Dashang's spies in Korea discovered that the Korean Enlightenment Party was secretly transporting military equipment, both uniforms and firearms, obtained from Japan on civilian ships. The Americans have also been of great help in this matter, and they do not seem to want the Qing family to have the final say on the North Korean issue. On the issue of the Kaihua Party, the Joseon king Gojong Yi Hee held a supportive attitude, and now it seems that he has been a little unbearable for his father and wife to take power, hoping to use the increasing strength of the Kaihua Party to obtain a stable political bargaining chip, so as to get the opportunity to be pro-government.

Knowing the situation, Wang began to deploy in advance, like a hunter, waiting for his prey to step into his trap.

The French had now begun a new offensive of their own, and since Guba was to be in charge of naval suppression of the southeastern coast of China, the land problem was entrusted to Lieutenant General Miller. Today, the French army in Annam has reached 18,000 men. This allowed Miller to reorganize his forces and reorganize the army into two brigades, one to his two lieutenants, Pollier and Nigri, and to Colonel Moreborio for the reintrovert of the river fleet.

According to the characteristics of the Bac Ninh defenders' heavy troops in front and empty in the flanks and behind, they used a small number of troops to hold Shanxi to guard against the Qing army on the western front, and concentrated the main force of 12,000 people to attack Bac Ninh, intending to attract the attention of the defenders through a frontal feint, and then the main force attacked the commanding heights of Bac Ninh.

They planned well, and the Qing commanders were very cooperative, and the battle of Bac Ninh lasted ten days before and after, while the actual battle lasted only five days. From March 3, 1884 to March 12, 1884, the whole battle was simply tongue-wrenching.

As if Mile had arranged it before the war, on March 12, the whole front was attacked, and the Qing army was tightened at the same time, and the commanding heights of the ball also fell into the hands of the enemy in the afternoon of the same day. The legal person immediately pulled up the mountain and condescendingly bombarded the whole city of Bac Ninh.

After three rounds of shelling, everyone in the entire city of Bac Ninh, both civilians and soldiers, began to scramble to flee. After more than a year of operation in the Qing Dynasty, Bac Ninh, which was guarded by more than 24,000 people of the 58th Battalion, fell so lightly, and the materials that Xu Yanxu had painstakingly accumulated all the materials in the city were also owned by the French. Most of the more than 20,000 Qing troops who retreated from Bac Ninh were pursued by the light troops of Borier and Negri, and only a few were able to escape back to Lang Son and Zhennan Pass.

After this battle, Annan was completely disillusioned with the Qing Dynasty, and his national prestige plummeted, and all the local powerful factions threw themselves into the arms of the French.

On March 26, 1884, due to ineffective combat, Xu Yanxu, the governor of Guangxi, was dismissed from his post and questioned, and Tang Jiong, the governor of Yunnan, was also dismissed. Of course, in the whole process, the Queen Mother was wise, the Qingliu were always innocent, and Li Hongzhang, who insisted on the main battle of Bac Ninh, was not implicated because the court needed him to negotiate with the French. Only Xu Yanxu was released from Beijing and imprisoned, sentenced to behead the prison marquis, and later changed to Xinjiang as an army, and died of illness before leaving Beijing.

Although the defeat at Bac Ninh was detrimental to the country's prestige, it was an unprecedented opportunity for Cixi.

On April 8, 1884, Cixi suddenly issued an edict to remove the entire class of ministers of the Military Aircraft Department headed by Prince Gong Yixin, which was the famous "Jiashen Dynasty Change", also known as "Jiashen Yishu". A defeat, under the influence of Lafayette's turning his hands into clouds and covering his hands into rain, became a good opportunity to deal with political enemies and dissidents. Prince Gong was on long-term sick leave at 60, and Li Hongzao got out. Yixuan, Yixuan, Shiduo is on the throne. As for the other Qingliu comrades, except for Zhang Zhidong, who was discussed by the imperial court because of Xu Yanxu's problem, the rest were all released and promoted to make a fortune.

Later, he was succeeded by Pan Dingxin, who was the Ding army under him, along with Cheng Xueqi's Kaijun, Liu Mingchuan's Ming Army, Zhou Brothers' Sheng Army, and Zhang Shushan's Shu Army, which were known as the five main forces of the Huai Army, which also gave Li Hongzhang a little face.

And Liu Yongfu had already arrived under Cen Liuying at this time, and Cen Liuying waved his pen very face-saving and gave the Black Flag Army twelve battalions, with a total of 6,000 people. Liu Yongfu was happy at this time, and he was also a regular army of the Qing Dynasty.

