The seemingly mighty French army seemed vulnerable to a heavy blow, but in fact it was not the case. He Meng led his troops to attack the coastal defense by surprise, based on the fact that he was unprepared, knew himself and knew the enemy, and used his tactics properly. On the other hand, the French army was not only inferior in numbers, but especially not at all who the opponent was. In addition, the civilian army is well-trained and advanced, and it adopts the tactics of sneak attack. And the night battle, which the French army is not good at, was adopted, and all conditions were superior, and the success of the first battle was completely reasonable.

First of all, the French Navy is far from the British Navy in terms of naval combat experience and sailor perseverance, and the French Navy has hardly had a decent naval battle in history. They seem to be strong, but in fact they have no corresponding opponents. In addition, although the Far Eastern Detachment had 20 warships, the flagship was accidentally captured, and the French army, which had lost its command, suddenly became headless flies.

In addition, the French naval warships also did not know who their opponents were, and they had to retreat to the south like frightened birds in the unknown situation. On the way, they encountered a French merchant fleet and 2,000 French troops on board. The French commander was almost stunned when he heard the change, so he had to order all of them to retreat to Vinh City, and quickly reported to the French commander Guba. Now let's look at the main force led by Deng Zixuan.

Bai Sheng rushed to Ningping in the evening, and in the Ningping headquarters, Bai Sheng appeared in front of Deng Zixuan. "We have received news that He Meng led his troops to launch an attack on Haiphong this evening, Haiphong has only 400 French troops and 20 warships, and if nothing else, Haiphong will change hands tomorrow morning." "It's really good news, I didn't expect He Meng to act so fast. Commander-in-Chief, what about the other ministries? Bai Sheng continued to ask.

Deng Zixuan pointed to the military map, briefly described the situation of the Black Flag Army and the situation of Leng Yifei's various units, and said: "At present, the Black Flag Army has withdrawn to Anpei on the bank of the Red River in the west. Leng Yifei changed his outfit in Xialong, and his 5th Regiment Lin Xiong withdrew to Xuanhua to stand by. The French army was successfully mobilized and distributed in Hanoi, Haiphong, Taiyuan, and Liangshan, which created conditions for us to quickly eat the French army, and at the same time, it also created excellent fighters for us to concentrate superior forces and effectively implement the tactics of closing the door and fighting dogs. ”

"The commander-in-chief means to eat the French army in Hanoi in one go, leave the French army leaderless, and then annihilate them individually!" Bai Sheng said in surprise. Deng Zixuan said with a smile: "It is precisely this intention that Li Sheng's first regiment has occupied Fugu, and the French army in Hanoi is still unaware. Therefore, I am ready to use sneak attack tactics against Hanoi. You led two battalions of the 3rd Regiment and an artillery brigade to the east of the river. I led the 2nd Regiment and launched an attack on Hanoi from the right flank with Li Sheng's troops. ”

"Commander-in-chief, the right flank is a river network area, which is not suitable for the use of troops!" Bai Sheng worried. This is called surprise and unpreparedness. According to reconnaissance, the Hedong fortress was defended by 200 French troops. The fortress is very strong, and I recommend besieging it without attacking it to avoid unnecessary losses. It just so happens that our artillery can be trained in real combat, and after I take Hanoi, the defenders in Hedong will surrender. ”

It rained lightly again in the night, and God seemed to be deliberately against it. Deng Zixuan rode a large ocean horse and marched in a swamp. The soldiers hung their shoes around their necks and woke up late with their trousers trudging through muddy water. At dawn, the vanguard reported that in front of it was the rice field area, which was 50 kilometers from Hanoi. Deng Zixuan ordered to continue to move forward, and to rush to the city of Hanoi when it was dark.

After daybreak, the rain stopped, and ten thousand rays of light appeared in the cracks of the clouds. Bai Sheng led two battalions of the 3rd Regiment and thirty artillery pieces of the artillery brigade to the southeast of the river and entered the range of artillery, and Bai Sheng ordered to stop the advance. Bai Sheng then ordered the troops to form a paratrooper line to outflank Hedong, and at the same time ordered the artillery brigade to build artillery positions. Soon the French troops in the Hedong fortress found an unknown army in front, too far away The French captain could not see clearly, but he could see clearly the large number of artillery.

At first, the French were unimpressed, and their captain commander ordered their artillery to enter combat readiness. There are four field guns, two rapid-fire guns and two machine guns in Hedong Castle. Seeing that the other side was swaggering to build an artillery position, the French commander was overjoyed and ordered field artillery and rapid-fire artillery to open fire. The French rapid-fire guns and field guns had a caliber of 47 mm and a firing range of 2,800 meters.

Bai Sheng dared to build an artillery position under the nose of the French army, based on the range of French artillery fire. The position of the artillery position was 3000 meters, and there was no doubt that the range of the French artillery fire was insufficient. And Bai Sheng's artillery brigade is equipped with 60 mm artillery with a range of 3,100 meters, so Bai Sheng naturally doesn't have to worry about it.

The French captain ordered the artillery to be fired, and after a round of shelling, the French captain saw in the telescope that his shells could not pose any threat to the enemy's artillery positions, and a cold sweat broke out in his heart. When he saw that the muzzle of the opponent's gun was shaking, he was in no hurry to order the transfer of the artillery. I only heard dozens of roars, 30 shells whizzed, and I saw that my artillery position was shrouded in a sea of fire.

After three rounds of shelling, the enemy stopped firing. The smoke cleared, and the artillery positions were in shambles. Six guns were turned into parts, and more than half of the gunners were killed or wounded. The French captain was so frightened that it took him a long time to come to his senses and immediately sent someone to Hanoi to report to the commander. Bai Sheng saw that after three rounds of artillery bombardment, the French artillery was silent, and knew that the French artillery had been destroyed. Overjoyed, he ordered everyone to rest and bury the pot to cook.

