The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 398: Pursuit and Retreat

The reason why Teng Yuzhao felt heavy-hearted was because of the withdrawing troops.

This is because there were not many of these people, only more than a thousand, but they were carrying hundreds of stretchers, and many of the officers and soldiers walking on foot had snow-white bandages on their heads or arms.

When bandaging the wounds of the wounded, white sterilized gauze bandages were always used. Although this method only appeared in foreign countries 20 years ago, the doctors in the Beiyang Medical and Pharmaceutical Hospital were all foreign doctors, and it was they who brought this sterilized bandage.

However, this kind of sterilized bandage can only be seen in the "Medical and Medicine Storage Hospital". The battlefield bandaging in various armies is still very casual. There are no special bandages for bandaging wounds. They just use whatever they find.

Ever since Teng Yuzhao brought over Beiyang's "Medical and Pharmaceutical Storage Hospital" and its affiliated school, he promoted the use of sterilized bandages throughout the Vanguard Army. This is the only army in the country that uses sterilized bandages to bandage the wounds of injured soldiers.

Although the sound of artillery shells exploding could still be heard in the distance, and it was obvious that there were still troops of the Guards Association fighting fiercely with the coalition forces, the number of wounded soldiers being evacuated was too large.

According to the number of wounded soldiers evacuated, there should be hundreds of people who died on the battlefield and were buried on the spot.

By this calculation, the casualties of the more than 3,000 people in the three battalions led by Li Jinyu were definitely more than 1,000. It was really not easy for Li Jinyu to hold on with such a high casualty ratio.

The reason why the three battalions led by Li Jinyu were able to hold on was also due to the generous pension system of the vanguard army.

Senior military officers were almost unanimously opposed to this generous pension.

There was only one reason for their opposition, and that was they were worried that the imperial court would not approve of such high pension expenses in the future and would not allocate the pension to the vanguard army, which would eventually make the pension system unsustainable. Instead, it would arouse the anger of the soldiers and cause unrest in the military's morale.

The fact that this system was finally implemented was entirely the result of Teng Yuzhao's persistence alone.

But it was precisely because of this generous pension system that the officers and soldiers had no worries. Otherwise, with such a high ratio of casualties, the troops in the front would probably have collapsed long ago.

Moreover, the reason why Teng Yuzhao set the pension system so high was that there was a secret that he could not tell. The imperial court would definitely not pay such a high pension system in the end, and this was exactly the result that Teng Yuzhao hoped to see.

Seeing the troops retreating from the front, the guards on the position quickly ran over to support them, hundreds of people helped the withdrawing officers and soldiers to quickly cross the stone bridge, and took them to the safe area behind the hill for rest.

Someone will start arranging for the wounded to be transferred to Yi County, because the field hospital will arrive in Yi County soon, so they can receive timely treatment, especially the seriously injured, who need timely and proper treatment.

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao stared at the retreating troops for a long time and did not answer him, Wu Peifu knew that Teng Yuzhao was worried about the casualties of Li Jinyu and others.

He quickly hid the worry on his face and said with a forced smile, "Don't worry, teacher. Mingguang is still leading his men in the front and fighting the foreign devils fiercely. The first batch of troops withdrawing must not be many."

"Teacher, you should go back to the headquarters. Just leave this to me."

Teng Yuzao took a deep breath and shook his head, saying, "You don't have to comfort me. I'm not going anywhere. You should quickly check with the troops who have withdrawn and find out what the situation is like ahead. Then, you can take appropriate precautions against the attacks of the foreign devils."

Before Wu Peifu could ask, a staff officer ran into the shelter to report to Wu Peifu.

"Sir, the commander of the second battalion was injured and could not come to report to the assistant commander in time, so he asked me to report to the assistant commander on his behalf."

"He said that the foreign devils' artillery fire was very powerful, and some of the shells were even as powerful as our conscienceless artillery. The vast majority of their casualties were caused by the foreign devils' artillery."

The staff officer looked at Teng Yuzhao with admiration and continued.

"Chief of Staff Li asked him to report to the commander-in-chief to dig more trenches and anti-artillery holes, and the trenches should be dug deeper, otherwise the foreign devils' artillery would collapse at the first shock, and they would suffer a great loss. The main reason is that the trenches were dug too shallow."

"The troops on the frontline must absolutely follow the Marshal's instructions. The troops should be light at the front and heavy at the back, and the firepower should be heavy at the front and light at the back. Otherwise, there will be a lot of casualties."

