

Especially since he had just joined the vanguard army, not only was he called by the marshal to attend such a high-level military meeting as an exception, but he was also given all these merits. This made him extremely grateful, and he quickly stood up, bowed, and spoke loudly.

"Thank you, Marshal!"

Zhu Kaishan originally wanted to say "common people", but when he thought that he was no longer an ordinary citizen, although he was still unclear about what position he would be given in the end, he was still a member of the vanguard army, so he changed his words and called himself a subordinate.

Teng Yuzhao waved his hand to signal Zhu Kaishan to sit down, and then continued.

"So, don't blame yourselves. If there is any responsibility for this battle, it is my responsibility, Teng Yuzao. Our fighting frequency is too high. In the past three months, the vanguard army has been almost always fighting or on the way to fight. As a result, our troops have insufficient training time and the training of new recruits is seriously insufficient."

Teng Yuzao's tone had become cheerful. "I should say that all of you did a great job in today's battle. This was far beyond my expectations."

After all, they won a great victory, and Teng Yuzhao didn't want to make everyone feel unhappy, so he still praised those who deserved praise. Teng Yuzhao always believed that good children are praised into being, and the same goes for his subordinates' fighting enthusiasm.

Of course, Teng Yuzhao still has to remind them from time to time, point out their mistakes and shortcomings, and also follow up with praise and compliments.

Teng Yuzao pointed at Wei Jinghai and said, "You all know that Ningbo was a student of the Beiyang Military Academy three months ago, but now, he has not only become the deputy chief of staff in charge of operations for our vanguard army, but he has also coordinated the operations of various units without any chaos. His achievements are remarkable and he has done an excellent job."

Before Wei Jinghai could get up excitedly, Teng Yuzao reached out and held Wei Jinghai down, then pointed at Li Xianze and said, "Let's talk about Kangnian."

"You also know that although he graduated a few years earlier than Ningbo, he has never been on the battlefield. When I transferred him to the battalion I first formed, he was just a platoon leader, but now he is commanding tens of thousands of people in battle, and he is also winning battles frequently!"

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(End of this chapter)