At this time, the commander of the French army, Riveley, had just finished breakfast and was listening to the music coming out of the gramophone. Suddenly the cannon rang out, and Riverley snapped open his eyes, then stood up and walked to the window to look southwest. "There is a cannon sound from the east of the river, it looks like it is being attacked!" A subordinate analyzed. The louder, denser cannon sound came, and everyone was stunned. "What kind of artillery is this, the caliber is larger than ours, and the power is also greater than ours, indicating that Hedong is under attack." Riverley has a lot of experience on the battlefield.

Soon the sound of the artillery stopped moving, "Your Excellency, General, are you sending reinforcements?" Rivery waved his hand and stopped: "Send someone to find out the situation immediately, and don't act rashly." The east of the river is about 5 kilometers from the main city of Hanoi, and the soldiers from both sides meet halfway. Half an hour later, soldiers sent from Hedong appeared in front of the commander.

"What do you say? There were 30 enemy artillery pieces with a caliber of 60 mm and a firing range of more than three thousand meters. 3 rounds of salvo fire all six of your own cannons destroyed? Riverley questioned. Your Excellency General, your subordinates are true, and if you lie about the military situation, you are willing to be punished by military law. The soldier who reported the news said in fear. How could this be that, stumped them down from the sky. There are 30 artillery pieces, how many people do you say there are in this unit? The crowd was bewildered, and no one could answer.

There was no more cannon fire or gunfire in the east of the river. One of the subordinates said: "Your Excellency, you should launch an attack after the shelling, and now there is no sign of attack, indicating that the other side has no offensive ability." I guess it's possible that it's the Black Flag Army's earthen artillery? "The crowd agreed. Rivery hesitated for a moment and ordered the soldiers who reported the news to go back, making sure to find out who the other party was and how many troops he had.

The enemy's unawareness was the most terrible of all, and Rivery ordered the whole city to get ready for battle, keeping an eye on any movement in other directions. On the same day, the defenders of Hedong sent three tentative troops to try to find out the situation of the opponent's forces, but they were all blocked by artillery bombardment and could not get close at all. Upon hearing the news, Rivery misjudged that the enemy was waiting for a large force to arrive, but his own forces were too limited to carry out a counterattack. In a hurry, Rivelly sent people to Taiyuan and Liangshan that night, and asked them to quickly return to reinforcements. Riverley did not expect that this move would accelerate the time of the total annihilation of the French army.

At about noon, in a broad-leaved forest southeast of Hanoi City, Deng Zixuan led his troops to arrive here. "Report to the Commander-in-Chief that this place is about three kilometers from Hanoi City, and no changes have been found in the city. The White Brigade Commander had already exchanged fire with the French, and we heard the rumbling of artillery. Li Shengyu, the commander of the first regiment who arrived here ahead of schedule, reported. Deng Zixuan said with a smile while holding up the binoculars: "Bai Sheng did a good job, attracted the attention of the French army, and ordered the troops to rest on the spot. ”

"Commander-in-chief, Weishenme will not immediately attack the city?" Li Sheng was confused. "Attacking the fortified ground will inevitably cause casualties, and we know why we don't avoid unnecessary losses. I was ready to attack at midnight, and Leng Yifei's reconnaissance troops were very familiar with the terrain in the city, and with their guidance, the battle would be over before dawn, and at the lowest cost. "The subordinates are stupid, and I immediately ordered the troops to rest."

As night came, the troops began to move closer to the walls of Hanoi. The 1st Regiment was responsible for breaking through the city walls from the southeast and entering the city, the 2nd Regiment blew up the eastern castles and quickly assaulted inside, and the engineer squad cooperated with the 2nd Regiment in action. To avoid misunderstanding, each soldier wore a white towel around his left arm. The officer training team and the guard platoon followed the command. The officer training team is the cadets of the military academy, and at the moment there are nearly 300 people in the team who are not assigned. In order to temper their actual combat ability, Deng Zixuan ordered the captain of the teaching team to lead 200 men along the coastline to capture Nanding and Taiping when he set out from Ningping, because the number of French troops stationed in these two places was less than 100.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, a fast horse galloped into Bai Sheng's position. "Report to Brigade Commander Bai, Jihua has changed, this is the commander-in-chief's instructions to you!" Deng Zixuan's guard handed the edict to Bai Sheng. Bai Sheng quickly finished reading it and said with great joy: "Order all the artillery teams to enter the position immediately." At 8 o'clock in the evening, an artillery bombardment was launched on the east side of the river. Bai Sheng knew in his heart that the commander-in-chief's intention was to attract the attention of the French army lord.

Inside the city, the anxious commander Rivery sent out the soldiers who delivered the letter at dusk. Seeing that it was getting dark, I felt much better. Because it is impossible for the enemy to take siege actions in the dark sky, this is the minimum military common sense. But where did Rivery think that a group of gods of war who were accustomed to walking at night appeared. At 8 o'clock, the fire flashed deafeningly, and the cannonballs smashed on the city wall east of the river.

The supreme commander of the defense of Hedong was a captain, and the nerves that were highly tense during the day were relieved by the onset of night. This guy is finally freed from his daze. The French captain had probably never experienced this kind of torture when the soldiers had taken down the walls for dinner, and his IQ dropped sharply, and he gave a wrong order.

200 French troops immediately climbed the wall to defend it, and they braved artillery fire to climb the wall. Throughout the day, Bai Sheng ordered the artillery officers to set up to shoot Zhu Yuan. One can imagine what state the soldiers were in when they climbed the city walls. Seeing the soldier being blown up, the French captain ・・・・・・.