When the news of the defeat of Bac Ninh reached Korea again, the position of the Min Concubine group, which had high hopes for the Qing Dynasty, also began to waver.

By May 1884, because of the critical situation in the south, Wu Changqing, who was originally stationed in Korea, returned to China with 1,500 Qing troops to garrison, leaving Admiral Wu Zhaoyou, and the general soldier Zhang Guangqian was in charge of the situation in Korea, and Yuan Shikai was also left behind.

At this time, Wang Yi was sitting in the office of the Prime Minister of the Northeast Autonomous Region, and next to him sat Premier Yang Qiuxing and the ministers of various departments, and the 21 members of the Political Discussion Bureau were also all present. Because today is the day when Xiang Long, the governor in Vladivostok, and Zheng Haitao, the governor in Irkutsk, return to China to return to work.

Since the Great War with the Franco-Japanese forces, the Northeast seems to have regained calm, and nothing has been done in the South. But in reality, the northern region has not been calm.

On the Eastern Front, with the help of his navy, Xiang Long had completely destroyed all the outlets of Tsarist Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk, and now he has occupied a vast area east of Yakutsk, including Magadan and Kamchatka. Yakutsk is now a military fortress with a military airship terminal and large-caliber fortress guns. A railway from Ayan to Yakutsk is being built, and a railway connecting Mohe, Yaksa, Tengda, Yakutsk, and Magadan is currently being planned.

And Zheng Haitao on the Western Front, because Skobelev retreated to Krasnoyarks with his troops, he occupied Irkutsk without bloodshed. Like Xiang Long, he also built military fortresses there. The railway from Mohe to Irkutsk via Nebuchu and Chita has now been completed.

In this process, the Russians have not sat still, but the large-scale application of big merchant airships has brought a lot of pressure to the logistics of the Russians. From time to time, the special operations teams that were dropped into their rear by big merchant airships made Skobelev, who was overseeing the troops at the front, suffer. The burning of grain and grass, the destruction of ammunition, and the occasional sudden bombardment made it seem as if the Russians had entered a nightmare. What's even more terrifying is that the bombs used by the airship unit are gradually escalating, such as the white phosphorus bombs and poison gas bombs that appeared not long ago, which almost killed Skobelev. Although the Russians continued to assemble large armies under the orders of Tsar Alexander III, even the Tsar himself seemed to lack confidence in the idea of retaking the occupied territories in the face of the growing strength and improvement of the offensive and defensive systems of the Great Shang.

At the same time, the Great Merchants were changing, and now they were beginning to learn from the experience of the Russians, co-opting Cossack cavalry everywhere for their own use, and no longer rashly treating them as enemies. Although the discipline of the Great Shang Army was strict and the recruitment was no longer expanded, the Cossack cavalry fulfilled the role of the Great Shang servant army very well, and then a large number of young Cossack cavalry officers were drawn out, received Chinese language education, and then carried out simple military training.

Because the occupied territories have only been ruled for a short period of time, there will always be some resistance, and the clean-up work continues. However, the winter is bitterly cold there, and life for the rebels is not easy. Both Xiang Long and Zheng Haitao used the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness to gather the scattered villagers and establish a unified management of the military town.

Zheng Hailong also established various metallurgical mines in Irkutsk and Chita, and the arsenals of the Great Merchants also set up branches there. As a result, logistical supplies have been greatly improved, and with the opening of the railway, the whole region has been strengthened and has begun to develop rapidly.

"The Russians have attacked three times this year, all of which we have repulsed, and now our most urgent need is the fortress artillery of the Irkutsk castle, which we will do as best we can, so that we will have absolute superiority in firepower. In addition, we are planning to build a shipyard on the shores of Lake Baikal for the manufacture of shallow water gunboats. In this way, along the dense water network around us, with the help of the fire of the airships, we can quickly continue to advance north and west. ”

Zheng Haitao introduced the situation in the occupied areas under his subordinates, and Wang Yi and others made notes from time to time.

"The Irkutsk region is rich in minerals, and although there are already businessmen who go to mine them, the scale is still not very large, so I hope that the regional government will introduce a policy to encourage mining migrants, so that the people in the occupied areas can gradually stabilize and provide the necessary economic foundation."

Zheng Haitao was followed by Xiang Long's introduction.

"Now there are no rebels on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, 2,000 immigrants have joined Magadan, and several major towns are gradually being built. However, compared to these places, the Japanese have once again landed on the island in the Ezo area, and their warships and gunboats have also intruded into the waters around Ezo from time to time, and there have been several small frictions with our navy. ”

"The Japanese smuggled to the island?" Prime Minister Yang Qiuxing asked at this time. "Is the situation strict?"

