The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 410: Enough for You to Burn the Foreigners Again

Liu Yuzhi took a sip of the still hot tea, trying to make her mind clearer, and continued.

"If we set our attack targets on the Russians and Japanese who are chasing us all the way from Dongxianpo, there will be many difficulties."

"Although the foreign devils on this route have fewer cannons, they have 50,000 soldiers, and they are crowded together, giving us no chance to ambush them."

"If we forcibly attack with a force similar to that of the foreign devils, the casualties will also be great, and we are not sure we can destroy the enemy. If things go wrong, it is very likely that both sides will suffer losses."

"By then, even if we return to Luzhou Prefecture, I'm afraid we won't have the strength to defend it."

Liu Yuzhi glanced at the generals in the room and the two staff officers from the General Staff Office who were responsible for taking notes, and then spoke again.

"Marshal, if this happens, it will be very detrimental to the development of our vanguard army."

"So, my opinion is to return to Luzhou Prefecture and use the mountainous terrain there to fight against the foreign devils."

Teng Yuzao did not express his opinion on Liu Yuzhi's suggestion, but looked at Li Xianze.

Li Xianze hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Marshal, I don't agree with Yuxuan's suggestion. The total strength of the three foreign troops is now 140,000 or 150,000. If we rush to Luzhou, the foreign devils will follow closely. In that case, it will be even more difficult for us to deal with the foreign devil army that has gathered together."

"Now, the fact that the foreign devils are splitting up their forces is a good opportunity. We should seize this opportunity and make up our minds to destroy one of the foreign devils and force them to return for reinforcements."

"The foreign devils heading to Baoding not only have the largest number of people, but they also have the 30,000 German troops who have just arrived and are in high spirits, and 20,000 Russians. I don't think it's safe to fight them. If we have to fight, we can only fight the two foreign devils around us now."

"As for which group of foreign devils to attack, my opinion is that we should attack that group of foreign devils that poses the greatest threat to us now."

"Correct."

Before Li Xiance finished speaking, Liu Shijiu slapped the coffee table and spoke loudly.

"I agree with Kangnian's opinion. In my opinion, we should pick the foreign devils chasing us from Dongxianpo and beat them up severely to avenge Hu Dianjia's Third Mixed Brigade."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said to Wu Peifu, "Ziyu, what do you think?"

Wu Peifu stood up and said, "Teacher, I also think we should have a good fight with the foreign devils here, even if the losses are greater."

Wu Peifu continued, "Commander Li is right. We should attack the route that poses the greatest threat to us. The foreign devils on the east bank of the Juma River are already frightened. Although they have few soldiers, they are not easy to defeat."

"Although the foreign devils chasing us from Dongxianpo have more troops, they are on the move and have no fortifications to rely on, so they are much easier to deal with. As long as we are determined, we will definitely be able to wipe out this group of foreign devils."

Wu Peifu gained great confidence as he had just used inferior forces and relied on the Juma River to block the way and wiped out the coalition forces that were twice his size in one fell swoop.

Teng Yuzao motioned Wu Peifu to sit down, and then asked Wei Jinghai.

"Ningbo, what do you think?"

Wei Jinghai said hesitantly, "Marshal, I have a similar opinion to Commander Liu. We must fight a battle, but we can't set our goals too high. As long as we can successfully get the Third Mixed Brigade to respond, we can retreat and rush to Luzhou."

"Also, since we started in Tianjin, except for the assault column that wiped out the 10,000 Germans east of the capital, we haven't fought a siege battle. And that battle couldn't really be considered a siege battle. Not only did we catch the Germans off guard, but we also used incendiary bombs."

"Let the Germans be trapped both internally and externally, and it will be difficult for them to organize a large-scale counterattack and effective defense, so we can take advantage of the situation to break in." "So, I don't recommend attacking the foreign devils on the east bank of the Juma River. We should still attack the foreign devils chasing us from Dongxianpo."

"We have won successive victories against the foreign devils over the past few months by relying on ambushes. In this battle, we will also ambush them. We will always find an opportunity. If it doesn't work, we can just attack at night and burn the foreign devils again."

"But I still say the same thing. After giving these foreign devils a hard blow, we must retreat quickly."

"Correct."

Liu Shijiu became excited when he talked about burning the German troops east of the capital.

"Marshal, I think it would be a good idea to burn the foreign devils again."

Speaking of burning the foreign devils, Liu Shijiu suddenly stopped talking and asked with a bitter face, "Marshal, we ran out of mortar shells when we robbed the foreign devils' transport troops in Langfang. Now we should be almost out of them. How many mortar shells do we have left?"

Wei Jinghai smiled and said, "There weren't many shells at that time, and it wasn't that they were almost gone, but the Guards Battalion used them all up in the battle they fought today."

When he heard that Wu Peifu had destroyed the mortar shells, Liu Shijiu was so angry that he glared at Wu Peifu and pointed at him for a long time without saying anything.

But in the end, he thought that with Wu Peifu's small number of troops and without sufficient artillery support, it would be not only extremely difficult but almost a fantasy to win, so he couldn't help but calm down.

Liu Shijiu sighed unwillingly, smiled at Wu Peifu who had a bitter smile on his face, and gave up.

Seeing the looks of Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu, Teng Yuzao couldn't help laughing.

"Brother, you haven't heard Ningbo finish his words yet. This afternoon, the 5,000 mortar shells that Qionglin left in Yi County have been delivered to Laishui, including 800 incendiary shells. If you have the chance, they are enough for you to burn the foreign devils again."

"Great!"

When he heard that there were artillery shells, Liu Shijiu jumped up from his seat with joy.

Teng Yuzao ignored the excited Liu Shijiu and looked at Liu Changfa.

"Qingyun, we have won so many battles, and your artillery unit has made the greatest contribution. Tell us what you think."

Teng Yuzhao said that the artillery brigade made the greatest contribution, which made Liu Changfa extremely excited, but he still said it.

"Thank you for the compliment, Marshal. It's all thanks to your good command."

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Tell me what you think."

Liu Changfa said hurriedly, "Although what Yuxuan and Deputy Chief of Staff Wei said makes sense, and the camp office in Luzhou Prefecture is equivalent to our old camp, we will never allow any mistakes."

"But I still think that we must take advantage of this good opportunity when the foreign devils divide their troops to fight another battle. This way, when we retreat back to Luzhou Prefecture, the foreign devils may not dare to chase us, let alone attack Luzhou Prefecture. This will give us time to expand our army and train our troops, so we must fight a battle."

"As for which group of foreign devils we fight, I have no opinion. Now we have more than 200 cannons, both large and small. Except for their smaller calibers, our number is no less than that of the foreign devils."

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(End of this chapter)