At the end of February 1881, a messenger from the Governor of Hanoi for help arrived in Jin Phu, the capital of Quang Ninh Province, and informed Mai Dong Hung and others of the situation outside Hanoi by the French army.

"The situation in Hanoi is in crisis, after the Governor General rejected the unreasonable demands of the French, the leader of the French bandits, Li Weiye, was annoyed and angry, and sent 200 marines and the ironclad ship Junle from Haiphong Province to reinforce Hanoi, and now the total number of French troops and Annam rebels gathered outside Hanoi is nearly 2,000 people, and Li Weiye also sent an ultimatum to the Governor, asking the Governor to disarm the defenders of Hanoi within three days, and completely hand over the land of Hanoi, Quang Ninh, and Lang Son provinces to the French army!

The Fayi were arrogant, and the Governor, unwilling to be humiliated, had solemnly rejected their request. However, Fa Yi Chen Bing Hanoi this time, is prepared, the Governor is worried about delaying the country's major affairs, specially appointed villains to come to meet your lords, please see the courtesy and respect of the Tang people of the Celestial Empire in recent years, send troops to rescue Hanoi City, and when Fa Yi retreats and the crisis in Hanoi is resolved, the Governor will personally ask for credit for your lords! ”

"What is the situation in Hanoi? How many troops are stationed? What is the state of weapons and equipment of soldiers? ”

"I don't dare to deceive you, the country is in charge of the northern region's money and grain taxes

All of them were controlled by the French, and the annual customs duties paid by Hanoi Province totaled about 300,000 silver dollars, but of which only 100,000 silver dollars were available to the Korean government, and the rest was all controlled by the French and the rebels who depended on the French.

Hanoi Province has insufficient revenues from taxes, money and grain, and every time the officers and soldiers are recruited to fight against the rebellion, they can only be dealt with by the local people.

The Governor is in charge of the military affairs of Hanoi and Tay Son provinces, although there are more than 10,000 soldiers, but the recruited soldiers are all local people to deal with one draw, in wartime, there is nothing to do in Tuntian, the army is not strong enough, and the bandits are suppressed in peacetime, and they can still deal with it, but Li Weiye's troops outside the city of Hanoi are equipped with foreign guns and artillery, and the armor is sharp, and it is difficult to win with the armed forces of more than 10,000 people in the city alone. ”

"The Annan army is weak and unable to encircle and suppress the local rebels, so it is no wonder that the French are pressing forward step by step with the intention of bringing the entire territory of Annam under their colonial rule."

If it weren't for the Nanyang Army to help the Annam government put down the rebellion, I am afraid that the French would not be able to attack, and the Nguyen dynasty would also be destroyed and overthrown in the internal peasant uprising.

"The provinces of Hanoi, Quang Ninh, and Lang Son are all one, and the armies of our two provinces will definitely not sit idly by and ignore the crisis in Hanoi, please return to Governor Hoang, within two days, this official will personally command the army of Quang Ninh and Lang Son to support the city of Hanoi, and also ask Governor Hoang to strengthen his determination to defend the city against the enemy, and not to sacrifice his life to serve the country, resulting in the loss of a great virtuous minister and famous general of the dynasty."

Even if they don't look down on the Annam government in their hearts, considering the objective reality that the interests of the two sides are the same, the Nanyang Army still needs to pull the other side at a critical juncture in Hanoi.

"Come, choose a few good horses from the army, and send two more people back to Hanoi with the messenger to show Governor Hoang that our army is determined to support the defenders of Hanoi." …………

Sending off the messenger from Hanoi City for help, Mai Dong Hung summoned the main officers of the Nanyang Regiment to discuss the response plan.

"The total number of French colonial troops in Annam is about 5,000 people, and judging from the information obtained by our army and the information explained by the messenger of Annam, the number of French troops gathered in the northern provinces should be about 3,000 people, and the number of French troops on the front line is equal to the strength of our regular army."

Mei Dongxing said with a solemn expression: "The French colonial government still has more than 2,000 colonial troops in the southern region, if the war in the north reaches a stalemate, the governor of Cochinchina, Lu Mei, is likely to take a risk, and send the southern garrison to take a warship to attack our army's base in Quang Ninh Province.

