On June 2, 1881, the front page of the French >< Le Figaro published a special report from the front correspondent on the front page, trumpeting the great victory won by France in Vietnam, and the report was full of all kinds of brilliant words: national heroes, miraculous victories in the East, decisive World War I, the end of the barbarian nation, the glory of France, and so on. Other newspapers similarly hyped up the French victory, and all sorts of data came from nowhere: Chinese corpses strewn over the mountains, captured food and ammunition piled up, countless guns and silver discarded by the enemy, and so on. In short, the entire public opinion in Paris is completely in the hands of victory, just waiting for the Chinese to kneel down and ask for surrender.

This situation was a relief to Gambida that he no longer had to worry about the immediate collapse of his cabinet, a victory that offset the negative impact of a series of previous unfortunate events. Gambida quickly sent a telegram demanding that Frey take advantage of the victory and advance to the Sino-Vietnamese border, as soon as possible to enter Chinese territory and force China to beg for mercy.

At the same time, the French delegation in Vladivostok was greatly encouraged by the news of the capture of Lang Son by the French army. At the meeting between the two sides on June 3, the deputy head of the negotiating delegation, Badeno, was full of red eyes and threatened the Chinese representatives, threatening that "the amount of reparations that China must pay in the future will be automatically increased by zero with each victory of the French Army." This figure is ultimately conservatively estimated to be hundreds of millions or even billions of francs. He also declared that "when the French army invades China, then the Chinese negotiators can only bargain about what seasonings they want to go with for dinner." ＂

In the face of such an arrogant and barbaric threat from the French, Zeng Jize was unmoved, although Ding Yuntong did not reveal the military jihua to him, this is an absolute secret. But in the telegram, Ding Yuntong had clearly told him that this was a protracted war, and that every time there was a delay, the French would have to endure a huge financial burden, and time was a good friend of the Chinese. The more anxious the French negotiators became, the more they tried to force us to make concessions, the more calm we had to be.

Zeng Jize has faithfully implemented this strategy, and he has always watched the French perform with an indifferent attitude, as if nothing has anything to do with him, and he has a leisurely attitude of coming to a seaside resort for vacation. This made Baohai and the others very annoyed, and they really wanted to pinch his ears and ask loudly: Did you hear what we said? Are you sure that there really is no problem with your comprehension?

The French were singing, the country and abroad were jubilant, and the army was in a state of optimism, as if the war was about to end and the children were going home. At this moment, but at least one more person is maintaining a rare calm. This person is Miller, who is being seriously injured in Saigon.

Doctors have determined that Miller must be sent back to France if he wants to be treated more effectively. All he can do now is to try to treat his complicated infections so that he can have enough physical strength to barely survive the long journey back home.

Despite his injuries and illness, Miller was still concerned about the progress of the war in North Vietnam, and he did not believe the rhetoric published in the newspapers, but asked his secretary to write letters to trusted old subordinates in the army, asking them in detail about the situation on the battlefield.

Ten days after the battle, Miller lay on his hospital bed, listening to his secretary read the reply from the front, his brow tied into a knot.

Judging by his rich experience and memories of previous battles with the Chinese army, it is clear that such a victory came very strangely.

First of all, judging from the actual situation on the battlefield, the casualties of the Chinese army were not large, except for some seriously wounded, and they did not even capture many prisoners, which was abnormal as a victory. And he knew that Lang Son was used as the headquarters of the Chinese army, but China did not use all the liliang to defend, which is unreasonable. The only explanation is that the Chinese were prepared to abandon Langshan in advance.

Millet felt a deep sense of apprehension, and he felt that as a general in the French Army, it was his duty to warn the authorities about the seriousness of the matter. Miller dictated to his secretary and wrote two letters.

A letter was sent to Frey, the commander-in-chief at the front, pointing out to him that the Chinese might be using a conspiracy to draw the main French forces away from the supply-ready coastline and deep into the mountains near the Chinese border, which would put the French army in unknown danger and completely render the French powerful river fleet useless.

At the same time, Miller also pointed out his plan: stabilize the position, postpone the attack, send as many reconnaissance personnel as possible, understand the situation of the Chinese army in the entire Beiqi area, relax the battle line, and try to protect his flanks.

Another letter was sent by telegram directly to the new head of the Naval Colony in Paris, Vice Admiral Pei Long. In the letter, Miller candidly expressed his worries about the situation on the battlefield and his distrust of Frey's appointment as army commander.

