On the front line of Vietnam's coastal defense, although the gunfire of the French in front of the city is still ringing, the fortifications built in the back are still shrouded in a strong Spring Festival atmosphere. The officers who usually danced with knives and guns began to play in a big way, and many of the bunkers in the trenches were pasted with spring couplets like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing like ghost talismans.

Ten days before the Spring Festival, the food on the front line can be changed to double the treatment, the camp of the first battalion is stationed on the small hillside to the west of the position, tomorrow is the Spring Festival, He Xiaojun, who has been promoted to the rank of thousand generals, is walking around the barracks with a few personal soldiers, the French are completely wilted, and the mobile posts set up everywhere in Haiphong have seen this place to death, that is, there is a movement in Haiphong Port, and the reconnaissance points on the hillside can also be seen clearly.

A burst of aroma wafted in, He Xiaojun's nose twitched a few times, laughed, turned his head and said to a few soldiers behind him, "After walking for a long time, go and see, what Chinese New Year's Eve dinner Chef Li prepared for the stick guys in our battalion!" It's really *** fragrant, we are hungry when we smell it! ”

"My lord, the food in our camp is much more abundant than that of our family's New Year!" A big guy on the side smashed his mouth and said!

"Nonsense, what kind of troops are we!" He Xiaojun shamelessly began to brag about himself, and rushed to the room with his own soldiers, only to see that the two fat pigs that had been cut had already been hung on the bamboo poles, and the marching pot that had been laid out was steaming hot.

Seeing He Xiaojun coming, the old man of the Huotou Army hurriedly greeted him with a smile, "Lord He, come and see the food, you can rest assured for tomorrow's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner!" Braised pork vermicelli, plus a large bowl of minced meat and cabbage soup open to eat! ”

"Okay, Lao Li!" He Xiaojun smiled, leaned over and said, "Lao Li, you see that I can have a first here today, I eat salted fish and salted meat every day, and I have faded out of a bird!" ”

This is also an important measure formulated by Qin Kai to strengthen military discipline, advocate equality between officers and soldiers, and facilitate marching, and the first battalion is naturally the first to implement it, and from Zhou Ruidong onwards, it is meticulously implemented this system.

At this time, He Xiaojun was naturally very greedy, and wanted to open a back door, the old man of the Huotou Army looked around, "Lord He, this is a violation of military discipline, Lord Zhou only came to see ...... today"

"Okay, Lao Li, you just moved the archway of Lord Zhou, what do you eat at night?" He Xiaojun saw that the back door obviously couldn't be opened, and he also changed the topic very quickly!

"It's also a good thing, this salted meat soup stewed with fresh bamboo shoots, tofu, plus no two pieces of salted meat!"

He Xiaojun frowned when he heard that he was still the same as the old three, and was about to mutter, when he heard someone shouting from afar, "Mr. He Qian...... Mr. He Qian......"

When I looked back, it was Zhou Ruidong's own soldiers in the camp, this must be something urgent to find me, and I didn't have the heart to ask about food, so I hurriedly greeted him.

"Wang Dong, Lord Zhou is looking for me?"

"Yes, the thousands of generals of each battalion and the general assembly will gather in the camp of Lord Zhou!"

He Xiaojun smiled, it seemed that he was really going to act, "Okay, I'll be there in a while!" "Immediately ordered to call the general chief, and the man who was on duty in the front fortifications also sent someone to summon him back.

Soon, the headquarters of the First Association was crowded with officers from three battalions, and in addition, the officers of Liu Yongfu's two battalions of the Fifth Association also hurried over, and on this front line, they all directly obeyed Zhou Ruidong's orders.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zhou Ruidong asked people to hang out a map, and the officers looked at the map, but it was somewhat strange that this map was not a schematic map of the siege of Haiphong City, but an overall topographic map of northern Vietnam, and the map had been marked with the place where the guards were now under control.

