Liu Mingchuan sent reinforcements in time, announcing the failure of the French army's sneak attack on Jihua, hundreds of snow bayonets joined the battle group, quickly reflecting the numerical advantage, the French army was quickly driven back, and those who resisted stubbornly were stabbed into human shape.

When everything calmed down, Liu Mingchuan visited the injured Liu Shengzao, this Liu Shengzao was actually his nephew, although he was missing two fingers, he didn't care, after all, after a fierce battle, he should be satisfied if he was alive.

On the French side, after this day's fighting, especially in the middle of the night, encountered such fierce resistance, so that Commander Johnny Neli came to the conclusion that it was impossible to break through the Chinese line until sufficient heavy artillery support was obtained.

So he ordered the whole army to camp in the area in front of Yuemei Mountain, while sending people to urge the rear to speed up the towing of artillery.

Over the next few days, apart from occasional small harassment and reconnaissance, the battle lines on both sides fell into a lull,

Liu Mingchuan was also aware of the French army's purpose. He believed that the terrain of Yuanzhuang Ridge was narrow and not suitable for a large army to attack, especially if the French sneak attack was unsuccessful, and the target of Zuihou's attack would still be transferred to the front of Yuemei Mountain, so he took the Guards Battalion and Huang Zhizhong's troops and moved to Yuemei Mountain. Thousands of local natives were mobilized, fortifications were heightened and fortified, and a large number of rolling stones were placed at the front of the position. A telegram was also sent to the mainland reporting on the progress of the fighting.

Ding Yuntong quickly replied, commended and encouraged the heroic struggle of all departments, and asked Liu Mingchuan and others to make persistent efforts and not give the French an opportunity to take advantage of.

After several days of hard labor, some of the heavy cannons of the French army began to gradually assemble in front of Yuemei Mountain, and by January 10, Johnny Nelly had three 95mm 1875 cannons in his hands; 7 80mm 1877 cannons; 4 90mm 1877 cannons, and even a 120mm 1878 long-barreled heavy cannon, plus 3 140mm naval guns, such firepower is considerable.

Johnny Nelli's confidence was greatly boosted, but in order to be able to transport these bulky big guys to the foot of Yuemei Mountain, all the soldiers were exhausted, and Johnny Nelli had to wait for two days to rest.

On January 12th, early in the morning, the sky cleared, and the sun finally came out, driving away the humidity that had been going on for many days, which was really a rare good weather.

Johnny Neli was in high spirits and immediately ordered all artillery to fire at Yuemei Mountain, focusing on the artillery positions of the Chinese.

Countless whistling sounds, like a chorus from hell, and the Chinese artillery positions on Yuemei Mountain quickly fell into a sea of fire. Some of the soldiers' heads were blown like cracked pomegranates, and some of their hands, feet, and internal organs were blown out, and the blood stained the entire ground red.

Subsequently, a loud military horn sounded on the French position, and thousands of French troops rushed to Yuemei Mountain with a frantic shout. The soldiers scrambled to be the first, braving the rain of bullets and bullets, until they rushed to the front of the position, when suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound, like a landslide and the earth cracked, and a large number of boulders rolled down from the top of the mountain, and these stones fell from the sky with a wave of dust from the sky. Soldiers who are hit by rocks will soon become rocks and roll down the mountain.

The abundance of stones not only restrained the French charge, but also made the steep hillside more difficult to navigate.

However, the French army, who was desperate to attack, did not retreat after a slight pause, and the soldiers jumped and jumped over the pile of rocks and continued to rush towards the top of the mountain.

Soon, a part of the French soldiers rushed to the top of the hill, and a scuffle suddenly formed on the position.

Both sides resorted to all tricks to drive each other off the top of the mountain, stabbing each other with guns, knives, stones, fists and feet, and even teeth. Such a battle is not only a contest of physical strength and skill, but also a duel of spirit and will, and victory belongs to the side that is more eager to win.

In the fierce battle, the combat effectiveness of the different units quickly showed a disparity, and the training army could barely maintain resistance, but the patrol battalion had gradually lost its fighting spirit and began to retreat from the top of the mountain.

Liu Mingchuan saw that the situation was critical, and now it had reached the most critical moment, he immediately rushed up with the guard battalion, and a row of bullets shot out, knocking down a group of patrol battalion soldiers who fled to the front, and the rest of the people had to run back in a panic.

The Guards Battalion also showed a stronger combat effectiveness than the training army, and in the chaotic battle, it often consciously cooperated with several people, reflecting a higher quality. Only after rigorous training can soldiers instinctively use jishu movements in a state of psychological fear. A soldier can be regarded as an excellent soldier if he can give full play to 30 percent of his training level in actual combat.

