On September 13, 1880, the appointed Guba arrived in Vietnam, and the three-member French command group met in Haiphong and came to the following conclusions:

Emperor Duc established a provisional government on the Sino-Vietnamese border and formally appealed to China for help, thus justifying China's armed intervention. Although the main force of the French army on the ground could not be assembled until the end of October and the beginning of November. But France could take action against Hue, or install another Vietnamese emperor. And at the same time use the current Liliang to fight the Black Flag Army.

After deliberation, the French army decided to divide the troops into two routes, and Guba led the warship and 1,000 soldiers to attack Hue. And Wave Slip gathered the thousands of French troops who had just arrived to sweep away Wyde's Black Flag Army.

On September 16, the French army approached Hue, ignoring the envoys who came to sue for peace, and directly launched an attack, and after three days of fighting, occupied the Hue fortress on the periphery, destroyed all the forts, and entered the city.

A few days later, the French army established the puppet regime of Hue, and established the little prince Nguyen Phuc Yinghu, who was hidden from the original concubine, as the new emperor, and changed the Yuan to Jianfu. And Nguyen Van Xiang and Zun Mu said to be in charge of the government.

But apparently the ministers didn't buy this account, and Emperor Side was still alive and well at this time, wouldn't supporting the new emperor be tantamount to rebellion? As a result, many ministers resigned for various reasons, including the honorable room, saying that they could not get sick.

And those who resisted the main battle faction, such as Pan Tingfeng, Gao Sheng, Ruan Shanshu and others, simply slipped out of the city and defected to Beiqi, and the new emperor was scolded as a "puppet emperor" from the first day of his birth.

And in Wai Duc Province, battles are also brewing.

At this time, Liu Yongfu had already turned the Huaide area into an iron bucket array. He is well aware of the importance of Huaide, and the key to whether he can complete the task is Huaide Mansion.

After Huaide Mansion, to the back of Shanxi, it can be said that a horse is flat, the road is open, and there is no danger to defend. It is necessary to defend the Waide Mansion to the death, so that it is possible to take advantage of the complex terrain here, kill and wound a large number of French troops, and hold off the French army until November.

Liu Yongfu divided the defense line into two lines, the first line of defense from the paper bridge, through Anxi, to the Sizhu Temple, the right side of the Sizhu Temple close to the Yuanjiang River, a tributary of the Red River.

The main role of this line of defense was to alert and deplete the French army, and it was garrisoned by company commanders Ye Chenglin, Wang Yuzhi, Liu Wenqian and Liu Qiliang.

Liu Yongfu himself led the main force to defend the second line of defense, that is, from Huaide Mansion, through the inner village, to the first line of Hongcun.

Between the two lines of defense, the Black Flag Army built a large number of bunkers, traps, and culverts, and combined with large areas of muddy farmland and bamboo forests, forming a complete defense system.

At the same time, let Vietnam's Hoang Zuo Yan troops be stationed at the Dan Phong Embankment on the Ba River on the left to cover their flanks.

After receiving the news that Guba had invaded Hue, Bo Slip, who was eager to seize the merits, insisted on launching an attack despite the lack of intelligence.

He divided his troops into three lines and attacked in three columns in parallel.

The deputy commander of the expeditionary force, Colonel Bishuo, commanded the right column to attack the Four Pillars Temple, Lieutenant Colonel Lei Weilong commanded the left column to attack the paper bridge, and the chief of staff, Major Corona, commanded the central target to be Anxi, and each column had two reinforced infantry companies of 250 men each.

Po Slip himself led the reserves, as well as the Vietnamese Yellow Banner Army under the command of Captain Flaviano, behind the right flank, as he believed that the Four Pillars Temple, which controlled the Yuan River, was the focal point of the defensive line. The entire army has more than 2,400 troops.

In addition, the gunboat squad under the command of Major Molepoyo also went up the Yuan River and bombarded the Sizhumiao Heights to respond to the attack on the ground.

On the morning of September 18, the gunboat squad first began to attack, and bombarded the small artillery battery of the Black Flag Army on the heights of Sizhumiao, which was obviously not a wise decision, and several French gunboats were damaged in several battles.

At noon, the right column finally attacked in front of the Four Pillars Temple, the muddy road made the French soldiers cry bitterly, the heavy artillery was stuck in the ground, the French troops held bayonets, and rushed to the Four Pillars Temple while firing. The Black Flag Army couldn't resist it, threw away the artillery, and dispersed in a hurry.

A moment later, Bo Slip himself brought people up. The capture of the Four Pillars Temple meant that the defense line had been broken through, and the French army could also use the Yuanjiang River to transport materials here. Looking left and right, Bo Slip was quite complacent, turned to the signal soldier and said: "Send a message to Tokyo, just say that the Chinese have been driven away by me, and I will establish my forward command post in Huaide." ”

Major Moleboyo, who came up next to him, cursed shamelessly in his stomach, there is no gunboat to attract firepower, you can come up so easily?

The wave was still unfinished, so he let the sailors who landed garrison the Four Pillars Temple, and prepared to capture Huaide Mansion in one go.