"The size is about 200 people, and although we have more than 5,000 immigrants on Ezo Island, it may be difficult for our current defense capabilities to stop the Japanese from forcibly attacking. So I hope to equip the militia on the island with some heavy artillery and heavy fire machine guns to ensure the safety of the inhabited areas. At the very least, we have enough time to react to the Japanese attack to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties. ”

Zheng Haitao and Xiang Long constantly put forward their opinions at the consultation meeting, and at the same time gave detailed explanations of the current situation in various fields to the officials of the autonomous regional government and 21 members of the Political Discussion Bureau. After the meeting was dismissed, Yang Qiuxing held a banquet in the Great Hall of Dashang to entertain the two, and Wang Yi accompanied him to dinner.

By the beginning of May, the two had returned to their respective war zones, and some new equipment had been shipped to the front line to await the test of actual combat.

Since Yan Fu was sent to Mawei, he has not been in Mawei Port for a long time, and from time to time he has taken three 10,000-ton cruisers and two supply ships that have been delivered by the big merchants to patrol between Taiwan and the Ryukyus.

At this time, Zhang Peilun had already been asked by Cixi to handle the affairs of the Fujian Maritime Frontier, and he also did a lot of things, surveying the shipyard bureau and the fortresses along the Minjiang River. He proposed that the main request was to sink the ship to block the mouth of the Min River, but the Qing court did not agree with it, and the Qing court was not allowed to strike first, so he could only watch the French warships circling around the southeast coast to listen to the news and draw hydrographic patterns.

Today, Zhang Peilun rushed to the house of He Jing, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the two were chatting.

"My lord, legal persons are becoming rampant day by day, and if you don't stop it in time, something big will happen sooner or later." Zhang Peilun said worriedly.

"Youqiao, you don't know what you are talking about, but the imperial court has ordered us to prohibit us from attacking first." He Jing sighed, but whether this sigh was true or not, that was all there was to it.

Seeing this, Zhang Peilun was not easy to persuade, so he only said: "The first strike, the second strike is controlled by others." Shaking his head, the topic returned to the Nanyang Sailors. I heard that Nanyang ordered five warships from Dashang Shipyard and three have been delivered, why has it never been found? ”

He Jing sighed, he just wanted Shen Yazhi to be the concubine of that old boy, and now when he saw the big businessman, he was afraid. Therefore, Yan Fu didn't dare to ask more about taking the fleet on patrol, so he prevaricated: "This warship has not yet paid off the arrears, although the big merchant has already handed over the ship, but we can only send people to train on it now, but we don't have the right to use it yet." ”

"Where is the fleet now?" Zhang Peilun frowned.

He Jing's old face flushed and said, "I don't know." ”

Zhang Peilun almost died of anger, and said in his heart that you He Jing is also a governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, why was you bullied like this by big businessmen? Even if Nanyang has not paid off the remaining arrears of the ships, why does it not even know where the fleet is now?

After Jiashen Yishu, Baylor Yixuan presided over the prime minister's national affairs yamen, and the actual power was in the hands of Guangxu's biological father, Prince Yixuan. Li Hongzhang was authorized to hold peace talks with the French representative. On May 11, Li Hongzhang and the French representative Frunaud signed the "Concise Treaty of the Sino-French Conference", also known as the "Lifu Agreement", in Tianjin.

The main contents are: China agrees to "all concluded and undecided treaties" between France and Vietnam without question, that is, it recognizes France's right to protect Vietnam; France agreed that "it should protect and assist in the protection of the border between China and Vietnam", and China agreed that "all the defense battalions stationed in Beiqi will be transferred back to the border immediately"; China agreed to the opening of the Sino-Vietnamese border to commerce, and agreed that in the future the relevant tariffs for commercial treaties negotiated with France would be "extremely advantageous for French commerce"; The terms of the meeting of representatives of the two sides shall be within three months after the signing of this agreement.

Li Hongzhang, who was originally ordered by Cixi to sign a contract with the French, suddenly found that the central government had changed, and these people were different from the previous proposal of Prince Gong to surrender in 60, one was tougher than the other. What's worse is that they are all a group of princes Baylor. And with them as the backstage, the main battle faction that had been silent before was resurrected again. I found a few pens, a bunch of tabloids have been distributed, in the minds of the masses, Li Hongzhang is completely stinky, and has become a traitor like Jia and Qin Hui!

