Chapter 96: The Battle for the King of Vietnam

Standing on top of the Baya ironclad ship, looking at the city in the distance, the only trouble encountered in this attack so far was that when going up the river, the Vietnamese actually sank two old ships, and the guide was temporarily unable to send the battleship Xiangjiang to continue westward and detour behind enemy lines to participate in the encirclement attack, but for now, before completing the occupation of the huge land in central and northern Vietnam, it was not his goal to fully occupy the city.

Once the center of this indigenous dynasty is destroyed, it will provoke a stronger resistance from the local natives, which is most deeply felt by the French, who have occupied southern Vietnam for more than ten years. At the hands of the Vietnamese king Nguyen Phuc Vọ's predecessor, Nguyen Phuc Kyauk, the French invaded Cambodia and the open plains of southern Vietnam, which were already under Vietnamese control.

After the French occupied Vietnam, the control of the local aborigines can be described as extremely severe, but the Vietnamese king at that time Nguyen Phuc Kyauk wanted to be very different from the current Nguyen Phuc Kyauk, who would only collect wealth, and when he ascended the throne at a young age, he also swore in public to "open up the frontier and inherit it from generation to generation", but this was only a poor soldier, and only a few years after succeeding to the throne, he raised the whole country's army to crusade against Laos and Cambodia, and successfully divided two-thirds of Laos and the entire territory of Cambodia into the bag.

However, this Nguyen Phuc Kyauk seems to be wise and martial, and he is indeed an unscrupulous second goods, the French helped the country before his father Nguyen Phuc Anh raised troops to seize the throne of Vietnam, he was not wary of the French infiltration in southern Vietnam (Nan Qi), and blindly crusaded against the surrounding countries, as a result, after the French army landed in 6 Nan Qi, they had to call on the local people to resist the French army because of lack of troops, which did cause the trouble of the French.

Under the offensive of the French, Vietnam soon lost Cambodia and other places, and then had to cede the land to sue for peace, and the edict of cutting the land was transmitted to the provinces of Nanqi, and the resistance of the local Vietnamese immediately stopped, and the French established the oriental paradise of France in Nanqi (Jiaozhizhina).

Now that the expansionist policy of the French cabinet is to completely annex Vietnam, which requires a de jure status, it is clear that keeping this stupid Vietnamese dynasty for the time being and creating a puppet will greatly help France to complete the colonization process of Jiaozhichina more quickly.

Therefore, the direction of attack discussed by Lu Mei, the governor of Jiao Zhizhi, and Guba was very clear, the sea route was to attack Guba's leading army, and the 6th route was assigned by Lu Mei to attack the plains of Shanxi and Hanoi, and then the occupation was determined through Guò treaty. Guba's bold direct attack into Hue was entirely based on this assumption.

In the palace of Vietnam, at this time, 1uan has already become a group, the guards guarding the palace are still shaking and guarding the palace gate, and the Vietnamese king Nguyen Phuc Dinh is sitting in the palace and looking at the sky, at this time someone outside is urgent, Lu Guogong with soldiers and horses to escort, accompanied by the old prime minister Wu has been half, university scholar Nguyen Thanh Van Vong.

"Please, please!" Nguyen Phuc Yen finally found a bit of backbone.

Soon the old prime minister Wu has been half, Lu Guogong Song Xing hurried in, Song Xing also met this old man on the way, but he didn't expect that the old man was able to run to the gate of the palace.

As soon as Wu had half entered the main hall, he hurriedly shouted, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, hurry up and leave with me, the East City Gate has been broken by the French, and the Marquis of Zhendong is going to fight with soldiers and horses!" ”

Hearing that General Zhendong had been dispatched, Nguyen Phuc Yen finally heard a good news, and hurriedly stood up and mozzled his mouth, "Still...... All...... Aiqing is loyal, then let's wait here for news from Zhendonghou, maybe the French won't be able to come in! ”

Song Xing said beside him, "Your Majesty, now you must leave the palace, I met many soldiers of the guards on the way, and I caught a few questioners, the army has already broken up, and it is not enough to resist the attack of the French!" ”

Ruan Fu Ying was stunned again when he had just regained his breath, and suddenly sat down on the chair, and said weakly, "How can that be good, more than 100 of my children are still in the palace...... "There are so many children in this person, but they are also from Vietnam."

