The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 342: Guards Open Fire

Wei Jinghai's words made Teng Yuzao hesitate. He did not expect that the coalition forces from Britain, France, Austria, and possibly the United States in the south of the city would move out so quickly.

Moreover, they came here at a rapid march.

If the battle to encircle and annihilate the remnants of the German army has not ended after the Allied rescue force and the Guards Association's blocking force come into contact, then there will be some trouble.

It can even be said to be dangerous.

In the battle plan agreed upon by him and Wei Jinghai, annihilating or defeating the German troops in Dongcheng only served the purpose of confusing and mobilizing the Allied forces.

Of course, it also includes when he actually breaks out to the west of the city and beats the Japanese siege troops, he first annihilates or defeats the German army, which will have a deterrent effect on the Russians in the north of the city and the American, British, French, and Austrian forces in the south of the city, so that they dare not let go and decisively rescue the Japanese army, creating favorable conditions for him to inflict heavy damage on the Japanese army.

But he didn't expect that the Russian army and the southern coalition forces would arrive so quickly, and even the appearance of the Russian army caught him off guard.

Because there were more than 4,000 of his troops tied up in the German army.

But when he thought of the purpose of the plan, which was to break through and concentrate troops to inflict heavy damage on the Japanese army, Teng Yuzhao finally lowered his voice and spoke in a firm tone.

"No, we must resolutely carry out the established plan. This plan cannot be easily changed, so as not to shake the morale of the troops and affect the action in the early morning."

Then Teng Yuzao comforted Wei Jinghai, "Ningbo, you don't have to worry too much. Liu Yuanshou is leading part of the assault column and the Guards Association to encircle and annihilate the remaining German troops."

"Even Liu Yuanshou had begun to risk being accidentally injured, using the captured German artillery to destroy the German troops in the encirclement with a small shelling range. It wouldn't take long."

"However, what you said makes sense."

Teng Yuzao continued, "I think you should call Ma Fulu. The Gansu Army still has a cannon that Song Qing left for him. Ask them to cooperate with us and fire a few more shots towards the Russian camp outside the north city to scare the Russians."

"Let Cao Futian send a small group of troops from the East City and South City to harass the American troops outside Guangqumen and the foreign devils in the south of the city from a distance, so as to make the South City coalition forces rushing here feel uneasy."

"The Second and Third Mixed Brigade sent out elite troops to intensify harassment of the Japanese troops outside Guang'anmen, Fuchengmen, and Xizhimen, forcing the Japanese troops in Xicheng to shrink their defense area."

"Tell Ningbo, remember, you must tell them that Cao Futian is only allowed to harass the coalition forces from a distance, and Kangnian and Xuanqing's people should attack the Japanese more fiercely."

"After the battle starts here, not only the three mountain artillery battalions of the Artillery Association, but also the artillery battalions of the assault column and the artillery battalions of the Guards Association will return to the city and take up their positions, ready to provide cover for the troops outside the city to return to the city."

"In addition, once a melee breaks out, the mortar battalion of the artillery association will immediately withdraw from their positions and quickly rush to participate in blocking the enemy reinforcements from the south of the city."

"Also, what happened to your organization's reserve team?"

Teng Yuzhao said so much, but it was all harmless harassment. It could only serve to tie down the company's troops, and had little impact on the battle situation in the east of the city. At most, it would prevent the Russian army and the coalition forces of the United States, Britain, France and Australia from sending more troops to the east of the city, which had little impact on the battle situation in the east of the city.

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao finally mentioned the reserve team, Wei Jinghai hurriedly spoke.

"General, if we insist on the plan to break out of the West City, we can only send one battalion of guards out of the city. They are now on standby at the Qihua Gate in the South City."

"Okay, just a battalion of troops will be fine. Have them come to my place immediately to participate in the ambush."

In order to strengthen Wei Jinghai's confidence, Teng Yuzao spoke in a firm tone.

"Ningbo, if we fight well in this battle, we will not only complete the task in our planned battle plan to severely damage or even annihilate the German army, but we will also be able to create another force with almost the same strength and, after continuous fighting, further inflict heavy damage on the Russians.

That created another miracle of defeating the Russians with similar or even inferior forces."

"This will create excellent conditions for us to inflict heavy damage to the Japanese troops in Xicheng. This battle is worth the risk!"

"Yes, execute the order immediately."

The battle situation was tense, and Wei Jinghai was unable to persuade Teng Yuzao, so he did not say anything more.

What's more, what Teng Yuzhao said did make Wei Jinghai somewhat tempted.

If we can inflict heavy damage on the German, Russian and Japanese allied forces at the expense of the greater sacrifice of the assault column and the Imperial Guards, and ensure the smooth withdrawal of the vanguard army from the capital, it is definitely worth the risk.