Of course, the treaty with the French has already been signed, and based on past experience, it is not possible not to implement it. It's just that the execution is the execution, how to execute, there is a saying in it. At this time, the Qing army on the eastern front received an order to retreat to Lang Son, where it had retreated. The order to the Qing army on the Western Front was: Retire from the garrison division and protect the victory. In Li Hongzhang's wishful thinking, these places are all places close to the border, and being stationed in the above-mentioned places is not considered a breach of contract. In this way, the imperial court did not have to lose face because of the evacuation of Vietnam, and it could make the French disgruntled but without an excuse to blame.

At this time, Pan Dingxin, the new governor of Guangxi, absorbed the lesson of his predecessor Xu Yanxu and gave the central government a fold, asking how to deal with the border army when the French army came to attack? Originally, you honestly followed Li Hongzhang's deployment and withdrew directly, and everyone pretended not to do this, and it was done. Unexpectedly, this excerpt can be regarded as making the contradiction public. In the sound of the main battle of the Manchu Dynasty, Cixi's reply was: "Don't withdraw, but you can't retreat to show weakness!" ”

At this time, Pan Dingxin realized that he had treated himself as a big wax and put it on the shelf. The withdrawal of troops is to disobey Yi's decree and deceive the king. If you don't withdraw your troops, you will have to fight...... It is difficult to say whether the French can be beaten or not, but it is contrary to the great cry of the Queen Mother's true desire for peace. Later, he was forced to lose his recruitment, and he couldn't retreat...... Then I'll go into the army! The Eastern Route Army of the Qing Dynasty marched south alone, until it reached the line of Gusong and Tunmei, which were more than 200 miles away from the border.

But in this case, of course, the French will not do it!

Under pressure from the French home, Frouno ran to Li Hongzhang on May 17, 1884, and drew two lines of march on the map, and the French army on the eastern front would be stationed in Gaoping and Lang Son before June 5; The French army on the Western Front will also occupy Baosheng on 1 July. The Qing army on the Eastern Front was limited to the withdrawal of all Qing troops to the territory by June 6, 1884; The Qing forces on the Western Front were all withdrawn by June 26, 1884, to avoid friction.

When Li Hongzhang saw this withdrawal table, his first reaction was that it was unacceptable no matter what, it was inconsistent with the direction of the imperial court! However, the legal person was pressing step by step, and in desperation, Li Hongzhang had to be vague, and did not say that he agreed, nor did he say that he did not agree, and even did not report the matter to the central authorities. He only stressed to Comrade Frunono in his personal name: "He has no right to command the troops outside the border, and the distance is far away, and it is inconvenient to communicate with him. "To put it simply, to put it bluntly, it is to think in the long run.

But Frouno's understanding was that Li Hongzhang agreed to his request, so he went back to report the good news.

By mid-June 1884, Miller thought that the withdrawal date of the Qing army on the Eastern Front had long passed, so he sent Lieutenant Colonel Du Senny to lead more than 800 people to Lang Son, the territory of the Qing army, for a peaceful handover. Before leaving, Miller was a thousand admonitions, ten thousand instructions, warning Dusenny not to act impulsively, and to ask for instructions before making a decision. The problem is that Du Senny himself has an irritable personality, and the main problem is that you are in the hands of the Qing army, what are you doing with a Vietnamese translator, this thing can only speak Cantonese, and Mandarin is completely intelligible.

On June 22, 1884, Du Senni's troops arrived in Beili, approached the Qing army's position the next day, and at the same time sent the Vietnamese interpreter to give a direct sentence to the tens of thousands of Qing troops: withdraw from Lang Son within three days, otherwise you will bear the consequences.

Isn't such a naked threat just a slap in the face!

However, it was not a war after all, so the Qing army sent three people to negotiate, telling the French side that they had not received an order to withdraw their troops, and asking the French side to forward the relevant orders. Originally, if this matter had been peaceful, it might not have happened. But Dusenny was too angry, so he quarreled with the Qing army liaison officer. On June 25, Dusenny finally reached the limit of patience and took out a pistol and shot the Qing army liaison officer dead. The lieutenant colonel who killed the person did not do anything, and simply urged his subordinates to attack the Qing army's position, in a vain attempt to solve the problem by force.

But the Qing army is weak, and it is not a servant army of Vietnam, and there are tens of thousands of people. The proud and arrogant Du Senny, at this moment, was possessed by An Ye, possessed by Li Willy, and jumped to death by himself. Although it was a coordinated operation of infantry artillery, after two days of fierce fighting, Dusenny's army was driven back by the superior Qing army for more than 30 miles. And the Qing army killed and wounded 100 French soldiers at the cost of more than 300 casualties! There were even some items left behind by legal entities during the pursuit.

So...... A so-called Guanyin Bridge victory has appeared!

