On the third day of the official opening of the tripartite negotiations in Guangzhou, on the beautiful summer morning of July 25, 1873, the sky was bright enough to clearly see the seaside in Da Nang, Vietnam. Five French warships slowly leaped out of the meeting between water and sky.

Approaching the coast of Da Nang, Du Bai Lei used the large magnification telescope on the warship to observe the forts near the port of Da Nang.

Yes, the battery.

How could Da Nang, which had been a French colony since 1858 in the Western calendar, not build a fort?

Although the fort in Da Nang was small, and it was never expanded after the British joined forces in 1860 to completely break the Manchu waistbone, it was still a threat.

However, Du Bailei didn't see the figure of the cannon from it, and the window of the cannon position was clear at a glance, and there was no figure of the cannon at all. However, Du Bailei saw the shadow of the Vietnamese soldier in it.

Fortunately, in his battle plan, the 'French army' did not plan to drive straight into it from the beginning, after all, there were many Qin troops stationed here. After two major setbacks, the French army, whether by sea or land, had to face up to the combat effectiveness of the Qin army. The Qin troops stationed in Da Nang, as for the landing force under Du Bailei, which was not strong, suffered heavy losses.

Du Bailei's battle plan itself was only to build a defense system near the port first, and then rely on this defense system to occupy Da Nang. At least it can control the entire port.

Without giving the Vietnamese army and the Qin army in Da Nang time to react, Du Bailei immediately ordered the small steam ships accompanying the army to transport the soldiers to land. However, to Du Bailei's surprise, the Vietnamese soldier who was a waste in his eyes did not flee in a panic. Instead, it was firmly guarded in the battery, which had no cannons. As soon as the 'French' soldiers landed, they were attacked by their cold guns.

The marksmanship of these Vietnamese soldiers was not very good. Hiding is not hidden, and the era of black powder. The smoke after the shooting clearly exposed where they were. The French landing force immediately attacked, all of them were big noses, not to mention the Vietnamese, even Liu Xian couldn't recognize them, those of these people were Gallic roosters, those were Spaniards!

The 'French army', which straightened up and attacked, was immediately fired upon by more people.

Not only were there bullets, but the Vietnamese soldiers also used small mortars, and Du Bailei saw at least three old-fashioned flowering shells explode in the French offensive ranks. The soldiers of the landing force immediately lay down, and the offensive was stopped.

"Fire! Knock them off—"

Du Bailei didn't want to anger Qin Jun. He was afraid that Liu Xian would take his main force and kill Saigon. The Spaniards just didn't know the strength of the Qin army, so they said that it was better to fight the Vietnamese than to fight the Chinese.

That statement is true, but it is also inappropriate.

When Du Bailei had just arrived, he didn't immediately shell and wipe out the fort, one of the reasons was that he was afraid that there were Qin soldiers in the fort, and he 'mistakenly killed' the Qin soldiers. But now he can't care about that. The lookout had already told him that reinforcements were leaving the city of Da Nang to the sea.

Five French naval guns opened fire on the battery positions. Listening to the rumbling sound of the cannon and feeling the tremor brought by the artillery shooting, Du Bailei's heart was like water. After this battlefield is over. He's also retiring from the military. Even if he now accomplishes his goal in the near future and gains a little leverage for Luo Shuya in the negotiations, he must retire from active duty. France suffered so much loss and shame that he and Francis. Garnier, Frost. The fate of all three has been sealed!

The French landing soldiers captured the Da Nang Fort, which had been baptized by naval guns. The Vietnamese infantry, who had rushed to the rescue, halted their advance and began to retreat, but not significantly. They retreated, but the distance they retreated was much smaller than Du Bailei had previously expected.

More than five hundred French GIs were transported to the coast. The assembled French landing force began to continue its attack inward. It's just that when they attacked this time, they were much more careful. But it's clear. The Chinese and Vietnamese forces dug trenches much faster than the French expected.

The French landing force was in high spirits, and even in the face of fierce enemy fire, they still managed to advance. The infantry on both sides fought closer and closer, and the explosion of grenades finally appeared in the sound of rifle fire. The French offensive came to a halt again. Immediately, the four three-inch caliber naval guns that were urgently sent ashore by Du Bailei began to wield.

Large drops of sweat dripped from Colonel Juan's forehead. The battle here was completely different from what he had imagined before, and he had expected to encounter a phalanx attack by the Chinese and Vietnamese troops, or even a phalanx charge. However, the reality is that the formation of the enemy is completely invisible on a scale above the horizon, the formation of a trench, and the fighting is so fierce. If it weren't for the fact that he still had the advantage in firepower, Colonel Juan would have made the soldiers retreat.

The 'French' attacked three times, the third of which was only halfway through. Because these Spanish soldiers dressed in the skin of Gallic roosters are really not strong soldiers, and the Spanish soldiers in the Philippine colonies are not even second-rate armies in Europe. It simply can't afford such heavy casualties. In the fierce exchange of fire, the Spaniards, who could not resist, had to retreat in earnest.

As a last resort, Du Bailei had no choice but to move out of her magic weapon - the fleet's large-caliber main gun.

The caliber of the main guns of the five capital battleships has reached more than 8 inches, especially the main guns of the Basval, which have reached 10 inches. If the previous fire of the fleet on the battery caused only the shock of someone tapping the table with a finger, now the shooting is someone slamming the ground with a sledgehammer. The shock felt was not at all the same level.

The soldiers of the Qin army and the Vietnamese army on the position fled backwards with their heads in their hands as soon as the naval guns rang out. The Zhou army looked out from the high-rise buildings in the city more than two miles away from the position, and saw that at the same time as the roar came, several huge clouds rose up on the position, and the main guns of 10-inch caliber, even if the shells were still black powder, could blow up a large crater with a radius of more than 10 meters. The shock wave can even cause flesh and blood to fall within 20 meters of the shell's explosion point. Under such an artillery bombardment, it is absolutely impossible to survive the shallow trenches of the right front, and it is absolutely impossible to continue to evade.

Sure enough, after a few rounds of shelling, the Spanish GIs attacked again, and without encountering any resistance at all, they pushed the battle line across the battlefield just now. Then it advanced all the way to the front end of the range of the fleet's main guns before establishing a defensive position on the spot.

The progress is smooth, which is naturally good news. But there was no smile on Du Bailei's face. In his spare time, his eyes began to look more at Nanqifang...... (To be continued......) R1292