Chapter 115: Pulling back the lead

After Qin Kai finished speaking, he looked at the old fox Li Zhongtang at the top, he still had a thoughtful expression, and Zhou Fu on the side only came up with a human sentence at this time, "Lord Zhongtang, Qin Bu's political envoy's analysis is indeed reasonable, and the lower officials think that they should order Qingjun to move forward...... Lord Qin, how about your troops defend Shanxi and the Qing army to defend Hanoi? ”

It turned out that the idea of the two old foxes was to be cannon fodder by themselves, but no matter how cunning the two old foxes were, they couldn't guess that the first wave of the French offensive came from Haiphong across the sea, instead of taking the old road of Hejing Pass, he mocked the two old foxes fiercely in his heart, then let the French pick up with you!

Qin Kai pretended to think about it, thought about it for a while and said that he had no objection, but he raised the difficulties of recruiting troops in Vietnam, the lack of salaries, the lack of officers, the lack of personnel, and the lack of ordnance, and the two old foxes felt that their goal had been achieved today, and they did not continue to embarrass him in these aspects. ()

With a stroke of his pen, Lord Zhongtang allocated 3,000 fast guns and 200,000 rounds of ammunition from the warehouse of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, the problem of lack of pay is naturally no way, you can do anything but have no money, after Qin Kai bargained, Lord Zhongtang agreed that he would recruit troops on his own, and then act as an officer to protect **, after all, with their ideas, without the Vietnamese soldiers led by the Qing officers, it is impossible to control it at all!

Before leaving, Zhou Fu sent him out, and only then did he quietly say a thorough sentence, which was to comfort Qin Kai, who seemed to be devastated by them, "Lord Qin, Lord Ding has already made an appointment with Lord Zhongtang, Lord Zhongtang is very optimistic about you, this war affairs in Vietnam must be more attentive, if you can achieve results, this position of governor can be expected!" ”

Qin Kai naturally looked honest, thanked him again and again, and raised dozens of middle fingers in his heart, but fortunately, he was good today, and he also made some gains, and after hurrying back to the inn, he discussed the situation of today's negotiation with Sun Fu, Sun Fu was helpless about the yin risk of the two old foxes, and now we can only be regarded as chess pieces, and Li Zhongtang is the one who plays chess.

After discussing the matter, Sun Fu said: "Gale Wind, let me introduce someone to you, haven't you always lacked staff to help take care of paperwork and chores!" ”

"Oh...... Brother Sun, why are people in Tianjin? ”

"You see you first, it is our old brother Chen Bingkun of the Xiangjun, the word Yuanting, a person from Changsha, Hunan, a person who has been in Tongzhi for a year, and I have known each other for many years.

Sun Fu introduced as he walked, and when he arrived in the living room, a short, mediocre-looking middle-aged man had already gotten up and waited, and Sun Fu took a step forward to introduce, "Yuan Ting, this is Qin Bu's political envoy!" ”

The short man arched his hand steadily, "See Lord Qin!" ”

Although this man doesn't look good, but he is calm, it can be seen that he is a person who has done great things, since Sun Fu introduced him to himself, he must be somewhat capable, after sitting down, Qin Kai smiled slightly, and said: "Mr. Chen, I don't know what Mr. is good at?" ”

Chen Bingkun thought about it, but he didn't have any pretentious demeanor, and arched his hand and said: "Lord Qin, there is actually nothing you are good at in Xia, you can help with anything!" ”

Qin Kai was also a little depressed when he heard this answer, he was still an all-rounder, he glanced at Sun Fu, the introducer didn't speak, it seemed that he had to ask something to see his ability, "Ah, it's all, Mr. Chen, I'm going to go to Vietnam to defend in the near future, but the Vietnamese are not useful, where do you see you can recruit soldiers?" ”

This obviously didn't know the purpose of Qin Kai's trip to Vietnam, and frowned, "Lord Qin, how many soldiers do you want to recruit?" ”

"The more the merrier!"

