On the same day, in the evening

Saigon City

Inside a beautiful French-style manor house

Governor Montapero, who has always been elegant and calm, is really a little out of control, and today is the traditional Sunday in the West, a day off.

According to the plan, he will also attend a grand dinner hosted by the Normandy Chamber of Commerce in Indochina in the evening and give an enthusiastic speech.

But now, His Excellency the Governor was not in the mood to go to the feast.

Because he had received a telegram from the French diplomatic legation in Australia, which said;

According to Australia's "World Journal," Vietnam has officially declared war on the French Governor's Office of Indochina on the border with Chen Bing, and the time was just 4 p.m. yesterday.

This news worried the Legation of France, Australia, so it sent a special telegram to ask whether the news was misinformation?

Although the "World Journal" of the Ocean Kingdom is a very influential international newspaper, the press is not shocking and swearing, and misinformation is not uncommon, and the "London Times" has done this kind of trouble.

As for why this transoceanic telegram was sent in the afternoon, it was because the city of the Red River Valley in the Ocean Kingdom sent a telegram to a particularly large number of people, and the French diplomats at the legation did not send it until the afternoon.

It was already evening when it came to the Governor of Saigon.

There is no way, in today's era of news blockage, this is already the fastest.

The problem is;

Governor Montapero was kept in complete darkness, and he didn't know what was going on!

He did not know that by this time the French Expeditionary Force had been defeated, and even Lieutenant General Léo-Fernández had unfortunately become a prisoner of war, and the situation in the northern part of Vietnam was completely degraded.

"I'm going to see Anthony Martial right away, right now...... Get this bastard here, damn it! Montapero roared loudly.

"We're going to find someone at once, Your Excellency the Governor."

His men hurried out to find someone, and it was not easy to find Mr. Anthony Martial, who was known for his romance, in the beautiful city of Saigon.

And so it was

It was not until about nine o'clock in the evening that the people of the Doge's Palace found Monsieur Anthony Martial, who was covered in the smell of fat powder, in the home of a French lieutenant colonel, and brought him back.

It is said that at that time, Mr. Diplomatic Commissioner was preparing to score a brace......

Faced with the stern questioning of Mr. Governor-General, the poor diplomatic attaché, Mr. Anthony Martial, was completely at a loss, he had no idea anything about the declaration of war on the country?

It turned out that Mr. Anthony Martial had no interest in reading the two official documents presented by Chu Feng, the diplomatic representative of Vietnam, and threw them in the pile of documents in a corner of his office after he went to work the next day.

Under the pressure of the Governor, he suddenly remembered this incident, and was immediately frightened into a cold sweat, so the group of people took advantage of the night to arrive at the Governor's Palace, opened the door of the office, and found the declaration of war from the pile of papers.

At this point, everyone was dumbfounded, and it turned out that all this was true.

At this time, it was already more than ten o'clock in the middle of the night, and even if he wanted to send a telegram, there was no way, even if the Saigon Telegraph Office could send a telegram, the Hanoi Telegraph Office would not be on duty to accept it, so he could only wait until he went to work tomorrow.

Governor Montapero was really annoyed and angry, he was not worried about any accident of the French expeditionary force in Hanoi a day or two later, the key was that the small Yue country dared to openly declare war, but the Saigon Governor's Palace got the news from the French Legation in Australia thousands of miles away, which was really embarrassing.

Governor Montapero was approaching the end of his term and was leaving office in May, not wanting to start a war of conquest at the end of his term, leaving the thorny issue to the next governor.

What's happening today

It was as if two loud slaps in the face made Governor Montapero feel indescribable shame, and he immediately changed his original plan and prepared to conquer the country militarily, so that they could taste the power of the bayonets of the French army.

But first, he had to deal with this derelict diplomatic attaché, Mr. Anthony Sharma.

"Lock this idiot up for me, you better pray that nothing happens in Hanoi, or you'll be court-martialed, executed for treason, and your body will slowly rot in the tropical jungle."

