"Vice Admiral Miller, commander of the Tokyo Fleet, can command the Far East Fleet in my place, however, I think that in the war in North Vietnam, try to focus on blockade, and there is no need to seek a decisive battle with the Qing fleet, according to the latest information I have learned, the Qing State has dispatched more than ten new warships in the naval battle with Japan, which needs to attract our sufficient attention" Gu Ba did not enjoy peace of mind in the past half a year, and he desperately tried to understand the situation of the Chinese naval division from various channels.

"Well, I'll do my best to contact Paris, and wait for the parliament to pass the budget for the increase of troops and military expenses in the north of Vietnam, and you can go north with a lonely general."

The birthday party in the governor's mansion was still being staged, and no one expected that in this mansion, the other two people had already decided the life and death of tens of thousands of people while tasting French red wine.

In the Zhiling Fortress in northern Vietnam, Zhou Ruidong has been preparing for war for half a year, and now all the territory in northern Vietnam from 50 miles east of Hanoi to the South China Sea has been under the control of the Protector Army, and even officials at all levels have been replaced by officials of the pro-Protector Army or the Song Xing system.

Outside the Zhiling Fortress, there is now a super large barracks, the First Association of the Protector Army originally had three regular battalions and a logistics battalion, with a total strength of 2,200 people, in the last war, this force could not control such a huge land at all, so when Zhou Ruidong asked the teacher how to maintain the local control, Qin Kai gave him an idea.

As a result, for the first time in the land controlled by the Vietnamese Protector Army, a new organization appeared -- the Patrol and Arrest Bureau, in fact, Qin Kai's name was the police, but Zhou Ruidong felt very strange about the name "police", and he changed its name to the Patrol and Arrest Bureau according to the functions of this new agency -- to inspect the county seat and arrest criminals.

Another new organization was also established at Qin Kai's request, and Ouyang Qing, who was originally a student soldier of the First Association Intelligence Brigade, who originally carried out military reconnaissance missions, came forward to set up the Intelligence Department of the National Defense Army, and collected intelligence through Guò Mutual Freemasons and personnel stationed in various parts of northern Vietnam.

Of course, as a customary measure of the horsetail system, the first batch of intelligence officers, including Ouyang Qing and several other chief officers, were sent to Guangzhou as required to participate in a three-month training in intelligence gathering skills

This makes everyone feel very honored, you must know that Ouyang Qing is a student of Qin Kai Mawei Ship Master School, but some others are Vietnamese Chinese, and some are from the Mawei Security Corps, and now they can study with the governor again, which can be regarded as establishing the friendship between teachers and students, no matter what era, the relationship between teachers and students is a very stable bond.

And Qin Kai has always wanted to set up such an intelligence department, but there has been no suitable candidate before, he originally planned to let Lu Shu or Song Yunze around him do this, but the two of them have no actual experience, even if Qin Kai takes out the information of later generations to teach it by hand, it may not work.

Zhou Ruidong obviously made a useful attempt, and even took the lead in setting up a reconnaissance brigade with intelligence as the main line on the Vietnamese front; after two major battles, Ouyang Qing can be said to have started from scratch and explored a set of methods by himself, and the intelligence gathering work of the reconnaissance brigade can be regarded as very effective.

And this time, Qin Kai's training materials came from the basic course of intelligence science in the later military academy, but after he excerpted it, it became a "Mawei Intelligence Manual", after getting this book, Ouyang Qing was like a treasure, and the concepts mentioned in the book were completely the refinement of their experience in practice.

Although Qin Kai was also engaged in intelligence collection by the Security Bureau before he crossed over, but the concept of intelligence in his time was completely different from that now, and the application of light brain and machine qì people made the concept of intelligence collection and sorting change dramatically, so he could only talk to these students about some basic concepts, and then have some exchanges, but this benefited the students a lot.

However, within two days of Ouyang Qing's happiness, Qin Kai also took a few classes, and this intelligence training course became a self-study and exchange based on him, and Qin Kai's instructor would appear from time to time and take out a few materials related to intelligence to provide them with learning.