Chen Bingkun glanced at Sun Fu, and was a little puzzled in his heart, this Qin Bu political envoy, Sun Fu introduced him as a great person, and now he doesn't seem to know much in his mind, he really thinks he is Han Xin, the more the merrier!! Although he thought so in his heart, he still had the same look when he spoke: "I don't know what the adults want from this soldier?" ”

"Disciplined, commanded, literate! Two of the three conditions are met! ”

This answer is quite interesting, this one thought about it, and stretched out a slap, "My lord, give me 50 people, bring 5,000 taels of salary, and recruit 3,000 soldiers for you in half a month, it will definitely meet your conditions!" ”

Qin Kai looked at Sun Fu, Sun Fu nodded at him, which naturally meant to recognize this person's ability, "Okay, Mr. Chen, then you will have to work hard, in five days, someone from Mawei Shipping will contact you, and everyone will pay for the silver!" ”

――――――――――――

Hanoi, the largest city in central Vietnam, has waterways extending in all directions, and the tax silver of merchant ships is an important income of Vietnam's collet, Admiral Hoang Zuo Yan of Hanoi Province, and today the little official in charge of tax collection saw a small steamer spitting black smoke in the distance, and suddenly his soul fell out, and he ran all the way out of the house by the river, shouting "The French are coming......

There are two small sailing boats parked at the mouth of the river, which are used to intercept merchant ships on weekdays, and the soldiers on board also disperse in a hurry after hearing the movement, and the various small boats moored on the pier are even more nervous to untie the cables, but the ships coming from a distance are going upstream, and these small boats want to run through the small steamer in the countercurrent, it is obviously impossible...... Suddenly, the pier in Hanoi was luàn made a ball!

He Xiaojun stood in the wheelhouse, holding a telescope to observe the dock in the distance, and muttered, "Hanoi Mansion!" The most important city on the Red River! Brother is here...... Don't be so panicked with these Vietnamese boys! ”

At this time, the Governor's Mansion in Hanoi City had already made a fuss, the first urgent report came in, and Huang Zuoyan, who was listening to the little song in Youzai, was almost scared, after Hue City was beaten down by the French, he had anxiety, and he wondered all day what to do when the French called, and this problem has not yet come up with a result, how did this happen today!

"Close to the city mén! Ordered Huang Hu to take four battalions of soldiers and horses to the city tower immediately, and the French could not be allowed to approach in any case! Huang Zuoyan shouted hysterically.

So when the six small steamers slowly approached the dock, He Xiaojun had already noticed the strange situation here, and after asking the guide, this Jingjing thin Vietnamese guide guessed the thoughts of their compatriots for the first time, what a stupid Vietnamese!

He immediately ordered to go to the dock, and then asked his soldiers to go to the city with the edict, and the Vietnamese lieutenant general on the tower of the city also knew about the governors of the four provinces, and after checking the edict, he hurriedly reported to Huang Zuoyan of the governor's palace.

Huang Zuoyan was also shocked when he heard the news, the matter of the governors of these four provinces was clearly that he couldn't get along with himself, and he was the governor of Hanoi's military affairs and civil affairs......

"Master Horse, this person is not good!" Master Ruan next to him reminded carefully.

Huang Zuoyan looked at Master Ruan, "What do you say?" ”

"Master Horse, the smoking warships on the Red River were originally owned by the French, and the guards who came back also have them, so they are not easier to deal with than the French! I don't think it's appropriate to let these people into the city! Master Ruan said.

"You're so funny! People are holding the official seals of the governors of the four provinces to press me, can I prevent them from entering the city!" If you don't let them enter the city, it will be against the court...... But what you said is also reasonable, send people to spread the word, the city is small, the officers can enter the city, and the soldiers ask them to camp at the docks!"

As a result, after the herald went to deliver the order, the result of sending it back surprised Huang Zuoyan again, the soldiers of the 6 boats did not plan to enter the city at all, only some ordinary people who accompanied the boat entered the city! It's best not to go into the city, Huang Zuoyan secretly considered.

"Hanoi is the largest city in northern Vietnam, with more than 8,000 Vietnamese troops stationed" At this time, on the small steamer, Zhou Ruidong was introducing the situation nearby to all the officers, "Everyone has seen the situation here, from the small-caliber artillery on the Red River can easily bombard the city wall!" However, the thickness of this wall is more than 4 meters, and it is not easy for small-caliber artillery to collapse the wall. ”

Ouyang Qing, the officer of the scout team, hurriedly came in at this time, "Report to Commander Zhou, the Mutual Masonic Working Group has entered Hanoi along the way, and the Vietnamese have not sent anyone to follow or investigate!" ”

"Excellent! What's new? ”

"Huang Zuoyan seems to be very hostile to us, and after knowing the identity of Zhou's commander of the four provinces, he still ordered the four battalions of troops to stand by, and the leader of the troops is his clan brother, named Huang Hu!"

Zhou Ruidong knocked lightly on the table, "Regardless of him, let the full strength of the Freemasons develop their forces in the villages inside and outside the city, we will continue to wait for news here, and the battalions will be stationed ashore and strictly guarded!" ”

"Commander, are we going to take the tower?" "Knock out this dog's tooth surnamed Huang, and you won't let us enter the city?" The officers began to talk.

