The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 471 Beyond the Great Victory
"Crazy! The Russians are completely driven crazy by our artillery!"

In a tent set up on a flat area at the foot of the mountain, Liu Shijiu was eating breakfast while speaking with a hint of lingering fear.

Although Teng Yuzhao had decided not to follow closely behind the Russian troops fleeing to Shexian County, their time was still very tight.

There is no time now for a detailed statistics of the results of the battle, but the relevant battle situation still needs to be grasped.

For example, how many Russian troops were destroyed in this battle?

This number is very important, not to commend the battle achievements or military exploits, but to make it clear how many Russian troops are left, including how many casualties the vanguard army has suffered in the past few days.

Only by accurately grasping these can we adopt appropriate tactics and methods to deal with the Russian-Japanese coalition forces in the next battle.

Therefore, Teng Yuzao could only use the breakfast time to find Liu Shijiu, Wu Peifu, Li Jinyu and others to the headquarters and listen to the situation while eating.

Liu Shijiu has just reported that according to the preliminary data collected from cleaning up the battlefield, in this battle, about 58,000 to 60,000 Russian troops were wiped out, and only a few thousand escaped the ambush circle.

The reason why after cleaning up the battlefield, not only was a range of numbers given, but the words left and right were added was because there were many Russian soldiers' broken limbs and arms on the battlefield, and it was impossible to count these Russian soldiers' bodies that were shattered and scattered.

It is impossible to give an accurate figure of how many Russian troops were destroyed, so we have to be vague about it.

However, Liu Shijiu solemnly guaranteed that the number he gave was only less than the number of Russians who were accurately eliminated, and not more. He was still being conservative when saying this number.

Teng Yuzhao believed the data given by Liu Shijiu without a doubt. He had just been to the battlefield and saw that, not to mention the dense bomb craters of all sizes, there were several layers of Russian corpses near the foot of the mountain on the north side.

The fact that more than 60,000 Russian troops were wiped out in this battle alone, without a single prisoner, shows how brutal the battle was.

The tragedy was not because of the strength of the Russian counterattack, nor the heavy casualties caused to Liu Shijiu's Fourth and Fifth Regiments, but because the Russian army was driven crazy by the sudden, intensive and terrifying artillery fire.

Just like an army that has been on edge all the time, suddenly caught in the middle of the night by gunfire or screams, causing chaos and the bombing of its camp, the frantic Russian army was completely unable to organize any threatening resistance and only wanted to desperately escape from the encirclement, even rushing out in the dense hail of bullets.

In addition, Teng Yuzao also believed that this was probably related to the fact that they were rarely captured by the Russian and Japanese forces during the battle.

However, he no longer wanted to correct this matter.

"However, the weapons and ammunition we seized are very old. We haven't calculated the exact number yet. There are 98 Russian heavy machine guns that are still intact and usable."

Liu Shijiu glanced at Liu Changfa and said with some regret, "There were quite a few heavy machine guns destroyed in the explosion, probably dozens of them."

Liu Changfa smiled wryly and said, "Brother Liu, this is also to reduce the casualties of our troops. When you charge, as long as you find a heavy machine gun set up there, you will fire at least six mortar shells. The purpose is to kill the heavy machine gunner as quickly as possible. It is inevitable that the heavy machine gun will be damaged."

Teng Yuzao said hurriedly, "In this battle, your casualties were so small, which has a lot to do with Qingyun's proper command. The main credit for this battle goes to the artillery town and the artillery of your two towns."

With Teng Yuzhao's affirmation, Liu Shijiu naturally didn't say anything else. He took a sip of the hot porridge and continued speaking.

"Although the number of Russian rifles seized has not been counted, I estimate that there are at least 40,000."

"I won't talk about the cannons, they were all taken away by Qingyun's men." When the cannons were mentioned, Liu Changfa smiled and said, "Marshal, there are thirteen intact cannons, all of which are old 105mm caliber German cannons."

As for the seized goods, it was enough to know the rough data. Teng Yuzao was not as concerned about these things as he was. Instead, he looked at Liu Shijiu and asked.

"What are your casualties?"

Teng Yuzhao was even more eager to know the casualties of his troops.

Liu Shijiu took a bite of the steamed bun in his hand and said, "Marshal, how many casualties can such a battle cause us? The total casualties of our Fourth Town and Ziyu's two associations are less than a thousand."

"Except for the last moment when we pushed the Russians to the foot of the mountain, we then opened fire on them face to face. At other times, tens of thousands of us dared to stare at them and watch them explode."

In this battle, although nearly 800 large and small artillery pieces played a decisive role, more than 60,000 Russian troops were wiped out and more than 1,000 casualties were suffered, which is not a lot, but not a few either. Although this result was somewhat beyond Teng Yuzhao's expectations, it was not outrageous.

Teng Yuzao looked at Li Jinyu, and Li Jinyu's face suddenly became a little gloomy.

Li Jinyu said bitterly, "Marshal, our Eighth Town has suffered heavy casualties. We had more than 8,000 people in our town, but now there are only over 4,000 left. More than half of them have been killed or wounded."

Li Jinyu's Eighth Regiment not only harassed the Russian army day and night for several days, but also fought several larger battles almost every day. The previous blocking battle was especially fierce. They were blocking the Russian reinforcements under the intensive artillery fire of the Russian army, so it was natural that they suffered heavy casualties.

Such a high ratio of casualties made not only Teng Yuzao, but also several others sigh with sadness.

Teng Yuzao said to Li Jinyu, "You, the Eighth Town, fought very well. Not only were the harassment attacks these days very successful, but today's blocking battle was even better! I was right about you."

"Well, Kangnian sent a message last night that Qionglin sent 40,000 new soldiers and they are now in Shexian. Ziyu's Third Brigade is handed over to you. I will give you three days to use the Third Brigade and your remaining troops as the backbone to recruit 30,000 new soldiers and form the Eighth Brigade according to the organizational structure of the five main towns."

Li Jinyu was so happy about Teng Yuzao's words that he didn't even bother to eat breakfast. He jumped up and saluted Teng Yuzao.

Teng Yuzao quickly motioned for Li Jinyu to sit down and continue eating, then said, "But don't be too happy too soon. Heavy Machine Gun won't give you too much."

Teng Yuzao said to Wu Peifu, "I'll give you 9,000 of the 40,000 new recruits. You must also reorganize the Third Brigade as soon as possible. I'll give you 27 captured heavy machine guns."

Then, Teng Yuzao said to Liu Shijiu, "I can only give you 1,000 new soldiers to make up for the casualties. In addition, you must take 40 heavy machine guns from the captured weapons and bring enough ammunition. The remaining heavy machine guns will be allocated to the Eighth Regiment."

When Liu Shijiu heard that he was allocated forty heavy machine guns, his eyes widened.

"Marshal, you want us to lead the charge when we destroy the main forces of the Russians and the Japanese."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "To destroy the main forces of the Russians and the Japanese, you, the Fourth Regiment, are indispensable. However, these 40 heavy machine guns are not allocated to you. They are only temporarily given to you. A sufficient number of heavy machine guns in the Qingzhang River Valley is another magic weapon for our victory."

Teng Yuzao did not elaborate on how to use the heavy machine gun. He glanced at his watch and said.

"Hurry up and eat, then we'll get ready to go and chase the Russians!"

(End of this chapter)