When the news reached China, the Jingshi was shaken, everyone cheered, the death toll in France doubled in the literati's pen, and the voices of the main war faction became tough again, and the Qing Dynasty was excited. However, on the contrary, when the news came back to France, the French were furious, and the expressions on both sides were actually similar, typical of bipolar disorder at the national level. Dusenny's unreasonableness, after returning to France, became the stupid arrogance of the Orientals, and became racism.

Under the pressure of public opinion in the country, Gu Ba was angry, and in the war room, he said to a group of officers in the room: "We must at least take Fuzhou and Nanjing, and then attack the Bohai Sea, attack Lushun, Keweihai, and Yanjing, and then make an alliance under the city as we did in 1860."

Fruno felt crazy and said angrily: "Commander, I can accept your attack on Fuzhou and Nanjing." But you have to go straight to Bohai Bay and attack Lushun and Weihai. My lord, I have to warn you, there's a giant beast over there! ”

The French officers in the battle hall remembered that now the northeast of the Qing Dynasty has been autonomous, and it is the territory of the Great Shang. These people beat the Russians to the point that they screamed all over the world, and even made their French roosters hate Nagasaki, and suffered heavy losses, and they did not even dare to take revenge.

Lone finally calmed down. The signal corpsman walked in at this time and said, "Call from Paris!" ”

"What?"

"Prime Minister Jofferi has vetoed your plan of attack."

In the Tianjin Zhili Governor's Palace, opposite Li Hongzhang sat the adjutant of the deputy commander of the French Far East Fleet, Lisby, who was very arrogant: "Your Excellency, if your country does not pay compensation, General Guba will personally go to Beijing to discuss with the emperor of your country. ”

Li Hongzhang squinted his eyes, he couldn't be clearer about the meaning of his words, smiled slightly, and said, "I don't know when General Guba will enter Beijing?" ”

Rige Mixin said that I wiped my tears, isn't it cute? So I had to have a showdown: "The so-called negotiators are to meet each other in arms!" ”

"Oh?" In Rigemi's mind, the governor of the Qing Dynasty has never advocated solving problems by force, but today's Li Hongzhang has changed his personality and said: "If the commander wants to enter Beijing, he must first pass through Jingu, and with me here, I am afraid it will not be easy!" Besides, the great business direction of the Northeast and your country are as deep as the sea, and the old man is willing to mediate in the middle, I don't know if General Guba dares to come to Lushun, and meet with a smile and enmity? ”

Zhigmi was dumbfounded, and his heart said, "You are bad!" ”

Rigmi, who went back to recover his life, told Li Hongzhang's original words to his top boss Lisby, and Lisby himself admitted it. Not to mention big businessmen, even the current Beiyang is not something they can afford to provoke.

On July 9, 1884, the French Prime Minister Jouferry sent a note to Li Fengbao, the minister of the Qing Dynasty in France.

"If China fails to quickly withdraw its troops from North Vietnam and pay reparations for the 'North Lebanon ambush', it will be necessary for China to directly obtain guarantees and the compensation it deserves."

On July 12, 1884, the ultimatum was transmitted back to China, and the French, in addition to demanding a deadline for the withdrawal of troops, extorted 250 million francs for military expenses as soon as they opened their mouths. Reply within one week, otherwise France will "take the collateral and pay the indemnity itself." ”

Originally, Cixi was shouting loudly and thinking about peace in her heart. Unexpectedly, the French moved the real character, not only did she panic, but even the entire center of the Qing Dynasty was a virtue, so a holy decree was quickly sent to the front line of Beiqi.

"The defense battalions in Beiqi will be withdrawn to the interior according to the agreement, and Pan Dingxin will transfer the defense troops from all parts of Langshan back to the Guannei, and they will be stationed and seriously trained. He also supported Cen Yuying to transfer all those who were stationed in Beiqi to return to Guannei for training. The Yunnan and Guangdong armies were both withdrawn within a month. ”

But at this time, it is too late to think about peace. The French wanted to set 250 million francs, and Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guoquan, who replaced Zuo Zongtang to replace the governor of Liangjiang, did not let go of their mouths on 500,000 taels of silver, which was equivalent to 3.3 million francs. If you deduct the loss of the French army in the Battle of Guanyin Bridge, it is similar to sending Hanako, and a French soldier can't even spread a franc, of course, people can't agree. So the new negotiator, Baderno, did not even report this figure to Paris. So the peace talks were gone, and they could only start the war.

Yan Fu was sitting in front of Wang Yi and Shang Yi and others at this time, leading the army alone for more than a year, and the experience of crisscrossing the sea made him look a little darker and thinner, and he became more and more energetic.

