From the 20th, the lonely fleet could only stay in the Qianyu area of the Minjiang River, neither daring to advance nor retreat, and could only stop in the middle of the waterway desolately, fluttering, unable to go to the village in front of the village or behind the store, and panic all day long.

In the south end of its west side, the Chinese have laid several mine lines, and in the area of Dagang on its east side, a large number of artillery pieces have been concentrated, and Song Qing and Ding Richang have concentrated all the artillery they can transfer here.

But in order to really defeat Loneba, those Krupp heavy artillery must be needed, which is why the two have not ordered a general attack for a long time.

Ding Richang mobilized all the migrant workers in the Mawei area, and with great effort, pulled the four heavy artillery pieces on Luoxing Mountain and Ma Limit Mountain to Langqi Island. Although it was close at hand, tens of thousands of manpower were used, and it was not until the 25th that four heavy guns were put in place.

During these five days, the Chinese harassed the lone fleet day and night, harassing every moment, sometimes firing guns, sometimes firing guns, sometimes drifting from the upper reaches to attack ships, sometimes floating a large number of French dead bodies, always making the French nervous and unable to have a moment of rest.

From dusk to dawn, gongs, drums, whistles, and firecrackers are beaten, and there is not a moment of silence. The endless tossing and turning exhausted the French army, and the delay in the arrival of reinforcements made it even more desperate.

By the afternoon of the 25th, everything was ready, the four heavy guns let out a roar, and the heavy shells came with the breath of death.

At night, searchlights were turned on on both sides of the strait, and the French troops were nowhere to hide, and the heavy artillery was still bombarding. By midnight, the gunboats Wildcat, the Snake, and the cruiser Volda had been sunk one after another, and because Ding Song hoped to capture each other's ironclads, the two ironclad ships, the Atarante and the La Galizonia, were relatively lightly damaged.

Guba and the others couldn't hold on, so they had to move to the inner side of the Min River, trying to avoid the range of the heavy artillery, until they hit the mine line, and the cruiser Zuihou Fellers encountered two mines at the same time, was blown out of a big hole, and soon sank. And two pole mineboats were even rammed and sunk by the French warships themselves.

By this time, it was already clear that either surrender or die.

At dawn, Ding Richang sent people to hang signal flags on the shore, demanding that all the French surrender, lay down their arms, and leave the warship before noon and go ashore, otherwise they would bear the consequences.

There was no suspense in the result, and after receiving the guarantee of life safety, the French army hoisted the white flag, and everyone took the sampan one after another, raised their hands and went ashore to surrender.

That night, Ding Richang, who was exhausted and only relied on one breath to support himself, finally passed away, and his last words were only a short sentence: "The country is hopeful, and you all work hard." ”

Ding Yuntong, who was far away in Beijing, received a report, not only sad and happy, but sad that Ding Richang in history could still survive for a while, but he worked too hard in this life and unfortunately died early. Naturally, the four French warships were captured, namely the Atarante ironclad, the Galizonia ironclad, the cruiser Dujuzluin and the cruiser Destein, which after repair, would greatly enhance the strength of the Chinese navy. However, it is estimated that for a period of time, they can only stay in the port for repairs, and this war will not help much.

At noon on the 26th, the "Global Times" issued an all-red issue, which was a special issue of the Sino-French War, with the big red title "The Great Victory of the Horsetail" and the subtitle: "The Complete Annihilation of the French Army's Lone Fleet."

Of course, in fact, the Lone Fleet still has four ships that remained outside the harbor surviving, but no one has investigated this detail anymore.

This special issue was also distributed in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, including Hong Kong under British rule.

At this time, in the French Consulate in Hong Kong, on the table in front of Bao Hai, the former French Minister to China, there was a special issue of red notices, and next to it was a translation written by the translator of the consulate.

Baohai walked around irritablely, while Hurd sat there with an embarrassed expression.

Baohai grabbed the newspaper on the table and said sharply, "Mr. Hurd, do you know what this newspaper says?" Annihilate the lone fleet! 1,157 French soldiers were killed, and 943 people were taken prisoner! I remember you personally saying to me that China has promised to suspend its offensive, am I old and my ears are not working, or am I hallucinating? My Dear Mr. Hurd!! ”

Hurd also looked aggrieved: "This matter is really beyond my expectations, the emperor did agree, I don't know what went wrong, I am also deeply saddened by the tragedy, I really want to help the French people, but ......, alas, ......." I hope that Mr. Baohai will explain this to Mr. Prime Minister Jouferry. ”

"Explain? Do you think that Mr. Jouferi still has time and mood to listen to my explanations? At this time, he is sure that he will not be able to protect himself, and this prime minister will not be able to continue no matter what. ”

After speaking, Baohai couldn't help but sigh.

Baohai was right to be worried, and at this time, French Prime Minister Joferry had come to the end of his political life.

