Francis. Garnier awoke from the darkness. "Oh......" moaned and groaned from his mouth, and he was now in pain all over his body, his bones and muscles, as if his whole person had been crushed by a stone.

There was a light in front of him, and he slowly opened his eyes, and at the same time tried to move his hands and feet, but suddenly, Francis Garnier's movements froze. "God!" He cried out to faith, "Who do I see? Frost? Am I in a dream? Or in the Lord's heaven? ”

"Garnier, are you awake? Do you remember anything? ”

Frost's expression was full of surprise, God forbid, it was the third day of the end of the battle, and Garnier had finally woken up. France did not suffer the shame of losing the life of a general in the East. Although this will increase the number of captured generals in France from one to two!

"Yes, I remember. Chinese's high-powered weapon exploded not far away, and then I lost consciousness......"

For the French army, "that kind of high-power weapon" specifically refers to the rockets of the Qin army.

Frost was not the slightest surprised, Francis. The reason for Garnier's coma, he had long known from a captured French soldier. That 'cannonball' was far from Francis. Garnier is less than five meters, if it weren't for the fact that he was surrounded by people, Francis. Garnier, like his lieutenant, had become a pile of minced meat.

Francis. Garnier was completely awake, and although his body hurt terribly, his mind was clearer than ever at this moment. Sadness, sighs, and shame appeared on his face, and three thousand French soldiers were buried by themselves. At this moment, he felt that he was going to court martial, and he was willing. Otherwise, it is not enough to punish oneself for one's own guilt.

"Frost, three thousand soldiers, all annihilated? How many fighters did we die? ”

"Garnier, rest in peace. It is true that 3,000 French soldiers were wiped out, but I don't know how many were taken prisoner. The Chinese gave us good treatment, but we were still prisoners. ”

Frost knows a lot, for example, the Qin army has taken the port of Fuhaidong, for example, Liu Xian has led the army to Da Nang, but there is no specific number of French soldiers killed and captured.

He and Francis. All Garnier can do now is wait for bilateral negotiations to be reached, when they, and the soldiers captured in the battle, can regain their full freedom.

At this time, the two war reports are being thrown at Beijing and Paris at the fastest speed. Liu Xian set her sights on Hong Kong, and Du Bailei set her sights on Singapore. Because there were wires in both places, it was enough to instantly transmit the news to Tianjin and Paris after getting the war report.

Liu Xian won, and he won cleanly. At the cost of less than one brigade, the Qin army captured two French generals and fifteen colonel-level officers, captured 1,800 French prisoners of war, and killed 1,200 French troops. Only a few of the 4,000 Blue Belt soldiers escaped from Shengtian, and the rest either became dead souls or entered the Qin army's prisoner of war camp. The prisoners of war were all guarded by Vietnamese officers and soldiers, and their hard days were still to come.

Three days was not enough time for the Qin army to spread from Hue to Guangxi, but the French clippers in Da Nang made a round trip between them and Singapore, which was not much more than enough.

If it weren't for the fact that Du Bailei received the news of the defeat of the French army more than a day late, the Elysée Palace in the 8th arrondissement of Paris would have come to a general conclusion yesterday morning about the future handling of the Vietnam war situation.

But it's not too late. President Patrice. Duke McMahon, a soldier who made his name in the Crimean War and the Battle of Magenta in Italy, and was canonized as Marshal and Duke of the Second French Empire, is furious.

He never imagined that the Saigon Governor's Palace, which had the first-class sea superiority in the Far East and 4,000 French red soldiers, would lose all its good cards in the war, and the defeat was irretrievable!

"Ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Vietnam is irreparable. But the glory of France cannot be trampled on by a barbaric and backward country. Retaliation, we must retaliate—"

Patrice. As a soldier, Macmahon's only reaction to the defeat in the Far East was to crush the resistance with an iron fist and crush the enemy of France. Counterattack, increase troops, this is his decision!

"No, Your Excellency. We don't have the money to invest in the Far East right now, and our first task is to pay off our debts. ”

A man stood in the room. When he opened his mouth, he clearly denied Patrice. McMahon's Tiyì. No one showed an incredulous expression. In the political arena of European countries, it is difficult to have a single voice to speak. Especially the French Third Republic at the moment.

Patrice. McMahon, as an unwavering orthodox, as a royalist, had irreconcilable contradictions with the Republican-controlled parliament. And now it's Patrice. Less than two months after McMahon took over the presidency, he was still on the watchful eye of Republicans, even though he refused to meet with the Duke of Chambord, and the danger of the Restoration, which was called the Restoration, was removed from the air in French politics.