However, the cannons were dragged in the mud, which was too slow, and the wave ordered all the cannons to be left behind, and only the 37mm 5-barreled cannon of Habegkais. Thinking that the battle would be settled before dark, he ordered the right column to move at full speed at once.

At this time, Liu Yongfu was in the middle of the second line of defense, listening to the report of his subordinates, from the current situation, the French army is very fierce, and the strength is strong, except for the Yellow Flag Army, the attacking troops are all regular army, fierce and ferocious.

However, after careful analysis of the opponent, Liu Yongfu felt that there was an opportunity, the French army was divided into three routes, Liliang was weakened, although they were not far from each other, but the terrain was bad, and they were loosely connected with each other, as long as they concentrated their forces to attack the enemy all the way, they could turn the tide of the battle.

Just thinking about it, the next person came to report, and the French army rushed to Hongcun from the direction of the Four Pillars Temple, and the speed was very fast, pulling the other two roads behind. Liu Yongfu felt that the opportunity had come, and decisively ordered: "Liu Wenqian and Liu Qiliang led the auxiliary team and Huang Zuoyan to guard Huaide, and all the artillery was pulled to Hongcun through the trench, under the unified command of Han Zaixun." Pang Zhenyun led a battalion and defended the bamboo forest between Neicun and Hongcun to the death. The second and third battalions all went with me to Hongcun to block the enemy, Zhang Shentai, you take the guard company as a reserve, and attack at any time. ”

All the generals obeyed the order.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions had just been deployed in Hongcun, and before the artillery company could be ready, the French troops came.

Liu Yongfu ordered not to open fire first, and saw the French army walking out of the bamboo forest in twos and threes, gradually entering the paddy field, and was already close to the plum blossom pit at the front of the position, thinking that he couldn't wait for the artillery company any longer, and shouted: "Fight!" ”

More than 1,000 Snyder-Enfield rifles fired one after another, and bullets rained down.

"Ahh The French troops in the front row immediately fell, but the discipline of the French troops began to play a role, and there was not much panic, and they all lay down on the spot and fell back in the paddy fields. After only a few moments, they regrouped and charged, but the Black Flag army was so strong that several French attacks were repulsed by the fortifications of bastions, breastwork, plum pits, and trenches.

Liu Yongfu felt that the time had come, and commanded two battalions to prepare to kill together, but at this time, the French army had already set up all the machine guns of Habecais and swept at the front of the position of the Black Flag Army.

At a distance of 300 meters, this cannon can penetrate a 24-millimeter-thick steel plate, and the fire is very ferocious.

The soldiers of the Black Flag Army, who had just rushed out of the trench, were immediately sent into the air, flying more than two meters high like toys, and when they fell, they were already bloody and fleshy. Especially if you hit the chest and abdomen, the whole person will be blown into several pieces.

Such terrifying firepower, the soldiers of the Black Flag Army almost saw it for the first time in their lives, and many people were so frightened that they lay on the ground and did not dare to get up.

Seeing this, Liu Yongfu had no choice but to pull the troops back to defend, and he was very anxious when he saw that the two sides had become a stalemate. If another French column came over, if Pang Zhenyun's battalion could not withstand it, it would be in trouble.

He is in a hurry here, and he doesn't know that the wave slip on the opposite side is even more anxious.

Bo Slip didn't know how many Black Flag troops there were around, he thought that he could easily defeat the Chinese, but he didn't expect to spend here, and he was very worried that he would fall into the encirclement and follow in the footsteps of An Ye and Li Weiye.

While sending people to the other two columns to ask for help, Bo Slip ordered the troops to hold on and wait for help.

The two sides began to fire at each other, but the French fought in the paddy fields, lying on their stomachs in the mud, and the soldiers were soaked and covered in mud.

The commander of the column, Colonel Bishuo, was very dissatisfied with this aggrieved battle situation, believing that as long as he rushed to the enemy's position, he would soon be able to defeat the Chinese.

He took a company, and he launched a charge, and the soldiers of the Yellow Flag Army also rushed up, and the Enfield rifles of the Black Flag Army did not fire fast, and the firepower was not fierce enough, and in the face of the desperate efforts of the French army, some could not be stopped.

After a while, the French finally rushed to the front of the position, and some had even jumped into the trenches and engaged in fierce white-knuckle combat. After the soldiers of the Black Flag Army finished firing, they didn't have time to reload, and when they saw the other party rushing over with a bright bayonet, they could only meet it. But apparently, it was inferior to the French soldiers, who were physically strong and had been trained in rigorous stabbing training.

Seeing that the Black Flag Army began to panic a little, the French army behind was even more excited, and an officer was extremely tall, and with one shot, he pierced a Black Flag Army soldier on the opposite side, and lifted it into the air at once, directly holding the corpse to smash people.

At this moment, a "boom" was heard, and a shell from a 57mm Grusen cannon hit the French officer, tearing his entire person to pieces, and his flesh and blood were like irregular strips of red cloth, flying everywhere.

The artillery company commanded by Han Zaixun has finally arrived!