Taiwan since ancient times, is an inseparable part of China, as early as the Three Kingdoms period, Wu sent the generals Wei Wen, Zhuge Zhi to lead the Jiashi 10,000 people to Taiwan, and then all dynasties, the central government will set up administrative divisions here for development and construction.

In 1874, under the pretext that Ryukyu fishermen were killed by Taiwanese natives, Lieutenant General Saigo led an army to invade Taiwan and extorted 500,000 taels of silver from China.

Later, in order to strengthen Taiwan's defense, Shen Baozhen, the minister of the Qin Mission, built the Huwei (today's Taipei Tamsui) fort and the Keelung fort in northern Taiwan in 1875, and the Qihou (today's Kaohsiung) and Anping forts in the southern part of Taiwan to defend against foreign invasion.

At the end of 1879, Liu Mingchuan was ordered to lead a regiment of the newly formed Guards Army to Taiwan, and took over all defense power in Taiwan.

Before the French army launched an offensive at the end of December 1880, Liu Mingchuan had an extremely precious year, and he used this year to make comprehensive arrangements for the defense of the whole of Taiwan.

The entire island of Taiwan is isolated and suspended in the sea, and theoretically the enemy can land from all directions and is almost impossible to defend.

But this was not the case, the east and west sides of the island were full of cliffs, shallow reefs, and it was difficult to really land at the level of nautical jishu at that time. The only areas that can be called good ports are Keelung and Huwei in Taipei, or Qihou and Anping in Tainan.

Relatively speaking, Taipei is more likely to lead to foreign invasion. Because Taipei is in the upstream zone, it can control the overall situation of Taiwan; Moreover, the Taipei area is a plain area, with flat terrain, abundant materials, and abundant and sweet water sources; Tainan is a mountainous area with many forests and rugged terrain, and the two ports of Anping and Qihou are steep and muddy, which is a great test for the landing force. In addition, the water source is salty and bitter, and dysentery is rampant, making it difficult for outsiders to adapt. Moreover, since Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, Tainan has undergone many years of building renovation, with many fortresses and complex terrain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Taipei area is easy to attack and difficult to defend, especially the coal mines in Keelung, which are of more strategic significance.

Shen Baozhen once reported to the imperial court that the coal produced in Keelung "is bright and light, can be burned for a long time, and has less ash, and is called good coal, and the color is very good, which is equivalent to foreign high-grade foreign coal." ”

By acquiring this mine, the French fleet would be able to greatly reduce the pressure on supplies.

After such an analysis, Liu Mingchuan believed that the French army would definitely attack the Taipei area, not Tainan. Therefore, he focused his defense on the Keelung and Huwei areas.

Is the key Keelung or Huwei?

Keelung Port is located in the north of Taiwan, and it only takes six hours to take a ship from Keelung Port to Wuhumen, Fujian.

There is a town with a population of nearly 10,000 behind the port, and five miles to the east, it is the famous Badou Coal Mine, with a coal bureau. The whole Keelung area is like a small basin, with the sea in front and a ring of mountains and hills in the back, from the Keelung Ridge in the west of the port to the Yuemei Mountain area in the south, forming a chaotic and natural "Great Wall".

After crossing this "Great Wall", to the west is Huwei Port, and to the south is Taiwan's political center, material supply base and base camp, Taipei Prefecture.

In the telegram, Ding Yuntong told Liu Mingchuan in an unquestionable tone that the French army would attack Keelung first, but the focus of defense should be on Huwei.

Because Taipei Prefecture is the base camp and supply base, the most important thing, there is a "Great Wall" between Keelung and Taipei Prefecture, which is steep and mountainous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so the loss of Keelung will not threaten Taipei Prefecture.

However, the loss of Huwei will allow the French army to go up the Tamsui River and attack Taipei, and at the same time copy the Keelung back road.

But there is another reason, Ding Yuntong did not say.

That is, in the Sino-French War in the previous life, the French did not realize the importance of Huwei Port until more than a month after they captured Keelung. The French did not have the Yujian of Ding Yuntong's traverser, and they must have followed the same logic and attacked Keelung Harbor with all their might.

Therefore, Ding Yuntong stressed that Keelung Port can be lost, and Huwei Port must be defended. Although the French insisted on a naval blockade, they kept the port of Huwei, and some merchant ships flying British and American flags always took advantage of the gap to obtain material supplies from the mainland. So the French are like hunters catching foxes, blocking the front door, but the back door is still open.

Ding Yuntong repeatedly emphasized in the telegrams back and forth: Keelung Port is flat and there is no danger to defend, and it cannot withstand the attack of the French. The port was open and the water was too deep to stop the French fleet by means of a gagged mouth. Because the French ships were strong in their guns, as soon as the enemy ships entered the port, the port was in fact lost.

