The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 214 The foreigners are trying to make our dumplings

"Based on the intelligence gathered from our investigation, we have come to the conclusion that the total number of the foreigners' cannons is no less than 100."

After Wei Jinghai finished reporting on the enemy situation, he closed the folder and sat back in his seat.

"Damn it, the foreigners are trying to make our dumplings!" Liu Shijiu said first.

Teng Yuzao did not respond to Liu Jiujiu's words, but scanned the serious faces of the crowd and said in a deep voice, "The current situation is very clear. Even if we count all the personnel who can fight, we only have one-sixth of the coalition forces."

"In terms of firepower, the artillery regiment has established a new third battalion, including the captured cannons and the cannons taken from Dongjuzi and the city. The regiment now has 18 75mm field guns and 32 mountain guns. Including the artillery posts assigned to the first, second, and third regiments, there are also 36 57mm rapid-fire guns."

The number of artillery pieces collected this time was sufficient, and Liu Changfa's artillery battalion had also trained a sufficient number of gunners after a period of day and night training. In order to make up for the insufficient artillery firepower of the first and second regiments, Teng Yuzhao made up his mind to disband the original artillery team of Hu Dianjia's third regiment. Each of the three regiments was equipped with an artillery post, and each post was uniformly equipped with twelve 57mm Gruson mountain cannons.

Teng Yuzao took a sip of the cold tea on the conference table and continued, "Although we still have dozens of artillery pieces, we don't have many shells. Leaving more artillery pieces will not be of much use. On the contrary, it will slow down our marching speed. Therefore, the extra artillery pieces have been transported to Xianghe."

"In addition, we have thirty-six conscienceless cannons. However, conscienceless cannons are not cannons. Their maximum range is only about three hundred meters, and they take a long time to prepare for firing. They are not worthy of the name of cannons. At best, they are explosive projectiles."

"The only advantage we have is that we have more Maxim heavy machine guns than the coalition forces. However, due to the lack of ammunition, we usually have to limit their use and cannot fully utilize the advantage of having more heavy machine guns."

Teng Yuzao stood up, paced on the ground, lit a cigarette and said, "This is the situation. Under the current circumstances, we have reached the point where we need to make a decision immediately. What do you think? Should we fight to the death with the coalition forces in Tianjin City, or break out and wait for the next battle?"

Teng Yuzao's words made everyone look at each other in bewilderment.

Judging from Wei Jinghai's report on the enemy, the coalition forces had an absolute advantage in manpower and firepower. Without any support from the rear, staying in the isolated city of Tianjin and fighting the coalition forces to the end would be like hitting a rock with an egg. In the end, the vanguard army would definitely fail, and if things went wrong, the entire army would be wiped out.

But these people were all reluctant to just withdraw like that. Although they could not say that the vanguard army had an absolute advantage in the current street fighting, they had undergone prior street fighting assault training and were equipped with weapons that were very useful for street fighting. In particular, they had a large number of broadswords, pistols, and Teng grenades, which were more convenient for fighting house by house with the coalition forces. Fighting street fighting would at least make the coalition forces pay a much higher price than the vanguard army, and the casualty ratio might not be one to two, but very likely one to three.

Hu Dianjia said tentatively, "Xingfu, can we fight for a few more days and kill more foreign devils before withdrawing? Besides, Yu Zhongtang wants us to hold on to Tianjin City."

Yu Lu had said something, and he also said that he would mention this matter in his memorial to the court, that is, if Teng Yuzhao felt that he could not hold on to Tianjin City, he could decide on his own when to evacuate.

But Teng Yuzao was not prepared to tell the generals what Yu Lu said now.

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "We hold on to this isolated city of Tianjin for undoubtedly only three purposes."

Teng Yuzao took a puff of his cigarette and said thoughtfully, "First, there is the order from Yu Zhongtang; second, it is to ensure the safety of the people in Tianjin City; third, it is to inflict as much casualties as possible on the coalition forces, and ultimately make these powers unwilling to continue fighting." Teng Yuzao was about to say "forcing the powers to take the initiative to request negotiations", which would be a blow to morale, although this would definitely be the result in the end.

Teng Yuzao went on to say, "Now it seems that we have achieved all three goals. We held Tianjin for more than ten days. Although the time was not too long, it not only protected the safe evacuation of the people in Tianjin City, but also bought ample time for Yu Zhongtang to set up blocking positions in Beicang. As for the casualties inflicted on the coalition forces, it was not small. Over the past few days, a conservative estimate is that there are at least 8,000 casualties, if not 10,000. Otherwise, they would not have sent additional troops to Tianjin again and again."

"Since we have initially achieved our goal, there is no need for us to continue staying in this isolated city and wait to be surrounded and annihilated by the coalition forces."

Teng Yuzao emphasized the word "encirclement and annihilation". The generals present all understood what Teng Yuzao meant. If they thought about it carefully, if they really defended the isolated city of Tianjin, their final fate would probably be just these two words.

Teng Yuzao raised his voice and said, "What do you think? Should we leave the vanguard army to continue to eliminate more foreign devils, or should we fight them all in Tianjin City?"

Due to reasons in his previous life, Teng Yuzao had always called the Eight-Nation Alliance the Allied Forces, and almost everyone called them foreign devils. However, this time, Teng Yuzao felt that the word "foreign devils" could resonate more with these generals.

Liu Nineteen said reluctantly, "Of course it's better to keep our vanguard army. If we don't have our vanguard army, with only Song Qing, Ma Yukun and other incompetent people like them, the foreign devils will definitely cause chaos and do whatever they want."

"Well said! In order to prevent the foreign devils from causing trouble, we should find a way to keep our vanguard army that can and dares to fight the foreign devils, and continue to beat these invading bandits hard."

Teng Yuzao finished speaking loudly, his tone had become very decisive, and he immediately said, "So, today we asked you to come to the headquarters for a meeting, not to discuss whether to withdraw or not, but how and when to withdraw."

In Teng Yuzao's opinion, the time left for him was very tight and he could not delay any longer. Since he was going to leave, he should leave immediately after achieving his goal and must not drag his feet or hesitate.

Li Xianze suddenly said, "Sir, the foreign devils are defending the west of the city tightly. In my opinion, they are afraid that our scouts will discover their ambush. The remaining 40,000 to 50,000 foreign devils must be hiding in the west of the city."

Seeing that Li Xiance was the first to start thinking about how to evacuate according to his ideas, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but secretly give Li Xiance a thumbs up in his heart.

Li Xianze is not only loyal and reliable, but also has a flexible mind, quick thinking, and is the best at keeping up with his own pace.

Hu Dianjia shook his head and said, "In my opinion, this is not necessarily the case. The foreign devils have so obviously made a posture of surrounding three sides and attacking one side, and deliberately made us confused in the west. Maybe they are just playing tricks. In fact, they don't have many troops in the west, but have concentrated their heavy troops in other directions. Of course, what I said is just a speculation and possibility. The real situation still needs further investigation."

What Hu Dianjia said is not impossible. There are countless examples of fighting that break the rules and go against the grain.

For a moment, the generals present, led by Li Xianze and Hu Dianjia, split into two factions and started arguing with each other.

(End of this chapter)