The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 39 Still Not Adapted
Although Teng Yuzhao was also very tired after a day's work, he couldn't sleep. Lying on the camp bed, Teng Yuzhao couldn't help but recall everything that had happened since he discovered that he had "successfully" traveled through time yesterday morning. He tried to find out if there was anything wrong with what he had done, and if there were any points that were worth discussing.

After a careful summary, Teng Yuzhao carefully recalled the details of the Battle of Tianjin in his mind. He must try his best to make good use of his unique advantage of "foresight" of the historical process to better grasp the opportunity.

Since the city of Tianjin was destined to fall, relying solely on his vanguard troops would never be able to change history, at least the history of Tianjin's imminent fall. So he had to find a way to inflict the greatest damage to the coalition forces.

Because, in this war, if he wanted to use his own strength, or even the strength of an entire country, to fight against the eight most powerful Western military powers in the world today, and force the other side to surrender and withdraw from North China, given the current state of the Qing army and the court, it would not only be impossible to accomplish, but it would also be absolutely impossible to do so.

But the war always had to end, either with the court completely compromising, agreeing to all the conditions of the invading Eight-Nation Alliance, and signing a humiliating treaty.

Or, it will continue until the coalition forces are no longer willing to fight and take the initiative to propose some barely acceptable negotiation conditions.

In order to make the coalition forces unwilling to continue fighting, the only way Teng Yuzao could think of was to inflict the greatest casualties on the coalition forces and annihilate their manpower to the greatest extent possible. Only by making them unable to bear the heavy casualties would they be forced to compromise.
"Ring, ring, ring," a shrill telephone ring suddenly woke Teng Yuzhao from his sleep. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep on the camp bed.

There was a shrill ringing sound coming from one of the two telephones placed on the ammunition box.

Teng Yuzhao had just turned over and jumped off the cot when several staff officers who were leaning against the wooden wall of the machine gun bunker and had just been awakened jumped up almost at the same time.

Although the four heavy machine gunners of the regiment were also awakened by the ringing of the telephone, they all stood up in panic and ran towards the firing port of the heavy machine gun. No one realized that the shrill sound was not a whistle, but the sound of the telephone in the machine gun bunker.

These soldiers had never come into contact with or even seen a telephone before today. It was very normal for them to be awakened by the ringing of a telephone in their sleep and be at a loss for a moment.

There are two telephones on the ammunition box. The one ringing at this moment is a red one. This is Teng Yuzao's command phone.

This command telephone was only connected to Liu Yuzhi, Li Xianze behind him, and Liu Changfa further behind him. They each had a telephone of the same color, which was used specifically for Teng Yuzhao to issue orders or for the three to report to Teng Yuzhao.

Since there is no switchboard, if any one of the four telephones makes a call, the other three will ring.

The other black phone next to it was the one Liu Yuzhi used to command his regiment.

Several staff officers who jumped up to answer the phone were still a step too late. The Chief of Staff Wei Jinghai, who was closest to the phone, picked up the phone first.

Wei Jinghai had just given his name when he heard the other party’s voice on the phone.

The sound of this magnetic telephone was so loud that Teng Yuzao, who was standing next to the camp bed and quickly fastening his belt and hanging his Mauser pistol, could hear it clearly.

The call was from Liu Yuzhi, who said loudly, "Director Wei, please report to the adults immediately. The observation post on the artillery platform of the Beiyang Military Academy just called and reported that there were suddenly many more lights on the Zizhulin Wharf across the street, including many flashlights. Since it was still dark, the observation post could not see clearly." "However, they found through the telescope that there seemed to be a lot of people gathered on the wharf. I suspect that the foreign devils on the opposite side should be preparing to cross the river."

Liu Yuzhi said excitedly, "Director Wei, if we open fire with our cannons now, it will probably kill or injure many foreigners."

Teng Yuzao walked over and took the phone from Wei Jinghai. "Yuxuan, don't panic yet, and don't rush to wake up the troops. The soldiers are still too tired. It won't be too late to make arrangements after the situation is clear."

"As for shelling Zizhulin Wharf, it's not possible for the time being. All your preparations now must be based on the existing defensive positions. Our artillery must be used at the most critical moment. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Liu Yuzhi answered firmly.

Knowing that Li Xianze must also be answering the phone, Teng Yuzao said, "It's the same with Kangnian. Let the troops rest for a while, but the guard post must be set up farther away to ensure the safety of the rear of the regiment."

"I understand." Li Xianze's voice came from the phone.

"Although we are not planning to bombard the Zizhulin Wharf across from Qingyun for the time being, we must prepare now and build one or two more artillery positions that are closer. Once we attack the British Concession on the other side, we will definitely need artillery fire to suppress the coalition's artillery."

Teng Yuzhao's last words were to instruct the new artillery commander Liu Changfa.

"I understand." Liu Changfa also answered loudly on the other end of the phone.

Unable to sleep, Teng Yuzhao took the wet towel handed to him by a staff officer, wiped his face simply, picked up the telescope, walked out of the machine gun bunker, and came to the top of the machine gun bunker.

Although he could only vaguely see lights flickering on the Zizhulin Wharf in the darkness when looking at the concession on the opposite bank from where he was, he could not see anything else clearly. Because of the angle, from the machine gun bunker where Teng Yuzhao was, even the narrow surface of the Baihe River was pitch black. However, Teng Yuzhao still did not give up and raised the telescope to carefully observe the situation on the other side.

However, the result was disappointing to him. In his field of vision, except for the brighter lights on the dock, the dock was still blurry due to the halo caused by the fog.

Although the situation on the opposite dock could not be seen clearly, one thing was certain: the coalition forces on the other side were about to take action. The most likely scenario was that the coalition forces were going to cross the river and attack them.

Standing on the machine gun bunker, feeling the cool breeze before dawn, Teng Yuzhao's still groggy mind, which was suddenly awakened by the ringing of the phone, suddenly felt refreshed.

Teng Yuzhao raised his wrist habitually to check the time, but there was nothing on his wrist. This made him smile bitterly in his heart. It seemed that he had not yet fully adapted to the situation after the time travel.

Your support is the driving force of Zuima!
(End of this chapter)