"Boom, boom—"

The cannon roared.

Thirty breech steel cannons rang out in unison, and the shells smashed into a small town three miles away. It was one of the strongholds on the outskirts of Hue City.

More than 100 shells were fired, and the southern wall of the town was shattered. Newly strengthened fortifications, wood-and-stone fences, and sleek wooden houses and felt sheds soared into the sky.

These fortifications are absolutely effective against the army of the Cold Weapon Age. It can also play a little effective against the French army ten years ago, but it is really useless for the French army now. The French army was devastated, and in two days they swept away the nowhere to defend the stronghold outside Hue City. Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers were taken prisoner!

Wu Zhongping was not annoyed. Who better understands the inferiority of the old Vietnamese army than he, a veteran general in the army? Anyway, the outlying strongholds are guarded by old-fashioned troops, and if they are lost, they will be lost, and Wu Zhongping is not distressed.

Thundered......

Huge explosions rang out one after another in the positions outside Hue! Columns of smoke, each with different postures, soared straight into the sky. At first, the columns of smoke rose in rows almost at the same time, but then they began to bubble up in all directions. The entire out-of-town positions of the Vietnamese defenders were shrouded in smoke, and the smell of gunpowder filled the battlefield.

The morale of the French was so high that after two days of sweeping away five defenders' strongholds outside the city, they completely captured the Vietnamese extension south of Hue in only one day. Just Wu Zhongping's heart trembled, and he deeply doubted whether he could support Liu Xianti's army to arrive, and God had done them a great favor.

It's raining in Hue, it's still heavy rain, torrential rain! That's the day. The trenches outside the city have completely become ditches that can drown people.

Then, the heavy rain is gone, but the moderate rain and light rain are always endless, and the rain in Hue is half a month long.

"God, let the rain stop. This damn place, the place to go to hell......"

I don't know how many French soldiers are complaining. But there is only one such complainer, Francis. Garnier was unwilling to give up the advantage he had in his hands and let the fat of Hue slip out of his mouth.

Frost has already chased Huang Jiyan and is about to eliminate Huang Jiyan. Francis. Garnier didn't want to see his colleagues in front of him.

In the French army's base camp, more than 1,600 French army soldiers and more than 3,000 indigenous puppet soldiers are complaining about repairing leaky houses day after day. Days of rain had turned the field into a mud pool, and the ankle-high mud kept everyone from talking about attack. Too many people are secretly complaining about the artillery, why did they smash all the strongholds outside Hue so violently that day?

So they now have to repair the leaky house all the time.

However, compared to the other puppet army, their conditions are already extremely superior, at least they don't have to soak in mud and sewage. In the past half a month, more than 200 indigenous puppet soldiers have fallen ill in the sludge and stagnant water, and unfortunately, the life and death of these indigenous puppet soldiers have not been seen by the French at all, and even if they are sick, they will not be able to enter the base camp of the French army. They could only be carried to other dilapidated strongholds outside Hue.

Now even the stronghold where the French army stayed, the houses are constantly leaking, and they are constantly being repaired, and the other four strongholds abandoned by the French, the condition of the houses can be imagined.

It's raining heavily, and it's raining moderately in the house! Half a month has passed, and it has become a muddy pond.

Huang Wenqin is a Vietnamese jinshi, six years ago he was a member of the Vietnamese court, and he has always been good friends with Nguyen Phuc Ying!

Nguyen Phuc Ying, also known as Ding Dao, is the son of Emperor Duc's half-brother Nguyen Phuc Hong Bao. Although Nguyen Phuc Hong Bao was the eldest son of Emperor Duc's father, he behaved dissolutely and did not learn anything, and Emperor Shao Zhi hated him very much; On the other hand, Nguyen Phuc Hong was intelligent and erudite when he was young, so Emperor Shao Zhi made Nguyen Phuc Hong the crown prince in 1846 in the Western calendar, which is now Emperor Duc.

Emperor Duc succeeded to the throne for seven years, and Nguyen Phuc Hung Bao colluded with the French to seize the throne. After the incident, Nguyen Phuc Hong Bao was given to death, and his son Nguyen Phuc Ying and others all changed their surnames to Ding.

Twelve years later, Emperor Si De established the Wannian Foundation (i.e., Qianling) in Hue, and the laborers were very dissatisfied due to overwork. Duan Youzheng, Duan Youai, Duan Sizhi, Zhang Zhonghe, Fan Liang and others took the opportunity to incite the soldiers to rebel and supported Ding Dao (formerly known as Ruan Fuying). Under the response of the right army, the rebels attacked the left gate of the imperial city of Hue and wanted to kill the emperor. Hu Wei, the head of the guard, closed the palace door again, led the army to arrest Duan Youzheng, and then arrested his comrades one after another. Ding Dao and his relatives were hanged, Duan Youzheng was beheaded, Zunmuro Ju committed suicide, and his comrades were punished.

Huang Wenqin was one of the henchmen, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately fled with his family and went directly to the French in Nanqi. Now, he is the commander of the indigenous puppet army of Vietnam, that is, the Blue Ribbon soldiers.

After half a month of continuous rain, Huang Wenqin felt that his whole body was going to be moldy. But in fact, in addition to middle and high-level officers such as Hoang Van Chin, the remaining lower-level officers and low-level soldiers in Vietnam have exhausted all their combat effectiveness in muddy water and dampness. But they always had to be 'tight' guard against the Vietnamese officers and soldiers in the city.

The reason why Huang Wenqin walked out of his relatively dry headquarters today and came to the front line was not because he needed to go to the front line to boost morale, but because he received a report that the entire group of soldiers patrolling the front line was missing.

That's a big deal. Wu Zhongping in Hue City never ate the appetite of a sentry soldier, and he only wanted to kill and wound a few people when he was in front of him. A squad of 50 men, armed with at least twenty muskets.

There are more than 300 blue-ribbon soldiers on the front line, and these people have no morale, and their combat effectiveness at this time is not an opponent not only compared with Vietnam's new army, but also compared with Vietnam's officers and troops. Everyone was struggling with the terrible environment.

Just a simple change of the guard will be regarded as hellish torture by many Blue Ribbons.

Huang Wenqin's usual self-confidence and composure also became a little irritable, and apart from constantly asking the patrol soldiers to be cautious, he did not say a word about his own response strategy. Because he can't think of any strategy at all!

After walking around on the front line and making a few sounds, Huang Wenqin decisively returned to his comfort zone.

The light rain finally stopped in the afternoon, and darkness covered the ground. Except for the complaints of his companions, the entire city of Hue was quiet at night. R1152