The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 62: Strategies and Difficulties

With these two people expressing their opinions, Yu Lu no longer needed to ask other Boxer leaders for their opinions. All the other Boxer leaders, big and small, in the hall followed the lead of these two people.

Yu Lu nodded with satisfaction and said, "Since you are willing to help the country, I will not be stingy. To resist the invasion of foreigners, you can spread the posters and recruit militiamen. I will immediately send letters to all the prefectures and counties under Zhili to open the treasury and distribute swords, guns and weapons to the militiamen, as well as rice and grain. If there are militiamen who are willing to come to Tianjin to fight the enemy together with me, they will all be provided with rice and silver."

"Thank you for your grace!"

Zhang Decheng and Cao Futian both showed joy on their faces, bowed and sat down again.

Yu Lu's words once again excited all the Boxer leaders in the hall, big and small. They gathered together and began to whisper to each other. It was obvious that Yu Lu now recognized the legality of all Boxers in Zhili, and many people had already begun to think about how to expand their teams.

Yu Lu didn't care too much about the noise and clamor in the hall. In his eyes, these leaders were just country folk, all brave and fierce. Now they were in urgent need of manpower, so he still had to bear the brunt of the pressure.

Yu Lu looked at the government troops again. Most of the officers looked surprised at what Yu Lu had just said, especially Nie Shicheng. Fortunately, He Yongsheng and Teng Yuzhao looked normal, which made Yu Lu feel a little relieved.

Although He Yongsheng is several years younger than Nie Shicheng, he is much more stable in mentality and has long lost the courage to serve the court. He is the most invisible general in the entire Beiyang. Although Teng Yuzhao is highly valued by Yu Lu, his army was formed only recently and his foundation in the Beiyang is shallow, so he cannot do much for the time being.

Therefore, Yu Lu's gaze only swept across the faces of He Yongsheng and Teng Yuzhao, and then looked directly at Nie Shicheng.

On the official army side, Nie Shicheng was naturally the leader. His Wuwei Vanguard Army was not only recognized by everyone as the court's top elite, but was also relied upon as a pillar of support by the court.

Although he was very surprised by Yu Lu's move to allow the Boxer Rebellion to be legalized and even to open the treasury to distribute swords and guns to them, he also knew that this was only a temporary measure by Yu Lu. Once the external threat was quelled, Yu Lu would take up the knife in his hand again.

Since Yu Lu asked, Nie Shicheng did not hesitate, he stood up, bowed and said, "The Wuwei Front Army will obey the order of the Zhongtang."

He Yongsheng then stood up and said, "The training troops shall obey the order of the Zhongtang."

After the two leaders stood up, Teng Yuzao also stood up and said in a loud voice, "I will obey the order of the Prime Minister. The vanguard army is willing to lead the way!"

"it is good!"

Seeing the three of them express their opinions, Yu Lu felt relieved. He stroked his beard excitedly and said, "With the help of the generals, we can wipe out the foreigners in the concession, recover our territories, and avenge our national humiliation. It will be just around the corner." Yu Lu continued, "Since we want to go to war with the foreigners, we must have a strategy. Gong Ting, you have been in the battlefield for a long time, so you can come up with a combat strategy."

Yu Lu nodded, and Nie Shicheng did not hesitate. He clasped his fists to everyone in the hall, and then spoke with full energy.

"Mr. Zhongtang, generals, and leaders, the Wuwei Vanguard has learned that the coalition forces in the Zizhulin Concession initially had 560 sailors from various countries. Recently, the foreigners have recruited a unit of volunteers in the concession, totaling about 1 people. There were also 1700 Russian reinforcements yesterday."

At this point, Nie Shicheng couldn't help but glance at Teng Yuzao. "Today, more than a thousand people have been annihilated by the vanguard army in one battle, and there are less than 400 people left. These foreign soldiers are now stationed in the area of ​​the Prohibition Hall at the forefront of the concession, facing us across the river. According to reports, at noon today, the Russian army has urgently withdrawn nearly 2,000 people from the Laolongtou Railway Station back to the concession. The total number of foreign troops in the concession is about 3,400, and there are still more than 3,000 Russian soldiers at the Laolongtou Railway Station."

"In addition, to prevent our army from attacking the concession, the coalition forces also converted an armored train and two armed steamships to guard the railway and the Baihe River."

"Now that the war has begun, in order to prevent the Allied Forces from continuing to attack the concession, all roads must be blocked, especially the East Bureau, which must be strictly guarded. Therefore, from today onwards, no foreign soldiers will be allowed to pass through. The same applies to all other main roads leading to the concession."

Nie Shicheng took a breath and said, "I think the most important places to go at the moment are Tianjin City, Dongjuzi, and Laolongtou Railway Station. These three places are strategic locations that foreigners must fight for, and we must protect them. In order to protect the above-mentioned places, we must not lose them."

"My strategy is that since the twenty battalions of the Wuwei Front Army stationed in Lutai and other places have not arrived yet, the current ten battalions of the Wuwei Front Army with more than 5000 people are slightly insufficient. We have to take a defensive position and station them in Guangrentang, Nanjuzi and Haiguang Temple in the south of the city and Dongjuzi in the east of the city. I will ask you to arrange for the militia to assist in the defense. We must hurry to recapture the Laolongtou Railway Station. Since the Russian army has successively withdrawn more than people to the concession, there are not many troops left. The remaining nearly three battalions of the Wuwei Left Army, with a sufficient number of militia, will counterattack and recapture the railway station in one fell swoop."

"Majiakou in the southeast of the city was guarded by the training army; the gap between Tianjin City and the concession was defended by more than 1700 people from two battalions of the Huai Army General Luo's remaining troops; nearly Boxers were assigned by Zhongtang to garrison Majiakou between Tianjin and the concession, and Chenjiagou in the northeast of Tianjin City to Laolongtou Station. The defense of Tianjin City was defended by the Yi Army that remained in the city."

Nie Shicheng looked at Teng Yuzao again, bowed slightly and said, "The Military Academy is no longer a place that we must defend. The vanguard army has fought hard and killed many enemies, and we must have suffered many casualties. I ask Brother Teng to lead the vanguard army to move to Xigu and train the troops in preparation for war."

It should be said that there was nothing wrong with Nie Shicheng's arrangement. Although the coalition forces temporarily had a total of only more than 6,000 people in the concession and Laolongtou Railway Station, the combat effectiveness of these more than 6,000 coalition forces was by no means comparable to that of the Wuwei Vanguard Army with a bunch of rabble. They could only organize attacks in key areas, and take a defensive stance in other places for the time being.

Although Teng Yuzhao believed that Nie Shicheng's battle plan was still too conservative, he quickly figured out why Nie Shicheng did so, which might be his own difficulties.

Although there are quite a few troops stationed in Tianjin now, they include not only the Wuwei Vanguard Army, the Wuwei Left Army, the Lian Army, and Lu Benyuan's Yi Army, but also more than 20,000 Boxers, who are relatively loosely organized. As the president of the Wuwei Vanguard Army, he is unable to command and arrange these people.

Not to mention that the Boxers would not obey Nie Shicheng's arrangements and deployments, nor would Lu Benyuan's Yi Army, even the three battalions left by Luo Rongguang in Tianjin would not obey his orders, and he could not even command the Wuwei Left Army!

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(End of this chapter)