The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 372: Changes in the Coalition

Wei Jinghai opened the leather folder in his hand and said, "Marshal, since many bodies were blown to pieces and many weapons were damaged, our battle statistics are not accurate. I can only give an estimated data."

Nearly three hundred cannons and mortars concentrated their bombardment, especially on the front and rear battlefields, with the participation of eighteen unscrupulous cannons with a charge comparable to that of 155mm caliber howitzer shells. One can imagine how fierce the explosions on the battlefield were.

It is quite normal to destroy many weapons. Not to mention rifles and heavy machine guns, even the much stronger cannons were also destroyed in the explosion!
Teng Yuzhao thought that Wei Jinghai's preparations were completely unnecessary, but he understood Wei Jinghai's responsibilities and as the chief of staff, he had to make it clear.

Wei Jinghai had no idea what Teng Yuzhao was thinking. He was looking at the statistical data in the folder while reporting.

"According to incomplete statistics, in the ambush just now, at least 9,000 soldiers from the British, French, and American coalition forces were killed, and about 1,000 others escaped by hiding in the green tent. Most of the foreign devils we killed were fake foreign devils."

"Among the real foreign devils killed were three companies of the British East India Marines, about 800 people, plus the British officers in those fake British troops. In total, more than 900 real British soldiers and more than 3,000 fake British soldiers were killed."

"We destroyed slightly more French troops, more than 4,000, of which only more than 500 were real French troops, mostly officers."

"The number of real and fake American soldiers eliminated was the least, but it was still over a thousand."

"We killed the most Japanese soldiers. Since there is still a group of Japanese soldiers still chasing us, we cannot know the exact number for now. However, it should be more than 12,000 people."

"The weapons captured included nine British Armstrong 105mm cannons, sixteen French Schneider 75mm field guns, and six Japanese Krupp 75mm mountain guns."

"We seized 1898 heavy machine guns of three types from the British, French, American and Japanese forces, more than Enfield rifles, more than French Lebel rifles, more than American M- rifles, more than Golden Hook rifles from the Japanese, and more than revolvers of various types."

Teng Yuzhao didn't pay much attention to what Wei Jinghai said next, about the military water bottles, gun belts, and the ammunition carried by the officers and soldiers of the four countries' armies that were destroyed.

Although the amount of ammunition seized from individual soldiers was also huge, one must know that at that time, the amount of ammunition carried by individual soldiers of the great powers generally exceeded 100 rounds. The amount of ammunition carried by more than 20,000 people would exceed 2 million rounds, not counting the bullets for the heavy machine guns they carried.

As for what Wei Jinghai said, that there were three types of heavy machine guns seized, Teng Yuzao knew more about it than Wei Jinghai.

The heavy machine guns at that time were all based on the Maxim prototype. Britain, France, Germany and the United States all had their own improved models. The British one was called Vickers, the French one was called Hotchkiss, the American one was called Colt M1895, and the German one was called Spindle. The heavy machine gun equipped by the Japanese army was the Hotchkiss M1897 purchased from France.

However, except for the French Hotchkiss heavy machine gun, the heavy machine guns of other countries were derived from the Maxim heavy machine gun and are still not much different from the Maxim in appearance.

At that time in the country, these heavy machine guns were collectively referred to as Maxim. Of course, the Maxim heavy machine guns of the Wuwei Army were all authentic British products.

Teng Yuzhao estimated that this is probably because Chinese people believe that only authentic things are the best.

However, when Wei Jinghai mentioned the seized property, it still caught Teng Yuzhao's attention.

After the war, when cleaning up the battlefield, the amount of property collected from the several iron boxes they carried and from the coalition forces added up to a considerable amount.

Even though Teng Yuzhao was used to seeing large sums of gold and silver in Tianjin and Beijing, he was still somewhat surprised by the amount seized this time.

There were more than 620,000 British pounds; 15 million francs; 940,000 German gold marks; 630,000 US dollars; 840,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns; 840,000 Italian lire; and 680,000 rubles.

Even the Japanese yen is as much as 1.12 million.

If converted into silver, this would be more than 10 million.

