The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 328 Harassment
After suffering losses in the harassment war, the coalition forces began to become cautious.

From then on, as long as it was night, no matter how fierce the harassing troops of the vanguard army were, they would never fight again, and the coalition forces would not step out of the camp or position.

Although the strength of the coalition forces on guard positions had increased, they only guarded their respective positions, garrisons, and camps, and used only fierce firepower to block the harassing troops that attacked the vanguard army.

However, this is still unsafe. The first to suffer are the sentries on duty, who may be killed or injured by sudden bullets fired in the dark.

Moreover, the opponent's shooting skills seem to be getting more and more accurate. From the initial average of only killing one coalition soldier a day, to recently, almost everyone falls to the ground with a gunshot.

Now, the sentries standing guard at night have to hide in the shadows.

Even so, their safety could not be completely guaranteed. Many sentries who could not resist their fatigue and wanted to smoke a cigarette in the dark to boost their spirits were often killed accurately by sudden bullets.

Because they were afraid to smoke, many sentries sat in corners or lay on their positions, and after a long time, they would fall asleep.

This gave the vanguard harassment troops the opportunity to attack. Many of the coalition forces' guard positions or camps were quietly attacked by the vanguard harassment troops under the cover of darkness, and the guard troops were killed while they were still asleep.

Even some camps and garrisons that were sneaked into by the vanguard army's harassment troops would be suddenly and fiercely attacked by those harassment troops which consisted of only dozens of people.

Their means of attack were simple. Basically, they fired a dense barrage of Teng-type hand grenades at the officers and soldiers who were sleeping soundly in the barracks and tents.

The harassment of the coalition forces by the vanguard army's harassment troops was not very random, but very regular.

The harassment usually began within an hour after dark, continued intermittently until about three in the morning, and then suddenly stopped.

As the coalition forces grasped this pattern, they quickly took countermeasures.

In order to prevent small vanguard troops from sneaking into the positions, the coalition forces had to be on alert almost all night long, even if they had to stay up all night to get through the pitch-black night. The troops would only be allowed to rest after three in the morning.

This preventive measure by the coalition forces seriously disrupted their daily routine, and all morning exercises and other daily training were cancelled.

Moreover, just a few hours of rest in the early morning was not enough, forcing the coalition forces to let the extremely tired troops continue to sleep during the day.

As time went by, the coalition forces had adapted to the harassment of the vanguard troops, and even their biological clocks had changed slightly. At night they were like night owls, very alert, but in the early morning they were so sleepy that they could not open their eyes.

Now, every night, all the coalition soldiers would look forward to the damn night ending soon so that they could have a good sleep.

It seemed that the vanguard army had also figured out the coalition forces' daily routine, because in the past three days, the small harassment units of the vanguard army had actually changed their tactics and had become even more aggressive.

Although the harassment continued until three in the morning and then stopped, just as the coalition forces withdrew from their positions and returned to their requisitioned barracks to sleep, the vanguard troops outside suddenly launched another harassment on their positions and camps.

They would even use intensive artillery fire to launch fierce bombardments on their guard positions and camps, causing chaos in the camps and positions of the coalition forces that had just fallen asleep.

Moreover, they were so bold as to change their previous practice of only using small platoon-level troops to harass, and in many places, company and battalion-level troops appeared and launched sudden and fierce attacks on their guard positions.

Using the cover of darkness, the vanguard troops attacked from all directions and captured several Allied force guard positions on the east, south, west and north sides of the capital in one fell swoop, inflicting heavy casualties on the exhausted Allied force troops who were still half asleep after they rushed to the positions.

There was even a battalion of vanguard troops wielding broadswords who fiercely charged into a British garrison in the south of the city, driving more than a thousand Indian soldiers into flight.

According to the coalition statistics, the coalition suffered more than 4,000 casualties that night alone, most of whom were injured by enemy artillery fire while sleeping in the barracks. After urgent consultations, the coalition's temporary supreme commander, Gasley, ordered all countries' troops to be on full alert at night and not to rest until dawn.

At the same time, the French proposal to move the troops back was rejected.

Gasley believed that if the troops blocking the city gates moved back, it would give the vanguard troops in the city an opportunity to transport large quantities of vegetables and meat from outside the city, and they might even be able to escape at night without being noticed.

Now, the coalition forces used the villages and guard positions outside the city to form arc-shaped containment lines outside each city gate. Although they could not stop small groups of vanguard troops from entering and leaving the city, they could not stop large groups of vanguard troops from entering and leaving the city.

However, although he rejected the French suggestion, in order to prevent the situation where the troops were concentrated in the village to sleep and rest, Gasley accepted the suggestion of Oshima Yoshimasa, the new commander of the Japanese Fifth Division.

Yoshimasa Oshima suggested that troops from various countries should not return to the houses in the village to rest during the day, because the houses in the village were obvious and concentrated targets, and there would be heavy casualties in the sudden artillery attack launched by the vanguard army.

Therefore, it is recommended that all troops set up tents in the wild to rest, and the tents should be dispersed.

Although this will cause the defense to be lax, since the vanguard army dare not launch a large-scale attack during the day, a slight slackness in defense is still acceptable, and it can also be compensated by strengthening the strength of the alert troops.

The reason why Gasley is the temporary supreme commander is that the commanders of the coalition forces outside the capital have received orders sent by telegram from their respective countries.

After the arrival of the main German force, the post of Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces will be taken by Alfred von Waldersee, former Chief of the German General Staff, current commander of the German Ninth Army, who has just been awarded the rank of Marshal by the German Emperor.

The reason why various countries accepted the German as commander-in-chief is very simple, or even completely let the Germans get an advantage.

The troops dispatched by Austria-Hungary and Italy were too small to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces.

Britain and Russia are now hostile countries, and the two sides are at loggerheads, and neither side agrees to let the other be the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

Moreover, the British were still making a fool of themselves in the Boer War, which made other countries dare not trust the British military level too much.

It is unthinkable that an American or Japanese would serve as the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces.

The United States' interests in China were not as damaged as those of the European powers, so from the very beginning it did not actively participate in the formation of the coalition. After all, the Japanese were still looked down upon by the old European empires.

Curiously, the French did not object to Waldersee's appointment and never actively sought the position themselves.

Because of Gasley's order, in the past two days, even after three in the morning, no unit of the coalition forces dared to let their troops sleep and rest, and the entire army remained on alert.

Instead, they will return to their tents set up in the wild to sleep after daybreak.

Fortunately, although the temperature would be cooler at night, it was still acceptable during the day. Moreover, the Allied forces believed that this situation would soon change as the German troops and reinforcements from other countries gradually arrived.

This is also the reason why German Major General Hausen, who was stationed in the east of the city, was willing to accept Gassley's order.

Although the German troops in the east of the city were also exhausted by the small harassment troops of the vanguard, the attacks they suffered were much lighter than those of other troops. Hausen did not feel that the vanguard posed much of a threat to him.

However, starting from yesterday morning, the vanguard army suddenly changed its behavior and started to attack them during the day.
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(End of this chapter)