The army's will to fight is often a kind of "following the crowd" behavior, although the troops begin to flee in fear, but if a group of people bravely move forward, it is possible to inspire the rest of the people and drive more people forward, and those who flee will also feel the hope of victory, so as to join the ranks of the advance.

And it was this kind of leadership that these Guards soldiers played, and their indomitable attack greatly encouraged the others, so that the somewhat loose defensive line was re-established and began to show its superiority.

The fierce fighting continued until noon, and the whole hill seemed to be extremely noisy and silent, and the screams of every wounded were clearly audible, and there were the sound of metal clashes and messy gunfire everywhere.

Perhaps when the heavens looked down on the ferocious killing of human beings, they also felt the same sadness. At noon, a heavy rain fell again, and soon the soldiers on both sides of the mountain and down the mountain had to fight in the mud. Soaked and covered in mud, the French army was even more unlucky, and the follow-up troops had to climb the slippery cliffs.

In the end, the numerical superiority of the Chinese army was manifested, and the French army had used all its strength and exhausted all means, but in the end it was still unable to break through, and had to give up the jihua that had defeated the Chinese, and with the sound of the military trumpet, the remaining exhausted French troops on the top of the hill also withdrew.

After a life-and-death contest between the two sides, the French army's all-out attack failed, and they had to find another way.

John Ninelli tried to withdraw to Keelung, but the commander of the rear, Lisby, rejected the suggestion, believing that withdrawing would be tantamount to declaring the complete failure of the attack on Jihua.

But when the next day, after Lisby personally came to the front line of Yuemei Mountain, he had to accept the fact that it was already a complete luxury to break through Yuemei Mountain and go straight to Taipei Mansion.

In these two days of fighting, nearly 500 people were killed and more than 600 were wounded, and the number of casualties exceeded one-third of the total strength. Even with such heavy casualties, they still failed to break through the Chinese defenses, which greatly undermined the confidence of the troops.

On the other hand, the terrible weather was even more uncontrollable, and two days of heavy rain turned the hastily built camp of the French army into a swamp, and the trenches that had been dug were now turned into canals, and there was not a single clean and solid land, and there were yellow mud ponds everywhere. The soldiers were so exhausted that they had to sit in the mud a few inches deep, their uniforms no longer visible in their original colors, and all of them were pale, glazed-eyed, and without the slightest bit of confidence.

Lisby knew that he could no longer fight, so Zuihou could only order the whole army to withdraw to Keelung.

At this time, a serious problem is in front of us, how to get back the heavy artillery that was originally transported with great effort and painstaking efforts?

The hundreds of wounded were already a headache, and the rest of the tired soldiers couldn't drag these big guys weighing thousands of kilograms in the mud.

Even if they can forcibly recruit men from Keelung, I am afraid that the soldiers will not be able to wait for a few more days. Lisby even feared that when hauling artillery, the Chinese would take the opportunity to counterattack.

Zuihou, he made a painful decision to blow up some heavy cannons, which could not be left for the Chinese to be trophies.

With a series of violent explosions, more than a dozen heavy guns of the French army were blown into several pieces, this action indicates a reluctant decision, without heavy artillery, there will be no more attacks in the future.

Everyone returned to Keelung the same way they came, and unlike when they came out, everyone looked embarrassed and depressed, and Lishby was already worried that he might not be much better evaluated in the future than Guba.

He felt his original mistake, and he was impatient in the past to completely conquer Taiwan in one step, but in fact, he should first control the entire northern port. At this time, he remembered Huwei Port, but he no longer had the confidence to attack the Keelung Ridge next to him.

In the following days, Lisby led his fleet to cruise outside the port of Huwei, but the port's strong defense made it too difficult for him to attack.

The floating piles and shipwrecks in the harbor made it impossible for his heavy battleships to enter, and the gunboats that could enter the harbor could not defeat the mines and heavy batteries.

The Far Eastern Fleet, like a hungry dog, was always looking for an opportunity to take a bite, but finally had to give up.

Subsequently, Lisby reported to the French government that the stubbornness of resistance on the island of Taiwan was completely beyond imagination. If you want to continue the original Jihua, you must send him a large number of reinforcements, at least one brigade!

Taiwan and Vietnam's Beiqi joined forces with the government to demand more troops, which made the financially burdened Gambida cabinet miserable, and they couldn't help but fantasize about whether they could use diplomatic blackmail to get France to "end this damned war with dignity." So Gambida's cabinet began to seriously consider who should be looking for someone to mediate.