Starting from Zhiling, along the direction of the Red River and the Taiping River estuary, there are now all occupied red flags marked with signs. Zhou Ruidong first got up and pointed to Haiphong City on the map and said: "Haiphong, we have been besieged for more than a month, and today the observation post sent a message that on the dock in the east of the city, the French fleet is docked, escorted by four to five warships, but they are not here to support, but to evacuate people, I estimate that it will not be a matter of a few days to recover Haiphong!" ”

He pointed to a young officer standing next to him, "The analysis of the situation below is presided over by Ouyang Qing of the intelligence battalion, if you have any questions, please ask them at any time!" ”

Ouyang Qing's military uniform was dirty, obviously just returned to the camp, he came to the map, pointed to a few small blue flags in Bac Ninh west of Zhiling and said: "After the Qingzi army was recovered, the staff general Wu Dong led 4 battalions to garrison Hanoi, all of them have just completed the reloading, equipped with 8 100mm field guns, and all 2,000 people have been reloaded with Mattini rear-loading rifles purchased from the British, and the military discipline and combat effectiveness are good." ,

The following officers were obviously a little puzzled by the sudden explanation of the military strength of the friendly army, and some officers raised this question at the moment, but Zhou Ruidong waved his hand and said: "This question will be answered later, you all listen carefully to Ouyang Qing's analysis, in the battle, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent also includes understanding the strength of friendly forces!" ”

Ouyang Qing waited for Zhou Ruidong to finish speaking, and continued to explain, "The Qingzi Army re-built a pontoon bridge on the Red River, and forts were erected on both banks, and the person in charge of shore defense was Yuan Shikai, the operator of the Qingzi Battalion, who was the only unit that organized the army to attack the French in the last French attack on Hanoi!" ”

He pointed to several other flags in Bac Ninh, "Bac Ninh also has 3,000 indigenous soldiers under the command of the Vietnamese servant army Nguyen Cheng, in addition to the barracks in the north of Hanoi, 7,000 people from 14 battalions of the Gui Army and 4,000 people from 8 battalions of the Guangdong Army under the command of Xu Yanxu, the governor of Guangxi, and 8 battalions of 4,000 people from Yunnan Bu Jiong's military envoy Tang Jiong are stationed in the camp in Xisanli of Bac Ninh!" ”

Ouyang Qing pointed to several flags in the west and northwest of Beining, "Taiyuan City is garrisoned by 9,000 Dian troops under the jurisdiction of Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou!" More than 20,000 Gui and Dian troops in Langshan are still waiting for their lives, and they are still being rectified because their weapons and equipment and food and salaries have not been raised! ”

Seeing that Ouyang Qing finished his introduction, He Xiaojun was the first to shout: "I'm damn, there are fifty or sixty thousand troops here, it seems that we are going to fight with the French, let's go to Saigon in one go!" ”

"That's it, so many soldiers and horses ......"

"Now it's going to be *** French good-looking!" One of the officers immediately muttered under his breath.

"What's so good-looking, don't you see that Xu Yanxu is still in charge of the soldiers, the last time I fought in Hanoi, it stinks!!" Immediately refuted by other officers penniless.

Zhou Ruidong saw that the officers did not ask any special questions, pressed his hand, signaled to be quiet, and immediately the command became silent, he nodded, got up and stood in front of the map, and pointed to Haiphong City with a stick, "Within seven days, recover Haiphong!" ”

With a turn of the stick, he pointed to the logistics battalion's Qian General Fang Jin, "Fang Jin, your battalion is the main offensive force!" Have questions? ”

The logistics battalion led by Fang Jin are all non-Chinese soldiers recruited by the Mutual Masonic Association, although they are trained, but they have practiced with their lives, but they have never been able to take the lead, he is panicking, thinking about whether to talk to Zhou Ruidong and arrange a few tasks, but he didn't expect the opportunity to come so soon......

"Report to your Excellency, there is no problem at all, make sure the task is completed!" At that moment, Mei Zizi took the order.

At this moment, the other battalions began to look at Fang Jin's eyes a little wrong, this coastal defense was recovered, it was a great honor that marked the final victory of the war between the North and the French, these battalions were outside the city for more than a month, and those who were grinding their fists were ready to rush in and clean up the French who broke their guts inside...... I didn't expect this benefit to be given to the logistics battalion of the fourth battalion that had been dragging oil bottles!

However, in this barracks, there is no opportunity to argue, and the first rule of military discipline is "obey the command, and the order is forbidden", these officers naturally will not understand, although they still stand upright, waiting for further orders!