On June 17th, Frey, who was ambitious and ready to lead his army north, received a letter from Miller, and when he saw the smell of preaching in the letter, he suddenly became a nameless anger: "How do I observe the situation, how do I command the war, do I still need you Miller to teach?" Just when I am advancing with the victory, give me such a hand, if I win in the future, others will think that because of your guidance, you really regard yourself as the emperor and me as a student. Or is it jealous of me? He himself failed to capture Lang Son, and I did, afraid that if I succeeded in ending the war, he would instead become an image of defeat, so he used this trick to delay me? ＂

Frey became more and more vicious and disrespectful the more he thought about it, and replied to Miller with just one sentence: I will use victory in China to pray for your injury and illness. The implication is that what you say is nonsense, and I just attack. You better watch out for your injuries, you see, even I have to pray for you.

As for Pei Long in Paris, he didn't reply at all, not because Pei Long did it on purpose. Because Miller's telegram, with a pessimistic tone, was very different from the judgment of the French government and the current public opinion, Pei Long did not take this warning to heart, and Frey was about to attack again, and the official affairs of the Navy Colonial Department were busy, so he forgot to reply to Miller when he came and went.

When Miller received Frey's simple and rude reply, he almost fainted on the spot.

On 18 June, the main force of the French army began to march in the direction of Zhennan Pass, which would be a crucial battle for Frey to open the door to China.

Since the 1st Brigade suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Lang Son and lost more than 1,000 men, Frey sent this brigade to Tuyen Quang on the left rear side of Lang Son to protect the flank of the army. Frey felt that the brigade still had 3,000 troops, which was more than enough to protect the flanks, so there was no need to replenish it. The vanguard was held by Nigri's 2nd Brigade, followed by the larger force.

On June 20, the 2nd Brigade arrived at the seat of the provisional court of Emperor Side and ascended to the city. But with a few bombardments, the few defenders left in the city immediately dispersed. The French army rushed into the city, only to find that the people had already run away, leaving only flags, honor guards, swords, guns, gongs and drums, clothes, shoes and hats, as well as various daily necessities, and even women's short clothes and gowns.

That night, Frey set up his headquarters in the original palace of Emperor Side, and ordered the Second Brigade to send troops to Nanguan as soon as it was dawn.

At this time, in Zhennanguan, after more than a year of operation, the Chinese army had already been heavily fortified and ready for battle.

The Zhennan Pass line is like a natural barrier between China and Vietnam, a mountain range stretching for hundreds of kilometers separates the two countries, and only here is Zhennan Pass, there is a pass through which people from Guangxi and Vietnam must pass through.

The Chinese assembled Feng Zicai's 1st Division, Wang Debang's Brigade, Ding Huai's Brigade, and Zhang Gaoping's Guards Regiment here, with a total strength of more than 20,000 people.

The left side of Zhennan Pass is Fengwei Ridge, also known as West Ridge, the right side is Daqingshan and Xiaoqingshan, connected together called Dongling, the East and West Two Ridges sandwich Zhennan Pass in the middle, and the foot of the mountain extends to the front of the pass together, so that the whole terrain is like a huge Taishi chair, the East and West Erling are like the armrests on both sides of the chair, and Zhennanguan is located in the center of the back of the chair. The Chinese army mobilized thousands of people to build a thick wall 1,500 meters long, 3 meters high and 4 meters wide 2,000 meters in front of Zhennan Pass.

In order to avoid the reconnaissance of the French hot air balloon, several secret passages were specially built from Zhennan Pass to the tunnel behind the thick wall, so that the movement of troops could hide from the enemy's eyes and ears.

On the East and West Ridges, forts and fortresses were also built. In particular, the position of Dongling Daqingshan is even more important, and its front extension is like an extended armrest on the side of the chair, which just guards the area of Zhennanguan. Therefore, the Chinese army deliberately built three heavy batteries on Daqingshan, equipped with a total of three 220mm Krupp heavy guns, and six 170mm Krupp guns. The location of these three forts is also cleverly built, just right embedded in the gap of the cliff, which can be described as ingenious.

In addition, more than 1,000 mines were laid at the foot of the mountain and on the slopes of the east and west ridges, and in the area of 800 to 300 meters in front of the thick wall and the protective ditch, not only thousands of ordinary mines were laid, but also nearly 100 expensive "pull-and-shoot jumping mines" were laid. This distance was designed by Yuan Shikai, so that on the one hand, it could be defended by mines, and on the other hand, the fire on the thick wall could be used to prevent the French army from clearing mines, and the mine command post that controlled the mine jump was located under the thick wall.

Best of all, Yuan Shikai also designed several "zhi" shaped passages in the minefield, so that the Chinese army could carry out sneak attacks through the minefield. In addition, more than 1,000 mines, including dozens of jumping mines, were also laid in the open space between the thick wall and the city tower in Zhennanguan to be prepared.

Yuan Shikai was very confident in his minefield.