The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 523: The Foreigners Can't Escape

"Commander."

Wei Jinghai came behind Teng Yuzhao and said excitedly.

"According to the report from the artillery observation post, there are many foreign devils in Caoliugezhuang, and foreign devils wearing military uniforms of various countries are constantly coming in and out. Director Liu and I believe that this is likely the headquarters of these foreign devils. We decided to concentrate three mountain artillery battalions to carry out covering artillery bombardment on Caoliugezhuang."

If the coalition's joint command structure can be destroyed in one fell swoop at the beginning of the war, it will have a very important impact on the war. Without a unified command, the coalition forces can only fight on their own, which is very beneficial for eliminating these foreign devils as soon as possible.

"very good!"

Teng Yuzhao took another look at the battlefield outside Dashawu Village which was in a stalemate. With the support of the mortar unit of the Fifth Town on the south bank of the Xinhe River, not only had the coalition's heavy machine gun positions been completely suppressed, but the coalition forces attacking Dashawu Village were also suppressed by mortar fire and heavy machine guns, and the coalition attacking forces could not even raise their heads.

As long as the artillery town can carry out large-scale artillery bombardment in time to suppress and destroy the coalition forces' several artillery groups, there will be no problem with Dashawu Village.

Although the Japanese troops of more than a regiment that launched an attack on the Xinhe wooden bridge had not been bombarded for the time being, once they approached the Xinhe River, they would inevitably be subjected to intensive fire from the heavy machine guns of the Fifth Regiment that were waiting on full alert on the south bank. Once the general offensive began, these Japanese troops would be the first to be eliminated.

After Teng Yuzhao finished speaking, he turned the camera towards Caoliugezhuang, and Wei Jinghai also hurriedly leaned over another artillery camera to observe the situation in Caoliugezhuang. He wanted to confirm whether Caoliugezhuang was the headquarters of the coalition forces.

In Teng Yuzao's camera view, inside and outside the Cao and Liu villages, there were indeed many coalition forces as Wei Jinghai had said, and there were coalition forces from various countries. Not only were there coalition forces constantly coming in and out, Teng Yuzao even saw coalition officers on horseback running out of the village.

Judging from these circumstances, it is certain that the coalition forces' joint command center is located in Caoliu Gezhuang.

Soon, after a series of dense whistling sounds of artillery shells, there were bursts of dense explosions like firecrackers.

Amid the violent explosion, Caoliugezhuang was almost instantly covered by the rising smoke and dust. The smoke and dust was still rolling and surging, not only covering Caoliugezhuang tightly, but also covering the surrounding area within a hundred meters.

Each artillery battalion in the artillery town has 18 artillery pieces. Although this configuration is far from comparable to the artillery configuration of Western countries, it is enough to be compared with the artillery of the Japanese army.

Three battalions and fifty-four artillery pieces concentrated their artillery fire on a small village like Caoliugezhuang. Even if the artillery shells were 75mm in caliber, with ten rapid fire, that would be five hundred and forty shells. With so many shells, not to mention destroying such a small village, even a slightly smaller town would be razed to the ground.

Teng Yuzao then turned the camera to the encirclement area of ​​only a dozen square kilometers, where the explosion scene was even more shocking.

Not only were there nearly 200 mountain cannons launching fierce bombardments on the coalition artillery positions, there were also 87mm mortars temporarily under the command of Liu Changfa, as well as the First Town blocking the north mouth, the Fourth Town on the west bank of the canal, the Second Town on the east bank of the Chaobai River, and the Fifth Town on the south bank of the Xinhe River, with a total of 700 to 800 mortars of various sizes firing, and a total of nearly 1,000 artillery pieces of various types.

Such large-scale cluster bombardment did not occur until the Anti-Japanese War decades later.

The artillery fire from the first town in the north was relatively scattered, and the location of the artillery fire was limited to the simple positions of the coalition forces that blocked their attack. The more concentrated artillery fire was on Lucheng Town, the support point of the defense line of the coalition forces' rear guard.