"Your Majesty, as long as you are still there, you can still negotiate with the French at that time, if you are caught by the French, then you will not have the capital to negotiate!" Or the old prime minister Wu was already half-conscious, so he hurriedly urged.

"Retreat to the mountains to the north first, the French are all sailors, and if they leave the gunboats, this combat power will be greatly reduced," Song Xing said beside him, "Your Majesty, the city is now a formed army, only the soldiers of the Qing State Qin have left behind to guard the fleet, and I have borrowed 1oo soldiers from them to protect His Majesty!" ”,

"Lu Guogong, that's for you," Ruan Fuying finally relieved himself when he heard that there were soldiers sent by Shangguo Qin to protect him, "I will immediately ask my family to come to the front hall to gather!" ”

Several ministers were given a black line by Nguyen Phuc Dinh's words, but in the Ouchi Palace, it was impossible to tie up the Vietnamese king and leave, so they had to wait patiently.

Finally, the group hurried to the north gate of the palace, which could lead directly to the west gate of the first and second battalions of Xue. But when he arrived at the gate of the palace, Song Yunze had already come running with a team of soldiers to report that the French army had appeared in the distance of the north gate.

Song Xing looked at the big family behind him that the king of Vietnam had already greeted, and there were really a lot of concubines and princes, "Yun Ze, such a large group of people, you want to stop the French from pursuing...... It's not easy! ”

Song Yunze turned his head sideways and looked, this Ruan Fuying can really grind, a big family is lining up to get ready to go out at this moment, and there are palace maids and eunuchs who serve shì inside, this is a refugee, it is simply a posture to see the Lantern Festival. He hurriedly leaned into Song Xing and whispered softly.

"Father, go out, give the French a chase, not to mention retreat, our team of soldiers will also rush 1uan, I think the first to rely on the fortifications for defense, I will send someone to sneak out of the side gate and report to Commander Xue!" As a last resort, we went out through the side door, and the French couldn't stop it! ”

"Okay," Song Xing patted his son on the shoulder, this has been in Lord Qin's army for a few months, and his son is more calm and capable than before, "I'll take the gold medal of the King of Vietnam, and gather all the guards in the palace first, this person can also be of some use......"

The shelling began at dawn, and by 9 o'clock in the morning, the French army had entered the city of Hue from the collapsed east gate, and the city gate was in disarray, and the artillery swept through the houses and shops near the city gate, and the street leading to the center of the city was littered with many corpses and stumps.

Captain Gacarra is an officer from Marseille, France, who followed Lieutenant General Guba to participate in many wars against local indigenous tribes in central Africa, and his experience in occupying the city is also very rich, and after entering with his own team of 5o soldiers, he immediately occupied several restaurants on both sides of the city gate to cover the entry of the subsequent 6 warbands.

He stood at the west-facing window bar of the restaurant, and the palace in the distance was clearly visible...... There was a native king in it, and he laughed slightly when he thought of this, these indigenous royal families can bring very rich wealth, slaves, and women to the soldiers of the expeditionary force every time......

"Advance in line along the main street, keep the firing position wrong, and be clear about the unfriendly targets that you see!" Captain Gakara coldly gave the order to advance!

At this time, there were already follow-up groups of 5o people who walked in front of their queue, and at this time, the city of hún1uan was completely out of control, and from time to time someone appeared on the street in a panic and aimlessly, and then was beaten into a sieve and fell to the ground in a neat row of guns.

I also met the Vietnamese soldiers in the Xiao unit, some of them tried to resist with primitive firearms and broadswords, and naturally they were slaughtered by the French rifles without any suspense, and more of them turned around and ran after seeing the French ** team, or hid in those deep alleys to escape.