"From now on, the first battalion will start from the Shishan coal and iron base, open up the land passage from the coal and iron base to Hejun and Xian'an, with a straight-line distance of 220 miles, all of which are mountainous areas, and at the same time be responsible for receiving villages and ethnic minority tribes along the way, be sure to complete the task!"

He Xiaojun was stunned, why was he so unlucky, taking such a broken task, and setting off on the same day...... It's good now, I can't even eat Chinese New Year's Eve...... Our braised pork noodles!! was struggling with his thoughts, and when he heard Zhou Ruidong's unchanged baritone, he thought about it in his ears!

"He Xiaojun, don't dare to take this task!"

"My lord, what kind of broken task is this, what do we dare not accept in the first battalion, I guarantee to complete it!" Although He Xiaojun is worried about pork roasted vermicelli, the prestige of this camp cannot be lost!

"Hmm...... That's good, complete the mission and return to the Chiling Fortress! Remember, you're not going to war, it's best not to shoot a shot along the way! Plus, there's a Freemason and a caravan to go with you, and you're in charge of their safety! ”

"The second battalion Chen Dong, two days later, in the north of Qinghua, south of Zhiling, our control area to suppress bandits, the following counties have reported bandits, are scattered Vietnamese indigenous soldiers, appeasement first, Shishan mining area can lack a lot of labor, must be done as much as possible!"

"Yes! Mission completion guaranteed! ”

One order after another was quickly issued, and soon the soldiers and horses of the First Association and the Fifth Association were all dispatched! Zhou Ruidong couldn't wait to complete all the planned things, because there was news from Qin Kai's side that the French had already begun to manipulate the negotiations, and this negotiation would definitely fail! ,

However, when not to talk about it, but in the hands of the French, this is undoubtedly a very embarrassing scene, the French who have the initiative are now definitely carrying out this assembly in a hurry, and the choice to withdraw the army of coastal defense now is obviously to no longer need to pay attention to the doomed defeat here.

The Spring Festival is not over yet, Qin Kai has appeared in Mawei Shipyard, today he is visiting Ding Richang and Zhang Peilun through the New Year's greetings, and the specifications of today's meeting are also a bit high, in Ding Richang's mansion, two governors, a governor nested in the house to talk about the latest state affairs.

Ding Richang hadn't seen Qin Kai for a while, but he was very happy after meeting, "Gale Wind, how do you feel about sitting on the governor of a province?" ”

"My lord, it's nowhere near as comfortable as it was in Ponytail! At that time, I was just doing things, and I spent all day thinking about the following chores like I do now! Anyway, it's all up to you, so it's fine! Qin Kai laughed, and the sycophants rolled in!

Zhang Peilun smiled on the side and said nothing, and he was also looking forward to cooperating with Qin Kaixin, after arriving at the position of the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he Lao Zhang also moved his mouth, and then swayed on the "Fujian New News", the actual affairs can be handled by Qin Kai, over the past year, the reputation and achievements he has earned are definitely not small, in the Qingliu faction, he seems to have the appearance of the leader!

"Gale Wind, listen to Sun Fu, you have the woman you want! Why don't you show my old man first, I'll help you check it!" Lao Ding began to gossip, he is now very idle, the shipmaster and the sailor have been handled by Qin Kai, and the miscellaneous items under his command are handled by a large number of capable masters, as for the silver...... Now all expenses are paid by the Harbour Master's Office, which is not a matter of worry!

Qin Kai's face was black, this old man, let's talk about business, but ...... Marrying Qi Meimei is also a serious matter, Sun Fu took into account that Qin Kai has no father and no mother, so he has already calculated and is ready to carry Lao Ding out, how can Lao Ding be regarded as a division elder, and he will help him preside over it when the time comes.

He coughed dryly a few times and laughed, "My lord...... I'll tell you about this later, let's get down to business today! ”

"Okay, okay," Lao Ding gossiped and smiled slightly.

At this time, Zhang Peilun asked at the interface, which was regarded as bringing this embarrassment over, "Gale Wind, if these Frenchmen insist on being the enemy of our Qing Dynasty, do you think they will tear their faces in time?" What are the odds? I got the news that Zhang Shusheng's side is now unable to negotiate with the French minister Toligu, and the French have added the so-called additional clauses, and the conditions are very harsh! ”

"Lord Zhang, as I expected, the war in North Vietnam will definitely start again, now there are no more than 5,000 people in North Vietnam, and there are 8,000 Qingzi Army, more than 20,000 Guangdong Army, Yunnan Army, and Gui Army, but the Guangdong Army, Yunnan Army, and Gui Army are very poorly equipped, mostly carrying guns, long knives, and spears, and it is difficult to confront the French head-on, and the training is insufficient!"