Lucheng Town was already engulfed in smoke and fire at this time, and it was obvious that Liu Yuzhi had used an incendiary bomb.

Since Teng Yuzhao had already given orders, when the people of these villages were relocated overnight, he had already given each household an IOU for silver ranging from fifty to two hundred taels. After the war, they could take these IOUs to the vanguard army to collect the cash.

He even told the people explicitly that regardless of whether their houses were damaged after the war, they would still receive the silver based on the IOUs.

Because of this policy, Liu Yuzhi, who had always been reluctant to destroy people's houses, had no worries at all. Once these incendiary bombs hit the town, they would immediately ignite a fire in the town. Then, after a few more rounds of artillery shells, the town would be completely burned. The coalition's attempt to use the town for resistance would immediately collapse.

"Marshal, the fourth town has started crossing the river." Following Wei Jinghai's reminder, Teng Yuzhao hurriedly turned the camera towards the direction of the canal.

Sure enough, the Fourth Town had already begun crossing the river. Large groups of soldiers carrying small boats, door panels and wooden boards were running out of their respective shelters, coming to the canal, jumping into the canal without hesitation, and then connecting the small boats one by one with ropes.

Groups of soldiers also carried wooden boats to the shore and into the water, and then several people worked together to carry wicker baskets full of bricks and stones and put them into the cabins.

Then, more soldiers jumped into the canal, pushed the wooden boats filled with stones to a certain position in the river, opened the water inlets prepared in advance on the bottom of the boats, sank the small boats to the bottom of the river, and then used ropes pulled from the sunken boats to tie them to the floating bridges that were arranged with wooden boat door panels.

These sunken ships serve as bridge piles to prevent the floating bridge from shaking violently.

The Fourth Town moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a dozen very simple floating bridges were almost completed.

"Marshal, the Fifth Town has crossed the New River."

Liu Changfa, who had already arrived at the observation post, said excitedly.

Liu Changfa's words made Teng Yuzao look towards the direction of Xinhe River. Sure enough, the main force of Wu Peifu's Fifth Regiment had successfully crossed Xinhe River through the pontoon bridge they had built long ago and the only wooden bridge.

Although more troops were arriving on the north bank of the Xinhe River, the vanguard troops of the Fifth Regiment, under the cover of dense mortar fire, launched a counterattack against the more than 4,000 Japanese troops who had been blown up in front of them.
"Report, Commander Liu of the Second Regiment sent a flag signal that the five battalions of the Second Regiment's vanguard troops have successfully crossed the Chaobai River and controlled the bridgehead positions of the five newly built floating bridges. Now the main force is continuously moving up to the west bank of the Chaobai River."

"Report, observation post report, the foreign devils' rear guard troops on the front line of Lucheng Town have begun to retreat, and the first town has launched an all-out attack under the cover of artillery fire."

"Report, the Fourth Town's broadsword team has taken the lead in rushing to the east bank of the canal."

A series of reports from several staff officers with happy faces made Wei Jinghai burst into laughter.

"Marshal, once the second, fourth, and fifth regiments cross the river, our battle plan will be almost completely realized. These more than 100,000 foreign devils will have no way to escape."

It was indeed as Wei Jinghai said, the coalition forces had no terrain to rely on and were besieged on all sides by more than 200,000 attacking troops covered by fierce artillery fire. It was only a matter of time before they were destroyed.

Teng Yuzao couldn't hide his ecstasy and said to Liu Changfa.

"Immediately order all artillery groups to fire at the places where the foreign devils are concentrated. Be sure to provide sufficient artillery cover for the troops besieging the foreign devils."

Teng Yuzhao took a deep breath, trying to calm his excitement. After thinking for a while, he asked Wei Jinghai again.

"What's the situation in Langfang now?"

At this moment, in this small shelter where the telephones were ringing, a staff officer's nervous voice was heard.

"Chief of Staff, this is an emergency call from Li Zhentong of the Eighth Regiment."

(End of this chapter)