However, after only ten days of the intelligence training course, Qin Kai hurriedly called Ouyang Qing and told him that the military situation in Vietnam was urgent, and it was estimated that there would be war soon, and some of the trainees in the training course were immediately sent back to North Vietnam to start organizing intelligence collection work against South Vietnam. ,

And Ouyang Qing was found by Qin Kai alone, to be honest, Ouyang Qing, as a student in Qin Kai's class, belonged to the very low-key category, until Zhou Ruidong recommended him, Qin Kai's impression of this student was limited to communication in the class, this is a quick-thinking student, and he is particularly interested in some postmodern concepts that he occasionally mentions in class......

After retiring from others, Qin Kai motioned for Ouyang Qing to sit opposite the coffee table, then poured the tea, and asked with a smile: "Ouyang Qing, what do you think about this training in information science?" ”

Ouyang Qing took out a small notebook from his arms, looked up at Qin Kai, and suddenly asked, "Teacher, I have carefully studied your booklet, but most of the content in it is actually not used for front-line teachers, do you have other plans?" ”

Qin Kai nodded with satisfaction, his student does have some intelligence talent, for battlefield reconnaissance, Qin Kai did not describe too much in the booklet, after all, he transferred this group of people back in order to prepare for his own intelligence system, and now the vast majority of the channels for inquiring about information in the Mawei system come from Mawei Shipping.

Mawei Shipping has opened stores in more than a dozen large treaty ports, and the standard configuration is a shopkeeper, a bookkeeper, and a local supervisor, and the three of them contain each other, and everything needs to be discussed, so that there are very few mistakes in money and goods, and these three people have been screened layer by layer to ensure that Qin Kaidu has full control of these branches.

He took out a plan and pushed it down in front of Ouyang Qing, "Ouyang, look at it, I hope to build such an organization within three months, do you think it can be done?" ”

Ouyang Qing was stunned for a moment, he also guessed Qin Kai's intentions, and he had also privately pondered the size of this organization, in his opinion, in the initial stage, Lord Qin should let him complete the training of personnel, and then collect intelligence in Guangzhou and Vietnam, and gradually train the team.

Unexpectedly, after getting the plan, Qin Kai's idea was far more huge than his, and the first batch was to set up a news collection agency relying on Mawei shipping in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Tianjin, Nanjing, and Beijing.

With the current shipping speed, the news from each port can reach Guangzhou within three days at the earliest, of course, the Beijing side is a little slower, which has basically met Qin Kai's requirements for information speed.

Ouyang Qingzai carefully inquired about some of the things he wanted to know, sat and read the plan for a full hour, and then asked Qin Kai to transfer 18 people from the front line and the current training class, as for the funds, he knew very well, and the instructor must have prepared it for him.

After that, Ouyang Qing disappeared for two days, and on the third day, he appeared at the governor's yamen with a well-formulated plan, and after reporting to Qin Kai for half a day, he returned to the intelligence training class to pick people, and a few days later, he took the men and horses to board the Mawei cargo ship heading north.

Within two days, Fuzhou sent a telegram that Lu Han and Lu Zhiyuan, who were stationed in the Ryukyus, had returned after more than two months of overseas operations, and Qin Kai immediately urgently transferred the First Fleet to Guangzhou, and received news from Sir Schleier that the political game in France had already had a result, and as he knew, Joferi had indeed ascended to the prime minister's throne again, which meant that the war in Vietnam could break out at any time.

Lu Han arrived in Guangzhou on the third day, and after hearing Qin Kai's judgment on the war in Vietnam, he looked at Qin Kai with very strange eyes, "Gale Wind, it is estimated that you have been paying attention to the situation in France for a long time, so why did you let Yushan take the fleet to Nanyang...... I think that the biggest problem for us right now is not in the South Seas, but in Vietnam."

Qin Kai smiled slightly, he naturally couldn't say, in his judgment, the most important thing for the French in Vietnam next was a ground war, thinking that he had nothing to rely on at all, "Gengtang, Yushan has other important things to do when he goes to Nanyang, and I can also help the Vietnam war for a while when the time comes, besides, with you, there will be no problem with our coastal defense, and the Fusang that has been repaired at the Mawei Shipyard will be repaired soon, and you have another new force under your command."

