The sudden disappearance of Emperor Si Duc plunged the entire city of Hue into chaos. The French were caught off guard even more, and the French government immediately felt the seriousness of the problem, because the loss of control of the Vietnamese court would adversely affect all future actions of France.

On July 19, 1880, Bao Hai, the new French minister to China, came to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and lodged a strong protest to Zeng Jize: "The French government has every reason to believe that what has happened recently in the capital of Vietnam is instigated and manipulated by China behind the scenes. The French Government strongly protests that this act constitutes a serious violation of France's rights and interests under the Franco-Vietnamese Treaty of 1874. In view of the fact that the Government of Viet Nam has always been unable to faithfully fulfil its obligations, France will take the necessary action against all foreign bandits entrenched in the territory of Viet Nam, in accordance with its sacred duty. In the meantime, it is hoped that China will remain calm and restrained and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts. ”

Zeng Jize immediately refuted: "Vietnam is a vassal state of China, and any so-called document signed privately between France and Vietnam is invalid without China's consent." China will also not recognize any country's dependencies in China, which have any so-called sacred duty, and the Chinese government will consider this an act of aggression and reserve the right to take corresponding action. ”

The two sides quarreled fiercely.

At the same time, Li Weiye's expeditionary force, which occupied Tokyo, was supplemented by the personnel and materials of Governor Lu Mei, and in the same way, attacked and occupied Nanding, another important town in Beiqi, and its ambition to annex Beiqi was fully revealed.

On the night of July 20, 1880, ten miles northwest of Tokyo, Waide House, the headquarters of the Black Flag Army camp.

In a simple bamboo house, a sturdy and capable man was sitting on a military kerosene lamp, looking at the map on the table, this person was the leader of the Black Flag Army, Liu Yongfu, the head of the Independent Regiment of the newly organized training army, surrounded by six or seven officers of the Black Flag Army, and the original special envoy Shao Youlian had become a government liaison representative at this time.

The commander of the first battalion, Yang Zhuen, was the most courageous and said: "Tuanza, the command has asked us to hold at least until November, but we don't have to take Tokyo. What the hell does this mean. ”

Liu Yongfu was originally called "Dashuai", but after the reorganization, it was changed to "group seat".

Liu Yongfu said: "It will take at least three or four months for all the rear troops to be in place and complete the fortifications, so we must hold on until November." However, it is best not to attack Tokyo, we do not have heavy artillery, the ability to attack the fortification is insufficient, the French army has strong firepower, if it is a strong attack, I am afraid that the casualties will be too great. ”

Looking down and thinking about it, he said: "The paper bridge that ambushed An Ye a few years ago is high and obvious, surrounded by dense jungle, and it is still the most ideal ambush place. ”

Wu Fengdian, commander of the third battalion: "The French church on the outskirts of the city is the eyes and ears of the French army, we sent people to harass it, and when the French army chased and killed, we took the opportunity to lead it to the paper bridge, gather and annihilate it." ”

Liu Yongfu said with a smile: "Yes, the French have always been arrogant and arrogant, and they will definitely be successful." ”

Immediately issued an order, Wu Fengdian and Yang Zhuen led the first battalion and the third battalion respectively to ambush both sides of the paper bridge, Liu Yongfu and Huang Shouzhong and others led the second battalion and the artillery company guard company to ambush the front of the paper bridge, so that Liu Wenqian, Liu Qiliang and Ye Chenglin, three company commanders, each selected 100 strong men from the auxiliary troops to attract the enemy.

The next day, Liu Wenqian and the others began to lead people to attack two churches on the outskirts of Tokyo, which were reinforced by the French and set up many shooting holes, which contained French soldiers, clergy, and armed Vietnamese parishioners, as if they were two pillboxes.

Although the attack was to lure the enemy, it was also very fierce, and the Black Flag Army was not the main force, and the weapons and firepower were poor, and various means such as smoke and fire attacks were used, which made the people in the church very embarrassed.

On the side of the paper bridge, the Black Flag Army was ambushed in the dense forest around the paper bridge in the rear, and Liu Yongfu picked up the old-fashioned monocular Galilean telescope from time to time to observe.

It wasn't until the morning of the third day that someone was sent from the front to report that the French army was chasing after them!

Liu Yongfu immediately ordered the whole army to pay attention, do a good job of concealment, and prepare to attack.

About an hour later, Liu Wenqian and others rushed all the way from the front with hundreds of people, looking quite embarrassed, many of them empty-handed, and their weapons were lost.

Liu Yongfu scolded in his heart, turned back to Huang Shouzhong and said: "I'll fuck it, this group of bastards, even the fucking temptation of the enemy is scared like this." ”

Huang Shouzhong said: "Tuanzuo, these people are not well equipped with training equipment, and they are not as good as the main force. But it would be nice that the French would not suspect an ambush. ”

Liu Yongfu nodded, looked through the binoculars and did not speak.

A few moments later, hundreds of rebels fled the paper bridge.

At first, Liu Yongfu was worried about whether the French would chase after him, but he saw that there was a lot of smoke and dust in front of him, and it was the French pursuers coming.

A large group of men and horses came to the paper bridge, and did not continue to advance, but stopped, probably the French also found the terrain of this place strange, a high stone bridge, in front of a muddy paddy field, surrounded by a circle of woods, very suitable for ambushes.

