On April 22, 1881, after a long journey of more than two months, Lieutenant General Frey of the French Army finally arrived at the port of Haiphong in Beiqi.

This person is two kinds of people who are completely different from Miller in temperament, Miller is gentle and elegant, well-dressed, straight, courteous and noble. Frey, on the other hand, is vulgar, foul-mouthed, swearing, unkempt, and often crumpled and smeared in a military uniform.

However, there were also some officers and soldiers who liked Frey's trait and felt that he was approachable, unlike those aristocratic officers who were condescending and pretentious. And that's exactly what Frey wants to show to his subordinates.

If it weren't for the establishment of the Third Republic, a large number of aristocratic officers were squeezed out, how could an officer like him, who had no qualifications and no background, have had the opportunity to be promoted to lieutenant general?

So Frey has to show the difference between himself and the old generals of the old army everywhere, they all talk elegantly, and I want to scold my mother at every turn; They were neatly dressed, and I preferred to roll in the mud; In military command in particular, they follow rules and regulations, stress tactical principles in everything, and exercise reasonable proportions. I want to fight and rush, move forward, and get out of any theory, what jihua.

He believed that only in this way could he show that he was the new general who truly belonged to the people of the republic.

Frey was also a strong racist, he tattooed "whitepower" on his chest, emphasizing white supremacy, discriminating against Jews, and there were no foreign soldiers in his troops, and he even felt that fighting with these East Asian yellow-skinned monkeys was in itself a humiliation to the French nation.

While Frey was still in China, he spread suspicion and disdain for Lieutenant General Miller, believing that Miller was a coward who was "stunned by the juggling tricks of the Chinese monkeys." The slander against Miller in the newspaper came mainly from Frey's big mouth.

Frey also boasted everywhere that if he were to command the war, he would be able to end this boredom in two months and let the children go home, "on the day I saw the Chinese, I would have a decisive battle, and let the Chinese emperor in clown clothes kneel before me and wipe my leather boots with the empress's chest cloth." ＂

Frey's wild words, and his quick end to the war, won the hearts of Gampida's cabinet, and this time he took advantage of Miller's injury to make the quick winner the supreme commander.

With Frey arrived was the French 57th Infantry Division, which had been commanded by Marshal Bazin in the Franco-Prussian War, held out in Metz for 72 days, and Zuihou surrendered conditionally, then turned his guns and suppressed the Paris Commune. Arguably one of the most elite units in the French Army.

The division consisted of two infantry brigades, two hunting infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, an engineering battalion, a baggage company, as well as the division headquarters, field hospitals, military police, clergy, and so on, with a total strength of more than 13,000 people. Originally, there was supposed to be one hunting infantry regiment and one cavalry regiment, but in view of the terrain of Vietnam, it was temporarily changed to two hunting infantry regiments.

The so-called hunting infantry refers to the lightly armed infantry, with less heavy equipment, mainly relying on rifles, weak firepower, but moving fast, very flexible and maneuverable, and generally shooting jishu is very high, and there are various skills, a bit like the special forces of the future, but in general, it is the predecessor of the future mountain infantry.

The arrival of the 57th Division gave Frey more confidence and made him even more arrogant.

On the second day of his arrival, Frey lectured the army, proudly declaring: "From now on, unless those yellow-skinned monkeys send a surrender, the French army will keep moving forward, even if it is soaked in pee!" ＂

The young officers and men were also looking forward to returning home from the war as soon as possible, and immediately burst into tsunami cheers: "Long live France!" ＂

Frey reorganized the troops, and according to the normal establishment of the French Army at this time, a brigade generally only had about 4,000 men, but Millet strengthened the first and second brigades to 5,000 in order to make the first and second brigades the main attack.

However, Frey decided that he could not follow Miller's ideas, or else his future exploits would be divided into a little, so he transferred one regiment from each of the two brigades and merged them into the Fifth Brigade, under the command of Beran, who had just been promoted to major general. In this way, three brigades of ordinary strength were formed, numbered as before. The three brigades were like satellites, surrounding the 57th Division, which he personally commanded, thus forming a force of more than 25,000 men. There were also several battalions of nearly 1,000 Vietnamese mercenaries, but most of them were used as coolies, specializing in building fortifications or collecting materials from the people. And Colonel Hisho, with his 3rd Brigade, continued to garrison Tokyo.

By the beginning of May, Frey thought everything was ready, and he ordered the 1st Brigade of Pourier, acting as the vanguard, to begin the attack on Lang Son, with the 5th Brigade under the command of Beran covering the left flank, and the 57th Division and the 2nd Brigade following behind. He was about to embark on his "Alexander's Crusade" to conquer the distant empire, and the great glory he was about to obtain in the future made him tremble with excitement.

At the same time, the Chinese side has also noticed the changes in the French army, Ding Yuntong believes that this is a change in favor of China, the calm Miller replaced the fiery Frey, believing that the large-scale offensive of the French army is about to begin, he telegraphed the east and west fronts, and must prepare extremely carefully to meet the decisive battle that will determine the fate of the country.

In Langshan, according to various circumstances, on April 19, Wang Hui and others reported the death of a French general, most likely wounded the enemy commander Mi Le, and Feng Zicai ordered a heavy reward for the sniper Wang Hui and others.

In view of the imminent attack of the French army, he ordered the Vietnamese Provisional Government in Dong Deng to be moved to Guangxi territory north of Zhennan Pass, while keeping a close watch on Emperor Duc.