"In addition, Chief of Staff Li also said that the foreign devils have learned their lesson now. They no longer emphasize formation when attacking. They basically attack in a scattered line, and they launch multiple and continuous attacks."

It was expected that the coalition's artillery fire would be fierce, and the power of large-caliber shells would naturally not be small. What surprised Teng Yuzao was that the offensive method that should have been completely changed by the great powers before World War I had actually changed now. It seemed that the great powers were also very powerful in keeping up with the times!

Wu Peifu nodded at the staff officer's words and asked again, "What is the situation in Mingguang now?"

The staff officer took a breath and hurriedly said, "Chief of Staff Li is safe and sound. He has less than 2,000 men left and is still fighting and retreating. He is at most three miles away from the river."

"it is good!"

Upon hearing that Li Jinyu was safe and sound and had about 2,000 men under his command, Wu Peifu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly said to his staff officer.

"Pass on my order immediately. Before the foreign devils attack us, deepen the trenches and dig more anti-artillery holes. Also, order the front-line battalions to place heavy machine guns on the positions. Each battalion will only leave one sentry on the position, and the front-line troops will rotate regularly."

Teng Yuzao was relieved by the staff officer's words, and he said to Wu Peifu.

"After Mingguang retreats, I think the foreign devils will follow and charge desperately to seize the stone bridge. You might as well let some of them come over before fighting them."

"First, use volleys to block the enemy. When their numbers are almost the same, use two heavy machine guns to block the bridge. Use the rest of the heavy machine guns to fire at the foreign devils. Then, use the mortar battalion to bombard the enemy on the other side."

"Also, in the early stages, you should use the mountain artillery of your artillery battalion to bombard the foreign devils and cover the retreating troops across the bridge. When necessary, you can let the mortar battalion take action and give the foreign devils a hard blow."

Half an hour later, as the gunshots got closer, Teng Yuzhao finally saw the retreating troops through his telescope.

Running in the front were more than a thousand officers and soldiers carrying heavy machine guns and wounded soldiers on their backs. Although these people were tired and panting, their steps were still very fast. The heavy machine guns and the wounded soldiers were also carried and lifted by the soldiers in turn, which did not affect their retreat speed.

When they were still a mile away from the stone bridge, under the command of a sentry, three heavy machine guns were placed on the ground, and then a dozen soldiers quickly set up the heavy machine guns, pointing the muzzles in the direction of their retreat, while other officers and soldiers carrying heavy machine guns and carrying the wounded continued to run towards the stone bridge.

The sergeant who was commanding the heavy machine guns did not leave either. Instead, like the other soldiers, he knelt between the three heavy machine guns.

"The alternating screen tactics were done very well!" Teng Yuzhao praised secretly in his heart.

Such alternating cover actually tests the psychological quality of officers and soldiers. In the absence of fortifications to rely on, such a cover mission is extremely dangerous.

However, the area near the river is very flat and there is no place to hide.

Soon after the retreating soldiers passed the stone bridge, the figures of the last batch of officers and soldiers of the Guards Association began to appear one after another amid the chaotic gunfire.

This time, the soldiers carrying the wounded and two heavy machine guns were running in the front. More than 300 meters behind them, a large group of officers and soldiers spread their legs and ran rapidly towards the river.

Three or four hundred meters behind them, a large group of Allied soldiers swarmed in and chased after them.

On the left are more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers in black uniforms, in the middle are more than 3,000 Russian soldiers in khaki uniforms, and on the right are more than 4,000 British soldiers in red shirts, white pants and turbans.

While these coalition forces were chasing madly, they kept firing indiscriminately at the backs of the retreating troops of the Guards Association.

From the distribution of the coalition forces, it can be seen that a Russian regiment was attacking from the front, while a Japanese regiment and a British regiment were making detours from the two wings in an attempt to outflank the more than 1,000 people led by Li Jinyu.

This was probably because the coalition forces were anxious and worried that Teng Yuzhao would escape with a large amount of captured ammunition and supplies, so they dispatched more than 10,000 people at a time, ready to wipe out the blocking force in one fell swoop.

More than 500 meters behind the pursuers, there were large groups of troops in black, khaki, red, and blue uniforms running in formation, their gleaming bayonets gleaming blindingly in the sun.
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(End of this chapter)