After this public promotion meeting, Li Bingheng talked to Wang Debang, and after some hard talk, Wang Debang also agreed to obey Feng Zicai's command. This is where Li Bingheng has the ability, he can bridge the contradictions between the generals of different factions, because with him in the rear, straighten out the supply and transportation routes, bridge the contradictions between the generals, appease the people of Guangxi, and improve the morale of the army. This made Feng Zicai less worried, and he could rest assured that he could deal with the French in the pass ten miles south of Zhennan.

The pass in front of the pass is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. This Guanshan is like a big fish with its mouth open, it is easy to get in, but it is difficult to get out. The pass is lined with high mountains and mountains, and there is only one passage in the middle, which is easy to defend, Feng Zicai passed through the guidance of a master named Mengda in Mengjia Village, and decided to put the battlefield here.

He set up fortifications in the Guanqian Pass, and built a long wall in the Guanqian Pass for more than three miles between the east and west ridges, and dug a trench outside the wall in order to better defend it. Feng Zicai's subordinate stepped up construction, rushed to build a wall more than three miles long at the pass, dug a deep ditch outside the wall, and built a number of forts on the east and west ridges, and the pass in front of the pass became a solid barrier, laying out a net for the enemy.

In terms of troop deployment, Feng Zicai personally led the Feng army under his command to serve as the frontal defense of the pass, holding the long wall and the dangerous place of the mountain. Eight battalions of Wang Xiaoqi's division were stationed half a mile behind Feng's army as the second echelon of frontal defense. Ten battalions of the Hunan Army under Wang Debang's command were stationed at the oil pass to ensure the safety of the bypass road to the pass, and to attack behind enemy lines. The 18th battalion of the Gui army under Su Yuanchun and Chen Jia's headquarters was stationed in the shogunate, which was located five miles behind the pass in front of the Guan, as a general reserve. Eight battalions of the Hubei army under Wei Gang's department were stationed in Pingerguan, and the waterway from the Gang to Longzhou was controlled. In addition, Jiang Zonghan took over the Yang Yuke Department who died in battle, and Fang Yousheng had a total of more than ten battalions in Pingxiang, and Pan Dingxin led five battalions of the Huai Army to camp in Haicun to the back road of the town. Together with the troops stationed in Longzhou, Xinjie and other places, the total strength of the Qing army on the eastern front reached about 80 battalions.

Pan Dingxin ran back by himself, and he probably knew that if he ran again, his head would fall off, so he went to ask for guilt. After lying that after the fall of Zhennan Pass, he led his cavalry to seize the pass, injured his elbow and fell from his horse, managed to rescue, continued to command the battle, took Su Yuanchun as the vanguard, and after a hard battle, he regained Zhennan Pass and drove the French army to Wenyuan. In fact, the French retreated to Wenyuan by themselves after blowing up Zhennan Pass due to insufficient troops.

The Qing court was not ignorant of the truth, but because there was no one available, and there were still many Huai soldiers on the front line, in order to appease them, this Pan Dingxin could not be killed. So the top and bottom pretended to be confused, turned a blind eye, Li Hongzhang again in the DPRK and China, Pan Dingxin saved his life, and the Qing court allowed him to make meritorious contributions. Of course, the official is gone!

At the same time that Feng Zicai was preparing for battle, secret negotiations between Jin Denggan, the personal representative of the Qing court's chief tax officer, and the French government in Paris were intensifying. The peace talks in Shanghai have been endless because of the participation of big businessmen, and the asking prices of big businessmen are getting higher and higher. Zeng Guoquan and Li Hongzhang reported. If it is as the big business does, the negotiations will be endless, and there will never be any armistice agreement. And Wang Yi sent Zhao Liewen to the past, but he did not let the negotiations succeed. To put it bluntly, it's to stir up the situation. Later, there was a resolute discussion within the Qing court, so he simply got rid of the big businessmen and went it alone.

After the French army occupied Lang Son on the eastern front of Beiqi, and then relieved the siege of Tuyen Quang on the western front on 3 March, the French government was eager to take advantage of the victory to force peace in order to alleviate the strong dissatisfaction of the people at home with the navy. At the same time, in order to ensure that it was in a more advantageous position in the peace talks, the Jouferi government demanded that the French army on the Eastern Front continue to develop the offensive.

Porrière is not having a good time now, and recently it has been reported that the merchant ships from other countries have sent another fleet. Although it is not as good as the first one, after the two armies are united, the navy may not even be able to defend the port.

"Report!" The Communications Officer walked in. "Call from Paris."

When Porier took the telegram and looked at it, he sighed in his heart. He already knew what King was doing to negotiate in Paris. It seems that Prime Minister Ru Feili can only do it helplessly. As long as the Qing people succumb, it will be difficult for the Northeast to start another war...... Is that really the case? Porrier was at a loss.

On the same day, he sent a telegram to Greini at the front, in which he said: "Negotiations are now underway with the Qing Empire, and it would be of great benefit if we could make a move against Longzhou and send North African cavalry to it." You see what can be done to convince the Qing people that we are going to attack Longzhou soon. ”

Grini, who received the telegram, also frowned, he didn't know the news of the departure of the Great Merchant's reinforcement fleet. However, he was already familiar with the terrain of North Vietnam, and it was clear that attacking Long Chau was not a good option.

Now that the battlefield has entered the territory of the Qing Dynasty, the logistical supply pressure that originally restricted the Qing Dynasty has now been greatly eased. On the contrary, France's own supply pressure began to increase. The Vietnamese people in the border areas did not reject the suzerainty of the Qing Dynasty like the southern monkeys, but many of them were inextricably linked to the Qing Dynasty. Either they are Han Chinese, or they have relatives in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, so the people's anti-French sentiment is strong. And the most important point is Feng Zicai's superiority. According to the information obtained by Nigri, this person has a very high prestige in Guangxi and Vietnam, and it can be said that he can eat both black and white.

