In December 1884, the Qing siege force was replenished. At the beginning of the month, Tang Jingsong recruited four battalions in Longzhou, with 2,000 people, arrived outside Xuanguang City through herding horses, and then expanded to six battalions; At the end of the month, the 13 small battalions of the Ding Huai Division, a total of 3,000 people, went out of Mabaiguan and entered Xuanguang through Heyang.

In mid-January 1885, Cen Yuying entered the Zhaguan Division from Wenpan, and immediately sent 3,600 troops led by the named Admiral He Xiulin to the direction of Xuanguang to further strengthen the siege of the city. During this period, the Xuanguang Qing army readjusted its deployment: the Black Flag Army and He Xiulin's troops served as blocking reinforcements, and Tang Jingsong and Ding Huai's two divisions were stationed in the north and south of the city, about one kilometer away from the city, serving as siege workers.

Everyone knows Tang Jingsong, so who is this Ding Huai?

He is a famous general of the Yunnan Army, one of the few people who can leave an impression on him in the history of Wang Yi's Sino-French War. This person is three in the balance, after the famous family. Because his father Ding Yaonan died in the battle with Du Wenxiu, Ding Huai got a pension and an official position, and the rank of Wupinyun Cavalry Captain. Later, Ding Huai joined the army in Cen Yuying, and Yang Yuke became an official under his account, and participated in the suppression of Du Wenxiu's rebel army. Because of his bravery in battle and repeated meritorious deeds, he soon received the second-rank title and the Heyong Baturu Yong. This time, he followed Cen Yuying to attack the French army on the Western Front, which can be regarded as a great achievement.

On January 26, 1885, Tang and Ding jointly seized the French stronghold south of Xuanguang City. The French army opened the east gate to help, and the two sides fought fiercely, and each side suffered heavy casualties. Later, due to the reinforcements of He Xiulin's troops, the French army withdrew into the city. Then, the Qing army adopted the tactics of "rolling grass dragon" and captured the South Gate Fort on the 31st, and annihilated more than 200 enemies.

The rolling grass dragon is the method proposed by Ding Huai, in fact, it is also a helpless move, if there is a large-caliber heavy artillery, who spends this idle effort! The so-called rolling grass dragon is a kilometer away from the fort, and the underground excavation is a stack, which can shelter several people, and then open a trench under the battlement. The trench grows longer, the more people can be accommodated, and the people in the trench can avoid guns and cannons. After that, the straw was three feet long, counting thousands of bundles, and rolled in. The grass puts the wall up, the people are not subject to the gun, the grass presses the fort, it can be broken, and the Yunnan people call it the rolling grass dragon.

At this time, there were less than 2,000 French troops in Tuyen Quang City, and the rest of the African troops, plus the Vietnamese servant army, had 12,000 people.

After that, the French army was forced to retreat into the city, because the waterway was cut off by the Black Flag Army, the supply was scarce, and the situation was extremely difficult, so they had to use glass bottles, bamboo tubes and other packages to ask for help, and threw them into the Qing River and went down the river to Duanxiong and Hanoi.

In February, the Qing army attacked the city continuously, giving full play to the wisdom and wisdom of the later generations of Tubalu. Tunnel warfare, mine warfare, the same is not lacking, many times digging tunnels and using mines to blow up the city wall, through the gap into the city, but because of the French army blocking firepower, all unsuccessful.

It didn't take long for news of the defeat on the Eastern Front to arrive.

Because there was no suppression by the Qing army on the Eastern Front, Pourier could finally free up his hands to solve the siege of Xuanguang City by the Qing Army on the Western Front! He personally led the 1st French Brigade from Lang Son up the river, landing at Tuan Hung on 27 February, where it joined up with the advance force that had been sent not long ago, totaling more than 5,000 French soldiers.

The Black Flag Army detected that the French army brigade was coming to help and immediately reported it, but Cen Yuying did not hesitate, and immediately sent 1,000 people from He Xiulin's department to Zuoyu to assist the Black Flag Army in blocking the reinforcements. In addition, 2,000 people from Qin Xiugang's department went out to the vicinity of Lintaofu, and when the French army attacked Zuoyu, they advanced to Duanxiong and cut off the enemy's rear road.

Zuo Yu's Black Flag Army laid down a mine array, took hundreds of thin bamboos, filled them with gunpowder, made wooden boxes and bamboo tubes one another, buried them on both sides of the road and by the river, and camouflaged them with thatched soil so that the enemy could not easily detect them, and hundreds of large and small rockets were densely scattered around the mines. At the same time, eight additional batteries were added to strengthen the garrison.

On 2 March, the French attacked Zuoyu and Tongzhang on the opposite bank. Relying on the stubborn resistance of the local battalion, the Zuoyu Black Banner Army repeatedly repelled the onslaught of the French army, killing and wounding a large number of enemies. It is said that thousands of people were killed by the mine array alone, and Wang Yi expressed extreme doubts about this number.

Later, because the Black Flag Army of Huang Shouzhong's Department, which was defending the same chapter, was defeated by the enemy, the French army occupied the high ground across the river, set up artillery positions, and shelled the Black Flag Army on the left in turn. After suffering nearly 1,000 casualties, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army had to withdraw from the Zuoyu position. And the newly arrived He Xiulin Department was not defeated. Qin Xiugang's department advanced to Duanxiong, and when he heard that the French army had arrived in Xuanguang, he had to return to Lintao and Qingbo.

Cen Yuying saw that the Qing army on the eastern front line of Pan Dingxin was defeated, and the strength of the French army in Xuanguang had increased greatly, so he immediately ordered the exhausted besieging troops to withdraw to the mountains near Xuanguang to rest. The sixth battalion of Tang Jingsong's department was evacuated to Muma through Zhanhua. The plan of the Qing army on the western front to besiege Tuyen Quang was abandoned halfway, and the intention to go east to Hanoi was frustrated.

