Wu Changqing naturally understands the importance of the geographical location of Shanxi City, if the French still come from the Red River this time, it will be the first place, the combat power of the Black Flag Army he specially sent people to understand, it is said that in the past, the exchange of fire with the French was also quite successful, and there were quite some brave generals in the army who were not afraid of death.

It's just that now this army has been recruited by the minister of Nanyang, otherwise he would be very interested in bringing it under his command, this time the news sent by the escort, Wu Changqing was naturally suspicious, and found Yuan Shikai to discuss this matter, after all, the Qingzi army is the main force of the imperial court on the western front in northern Vietnam, and he needs to fully consider the troop layout of the entire battlefield.

Yuan Shikai has been training soldiers in the army with all his strength these days, and some of the problems exposed in the last Hanoi operation, he has spent a lot of effort to compile and train, as the first general of the Qingzi Army to rush across the Red River in the Battle of Hanoi, and won the merits of the Hanoi War for the Qingzi Army, so now Wu Changqing is even more important to him, and the chief officer does not want a few more brave and resourceful generals to emerge under his command.

Coupled with the relationship between Yuan Shikai's family and Wu Changqing, taking advantage of the victory last time, he reported his military exploits to Yuan Shikai, and now Yuan Shikai leads two battalions of soldiers and horses, but he is worthy of the name of the Thousand Commanders of the Sixth Battalion.

Today, the soldiers suddenly came to invite, saying that Wu Changqing was looking for him to discuss matters, which made him very surprised, after all, the situation in northern Vietnam has been stable for more than half a year, and all the battalion officers of the Huai Army regard this Hanoi as a place for leisure and vacation, and run into the city of Hanoi all day long to drink and have fun.

This land of Vietnam is not comparable to the kingdom of the Celestial Empire, very poor, and the military salary of the Huai Army is a famous salary of the All-Heaven Dynasty, many of these officers have bought concubines in Vietnam, anyway, the price is cheap and tight, Wu Changqing's nephew Wu Dong even bought a house in the city, and raised two Vietnamese concubines in it......

However, these small fights in the Huai Army, compared to the Yue Army and the Gui Army, are at most petty fights, after all, this raising a woman, although it violates military discipline, but this daily drill Qingzi Army is still doing, as for the officers to enjoy privileges, this is originally a matter of course, but now the situation is confusing, he is still thinking about admonishing Wu Changqing.

When I arrived at Wu Changqing's Admiral's Mansion, Wang Shuban on the side was already waiting here, and when he saw Yuan Shikai, he hurriedly greeted him, and said with a smile: "Lord Yuan, hurry up and go in, Lord Admiral has been waiting for you for a long time!" ”

Yuan Shikai had a close relationship with this Wang Shuban, and asked as he walked: "Wang Shuban, what is the matter with Lord Wu, who is so anxious to find me?" ”

How could Wang Shuban know this, and after pondering for a while, he replied: "Lord Yuan, I don't know the details, it's just that Lord Zhou, who protected **, came yesterday, and I think it's military!" He looked at no one on the left and right, took out a piece of paper and handed it over, "Lord Yuan, the things you asked me to inquire about are all here, it's not that there are no important things recently!" ”

"Wang Shuban, that's a lot for you, I'll send you a reward when I turn around!" Yuan Shikai haha, unceremoniously stuffed the piece of paper into his arms, this Wang Shuban is the first force he cultivated in the Qingzi Army, and he has been by Wu Changqing's side all the year round, and his daily affairs have not been hidden from him.

And now the shape of the Qingzi Army is very delicate, Wu Changqing is old, and the nephews of the Wu family are honestly not particularly talented people, even if it is his nephew Wu Dong, that is just a brave person, and there is no great ability, Yuan Shikai's appearance obviously proposed some changes for the Qingzi Army, after fully revealing his ability, there have been some far-sighted Qingzi soldiers and horses who have chosen Yuan Shikai, the dark horse.

Entering the house, Wu Changqing was pondering things, beckoned Yuan Shikai to the opposite side of him, thought for a while, and asked: "Comfort Pavilion, the guard ** Zhou Ruidong came to report, saying that they were stationed in Shanxi to make an epidemic, how do you think to deal with it?" ”

Yuan Shikai has some say in the combat power of this protector compared to the rest of the Huai Army...... There is a plague in this Shanxi city, it stands to reason that this army and horses must not be stationed there, and now the soldiers and civilians are mixed in the city, and it doesn't matter if the plague kills the Vietnamese, but it is the vanguard and cannon fodder of the Qingzi Army in North Vietnam, which needs to be used well.

