In April 1880, spring came to Indochina, which was shrouded in a state of confusion and uncertainty.

Strictly speaking, there are no four seasons in Vietnam, and spring is only slightly warmer than winter, mainly in the dry season and rainy season, and April is the dry and rainy season, and the rain comes and goes, which makes people annoying.

At this time, the mood of the governor of Cochinchina, Lu Mei, was worse than the drizzling rain, and four months had passed, and the Vietnamese delegation had just arrived in Beijing, and then there was no news at all. The envoy to Hue, 61 Champo, also wrote to him: "The Vietnamese have no faith at all, and they must make plans in advance, because if the matter drags on for too long, it will damage the prestige of the French government." ”

In contact with France, he strongly advocated swift action and began to look for specific commanders for the operation. On May 17, 1880, at the instigation of Jouferry, the French parliament finally passed a resolution appropriating 2.5 million francs to finance the French occupation of Beiqi.

The next day, the Minister of Naval Colony, Clouai, authorized Lok Mai by way of a directive that the authorities in Cochinchina could take measures to ensure that the Vietnamese government fulfilled the 1874 treaty and that it could use appropriate military liliang if necessary. “

After getting the authorization, Lu Mei could let it go, and immediately found the new commander of the Cochinchina Navy Fleet, Colonel Li Weiye. This is an old officer who has made no achievements in military affairs and has only been promoted by seniority, who is about to retire and has already begun to engage in literary creation. Lu Mei gave him a task: to march to Beiqi!

Li Weiye suddenly felt that his life might have come to a glorious turning point.

At this time, there were not many regular French troops in Cochinchina, the wounds of the Franco-Prussian War had not yet fully recovered, and there were not enough troops stationed in the colony. However, Li Weiye searched everywhere and temporarily organized the sailors on the navy ships to form a landing team, which was quite a bit of a marine corps, and a total of more than 450 people were pieced together, divided into three companies, commanded by Navy Captain Fei Ashi, but because they were not professional infantrymen, their land combat quality was average. In order to strengthen the firepower of this army, two 40mm naval guns were specially dismantled from warships, and one 120mm and one 40mm gun were transferred from other places, and 50 naval soldiers were mobilized to form an accompanying artillery team, in addition to dozens of Vietnamese mercenaries. They took three gunboats, including "Junle", "Masu", and "Short Gun", because these three gunboats were only a few hundred tons, and it was really impossible to put down so many people and equipment and supplies, so they requisitioned two more ships from the Saigon Port Authority.

By mid-June, Li Weiye was ready to take his motley expeditionary force on the road, and five days later, the expeditionary force arrived in Tokyo (Hanoi) and met with the local Vietnamese governor, Hoang Yao. Li Weiye arrogantly declared that "according to the treaty between France and Vietnam, France has an unshirkable responsibility and obligation to Vietnam, and since Vietnam is unable to deal with the bandits from China, which has already posed a threat to French interests, then France has no choice but to take action on its own and take over the defense of Beiqi in order to maintain the stability of the situation." ”

The unreasonable request made Huang Yao difficult to accept, so he naturally refused and immediately reported it to the Hue court.

As soon as the Vietnamese government heard that the French army was approaching the city of Tokyo, it panicked and immediately exposed its duplicity, and Emperor De immediately found the minister De 61 Shang Bo and promised to deal with the Black Flag Army as soon as possible, but De 61 Shang Bo saw that the delegation to China had not returned to China so far, and he had long run out of patience and said that he could not believe in Emperor De's promise.

In a panic, Emperor Duc sent Nguyen Chengcheng, the left attendant of the household department, to Saigon as a special envoy, wanting to meet with the governor Lu Mei and begging for the withdrawal of the expeditionary force.

China's plenipotentiary Tang Jingsong looked at this coldly, he had already reported all this to Ding Yuntong, and received an order: unite all pro-China factions, control the "Kokang Battalion", choose the right time, and take Emperor De and others hostage to transfer to Beiqi, and the navy will respond to the transfer at any time.

Ding Yuntong's idea was that the Zhongqi region, where the capital Hue was located, was far away from China, and the French held the sea control, so it was difficult for China to supply, and it was not an ideal war zone, but it could not let the Vietnamese court fall into the hands of the French, so he could only bring Emperor Duc to Beiqi, and then coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

At the same time, Ding Yuntong called Baosheng and asked to prepare for the attack.

Just when the special envoy Ruan Chengyi was still begging Lu Mei, Li Weiye, who was eager to make a contribution, had already started.

On June 29, 1880, Li Weiye sent someone to send Huang Yao an ultimatum to disarm the city within three days, and Huang Yao himself would come out as a hostage, otherwise he would attack.

Three days later, Huang Yao did not come out, so the French expeditionary force opened fire.

The French artillery bombarded, and by coincidence, one shot hit the ammunition depot in the city, and suddenly the flames soared into the sky, and the Vietnamese defenders, who had no intention of resisting, immediately dispersed in a hurry. The expeditionary force took advantage of the situation to enter the city, and even a hair was missing, and they occupied Tokyo (Hanoi), and Governor Huang Yaoyan saw that things were no longer good and hanged himself.