If you gather your forces on the seashore, you will be a target for the enemy in vain. We relied on the treacherous terrain of the mountains, and the enemy relied on the ferocity of artillery. "He came to attack me, and I have to be strong. I'm going to attack him, and Peter is ....... ”

Therefore, it was necessary to retreat the forces and focus the defense on the "Great Wall" of the mountain range behind Keelung Harbor, and take advantage of the dangerous terrain to kill and injure the enemy.

In previous lives, the Chinese summed up these truths only after paying heavy casualties.

According to the results of the telegram discussions, Liu Mingchuan worked out his own defense jihua.

At this time, there were three main parts of the troops at his disposal: first, a regiment of the Guards Army that he brought with him, which was a new army full of vigor and strong combat effectiveness, nominally an independent regiment of training troops;

Then there were reinforcements transferred from the independent brigade of the Zhou brothers on the mainland, two regiments commanded by Zhou Shengbo, more than 3,200 people, and their combat effectiveness was weaker than that of the Guards.

The patrol battalion commanded by Cao Zhizhong is still an old establishment, with a battalion of 500 people, a total of 12 battalions, and more than 6,000 people, and the level of equipment and training is relatively backward, but it is familiar with geography and landscapes, adapts to the climate, water and soil, and can still play a role in harassment and guerrilla warfare.

According to Jihua, Liu Mingchuan made the following configuration of troops:

Liu Chaohu led four patrol battalions to garrison Tainan;

Huang Zhizhong led four patrol battalions to garrison the supply base in Taipei Province;

Deng Changan commanded the remaining four patrol battalions and stationed them in Keelung Port;

Liu Mingchuan personally led the Guards Regiment and stationed it in Huwei, and the main officers under him were Lin Chaodong, Tang Diankui and Liu Shengzao, and at the same time Li Tongen and Sun Kaihua, two officers who were originally stationed in Huwei, were also transferred to the Guards Regiment;

Zhou Shengbo himself led a regiment to defend the Yuemei Mountain area, and Yang Hongbiao led another regiment to garrison the Keelung Ridge area;

In this way, when the French army attacked Keelung, the most effective troops were all placed in the second line, and Liliang could be preserved intact.

In port defense, the focus is also on Huwei Port.

Huwei Port is actually the estuary of the Tamsui River, it is the most important commercial port in Taiwan, and it is also the most important export center of Taiwan's tea.

Sun Kaihua has been serving as a land commander and Huwei garrison, this person joined the army at the age of eighteen, and fought extremely bravely, but he looked like a woman, quite charming, and everyone secretly called him "Sun Meiren".

As for Li Tongen, he was originally a member of the trade commissioner in Huwei, and he was very familiar with the situation of foreigners in Huwei, and he was very resourceful. He was originally frail and sickly and wanted to retire, but Liu Mingchuan kept him and relied on him as a think tank.

At Li Tongen's suggestion, Liu Mingchuan took several important measures, the first of which was to block the port of Huwei, fill some sailboats with stones, and sink to the bottom of the port of Huwei. In this way, large warships with a deep draft could not enter the port, but some light ships could still enter. The junk ship chosen for the wreck, the so-called junk ship is China's original sailing ship. At the same time, a large number of floating wooden piles were set up in the port.

The jamming of the sunken ship will naturally affect the trade flow of the port. For this reason, Li Tongen repeatedly negotiated with the British consul and made it clear that the other party accepted the gag.

The second measure was the installation of dozens of mines in the harbor, which were not anchor mines, but electric mines filled with explosives and electric detonators, and were remotely directed by wire, with the command post placed behind the harbor batteries.

The shell is made of pig iron, wrought iron, tinplate, copper or wood. The explosive is black powder, and the ignition mechanism is called the electric detonator, which is mainly loaded into the conduit with two copper wires, and the lower end of the copper wire is connected with a platinum wire as a bridge, and the conduit is inserted into the copper pipe, and the detonator, cotton powder (nitrocellulose) and other substances are installed, and then sealed, connected with wires, and a line of thunder, or a line of several mines. Most of the power supplies used are wet batteries, and most of the batteries are imported.

With the cooperation of gagged passes, mines, and batteries, the French could not launch a surprise attack.

The third measure was to keep the foreign vessels and the foreign pilots (pilots) under strict control of their use by the French army.

At the same time, the Huwei battery has also been renovated and reinforced, with two 280mm Krupp heavy guns and five 170mm Krupp heavy guns, which is quite impressive.

Although Keelung Port is not the focus of defense, it has also made improvements to the Keelung Battery, with two 170mm Krupp guns and two 180mm smoothbore guns in the main battery, and one secondary battery on the left and right, with a total of six 180mm smoothbore guns. But except for the two Krupp guns, the rest were old smoothbore guns. The so-called smoothbore cannon is that there is no spiral rifling in the breech, and most of the early artillery are smoothbore guns, and their range, power and stability are far inferior to rifled guns.

French armored warships are also 150mm thick at the thinnest part of their armor, and as long as they are 1,000 meters away, these smoothbore shells cannot penetrate even if they hit.

But as Liu Mingchuan planned in advance, there was no need to update these artillery.

Now everything is ready, just waiting for the French to do it.