28 November 1880, Bac Ninh, Vietnam.

Due to the bloody battle of the Black Flag Army, the advance of the French army was halted, so that the 3rd Division in Bac Ninh had enough time to carefully build its own defensive system.

The rivers in this area are vertical and horizontal, and the water network is dense, with the Yuede River in the northeast, Langbo Lake in the west, the Xinhe River in the south, and the Tiande River and Liutou River in the southeast. Bac Ninh City and the surrounding area are a small open space in this large water network.

The northeastern highland of Bac Ninh City is called Yongqiu, this high ground controls the Woldeok River, and the artillery erected here can also directly bombard the city of Bac Ninh, which is an extremely important commanding height. The French call it the Rabe dam. In fact, in Vietnamese, the gushing is the river, the ball is the bridge, and the bridge over the river is naturally the dam.

To the southeast of Bac Ninh Castle is a small earthen hill called Lam Mountain, which is the front barrier of the Yongqiu.

To the southwest of Bac Ninh is a village called Kh Nin Zong, which is full of large paddy fields, the terrain is muddy, and behind it is a small dirt mountain.

Combined with the terrain around Bac Ninh, division commander Zhang Shusheng believed that in order to hold Bac Ninh, it was necessary to hold the Yongqiu, and to defend the Yongqiu, it was necessary to defend the Lanshan Mountain. The area around the west side of the Knian-based area is not suitable for the movement of large French troops, especially the muddy roads, which is a nightmare for the French artillery units. Therefore, the focus of the defense should be on the eastern side of Bac Ninh City.

Brigade Commander Wang Debang led two regiments, as well as 2,500 troops from the Vietnamese army Phan Dinh Phuong, to defend Lan Mountain.

Originally, Zhang Shusheng wanted the heavy artillery battalion led by Jiang Zonghan to also garrison Lanshan, but Xu Shichang, a staff officer of the army, strongly objected, because once Lanshan was lost, the 210mm heavy howitzer would definitely not be able to retreat in time, which had a great impact on the battle behind.

Wei Gang led a regiment and 2,000 troops of the Vietnamese military affairs of Nguyen Thien Thu to defend the general area of Konian

Brigade Commander Zhang Gaoyuan led two regiments to be stationed outside Bac Ninh as a reserve.

In addition, the cavalry battalion in the original establishment, because it was not suitable for the terrain of Vietnam, was changed to an infantry battalion, commanded by Ma Shengzhi, and Zhang Shusheng's guard battalion, as well as the division headquarters stationed in the city

Because the French army's river gunboat force, which could rely on Vietnam's dense network of inland rivers to swim around, the threat was too great, and its powerful naval artillery group could destroy all fortifications, and in order to hold the position, it was necessary to defend the gunboats first. According to the command order, all the rivers and streams in the fortified area had to be blocked, so that the French gunboats could be prevented from going up to support their land.

At this point, the 3rd Division made careful preparations. The Tiande River, the Yuede River, the Liutou River, etc. are all blocked, and the specific method is to choose a narrow place, tie a large stone on the bamboo row, sink it under the water surface, cut down a big tree and block it on the water surface, so that the water can pass through, but the gunboat will not be able to move forward due to its own draft, and at the same time set up a large number of fire points in the woods next to the blockage.

In addition, the Chinese army also built a large number of bunkers on various defensive positions.

In fact, this kind of bunker was built in a seven-foot-deep pit, in the center of the pit, eight feet high and five feet thick, and the outside was made of large stone strips, and the inside was driven deep into the ground with wooden pillars, layered on top of each other, and smoothed with lime and sand.

There was also a six-foot-wide gap between the bunker and the pit wall, all nailed with a large number of sharpened wooden spikes, and the whole bunker was only one foot above the ground, and there were gun holes.

In this way, it was difficult for French guns to hit the bunker, and even if the occasional shell hit, it could not be effectively destroyed, except in the case of continuous bombardment by heavy artillery.

Seven or eight soldiers were stationed in each bunker, and culverts were dug at the back of the bunkers for soldiers to enter and exit.

Because this kind of bunker is built according to the drawings designed by Xu Shichang, it is also called "Xu's bunker".

This kind of strong bunker will effectively protect the Chinese soldiers in the defensive position, and it is also a great psychological comfort.

At Xu Shichang's suggestion, Zhang Shusheng ordered the front-line troops to keep their firepower silent in the face of the small-scale attack of the French army, so as to avoid the tactical reconnaissance of the French army, so as to be able to give the opponent an unexpected blow when pursuing a defensive key attack.

Xu Shichang has now become Zhang Shusheng's most relied on think tank, and soon, he has a new suggestion.

Next to the Rising Heights, there is a Catholic church built in 1867, Gothic style, double spire building, the whole church is surrounded by iron railings and bamboo fences, impermeable, like a strong bunker.

