The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 68 The Truth
Hu Dianjia asked Teng Yuzao doubtfully, "Are you sure Seymour will pass through Xigu when he returns to the army? Can't he just take a detour and return to the concession?"

"They boarded the train from Laolongtou Railway Station on their way there. If they attacked from behind on their way back, they would definitely inflict heavy casualties on the Third Battalion of the Left Army and the several thousand militiamen under Cao Futian who were besieging Laolongtou Railway Station."

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "No!"

"Although the Russian army has occupied the Laolongtou Railway Station, the purpose is very clear. It seems that they want to occupy this strategic location and help Seymour return to the concession. But I believe that Seymour will not retreat from the Laolongtou Railway Station to the concession."

Seeing that Hu Dianjia didn't quite believe him, Teng Yuzao continued, "Although Seymour forced his way to the capital from Laolongtou Railway Station, they didn't take the opportunity to occupy the railway station at the time. This shows that they didn't want to go to war with the Beiyang government, but only went to the capital to protect their embassy staff."

"Although the British have always been arrogant and looked down on our Qing army, they are not so bold as to invade the capital with a coalition force of only more than 2,000 people. So I judge that they will not carry large-caliber cannons, and even have limited ammunition. After fighting with your Wuwei Front Army and the Boxers in Langfang for several days, I estimate that their ammunition has been almost used up. How can they still have the ability to attack us who are besieging Laolongtou from the rear?"

"Not only is he unable to attack our troops from both sides, he is now even very worried that he will be blocked by our people and attacked from both sides."

Speaking of the Wuwei Front Army's troops blocking Seymour's coalition forces in Langfang, Teng Yuzao couldn't help asking, "Xuanqing, don't get me wrong, I have no other intentions, I just want to know how you are fighting the coalition forces in Langfang. I heard that it has been fighting for several days, and your front army has suffered heavy casualties, including the Boxers, and the casualties are one or two thousand, while the more than 2,000 coalition forces have only lost a few hundred people."

When this topic was brought up, Hu Dianjia's face became hot, and he sighed awkwardly and said, "Xingfu, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. Although Seymour is a British Navy vice admiral, his tactics and methods of commanding land battles are very average."

Hu Dianjia couldn't help but feel depressed, and sighed again and continued, "In the battle of Langfang, there were three battalions of the left army of the Wuwei Front Army and two battalions of Dong Fuxiang's Wuwei Rear Army, and nearly 20,000 militiamen helped in the battle. The number of troops was far greater than that of the coalition forces."

"However, I don't know how they commanded the troops. I don't know how much the Wuwei Rear Army lost, but the Wuwei Front Army and the Boxers suffered more than 62 casualties before they repelled Seymour. As far as I know, the coalition army led by Seymour did not suffer any serious damage in this battle. They should have only lost 300 people and more than people were injured."

Teng Yuzhao kept shaking his head and smiling bitterly at the result of the Wuwei Vanguard and Wuwei Rear Army, where thousands of soldiers, with the cooperation of the Boxers, only inflicted minor casualties on the Allied Forces, forcing a group of Allied Forces to give up the intention of entering the capital and retreat. It seemed that his goal of cooperating with the Wuwei Vanguard was difficult to achieve, and everything still depended on himself.

"Choose Qing."

Teng Yuzao said to Hu Dianjia, "Although Seymour's losses were not great, his ammunition consumption should be great, and they may even be out of food. So I judge that Seymour will definitely not retreat to the concession via Laolongtou. He will definitely choose the shortest route and return to the concession via Xigu."

"This route is not only the shortest, but he can also get support from the coalition forces in the concession. So, once Seymour arrives in Xigu, the few battalions you left in the city must join forces with other front-line troops that will follow to block their retreat. As long as we can hold him off for a few days, Seymour will be finished. He will run out of food and ammunition and collapse without a fight." "Okay!"

Hu Dianjia also perked up, "Xingfu, if we can kill Seymour, we can finally get rid of our grievances. I will go back to the city and report your deployment plan to General Nie and Yu Zhongtang."

"only……"

Hu Dianjia looked at Teng Yuzao with some concern. "Although you have a lot of people here, I don't think there are more than a thousand who can really fight. By then, not only will there be the two thousand people who retreated from Seymour, but I'm afraid that the concession will also send troops to attack you from behind. Can you resist?"

Although he had won two victories at Beiyang Wubei Academy, that was because the opponent underestimated him and his tactics were appropriate. Teng Yuzao was unsure whether it would be so easy this time. However, in order to reassure Hu Dianjia, Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I can hold on here for two or three days. Besides, we can pick out at least two or three thousand men from General Luo's more than five thousand green camps to immediately fill the vanguard army. The troops I can use are not as weak as you say."

Hu Dianjia shook his head and said, "Otherwise, didn't you see that the number of people in the third green battalion assigned to you this time is quite large?"

Teng Yuzhao discovered this problem. According to convention, the Third Battalion of the Green Camp should have only more than 2,000 people, but this time He Yongsheng sent more than 5,000 Green Camp soldiers. Teng Yuzhao thought that Yu Lu wanted to help him form an army as soon as possible, so he gave him all the Green Camp soldiers he could collect.

Hearing the hidden meaning in Hu Dianjia's words, Teng Yuzao hurriedly asked, "Xuanqing, if you have something to say, just say it directly, don't hide it."

Hu Dianjia lowered his voice and said, "General Luo is not dead. He is now at his home in the city. His home is not far from my camp."

Hu Dianjia's words surprised Teng Yuzhao. The historical records he had seen in his previous life all said that Luo Rongguang fought and died for his country at Dagukou. It seemed that only one historical record written by someone from the Eight-Nation Alliance mentioned that Luo Rongguang forced his wives and concubines to death and then committed suicide after returning to Tianjin!
At that time he thought that the general of the Eight-Nation Alliance was talking nonsense, but he never thought that it was actually true!
Hu Dianjia went on to explain, "Only Yu Zhongtang and General Nie should know about this. General Luo alone resisted the invasion of 20 coalition warships at Dagukou, including four battleships with a caliber of over tons. You have studied in Germany, so you should know that the largest cannon on the battleship has a caliber of more than millimeters. How can the cannons on the Dagukou fort compare to them?"

"Although the Russian ship Tiger and Wolf was sunk and three others were damaged, the ammunition depot of the north bank artillery fort was hit and exploded, and even the deputy commander was killed in the battle. Although they asked for help from the Beiyang Fleet Admiral Ye Zugui and Yu Zhongtang, who were close at hand, the Beiyang Fleet did not dare to send out, and Yu Zhongtang was unable to rescue in time, resulting in the loss of the artillery fort, and all the troops fled back to Tianjin."

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(End of this chapter)