Hearing Qin Kai's explanation, although Lu Han felt that he still didn't understand, he didn't ask anymore, after all, he had all the trump cards in hand, even if he went to the South China Sea, it would be no problem, but it was obvious that Qin Kai was in a hurry to call himself to come and definitely have some arrangements.

"Gale Wind, although the French suffered two defeats in Vietnam, in fact, the losses were not large, and their naval strength was not a big loss, you still have to plan carefully" He pondered for a moment and reminded. ,

Qin Kai nodded, came to the map of Vietnam hanging in the room, and beckoned to Lu Han, "Gengtang, I came to you because I have a military strategy problem and want to ask you to work with you, your first fleet has a good rest during this time, and after a while, it may be busy."

When he came to the map, he immediately observed that there were many small flags of various colors planted around Hanoi at this time, with some numbers on them, representing military strength, which were all information collected by Zhou Ruidong on the front line.

It seems that the forces of the Great Qing State in northern Vietnam are very strong, and because the negotiations with the French have not reached a consensus for a long time, Zeng Jize, who is in charge of the negotiations, has clearly wanted to return the military aircraft department, and the French have no intention of negotiating at all, and there will definitely be follow-up actions.

These words obviously disappointed the queen mother, relatives and some ministers in the court who were originally looking forward to quickly resolving the issue of northern Vietnam, but in view of the fact that Zeng Hou, who was at ease in the negotiations with Russia and Japan, no one in the court could easily overturn his judgment, and these bigwigs of the military plane were not stupid.

He immediately ordered that, in addition to continuing to send troops and horses to Vietnam and transporting baggage, he also ordered Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, who had always been known to be soldiers, to enter Vietnam and preside over the defense of the battlefield on the eastern front of northern Vietnam, while the defense of Hanoi, an important town in the western part of northern Vietnam, was handed over to the veteran general Wu Changqing. As for Qin Kai's Protector Army, he is all cannon fodder in name, except for the Black Flag Army that has been incorporated and has some fame, the other troops are not favored, after all, the formation time is too short.

At this time, on the map, just around Hanoi Province, there are 8,000 Cantonese troops, 7,000 Gui troops, and 8,000 people from the Qing Dynasty's elite navy Qingzi battalion, and Huang Guilan, the commander of the Gui army, who was originally stationed between Hanoi and the rear town of Bac Ninh, brought 8,000 reinforcements.

Originally stationed in Fu'an was Chen Dong's 700 people from the Second Battalion of the First Association of the Protector Army, Huang Guilan actually sent someone to forcibly order Chen Dong to retreat, and the Gui Army came to control the city of Fu'an.

In this way, in the entire central part of northern Vietnam, the Qing army built a large area of trenches outside the city of Hanoi, and the garrison was as high as more than 30,000 people, plus nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Vietnamese natives, a full 50,000 people defended Hanoi, and at the same time, a large number of grain and munitions were continuously transported from Yunnan and Guangxi.

The most front-line position is undoubtedly Shanxi City, almost all the Qing troops placed their teams in the area of 50 to 100 miles behind Shanxi City, and it was clear that they would let the Protector Army be cannon fodder.

On the eastern front of northern Vietnam, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Cen Yuying, had already commanded a 12,000-strong Dian army into the mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, stationed in the first line of Gaoping and Taiyuan cities north of Tuyen Quang, and this line was also stationed with 5,000 Dian troops commanded by Tang Jiong, the political envoy of Yunnan, and 2,000 regiments commanded by Zhao Wo, a member of Yunnan Province, and the army of Hanoi was in a left-right attack.

Farther afield, Lang Son and Gao Ping, there were nearly 20,000 border troops who had just been recruited, but due to the lack of supplies of weapons and equipment, these troops were not at all able to fight on the battlefield.