Zhou Ruidong made a quiet movement, and immediately the officers closed their mouths one by one, staring at him and preparing to listen to his instructions, "Hanoi is the largest city in the plains of central Vietnam, and it is convenient to pass by land and water, you have all put your soldiers in prison, it is not yet time, you must not move lightly until you get my instructions, the people of that team cause trouble, and immediately send them to burn the boiler, the military law is ruthless, you weigh it yourself!" ”

"Yes!!" The officers all shouted in reply.

A day later, a large number of merchants came to the east of the city, and several soldiers guarding the city were thinking about slaughtering the féi sheep, but they were frightened by the official document in the hand of a vicious man in front of them, which turned out to be the goods on the Donghou Mansion in Beijing Town, and sent to the Song family shops in the city. ,

The Song family's shop in the east of the city quickly sent a message to Zhou Ruidong on the wharf, confirming that because of the last French invasion, Shanxi and Yuehe in the upper reaches of the Red River had been garrisoned by the Black Flag Army to assist in the defense. After receiving the news, in the afternoon of the same day, the six small steamers on the pier spit black smoke again, and then left Hanoi City under the nervous gaze of the Vietnamese soldiers on the city tower.

Leaving Hanoi and heading west, the surrounding situation became more and more desolate, except for the occasional military station or two on the shore, even the common wooden boats and fishermen upstream were difficult to touch, the guide explained that because it was close to the Ha Tinh Pass, the French had sent troops from there many times, so most of the residents of this generation fled to Tuyen Quang and other places upstream or in the mountains of the northwest.

The soldiers were naturally full of vigor for such a relaxed exercise, sleeping and looking at the scenery, while the officers were busy checking the location of the mountain passes and rivers on both sides of the river, marking them with pencils on the map, and how the officers were organized to discuss the defensive and offensive battles on this inland river after landing on the shore in the evening.

At noon on the second day, in the narrow part of the river in the distance, a dilapidated city was revealed, Zhou Ruidong had already begun to observe this important stronghold on the Red River Delta - Shanxi Province, compared to Hanoi Province, the scale of the city is much smaller, and the overall appearance is obviously a city dominated by armaments, even the pier near the river has built a fort, and two heavy cast iron cannons can be seen, but the direction of the artillery is the Hejing Mountain Pass in the southwest of the upstream.

Obviously, the people on the shore soon found that the fleet was going upriver in the west, and immediately the sound of gongs sounded on the shore, and Zhou Ruidong clearly saw that there were many soldiers rushing out of the city, holding weapons such as long guns and broadswords, and there were also very few foreign guns, these soldiers had various military uniforms, but a black sè flag fluttering high on the city tower was the black sè pennant of the Big Dipper in the center that the instructor and he carefully described.

The small steamer slowly stopped in the heart of the river, and the first one commanded by He Xiaojun, who was the vanguard, continued to slowly lean towards the shore, and he naturally saw those soldiers with mixed weapons on the shore, this kid was very slippery, this inexplicable situation, as soon as he came up, maybe that bastard boy couldn't hold the fire, and it was a big loss to wipe the skin!

So before he could get ashore, he let dozens of soldiers shout loudly, "The Great Qing Dynasty sent a visit to Lord Liu, the deputy governor of Sanxuan......"

On the shore at this time, in charge of the defense at the mouth of the city is the Black Flag Army's left battalion Yang Zhusi, for this kind of fast small steamer on the Red River, they are not uncommon, they are all French warships, many also carry small cannons, on this river fight is very powerful, the Black Flag Army has always watched, can't hit, can't beat at all!

Today, he suddenly ran from the direction of Hanoi to slip such a small steamer, he was also a little confused, could it be that Hanoi beat the French, it stands to reason that there are also Black Flag soldiers over there, and they should come to report the news! He did not order the immediate fire, for he heard the men on the boat shouting, but in the proper Chinese.

He turned his head and asked the soldiers next to him, "Li Slender Man, what are they shouting, did you hear it clearly?" ”

A group of pro-soldiers next to him all tilted their heads sideways, "Brother Yang, it seems to be some kind of cutting board!" ”

"It's obviously a chincha!" Yang Zhusi patted Li Thinzi's head, "You stupid, what kind of ears, you will listen to the cutting board...... "Hurry up and take a few people to the dock to greet you, ask clearly, and come back to talk!"

Seeing that someone on the opposite side ran out and waited on the dock, He Xiaojun was relieved to let the boat come up, and took out the document Jiāo to the few Black Flag Army soldiers who came to interrogate.