The French have maritime superiority in the South Seas, and our army needs to leave the necessary troops behind to guard against the threat of the French from the sea before sending troops to support the defenders of Annam in Hanoi. ”

"Among the more than 3,200 colonial troops stationed by the French in the northern region, the strongest comprehensive combat effectiveness is 900 marines, and the French marines are composed of white soldiers, and they are equipped with rifles and artillery, which are slightly stronger than our army in terms of weapon performance.

However, in addition to the 900 marines, the remaining 1,300 Annam colonial troops and 1,000 black colonial troops were generally equipped with old-fashioned breech rifles, and the soldiers lacked combat literacy and weak combat will, and in the case of the same strength, they were no match for the regular army of the Nanyang Legion.

Therefore, his subordinates believe that the operational focus of our army should be on dealing with the enemy's marines, try to concentrate superior forces, use Hanoi City as a bait, encircle and suppress the enemy's marines in the Hanoi area, and force the colonial government of Cochinchina to delay or abandon the plan of occupying the northern part of Annam by force. ”

Exploring France's military strength in the Nanyang region has been the focus of the military intelligence department's intelligence work in recent years, and Liang Xing obtained a lot of military information about the number of French colonial troops and the distribution of garrisons under the cover of overseas Chinese scattered throughout the Nanyang region.

He agreed with Minister Liang that the colonial rule of the French in Annam was nothing more than a set of mutual hostage, using the rebellious Annan to assist the French in governing the people in the occupied areas, and then transferring a group of black troops from the African colonies to create conflicts between the Annam colonial army and the African colonial army by taking advantage of the vicious incident of the black soldiers' tyrannical temperament and frequent attacks on the people of Annam, so as to prevent the convergence of the two colonial armies and maintain the stability of French colonial rule.

However, the Annam colonial army and the black African army, which were attached to the bluff of the French, were only cannon fodder troops after all, and could not pose a great threat to our army.

Most of the marines under Lu Mei were transferred to the northern region to carry out armed deterrence against the Annam government, and the French colonial troops who remained in the six southern provinces, the marines were only more than 300 people, even if they launched an attack on Quang Ninh Province from the sea by boat, they did not need to worry too much, leaving 1,000 regular troops and 1,500 militia armed to defend various places, which was enough to deal with possible attacks by the French,

The remaining more than 2,000 main forces of the Nanyang Army and more than 1,500 militia troops can converge with Lu Zhiping, Li Yasheng and other Chinese armed forces, steadily march in the direction of Hanoi, and after getting in touch with the governor of Hanoi, further arrangements will be made according to the reaction of the French army. ”

"The focus of the central government is on the homeland, and Annam is not less than thousands of miles away from the homeland, and if the scale of the war expands, it will also be detrimental to the Nanyang Army."

Mei Dongxing synthesized the suggestions of the two and made a decision to deal with it, saying, "The main purpose of the operation to march into Hanoi is to strive for peace, if the French insist on provoking a war, the Nanyang Army from top to bottom, there can be no hesitation, and we must have the determination to defeat the enemy.

Although the Nanyang army hopes for peace and stability in the Nanyang region. Only by hurting the enemy and making the French feel the consequences of bullying the Nanyang Legion step by step, will they face up to the courage and strength of the Nanyang Legion and the Han soldiers, and we will have the opportunity to force the French to sit at the negotiating table and exchange what they want with equivalent terms, instead of simply relying on the guns in their hands to grab it! ”

Mei Dongxing's tone was sonorous, he stood up and said firmly: "The situation in Hanoi changes three times a day, in order to prevent accidents from happening, I have decided that before noon tomorrow, the troops will assemble and set off, and at the same time order Lu Zhiping, Li Yasheng and other armed forces to quickly advance in the direction of Hanoi, and join the main force of our army nearby, and all armed forces must rush to the designated meeting place within three days. ”…………

There are more than 4,000 Chinese armed forces in northern Annam, and these Chinese armed forces usually receive food, weapons and supplies from the Nanyang Legion and the training of instructors of the Nanyang Legion, so although they are distributed in various provinces in the northern part of Annan, they are directly under the command of the Nanyang Legion, and once they face the threat of foreign war, the Nanyang Legion will also use the Chinese armed forces hidden in various places to launch an attack on the enemy.