The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 78 Justice within the range of cannons

Teng Yuzao looked at Li Xiance and continued, "Kangnian, although it is reasonable that the pressure on your side is less than that on Yuxuan's side, but the Green Camp soldiers who have just been added to your Second Regiment."

Teng Yuzhao only said half of his words. He was about to say something bad about the Green Camp soldiers, but when he thought that these people were all his soldiers now, it would be unacceptable to belittle them again, so he had to stop talking in time.

Although Teng Yuzao did not say the second half of the sentence, everyone understood what he meant.

Teng Yuzao paused for a moment before smiling and saying, "So, when Liu Shijiu leads his troops here, I will have him come to your place to cooperate with you in the battle. His men may not be very good at using rifles, but they will definitely be good at hand-to-hand combat."

Knowing that Teng Yuzhao was worried, Li Xianze straightened up and spoke in a firm tone.

"Please rest assured, sir. If I have the cooperation of my ally Liu Shijiu, I will be even less afraid of the 1,000 coalition forces. Then I can throw them into the fight. After a few rounds of volleys and machine gun fire, I will rush up and engage in hand-to-hand combat with them. I don't believe that our number is several times the number of troops that can come out from the concession to support us. Even if we have to fight, I will kill all the foreign devils in front of my position."

Teng Yuzhao nodded. He agreed with Li Xiance's approach.

As long as they could engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Allied Forces, with almost everyone in the Boxers knowing some martial arts, it would be entirely possible to destroy the Allied Forces that broke out of the concession to support them in one battle.

"Liu Shijiu's Qianzi Group has more than a thousand people with quick guns, plus those who use swords and spears, he has a total of more than two thousand people. If you organize it properly, these people will be enough."

"So, you have to keep one of your three battalions as a reserve for the entire army."

"Yes."

Li Xiance agreed, and at Teng Yuzhao's signal, he sat back in his seat contentedly.

Li Xiangze missed the two battles at the Beiyang Military Academy, which made him feel depressed. Now he finally had the chance. Li Xiangze secretly made up his mind that he must not only fight well, but also fight brilliantly, and strive to win a great victory that is not inferior to that of Liu Yuzhi's regiment.

According to the plan, Liu Changfa's artillery regiment will be used this time, and they will use artillery support to Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze.

Teng Yuzao turned to Liu Changfa again and said, "Qingyun, although your artillery regiment has been supplemented with some artillery personnel from the Green Camp, the number of people seems okay, but I am still a little worried. Tell me what you think."

When the artillery regiment was mentioned, Liu Changfa couldn't help but chuckled and stood up to report, "Sir, after this replenishment, the artillery regiment barely has two understaffed battalions and an artillery training battalion. The first and second battalions each have eighteen Krupp 75mm field guns."

"One of the battalions has relatively complete personnel, and there will be no problem with artillery skills. However, we still need to familiarize ourselves with the artillery tactics that you mentioned, especially the gradual advancement of the barrage, which we have not yet coordinated with the synchronized soldiers. We still need to be proficient in it. There are no other problems at all."

"Although the Second Battalion is fully equipped with artillery and personnel, they still need time to become proficient."

"This time, according to the battle plan just announced by Director Wei, I plan to arrange for the first battalion to cooperate with the first regiment to suppress the artillery and infantry of Seymour's coalition forces. According to what the adults said, Seymour should be responsible for protecting their consulate when they go to the capital, so they can't bring field artillery. At most, they can bring a few mountain artillery. Therefore, there will be no problem for the first battalion's 18 artillery pieces to suppress the enemy's artillery fire."

"The Second Battalion is responsible for supporting Kangnian's Second Regiment. Although their technology is not yet proficient, it may be difficult for them to complete the task if they want to suppress the possible artillery fire of the reinforcements. However, as long as the real strong shooting elements are measured in advance, it will be no problem to bombard their attacking forces." After reporting this, Liu Changfa smiled and said, "Sir, even if we equip a fully staffed artillery regiment, and then assign two artillery battalions to two regiments, there will still be some cannons left..."

"Ha ha……"

Before Liu Changfa could finish speaking, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Li Xianze couldn't help laughing and said jokingly, "Captain Liu, you think your position is too low. Are you planning to form an artillery brigade?"

Li Xianze's words made everyone laugh.

Liu Changfa curled his lips and said, "One of your regiments is more than enough to match the tenth battalion of the Wuwei Army. What's wrong with me organizing an artillery brigade?"

Teng Yuzao stopped laughing and said to Liu Changfa, "An artillery brigade, your appetite is still small."

Hearing Teng Yuzao's words, Liu Changfa couldn't help but say a little embarrassedly, "Sir, I was just bickering with Kangnian..."

Teng Yuzao waved his hand to stop Liu Changfa from explaining, and then said, "Napoleon once said that the goddess of victory always stands on the side with more cannons. Bismarck also said that the truth is within the range of the cannon. This shows the importance of fierce artillery fire. If the vanguard army wants to become a strong army that can truly confront the Western powers head-on, it must have a powerful artillery."

"So, I say that your appetite is still a little small. We must not only have an artillery brigade, but also an artillery division and an artillery army in the future. You should train your artillery well and cultivate more artillery talents. One day, you will become the commander of an artillery brigade, a division, or even an artillery army. We must have a large artillery force to let the Western powers understand that justice is within the range of artillery."

Not to mention the army commander, even a division commander, according to the German army's organization, would have to command more than 20,000 people. In terms of numbers alone, a division is comparable to any part of the Wuwei Army. Nie Shicheng's front army now has only 15,000 regular soldiers, and Yuan Shikai's right army has less than 10,000 people.

Teng Yuzhao's words made the senior officers of the vanguard army present, especially Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze, so excited that their hearts were pounding.

"but……"

Teng Yuzao went on to say, "Qingyun, although we have a lot of artillery now, we are still far from enough. A German artillery regiment has 72 cannons. If you want to form a field artillery regiment now, we are still short of 10 field artillery pieces. So, for the time being, we should not rush. We still need to advance steadily."

"besides."

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "We have a limited number of artillery shells. Although we have a large stockpile, we are going to war with all the Western powers this time. This war will not be short. Not to mention that we cannot buy artillery shells from abroad now, we cannot get any support even at home. We have to rely on our own captures for everything. So you have to use your artillery shells sparingly. Don't let us use up all our artillery shells at a critical moment."

Liu Changfa straightened up hastily, "I will follow your orders, sir."

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(End of this chapter)