He came to the map to check it, and then pointed to a place on the map opposite the Shanxi Chenghe River, "Admiral, this protector can now be regarded as the soldiers and horses of the Nanyang Minister Qin Kai, if you ignore it, it will be a bit of a refutation of Lord Qin's face, but, I think there are many strange things, and this army and horses performed well in the battle of Hanoi last time, why don't you let them go to Huaijiazhai opposite Shanxi to garrison, if Shanxi is lost, you can urgently transfer them to help!" ”,

Wu Changqing nodded, he also suspected that the protector had the intention of avoiding war, but now the situation is very stable, how can it look like there is a war? Although the French did not seem to have negotiated terms with the imperial court, the Qing army in northern Vietnam was very powerful, and there was still room for it to defend such a few large cities.

"The strategy of comforting the pavilion is good," Wu Changqing nodded and Xu Dao, and then asked: "Then do you think you want to send the Gui army or the Yue army to garrison Shanxi?" This Shanxi garrison can't be vacant! ”

Yuan Shikai stared at the map and said categorically: "My lord, the Gui army and the Yue army can't do it, if there is a war in this Shanxi city, it must be a tough battle, I think our Huai army can fight with the French, but with the French, that is the next policy!" I thought that if the Gui army and the Guangdong army each sent 2,000 people to garrison Shanxi, and the rest of the Guangdong army and the Gui army were stationed in Liushui Town, 10 miles outside the city of Shanxi, and our Huai army was dispatched in the center of Hanoi, we could ensure that Shanxi was worry-free. ”

Yuan Shikai's plan is naturally a practice that fully considers the interests of the Huai army, which can be said to have won Wu Changqing's heart, so an order was immediately issued to the Guangdong army and the Huai army camp, this order was undoubtedly questioned by Wang Ze, the general of the Guangdong army, and He Bang, the commander of the Gui army, but in the will of the imperial court, Wu Changqing is the commander on the surface, and the two are not good to openly disobey, so they have to scold and scold.

However, they are not stupid, and they can naturally understand the work of being cannon fodder in front, so they each transferred 2,000 recruits to be stationed in Shanxi City, and the commandery camp of the two armies is still located in Jigong Mountain in the west of Hanoi, which is only five miles away from Hanoi, and it will be there in a while, so it will not affect the daily enjoyment of these officers in the city.

After Liu Yongfu's street defense order, he crossed the Red River as soon as possible, and there were steam gunboats, which was not an insurmountable obstacle for them at all, so after being transferred to Hexi, he immediately sent a small group of scouts across the Qianshan Mountains in the south to enter South Vietnam for reconnaissance.

Because of the news from Zhou Ruidong, the Qin people who were far away in Guangzhou got the exact news that the French had the intention of going to war, but the specific target of the attack was unknown, and now according to Qin Kai's plan, the hot potato of Shanxi City was handed over to others, but this does not mean that Qin Kai did not pay attention to the defense of Shanxi, with the support of gunboats, they could cross the river at any time to support.

Sure enough, the reconnaissance came with news, confirming that the French had the intention to attack, in the Hejing Pass leading to Shanxi, the soldiers who used to reconnoiter reported that the number of small steamers and land forces there had increased significantly, and in the last war to break the French along the Red River, the French almost took the initiative to withdraw from the Hejing Pass.

However, at that time, Zhou Ruidong was busy absorbing the cities in the west of northern Vietnam, and the matter was delayed again and again, and the French easily held this pass

The Thousand Hills, a watershed between northern and southern Vietnam, soon brought back news from southern Vietnam, and it was clear that the French had not relaxed in the slightest in their preparations for the attack for more than half a year, and in Ban County, South Vietnam, which was separated by a thousand mountains, scouts sent out to find signs of a large number of French troops stationed......

After arresting a Vietnamese indigenous soldier and questioning him, the soldier confessed that there was also a French army brigade stationed in Sangn Prefecture, 20 miles from the rear, and there was a French ** team of tens of thousands in one area, which had already explained a lot of problems, but when the news was sent to Wu Changqing, the reply was to continue the investigation

Liu Yongfu's reaction after receiving the news was completely different, and he immediately issued an order that the troops must complete the initial construction of fortifications within five days, and at the same time set up scout points along the river bank to devote themselves to the pre-war preparations.