At an emergency session of the French parliament held on the 26th, Jouferry's cabinet was attacked by all the parliamentarians, including his former supporters, who believed that Jouferry was no longer capable of leading the war against China. Examples of culpability include overestimating China's defense capabilities and allowing the lone fleet to fall into an apparently well-orchestrated trap without adequate intelligence. When organizing the rescue operation, it was not taken into account the equipping of transport ships with a powerful escort fleet, which completely contradicted the common sense of naval warfare, etc.

After a vote, Jouferi stepped down in disgrace and was succeeded by a Republican, a strong nationalist León 61 Gambida.

In a simple inauguration statement, Gambida vowed to "protect the honour of the French Republic."

Then the French government made a decision to demand a full-scale offensive by the army in Vietnam "to deal a devastating and decisive blow to the Chinese." At the same time, the Lisby fleet was asked to attack and seize Taiwan as collateral for future negotiations.

In Vietnam's Beiqi region, both China and France are ready.

Lieutenant General Miller, the commander of the French army, analyzed the information obtained and believed that since China had already gathered heavy troops in the area of Bac Ninh on the eastern front and was very close to Tokyo (Hanoi), if it attacked Shanxi City on the western front according to the original Jihua, the Chinese army in Bac Ninh was likely to be dispatched and cut off its own supply lines.

In view of this, he decided to start on the eastern front first and take Bac Ninh in one fell swoop. The 1st Brigade under the command of Major General Porier will undertake the offensive mission, and the 2nd Brigade under the command of Major General Nigri will serve as a reserve. Miller himself commanded the 5th Brigade to defend the left to prevent the Chinese troops in Shanxi City from coming out to attack the flank, and the 3rd Brigade under the command of Colonel Bishuo to defend the rear. Johnny Nelli's 4th Brigade remained as a Marine Corps, under the command of the Richby fleet.

After the assignment was completed, the continuous French army set out from the camp in an orderly manner and advanced to the north.

The intelligence was quickly passed on to the command of the Southern Front of the Chinese Army in Lang Son.

Feng Zicai, a gray-bearded army major general, was looking at the map, and staff officer Yuan Shikai was constantly explaining beside him. During this time, Yuan Shikai's performance made Feng Zicai very satisfied, not only thoughtful, but also very accurate in judging the movements of the French army.

Yuan Shikai said: "General, judging from the report ahead, as Xia Guan said a few days ago. The French army only wanted to inflict heavy losses on our army and force me to sue for peace. But now the situation is no longer the same, the French army has suffered a lot of losses at sea, and it has consciously lost face, and at this time it no longer wants to simply force peace, but wants to fight China in one go, and will naturally choose the eastern front, which is closer to China. ”

Feng Zicai nodded: "The French army is strong, and I don't know if the third division can stop it." Look, should I personally lead the 1st Division to reinforce Bac Ninh?"

"General, I don't think it's appropriate. The 3rd Division defended Bac Ninh with a whole division, which was already quite a large number of troops, and the defense system had now been completed. Bac Ninh is far from the Chinese border, and it is not convenient to resupply, and if I wait for reinforcements, the logistical support of the two divisions will be under great pressure. In the event of an unfavorable war, the overall situation on the Eastern Front is in jeopardy. Now, if the 3rd Division wins, everything will be suspended, and the French army will naturally suffer a great defeat. If it is defeated, we and the first division will guard Langshan, and we will naturally be able to regroup. Moreover, even if the Third Division could not hold it, if it could inflict heavy casualties on the French army, it would be meritorious. Our army took advantage of the steep mountainous terrain of Beiqi to build strong fortifications. As long as the French army attacks all the way to the Sino-Vietnamese border, it will inevitably be the end of the crossbow, and when the time comes, it will definitely be effective if it gives an all-out blow. ”

Feng Zicai said with a smile: "Honestly, it has won my heart!" ”

In fact, this Jihua, Feng Zicai had already made up his mind, he just deliberately asked, taking the opportunity to test Yuan Shikai.

He was very optimistic about this young man, this person was not only knowledgeable, diligent and studious, but also had no arrogance of a gentleman, and did everything big and small, of course, the most important thing was that the emperor seemed to be very important to this young man, and sometimes in the telegram, he had to ask Feng Zicai what he thought of this person. If it is not surprising, this Yuan Shikai will definitely be of great use in the future, and there is no need to worry about entering and exiting.

Maybe the emperor sent him to be his subordinate, and he himself had the intention of training him, so Feng Zicai also understood it, and in terms of military experience, he also guided Yuan Shikai as much as possible.

He remembered that in Zhang Shusheng's third division, which was defending Bac Ninh, there was also a young staff officer Xu Shichang sent by the emperor, who was also said to be resourceful.

It's just that Zhang Shusheng has some reputation for leading troops, but he has a problem, that is, he is stubborn and self-serving, and he can't listen to good words and persuasion at critical moments, which also makes Feng Zicai vaguely worried, hoping that the Third Division can inflict heavy casualties on the French army in Bac Ninh and frustrate the arrogance of the French army, which will have a huge impact on the subsequent battle situation.