"It's a bit of a big problem!"

However, there was an order from above, and Nigri still prepared according to the requirements from above.

Yan Fu was very happy to see Sa Zhenbing and Liu Buyun, who had lived in the south for a few months, and his face was dark.

"Zixiang, Dingming, you're here!"

"A few dishes are happy in Sanya!" Liu Buyun said with a smile.

Fang Boqian pushed the door and walked in at this time, and said with a smile: "You guys are here!" He and Liu Buyun and others are also classmates in the same school, and they are not seen.

After greeting for a while and saying a few words of greeting, the four of them sat down. At this time, the atmosphere began to smell of gunpowder, and Liu Buyun asked a little inquisitively: "The war in North Vietnam was urgent before, why didn't you attack the French seaports in Vietnam?" ”

Yan Fu looked at Liu Buyun and said with a smile: "Brother Zixiang, don't blame, you also know that although the tonnage of the ships on our side is sufficient, only the Taiping is equipped with a 254mm inch caliber main gun. The other Tianzitou cruisers were all equipped with 152mm guns, which was not enough to fight the French fortress guns. We now have the upper hand, and there is no need to fight the French seaport. ”

Liu Buyun raised his eyebrows and said, "Then is it up to the legal person to wreak havoc in North Vietnam?" ”

Yan Fu was a little unhappy, and said coldly: "There are tens of thousands of Qing soldiers in North Vietnam, far exceeding the number of legal persons, and the reason for the unfavorable war is to be pushed on our fleet?" ”

"You!" Liu Buyun was given a roast chicken by Yan Fu. "And when are you going to use troops against Vietnam?"

Fang Boqian was also a little unhappy when he listened to it on the side, and said in his heart, did you Liu Buyun take the wrong medicine? Then he said: "With two new important warships added to the fleet, how can they be formed without training?" ”

Sa Zhenbing nodded and said, "I agree with what Yitang said, after all, the Anxiang and Tianquan have not conducted peace training with the fleet. If you attack so rashly, there will inevitably be accidents. ”

While the two fleets of the Great Shang were training together, the French began to attack by land.

On 9 March, Deputy Commander Nigri sent a North African cavalry and a Vietnamese puppet army to attempt to enter Chengfeng and herd horses from Wenyuan through Koubo, and bypass the north of Zhennan Pass, posing a posture of threatening Longzhou and cutting off the return route of Tang Jingsong's troops who had withdrawn from Xuanguang to Zhanhua and Ma Shengzhi's troops stationed in Xinjie. According to the information provided by the Vietnamese people, Feng Zicai immediately sent five battalions of Feng's army to Longzhou to Koubo, while Su Yuanchun led the Gui army and Wei Gangbu to Jiangfeng.

On March 13, the French army advanced to Jiangfeng, and when they saw that the Qing army had arrived in advance, they turned around and retreated south. Feng's army, which arrived at Koubo, fought hard to stop it, and the French army was defeated back to Wenyuan. After that, Su Yuanchun's troops still returned to the shogunate, while the eighth battalion of Wei Gang's department and the fifth battalion of Feng's army stayed behind to guard Jiangfeng and Koubo respectively.

Unlike Pan Dingxin, Feng Zicai took the initiative to attack and disrupt the deployment of the French army. On March 21, despite the obstruction of Pan Dingxin and others, he decided to strike first against the enemy, and resolutely led Wang Xiaoqi's troops out of the customs to attack Wenyuan, an outpost of the French army.

Nigri found that Feng Zicai lived up to his reputation, far from being comparable to the previous Pan Dingxin, in order to find the initiative on the battlefield and get rid of the passive position. He did not wait for reinforcements to arrive and decided to attack in advance.

It can be said that the entire battlefield on the eastern front of North Vietnam has only begun to really fight-for-tat, and the previous Pan Dinh Xin is more like a dead fish. was tossed by Zhang Zhidong's strategy and let go of the last half of his breath. The French were very strong, but not so strong that the Qing army did not even have the strength to fight back.

Wang Yi, Wu Xiao, and Wang Xiaoxiao were reading the battle report together, and after knowing the situation in North Vietnam, Wang Xiaoxiao laughed and said, "Jiang is still old and spicy!" General Feng is really majestic, and his name is well deserved! ”

"Indeed!" Wang Yi nodded in agreement.

Wu Xiao showed a trace of melancholy on his face, and said, "Nigri will not give up......"

"This is the latest situation map from Zhennan Pass, you can take a look." Wang handed over the new information to the two of them.

Wu Xiao and Wang Xiaoxiao shouted in surprise at the same time, "Huh......"

"Interesting, right?" Wang Yi said with a smile.

"Well, that's kind of interesting! Old General Feng is luring the snake out of the hole. Wu Xiao said with a smile.

"I'll just say, don't always look down on those who haven't gone to military school, people rely on their own skills to fight, and they are even more talented. In the future, if you are right, don't be careless and suffer a big loss. ”

"That's what the captain said!" Wu Xiao and Wang Xiaoxiao nodded.

Serving Wang Yi today is Jiang Jiaren, who looks a lot like one of the function combinations in later generations. Her Chinese is not very good yet, especially her language and hearing, so she doesn't understand what the three of them are talking about. In fact, she also did not have the slightest interest in fighting. Wang Yi talked to her and found out that this is a tall girl with a sexy and beautiful face, but she is actually a talented girl. Born in a family of eunuchs, he should have something to do with the Enlightenment Party. In order to protect her family, the girl agreed to become Wang Yi's maid...... Well, it sounds like a bit of a test of the tiger.