In Saigon, Vietnam, the commander of the French Far East Fleet in Cochinchina, Gu Ba, was discussing with a 40-year-old bearded officer, the new commander of the French Far East Fleet, Rear Admiral Miller.

Gu Ba took out a stack of texts and put them on the table, and said with a stern expression: "Major General Miller, this is what I have collected, some information about our France's biggest enemy in the South China Sea - the Nanyang Naval Division, you can study it carefully, I think that if the war resumes, the Qing Nanyang Naval Division will definitely go out to meet the battle!" So it's important to prepare! ”

As for his boss's rather stern discussion of the issue of the Qing Navy, this aroused Miller's interest, but for the commander of the Tokyo Fleet stationed in Tokyo, Japan, he was still very familiar with the situation of the Japanese naval division in the Far East, but in the information, Guba obviously completely despised Japan's combat power, believing that the combat power of the Nanyang naval division was far stronger than the French government imagined. ,

This time, Miller took over the French Far East Fleet also through domestic replenishment, Guba realized the absolute disadvantage of the speed of the French Far East Fleet warships, so from the country to transfer the latest two new cruisers "Thoreau" and "Pompeii", the two recently launched warships, the maximum speed has reached the maximum speed of this makes Guba find a strategy to fight fast.

Gu Bazai carefully conveyed his operational ideas to Miller, and based on the lessons of the previous naval defeats, he proposed that at least five or more warships should be arranged to act at the same time in each naval battle...... Miller has a completely different view on this

After the two handed over the command of the water division, Guba immediately rushed to Sangnuzhou, and with him was the Seventh Brigade of the Army, which had just been transferred from France.

Subic Bay, Philippines, Xu Shoushan, who came here for the first time, was also full of praise for the extremely excellent conditions of this port, and the huge Guangzhou fleet also attracted the attention of Vice Admiral Robben, the commander of the First Fleet of the Spanish Far East, and he immediately met with Xu Shoushan alone, such a huge fleet is definitely enough to launch a war to destroy the country.

This time, Xu Shoushan naturally did not carry such a mission, so he was very sure to Vice Admiral Robben to express the goodwill of the Chinese fleet, and then Mawei Shipping on this side of the large number of goods, dispelled Robben's doubts, and he finally said that the Guangzhou fleet could be stationed in Subic Bay and get supplies.

And he also signed a memorandum with Xu Shoushan that the two fleets would work together to clean up pirates around the Philippines, which was obviously a good opportunity to train soldiers.

After receiving logistical support from Subic Bay, Xu Shoushan left the port with some of the students who were to prospect here and some of the goods that were to trade.

On the port, Yan Xun, the local leader of the Chinese Mutual Masonic Association, had already arrived, and he had already received orders to fully cooperate with these prospecting team members who were carrying out the real thing, and he specially called a few members who were familiar with the local situation.

Hearing that these young men had come to the Philippines in search of mineral veins, the Freemasons were obviously very surprised, knowing that the Philippines had always been short of minerals in the eyes of the Spaniards until the 20th century, and they naturally told the new prospectors about all this situation.

The captain of the prospecting team was Kuang Rongguang, a boy from the United States, who heard the introduction of the local mutual aid members, he was also a little puzzled, and after pondering for a while, he proposed to go to a small copper mine thirty miles west of the city of Olongapo to investigate in order to obtain first-hand information about the mineral resources here.

The local Mawei shipping immediately prepared a carriage, and rushed to this small village called Nading the next day, the small copper mine is the private property of a local indigenous chief, after the Spaniards came, naturally did not let go of these benefits, and soon this copper mine became a way for the Spaniards to participate in the shares, and the local natives were put into the mine in large quantities for mining.

Holding the document signed by Pedro, the governor of the city of Olongapo, Kwong Rongguang entered the small copper mine of Nading very lightly, and in the smelter, he saw that the situation was very bad, and the very old-fashioned wet copper smelting technology was used, which had the advantage of low cost, but the efficiency and purity of the smelting were very bad.

The Spaniards sent to manage this copper mine was a tricky and mean businessman Marin, and after a brief conversation with him, Kwong Rongguang basically concluded that this Marin was a white man for the smelting industry, and the workers who smelted the copper ore here were all indigenous people, no wonder this technology was so backward.

However, Marin did not set up any obstacles for these Chinese with the documents of the Governor, almost let them check everywhere freely, Kwong Rongguang stayed here for two days, personally went down to the pit with the workers several times, and he immediately made a big discovery!

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