The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 8 Killing

Seeing these people pulling the bolts of their guns, Li Yulin and Liu Changfa quickly reached out for the pistols at their waists and rushed forward to protect Teng Yuzhao.

However, their actions were still too late.

"Bang, bang, bang," "bang, bang," five gunshots suddenly rang out beside them.

At this time, Li Yulin and Liu Changfa had just taken out their revolvers and moved the bolts away.

The first three gunshots were fired in close succession, while the last two gunshots were fired almost simultaneously. Moreover, these two gunshots were obviously the sounds of revolvers firing. Although they also happened to come right after the first three gunshots, they could still be distinguished and were slightly behind the first three gunshots.

Following the gunshots, the three leaders who had shouted that they would not put down their guns fell to the ground on their backs, and the rifles in their hands also fell to the side. At this moment, blood was gushing from their chests.

The difference was that the man in the lead had three bloody holes on his chest, and he was dead beyond dead.

The remaining two men each had a bleeding bullet hole on their chest.

The two men didn't bother to find out who fired the gun, and they turned around to check if Teng Yuzhao was injured.

Teng Yuzhao was seen holding the gun in one hand, with a wisp of green smoke slowly dissipating from the muzzle of the Mauser pistol in his hand.

Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze both held revolvers in their right hands, with their left hands supported under their right hands holding the guns, maintaining a shooting posture. It was obvious that these three people took the initiative to open fire.

Seeing that Teng Yuzao was unharmed, the two men finally put their minds at ease.

Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze saw it more clearly. At the moment when they pulled out their guns at the same time, Teng Yuzhao's right hand just flashed at his waist, and the revolver was already raised by Teng Yuzhao. Before they could shoot the leader, the revolver in Teng Yuzhao's hand had already fired. It seemed that the long barrel of Teng Yuzhao's revolver just shook a few times, and three almost continuous gunshots rang out.

What surprised them even more was that after they all shot the leader first, before they could move their guns to shoot again, the other two were shot in the chest and fell on their backs.

Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze were both very surprised at Teng Yuzao's beautiful, smooth gun-drawing skills and his continuous shooting movements that were so fast that one could hardly hear the counts. Whether in the Beiyang Military Academy or in the military camp, they had never seen Teng Yuzao have such a beautiful skill.

However, now is not the time to applaud their commanders and superiors. They have more important and urgent things to do.

Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze shouted out commands almost at the same time. As their commands were issued, the front and right sentries, who had obviously been secretly prepared in advance, immediately dispersed rapidly in platoons under the command of several platoon leaders. In just a few breaths, they surrounded the left and rear sentries who were stunned by the sudden scene in the outer circle, pulled the bolts of their rifles to load bullets, pointed the black muzzles of their guns at the two surrounded sentries, and only dodged the right side where there was no soldiers surrounding them.

However, although there were no outposts and rear outposts blocking the right side, it was obviously more dangerous than other directions, because there were already people from Li Xianze's right outpost, under the command of a shed head, holding rifles and surrounding the two carts with Maxim heavy machine guns. The muzzles of the two Maxim heavy machine guns on the carts had been turned around by several soldiers, and the muzzles of the two Maxim heavy machine guns were aimed at the officers and soldiers of the left and rear outposts who were already in chaos. Judging from the situation, if there was any slight mistake, they would immediately open fire, and the military camp would immediately become a battlefield with blood flowing like a river.

When the front and rear sentries surrounded the left and rear sentries, Li Xiance's right sentry also sent out a sentry to cooperate with Teng Yuzhao's guards to surround the nearly forty people who were about to join the Boxers. The eyeguard Liu Bingyi had already rushed in front of Teng Yuzhao, and his sturdy body blocked Teng Yuzhao tightly behind him. He had also raised the rifle in front of his eyes, pointing the muzzle at those who were about to join the Boxers, but he would shoot immediately if there was any unusual movement.

Teng Yuzhao's sudden attack made those who wanted to join the Boxers a little at a loss. The few who wanted to take up guns to protect themselves initially wanted to resist with guns, but seeing that the other party only surrounded them and had no follow-up actions, they stopped and stood there stupidly.

The left and rear sentry teams were stunned at first after the gunshots, but when they saw the front and right sentry teams began to surround them, they suddenly became chaotic. Many of them opened the cowhide bullet boxes on their belts and began to load bullets into their rifles in a hurry, some even quickly installed sharp bayonets on their rifles, and some even wanted to take the opportunity to rush out of the team.

Although soldiers who are not on duty are not allowed to put bullets in their rifles unless it is wartime, and their ammunition is usually stored in the ammunition depot. Their ammunition was only distributed to them shortly before the assembly, but no one at the front sentry or the right sentry was loading bullets on the spot, which obviously meant that they had already loaded their guns.

Although the left sentry leader Deng Minru and the rear sentry leader Sun Shijun had no idea what the front and rear sentries were going to do, they became anxious when they saw the possibility of a gunfight. They kept shouting at their sentries to put down their guns and ran to stop those who had already raised their guns.

Under the two men's strenuous suppression and scolding, the troops of the left and rear sentinels finally calmed down gradually. At the commands of Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze, the people of the front and rear sentinels put down their rifles, but they still maintained the posture of encircling the left and rear sentinels.

Liu Yuzhi also shouted loudly at this time, "Brothers of the left and rear sentries, we have no ill intentions. We are just worried that there are still remnants of those who want to leave in your team. As long as you have no second thoughts, it has nothing to do with you. We are still comrades in arms and still good brothers."

Liu Yuzhi's words finally worked. Not only did the left and rear sentries finally quiet down, but even the team of 180 long-term servants who had also been in a commotion also quieted down.

Although all this was settled down in just a few minutes, Li Yulin and Liu Changfa were still sweating with anxiety. If a misunderstanding really occurred in the military camp and led to a gunfight, their newly formed vanguard army would be seriously damaged.

In the entire military camp, only Teng Yuzao was the calmest. Apart from shooting and killing three people who refused to leave their weapons, Teng Yuzao did not say a word in the chaos. He just stood there quietly with his pistol in hand. He watched everything in front of him coldly. It was not until the whole team was completely stable that he spoke calmly to the group of people who were surrounded and wanted to leave the vanguard army and join the Boxers.

"Put down your weapons, ammunition, and backpacks, and you can leave immediately."

"By the way, if there are any personal belongings in the backpack, you can take them with you."

This time, no one dared to resist. They all put down their rifles and untied their belts. Some people quickly opened the leather buckles of their backpacks and began to take out their personal belongings, such as clothes and some silver and money.

The troops in Teng Yuzhao's battalion not only had their guns and ammunition from Germany, but even their individual equipment was almost identical to that of the German army. For example, in addition to cowhide backpacks, the soldiers also had a black iron lunch box and a black iron water bottle.

After these people finished all this, at the signal of Teng Yuzhao, Liu Bingyi ordered the soldiers who surrounded these people to make way. Nearly forty soldiers who wanted to surrender to the Boxers immediately swarmed out of the barracks.

(End of this chapter)