The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 347: Too Many Prisoners
What surprised Teng Yuzhao was that these people were not all as excited as the other officers and soldiers, but had different expressions.

Liu Shijiu, who was walking in front, had a long face and a very gloomy expression. Wang Decheng, who was following closely beside him, smiled and seemed to be comforting Liu Shijiu.

Following behind these two people, Liu Yuanshou, one of the great contributors to the victory of tonight's battle, hung his head with a bitter face and said nothing.

Only Zhu Kaishan, the new captain of the broadsword team of the assault column, who was participating in such a large-scale battle for the first time, had a happy look on his face. He walked with his head held high and kept chatting and laughing with several officers and soldiers around him who were carrying broadswords.

They won such a great victory, and the assault column was the main force of the entire campaign. They participated in all the battles and even played an extremely crucial role in defeating the British and French forces in the south of the city with weak forces.

It should be said that in tonight's battle, apart from the Artillery Brigade, the Assault Column made the greatest contribution. Liu Shijiu, who has always been competitive, should be happy, right?

Could it be that the assault column suffered too many casualties!
Or maybe an officer was sacrificed!

Thinking of this, Teng Yuzao's mood sank.

Although Teng Yuzhao did not ask about the number of soldiers killed since the establishment of the Vanguard Army, he knew that from the battle of the Beiyang Military Academy in Tianjin to the present, the number of soldiers killed was probably close to 20,000. When he thought of this shocking number, Teng Yuzhao's mood became extremely heavy.

But there will always be casualties in war, especially now we are fighting against foreign invasion!

Teng Yuzhao never thought that he was fighting for the Manchu court. He was fighting against the powerful countries for his country and nation. Especially among them were the Japanese devils, who were hated by the Chinese people in later generations. It was even more worthwhile for him to die on the battlefield.

Teng Yuzao was about to say hello when Wang Decheng had already seen Teng Yuzao. He hurriedly pulled Liu Shijiu and indicated Teng Yuzao's location to him. Liu Shijiu then tried his best to force a smile on his face and walked over reluctantly.

Teng Yuzao tried hard to dispel the sadness in his heart and said with a smile.

"Brother, judging by the merits tonight, your assault column has made great contributions. The assault column can be called the fierce Zhang Fei. You are the main force in the three battlefields and are indispensable in every battle!"

"But, after such a great victory, why are you not happy? Is it because the casualties of the troops were too high?"

Liu Shijiu said somewhat awkwardly, "Thank you for the compliment, Marshal. We just killed a few more foreign devils, which is not a big credit. In the battle tonight, our assault column suffered heavy casualties, more than 3,000 casualties, which is almost 30% of the casualties."

Nearly 30% of the casualties were serious. Teng Yuzao sighed and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter. Once we rush out of West City and the new soldiers from the camp office arrive, I will give you guys priority."

Teng Yuzao looked at Liu Yuanshou again, "Yannian, you performed very well tonight. I will give you a great credit. Why are you unhappy? Is it because of the heavy casualties?"

Liu Yuanshou did not expect that Teng Yuzhao would suddenly ask him, but he had to answer Teng Yuzhao's question, and he even dared not to report the truth. His face turned red and his expression became extremely embarrassed.

Liu Shijiu suddenly became very embarrassed, and it could even be seen that he wanted to leave here as soon as possible.

This made Teng Yuzao even more curious, and he said with a smile, "Yannian, you were the best of the first battalion I recruited. Not only was I your instructor and real teacher, but now I am also your superior."

"I have always been optimistic about you. You are also a senior officer in the battalion who graduated from the Military Academy, second only to those assistant commanders. What happened to you today? Are you hiding something from me?"

Liu Yuanshou knew that he had to tell the truth, so he had to speak hesitantly. "Answer the commander, it's not because the troops suffered heavy casualties, it's because when Commander Liu Xie led the troops to the ambush area, he told me to avenge the brothers who died in the battle, and asked me not to..."

"But Cook was once an instructor at our Beiyang Military Academy, and he was also my division commander. He wanted to lead his troops to surrender, but I couldn't bear to do it, so I accepted his surrender and captured more than a thousand German prisoners."

Although Liu Yuanshou spoke hesitantly, Teng Yuzhao had already understood. This must be because Liu Shijiu was very unhappy because Liu Yuanshou did not kill all the German troops according to his wishes, but instead captured more than a thousand prisoners at once. That was why he did not give Liu Yuanshou a good face.

Although Teng Yuzhao was very opposed to killing prisoners, it was not only because of the psychological influence of his previous life, but also because he was really worried that once the news of the vanguard army killing prisoners spread, all the coalition forces would fight to the death when fighting the vanguard army, thus causing many casualties to the vanguard army.

Because the assistant commanders below all disobeyed his order not to kill the prisoners and always found various reasons to kill the prisoners, even Liu Yuanshou did the same.

Teng Yuzhao can only turn a blind eye now, after all, he also has to consider the feelings of these generals.

However, this time Liu Shijiu really shouldn't have given Liu Yuanshou a hard time. This Cook was not only Liu Yuanshou's teacher, but also Teng Yuzao's teacher. If he wanted to do this, not only Liu Yuanshou couldn't do it, but Teng Yuzao would also find it difficult to do it.

Moreover, many of the officers in Teng Yuzhao's vanguard army are his students. Teng Yuzhao now needs to rely on the relationship between teacher and student to maintain the loyalty of these people. He needs to be more cautious in dealing with Cook.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Liu Shijiu, "Brother, you are not allowed to kill the prisoners. This is my order. Moreover, this Cook was not only Yannian's instructor, but also my instructor. He taught many people in our vanguard army."

"We in China are a country of etiquette. We should still give this person preferential treatment."

Liu Nineteen smiled awkwardly and said, "Marshal, our assault column has always strictly followed the Marshal's order not to kill prisoners. How could we kill prisoners? I just think these foreign devils are too spineless. I just fired a few shells at them, and they surrendered."

When Teng Yuzao heard Liu Shijiu say this, he didn't know what to say and just smiled and nodded.

"Brother, you know Yannian's ability. I will definitely make great use of him. I just wanted him to help you lead the assault column first before I put him here with you."

Teng Yuzhao's words were very clear. He was telling Liu Shijiu that Liu Yuanshou would sooner or later become a figure like them, such as an assistant commander or a column leader, so they should get along well with each other to avoid estrangement in the future.

Liu Shijiu would understand Teng Yuzao's words, so Teng Yuzao just stopped there.

However, when Wang Decheng and Liu Yuanshou heard this, they had different thoughts.

Liu Yuanshou was extremely grateful for Teng Yuzhao's words.

Wang Decheng, on the other hand, looked at Liu Yuanshou with envy.

Only Zhu Kaishan grinned and laughed, as if he did not feel the slightest envy of Liu Yuanshou's bright future.

"Yannian, I can't see Cook right now. Please say hello to him for me, and then let him go. Ask him to tell their Marshal Waldersee who is coming to the capital soon that he must restrain the coalition forces and protect the Forbidden City intact, otherwise, I will kill all the German prisoners."

(End of this chapter)