Zhou Ruidong stood in the cockpit and watched the movement on the shore, and saw He Xiaojun swaggering in, and met with a team of black flag soldiers who came out of it, and after a while, He Xiaojun sent the prepared gifts again. It was in the battle of Hue that captured a batch of intact French rifles, as well as the breech máo serpent that was eliminated in the horsetail army, and the number was nearly two hundred.

Soon He Xiaojun sent out a signal, and five small steamers slowly approached the simple boat dock in Shanxi City, after Zhou Ruidong got off the boat, Yang Zhusi had already followed He Xiaojun over, and after some introduction, the two sides were not polite, Yang Zhusi told that someone had been sent to inform Admiral Liu, and immediately welcomed several officers into Shanxi City. ,

Now there is a prefect appointed by the Vietnamese in Shanxi City, and the military affairs are handled by the Black Flag Army. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Zhusi told the truth very frankly, the French did not send many soldiers, only four or five hundred people, five or six boats, because the Black Flag Army on the Red River also had no warships, so they could only let them pass Guò, unable to intercept, these French arrived in Hanoi began to prepare for the siege, just Liu Yongfu Admiral with 500 people stationed in Hanoi waiting for the delivery of food, so he assisted the thousands of soldiers and horses in Vietnam to defend.

The French muskets and artillery are powerful, but they can't break the city of Hanoi, Admiral Liu took the men and horses out of the west mén in the middle of the night, attacked the French barracks, and killed nearly 100 French people in a fierce battle, but unfortunately failed to break the camp, after dawn, worried about being attacked by the small cannons on the French ships, they temporarily withdrew to the city, and the French slipped back on the same day with heavy casualties.

Zhou Ruidong naturally saw the equipment of the Black Flag Army, all of which were old-fashioned bird guns and muskets, and most of them were cold weapons for hand-to-hand combat, which was indeed very difficult to defeat the enemy in night combat, and he nodded in admiration at the moment.

When he arrived at a big mansion in the city, there were already four or five officers waiting at the entrance of Mén, surrounded by a tall middle-aged man in front of him, looking at the appearance of Yu Xuanang, Zhou Ruidong had already guessed that this should be Liu Yongfu, the leader of the Black Flag Army.

The first contact between the two sides was unusually polite, which made Zhou Ruidong feel a little surprised, measured by his standards, the Black Flag Army should have no new enmity with the Qing Army, and there was some old hatred, but in fact, starting from Yang Zhusi, who was the first to come forward, to Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Three Xuan, the Black Flag Army did not seem to have too much rejection of his uninvited guest.

"Lord Liu, under is Zhou Ruidong, the chief of the guard, who came to meet with the Lord Qin on the secret order of the political envoy of Fujian, to discuss this plan against the French!" Zhou Ruidong spoke first.

Liu Yongfu didn't speak, as if he was looking down to think about it, and a man in his twenties next to him who looked like a scholar first smiled and asked: "This matter of fighting against the French, our Black Flag Army has been doing it for a long time, I don't know what you are here to discuss?" ”

"What is your surname, sir?" Zhou Ruidong knew at a glance that this must be a scribe like a staff officer in the Black Flag Army.

"In Xia Hou Xian, take care of some chores in the army!" This scholar is the junior of Liu Yongfu's younger brother, and he is also a rookie in the Black Flag Army.

"Mr. Hou, although the Black Flag Army can fight habitually, but this battle with the French is already a national war, and the political envoy of Qin Bu has always admired the Admiral and the Black Chess Army fighting alone, so this time I specially asked the court for a will, and I vouched for it, and asked the Admiral to fight against the French together with the protector!" Zhou Ruidong usually doesn't talk much, but he has always spoken categorically and rarely talks nonsense.

"Lord Zhou has already sent more than 200 fast guns just now, all of them are French guns and German máoser!" Yang Zhusi on the side said at this time.

This gift did arouse the interest of the military attachés of the Black Flag Army present, and some of the military attachés still had puzzled expressions, and they all began to recognize Zhou Ruidong's sincerity at this time, after seeing the firearms of the French on the battlefield, they naturally understood the benefits of this, although the Black Flag Army also had some captures, but they would not be repaired and the bullet was lacking, which had long been regarded as a treasure in the army.

Now the guard ** took out such a big gift at once, which can better reflect sincerity than saying 10,000 words, and at that time, several military attachés happily gave Zhou Ruidong a thumbs up.

