The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 520 Wu Peifu, who impressed Teng Yuzao
Teng Yuzhao could distinguish that the faint "boom boom boom" sounds were the explosions of 60mm mortar shells equipped to the battalion-level troops.

Teng Yuzhao was in front of the eight-fold artillery telescope, and he had a panoramic view of the scenery of Caoliugezhuang more than 2,000 meters away.

In the field of view of the artillery telescope, about a sentry of soldiers from the Fifth Town were quickly withdrawing from the village, and five or six hundred meters in front of the village, artillery shells were constantly exploding among the retreating group of more than two hundred foreign cavalrymen on foot.

The shells were fired from Wucun, Henan, to cover the retreat of the battalion that had advanced forward.

From the dozens of bodies of the Allied Forces killed in front of Cao and Liu's villages, it can be seen that they had just repelled an attack by the Allied Forces' vanguard cavalry.

Those who are withdrawing from Zhuangzi should be the last cover troops.

Because, at the entrance of a small village called Dashawu Village, about two miles behind Caoliugezhuang, hundreds of vanguard soldiers were rapidly retreating into the trenches built in advance inside and outside the village and the fortifications built using houses in the village.

The officers and soldiers of the Fifth Town, who had just withdrawn from Caoliugezhuang, were also running quickly towards Dashawu Village under the cover of artillery fire.

Henan Wu Village, located behind Dashawu Village, is less than one thousand meters away from Dashawu Village. Although the two villages are very close, they are separated by a small river about 20 to 30 meters wide connecting the canal and Chaobai River. This five to six hundred meter long river has only a small wooden bridge connecting the two banks.

However, at this time, more than ten floating bridges had been built on this small river called Xinhe, and these floating bridges were evenly distributed on both sides of the small wooden bridge.

Wu Village in Henan Province is located not far from the small wooden bridge that spans the two banks.

In the field of view of Teng Yuzhao's camera, with Wucun, Henan as the center, the Fifth Town built a half-covered trench bunker along the river bank. This was the Fifth Town's blocking position and also the starting position for their attack.

Soon, the battalion that had advanced had completely retreated into Dashawu Village.

Although Dashawu Village is on the north bank of the river, except for a few semi-circular trench fortifications built outside the village, it has almost no other five insurances to rely on.

Even if this place could get artillery support from more than 200 mortars of various sizes from the Fifth Town on the other side of the river behind it, this small village would still be unable to hold on.

A sudden artillery attack from the coalition forces was enough to reduce it to ruins in a very short time.

Even if the defenders hid in the trenches, as long as the coalition artillery fire was dense enough and the bombardment lasted long enough, the vanguard officers and soldiers hiding in those unreinforced trenches would still suffer heavy losses and eventually lose this bridgehead on the north bank.

But in the end, Wu Peifu resolutely built simple fortifications in Dashawu Village as a forward position for the retreating battalion.

After seeing Wu Peifu's arrangement, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but applaud.

Because, although this small village with a convoluted name is easy to attack but difficult to defend, as long as this position is still there, the coalition forces will not be able to get close to the new river in front of Wu Village, Henan, and thus will not be able to discover the floating bridges that have been built on the river surface in advance.

The most crucial thing is that Dashawu Village on the north bank does not need to hold out for long. Once the main force of the coalition forces enters the ambush circle, the whole operation will begin quickly and the defense mission of Dashawu Village will be over.

With the Dashawu Village blocking the way, the main force of the Fifth Regiment on the south bank of the Xinhe River could quickly cross the Xinhe River via the pontoon bridge to the north bank at the beginning of the general offensive, and launch a fierce assault on the front of the coalition forces in a short period of time. If the timing is good, it can even disrupt the coalition forces that are almost impossible to deploy positions. Of course, the losses of the battalion left in Dashawu Village must be considerable.

Teng Yuzao even secretly admired Wu Peifu's decisiveness in exchanging the smallest sacrifice for the greatest gain.

As a general, one needs to have this kind of courageous, ruthless and iron-blooded heart, which is what the saying goes, "A kind army cannot be commanded."

Teng Yuzhao knew very well that he himself did not have such a ruthless and decisive character.

The vanguard cavalry units of the two regiments of the Allied Forces had suffered repeated blows and had become cautious. Although the battalion of the Fifth Town had already withdrawn from Caoliugezhuang, they still entered the village tremblingly half an hour later. After confirming that there were no vanguard troops here, they began to search towards the Dashawu Village ahead.

Due to continuous attacks by the vanguard troops relying on villages, the vanguard troops of the coalition forces composed of Cossacks and the 6th Cavalry Regiment of the US Army had all dismounted and were fighting on foot.

Especially since they had just been subjected to intensive artillery fire, although the caliber was not large, it still caused them great casualties, which forced them to become more cautious.

However, they were tasked with clearing the way for an army of more than one hundred thousand, and they did not dare to wait for the large force behind to catch up and provide them with artillery support, or even to be replaced by infantry.

Because they knew very well that time was very important to them now. Once the vanguard troops near Langfang learned that they had left the capital again and rushed to the front in time to block their way, the fate of these tens of thousands of people would be extremely worrying.

Unless they can get timely support from Tianjin's reinforcements, or even the coalition forces in Langfang can break through the siege and leave the vanguard army too busy to take care of them, otherwise, it will be almost impossible for them to break through the enemy's blockade on their own.

In view of this, more than a thousand Allied cavalrymen had no choice but to bite the bullet and set up several heavy machine guns more than 400 meters outside Dashawu Village to provide fire support for the attacking forces.

Not only the US Army's Sixth Cavalry Regiment, but also the Tsarist Russia's Cossack cavalry were equipped with heavy machine guns to deal with enemy infantry when necessary.

"Da da da da", several heavy machine guns of the Allied cavalry soon opened fire. The dense rain of heavy machine gun bullets first caused the soil and gravel near the trenches outside the village to fly. After seeing that there was no movement in the trenches, the heavy machine guns began to fire their hot rain of bullets at the houses and buildings in the village.

The dense rain of bullets soon set several thatched houses in the village on fire.

After trying every possible means, seeing that there was still no movement in the village, more than a thousand Allied cavalrymen boldly approached Dashawu Village.

"Da da da", just when the coalition forces had just relaxed their vigilance, more than a dozen heavy machine guns emerged from the earthen wall at the edge of the village. The dense rain of bullets immediately knocked down the attacking coalition cavalry. The coalition cavalry who were not killed or wounded all lay down on the ground to avoid the dense rain of bullets.

At the same time, more than a dozen mortar shells flew towards the coalition's heavy machine gun positions with terrifying screams. After the smoke and dust cleared, only a tilted heavy machine gun was still intact, while the rest of the heavy machine guns had been turned into scattered parts in the violent explosion.

"Commander."

Wei Jinghai, with an excited look on his face, trotted behind Teng Yuzhao.

(End of this chapter)