The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 386: Battlefield of Flames
"what!"

"The foreign devils are ambushing us ahead!"

Wu Peifu blurted out in surprise as soon as a staff officer sent back by Li Jinyu finished his report.

Li Jinyu reported that the reconnaissance team in front reported that on the road five miles ahead of them, the reconnaissance personnel heard the sound of a large number of people walking through the green tent, and then the sound disappeared.

They estimated that someone must be lying in ambush in the green tent on the side of the road, and the ambush section was no less than three to four miles long.

According to Li Jinyu's report, their current location is about ten miles away from Teng Yuzhao's location. Li Jinyu asked whether they should take a detour.

Li Jinyu's report surprised Teng Yuzhao. He finally understood why the large cavalry force of the Allied Forces was following closely behind him.

The coalition forces were waiting for them to enter the enemy's ambush circle, and when they were ambushed, they would launch a fierce attack from behind them, making them vulnerable to attack from both front and back.

In this way, even if we cannot destroy them, we will at least defeat them.

However, the main force of the coalition forces is still far away in the capital, so where did this ambush come from?

Even if the coalition forces in the capital ran here immediately after learning that their transport troops were attacked, it would be impossible for them to get here so quickly now!

You have to know that at that time, even the great powers did not have cars and had to walk on foot. A distance of more than eighty miles would take more than ten hours at the fastest.

Teng Yuzhao was nervously thinking about countermeasures. After a moment, Teng Yuzhao looked at the staff officer sent back by Li Jinyu and asked.

"Do you have any news about the First and Third Mixed Brigade? Have you found any signs that they were attacked?"

Although the three troops set out in sequence, the distance between them was not far, about ten miles apart. In order to ensure that the front and rear troops could respond in time when encountering emergencies, an emergency communication method using Kongming lanterns as signals was stipulated.

The staff officer shook his head and said, "Reporting to the Marshal, there is no news from Assistant Commander Liu and Assistant Commander Hu, and we haven't seen them send any signals."

Hearing that Liu Yuzhi and Hu Dianjia, who were escorting the arms and supplies, had not sent out any signal of being attacked, Teng Yuzhao felt much calmer and nodded to the staff officer.

"Go back immediately and tell Chief of Staff Li that we can't take a detour, otherwise the ambush troops will catch up with the 1st and 3rd Mixed Brigade escorting the munitions and supplies, which will seriously slow down their march. Tell Chief of Staff Li to stay where he is and organize the troops to be on alert. I will rush over immediately."

The situation was urgent, and Teng Yuzhao no longer cared about asking Wu Peifu for decision-making or training him to become a qualified senior commander as soon as possible. He directly gave orders to the staff without going through Wu Peifu.

After the staff officer hurriedly left with the two soldiers, Teng Yuzhao spoke to Wu Peifu again.

"Zi Yu, order Li Zixiong to lead his battalion to cover the rear and keep a distance of one mile from our main force. We will lead the rest of the troops to the front immediately, gather the troops, and defeat this ambush."

Wu Peifu couldn't help but feel a little worried about Teng Yuzao's decision, and hurriedly said, "Marshal, it's not easy for Li Zixiong's battalion to stop the foreign cavalry behind us. They have six or seven thousand people!"

"Moreover, the Imperial Guards suffered nearly a thousand casualties in the ambush and the attack on Langfang. Excluding Li Zixiong's battalion, the remaining eight battalions, including the direct troops, have a total of just over 10,000 people. We don't know how many people are in the enemy's ambush troops. If we are attacked from both sides by the foreign devils, it will be troublesome!"

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "Zi Yu, when fighting, it is right to be cautious against the enemy, but you must also carefully analyze the enemy's situation. Think about it, the foreign devils are closest to here. The troops in the capital are more than 80 miles away."

"That is to say, the main force of the foreign devils in the capital will definitely not rush here to set up an ambush in such a short time, so I judge that there will not be many foreign devils ambushing us."

"Also, think about it again. The foreign cavalry that was chasing us just now has split up. I guess the cavalry that left should be the troops that ambushed us in front."

"The foreign devils' cavalry this time has more than 7,000 people. They have to keep pressure on us from behind and set up ambushes. This will lead to a shortage of troops in both parts. From this point of view, the foreign devils' troops behind us only have about 2,000 people, and the ambush troops are only 5,000 at most."

Teng Yuzao's analysis made Wu Peifu suddenly realize, "Yes, the foreign devils don't have many troops."

"Also, just now the teacher asked if there was any news about the 1st and 3rd Mixed Corps. Since they didn't encounter any unexpected situations, it shows that the foreign devils didn't have many ambushes. Seeing their large force of 30,000 people, they didn't dare to attack them." "Or, this group of coalition cavalry happened to take a detour and rushed between us and the two mixed corps. We didn't meet them and didn't know they just passed by."

"We asked Li Zixiong's battalion to keep a distance of one or two miles from the main force of our Imperial Guards because we were worried that they would be separated by the pursuers behind them. Moreover, the foreign cavalry rushed over so quickly, and they certainly did not carry artillery, so they could not threaten our main force in front."

After Teng Yuzhao and Wu Peifu led their troops to Li Jinyu's location, they immediately listened to Li Jinyu's introduction of more detailed findings from the investigation.

In the gradually growing stronger north wind, under the shelter of the special guard squadron's bodies and with the help of the light from flashlights covered by their military uniforms, Li Jinyu pointed to a sketch he had just drawn and said.

"Marshal, our investigators discovered that the area where the foreign devils set up an ambush is here."

According to Li Jinyu, the coalition forces that ambushed them were located just one mile ahead of them, in a green tent more than 200 meters away from the roadside, and the area they occupied was approximately four to five miles.

"Marshal, can we bombard this area to drive the foreign devils out?"

Li Jinyu said to Teng Yuzao with some excitement.

"Need not."

Wu Peifu chuckled and said, "The Marshal has come up with a winning plan."

Wu Peifu's words made Li Jinyu ask again in surprise.

"Marshal, what's the trick?"

On the way here, Teng Yuzhao had already thought of a countermeasure.

Teng Yuzao said, "It's similar to your idea. We'll also use our mortars, but instead of blowing the ambushers out, we'll burn them out."

It was no secret to Li Jinyu that the mortar battalion carried shells that could quickly ignite a fire after the explosion. He already knew about the assault column that set fire to the German army east of the capital.

Li Jinyu couldn't help but slap his forehead and said excitedly, "How could I forget our incendiary bombs? The wind is strong now. These dry straw leaves will catch fire easily and spread quickly, and I guarantee that all the foreign devils inside will be burned out."

Teng Yuzao pointed at the sketch drawn by Li Jinyu and spoke to the sentry chief of the mortar battalion next to him.

"Use your mortars to fire incendiary rounds and set fire to these areas for me."

Teng Yuzhao's finger slid across the north and east sides of the coalition ambush area on the sketch.

"Then light up the green tent 300 meters south of the camp that is providing cover in the back, to prevent the foreign devils behind from rushing over with the help of the green tent."

"In five minutes, you can start shelling."

The sentry leader received the order and immediately ran out of the crowd to deploy his mortar and prepare for shelling.

Teng Yuzao pointed at the sketch and ordered Wu Peifu, "Concentrate all the heavy machine guns and deploy them on both sides of the road. Once the foreign devils rush out of the ambush area and rush onto the road, open fire immediately."

"Also, gather all personnel and prepare to rush forward along the main road. When we have the chance to chase and kill the foreign devils, we will rush forward quickly. In front of the charging troops, push a few heavy machine guns on carts and fire as we advance, clearing the way for the charging troops."

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(End of this chapter)