The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 184 Arrogant Again
Half a month later, in the south city of Tianjin.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom."

The violent and intensive sound of artillery explosions continued to be heard along with flashes of fire.

Deafening explosions continued inside and outside the South City.

This is the Allied artillery unit outside Tianjin City, which is launching intensive and fierce artillery bombardment on a strip area centered on the southern city wall of Tianjin.

Many houses near the city walls had already caught fire from the bombardment. Scarlet tongues of flame rolled up in the night wind, completely enveloping the streets, alleys and courtyards in the southern part of the city near the city walls in a dark red light.

The reason why the coalition's artillery units are firing at the southern city wall is that in the past six or seven days, in order to cooperate with the coalition's attack on Tianjin City, most of the coalition's artillery shells will fall within a hundred meters centered on the city wall, especially the explosion points of the shells on the city wall, which are more conspicuous in the dark night.

Clusters of white flashes with a slight hint of dark red kept popping up on the city walls. The strong and sudden flashes were like the neon lights flashing on the streets of later generations.

However, the color of this "neon light" is a bit monotonous, mainly white and dark red tones.

Under the flashing lights of the shells and the crackling flames of the burning houses near the South City, the atmosphere in the area dozens of meters inside the South City wall seemed extremely strange.

Because, in the flashes produced by the continuous explosions of artillery shells that suddenly erupted and then quickly extinguished, inside the south city wall, close to the base of the city wall, under the simple "anti-gun shed" built of wood, there were hundreds or thousands of vanguard soldiers squatting or sitting, holding their rifles in their arms and holding wooden boards in front of them.

Amid the fierce explosions and the creepy sound of rubble falling from the city walls and hitting the roof, the soldiers remained calm and composed, and even occasionally one could hear the soldiers talking and laughing in low voices below the city.

The so-called anti-artillery shed is actually made by hammering many wooden piles into the ground, with only a height of about one and a half meters exposed above. Then, dry and strong wood removed from the house is nailed or tied to the piles and densely fixed on the piles. In this way, a row of endless anti-artillery sheds that can neither block wind nor rain are built.

Although there are still gaps on the roof, fortunately, this roof is not used to prevent rain, but to prevent people below from being hit by large bricks and stones falling from the city.

As for the dirt and rubble that fell from the city, they were not included in the protection. They could still leak down from the roof unimpeded, falling on the heads and bodies of the soldiers hiding inside, and often even into the mouths of the soldiers who were whispering and laughing.

In order to deal with the coalition forces' artillery bombardment, the soldiers would not all stay on the top of the city waiting to be bombed when the enemy opened fire. Except for a small number of soldiers who remained on guard, the rest of the soldiers had to go down to the foot of the city to avoid the artillery bombardment.

The coalition forces would launch an attack on the city wall soon after the bombardment, so the soldiers who went down to the city to avoid the bombardment could not go too far away, so Teng Yuzhao came up with this idea.

The launch and landing points of all artillery shells are curved, even mortars, the only difference is the size of the curve. At this time, hiding under the city wall may seem dangerous, but it is actually safer.

The wooden boards in the officers' and soldiers' hands were not used to block the rubble and dirt falling from the city, but to block the shrapnel.

The shells that fly over the city wall and land inside the city will all land in an area thirty meters away from the wall. At this distance, unless a large-caliber shell explodes, the fragments produced by the explosion of a general shell will have no lethality.

Although the explosion radius of 30 meters will not cause harm to life, it will also cause physical injuries. The purpose of the wooden board is to prevent injuries from flying fragments. "Beep, beep, beep", shortly after the coalition artillery bombardment stopped, a sharp whistle sounded on the city. This was a signal from the soldiers on guard on the city to the officers and soldiers hiding under the city.

With the sound of sharp whistles and under the command of the officers, the soldiers quickly and orderly got out of the artillery shed, then climbed up the long ladders that appeared at regular intervals to the top of the city wall that had been blown beyond recognition, preparing to meet a new round of attacks from the coalition forces outside the city.