Sa Zhenbing sat next to him with a very envious expression. Now he has succeeded Shang Yi on the destroyer Junzi...... No...... Now it should be called the position of captain of the Shoju. The five Thorn-class destroyers of Dashang have now all been built. At the same time, several previous ships were remodeled, removing a twin 120mm caliber gun and replacing it with an anti-aircraft machine gun for air defense. Don't really come across an airship that will capsize in the gutter.

Fang Boqian was also here at this time, he was the captain of Yan Fu's three cruisers, Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianjizhong, and Tianji. Although he is from Nanyang, he has to listen to Yan Fu's orders.

Wang Yi said with a smile at this time: "In today's situation, someone in the Qing Dynasty will always take responsibility, and it is impossible for Lafayette and those military princes who have no brains but control the entire center of the imperial court to come out and take responsibility!" Because they're always right! ”

The people in the surrounding Northeast Autonomous Region all laughed, but the faces of the people in the Nanyang system were a little unpleasant.

Chief of General Staff Wang Xiao smiled and said: "The news has come, and the unlucky one should have been Huang Guiyu, but he has committed suicide and martyred himself, so he will not be held responsible." There are two other people, one is Pan Dingxin, this person is smart, confused for a while, and an excerpt puts himself on the fire. It's just that changing the commander in battle is a taboo for soldiers, and the court has some scruples, and it is impossible to punish it at present. However, this person was not liked by the Queen Mother, but it was also known to all provinces, so they cut off the supply to the front, and the excerpts of attacking and exposing Pan Dingxin's various crimes became snowflakes and flew all over the capital. ”

"Damn, what's this called!" Shang Yi scolded.

Wang Yi didn't speak, and Wu Xiao said at this time: "What about the other one?" ”

"Our old friend, Zhang Shusheng, the governor of Liangguang!" Wang Xiaoxiao said helplessly.

"How could it be him?" Wu Xiao asked.

"Because he is a relative of Huang Guilan and an old comrade-in-arms of Pan Dingxin, he was also involved."

Wang Yi finally spoke: "Then how did the Qing court deal with it, it wouldn't be killed directly, right?" ”

"No, it was originally dismissed and retained, and he was guilty of meritorious service! However, Zhang Zhidong made the smoke bubble ghost blow the lamp, and after he himself became the governor of Liangguang, he sent Zhang Shusheng to serve on the front line in Fujian. But Lao Zhang is a lot old, how can his old arms and legs withstand such stimulation, so he swallowed his breath on the way to Fujian. ”

Wang Yi sighed, he and Zhang Shusheng knew each other and cooperated with each other, so this person's departure still made him a little gloomy.

"Has this Zhang Zhidong done anything good?" Shang Yi sneered.

Wu Xiao said at this time: "The Queen Mother's hand is ruthless enough, Huang Guilan, Pan Dingxin and Zhang Shusheng, these are all Huaijun's people." ”

Wang Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "But Li Hongzhang's old face still has to be given, and he has defeated people who really haven't done anything practical." Lafayette just saw that the Huai system was strong and beat a stick; Seeing that the Hunan system was strong, he also beat a stick; Seeing that the Qing school is strong, it is still a stick. She herself reaps the benefits of fishermen, this is the emperor's learning, and it is really unfathomable! Now the Huai army has temporarily left a Pan Dingxin in Vietnam, Taiwan has put another Liu Mingchuan, and Zhejiang has retained Xue Fucheng, which can be regarded as leaving some roots and seedlings for the Huai system, and it has not been completely uprooted. ”

"That's because Li Zhongtang is still useful, and his old face is actually worth a little money." Wu Xiao took the lead and laughed.

"There is also news from the French side that General Miller, who had sent Dusenny to negotiate, has now returned home for health reasons. However, public opinion in France is full of comments about his cowardice and fear, and it is estimated that there will be no future in this life! ”

After a week's rest in Dashang, Yan Fu took a new ship that greeted their fleet, the battleship, the Tiangang. With a displacement of 13,500 tons, a maximum speed of 23 knots, a sail speed of 13 knots, it is equipped with three triple 254mm guns, two in the front and one in the rear, four twin 120mm rapid-fire guns, two anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns, equipped with rangefinders.

The ship had completed sea trials and was supposed to be handed over to Beiyang, but because of the current needs of Nanyang, Wang Yicai changed hands to Yan Fu. The current captain of this ship is named Zhou Qiming, who graduated first in the senior command class of the Dashang Maritime Military Academy. is calm and decisive, and is made the successor of Shang Yi, who is three years older than Sa Zhenbing.