As president, Patrice. McMahon wielded enormous powers, but his orders required the consent of the ministers before they could take effect.

In the Franco-Prussian War, the defeated France not only ceded the land, but also compensated Germany 5 billion francs, which is equivalent to about 700 million taels of silver [equivalent to 720 million taels of silver in 1881], which is equivalent to 14 times the annual military expenditure of France at that time, and the total export value of France in a year at that time. Bismarck hoped that France would not be able to pay so that Germany could suppress France's revenge attempts with military occupation within a generation. As expected, France is worthy of the name of "usury imperialism" as Lenin called it, and private capital is abundant. In order to pay off the reparations, the French government issued two national bonds totaling 5 billion francs to the people, and millions of French people scrambled to subscribe for them, with a total subscription of more than 60 billion francs, enough to pay off 12 reparations! In just two years, France paid the reparations in 1873, and the German army was forced to withdraw from France ahead of schedule, and Bismarck's wishful thinking failed.

However, it is difficult to deal with the aftermath after paying back the money. With tens of billions of subscription funds, the annual interest rate of five percent can also make the French Third Republic die. Moreover, the Franco-Prussian War dealt a great blow to France's strength, not only in terms of national strength, but also in terms of military strength. The French were massively building up troops to deal with the German threat. That would require a lot of money, and they are also developing their own naval ironclad fleet. That's even more of a bottomless pit.

Du Bailei suffered a complete defeat on the battlefield in Vietnam, and no one in the French political hierarchy could not feel angry and angry. It's against Patrice. The one who was McMahonti was also full of hatred for the Qin army.

But in addition to hatred, these political figures also have a clear heart. They all have a balance in their hearts, and they are repeatedly weighing the gains and losses, their own gains and losses, the gains and losses of the party, the gains and losses of the situation, and then the gains and losses of the country.

The one who opposed Patrice. McMahonti's minister spoke out against it only because the one in his heart that had been flattened and hung down belonged to it.

"I agree. Now we can't afford to send too many troops to the far east. Our fleet is not yet strong, and the country does not have so much money for military spending. ”

Among the central departments of France was the Department of the Navy and Colonies, which was the department that oversaw France's overseas colonies, and in this department, there was a file dedicated to collecting information about the Qin army.

The high-level French political leaders who are now sitting in the list have one share, and they are all very aware of the current military strength of the Qin army. If this amount was worthless in their eyes before today, it would be like an assessment of the military strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and no one would take the more than 20,000 Qin troops to heart. However, with the outcome of the Battle of Hue as a comparison, these people were stunned to find that the Qin army of more than 20,000 people was an extremely powerful force. It would take even 20,000 French soldiers to destroy them. This number is more than the total number of British and French troops in the War of the Two Crows thirteen years ago.

This was a huge amount, but without the intervention of foreign powers, France would still have enough ships to transport this army to Vietnam, thousands of miles away. Patrice. McMahon still insisted on his opinion, "The defeat of Vietnam was a surprise to us, and this Chinese army in Guangxi has considerable combat effectiveness. Then we should be tougher to defeat them and break the last will of the Chinese. We should not start this war of 3,000 or 4,000 men, but simply send 20,000 or 30,000 men there, and say to China if necessary -- you must recognize our rights and interests in Vietnam, or we will declare war on you. The flag of France will once again be planted on the head of Beijing. ”

But the British did not want to see this happen. If we send 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers to the East, it is impossible to see how the British will react! "President of the National Assembly, now Prime Minister of the French Government, 4th Duke of Breuy, Jacques Brown. Victor. Albert, so said. "We have to face up to the attitude of the British."

Contrast the war with China, Jacques. Victor. Albert believed that the reaction and threats of the British should be more considered by the French government.

At this moment, the official residence of the British Prime Minister - 10 Downing Street. The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, William. Yurt. Gladstone, happily reading a telegram from Singapore.

The Chinese won a great victory in Vietnam, and 3,000 French soldiers were wiped out. For the British Empire, which was always worried about the French taking the first step to seize the interests of southwest China, there really could not be better news.

"The opportunity to contain the French has come." William. Yurt. Gladstone clapped his hands and called his secretary, "Send a telegram to Ali Guo to tell him to immediately mediate the war between the Chinese and the French." To show the attitude of the British Empire...... "R1152