The news spread quickly, and the spies of the General Staff in Tokyo quickly reported it.

After receiving the report, Ding Yuntong gave three orders.

First, the Southern Front Command was immediately formed, with Feng Zicai as the commander-in-chief, commanding all the troops on the front, including the Black Flag Army in Vietnam, ready to fight at any time. Ding Yuntong understood that the rear personnel did not know the specific situation of the front line, and could not command blindly, and the so-called generals were not subject to the orders of the monarch outside, and the specific operational arrangements were all decided by Feng Zicai himself, but the exception of a regiment of the Guards led by Nie Shicheng was directly controlled by the General Staff.

Second, the telegram ordered the navy to immediately send a small fleet to Hue Harbor to stand by.

Third, a secret telegram was sent asking Tang Jingsong to take all actions immediately and try to kidnap Emperor Duc and leave Hue.

In the early morning of July 8, 1880, Tang Jingsong received a secret telegram, and he immediately found several ministers who had already privately colluded with Haode, Hubu Shangshu Fan Shenshu, Ministry of Industry Shangshu Chen Jiancheng, and cabinet attendant Ruan Shu, these people Tang Jingsong had already represented the emperor and made a wish to them to be officials, and if Vietnam was not guaranteed in the future, they could still go to China to become officials, and the glory and wealth would reach a higher level.

After a few people discussed, they immediately went to Huang Zuoyan, the commander of the "Kokang Battalion". This is a key figure, he has military power, and he is the concubine of Emperor Dede, and he is deeply trusted. As soon as Tang Jingsong came up, he told Huang Zuoyan that he claimed to have received a secret telegram from China, and according to the intelligence of the Chinese minister to France, France was ready to send troops to occupy Hue. If he stayed here, he would be a prisoner in a few days. At this time, the news of the capture of Tokyo by the French army had spread, and this information convinced Huang Zuoyan.

At the same time, Tang Jingsong also hinted to Huang Zuoyan that if he could get the imperial court to Beiqi, once the French army was repulsed, China would support him to control all military and political power in Vietnam.

Under the temptation of Tang Jingsong's high-ranking officials, wealth and power, especially these ministers still hated France in essence and wanted to keep the Vietnamese court, Zuihou agreed with Tang Jingsong's Jihua and prepared to secretly transport Emperor Duc to Beiqi.

After tidying up, in the middle of the night, Tang Jingsong and others entered the palace and woke up Emperor Side.

Tang Jingsong said: "Your Majesty, the situation is already in danger, and you must leave Hue immediately. ”

Emperor Side will be skeptical.

Tang Jingsong continued to threaten: "When the French army comes, they will either become puppets and be played with, or they will be killed directly and a new king will be established." No good end. ”

Tang Jingsong patted his chest again and promised: "China's navy has already arrived outside Hue Port to respond, and when it arrives in Beiqi, it has its own army to protect it, and it is foolproof, so it is important to move quickly." ”

Emperor Side hesitated, no matter how hard everyone persuaded him, he was unwilling to leave his palace.

Tang Jingsong felt that the situation was not good, and knew that it was not a way to drag it out, so he pulled Huang Zuoyan out to discuss: "If you don't succeed today, you will all become rebellious ministers who have absconded with the king." ”

Huang Zuoyan was also very anxious: "What can I do now?" ”

Tang Jingsong said: "Lord Huang, it is better to divide the Kokang Camp into two, you and I will each lead a part, act separately, and we must leave Hue before dawn." ”

Huang Zuoyan gritted his teeth: "The matter has come to this point, and I can only let it go." It's just what Lord Tang promised, but don't coax the officials. ”

"Tang has already reported to my emperor about the talent and courage of the adult, and the adult can rest assured."

The two discussed and decided that Huang Zuoyan led 250 people from the Kokang Battalion to kill the palace guards and forcibly enter the palace.

On the other side, Tang Jingsong led another 250 people from the Kokang Battalion to search for the queen, the prince and others, and found the two elderly princes and their adoptive mothers, Empress Dowager Ciyu and Empress Dowager Zhuang Yi. But the youngest prince, Nguyen Phuc Yinghu, and his adoptive mother, the concubine, didn't know where to hide and couldn't find it.

Tang Jingsong took a look. couldn't wait, so he took someone to meet Huang Zuoyan and went out of the city to the port.

At dawn, a large number of people came to the port in embarrassment, and sure enough, a detachment of the Chinese Navy was already waiting there, three warships flying the flag of merchant ships, namely the cruiser "Kunlun", and the transport ships "Chenhang" and "Yongbao".

Tang Jingsong stood at the bow of the ship and watched a large number of people crowd into the ship in a chaotic manner, now that China and France have not started a war, even if they encounter a French ship patrolling at sea, they will not come to intercept the merchant ship.

finally fulfilled his mission, Tang Jingsong only breathed a sigh of relief now.

At the same time, Feng Zicai ordered the army to cross the Sino-Vietnamese border.

War is on the verge of breaking out.