Such fighting has been going on for a week. Ever since the last time when thousands of coalition forces who attacked Tianjin City were annihilated, Liu Shijiu and his assault brigade almost rushed into the concession. The extremely arrogant coalition forces had been quiet for seven or eight days, and Teng Yuzhao had not made any further offensive actions against the concession, not even a single artillery bombardment.

However, such peaceful days were bound to be short-lived. With the arrival of more than 30,000 Japanese and Russian emergency reinforcements at Dagukou and their trains entering Laolongtou Railway Station via Junliangcheng, the peaceful days came to an abrupt end.

The reinforced coalition forces immediately launched a more intense attack on Tianjin City under the cover of heavy artillery fire.

Since the coalition forces started to attack Tianjin City again, Teng Yuzhao only went up to the city wall to hide and check the situation on the first day, and never went up again after that. He completely handed over the city defense to the Third Regiment. Hu Dianjia led the Third Regiment and the Third Battalion of Training Army to defend the city wall. The entire defense command was also handed over to Hu Dianjia.

Teng Yuzhao himself, outside the North Gate, devoted himself to organizing his troops to conduct street fighting training, especially night street fighting training. He would personally participate in the daily confrontation drills.

The imperial edict conferring the title on Teng Yuzhao, as well as his robes and seals, were not received until the seventh day after Yu Lu's memorial was sent to the capital.

However, the Allied Forces, which had been hiding in the concession the day before, became active again after receiving reinforcements from Dagukou. They not only launched a tentative attack on Tianjin City, but also sent more than 10,000 Russian troops across the Ziya River, seized Xigu, cut off the road between Tianjin City and Beicang, and retook the Naval Camp.

After the coalition forces occupied Xigu, although they had not yet completely surrounded Tianjin City, in a sense, they had successfully made Tianjin City an isolated city.

Since the road from Beicang to Tianjin City had been cut off, the imperial envoy from the capital did not deliver the imperial edict to Teng Yuzhao in person. Instead, a row of guards sent by Yu Lu secretly delivered it to Teng Yuzhao via the west of the city at night.

Although Yu Lu's guards and personal soldiers had rushed to Tianjin City in fear, they were all very happy when they left, and returned happily with the silver in their pockets.

Teng Yuzhao saw that these arrogant soldiers, who were used to a life of luxury, had come here in fear and had difficulty, so he gave each of them a red envelope of five taels of silver.

Of course, after taking Teng Yuzhao's money, he had to do something else for Teng Yuzhao. Before leaving, he brought the list of meritorious personnel reported by Teng Yuzhao back to the imperial envoy, and asked the imperial envoy to help send it to the Ministry of War. Of course, the imperial envoy's red envelope was indispensable, and it was a big red envelope.

Tonight, although the Allied Forces continued to attack Tianjin City day and night as usual, and although the simulated street fighting training ground outside the North Gate was still in full swing, Teng Yuzhao left the headquarters to the Deputy Chief of Staff Wei Jinghai. He only brought Wu Peifu and his squad of personal guards, and quietly entered the city from the north gate in the dark night. On the deserted streets of Tianjin City, he groped his way to the Salt Administration Office inside the east gate.

The people of Tianjin City had all been evacuated three days ago. In order to ensure that no civilians were left in the city, Teng Yuzhao even took the opportunity of the troops getting familiar with the environment to conduct two comprehensive searches of the city.

Standing on the street, you can see the lights shining inside the high walls of the Salt Administration. But at the street corner, you are stopped by soldiers who suddenly appear in the darkness.

Walking into the street, the security here is even more strict. Although it has been confirmed that there are civilians in the city, there are still roving sentries on guard in the Salt Administration Street. There are not only four sentries in front of the gate, but also a Maxim heavy machine gun set up on the sandbag fortifications.
(End of this chapter)