On the whole, the Qing army stationed more than 80,000 troops in northern Vietnam, even if the French had an intelligence of 30,000 troops, the bigwigs in the military aircraft yamen felt that this northern Vietnam was as stable as a rock.

However, at this time, looking at the dense army signs on the map, Lu Han sighed and looked sideways at Qin Kai, "Gale Wind, are you worried about the defense of Hanoi, the Vietnamese indigenous soldiers and horses are completely waste, I think what can be fought is the Huai army, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Cen Yuying, has some means, there are many mountains on the eastern front, I think the defense should not be a big problem, just ......"

Speaking of this, Lu Han leaned over to the map and took a closer look, and now there were not many French troops identified in front of him, mainly concentrated near Ha Tinh Pass, where there was a French infantry brigade of about 7,000 people, in addition to a large number of South Vietnamese servants.

However, the reason why Lü Han came up to see it was indeed because among these French armies marked in blue, there was an army with a Chinese name - the Yellow Flag Army, and Qin Kai also saw Lü Han's strange expression, so he explained a few words, this Yellow Flag Army was originally of the same origin as Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army, and it was also a branch of the Guangxi Heaven and Earth Society.

It's just that Huang Chongying, the boss of the Yellow Flag Army, is far less able to lead the army than Liu Yongfu, and this person is a bandit, originally the Heaven and Earth Society was thinking about taking a hitchhike to get promoted and make a fortune, but I didn't expect the Heaven and Earth Society to rise quickly and fall faster. ,

And later retreated into North Vietnam Liu Yongfu is not only far superior to him in military strategy, but also much more clever in civil means, after many battles between the two sides, Liu Yongfu mixed with a deputy commander of Sanxuan, and in North Vietnam can be regarded as a foothold, but Huang Chongying has become a street rat, and actually entered the mountains of South Vietnam to collude with the French, and now has collected more than 1,500 men and horses to be stationed in the mountains.

Lu Han pointed to Liu Yongfu's Fifth Association of the National Protector Army in front of the sudden attack, "Gale Wind, I think it is very inappropriate to let the position of the Fifth Association of the National Protector Army, although there is a fort to defend on the Red River, but this fort is a dead thing, such a long river, there are loopholes everywhere, Liu Yongfu's department is more than 2,000 people, after more than a year of training, it should be good, I am afraid that when the French call, those old soldiers behind will not come up to help, and there will be casualties."

Qin Kai is actually hurting this brain, this Shanxi is the gateway to the north of Vietnam, the place where soldiers must fight, in his history, it is because the Black Flag Army that stuck to Shanxi was outnumbered, and was isolated and helpless by the French, and had to abandon this important town, and a large number of Qing troops were crushed for thousands of miles, and fled directly to Guangxi.

Now, it is quite similar to the situation in that history, but the escaped general Pan Dingxin temporarily returned to Tianjin because of Qin Kai's methods, and was replaced by the Huai Army's strong Qingzi Army, but the other Cantonese Army, Gui Army, and Dian Army stationed in Hanoi are still the same, and they dare not have high hopes for Qin Kai

Now Lu Han also saw this problem very clearly, which prompted Qin Kai to make up his mind, it was completely impossible for him to mobilize the comfortable Gui army and the Dian army in Hanoi City, and a secret telegram was sent to Zhou Ruidong in Zhiling Fortress

Soon, Wu Changqing, who was in charge of the command of northern Vietnam, received an urgent report from Zhou Ruidong of the National Protector Army, saying that there was a sudden epidemic in the Liu Yongfu Department of the National Protector Army stationed in Shanxi, and many soldiers fell ill, and Shanxi was very close to the Hanoi camp, and he was afraid that the epidemic would spread to Hanoi City, so he applied for the transfer of the Black Flag Army to the upstream Yongan Mountain Area to garrison, and then return to Shanxi to garrison after the epidemic passed.

Wu Changqing was also shocked when he heard the news, this Yuebei is already a jungle tropics, and these men from Huaibei have long been a little uncomfortable when they come over, and he doesn't value this cannon fodder force very much, but the strategic points of Shanxi City, let these old and sick ghosts look at it, then he is absolutely not at ease.