nucmednet Chapter 117 Sack
Chapter 117 Sack
"Thank you, General! Let's talk about how to end the war!" Waldersee said, pursing his lips.
He's been talking for ages and it still comes down to death, like you did him a huge favor!
"Let's wait for the imperial decree before discussing negotiations! My rank is too low; I have no authority to make any decisions. My task is to end the fighting within the city first!"
“General, we can order our soldiers to lay down their weapons and surrender. We hope you will treat them humanely.” Seymour was no longer arrogant and spoke in a humble voice.
"I will ask you all to step in if needed. But it's clearly not appropriate now, so you should all go and rest!"
Shen Lian gave them further assurances before having the officers taken away.
"Zhiyuan, why don't we let them come forward and persuade them to surrender? That way we'll have less trouble!" Nie Gongting, who had been silent until the foreigners had all left, finally spoke up and asked.
"Many of these people have blood on their hands. It would be too easy for them to just surrender like this!" Shen Lian grinned crookedly.
"Don't worry, Father-in-law. Although it will take a little longer, it won't be too much trouble!" Shen Lian nodded.
The battle can't end so quickly; he still has a lot to do!
If we attack too quickly, it will cause too many casualties, and it will also make the imperial court and local governors wary!
Anyway, the vast majority of the allied forces are currently trapped in the inner city, where most of the residents are Manchu nobles. Even the Han Chinese are all wealthy and powerful, so Shen Lian has no qualms about them being harassed for a few more days.
A large number of horse-drawn carriages traveled back and forth on the main road, carrying loads of firewood to various outposts.
"Lieutenant, what are they trying to do? They're neither attacking nor offering surrender. Now they're bringing so much timber; are they planning to burn us alive?" a British soldier asked fearfully.
"Probably not. Look around, these are all wooden buildings. If they really wanted to set a fire, they wouldn't need to go through all that trouble. They could just throw a few torches in and it would burn!" The British lieutenant shook his head.
"What else can we do? We'll light a campfire at night to prevent us from breaking out under cover of darkness!" An old soldier, reeking of alcohol, burped and said with a flushed face and glazed eyes.
"Damn it! These Qing troops are too cunning!" the lieutenant cursed. He had originally planned to lead his soldiers in a nighttime breakout.
There were corpses lying in the street; these were people who had tried to rush out during the day. But none of them could escape; they were all killed in the street.
That sandbag fortification on the street was awful; the heavy machine guns inside were keeping a close watch on them. In the end, they even brought over cannons.
These soldiers who came out to rob were all armed with light weapons; facing such fortifications was practically suicide.
The lieutenant watched helplessly as dozens of his comrades died in the streets that afternoon, without even managing to kill a single enemy soldier. He had originally planned to launch a charge that night, but it seemed that was no longer an option!
"Sigh!" the lieutenant sighed, and beckoned the soldiers back into the house. Thankfully, there was no shortage of food and drink here for the time being.
"You, get us some drinks right now!" the soldiers shouted at the homeowner, who, in his fifties or sixties, nodded repeatedly, though he couldn't understand what the British soldiers were saying.
"Locke, shut up! Be polite to them." He gave the soldier a slight reprimand and waved for the homeowner to leave.
The lieutenant was now incredibly grateful that he had stopped his soldiers from assaulting the woman in order to steal more.
The Qing noble family was relatively cooperative, so they didn't kill anyone.
He could easily imagine that anyone who committed a serious crime would not have a good end!
After dark, a large number of carriages began to leave the inner city. They exited through Chaoyang Gate and headed straight for Tongzhou. The Haihe River between the capital and Tongzhou had fallen into disrepair and was no longer passable by large ships. Otherwise, it would have been much simpler to board a boat outside the city gate.
The city was bustling with horse-drawn carriages all day long, but they didn't attract much attention.
At the Tongzhou Wharf, Zheng Jianwu saw Shen Daowu arrive and hurriedly went to greet him. "I didn't expect it to be Commander Shen! Did you really need to personally handle such a small matter? Haha."
"There's no other way, this is of utmost importance! I have to oversee it personally! Enough talk, let's get started on the inventory!" Shen Daowu nodded and said.
"Alright!" Zheng Jianwu beckoned to the instructor behind him and stood by the ship with the chief of staff and clerk brought by Shen Daowu.
Soon, the sacks on the carriage were unloaded one by one. The sacks were very heavy, and it seemed that even two soldiers had to lift them with great difficulty.
The sacks were loaded onto the boat, and soon the gunwale was lowered. After both parties confirmed the quantity and signed, the fully loaded boat immediately departed, and another boat was taken over.
They worked until the early hours of the morning, with hundreds of horse-drawn carts coming and going, before all the sacks were finally transported.
Fortunately, a number of foreign steamships were seized in Tianjin and Tongzhou this time, otherwise it would have been really difficult to transport so much stuff away at once.
"Brother Zheng, I'm entrusting this to you!" Shen Daowu said, clasping his hands in a fist salute.
"Don't worry!" Zheng Jianwu nodded excitedly. Although no one said what it was, everyone knew what it was based on the quantity.
"Xiao Dao! Be careful on your journey, and don't make any mistakes!" Shen Daowu then turned to an officer beside him and said.
"Mission accomplished!" Shen Dao stood at attention and saluted. He was the battalion commander of the first regiment. This time, he was ordered to escort this batch of supplies back to Linqing.
Soon, the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion, who had been lined up on the side, began to board the ship in an orderly manner!
With a whistle, the motorboats on the canal began to paddle away, lined up in a row, heading south!
Watching the speedboat disappear into the distance, Shen Daowu took out a cigarette and lit it. With this batch of supplies, the Shen family will be like a tiger with wings; no one can stop our rise!
Shen Daowu shook his head, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out, then beckoned the horse-drawn carriage team to the warehouse on the dock.
All the warehouses in Tongzhou have now been forcibly taken over by the new army, not to mention the imperial warehouses. The merchants' grain, cloth, and other goods have all been forcibly requisitioned.
However, the new army differed from other imperial armies; it paid for these supplies at market prices. This greatly grateful the merchants, who praised Lord Shen for his strict military discipline and compassion for the people.
At daybreak, a large number of wagons carrying grain arrived at the outer city. Officials from various neighborhoods were organized to begin disaster relief.
For ordinary people at the very bottom of society, not working for a day means no money for food. This war has been going on for several days, and many families have already gone without food.
They never expected the Shandong New Army to actually provide them with rations, and they were so excited that they knelt on the ground and shouted "Shen Qingtian!" once again, Shen Lian's name resounded throughout the capital.