The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 396 No Need to Rush to Explode
Among all the coalition's top commanders, Chaffee was the calmest.

After he sent back to China the report about Teng Yuzao's high evaluation of the President, and that Teng Yuzao was bound to rise and was destined to have a strong influence on the Qing Dynasty, and had great affection for the United States of America.

His report was obviously taken seriously by the president, because he had already received a letter from President McKinley asking him to make a detailed assessment of the possible direction of the war and to make friends with Teng Yuzao as soon as possible in order to prepare for establishing close ties with the Qing Dynasty after the war in order to gain greater benefits.

President McKinley also said in the telegram that Conger, the United States Minister to the Qing Dynasty, had established a certain degree of friendship with Teng Yuzao. Once Teng Yuzao rose in the Qing Dynasty, he would most likely become a strong ally of the United States, enabling the United States to gain an advantageous position in trade competition with the great powers.

Therefore, he would no longer approve the dispatch of land forces to Qing, but he is currently considering upgrading the Navy's Asiatic Brigade to the Asiatic Fleet to safeguard the interests of the United States in Qing.

The president even said that if necessary, they could even provide military assistance to forces friendly to them in order to prevent the great powers from dividing up the Qing Dynasty and thus gain greater benefits.

In order to achieve this goal, there must be a powerful naval fleet in the Far East that is strong enough to threaten the great powers.

Given President McKinley's attitude, Chaffee was not concerned about whether Teng Yuzao and his vanguard army could be eliminated. He even hoped that Teng Yuzao could successfully cross the Nanjuma River and even inflict another heavy blow on the Allied forces, which he would be happy to see happen.

Since these people had all learned some news from their own country, they all had their own thoughts about what Waldersee said about Zeng Bing, and none of them showed much surprise.

From the expressions of these generals, Waldersee knew that the news about the increase in troops was no longer news to these generals, and he smiled again.

"Generals and gentlemen, since everyone agrees, let's get ready to go."

8am, Ngee Ann.

The morning, which should have been quiet, was destroyed by the "boom boom boom" sound of cannons coming from afar.

At this time, on the stone bridge on the west bank of the Nanjuma River, there was a lot of noise and the neighing of horses. The officers, soldiers and civilians of the baggage battalion directly under the Guards Concord Command were sweating profusely and shouting to urge the horses to let the carriages and pack horses loaded with ammunition and supplies pass across the stone bridge one by one.

The stone bridge was not wide and could only accommodate two large carts running side by side. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the vanguard army were driving the carts and pack horses across the more than 200-meter-long stone bridge.

This stone bridge is the only one within fifty miles. If you want to cross the river in other places, you can basically only take a ferry.

Although the Nanjuma River is not wide, with the narrowest part being less than 200 meters and the widest part being only 500 to 600 meters, the water volume is still very abundant, especially in the narrow river channel where the current is extremely turbulent, making it impossible to wade through.

Teng Yuzhao led the Guards on a rapid march and finally passed Gongxinzhuang ahead of the coalition forces and arrived at Yian, which was close to the bank of the Juma River. Without taking a rest, he started to cross the river directly.

Although they did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately began to arrange for the crossing of the river as soon as they arrived at the bridge, there were too many vehicles and horses, and the bridge was too narrow, so the carts and pack horses could only be arranged in two rows to cross the river at the same time.

In addition to Li Jinyu who was still leading three battalions to guard the preset positions on the road from Gongxinzhuang to Shiqiao, Teng Yuzhao only asked Wu Peifu to leave one battalion of troops on the east side of the bridge to cover the rear just in case. The main force of the Guards Association and the mortar battalion had all rushed to Hexi and began to build positions.

At this time, on two small hills about 200 meters away from the river bank, the soldiers of the Guards Association were busy building their positions.

Several observation staff officers of the mortar battalion were busy mapping the artillery parameters on both sides of the river with a few soldiers.