Teng Yuzhao estimated that the money in the iron box should be two months' military pay for the allied forces in the capital, while the money on them was their own property.

This number made Teng Yuzao even more excited. He was not excited because he heard that the amount of money he had seized was huge.

Rather, it was because Teng Yuzhao thought of the countries that sent troops. They now spend large sums of military expenditures every month. Such huge expenditures may not be a big burden for Britain, France, and the United States, but for Japan and Tsarist Russia, which rely on loans to pay for military expenses, can they still hold on?
Even the Germans, because they are going to expand their military vigorously, especially expanding their navy, which is a bottomless pit of money, their military budget is not abundant, how long can they support it? "Marshal!"

Wei Jinghai excitedly interrupted Teng Yuzhao's thoughts again.

"This time, the amount of military supplies we seized is even greater. There are 668 heavy machine guns alone! They are all standard models of the British, American, French, and Japanese armies."

Wei Jinghai's words immediately frightened Teng Yuzao, "How much? Say it again."

Teng Yuzhao thought he had misheard, or Wei Jinghai had said something wrong due to his excitement. He thought that if it was sixty-eight, he could still barely accept it.

If another six is ​​added in front, it would be almost impossible. Teng Yuzhao knew very well that at this time, only the German army had more heavy machine guns, and there were only three in a battalion. The troops of other countries only had heavy machine guns at the regiment level.

For example, the night before yesterday, when more than 10,000 German troops were wiped out in the east of Beijing, only about 50 heavy machine guns were seized.

But now, 668 heavy machine guns were found among the arms and supplies transported to the capital by the coalition forces!
If we count the equipment of troops other than the German army, these heavy machine guns are enough for 120,000 people. If we add the existing heavy machine guns of the Allied forces in the capital, that would be enough for more than 200,000 people.

Suddenly, Teng Yuzhao thought of what Wei Jinghai had just mentioned. When more than 20,000 coalition forces were eliminated, 112 heavy machine guns were seized, and some of them must have been damaged. In this way, the number of heavy machine guns of these newly arrived coalition forces doubled compared to their normal equipment.

It seems that the heavy machine guns of the Allied forces, including the Japanese army, were definitely greatly increased.

According to this number,

Could it be that the coalition forces have already realized the power of heavy machine guns in advance and are increasing the number of heavy machine guns in their troops in the capital?
Wei Jinghai said doubtfully, "It's six hundred and sixty-eight."

Wei Jinghai also smiled bitterly and said, "Marshal, you think the number of heavy machine guns configured by the foreign devils is wrong!"

"I've also discovered this problem. I guess it's because the foreigners have suffered a lot from our heavy machine guns, so they want to increase the number of heavy machine guns to deal with us."

Teng Yuzao nodded solemnly, "You are right. It seems that we need to think about countermeasures carefully."

Wei Jinghai said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Marshal. If we distribute all these captured heavy machine guns, our troops will have more than 200 heavy machine guns for every 10,000 people."

"We only have more heavy machine guns than the foreign devils, not less than what they are equipped with."

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "Ningbo, the captured heavy machine guns can be distributed to the troops, but with so many heavy machine guns, how much ammunition will it consume?"

"We have already asked the heavy machine gunners in the army to use burst fire and intermittent fire as much as possible, and use less continuous fire, in order to save ammunition. With so many heavy machine guns, I'm afraid we may not have enough ammunition."

As chief of staff, Wei Jinghai was naturally aware of these things.

But Teng Yuzhao's words made Wei Jinghai a little surprised.

"Marshal, didn't Xiang Marshal already supply us with heavy machine gun bullets and artillery shells? Could he go back on his word?"

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Zhang Xiangtao will naturally not go back on his word. I still have confidence in him. However, the Hanyang Gun Factory does not have such a large production capacity to supply our nearly 1,000 heavy machine guns."

“This is just one of them.”

Thanks: Tanlangxingchen, 20230504233556870, Yuezhilong, 20230605460-BE, 20170830224740944, It's Really Hard to Pick a Useful Name, I Love Industrial Rabbit, Shiglazhiyao, 20210301105267525784, Shenlan and other book friends for their monthly tickets and recommendation tickets support!!!



(End of this chapter)