"Click", "Click" The unique Gatling machine gun sound rang out in the mountain forest.

"What's going on?" Guba asked loudly.

"General, it's not good. The road to the west in front has been blocked by the Qing army? A communications soldier said.

Lone Baba roared loudly, "How can this be? When did the Qing army come? Aren't there always our guards here? ”

The signal soldier bowed his head and was speechless for a long time.

"Let the 2nd Brigade organize its forces and force its way through. To the east is the sea, where there are warships of the Qing army. It was a dead end to go there, and we had to break through from the west. "Guba's judgment of the current form is relatively accurate.

"General, the 1st Brigade is running out of steam. Tens of thousands of Qing troops rushed up, and the broken troops could no longer stop it. The communications soldier behind hurriedly ran to say.

"God, let them hold out for two more hours. After 2 hours, surrender to the Qing army was allowed. Guba said helplessly.

Guba has completely lost faith in this war, and all he hopes is to open the road to the west as soon as possible. Then he fought with the Qing army in the mountains, waiting for reinforcements from within the country.

But one bad news after another gave him a headache.

"General, the Qing army at the front is the establishment of an army. With tens of thousands of men, the 2nd Brigade launched three attacks and retreated. Heavy casualties! ”

"What? The Qing army had long expected to attack from the front? Troops have long been ambushed here? "I can't imagine what kind of force this is. Is it still the squadron in the mouth of the predecessors?

When did the great Republican ** team fight against people of color, and encountered the current situation.

The front can't break through, and the rear can't resist it. And also count on reinforcements in the distant future. This is the current situation faced by Guba, he said to himself, even if God is here now, I am afraid that he will not be able to change the situation of the war.

In desperation, he waved his hand: "All troops retreat to the east." ”

Finally, the remaining French army of more than 30,000 people broke through to the sea at the only hole in the Qing army's encirclement.

"Immediately build fortifications along the coastline, we have to hold on here and wait for reinforcements." Lone gave the order with dark circles under his eyes.

After three days of strong attack, the fortress of Hucheng was finally broken at a terrible price. And other cities in Vietnam were stationed with some vassal armies, and under the onslaught of the Black Flag Army and Dong Liang's army, it had already been decided in a few days.

The whole of Vietnam was in the hands of the Qing army, and the last tens of thousands of French troops were already besieged by the sea. Nearly 200,000 troops of the Qing Army built barbed wire around it, surrounding the entire French legion. But there was no intention of attacking, in fact, if you want to destroy these French troops, why do you need the army. Dispatch one or two warships to fire a few cannons on the sea, and they can be cooked into a pot of human flesh and steel soup.

After the news reached the capital, Guan Xuqing exhaled heavily. Although the process was much more difficult than I imagined, I finally achieved the same effect.

"Go, call Prince Gong, Prince Alcohol, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang to discuss matters." Guan Xuqing said to Wang Shang.

"Wow."

After Zuo Zongtang brought the injured warship back to the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Bureau, he returned to the capital. The victory of the Sino-French war is already a foregone conclusion, and the following is how to deal with the aftermath, how to negotiate with the French, the status of Vietnam, and the future national policy, all of which need to be set in a direction at this time.

After a while, four ministers of the Military Aircraft Department came to him. When everyone came in, they didn't know what was going on, and they didn't understand why the emperor suddenly summoned them to discuss the matter. Originally, the war in Vietnam had to go through the Military Aircraft Department and then handed over to Guan Xuqing, but he was too nervous about the war in Vietnam, so he asked a few little eunuchs to take turns to stay in the telegraph room day and night, but they didn't receive the news yet.

Everyone fell to the ground: "The minister sees the emperor, and the emperor is auspicious." ”

Guan Xuqing looked at the telegram in his hand with a smile, then handed it to Prince Gong and said, "Liu Mingchuan did a good job, and he broke through the fortress of Hucheng in three days. Lu Yiwei successfully blocked in the mountains, and now he has brought the French army to the seaside. Our 200,000-strong army surrounded them. The French lost completely. Gathering the ministers is to discuss what to do next. ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and even Prince Gong, who was easy and quiet, was full of disbelief, the French were really defeated, and Daqing really won? It was difficult for everyone to digest for a while.

Li Hongzhang was the first to stand up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that my Qing Dynasty should take this opportunity to make peace with the French, if the emperor trusts Weichen, the minister is willing to talk to the French and ask the French for an explanation." ”

Guan Xuqing couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he heard it, a "sum", a "BI harmony", the difference between one word is thousands of miles, and finally his hard work was not in vain. Guan Xuqing thought for a while and said: "It's better that Hongzhang is willing to go, but this time to talk to the legal person, first, the French who were caught by us must let them redeem them with silver; Second, I must pay compensation to the Qing Dynasty, and I must return all the indemnities in the year of Gengzi and Xinyou to the Qing Dynasty; 3. Vietnam must belong to our Great Qing Dynasty; 4. The terms and conditions signed between the French and our Qing Dynasty before shall be null and void. Just these four, you can do the rest. ”

Guan Xuqing said to Zuo Zongtang at this time: "Zongtang, you draw up a decree for me, send an order to reward the front-line soldiers, all officers and officers will be promoted by one level, soldiers will be paid two years of silver, and all the fallen soldiers will be given preferential pensions." In addition, let Liu Mingchuan tie his pockets firmly, don't cut all the French in his pockets, I still have them useful. ”

Where is useful, I'm afraid that these people will be used as hostages. Everyone saw that their emperor acted without leakage, as if they had already made a decision, and they couldn't help but be secretly shocked in their hearts. However, looking back on this year's war, it was a big defeat first, then a small victory and a peace game, and finally a big victory, which was almost all caused by the persistence of the little emperor in front of him, and the means and courage he showed were the most shocking to everyone.

"Wow." Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang said together.

Guan Xuqing said to Prince Gong again: "This great victory relied on the ironclad ships bought from foreigners and the Qing Army trained in recent years. I think that a strong country must first strengthen its troops. The two cruisers that Hongzhang ordered from the British a year ago should be able to return to China early next year, and I hope that in the future, whether it is a cruiser or an ironclad ship, I can build it myself. Therefore, I decided to rebuild the Mawei Military Port and renovate the Lushun Military Port. Another group of people were sent to England and Germany to learn shipbuilding technology. ”

Prince Gong hurriedly said: "Du Zhi has a saying, the benefits are not hundred, and the law will not change; It is not easy to do it. Su Zizhan also said that when there is nothing to do, it is enough to be famous, and he is always suffering from unbelief; It is enough to see faith when there is something, but it is already difficult to reach it, and this is the reason. ”

Guan Xuqing said happily: "In this case, the basic national policy for the next five years will be decided first." It is still necessary to strengthen the armed forces and focus on developing the navy and army. Originally, in order to reduce military spending, I only kept 500,000 troops. Now it seems that it is far from enough, and the economy is now a little more relaxed. Zong Tang, the Black Flag Army will be directly absorbed. It is also the establishment of a ministry, and then another 400,000 conscription. The Qing Army's entire establishment of 1 million! ”

"Wow."