It stands to reason that Tiangang, as a battleship, should be used as a flagship. But Yan Fu was not familiar with this ship, so he still stayed on the Tianshu to command. Just in case, Wang Yi also allocated four small airships to this fleet. They were all on top of two large ships, armed with simple cannon armament. However, more often, it is responsible for air command and number jù transmission, which can be regarded as an aircraft carrier in disguise. In addition, Wang Yi also sent five thousand-ton small frigates, four torpedo boats, and three supply ships to the fleet.

The scale of this fleet is even greedy for Shang Yi to look at, but the hearts of the people of Nanyang are happy!

The purpose of Yan Fu's southward trip this time was to seek an opportunity to completely destroy the French expeditionary fleet in the waters off Taiwan.

It is said that at this time, the French saw that Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guoquan did not let go, so they moved the mind of self-compensation, and their circle targets have two, one is Keelung in Taiwan, and the other is Fuzhou. And French Prime Minister Joferi is particularly optimistic about Keelung.

"Of all the 'guarantees,' Taiwan is the best, the most appropriate, the easiest to keep, and the least expensive to keep."

It is not for nothing that the French have taken a fancy to Taiwan!

First of all, the island of Taiwan is surrounded by the sea on all sides, and the only communication link with the mainland - the sea route is easily cut off by the superior navy of France, and it has become an isolated island hanging overseas.

Second, Taiwan is still uncivilized land at present, and all supplies such as soldiers, guns, ammunition, and some grain and rice depend on the mainland; once aid from the mainland is cut off, it will be difficult for it to survive in modern warfare for a long time by relying on its own capabilities. In addition, the island's transportation facilities are primitive and backward, and it is difficult for large troops to maneuver, and because of the bad weather, it is easy to breed diseases, which is quite unfavorable to the defenders.

Thirdly, since Taiwan is surrounded by the sea on all sides, there is a large area of choice for landing sites, and the French army can rely on its naval superiority to choose the offensive point at will, while the defenders, in order to prevent the occurrence of such a situation, can only fortify everywhere and cover all aspects according to the situation at that time! However, the objective factor of the weak strength of the Qing army did not allow the defending side to fill the eastern and western coastlines with superior land forces, which virtually weakened the relative superiority of the defenders in terms of numbers, and gave the attacking side an opportunity to take advantage of it.

And most importantly, the coal mines in Keelung were a mouth-watering temptation for the tanks and boilers of the French Far East Fleet. Although this is not the best coal mine in the Qing Dynasty, in the eyes of the French Far East Fleet, it is definitely the best coal mine in the region. This is a "national key demonstration project" carried out by the Qing court for 2 million taels of silver, and the seizure of it will be a heavy blow to the defenders of Taiwan and even the entire Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the conditions on the island of Taiwan at that time forced the defenders to an embarrassing situation, and he was not suitable for a large corps to be stationed, but his troops were too thin to hold all the key points on the island. Therefore, we can only increase troops one by one, and use the tactics of adding fuel to transport troops to Taiwan little by little, so that Taiwan's defenders can maintain a relative balance between the scale and the bearing capacity of the island.

However, once the French attack, they will completely blockade the Taiwan Strait, and the supply of the Qing army will be completely cut off.

Liu Mingchuan, the third word province, Anhui Hefei Xixiang Daqian Mountain people, brother Zhongxing six, and because he was dyed with smallpox when he was a child, his face was pockmarked, so he was called "Liu Liu Mazi". Since childhood, he has a stubborn personality, disobeys discipline, and regards reading as dung! I like to play the game of "war" with my childhood friends, and later I can read and hyphenate words, and I can read all the books of war, battle formations, and miscellaneous books of the five elements.

Zeng said: "The eldest husband should be born with a lord, and die with a slander, can he be dirty in the imperial examination?" "With Li Hongzhang's" Who has written history for 10,000 years, and wants to be a marquis three thousand miles away. There is also "Ohno Dragon Fang sting, and the Central Plains deer is fat." Yuan Datou is so similar, no wonder they were all in the Huai Army system later.

When he was eleven years old, his father died, and his mother, Zhou, was unable to discipline him. At a young age, Liu Mingchuan began to participate in the salt smuggling gang, and later even engaged in robbing houses.

When he was eighteen years old, because his private salt service was not in place, he was blamed by the local Haoqiang, and he led people to scold him, and even his dead father was insulted. As the saying goes, people have faces, and trees have bark. Liu Xingsan, who was in high blood, chased and killed for several miles, and finally broke Haoqiang in two! The rest of the elite capital was greatly impressed and was willing to follow him to commit the crime, so he also had a team of more than 200 people in his hands. However, because of the murder, his mother Zhou was scared to death, and Liu Mingchuan was in pain.