Feng Zicai was one of the few generals who knew about the Guards, and now was not a decisive battle for Zuihou after all, so in order to avoid unnecessary attrition, he ordered Zhang Gaoyuan's independent regiment to also withdraw to Zhennan Pass.

On May 12, 1881, on a sunny day, the French army concentrated hundreds of light and heavy artillery pieces and began to bombard the south bank of the Qiqiao River, and the Battle of Lang Son broke out.

Feng Zicai stood on the top of Kuma Mountain, looking at the battlefield in front of the mountain, he knew in his heart that Langshan could not give up too easily, and he had to make the French army pay the necessary casualties. Moreover, if Lang Son is too ugly, it will affect the morale of the troops, hit the confidence of the soldiers, and the fake retreat will also turn into a real rout. He gave an order to Yang Ruishan, the commander on the south bank of the Qiqiu River, to tell him to hold the French army on the south bank for a few days no matter what.

Yang Ruishan is a Hakka family in Guangdong, born in poverty, and has made a living by selling candy in the streets since he was a child. Although he was tall, he was small-minded and resourceful, and at this moment he led a regiment to take up the task of blocking the attack on the south bank.

Yang Ruishan knew that in order to withstand the rapid attack of the French army, he had to rely on a large number of obstacles. Therefore, he mobilized a large number of Vietnamese people to make obstacles, antlers, thistles, pointed wooden stakes, bamboo nails, pits, etc., real and false bunkers, plus three trenches, especially hundreds of thousands of bamboo nails, sprinkled all over the open space between the trenches, and prepared for the French to toss slowly. And the artillery on the north bank of the Qiqiao River was aimed at the open space between the second and third trenches.

At the same time, in order to avoid the hot air balloon reconnaissance of the French, the entire position was dug with a culvert and planks were laid on it in order to conceal the movement of troops.

In order to prepare for a possible white-knuckle battle in Zuihou, Yang Ruishan also pulled some stumbling ropes at intervals in a trench in Zuihou, and placed a lot of war knives.

At this time, he hid in a bunker, looking ahead with a telescope, under the guidance of the hot air balloon in the air, the French artillery was violently bombarding the position, the rumbling sound was deafening, it seemed that the whole earth was trembling, the whole sky was burning, the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and it was so strong that it was about to suffocate.

Due to Miller's injury, the French army understood that more than 1,000 meters was not a safe distance, so these hot air balloons all rose in altitude and floated in the air for almost 3,000 meters.

Yang Ruishan felt the vibration of the ground under his feet, and he couldn't help but feel terrified, and sighed in his heart: This kind of shelling makes people feel very small, like insignificant ants!

He knew that the soldiers on the front line were likely to be under great mental pressure, and that the French army would collapse as soon as they charged, so he immediately ordered someone to give an order, and everyone should retreat through the ditch to the second trench, and give up the first one altogether.

Yang Ruishan's order saved a lot of life, many soldiers were the first time to see such a fierce shelling, all the people held their heads, the cat was in the trench, eager to dig a hole in the ground to get into, and some of the timid were even more frightened to cry and pee, unbearable.

It was only when they retreated to the second trench that some people's emotions began to stabilize, but there were still some people who were completely frightened and wanted to flee directly, but the few people who took the lead were quickly shot and killed by the Judge Advocate General's Office.

At this time, the French attack had also begun, and a large number of soldiers shouted and occupied the first trench almost without bloodshed, and after a short respite, they continued to pounce on the second trench.

Yang Ruishan was personally in command of the second trench, and he immediately ordered the troops to open fire with all their might, and there was a "bang" sound, and rows of bullets flew towards the French army.

At this time, the obstacles on the ground played a huge role, many French soldiers were pierced by thistles, and some people stepped into the camouflage pit, and immediately were pierced through the soles of their feet by sharpened wooden stakes, screaming in pain, and there were bamboo nails everywhere on the ground, which were covered by dust, and could not be seen by the naked eye at all, but if you stepped on it, the painful taste was absolutely heartbreaking, and the person who was recruited would feel that it was better to take a bullet.

These various obstacles, which could not be clearly seen by the hot air balloons in the air, happened to be a big surprise to the French army, which greatly limited the speed of the attack, and they had to bow their heads to remove the obstacles while dealing with the fire of the Chinese army, and the troops advanced like snails.

The commander of the attacking force, Lieutenant Colonel Runo, was cursing with extreme anger: "These Chinese monkeys, they are disgusting, there are these disgusting things everywhere!" ＂

He was so annoyed, for his right foot was actually caught in a mousetrap, and the sharp pain in his toes made him think that it was likely to be clipped. These traps were probably taken from the people of Vietnam and thrown in the grass in a mess.

Seeing that the attack could no longer continue, Runo had to order a retreat, and the severe pain in his foot made it difficult for him to move an inch, so he had to have someone carry him back.

The first attack of the French army, which had to end in this depressing way, killed more than forty and wounded more than a hundred. Not many of the wounded were hit by bullets, and the vast majority were limping and grinning.

Polier, who was watching the battle from the hill outside Bawai, was a little laughing at the Chinese's defensive methods, and he ordered the front of the enemy's trenches to be shelled so that the larger obstacles could be destroyed, and at the same time had people cut down branches with branches and leaves as a tool to clear the road.

The second offensive began immediately.