The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 217 The Japs' Terrible Good Habits

It was a clear night with a bright moon and sparse stars. A cool breeze blew away the heat of the day.

Most of the city of Tianjin, which was almost in ruins, was gradually returning to silence.

At this moment, the fierce sound of gunfire that had echoed inside and outside the city for nearly half a month could no longer be heard. Only the dozens of bonfires lit by the Allied Forces on the street connecting the east and west gates at the junction of the north and south of the city to prevent the vanguard troops from sneaking into the camp secretly could be heard. In the night breeze, the swaying flames made crackling sounds from time to time.

The street ahead is now the territorial dividing line between the north and south cities, and is also the temporary dividing line between the vanguard army and the coalition forces after the shocking explosion during the day.

In the darkness of night, in the area where the vanguard army was located north of the dividing line, Teng Yuzhao, dressed in military uniform, stood on a two-story building whose roof had been blown off by an artillery shell and half collapsed, and was holding a telescope to observe the situation in the south city in the dark.

In the ruins of the South City, there were flickering lights of hundreds of dim, swaying lanterns. Most of these lights were concentrated on the west side of the South City. In the ruins of the East City, there were only a few sparsely spaced dim lights.

These lights were emitted from the temporary camp of the coalition forces in the ruins of the city.

The coalition forces now engaged in street fighting with the vanguard army in the city include only the Russian and Japanese armies. Although the US military also remained in Tianjin, it did not participate in the street fighting in the city. Only the Japanese and Tsarist Russian armies were left in the city. The Japanese army was on the east and the Russian army was on the west. The two armies engaged in street fighting with the vanguard army with the central street as the dividing line.

Although the coalition forces had confirmed that the vanguard army not only had artillery, but also a large number of them, except for the Gruson 57mm cannon, the vanguard army had not used artillery in the Battle of Tianjin, especially in street fighting. This made the nervous Russian army have no scruples and lit many bonfires in the camp at night, and most of the tents also lit lanterns.

The Japanese troops in the east were much more cautious, as they were worried that the lights would indicate targets for the vanguard's artillery fire, so there were rarely any lights in the areas where they were stationed.

In the darkness, Liu Changfa said to Teng Yuzao with some regret, "Sir, these Japanese devils are too cautious. Let alone them, even if we are asked to bombard the Russian camp now, I won't do it. With such scattered residences, how many shells will we have to consume to achieve a satisfactory result!"

Teng Yuzao nodded in the darkness and said, "Qingyun, Ziyu, you all have to remember that compared to the Russians, the Japanese devils are much more cautious and rigorous. This is a terrible good habit. When fighting against the Japanese devils, you must never be careless."

"Yes, my lord."

"is teacher."

Wu Peifu, who was standing in the shadows behind Teng Yuzao, and Liu Changfa, who was standing next to Teng Yuzao, answered almost in unison.

Teng Yuzao asked Liu Changfa, "Qingyun, how long will it take for the conscienceless cannon to be ready?"

Liu Changfa grinned in the darkness and said, "Sir, this conscienceless cannon is powerful, but it takes too long to prepare for firing, and its range is a bit short. If it can be equipped with wheels and a recoil stop, and the barrel can be thickened, then there will be no need to dig or modify the firing position every time it is fired. The range will also be longer, and it will be much more convenient to fire."

Although the Unscrupulous Cannon is powerful, it has too many shortcomings, and the biggest disadvantage is that it has no gun mount and its range is too short.

Since there is no gun mount, each launch requires digging an inclined, half-covered, small circular pit on the ground. The angle of inclination needs to vary depending on the launch strike location, otherwise the bottom of the pit will form a certain angle with the bottom of the iron barrel, and the recoil generated by the launch will cause the launch tube to deform. After a few times, this unscrupulous cannon launch tube will become unusable.

As for thickening the launch tube, it would increase the amount of propellant, and the shells of the unscrupulous cannon could be pushed to a greater distance.

Liu Changfa's words made Teng Yuzao laugh.