Captain Gakara's squad advanced quickly, and for those scattered enemy ** squadrons, he ordered his soldiers not to pursue, and he received the order to complete the control of the royal palace in the city, and soon they were the first to reach the main gate of the palace.

Song Yunze was lying on the right side of the main gate city wall, holding a telescope to observe the far less fast French ** team, the other party was moving very fast, and the queue was also very neat...... However, the French's keeping such a queue is really contrary to the tactics he learned in Xue's camp, isn't this clearly a target?

He naturally didn't know that the French army was now equipped with a rifle with a Lebel breech order, and the shooting could not even be compared with the Winchester Company rifle, not to mention the Maoser 98 imitation equipped by the Ponytail Army.

For example, the Henry rifle, which has long been on the market and has been the leader in the American Civil War, has a maximum shot of up to 28 per minute, but it is rarely purchased by the United States, because for this era, soldiers are equipped with a maximum of 15o ammunition, and the use of high Henry rifles is only enough to support 6 minutes of shooting, which is undoubtedly a nightmare for the logistics department that is still in the Marat era.

At this time, the French stopped at a distance of three hundred meters from the palace gate, and at this distance, with the shooting ability of these recruits, it really took a bit of luck to hit! At this time, he saw that the French ground forces were constantly coming in from the east gate in the distance, and the first few troops to arrive immediately began to search the surrounding area as soon as the reinforcements arrived. ,

Xue had already received several important pieces of news at this time, the good news was that the two old ships anchored on the Xiangjiang River had confirmed that they had completed the task of blocking the channel that had been planned for a long time, but the few Freemasons who were responsible for directing the old ships to the shipwreck in the center of the river had not heard from them so far, and they may have died.

In addition, the mortar team in the barracks rushed to the position with 3 mortars, this thing is really easy to use, but it is still too heavy and needs a carriage to carry, but compared to other artillery, this is definitely a light type.

Song Yunze brought bad news that the French army had arrived at the periphery of the palace, and it was more difficult to safely evacuate the Vietnamese king, and they were now holding on to help.

The first shot fired in the ground battle was in front of the defensive position of a battalion at the entrance of West Street, when a French Xiao detachment appeared at the end of the street, they immediately appeared in front of the enemy position composed of various furniture, and immediately the French Xiao detachment divided into two teams and attacked from both sides of the street at the same time.

Xiao Captain Pan Xin was lying behind a Chinese-style Eight Immortals table, the gun butt was on the wooden board on the side of the table, and the half-squatting body loudly told the recruits under him, "Ruler 1oo, put it within 15o meters to shoot, remember that your magazine is 5, remember to fill the magazine in the spare time for shooting, I fired the first shot, you Xiaozi are allowed to fire, or go back and kick your ass one by one......"

Soon, the appearance of the French in the rifle crosshairs was roughly visible, and the French army on the opposite side had begun to shoot in a row of guns, and each round of the rows of guns, the smoke of the nongnong drawn by the opponent's rifles made the French detachment blurry, and the bullets whizzed overhead, and the thick Hua pear wood Eight Immortals table had withstood the test and was not pierced by the French bullets.

Pan Xin visually measured the distance, and soon reached the best shooting distance, he turned his head to look at the few next to him, several recruits were trembling nervously, were squatting behind the cover carrying rifles, compared with these xiaozi, he suddenly felt that he was really good, haha laughed and roared, "Xiaozi, all tǐng your stuff, we Chinese are not a seed!" Shoot me ......"

The crosshairs, the ruler and the French in the distance finally put on it gently, at this moment, Pan Xin's right hand gently pulled the trigger, and with a bang, the AKO2 rifle butt on his shoulder transmitted the recoil to his body to the earth, this feeling is really comfortable!

He reached out and yanked the spin of his rifle and pulled the shot, finished loading, and once again aimed at the stupid French squad in front of him......

Sergeant Raphael was methodically completing the attack on the ridiculous Vietnamese behind the bunkers in the distance in the order of firing, and the attack of the two Xiao phalanxes completely achieved full-time shooting coverage, and the stupid Vietnamese on the opposite side had to endure this stormy bullet baptism at any time.