"This Yungui Governor Cen Yuying also uses old soldiers, the Dian army won't be so unusable!" Although Zhang Peilun trusted Qin Kai very much, seeing that he was not optimistic about the Qing army, he obviously still had some ideas.

"Lord Cen does know the soldiers, and this Dian army also has some combat strength, but it is far from the well-trained French team, as for Xu Yanxu, in the last battle of Hanoi, but more than a thousand French troops suffered heavy casualties, and this combat power can also be known! As for Tang Jiong, the strength is meager, and it is inconvenient for me to make a conclusion at will! ”

Qin Kai looked at Zhang Peilun, Lao Zhang was one of the Qingliu Party who recommended Tang Jiong, in the history of his time, Tang Jiong and Xu Yanxu, two candidates who were strongly recommended by Qingliu, were defeated neatly in Vietnam, which prompted a big change in the court!

Zhang Peilun naturally didn't buy Qin Kai's words, Xu Yanxu didn't think about it, the defeat was known in the small circle, and it was also taking into account the interests of the entire Qingliu, and everyone pretended to be deaf and dumb for a while, this Tang Jiong, who was experienced in a hundred battles, also had a brilliant record in fighting against the Taiping Army, and was given the title of "Fake Jing Abaturu", and he can be regarded as a man who can write and fight.

However, Lao Zhang was a cultural person, and he would not blush and argue with Qin Kai about this matter, so he changed the topic and asked: "Gale Wind, can the Qingzi camp be used?" ”

Qin Kai smiled slightly, he knew that Lao Zhang must be dissatisfied with his evaluation, his evaluation could knock down two of the three capable officials recommended by the Qingliu faction at once, and the third one was himself, it was absolutely impossible to defeat himself.

"Admiral Wu started in the chaos of war, and he knows how to fight, but can the Qingzi army fight? But it's not something that Admiral Wu can master! I wonder what adults think? ”,

Ding Richang patted the table next to him, laughed, and said, "Gale Wind, your vision has really grown!" ”

Zhang Peilun also smiled slightly, he naturally understood the meaning of this, the combat strength of the Huai army at that time depended on the meaning of the upper echelons of the Huai army, Li Zhongtang was bent on resolving the dispute in Vietnam through negotiations, under this kind of thinking, how could he let the Qingzi army fight with all his might, the so-called war without the heart of the death, there should be a reason for defeat! Lao Zhang is not good at commanding soldiers, this art of war book is not less!

"Gale, what are your plans?"

"Yes!" Qin Kai laughed, "The matter of Yuebei, I plan to personally go to Tianjin Wei to meet Lord Zhang Shusheng, this matter of Yuebei, this is a major matter of the country, there is no difference between you and me, I hope to join forces to fight!" ”

Zhang Peilun and Ding Richang looked at each other and smiled, this Qin Liefeng is a shrewd character, but the things in this officialdom are simple, what are the affairs of the country? As long as you can beat the opponent, who cares about the interests of this country, let alone a vassal state......

Ding Richang patted the table and said with a smile: "Gale Wind, I'm afraid you can't move this Huai army, Lord Zhongtang can attach great importance to the matter of peace with the French, this sword soldier, the money and food of this treasury are very expensive, and it is really a big problem in his position!" ”

Qin Kai naturally knew that if Li Zhongtang was still in charge of things now, and he wanted to invite the Huai Army to act together, it would be impossible, but now there is a variable, Lord Zhongtang is worried, in a short period of time, the affairs of the Huai Army will be temporarily handled by Zhang Shusheng......

Zhang Shusheng is a veteran of the Huai Army, who has followed Li Zhongtang for decades, and is also a capable minister who has always had ideas, and in the position of the former governor of Shandong, he is also a enlightened person who does foreign affairs and advocates "the body of the Western people to be used", and in his own time and space, Zhang Shusheng is one of the few brave people in the Qing Dynasty who sees the opportunity and is ready to recover the Ryukyus.

Right now...... Just in time!