After leaving the artillery hall, Iwao Konno saw that the wounded of the Dian army of the brigade were brought in, and the doctor was treating their wounds urgently, and he inquired about the casualties of the Dian army from an officer, and learned that the Dian army had killed more than 70 people and wounded more than 50 in this battle, and he couldn't help grinning.

But Zhang Yongqing did not seem to care about these casualties, and he seemed pleased that he had been able to capture the fortress, and then he ordered the whole army to move immediately in the direction of Hanoi City, and prepared to attack Hanoi in one go.

Under Zhang Yongqing's orders, a small force of more than 40 people remained in the fortress, erected and operated three mountain-splitting cannons, and held the important place, while the wounded were transported to the rear after treatment. And the large forces immediately moved forward.

Iwao Konno marched with the brigade of soldiers and horses, but this time he walked in the middle of the group - the Dian army had already removed the obstacles to advance, and the next step was to break into Hanoi City.

But Iwao Konno would not have thought that it was Zhang Yongqing's arrangement that once again allowed him to save his life, and even let him make a "miracle feat".

Iwao Konno didn't go far with the soldiers of the Yunnan Army when he heard the sound of ping-pong guns in front of him, and he couldn't help but be shocked.

The French army is coming fast enough!

In fact, the French army came faster than he thought.

Li Weiye immediately stood on the hillside, holding a telescope and carefully observing the battle situation.

When he arrived here with his army, he immediately saw a Black Flag army of about 2,000 men attacking the "Sapphire" fortress. Li Weiye, who had experience in the field, did not immediately lead his troops to attack and rescue Captain Porter and his men. Rather, look closely.

At this time, the attention of the Black Flag Army was all on the fortress. I didn't notice that there was a French army of more than 1,000 people in front of me.

Li Weiye observed for a while. He was amused to find that in the face of the small and slightly isolated "Sapphire" fortress, the Black Flag Army launched an attack without closing the siege!

And he also noticed that this time the Black Flag Army was not good, and it actually carried Western-style artillery.

Li Weiye observed the surrounding terrain again, and after careful consideration, he drew up a bold battle plan, intending to completely annihilate this Black Flag Army here.

Levi's owner is certain. The French soldiers, led by the officers, immediately began to prepare for an ambush.

While arranging for the troops to enter the ambush position, Li Weiye also sent several soldiers to inform the defenders of the fortress before the Black Flag Army encircled the "Sapphire" fortress, asking them to show full resistance, and then withdraw from the fortress and join his large army.

Soon after these soldiers set off, an earth-shattering explosion occurred in the fortress, which startled Li Weiye.

He knows. Only powerful Western-style artillery would have such an effect. The last time he attacked Hanoi City. It was also the 120-mm cannon that hit the ammunition depot of the Vietnamese army in Hanoi City, causing a large explosion that led to the collapse of the entire Vietnamese army.

He was very worried that the defenders of the "Sapphire Fortress" would all be killed in the terrible explosion just now, but he was relieved when Captain Porter and his men appeared in front of him along with several soldiers he had sent.

According to Captain Porter's report, the Black Flag army that came to attack had a total of 1,500 people, equipped with 5 Krupp guns, the gunners were well trained, the fire of these guns caused a lot of damage to the defenders of the fortress, and the opponent's position was also cleverly chosen, the 80mm cannons in the fortress were difficult to attack them, and finally the ammunition depot of the fortress was hit and the ammunition was detonated, and only then did the terrible explosion occur, the explosion caused 15 deaths and 18 injuries, after receiving the order of Li Weiye, The wounded volunteered to stay behind to cover the retreat of their remaining comrades, and now that the fort should have been captured by the Black Flag Army, these brave men were either killed or probably killed by the Black Flag Army.

"The French Empire will avenge her glorious athletes!" Li Weiye comforted the grief-stricken Captain Porter and asked him to lead his men to join his ranks and take revenge on the hateful Qianguo.

The reason why Li Weiye wanted to use an ambush to annihilate the Black Flag Army was because among the weapons he brought, in addition to the five newly arrived 65mm guns, there was also a big killing weapon.

Haggais machine guns and Gatling guns!

And such an open area, where there is no way to hide, happens to be a good place to use the power of these two deadly weapons.

Thinking of the impending killing, a sneer appeared on the corner of Li Weiye's mouth.

Li Weiye put down the binoculars, got off his horse, picked up a naval rifle, and saw that Li Weiye wanted to participate in the battle in person, and the deputy commander of the French army, Major Weinan, was taken aback.

"Your Excellency Colonel, are you planning to lead the charge yourself?" Major Weinan asked.

"What's not to do?" Li Weiye asked with a smile as he checked the rifle in his hand.

"Too dangerous for a commander, right?" Major Wei Nan wanted to dissuade Li Weiye, "We are facing a group of cruel bandits......"