After turning the corner, they began to shoot continuously, and walked for nearly 100 meters, and the other party did not have any real movements, but they saw a few heads from a distance, but they were immediately frightened by the sound of bullets and shrank back. Captain Gakara was shouting, "Hurry up!" Push forward, go over and defeat them!"

But when he saw a puff of white smoke coming out of the rifle stretched out by the enemy on the opposite side, Sergeant Raphael heard a loud popping sound from his side, according to the requirements of the army's charge, the infantry should move forward bravely at this time, and it was not allowed to look left and right at all, so he still insisted on this steady action of loading and hitting, and he was also sure that there was indeed an enemy on the opposite side who fell to the ground after being hit.

But when the opponent's first round of counterattack began, more gun barrels immediately stretched out from the roofs and windows on both sides of the road, and what surprised him even more was that the opponent did not have a multi-level shooting system, but the firing degree was not slower than his own side, and what was even worse was that the smoke generated by his side after shooting would affect the next aiming, but he clearly saw that after the enemy on the opposite side shot, the vision was still very clear...... Suddenly, he felt a bite on his mouth, and his vision began to blur rapidly.

Pan Xin had already shot 5 bullets in the magazine, he quickly squatted down, took out a bullet clip, cha on the magazine, pressed the bullet into the magazine, Lao Tzu prepared 4 bullet clips, this is his use of Captain Xiao's advantage to specialize, and the other recruits have only two bullet clips.

Pan Xin put on the rifle again, but the situation in front of him made him a little angry, tmd, these French guys are too hammered, Lao Tzu just changed the second magazine, and the two teams of French soldiers all fell to the ground...... A hundred meters away, the French soldiers fell to the ground, and it was obvious that some of them were not dead, and were struggling with their wounds! ,

Pan Xin aimed at one of them and pulled the trigger again...... You're going to go against our security team, bastard! After being puzzled, Pan Xin pulled the bolt again, but the squadron leader's roar came from the side, "Pan Xin, you are a xiaozi, who made you pay for bullets, these are all asking for money!" The next time you reappear, your allowance will be deducted! Dead xiaoko! ”

The surrounding recruits laughed at the inexplicable captain Xiao.

It was clear that the shootout on West Street had attracted the attention of Sean, the French staff officer in charge of the ground offensive, and the officer who had gone to find out about the battle quickly ran back, and with a look of surprise on his face, he reported the annihilation of all 5o soldiers of a Xiao team over there.

"How many Vietnamese troops are on the defensive?"

"Colonel, the details are unknown, but the lookout post saw a large number of Vietnamese soldiers gathered outside the west gate!"

"Immediately dispatch 2 teams of soldiers to build improvised fortifications in the direction of West Street to ensure that they can block the support of the Vietnamese army to the palace!" Sean immediately gave the order, turned to the herald behind him and said, "Go and report to the general, see if you can shell the enemy troops at the west gate!" ”

"Yes!" A French soldier took the order.

"Major Clark, has the Vietnamese royal palace been encircled?" Sean turned around and asked another tall and thin lawyer.

"Colonel, the encirclement has been completed on three sides, the other side is the city wall of Hue, the troops cannot be deployed, the observation post that has been arranged, the Vietnamese prisoners who escaped from the palace confess, the king of Vietnam has not had time to withdraw!"

"Excellent! How long will it take for field artillery to be dragged to the position? ”

Major Clark looked at the clock, "It's already in port, and it probably won't take a little hour to start bombarding the palace gates!" ”

Xue was measuring the distance with a map at this time, and at this time, the observation posts of the Freemasons at various points in the city sent the news that the French ** team was concentrated near the Vietnamese royal palace, and did not carry out a large-scale search and arrest operation.

The self-confidence that had just been inflated in the annihilation battle just now withered all of a sudden, Xue still had self-knowledge, and the men and horses he left behind were the two Chinese battalions with the longest training time, but it was only half a year, and it would be too reluctant to say that these were qualified soldiers.