The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 146 After the Great War
Teng Yuzhao believed that the reason he was able to get the presidency was not because Yulu had enough influence in the court, but even Ronglu would not have been able to do it.

Because at this time, the court is controlled by people like Zai Yi, the current Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, and Gang Yi, the Minister of War and Grand Secretary. They are completely different from Ronglu and Yulu. Zai Yi, Gang Yi and others will not only not give face to the people recommended by Yulu and Ronglu, but may even deliberately exclude and obstruct them in order to strike at their power.

Therefore, the President must have agreed to Yu Lu's recommendation because the war situation was urgent and the Empress Dowager and ministers such as Zai Yi in the capital were all in a panic.

What Teng Yuzhao needs now is to use the continuous good news to consolidate his foundation and establish a reputation for successive victories in the court. This way he can gain a firm foothold, and at least during the period of fighting against the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, no one will dare to underestimate him.

Teng Yuzhao even went so far as to ask the imperial court to do everything they could to win him over so that he would devote all his energy to fighting against the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Therefore, Teng Yuzao attached great importance to the previous good news. This time, the main idea of ​​the good news was orally narrated by Teng Yuzao, and then polished by the scholar Wu Peifu.

In his victory report, Teng Yuzhao not only informed Yu Lu that he had rescued the Dongjuzi defenders in time and saved Dongjuzi, but also annihilated more than 4,000 coalition forces in one battle. Teng Yuzhao particularly emphasized that the vanguard army suffered heavy casualties, with more than 1,000 casualties in the entire army, to show how fierce the battle was.

In addition, Teng Yuzhao also wrote in the victory report that he had recovered the so-called eastern area of ​​the concession that was forcibly occupied by the Russian army.

Although that was done by Liu Shijiu on his own initiative and not initiated by Teng Yuzhao, and the vanguard army would not leave a single soldier there to garrison, it still has to be said because it is equivalent to recovering lost territory, and such merit is highly valued in the eyes of the court.

Just after seeing off Pan Jinshan and Wang Decheng, Liu Shijiu came up to Teng Yuzao and said in a low voice, "Xingfu, what do you think of Wang Decheng?"

Thinking of Liu Jiujiu's expression just now, Teng Yuzao asked curiously, "Brother, what did you mean by that expression just now? And why did you ask this question?"

Liu Shijiu put away his smile and said, "Xingfu, just now in the Russian barracks, Wang Decheng asked me in detail why I wanted to disband the Qianzi Group and join the Vanguard Army."

Liu Shijiu's words made Teng Yuzao's heart move, but he did not interrupt Liu Shijiu.

Liu Nineteen continued, "I told him that I was worried that the court was only using the Boxers temporarily, and once the foreigners were done, they would get rid of us. Not only would they chop off the heads of us leaders, but they might also implicate our families. In the long run, the Boxers would not last long. The court would not allow the Boxers to grow. For my own sake and for the sake of my descendants, I had to find a good career for my brothers, so I joined the Vanguard Army."

Teng Yuzao nodded, "What did Wang Decheng say?"

Liu Nineteen curled his lips and said, "Wang Decheng said that he had the same idea as me about the attitude of the court. He also said that except for Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, all those who raised the banner in the past dynasties did not have a good ending. Although the Boxers only raised the banner and did not rebel, it was not much different from a rebellion."

"From what he said, it seems that he also wants a way out, but he just won't say it out loud. He even told me that he envied you and I for being sworn brothers."

Wang Decheng's words clearly implied that he also wanted to join the vanguard army, but he was just unwilling to say it out loud.

Teng Yuzhao guessed that Wang Decheng was worried that Wang Decheng would not want someone like him and was afraid of being rejected, so he tried to sound out Liu Shijiu.

Seeing that Teng Yuzao did not express his opinion immediately, Liu Shijiu said awkwardly, "Xingfu, you don't want Wang Decheng, do you?"

"Actually, this guy is not bad. Although he doesn't fight or compete for many things among the Boxer leaders and just follows the crowd, he is very opinionated. If he can join the vanguard army again, many people in the Boxer will want to give themselves a way out. I am worried that this will make people criticize you, so I didn't dare to say much to him."

Teng Yuzao thought for a moment and said, "Brother, you are right to worry. It is indeed difficult for me to recruit people now, but we are in urgent need of manpower. Brother, you can invite Wang Decheng to join the assault team in your own name. You can first appoint him as a squadron leader."

"If he agrees and wants to join the Vanguard Army, he must first declare that he will no longer be his eldest brother and will join the Assault Brigade under his own name. Or, like my eldest brother, he must disband his Boxers and help us recruit some young and strong men with good martial arts skills, especially those who can wield broadswords or use foreign rifles. The age limit can be relaxed for such people."

Teng Yuzao added, "However, big brother should explain to him in advance that our military discipline is strict. Once you join, you must put military discipline first in everything. However, if you violate it, military law will be ruthless."

"it is good."

Liu Shijiu nodded solemnly and said, "Xingfu, don't worry. If he doesn't agree to this, I, your brother, will never pay attention to such people again. I will arrange for someone to chase Wang Decheng right away."

Teng Yuzao still couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked again, "Brother, when you entered the Eastern District of the Russian Concession this time, didn't you encounter any resistance?"