The bishop of the church was Father Balot, who also had another secret identity, a lieutenant in the French army, and one of the most important French intelligence chiefs in the North Thi region of Vietnam. In addition to a dozen French people in the church, there are also nearly 100 Vietnamese armed parishioners, all of whom have been trained and, because of their religion, have a sense of belonging to France and have a certain fighting ability.

On the evening of that day, Father Barot was in his office, writing relevant information letters, and he tried to have his parishioners, pretending to be people, to infiltrate the Yongqiu Heights to spy on the positions of the Chinese army, but the defenders were very closely inspected, so he never succeeded.

At this moment, "bang", two gunshots suddenly remembered outside. Then one of his men ran in and reported in a panic: "Oh no, priest, there are a large number of Chinese troops outside, and the church has been surrounded." ”

Taken aback, Barot hurried to the window, and when he found that the torches were already lit and the people were buzzing, he immediately sent one of his parishioners to inquire why he had come.

After a while, the parishioners came back to report that the Chinese army had come to clean up the spy den, and asked everyone in the church to come out with their hands held high. Otherwise, the jade will be burned.

Barot knew that the matter had been revealed, but instead of being restrained, he ordered everyone to take up arms and prepare to defend the church.

Moments later, the Chinese army attacked, setting up Grusen artillery to bombard the church, while spreading wet quilts on iron railings, and a large number of soldiers carried the quilts over the fence.

The defenders were outnumbered and lacked powerful heavy weapons to withstand the attack, so they had to retreat into the church to defend themselves, and then the Chinese lit straw bales soaked in kerosene and threw them into the windows, and kept throwing torches.

After a few smokes and fires, the people in the church couldn't bear it, so they shouted to stop, stop.

Father Barot immediately came out to sue for peace, and was brought before the commanders of the Chinese army, who were none other than Xu Shichang and Ma Shengzhi.

Balot, dressed in a black robe with a cross on his chest, immediately crossed his hand when he saw Xu Ma and the others, put on a puzzled look, and asked, "This is the church, a place where God's people pray. You weishenme are going to kill people and set fires? This is blasphemy against God, a sin, and a curse. ”

After listening to the translator, Xu Shichang laughed: "You foreign devil, don't pretend, China and France have been at war for a long time, and you still put on a wronged look." ”

"Although I am French, I am a servant of God, and I have come here to preach the gospel of God and save the people who have fallen in sin. I have nothing to do with the Sino-French war you mentioned, and the people in it are just devout parishioners. As far as I know, the Chinese government does not prohibit people from practicing Catholicism, and you have violated the laws of your own country by doing so, and you must withdraw immediately. ”

Xu Shichang heard that he was still talking nonsense, and couldn't help but be furious: "Let you stinky fart!" You fucking spy, under the guise of religion, spying on our army's intelligence, you are a spy leader at all, and you keep saying that you have nothing to do with the war. It doesn't matter, why are there so many guns in the church? We've killed a few of us, and we're. What other nonsense are you talking about telling us to quit the army, either you are an idiot or you are taking me for an idiot, do you think I am an idiot? Like?! Yes?! ”

Seeing that things were irreparable, Barot had no choice but to surrender, and a large number of guns were thrown out of the church one after another, and the resistance stopped.

It was Xu Shichang's careful prudence that made Yongqiu's defense lose a dangerous tumor, and the French intelligence network, which relied on local parishioners, was also greatly hit.

Beginning on November 30, the French army continued to launch various small-scale offensives, reconnoitring the Chinese army's defense system, judging the deployment of troops and the density of fortifications.

After a few days of probing, the French realized that they had to break through to Mount Lap, and then built a heavy artillery position on the front of Mount Lap, focusing their attack on Mount Lap.

The artillery of the French Army has always been second to none among the Shijie powers, and France has had a tradition in this regard since the time of Napoleon, who himself was born as an artilleryman. The excellent performance of its artillery even surpassed that of the German Army of the same period.

At this time, in the artillery positions of the French army, there were 95 mm cannons of the 1875 type; 80-mm cannon of the 1877 model; 90-mm cannon of the 1877 model. In particular, the 120-mm 1878 long-barreled heavy cannon was extremely powerful.

But these guns were too heavy, for example, the lightest 80-mm gun was 1200 kg, and the heaviest 120-mm cannon, including the front car and ammunition cart, combined with a total weight of more than 2700 kg, no 8 horses wanted to drag it.

In short, these guns can only be used as fire support, and are not suitable for accompanying the infantry troops, but the French army also has light artillery, such as the Haqikaith 1.65-inch mountain gun, which has just been finalized this year to equip the army, this gun is the prototype of the future mortar, the power and range are quite good, and only 167 kg, easy to carry, very suitable for the geographical environment of Vietnam.

The other is the 37-mm 5-barreled machine gun of Habekais, which once made the Black Flag Army suffer, and even the land artillery truck weighed only 200 kilograms.

These two types of artillery produced by the Harbachians formed the main artillery of the French army during its rapid advance.

Beginning on December 5, all the French heavy artillery opened fire together, and a heavy bombardment of Mount Olive was carried out.

The Battle for Bac Ninh officially began.