Liu Yongfu is obviously an understanding person, it is time for him to speak, at this time, he also raised his head and arched his hand towards Zhou Ruidong, laughed, and said: "Lord Zhou, this is to thank Lord Qin on your behalf, this generous gift is really ashamed!" I wonder what arrangements Lord Qin has for my brothers? ”

Seeing Liu Yongfu ask this, Zhou Ruidong knew that most of the matter had been done, and now it was time to continue to make fierce predictions, "Admiral Liu, over there in the imperial court, Lord Qin has already promoted the Lord to garrison Fujian, and it belongs to the Nanyang Naval Division, and this Black Flag Army is still under the control of the Lord!" In addition, military attachés in the army will be assigned official positions according to their duties, and if they have military merits, please be rewarded! ”

This garrison is already a military attache of the fifth grade, and a few steps up is the general who leads the party, for the Black Flag Army who has just accepted Zhao'an, this army is not dispersed, that is the greatest reward, you know, this is recruited by the imperial court, and it can continue to carry its own soldiers and horses steadily, which is definitely a rare thing. ,

Liu Yongfu is still quite satisfied with the position of the team, after all, he still has to fight with the French on this front line after receiving Zhao'an, the important thing is to give military power and weapons, these two points are obviously thought of by this Qin Bu political envoy for him, and the only problem now is the credibility of this Qin Bu political envoy......

However, there seems to be no room for doubt at this point, this is not only the Qin Cha of the Great Qing Kingdom, but also the official position of the Governor of the Four Prefectures on the side of the King of Vietnam, but this kind of major matter naturally has to be cautious, and he naturally has to leave some time to think about it carefully, "Lord Zhou, thank you for the kindness of the political envoy Qin Bu, allow me to discuss it with the brothers, can you?" ”

Zhou Ruidong smiled slightly, "Lord Liu, then I will leave first!" ”

Liu Yongfu arched his hand and asked Yang Zhusi to arrange the camp where he was stationed, and immediately sent people out to call the leaders of each battalion back to announce the matter.

Yang Zhusi arranged the garrison of the first battalion in an open space behind the dock, and did not leave, and soon saw a group of soldiers coming down from the ship, and quickly began to camp in the open space, those soldiers and officers wielded a small shovel, and quickly completed the clearing of the debris around the station, and cut down trees to build improvised fortifications. Soon there were a lot of thick iron pipes on the ship that were easily lifted down by a few soldiers and placed behind the fortifications, and I don't know what they were.

He noticed that there seemed to be no special difference between the soldiers and the officers when they were busy, and even the general was busy directing the camp, and he did not take out his small shovel and dig up.

Several of Zhou Ruidong's personal soldiers brought freshly boiled tea and placed it on a few stone tables, Yang Zhusi immediately noticed that the weapons on their backs were not French fast guns and German máo, this guy was also a Jing Ming, and after careful observation, he immediately found that the spears used by these soldiers seemed to be very similar to the German máo, and the officers rarely used spears, but used a kind of thing with holes on the periphery of the barrel.

Weapons undoubtedly have this great attraction for every officer, and after pondering for a while, he still asked, "Lord Zhou, the firearms used by your soldiers here and your own soldiers seem to be very different!" ”

Zhou Ruidong stayed here to observe slowly to have this effect, and laughed, "Commander Yang, we will all be a family in the future, and this family will not talk to two families, Chen Fatty!" Come over that rifle ......"

This imitation Máo Se 98 AK02 rifle, it is very heavy in his hand, Zhou Ruidong looked around, not far from the city wall There is a seemingly useless wooden plank, he smiled, pulled the bolt, raised the gun flat shè, bang, the wooden board immediately had an obvious dong eye, and then there was a standard rear bolt action, and it was another shot......

After 5 rounds of bullets in a row were completed, Yang Zhusi on the side was completely stunned, took the rifle and watched it again and again, this kind of fast gun loaded with 5 bullets at a time has exceeded his imagination, the French gun and the old máo are much inferior to this! Seeing the appearance of this guy who couldn't put it down, Zhou Ruidong was very happy to let him resist and go back.

Yang Zhusi went back for only an hour, and came to invite Zhou Ruidong again, and on the way, he said all the bottom materials, "Liu Shoubei has agreed to Lord Qin's construction, but I hope to allocate more new fast guns that he took back!" ”――

When Qin Kai received the telegram from Zhou Ruidong, he was being politely questioned by He Xing, the chief financial officer, and although the income had steadily increased last month, the entire Mawei treasury had shrunk......

"Brother Qin, at the end of the previous month, the balance of the Mawei Silver Treasury was 17.3 million taels of silver, and the balance of the account room this month was only 16 million taels. But the income from ready-to-wear has increased by another piece, I let the account room calculate, and last month you spent 2.6 million taels of silver! ”