The mortar position is located 500 meters behind the two hills, and the artillery strike range can cover all locations within four kilometers on the other side of the river.

Two hours later, only one third of the transport vehicles and pack horses were left parked on the north bank.

Such a situation made Teng Yuzhao, who was sweating profusely, look anxiously at the long convoy and the large group of chaotic packhorses parked on the other side of the river, listen attentively to the sound of artillery in the distance, and frequently look at the watch on his wrist.

The officers and soldiers of the supply battalion had done their best and were well organized, so it was difficult for him to put more pressure on them.

Although Teng Yuzhao's expression was calm, his actions said it all: he was extremely anxious.

Wei Jinghai on the side tried to persuade Teng Yuzhao several times, but in the end he couldn't say a word. He was also anxious.

Such a large amount of ammunition and supplies are extremely precious to the vanguard army. With this batch of ammunition and supplies, the vanguard army's needs can be met for a considerable period of time. Otherwise, the expansion of the army is basically out of the question. Even if there are enough guns, the lack of ammunition will not have much effect.

"teacher."

Just when Wei Jinghai was at a loss, Wu Peifu, also sweating profusely, walked over quickly.

"The explosives have been placed, and the fuse has been connected to the river bank. Don't worry. Once Mingguang and his men withdraw, I will immediately order the stone bridge to be blown up. The foreign devils will definitely not be able to catch up in a short time, and we will be safe then."

Teng Yuzao shook his head. "The explosives can be placed first, but there is no need to rush to blow up the stone bridge."

"No explosion, why?"

Wei Jinghai and Wu Peifu asked in surprise almost in unison.

Teng Yuzao patiently explained to the two men, "Think about it, there is only one large stone bridge within a hundred miles. If we blow it up, the cannons of the pursuing foreign devils will not be able to get through in a short time."

Teng Yuzhao's words made the two even more confused. Wouldn't it be better if they couldn't come over? That way they could focus on dealing with the foreign devils rushing over from Dongxianpo?

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "If the foreign devils here give up the plan to cross the river, I am worried that the foreign devils chasing us from Dongxianpo may not dare to chase us alone."

"Correct!"

Wei Jinghai slapped his forehead and said, "The Marshal is very thoughtful and far-sighted. We are ashamed of ourselves!"

Wu Peifu also looked ashamed, but when he looked at Teng Yuzhao, the admiration in his eyes deepened a lot.

Teng Yuzao smiled and encouraged them, "Don't underestimate yourselves. When I was your age, I was probably much worse than you two."

Teng Yuzhao was telling the truth, but he was talking about his previous life, when he was still in college at this age.

"How are the situations in all aspects? Is there any new situation?"

Wei Jinghai nodded and said, "I was just about to report to you."

Wei Jinghai opened the leather-covered notebook that he always carried with him and said, "I just received a message from Commander Liu that the First Mixed Concord Assault Column has arrived and is on standby in Yi County, more than 30 miles away from us."

"The Second Mixed Brigade is escorting the Artillery Brigade and the Field Hospital as they rush here. Commander Liu estimates that they will arrive in Yi County at night at the earliest. The wounded have already been transferred to Luzhou Prefecture."

Teng Yuzhao knew that Liu Yuzhi was worried about the battle situation here, so he led the 1st Mixed Consortium Assault Column to arrive first.

Wei Jinghai then said with some concern, "Commander-in-Chief Hu reported that the foreign devils from the north had already arrived at Shiting last night. That night, they launched a fierce artillery attack on Shiting and launched two night attacks."

"Commander-in-Chief Hu also said that they have already found out that the foreign devils in the north are composed of 20,000 old Russians and two brigades of the 9th Division of the Japanese devils. The number of people is more than 40,000, but definitely not 50,000."

"Commander-in-Chief Hu said that he would hold on to Shiting and would not retreat a single step unless his entire army was annihilated."

Wei Jinghai's words surprised Teng Yuzao.

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(End of this chapter)