Tang Jiong was even more of a hakama, and the minister heard that he thought the water in Vietnam was not good, so he sent a stagecoach to transport water from Yunnan to drink. How can a person like this www.biquge.info fight? ”

"That's an exaggeration." The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to Prince Gong's words and said unhappily: "These people are all discussed by you, why can't this be used?" You go down and discuss it with Bao Jun and the others. ”

Since the Opium War, China has been repeatedly invaded by foreign countries, how can the Empress Dowager Cixi, as the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire, be willing? There's no brilliance on your face like this!

When she heard that Liu Yongfu had won a big victory in Vietnam, she couldn't help but have the idea of war. I wanted to discuss it with Prince Gong, but who would have thought that I would get such a result.

As soon as Prince Gong left, she sulked.

Seeing this, Li Lianying hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Master, don't you understand? Prince Gong is afraid that once the battle situation is unfavorable, it will not be good for him. ”

After listening to Li Lianying's words, the Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to understand, and said with a sneer: "What he thinks is very beautiful, there is no such cheap thing!" ”

"Master, the slave has an idea, I don't know ......"

"Say it"

"Master", Li Lianying said proudly: "The slave thinks that since he is like this, why don't you send someone close to him to participate in the planning, so that you can fulfill your old wishes, and secondly, in the future, he will be dismissed and replaced." ”

That's right, why don't I send someone to participate in the planning, the merit is his, and if there is a fault, it will be pushed to Prince Gong. But who should be sent? The Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but feel worried again.

"Master, it's quite appropriate for the slave to want Prince Alcohol, what do you say?" At this moment, Li Lianying opened her mouth again.

Prince Alcohol has been repairing at home because his son Zai Yan became the emperor, in order to avoid suspicion. His Fujin is the sister of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and he is obedient to the Empress Dowager Cixi on weekdays, so Li Lianying thought of him at this time.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was naturally satisfied when she heard this, and immediately issued an edict ordering Prince Alcohol to participate in the planning of Franco-Vietnamese affairs.

Just when Prince Alcohol was involved in planning the Franco-Vietnamese affairs, the situation changed abruptly. After the French were hit hard by the Black Flag Army, they became angry and angry, so they divided their troops into two routes, one led by Porter to attack the Black Flag Army, and the other was led by the naval commanders Gu Ba and Ho Luo Qi to attack the Vietnamese capital Hue.

The French army on the northern route failed to succeed due to the heroic resistance of the Black Flag Army; However, the southern route was successful, as the lone fleet blockaded the Vietnamese seaports and broke through the Thuan An battery.

At this time, the political situation in Vietnam underwent major changes, the "Emperor of Duc" Nguyen Phuc Anh fell ill and died childless, and the dynasty not only did not work together to resist foreign aggression when strong enemies pressed the border, but instead fought for power with each other, causing internal strife, so that France could take advantage of the opportunity.

In August, the new king Nguyen Phuc Thanh surrendered and signed the 27-article Franco-Vietnamese New Peace Treaty (the First Hue Treaty) with France, and Vietnam claimed to be a French protectorate and declared its independence from the suzerain-vassal relationship with the Qing government.

After the Vietnamese rulers capitated, the French invaders took the occupation of North Vietnam, the elimination and expulsion of the Black Flag Army and the Qing Army there, and then the invasion of China's southwestern frontier as the next military goal, and a head-on conflict between China and France was inevitable.

This great change put the Qing government in an extremely disadvantageous position diplomatically and militarily.

Prince Gong Yi?? also mired in deep contradictions. Speaking from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to fight, because once the war started, all the responsibility was on him. But he is a descendant of the Aixinjue Luo clan, how can he bear to watch the foundation created by his ancestors be ruined like this?

Think about it or focus on the big picture. But how to fight? How could the armies on the front line withstand the French attack?

"Lord Wang, I don't think it's as good as this." Seeing this, Bao Jun said: "Now the diplomatic path has not been completely cut off. It is better to negotiate with France on the one hand, and on the other hand, seize the time to adjust the deployment and prepare for the battle, do you think it is okay? ”

Prince Gong pondered for a long time, Fang nodded, and then entered the palace.

"Sixth Master," Empress Dowager Cixi said with a gloomy face, sitting on a chair, "What do you think we should do now?" ”

Prince Gong replied cautiously: "Queen Mother, the minister thinks that now we should negotiate with France on the one hand, and on the other hand, step up military deployment to meet the French enemy. ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi only thought about starting a war quickly, and when she heard this, she couldn't help shouting:

"When did you negotiate, but what was the result of the negotiation? Now it's fighting in other people's places, and it seems that you can't care much about victory or defeat, but if people come to our land, what should we say? ”

"The Queen Mother was angry, and the ministers were not completely at ease with the negotiations, so they advocated stepping up the deployment of the army while negotiating."

"Negotiation, negotiation! What else would you say besides negotiating? ”

Hearing this, Prince Gong couldn't help it, and said: "The queen mother misunderstood the meaning of the minister, how can the minister not know that it is a good thing to win the battle and make a big noise?" It's just that the front-line strength of our army is too weak, and only in this way can we gain time and make full preparations! ”

"Say no more! Cen Yuying is quite capable of fighting; Tang Jiong has always been brave, Xu Yanxu can also command the army, plus Liu Yongfu, he should be able to win the battle. Passing on the will of the mourning family, Li Hongzhang made the Sino-French and Vietnamese affairs public to the world. It was announced that since the French army had attacked first, our Qing Dynasty had no choice but to fight. ”

"Queen Mother, Minister ......"

Before he could finish speaking, the Empress Dowager Cixi had already spoken: "Retreat!" ”

Seeing this situation, Prince Gong, who was still unsatisfied, had to retreat silently. Back at the military aircraft, Bao Jun hurriedly picked up a cup of tea and asked, "Lord Wang, how is the situation?" ”

"The queen mother's meaning, face the battle immediately!"

"With such a weak front-line force, how can they take the liberty of fighting? At least we'll have to wait until the soldiers arrive......"

"Don't say it, why don't I want to? But what can be done? Hurry up and find the alcohol prince and discuss the deployment. ”

At the moment, the Military Aircraft Department adjusted its deployment: instructed Li Hongzhang to deploy Tianjin defense to consolidate Gyeonggi; Zuo Zongtang was in charge of the defense of the river in case the French fleet invaded from the Yangtze River; Ordered Wang Debang to lead the new army that had been recruited to go out of the customs to resist the law.

Soon after, Xu Yanxu, the governor of Guangxi, was sent out of Nanguan to assist Liu Yongfu, and ordered Tang Jingsong to encourage Liu Yongfu to capture Hanoi.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was bent on winning a battle, but where did she know that the front-line troops were weak, and the only little army was still suspicious of each other among the generals, and the soldiers were afraid of death.

The French army learned that the Qing court was preparing for battle, and hurriedly stepped up their attack on North Vietnam. At the end of the ninth year of Guangxu, Guba led 6,000 invading troops to attack Shanxi in two ways, and the defenders of Tang Jiong's army fled when they heard the news, and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army held on his behalf.

However, due to the jealousy of Xu Yanxu and others, they did not send reinforcements and ammunition, and were forced to withdraw after five days of fierce fighting with the French army, and Shanxi was lost.

In January of the 10th year of Guangxu, Mi Le, who succeeded Guba as commander, took advantage of the victory and led his army to invade Bac Ninh, where Xu Yanxu had 5,000 troops, but fled without a fight, so that the French army easily occupied Bac Ninh in February. (To be continued.) )