"It's because we're dealing with guys like this that I want to teach them a lesson and make them pay the price." Li Weiye loaded the bullet and patted Major Weinan on the shoulder with a smile, "Also, I really want to use my own hands to kill the enemy to get inspiration for writing." You know, Major Weinan, a good writer, doesn't always sit in front of a typewriter and write good works, he needs to experience it for himself in order to get inspiration. ”

At this time, the enemy was already approaching rapidly, and when Major Wei Nan saw that Li Weiye had made up his mind, he no longer dissuaded him, but called Captain Yaguan and asked him to lead a few guards to protect the commander, and Captain Yaguan accepted the task.

Major Wei Nan didn't know that from this moment on, the fate of several of them had embarked on a road of no return.

The ruined walls of Hanoi City could already be seen in the distance, and the officers and soldiers of the Black Flag unconsciously quickened their pace.

There was a deathly silence all around, and there was no one in sight. Zhang Yongqing, who was riding on a horse, felt an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

He couldn't help but turn his head to look. Not far from his side. It was a Krupp cannon dragged forward by mules and horses.

Whenever he sees a cannon, he feels at ease.

As an old battalion leader who participated in the suppression of the Changmao Bandit Rebellion and the Yunnan Hui Rebellion, he deeply understood the role of these foreign cannons in battle, and this time he was ordered by Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, to enter Vietnam to fight against the French army, and specially asked for these 5 cannons.

He had used a lot of foreign cannons, and by far he was the most satisfied. It was the German-made Krupp cannon.

If it weren't for this cannon, he really couldn't imagine how to split this strong fortress with those mountain-splitting cannons.

Now that the fortress had been taken, the walls of Hanoi were in tatters, and the French were few in number, both in the field and in siege. He is confident that he has a great chance of winning, which is why he took the initiative to ask Liu Renyi to take the lead.

But now. When Hanoi City was already in front of him, he inexplicably regretted it.

The city wall was getting closer and closer, Zhang Yongqing held the binoculars and looked carefully for a while, but did not find a single figure.

The feeling of uneasiness in his heart grew heavier and heavier.

"Lao Zhang, will it ...... There's an ambush? Another battalion officer, Mo Jinzhi, came to Zhang Yongqing's side on horseback, walked with him, and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to try two cannons first?" ”

"Okay, that's it." The feeling of uneasiness became heavier and heavier, Zhang Yongqing nodded, and agreed to Mo Jinzhi's suggestion of "fire temptation".

The soldiers of the Yunnan army, who received the order, gradually stopped, and after the artillerymen received the order to open the artillery, they began to unload the artillery and prepare to shoot under the command of the artillery commander.

Although the gunners did not understand the commander's order very well, they faithfully carried out the order, and soon 5 cannons were set up and ready to fire.

Whether it is the Black Flag Army or the Dian Army, artillery shells are extremely precious things to them, and they can't be fired casually, and they have already consumed a lot of shells in the battle to attack the fortress, but at this time, their commander wants them to fire into the open space, which is really incomprehensible to them.

They have done "fire testing" before, but they are all in mountains, rivers, woods, or hilly areas that are easy to ambush, where everything is clear at a glance, and there is no place for enemy troops to hide. But they did not dare to speak out against it, despite their slander. Whatever the commander asks, they just do it.

After the cannon was prepared, Zhang Yongqing judged the direction of several possible ambushes of the French army, pointed roughly with a horsewhip, and ordered the gunner to open fire.

With a burst of sound, several black smoke balls rose in the distance, and the air waves generated by the explosion lifted the sand, grass and trees on the ground into the air, and after a round of shelling, Zhang Yongqing and Mo Jinzhi raised their binoculars and took a closer look, but did not see the figure of the French army.

"Looks like it's fine." Mo Jinzhi put his mind at ease and said to Zhang Yongqing.

"Hmm." Zhang Yongqing's heart calmed down slightly, he waved his horsewhip and ordered the troops to continue to advance.

In the distance, Li Weiye, who was lying in a ditch, looked at the black smoke not far away, and scolded in a low voice, "Damn barbarian!" ”

He never imagined that the bandits in front of him, who he had never looked down upon, would actually play this trick.

He saw very clearly just now that two shells fell into the ambush position of the French army, and one French soldier was killed on the spot, but the body fell into the ditch and was not swept away by the air wave, so the target was not exposed.

The dull expression on the French soldier's half-blackened face was really hard for him to let go.

For the damage inflicted on his subordinates, he must redouble his revenge on the enemy!

The soldiers of the Black Flag Army gradually approached, and Li Weiye, who was lying in the ditch, could even see clearly the faces of these Qianguo people wearing gray-blue cloth clothes and pants and huge sunshade hats.

He turned and nodded to his assistant, Captain Yaseki, who immediately gave the order to fire.

"Rifle shooting!" Captain Yaguan shouted loudly, and not far away, a French tricolor flag was quickly erected.

Didn't wait for Captain Yaguan to call out a second time. Li Weiye, who had long been unable to suppress the anger in his heart, shot out. The soldiers of the Black Flag Army who walked beside a black seven-star flag fell in response.