In general, compared with the east and west fronts, Cen Yuying on the west front seems to play better. However, the real battle situation cannot be compared so simply, because the difference between one attack and one defense is huge. If we look at the results, both sides did not achieve the pre-war goals, so they were both losers.

At the end of February, Wu Xiao, the principal of the Northeast Army Military Academy, was responsible for explaining the gains and losses of the war on the eastern and western fronts of North Vietnam.

"Compared with the professional soldiers in France, the soldiers of the Qing court relied mostly on temporary recruitment, not so much soldiers with guns as peasants with guns. The military system is even more backward, there is no staff system, and there are many internal factions. In terms of combat power alone, I am afraid that it is only stronger than the local servant army in Vietnam, and it is even slightly insufficient in the middle of the French Afrika Korps. Therefore, it often happens that the time and place are favorable, and it is still impossible to effectively kill the French army. The gap between the two sides in weapons is not as huge as imagined, and sometimes the Qing army's musket equipment is even better than that of France, but a hot weapon like a musket cannot be used by just one person. ”

Wu Xiao smiled at this time: "This is also why our northeast has always maintained a state of war oppression against Tsarist Russia in the north, the purpose is to allow all divisions and regiments to rotate regularly and experience the real battlefield atmosphere." Good soldiers are not trained, but fought! ”

"Now let's comment on Pan Dingxin's Eastern Front battlefield."

At this time, someone helped change the map, Wu Xiao continued: "Lao Pan is now returning to Haicun by boat by water, stationed on the shore during the day and at night, and has been running to Longzhou, which is hundreds of miles away from the south of the town. ”

There was a burst of laughter under the podium, and some Qing court officers with braided faces were very ugly.

"The main reason for the failure of the Qing army's counteroffensive on the Eastern Front was that the Qing court formulated the problem of a slight existence in the front of the war, and it was impossible to achieve victory without considering the comparison of strength between the two sides. The Qing army's front-line supply was extremely difficult, and it can be said that it was difficult, and in this case, what came out of the former enemy commander Pan Dingxin was passive and cowardly, fearing the enemy like a tiger, so that the fighters were repeatedly missed...... Here I would like to mention that Pan Dingxin is fair, even if he was very bold and carried out completely according to the command of the Qing court, this battle would have been undefeated, and perhaps even worse. ”

Of course, the logistical embarrassment cannot cover up Pan Dingxin's problems in operational deployment and command! Because the Qing army was passive in its overall strategic guidance, dozens of battalions of troops on the front line were still scattered at various points in Guanyinqiao, Gusong, and Cheli in terms of troop deployment, which seemed to have a wide front. However, this not only increases the pressure on logistics and supplies, but also has no offensive and defensive focus! In addition, the troops deployed in the depth of Lang Son did not move forward in a timely manner and could not play the role of reserves, resulting in a huge gap in the division of troops between the front and rear, and a situation of being passively attacked. ”

"Initially, after the Qing army on the eastern front line entered the front line of Chuantou and Langjia, it was a favorable opportunity for the French army to disperse, the reinforcements did not arrive, and the Vietnamese rebels attacked and disturbed one after another, and the advantage and initiative of the battlefield were basically on the side of the Qing army. However, Pan Dingxin stayed in Lang Son and waited passively with the Western Front. If an attack is made at this time, it can completely break the deployment of the French army and exchange more strategic space for the Qing army. Even if you can't win, you can get more respite for yourself. ”

"Next, when the French army gathered forces and occupied the bow of the ship, Langjia, the Qing army was greatly strengthened after adjustment and reinforcement near Langshan. However, the French army's domestic reinforcements did not arrive, and Xuanguang was surrounded, so the situation was still embarrassing, and he had to turn to attack and defend again. However, Pan Dingxin still did not make a counterattack, using the favorable terrain of the mountainous area in northern Vietnam, pincering the front, attacking from the flank, and crushing the French attack, so that Porier could be calmly arranged again. ”

"In the course of the operation, Pan Dingxin was determined to hesitate, change the order at the moment, and could not organize the mutual coordination between the various departments on the front line, especially when the French army specialized in the middle road, and when Su Yuanchun's troops were losing and retreating, they did not timely mobilize the flank army to strengthen the defense in depth or attack the enemy's flank and rear, so that the French army could drive straight in, continuously break through the middle defense, and approach Lang Mountain."

"Finally, it has nothing to do with Pan Dingxin. In the battle of Fenggu, Su Yuanchun did not rescue Wang Debang's department in time, and when the French army attacked Su Yuanchun's department in the middle road, Wang also waited and watched passively and did not take the initiative to support, giving the French army various opportunities to break through. ”

After that, the officers began to speak, talking about the gains and losses on the Eastern Front. At this time, there were several people sitting at the end of the large lecture hall, led by two elderly people, dressed in civilian clothes. One of them, a man in his forties, looked a little emaciated, but he had an extraordinary bearing. And next to him, a fat old man in his early sixties, looked a little extravagant.

"He is the former chief of staff of the Dashang Insurance Team, Wu Xiao?" The man in his fifties asked in a low voice.

The fat old man nodded and said, "Back to the prince's words, this is indeed the son." ”

"This slave has some ability, much stronger than that Nanpi! At least that sounds like it. ”

As soon as the fat old man heard this, he was excited, and said in his heart, on the ground in the northeast, dare to call Wu Xiao a slave......

When Wu Xiao was in front of the class, he overheard someone at the back door of the lecture hall shouting: "The prime minister has arrived!" ”

As soon as he heard this, the officers in the lecture hall were about to get up to greet him, but Wu Xiao glared at him and said, "In class, sit down honestly for me!" ”