Liu Yongfu waited anxiously, thinking: "These foreign devils, why don't they move, can't they be afraid?" ”

As soon as I thought of this, I heard a "boom", and the cannon was fired from the opposite side, and one cannon in the east and one cannon in the west was thrown indiscriminately. Liu Yongfu was experienced, but he was happy, knowing that this was a fire reconnaissance, and since it was a fire reconnaissance, as long as the horse's feet were not exposed, the French army would continue to advance.

He immediately turned around and whispered to the back: "Quietly pass the order, the foreign devil is exploring the road with a cannon, no one is allowed to move, whoever is fucking messing around, I will chop him up for a shit day." ”

After bombarding the artillery for a while, to see if there was no movement, the French on the opposite side were a little hesitant.

This is the main force of the expeditionary force led by Li Weiye personally, Li Weiye rode on his horse and looked around, he knew that this was the unlucky place of the An Ye task force in the past, but An Ye only had a few dozen people, and he now has more than 400 people, and some 65mm light guns that have just been replenished, and all the way after him, the other party is obviously a rabble, there is really nothing to worry about.

So an order was given, and the battalion commander, Major Wei Yi, led the people to open the way first, and the brigade continued to pursue.

Liu Yongfu saw that he had entered the ambush circle, secretly applauded, and immediately ordered to fire.

There was a shout, "Bang Bang", gunshots rained down, and a row of bullets shot out of the dense forest in front of them, sweeping in the direction of the paper bridge.

The French soldiers who were walking in front were immediately hit hard, and the leading major, Wei Yi, was shot several times and immediately fell to the ground.

Liu Yongfu shouted: "The time has come for meritorious service!" Several 57mm Grusen light guns of the artillery company in the rear also bombarded at once.

These French troops were not really army troops, but some sailors who were improvised and of low quality, and the government troops who fought Vietnam were very handy, arrogant, and suddenly encountered a fierce attack, and the guns and cannons fired in unison, and they were immediately thrown into chaos.

Li Weiye saw that it was not good, so he hurriedly came up from behind to command, organized 65mm guns to return fire, and stood at the forefront of the team, personally leading people to attack the dense forest opposite the paper bridge.

The modernization training of the French made the quality of the French army generally high, and after Li Weiye's rectification, it immediately stabilized and rushed towards it with great vigour.

At present, the standard rifle of the French Army is the "Grasse" 1874 breech single-shot rifle, which has basically replaced the "Trisport" M1866 rifle that performed quite well in the Franco-Prussian War. However, the rifles used by the French Navy were self-contained, and the sailors all used M1878 repeating rifles, which were more powerful, and the expeditionary force at this time basically used this kind of rifle.

Although these French were not regular soldiers, they also had a strong sense of honor, and regardless of the casualties with their guns, they rushed into the dense forest with a shout and started hand-to-hand combat with the Black Flag Army.

As soon as the two sides came into contact in close combat, the advantages of the French in organization and liliang were reflected, and the Black Flag Army suffered heavy casualties, and gradually could not withstand it and began to retreat.

Liu Yongfu knew that the critical moment had come, so he rushed forward with his guard company to temporarily stabilize the situation. While giving the order, let the ambush soldiers kill.

In the woods on both sides of the French army, the two battalions in ambush also rushed out with shouts, firing and outflanking the French flank.

For a while, the French army finally panicked, and Huang Shouzhong took advantage of the situation to lead people to counterattack, and shot indiscriminately, Li Weiye didn't have time to react, and was shot on the spot and fell.

At this time, the French army could no longer organize, the whole line fled, Navy Captain Yaguan led a group of people to escape on the road, frantically charged, the M1878 repeating rifle in his hand, compared with the Black Flag Army's single-shot Snyder-Enfield 1866 rifle, the rate of fire advantage was obvious, and the commander of the first battalion that blocked the attack, Yang Zhuen, was the most courageous, rushed up first, and was hit by several bullets and died on the spot.

The first battalion was a little flustered at once, and was rushed out by the French army, but the leading French captain Yaguan was also shot in the leg and lay on the ground and couldn't get up.

The Black Flag Army pursued for a while, and Liu Yongfu saw that the casualties were not small, and Yang Zhuen was also dead, so he ordered the troops to be withdrawn.

When tidying up the battlefield, he accidentally found that Li Weiye had been hit by a few bullets, but he was not dead, hiding under a tree and being dragged out by the soldiers of the Black Flag Army.

This Li Weiye is also tough, he has a lame leg, he has been shot in the shoulder and buttocks, half of his left ear has been cut off by a bullet, he is covered in blood, he has been hit by a few rifle butts, he is standing with his head up, not kneeling, and constantly scolding in French.

He charged bravely, killing several Black Flag soldiers. The angry soldier just wanted to hack him to death with a knife, but was stopped by Liu Yongfu, who rushed in.

Shao Youlian has repeatedly emphasized that now that the Black Flag Army has been reorganized and is already a regular army, and it cannot kill prisoners, let alone prisoners of officers.

Liu Yongfu also admired the warrior spirit of this Frenchman, and ordered the soldiers not to humiliate him. Bandage his wounds and escort him back.

A total of 157 people were killed and 63 were taken prisoner. Most of the captives were wounded soldiers, including Vietnamese mercenaries and some seriously wounded Frenchmen.

More than 170 people were killed and 76 wounded. There were more casualties, and Liu Yongfu was very emotional: "This is still an ambush, and the number of people is superior, or you really can't fight." ”

While thinking, he ordered: "Withdraw Huaide, rest and rectify!" ”