The movement in the city of Bac Ninh was quickly detected by the French army, and the French observers on the hot air balloon recorded the movement of the Chinese army in detail and quickly transmitted the information to the headquarters.

Commander Miller immediately realized that the enemy was going to go out of the city for a decisive battle, and he felt that this was a very good opportunity. The strong defense measures of Beining City have always given him a headache, like a hard turtle shell, if he wants to smash it, he doesn't know how much effort it takes, and now the other party has abandoned it and gone out of the city to fight, and it is in the daytime, every move has no suddenness at all, it can be said that it is in the hands of Mi Le.

He ordered the 1st Brigade to organize a defense in the area of Phong Mao Commune between Bac Ninh and Chung Khu, and ordered all artillery corps to assemble in the rear of Phong Mao Society, which was the necessary point to reach Labbe Dam, and the Chinese army was to bypass this place unless they first crossed the Yuedek River.

The 2nd French Brigade, which was attacking the Rabe Dam at the same time, left only one regiment to monitor the defenders, and the main force turned to the left and leaned towards the Fongfeather Society from the flank.

Miller's jihua was to let the 1st Brigade drag the Chinese, and then the 2nd Brigade attacked from the side, annihilating the enemy's main force in one fell swoop.

On December 24, Zhang Shusheng led the main force of the 3rd Division to advance in the direction of Yongqiu like a tide, and at noon, the army encountered an interception by the French army in the area of Fengmaoshe.

Zhang Shusheng was riding on a white horse, the guns of the French army in front of him were not violent, the troops should not be much, the troops continued to attack, and the French army's resistance was about to be defeated.

At this time, there was a sudden "boom", a cannon sound shook the sky, it was the cannon of the French army, and when the shells flew from the air, with a terrible scream, they smashed fiercely and accurately in the rear of the large army.

The entire blast area was filled with smoke and dust, and rubble, clods of earth, and branches wrapped in severed limbs and flesh flew in the air in all directions, and then rained down like a torrential rain.

Almost at the same time, the front was full of killings, and the gunfire suddenly became countless times more dense than just now, and the soldiers who rushed to the front immediately fell one by one.

Zhang Shusheng immediately had an ominous premonition, and the brigade commander Zhang Gaoyuan also rushed over: "General, something is wrong!" ”

Zhang Shusheng understood in his heart, but he was very unhappy to hear this word: "Why is it not good, the French army is blocked, what's so strange about this?" ”

"The other party's artillery fire is fierce, and it is clearly heavy artillery, it will never be pulled over temporarily, it must have been prepared in advance, but I am afraid that there is a treacherous plan."

Zhang Shusheng has an open-minded mentality: "If we retreat now, the whole army will inevitably be in chaos, and under the pursuit of the French army, our army will be defeated." It's better to go all out and fight to the death! ”

After saying that, he immediately ordered: "The brigade rushes forward!" ”。

The whole army swooped forward, as if the waves of the angry sea were raging, roaring and setting off thousands of huge waves, smashing into the cliff with thunder, it seemed that every minute and every second could sweep away everything, but the water splashed down in the sky, and the cliff still stood thousands of miles on the wall, not moving at all.

The fierce battle lasted for nearly an hour, and the French army, as the defensive side, was in an extremely favorable situation, with the support of artillery fire, relying on fortifications, still held the line steadily, and paid only a few dozen casualties.

And in front of the position, there were seven or eight hundred corpses of Chinese soldiers. There were many corpses, their faces were bruised, their skin was swollen, and their hair, blood, and dust were congealed into pieces, and the scene was terrible.

Zhang Gaoyuan shouted: "General, you can't fight like this, you have to fight the light!" ”

Zhang Shusheng also knew that it was not a way to go on like this, but he couldn't pull his face back to Beining City, Zhang Gaoyuan persuaded bitterly: "State affairs are important, and now, there is no other way than to go back to the city and hold on." ”

Zhang Shusheng sighed, and just wanted to order a retreat,

At this time, the gunshots rang out in the left rear, the whole army was immediately in chaos, and the tension spread rapidly, Zhang Shusheng ordered to go quickly to find out what was going on, and after a while, Wei Gang on the left sent someone to report, and the rear found a large number of French troops attacking, all over the mountains and fields, and the Vietnamese Nguyen Thien Shu Department had all collapsed, and said that he could not resist for long, and asked the division commander to make a decision quickly.

Zhang Shusheng was really remorseful now, and it was only at this time that he remembered Xu Shichang's contrary advice.

After all, there is still a huge difference in the combat effectiveness of the Chinese and French armies, and the Chinese army must rely on strong fortifications to be able to resist the French army.

In such a duel of large units on such a flat land in the field, the gap between the two sides in terms of quality, training level, firepower intensity, and command and control ability of grassroots officers will be fully manifested.

This is what Weishenme Xu Shichang has to emphasize repeatedly, it is better to sit back and watch Yongqiu be besieged, but also to stick to the fortified city, never attack, and wait for the French army to attack.

It's just that it's too late to regret it, the French army's reconnaissance methods are advanced, and the means are cunning, and the art of war is handy. It is likely that before he left the city, the French over there had already made arrangements and were ready to encircle the point and send reinforcements.