Qingyun, "Think about it, if we really have the ability to do this, would you choose a large-caliber artillery with a much longer range, or this kind of unscrupulous artillery with great power but short range?" Liu Changfa thought about it for a moment and laughed, "Of course I would choose a larger-caliber artillery."

Wu Peifu said, "Teacher, is this why you said we are not afraid of the foreign devils learning our unscrupulous artillery?"

"Yes, the foreign devils know the principle of our conscienceless cannon, and they disdain to make this simple cannon. For them, with the money and time, it is fundamental to equip more large-caliber cannons. So I say that this conscienceless cannon is a weapon for the poor. We don't have factories and equipment to manufacture cannons yet, and we can't afford to spend a lot of money on research and development and purchase the necessary materials. Compared with any of the great powers, we are all poor."

"Report."

A staff officer ran over and reported to Liu Changfa.

"Report to the commander, the conscienceless cannons are all ready."

Liu Changfa looked at Teng Yuzao, who warned him, "Qingyun, make sure to prepare enough cold water. In addition, you must also warn your artillery to cooperate well with the 2nd and 3rd Regiments, the Assault Battalion, and the Independent Detachment. As long as our infantry and artillery work well together, no matter how many foreign devils there are in the south city, they may not be able to stop us!"

Since the barrel of the conscienceless cannon is just a layer of iron sheet, the barrel wall will become extremely hot every time it is fired, and cooling measures must be taken, otherwise the second shot cannot be fired.

The only cooling measure the vanguard army can take under current conditions is watering, so there must be enough water on hand.

Teng Yuzhao put a lot of thought into tonight's attack on the coalition forces in the city. Not only did he concentrate nearly four-fifths of the vanguard's forces, with nearly 15,000 people directly participating in the battle, he also personally revised the battle plan formulated by the Operations Department, and called Li Xiance, Hu Dianjia, Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian and Pan Jinshan respectively, instructing them one by one to coordinate and cooperate with the unscrupulous artillery squadron.

Among the four troops, each troop is equipped with eight unscrupulous cannons, and each unscrupulous cannon has a sentry following it. Each troop uses the unscrupulous cannons to open the way and form a multi-route attack. Once a gap is opened, the follow-up troops will quickly rush into the coalition positions, quickly form a split and encirclement of the coalition forces, and use a large number of equipped pistols, Teng grenades and broadswords in close combat to quickly eliminate the enemy forces that were separated and surrounded.

The vanguard of Cao Futian's Boxer Rebellion had been greatly supplemented, and now it could only hold its own in close combat with the Allied Forces, especially the Russian Army.

In order to ensure a successful strike and to prevent the coalition artillery positions outside the city from firing to block the follow-up attacking forces of the vanguard army, Teng Yuzhao also required the four troops to advance as a whole and to fight with the coalition forces in the shortest time possible so that the coalition artillery fire could not threaten the attacking forces.

The other four unscrupulous cannons were personally controlled by Liu Changfa, who was directly under the command of Teng Yuzhao. He would personally lead the team to attack the Salt Administration, the only sturdy building in Dongcheng that had not been bombarded and was still intact.

Perhaps because they were coveting the more than 2 million taels of silver in the Salt Administration, the Japanese troops attacking along the East City did not fire a single shell at the Salt Administration, making the Salt Administration the best-preserved building complex in the entire South City.

Through observation from the city wall, it was found that the Salt Administration was most likely the location of the Japanese army's command structure inside the city. Teng Yuzhao wanted to take over the Salt Administration in one fell swoop and eliminate the Japanese army's command structure inside the city.

"Yes!"

Liu Changfa stood at attention and saluted, then answered loudly, "Please rest assured, sir. I will personally supervise the battle and ensure that the synchronized soldiers will cooperate seriously. Tonight, our vanguard army will use this unscrupulous cannon to clear the way. We will blow up gods and Buddhas."

At exactly 10:00 p.m., a deafening charge horn suddenly sounded at the front line of the vanguard army's position in the city. Then, sparks of fire appeared in the darkness, followed by dense gunfire like popping beans.

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(End of this chapter)