With this team of 200 people, Liu Mingchuan has a clear understanding of the future, this is a troubled era where a group of heroes rise together, and his team is undoubtedly just a drop in the ocean. As the saying goes, it is good to enjoy the shade under the big tree, and at that time, it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that had the upper hand in Anhui. Originally, the 200 people passed on by Liu Ming wanted to join the Taiping Army, but they didn't expect that halfway, it happened that fellow countryman Li Hongzhang was recruiting troops everywhere. And the "buddies" who play very well on weekdays - such as Zhang Shushan, Zhang Shusheng brothers, Pan Dingxin, Zhou Shengbo, Zhou Shengchuan brothers are either because they are friends with Li Hongzhang's family, or because they have a common enmity with the Taiping Army, in short, they all voted under Li Hongzhang's door.

Now that I have met, it is also a fate. In this way, Liu Mingchuan, who was originally very promising to become one of the "kings" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, became Li Hongzhang's right-hand man in a blink of an eye, and rose all the way to the head of the "five main forces" of the Huai Army.

Of course, I want to say here that although Liu Mingchuan is a hero, he is not perfect!

In the first month of the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867), the Battle of Yinlong River.

Liu Mingchuan on the Huai side led the "Ming Army" to the west, and Zeng Guoquan sent Bao Chao to lead the "Thunder Army" to the east, forming a two-way flank attack on the East Road Twist Army in the area of the Yinlong River. Liu Mingchuan and Bao Chao agreed to send troops at 7 a.m. on the 15th day of the first lunar month, but in order to compete for the first prize, Liu Mingchuan led his troops to set off at 5 a.m. As a result, the "Ming Army" encountered the Twist Army and was defeated, and Liu Mingchuan almost became a prisoner.

At this time, Bao Chao's "Thunder Army" arrived, not only rescued Liu Mingchuan and his remnants, but also turned the battle into victory. However, Liu Mingchuan shirked his responsibility, one was to blame his subordinate Liu Shengzao for "fighting lightly against the enemy", and the other was to blame Bao Chao for failing to arrive on time to attack the enemy.

As a result, Li Hongzhang played the imperial court accordingly, so that Liu Shengzao and Bao Chao were severely punished. Bao Chao was waiting for the imperial court to commend him, but he almost lost his head if he didn't want to, he was really anxious and angry, and fainted immediately. Later, Bao Chao became depressed and became ill, returned to his hometown to recuperate, and collapsed. This incident caused strong dissatisfaction among the officers and soldiers of the Hunan army, including Zeng Guofan, to Liu Mingchuan, and Li Hongzhang was also very passive and had to come forward to ask for credit for Bao Chao. Although the matter was finally settled, Liu Mingchuan's behavior of repaying virtue with grievances made people, including colleagues and old friends, feel excessive. He will not be used for a long time at home in the future, and it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with it.

The Qing court sent Zuo Zongtang as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu and supervised the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu, and suppressed the local Twist Army and the Hui uprising.

In December of the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869), the Hui rebel army killed Zuo Zongtang's favorite general Liu Songshan and went all the way south. The Empress Dowager of the West urgently ordered Li Hongzhang to enter Shaanxi to supervise military affairs. Zuo Zongtang was afraid that Li Hongzhang would steal the credit, so he instructed his subordinates to report that the "bandits" in Shaanxi had been cleared, so Li did not have to come west. Li Hongzhang didn't want to be bored, so he sent Liu Mingchuan there. Zuo Zongtang was also deeply dissatisfied with this and did not want Liu Mingchuan to get involved. Liu Mingchuan was naturally dissatisfied with Zuo Zongtang's obstruction, and at this time, he received a secret order from the Empress Dowager Xi ordering him to secretly report Zuo Zongtang's military situation at any time, so he exposed the inaccuracies of Zuo Zongtang's performance. Zuo Zongtang learned the inside story and had a bad relationship with Liu Ming.

The two have been fighting endlessly, and they have not stopped until they reached Taiwan.

Later, Liu Mingchuan was tired of officialdom and was injured, so he proposed to go home to recuperate, but the sick note was good, originally three months, but later extended to thirteen years! 、

It wasn't until the outbreak of the Sino-French War that Liu Mingchuan became angry!

The Qing court appointed him as the minister of supervising Taiwan affairs, preparing to resist France, and soon conferred the title of governor of Fujian and the rank of secretary of the military department.

On July 16, 1884, Liu Mingchuan arrived in Keelung, and the next day he inspected the fort forts, inspected military facilities, and built additional forts and battalions to strengthen Taipei's defense.

Fifteen days later, war broke out!