Zhang Shusheng was in a dilemma, full of remorse, Zhang Gaoyuan galloped over: "General, at this time, the enemy is attacking back and forth, and the general will give an order quickly, and if it is late, there is a danger that the whole army will be annihilated." ”

Zhang Shusheng was also already panicking: "Now like this, what should I do?" ”

Zhang Gaoyuan hurriedly said: "For today's plan, morale is low, Beining City can no longer be saved, even if our army retreats to the city, the enemy will definitely rush in with his heels." We simply abandoned the city and fled, and the whole army withdrew to Lang Son, and if it was too late, I was afraid that it would be too late! ”

Zhang Shusheng was so helpless that he had no choice but to order all the troops to turn northward, abandon all baggage and heavy weapons, and "attack north" at full speed.

Zhang Gaoyuan scolded in his heart: "If you want to save face, you obviously fled to the north, and what do you say about attacking the north, you can really put gold on your face!" ”

Soon, the entire army was divided into numerous groups and fled to the north in disarray.

Wei Gang's troops, who served as the rear guard, had also been completely defeated, and the regiment commander Wei Gang changed into the clothes of a small soldier and fled north along the path.

Seeing the collapse of the reinforcements, Su Yuanchun on the Yongqiu Heights ordered all the cannons to be pushed into the Yuedejiang River next to him that night, and everyone changed into Vietnamese clothes, and secretly hung them down one by one with ropes from the hidden slopes of the highlands, breaking them into pieces and burrowing into the jungle next to the Yuedejiang.

In the city of Bac Ninh, Xu Shichang, who had long been mentally prepared, heard the report from the front that the main force was attacked by the French army before and after, and knew that the general trend had gone, and if he stayed in the city, he could only be taken prisoner, so he had to sigh and open the city gate and escape with the depressed Wang Debang, Gao Sheng and others.

Before leaving, Xu Shichang was ruthless: "Even a piece of hot can't be left for the enemy!" ”

The military salary and silver are very heavy anyway, and they can't take it away, so they simply distribute it all to the people in the city, and before these Vietnamese people are happy, Xu Shichang immediately ordered that in all parts of the city, all the torches were thrown, and the fire spread rapidly.

The fire burned all night, the flames rose to the sky, in the dark night, like a huge torch, standing more than ten miles away in the Lanshan Mountain, can also be clearly seen.

The commander of the French army, Lieutenant General Miller, stood on the top of Mount Olive and looked at the fire, and was silent for a long time.

The fire burned until the next morning, when it was gradually extinguished, and the whole city was scorched, and when the French entered the city, all they saw was ruins.

The Battle of Bac Ninh was the largest battle fought by the Chinese army since it entered Vietnam, and both sides invested tens of thousands of troops, and Zuihou ended with a major defeat for the Chinese side.

The Chinese lost nearly 3,000 dead and nearly 2,000 captured, half of whom were seriously wounded and unable to retreat in time.

There were still more than 2,000 wounded in the retreating troops, and for the time being, the third division suffered a heavy blow, with nearly two-thirds of its strength reduced.

The division commander Zhang Shusheng attempted suicide on the way to retreat, cut his neck with a saber, and was held down by the officer next to him in time, although he did not die, he was also seriously injured.

On the way to escape, the regiment commander Wei Gang hid in the temple and was captured by a French patrol due to the betrayal of his subordinates traitors.

Jiang Zonghan, the commander of the heavy artillery battalion, was unfortunately killed by a stray bullet in the chaos.

The losses of the Vietnamese army were not great, and everyone threw away their military uniforms and blended in with the civilians, picking up a hoe than holding a gun.

On the French side, more than 800 people were killed and nearly 2,000 were wounded to varying degrees.

Even so, this casualty was quite painful to Miller, and he felt that if he wanted to kill China, the troops at hand were obviously insufficient. Therefore, while ordering the troops to rest in the Bac Ninh area, he put forward his own views to the country:

France's current strategy is to attack an all-out attack, attacking Beiqi on the one hand and Taiwan on the other.

However, Miller believed that France was thousands of miles away, had difficulty in supply, and had limited resources, so it should change its strategy and advocate a key offensive, or concentrate on land warfare, concentrate its forces on northern Vietnam, and kill in southern China.

Either concentrate on the sea, strike at the coastal zone of China, or even directly attack the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin.

In this way, the most haode effect can be achieved.

Miller even quoted a Chinese proverb, "Don't fight two rabbits", which means that you can't think of catching two rabbits at the same time, and Zuihou may not be able to catch one.

However, French Prime Minister Gambida did not think so, insisting that "Taiwan is the key and barrier to China's sea, and if Taiwan is occupied, it will make the whole of China feel at ease at all times, and Keelung, which has coal mines, will become the most haode supply depot for the French Far East Fleet." As long as Taiwan is obtained, France will be able to occupy a central position on the map of the Far East, which is extremely important to France's long-term interests. Even in the future negotiations with China, Taiwan is the most haode collateral. ”

By this time, the Lisby fleet had been well prepared, and John Ninelli's Fourth Brigade had been fully escorted to the Taiwan Strait, and replenished Saigon with all the necessary materiel, enough to support several months of fighting.

At the end of December 1880, the fleet began an offensive against Taiwan.

The battle for the defense of Taiwan began.