Chen Shangfa led the troops to capture Ding Fugui who came back secretly, and found forty taels of silver from him.

After being beaten on the spot, Ding Fugui immediately confessed and admitted that he had done the internal response for the Annan officials.

In a big tent, Chen Shangfa pulled Ding Fugui, who was beaten with a blue nose and swollen eyes, and looked at Sun Bin and said: "This guy sold more than 10,000 of us for dozens of taels of silver, what should I do now, Mr. Sun, you have an idea!" ”

Chen Shangfa was reckless and outspoken, Sun Bin didn't reply to his words after hearing it, and turned his head to look at Ye Chenglin.

"Did the brother detective who went out to investigate hear any news?"

"Mr. Yu, there is a large force of Annam troops assembled in the direction of Hai Phong Province south of Ha Long, and all roads leading from Ha Long to other areas are under martial law."

"How many enemy troops are there? How is the equipment of the troops? ”

"The time for the investigation is urgent, and the subordinates and brothers are not too close to the reconnaissance, but the Annan army camp stretches for dozens of miles, and the number of troops is roughly estimated to exceed 10,000 people.

According to observations, most of the Annan troops on the periphery are equipped with old-fashioned breech guns, and some units are equipped with cold weapons such as knives, guns, bows and arrows. ”

"The French intend to annex Annam and restrict European countries from selling advanced weapons to Annam, and according to the intelligence of the army of Haiphong Province that is usually investigated, the troops under the command of the Governor of Haiphong will not exceed 500 people equipped with breech guns." Based on the information provided by various parties, Sun Bin analyzed the true strength of the Annan team: "Governor of Haiphong Le Yu controls Haiphong and Quang An provinces, and the total number of regular troops in the two provinces is about 10,000, and there is no sign of military dispatch from Hai Duong Province, which shows that this action of Annam's military uniform is not the will of the Hue Imperial Court, but the action of the Governor of Haiphong alone."

Hai Phong province is an important treaty port in the northern part of Annam, and Le Yu is more generous than the inland provinces by extracting commercial tax revenue from the port, but the bulk of the commercial interests are siphoned off by the French, and the financial revenue obtained by Le Yu is not used much for the army, after deducting the money that is handed over to the Hue court and distributed to officials at all levels.

Some time ago, Li Yu led the coastal defense troops to encircle and suppress Wu Yazhong's armed forces, and in the end not only did not wipe out Wu Yazhong, but his troops also lost thousands of troops, from this point of view, the combat effectiveness of Li Yu's troops is not as good as the peasant army troops of the same strength, and our troops in the Ha Long area except for the 300 people stationed on Natuna Island, a total of 1,200 young soldiers, 1,000 Dreiser's breech rifles, 500 old-fashioned muskets, plus 2,700 young men who can be requisitioned in an emergency, the total number of troops that can be mobilized is nearly 4,000. 4,000 men against 10,000 officers and soldiers of Annam, who were weak-willed to fight, had a chance of victory on our side. ”

Before the battle, the morale could not be exhausted, and while analyzing the comparison of the strength of the enemy and us, Sun Bin deliberately highlighted the advantages of the troops of his headquarters and the disadvantages of the Annan team, and deliberately ignored the advantages of the Annan troops in the home battle.

"The troops of Haiphong Province are mobilized near Ha Long, and their hinterland will inevitably be empty, so our army might as well take advantage of the fact that the Annan troops do not know that our army has learned their intentions in advance, and not confront the main force of Annam, but the whole army will break into the hinterland of Haiphong Province and end their nest in one fell swoop."

Wandering operations were a common means of warfare used by the peasant army, and not long after Sun Bin's words fell, Wu Fengdian put forward his own combat plan.

"The main force of our army is out, and there are no troops left in the camp, what should we do with the old and young who stay in the camp?"

Chen Zongbai retorted.

"All the old and young in the camp withdrew into the mountains, and the Xialong camp was left to the Annan troops, and after the main force of our army successfully raided the rear of coastal defense, it was a big deal to gather the old and young to choose a new place to establish the camp."

"Camp Commander Wu's idea is good, but the cost of abandoning the Xialong camp and scattering nearly 10,000 people into the mountains and forests to flee is too great."

Sun Bin spoke up to stop the dispute between the two and said: "Our army is a regular field force, and we can't choose to fight without a rear when we encounter the enemy as in the past.

Our army has been based in Annam for more than a month, training soldiers, guarding a piece of land in Halong, and not expanding its influence outward, not really afraid of the Annam troops in Haiphong and Quang An provinces, but in order to help as many Chinese compatriots in various parts of Annam as possible.

At present, the governor of Haiphong is the enemy of our army for no reason and wants to wipe us out, and there is no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides in this case. Therefore, I decided that since the Annan troops are unkind, don't blame us for being unjust, because the Annan troops want to fight, let's make the formation bigger, eliminate the Annan troops under Li Yu, and take the two provinces of Guang'an and Haining from the hands of the Annamite people as our territory. ”

"Mr. Sun is happy, the brothers don't want to nest in this small place in Xialong for a long time, you give an order, let's attack the grandson of the Annan turtle of the dog day!"

"Don't worry, our army is not in many numbers, and the loss of forcibly attacking the camp of the Annan troops is not small, wait for two more days, in front of the Xialong camp, the whole army will meet the Annan troops!"

"Yes!" All the officers in the tent immediately stood up and saluted, waiting for Sun Bin's specific order.

"Chen Shangfa!"

"I'm here." Chen Shangfa took a step forward and arched his hand.

"The mountain battalion defends the high ground west of the camp, and when the main force counterattacks, it will cooperate with the troops to attack the flank of the Annan troops, and the mountain battalion will rest for half a day, and each person will set off at noon today with three days of dry food."

"Chen Shangfa takes the order!"

"Chen Zongbai and Wu Fengdian, you two lead your troops to immediately build a defense line in front of the camp!"

"Yes!"

"Ye Chenglin, gather all the young and strong people in the camp, and the old muskets in the inventory will be given priority to those with combat experience, and the young and strong who have no weapons will cut down trees, cut long sticks, and tie firewood knives and iron spearhead weapons.

The 1st Battalion and the gathered young men form a reserve, ready to go into battle at any time! ”

"Command!" ……

The order to prepare for war was issued, and all the old and young in the camp were mobilized to dig trenches and strengthen the defense of the camp, and on the other side, Li Yu, the governor of Annan Haifeng, also received news from Ding Fugui.

"Tang Shang Sun Bin immediately went to sea today, God bless the official to exterminate the traitor!"

Scanning the contents of the letter, Li Yu was in a good mood and immediately ordered: "Chen Wuyuan listens to the order!" Two days later, the whole army attacked, and the first battle wiped out the Xialong rebellion! ”

"My lord, only half of the militia groups in Haiphong and Quang An provinces have come, and the other militia troops are still on the way, do you see if you can wait."

"A few militia groups are armed, and when they come, they will follow the soldiers and generals to pick up credit!"

In the official office, an obese military general said proudly: "Your Excellency the governor, rest assured, there are more than 1,000 homeless people and bandits, and 10,000 troops will be crushed in a blink of an eye!" ”

"Good! The dynasty is in need of a pillar of the fierce general like General Chen, after this battle, the official asked for merit for Admiral Chen, and asked the Holy Lord to appoint General Chen as the governor of a province! ”

"Thank you, Governor, for the promotion." The fat general looked happy, said a few more kind words, and then hurried to the barracks to arrange all the preparations before the battle.