The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 46 Passive Rewards

The battle started somewhat suddenly, but ended quickly. From the time the coalition forces crossed the river, less than an hour had passed before about 1,500 Russian, British, Italian and Austrian troops were wiped out.

From three hundred meters away to a distance of a dozen steps in front of the vanguard army's position, there were corpses of Coalition soldiers everywhere. Many of them were not only badly mutilated by the Maxim heavy machine guns, but some even had their limbs shot out by the Maxim 11.43 mm bullets.

Looking at such a tragic battlefield, most of the more than 200 officers and soldiers of the vanguard army who survived the war squatted on the ground and vomited.

Even Teng Yuzao, who thought he had lived two lives and had great self-control, couldn't help but feel his stomach twitching.

Liu Yuzhi's loud voice could be heard from the battlefield, "Damn it, you all look like weak young girls and wives. This is nothing! During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, we fought against the Japanese devils in Korea and it was a sea of ​​blood and corpses, and those who died were all our brothers in the Huai Army."

"Now, under the leadership of Lord Teng, with a force of more than 200 people, we have wiped out more than a thousand foreign devils in one battle. There will be many days like this in the future. Get up and clean up the battlefield. Lord Teng said that this battle has demonstrated the prestige and morale of our vanguard army. Everyone will get a reward. After the cleanup, I will go and collect the reward for you."

Liu Yuzhi's scolding and seducing words worked, and cheers suddenly rang out on the battlefield.

A soldier shouted, "Sir, I just stabbed a Russian with my bayonet. How much reward can I get?"

Liu Yuzhi laughed and cursed loudly, "Damn it, you have the nerve to ask for a reward after just picking up one Russian. I just killed five Russians and I haven't even opened my mouth yet."

Liu Yuzhi's laughter and scolding once again drew laughter from the soldiers, who happily began to clean up the battlefield in groups of three or five.

Liu Yuzhi was not only loyal to him, but also very good at leading troops. Although he was strict in military discipline, he could usually joke and scold with his men, and was very much loved by the soldiers. This was the kind of person he could rely on in the future.

"Wei Jinghai, Li Jinyu." Teng Yuzhao shouted.

"Here, here." The voices of Wei Jinghai and Li Jinyu were heard behind him.

When Teng Yuzhao looked back, Wei Jinghai, whose uniform was cut by a bayonet on the chest, and Li Jinyu, whose face was pale, were squatting on the ground gasping for breath. When they heard Teng Yuzhao's shout, they jumped up quickly.

Fortunately, as far as Teng Yuzhao could see, several staff officers and his two guards were intact. Not only was no one killed, there were not even any injured. This made him feel at ease. These staff officers were his treasures and could not afford to suffer any serious damage.

Although they also wanted to rush forward, Teng Yuzao and the two guards beside him were too fast and kept rushing in front. They gathered together and followed the route opened by Teng Yuzao. They were all equipped with pistols that were good for hand-to-hand combat, so it was not easy for the Russian army to threaten them.

"My lord, you are injured!"

Following the shout, the two guards and the staff officers all ran to Teng Yuzhao.

Li Jinyu stood up and suddenly shouted. Teng Yuzhao's heart also tightened. When fighting for life and death, people are always nervous and adrenaline is high. They often don't even know when they are injured. He hurriedly checked and found that the military uniform on the left rib was pierced by the bayonet.

He touched his ribs and found no pain or blood on his hands. He felt relieved and patted the two guards with a smile. He said to everyone, "Don't be nervous. With these two guarding me, the Russians can't hurt me easily."

Seeing that Teng Yuzao was safe and sound, everyone was relieved. Wei Jinghai and Li Jinyu stepped forward and stood in front of Teng Yuzao, waiting for orders. "Mingguang." Teng Yuzao called Li Jinyu's name.

"Can you use the camera in the machine gun bunker now?"

Li Jinyu stood up and said, "Sir, Miss Alice has taught me carefully several times. Now I can use it with my eyes closed."

"Okay! Get that camera here right away and take pictures of the battlefield. I'm going to use these pictures to report our victory to our vanguard army."

"Yes."

Li Jinyu agreed, called two heavy machine gunners nearby, and ran to get the Zeiss camera.

Teng Yuzao turned to Wei Jinghai and said with a smile, "Captain Liu is forcing me to reward his soldiers! However, we have achieved such a great victory, and it is indeed right to reward the soldiers. Go and convey my order to Liu Yuzhi. In this battle, the compensation for the casualties will be doubled. All soldiers who participated in the battle will receive ten taels of silver each, squad leaders will receive twenty taels, and platoon leaders will receive fifty taels."

"In addition, for every person killed in hand-to-hand combat, there will be an additional reward of five taels. When we get to Xigu, we will give them the reward money."

"Also, Liu Yuzhi will be asked to carefully count and approve the military merits, including the accurate shooting of the coalition forces. The number of coalition forces killed by bullets rather than killed by us in hand-to-hand combat will be used as the basis. One tael of silver will be distributed to each regiment for each coalition soldier's body that is shot and killed. The distribution will be approved by Liu Yuzhi."

"In this battle, our heavy machine guns played a great role. Every heavy machine gunner who participated in the battle will be rewarded with fifty taels."

"Yes."

Wei Jinghai responded loudly and turned to pass on the order.

Although this reward was somewhat passive, Teng Yuzhao was still very happy. He knew that Liu Yuzhi was thinking of helping him boost morale and prestige, and even helping him consolidate the morale of the army. He was happy and comfortable to receive this money.

Moreover, Teng Yuzhao was very clear that people at that time had very little sense of nation and country. They only knew to be loyal to the emperor but not to fight for the country and nation. Most of the Qing army and civilians were like this. Generous rewards played a far greater role than great principles.

Changing this situation will not happen overnight; it requires gradual changes that take place imperceptibly.

Teng Yuzhao thought to himself that he would have to work harder on this in the future.

Fearing that the Allied forces on the other side would become enraged and launch another artillery attack on the vanguard positions, Teng Yuzhao ordered Liu Yuzhi to quickly search the battlefield and dig out the wounded Allied soldiers from the pile of corpses. He also ordered Liu Yuzhi to gather all the surrendered British, Italian and Austrian prisoners of war to the front of the position and make them squat on the ground with their heads in their hands.

As usual, Teng Yuzhao gave simple bandages to the wounded prisoners of war. Then, he asked Liu Yuzhi to clean up the battlefield quickly, while escorting two British and Austrian prisoner-of-war officers to the Baihe River to tell them to tell the Allied Forces on the other side that the Vanguard Army could release their seriously wounded soldiers, and asked the Allied Forces to send people over for negotiations quickly, otherwise the Vanguard Army would not be responsible for the deaths of these seriously wounded soldiers.

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(End of this chapter)