"Bang bang bang!" Crisp and dense gunfire rang out. All the French soldiers who were ambushed in the ditches formed by the rain raised their rifles and opened fire, and for a moment the position was filled with white smoke that was sprayed forward.

The advancing Black Flag Army obviously did not expect to be ambushed, and the formation of their advance was extremely dense, and it was almost impossible to dodge under the fire of the French platoon guns, and a large number of people fell on the ground, some of them were shot and killed on the spot, while many more fell to the ground and screamed in pain.

Li Weiye saw some soldiers of the Black Flag Army, who were obviously on the battlefield for the first time, turn around and want to escape, but were stopped by the dense crowd that rushed up later. The veterans with some battlefield experience crouched or crouched and began to raise their guns to shoot back, and in a short time, a rain of bullets came in.

Although the Black Flag Army's return fire was very heavy, Li Weiye found that their accuracy was very poor, and in this round of fire, few French soldiers were hit.

Is it really as those Vietnamese intelligence officers said, that the shooting accuracy of the cadres is not as good as that of the Black Flag Army?

The two sides began a fierce exchange of fire, albeit with terrible blows. However, the outnumbered Black Flag Army did not seem to have any intention of retreating, and the Black Flag soldiers who tried to escape and expose their backs to the French army all fell in several volleys of French fire. The brave Black Flag soldiers crouched on the ground, shooting and scattering, and moving forward in an effort to close the distance between them and the French position.

The artillery of the Black Flag Army roared again at this time, and unlike the chaotic shooting of the infantry, the gunners of the Black Flag Army fired very accurately, and one shell after another accurately fell on the French position, raising a large cloud of black smoke, sand and gravel fell one after another, and from time to time French soldiers were hit by shrapnel and let out a terrible scream.

"Do you want to give the order to open fire?" Major Wei Nan dodged the scattered sand, came to Li Weiye's side, and asked.

"Nope." Li Weiye shook his head calmly, "Don't fire artillery and machine guns, we have to give them the illusion that they don't have these weapons, attract them to our position, and wait until they have enough people, and then we will use machine guns to fire and destroy them." Then bombard their rear with artillery and cut off their retreat. ”

"We want the people of Qianguo to remember this battle." Listening to Li Weiye's words, a cruel smile appeared on the corner of Major Wei Nan's mouth, and at this time Li Weiye shot again, this time he hit a Black Flag Army officer, this officer was hit in the head, and the hat he was wearing immediately flew up, pulled out a long blood line, and then fell backwards heavily.

"Damn! Press it on Lao Tzu! Fast! Press it up! Seeing the chaotic battle situation ahead, Zhang Yongqing, who was riding on a horse, waved the short horse pistol in his hand and shouted loudly.

"There are few foreign devils! Press it on Lao Tzu! Mo Jinzhi pulled out his waist knife and shouted loudly. But the shouts of the two of them were soon drowned out by the roar of the cannons.

It may be that the artillery gave the soldiers of the Black Flag Army confidence and courage, seeing that black smoke was constantly rising from the enemy's position, and the rifle fire had become a little weaker, the soldiers of the Black Flag Army let out an earth-shattering roar and began to charge forward.

Iwao Konno, who was hiding in a ditch, did not follow the Black Flag soldiers to charge forward, he just crouched there, carefully observing the situation ahead, while finding the target, and occasionally placing a shot or two.

By now, two French soldiers and four Vietnamese mercenaries had been killed by his guns.

I have to say that the Glass rifle that Xu Shihe gave him is very useful, if it was his original snuffbox rifle, he would not have been able to achieve such a result at such a long distance.

Iwao Konno observed for a while, and then realized where the French position was.

He had a question in his mind just now.

The Black Flag Army was suddenly ambushed, and he also wondered, because he had reconnoitred this area in advance, except for the fortress converted from a temple, the French did not have fortifications here, but they had just hid it so well that no one could find out about it, what was going on?

Now, he's found the answer.

It is located in a dry riverbed, because the vegetation on the riverbank has been seriously damaged due to the relationship between the Vietnamese people who have cultivated the land for many years, and caused a lot of soil erosion when the rainy season comes, so it forms a series of ravines in dry weather, which became natural trenches, and the French army came here to use these natural trenches to set up ambushes.

In fact, there are many ravines in this land that have been washed by rain, and the place where Iwao Konno is hiding now is such a shallow ditch.

Seeing the soldiers of the Black Flag Army charging forward keep falling, Iwao Konno couldn't help but secretly admire the ingenuity and appropriateness of the French commander's choice of ambush location.

But there was one thing he still didn't understand.

Despite the heavy losses of the Black Flag Army, which was ambushed, a counterattack was being launched with the help of artillery, and why did the French army not fire a single shot until now?

Isn't this ambushed French army equipped with artillery?

No! No way! Iwao Konno immediately dismissed his own idea.

The fortress just now was guarded by less than a hundred people, but it was equipped with a cannon, and now the French army, which dared to ambush the Black Flag Army of 1,500 people, far exceeded the defenders of the fortress, how could it not even bring a cannon? (To be continued.) )