When Liu Jiujiu mentioned that he attacked the Russian-occupied eastern area without authorization, his face turned red. When he issued the order to attack the Russian-occupied eastern area, his deputy captain Liu Yuanshou reminded him that he needed to ask Teng Yuzao for instructions, or at least report it. But Liu Jiujiu was worried that Teng Yuzao would stop him when he knew about it, so he rejected Liu Yuanshou's reminder in a fit of anger. Afterwards, he was still worried that Teng Yuzao would blame him, but Teng Yuzao never mentioned it, which made Liu Jiujiu feel much more at ease. But at this time, Teng Yuzao suddenly asked about it, and Liu Jiujiu was a little embarrassed.

Liu Shijiu laughed dryly and said, "Xingfu, don't worry. The villagers said that the Russians ran away as soon as we entered. We didn't see a single ghost. We went in to get the captured supplies."

Liu Shijiu's words finally made Teng Yuzao feel at ease. What he was most worried about was that the assault team would suffer more casualties, which would affect his subsequent plans.

Not long after Pan Jinshan and others escorted the wounded away, not only did Liu Yuzhi rush back to Dongjuzi from the eastern district occupied by the Russian army with a large amount of supplies, but Wei Jinghai also led a huge convoy to Dongjuzi.

Liu Yuzhi brought back a lot of supplies, mainly ammunition, food and other military supplies, as well as some canned food, butter, and even a small amount of luxury goods such as wine and caviar. These things were naturally food for the Russian officers.

The supplies stored in the Russian military camps are mainly ammunition and food, and the food is flour. According to Liu Yuzhi's report, there are as many as 300,000 to 400,000 kilograms of flour in the Russian military camps, including not only fine white flour but also black flour.

The so-called black flour is processed flour that contains a lot of bran, making the flour a little gray, but in China, this is white flour.

Now, there is still a large amount of flour that has not been transported back. He came back to look for and raise vehicles, and he needs to make several more round trips to transport flour.

Teng Yuzhao estimated that this should be one to two months' worth of supplies for the Russian troops who had occupied the land and established concessions in advance.

Wei Jinghai naturally did not come alone, he came with Li Xiance and Liu Changfa. They not only brought hundreds of large and small vehicles and hundreds of pack horses, but also the three battalions of Li Xiance's Second Regiment which had just undergone preliminary reorganization, and Liu Changfa's Second Battalion of the Artillery Regiment also came to Dongjuzi together.

Wei Jinghai and his companions heard about the great victory while they were on their way to Dongjuzi, which made all three of them regret coming so late.

When they hurriedly arrived at Dongjuzi, they learned that three to four thousand coalition forces had been wiped out in a single battle, and they were all anxious to ask how the battle was fought.

However, Teng Yuzhao did not have time to answer their questions. Instead, he asked people to arrange lunch as soon as possible, and at the same time immediately arranged for Liu Yuzhi, who had just returned, to gather the troops that had cleaned up the battlefield and begin a careful search of Dongjuzi to prevent any remaining Russian troops from hiding inside.

There is not only silver in Dongjuzi, but it is also the place where Beiyang manufactures ammunition and repairs military equipment. A large amount of gunpowder and explosives are stored there. Once detonated, all of them will probably be in trouble, and the vanguard army will inevitably suffer huge losses.

In addition, Teng Yuzhao also asked Hu Daqiu and Li Yaoting, the sentries who came with Wei Jinghai, to cooperate with the operation.

As the Dongjuzi was so large, it would take until the afternoon to fully search it, so each member of the search force was only given a large piece of black bread seized from the Russian army camp and a grilled sausage from the Russian army camp for lunch.

Although they said they were searching for hidden Russian soldiers, the most important thing was that Teng Yuzhao wanted to find out as soon as possible what was in the East Bureau and what he needed to take away.

In particular, he also wanted to confirm whether the silver here really existed and how much it was.

Also, after the search, the defense of Dongjuzi must be rearranged. These are urgent things to do. The coalition forces at Dagukou are still landing in a steady stream. In order to rush to rescue the concession that is besieged and attacked by the Wuwei Front Army and the Boxers, the coalition forces will head here immediately after a short rest after landing. Now, on the road of more than 100 miles from Dagukou to Dongjuzi, there should be more than one coalition force rushing here urgently.

In addition, the large amount of grain that has not yet been transported back to the eastern area of ​​the Russian Concession must also be transported back as soon as possible, the captured materials must also be counted and classified as soon as possible, the exact number of casualties, the statistics of vacancies in various departments, and many other matters also need to be arranged and deployed.

Although the number of staff officers brought by Wei Jinghai had greatly increased and they had taken over a lot of work, not only Liu Yuzhi, Wei Jinghai, Li Xianze and others were extremely busy, but also Liu Shijiu, Liu Changfa, Xue Qian, and Su Xilin all had to participate and had things to do.

Watching everyone busying themselves with nervousness, Teng Yuzhao secretly sighed in his heart that the vanguard army still lacked foundation after all. These things did not require the personal participation of these officers. These details and chores could be arranged in an orderly manner by the staff.

Teng Yuzhao could only sigh inwardly in his heart. It would still take quite a while for his vanguard army to get completely on the right track and truly reach such a level of organization!
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(End of this chapter)