All Wei Jinghai can do now is to quickly convey Teng Yuzhao's orders, and at the same time be prepared to receive the troops outside the city and withdraw them back to the city in case of any unexpected events in the East City battle.

"Teacher, the Russians are coming." Wu Peifu reminded Teng Yuzao in a low voice. Following Wu Peifu's voice, Teng Yuzao listened carefully, and sure enough, the sound of chaotic and hurried footsteps of a large army marching could be heard faintly in the night wind.

Judging from the sound, the number of people should definitely be over ten thousand, and it was not the sound of a forced march, but rather the sound of hurried running.

This made Teng Yuzhao feel more at ease.

The Russian troops coming to the rescue must have heard the artillery fire near the German base, which may have caused them to misunderstand that the large German force was still fighting fiercely with the main force of the vanguard army that was attacking them.

This made the Russian army even more anxious to get there, and even regardless of the fatigue of the forced march, they began to urge their troops to run forward desperately in order to create a situation where they could attack the vanguard army from the front and back with the German army, thereby severely damaging or even annihilating the attacking vanguard army.

In their haste to hurry and march, the Russian army would inevitably give up the careful search along the way, which would avoid the risk of exposing their ambush circle.

At this time, the sound of artillery fire that was encircling and annihilating the remnants of the German army not only no longer made Teng Yuzhao feel a little anxious, he was even secretly happy.

Because the assault column was still encircling and annihilating the remnants of the German army, although it was not intentional, it inadvertently created a situation for him to besiege a point and attack its reinforcements.

In particular, Liu Yuanshou's impromptu decision to use the German artillery to bombard the remaining enemies might have been a very common thing under normal circumstances, but now, the sound of the artillery became a death warrant for the Russian army.

Teng Yuzhao believed that such tactics as besieging a point and attacking its reinforcements were something that Tsarist Russia had probably never experienced in the nearly 200 years of its rise.

Even in their wars with Western powers, their officers probably had little experience or lessons with tactics such as ambush.

"Zi Yu, order your men to take cover, especially the veterans to keep an eye on the new recruits. Don't let them accidentally fire, or our ambush will fail."

Although the Russian army had marched all the way and was already very tired, after hearing the artillery fire from the direction of the German camp, the officers immediately perked up and soon an order was issued for the entire army to run forward and make sure to deal a sudden and fatal blow to the hateful vanguard.

At the urging of the officers, the exhausted Russian brigade began to run hard, and soon a vanguard battalion ran headlong into the ambush circle of the vanguard army.

Subsequently, a large Russian force rushed in closely behind.

The Russian army was indeed marching in the Eighth Route Column, apparently in battalion units, with each battalion maintaining a distance of about ten meters. In front of each battalion, there were several flashlights that kept shaking and swaying as they ran, providing lighting for the troops' rapid march.

Teng Yuzhao estimated that the Russian army marched in such a dense formation in order to avoid having to wait for the arrival of follow-up troops after encountering the vanguard.

The Russian army's goal is to launch a group charge in the shortest time possible once they encounter the vanguard army, use fierce impact to create a breakthrough for follow-up troops, and then quickly expand the results of the battle.

Fortunately, the thing that Teng Yuzhao was most worried about did not happen, and none of the recruits in the ambush team accidentally fired due to nervousness.

Seeing that the battlefield where the German army and the vanguard army were fighting was right before their eyes, the Russian vanguard troops, eager to hurry on, did not conduct any search of the surrounding area, not even for the sake of pretending, and just rushed along the road right in front of Teng Yuzhao.

Without using a telescope, Teng Yuzhao could see with his naked eyes the clusters of fast-moving flashlights that were extremely conspicuous in the dark night.

"Bang, bang, bang" suddenly, a burst of intensive rifle shooting was heard on the road two miles south.

Teng Yuzhao knew that the Russian vanguard had already rushed to the bottom of the ambush circle, and the blocking troops of the Guards Association were luring the enemy with volley fire.

Following this burst of gunfire, the large Russian force that had entered the ambush circle paused only slightly, and then rushed forward at an even faster speed.

Immediately after this burst of gunfire, there was more intensive gunfire. It was obvious that the Russian vanguard troops were firing back. As the gunfire gradually moved southward, the main Russian force quickly followed into the ambush circle.

"Teacher, the Russians have all entered the ambush circle."

Wu Peifu's voice trembled slightly, not knowing whether it was because he was a little nervous about leading troops into battle for the first time or because he was excited.

Teng Yuzao took a deep breath, turned around, patted Wu Peifu's arm and said, "Zi Yu, don't worry, just command and give the orders."

According to the plan, the sound of the heavy machine gun of the Guards Association would be the signal for the ambush to begin, so there was no need to give separate orders to Liu Changfa and Liu Shijiu.

Wu Peifu grabbed the receiver and shouted loudly into it, and the Guards opened fire.

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(End of this chapter)