"God, please save me, Lord Governor, I was just negligent for a moment......"

"It's disgusting to take him away from me." Governor Montapero was going crazy.

Two sturdy soldiers dragged Anthony Sharma away mercilessly, the mournful voice of pleas for mercy echoing through the dark corridors, telling of the silent fear.

Governor Montapero sat in his chair exhausted, his scalp tingling as he looked at the declaration of war under the kerosene lamp, and his intuition made him realize that things were not so simple.

Why did the Vietnamese choose to submit their declaration of war at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon?

What's the conspiracy here?

What was the situation on the front line in Hanoi?

Could it be that war has broken out?

He was now anxious to know the situation in Hanoi, but he had no choice but to wait until 8:30 a.m. tomorrow when the telegraph office opened, and the news would arrive at 10:00 at the earliest.

As the governor in charge of the military and political affairs of the French Indochina Peninsula, Montapero was one of the important figures in the political life of the French Third Republic, and he did not simply look at the problems from the perspective of the French Indochina, the South Seas or Asia, but looked at the basic policies of the Third Republic as a whole.

Since the Franco-Prussian War

The French Third Republic, which had been established on the ruins, quickly restored the order of industrial and agricultural production, and used high-interest bonds to raise enough huge funds from French merchants to repay the war reparations a year and a half ahead of schedule, so that the German Imperial troops could withdraw from French territory.

In 1873, the total economic volume of France had exceeded the level before the Franco-Prussian War, and the arrogant French people were deeply impressed by the defeat and began to make every effort to restore the combat readiness of the army and navy.

The Germans never expected such a rapid rise of the French, and Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister, was deeply worried about this, so he actively promoted the secret alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy, forming a strategic posture of encirclement of France on the European continent.

And in France

After the initial development of the French Third Republic, France's national power has grown day by day, and how to make the "great France" re-enter the ranks of world powers has become the focus of debate among the French government's decision-making elites.

Whether to focus on European affairs and "take revenge on Germany" or follow in the footsteps of the British Empire and "expand abroad" are the two paths of France's current foreign strategy.

The choice of the French is to "fish and bear's paws", to demonstrate France's status and geopolitical influence through colonial expansion, and to choose to forbear "revenge against Germany", and it is not too late to show the knife when the time is ripe.

In the seventies and eighties of the 19th century, the French cabinet, which was ruled by moderate republicans, was obsessed with colonial expansion.

The move was fiercely criticized by radical republicans, who saw it as a mere means of diverting strategic direction, and that devoting limited resources to the "money-burning" cause of the colonial expedition would delay the revenge plan and even prevent France from regaining its position as the hegemon of the European continent.

Then, just a dozen years later, public opinion in France changed, and with the development of industry and commerce, the economic significance of the colony became more and more significant, and overseas expansion gradually changed from "burning money" to "making money".

Foreign colonial expansion has become a general consensus in the whole French society.

After the fall of Bismarck in Germany, relations between Germany and Russia and Germany and Britain deteriorated sharply, and the Franco-Russian alliance was established, which was also conducive to reducing the resistance to French colonial expansion.

Therefore, the current colonial expansion is the basic policy of France, and there are two main aspects; On the one hand, there was the colonial expansion of Africa, and on the other hand, the colonial expansion of the Indochina Peninsula.

Only by figuring out these questions can we understand the anxiety in the heart of Governor Montapero.

If the colonial situation in Indochina is unstable, it will greatly affect Montagnard's future political future, and the arrogant French electorate will not identify with a loser, and the political rivals will firmly grasp this and nail Montapero to the pillar of shame.

Large-scale colonization is the basic policy of France at present, and it has nothing to do with the imperial system or the elected government, the two are the same in terms of foreign policy; That is to exploit the colonies and feed France.

In the dim light

The look on Governor Montapero's face changed, and he weighed the pros and cons in his heart, and finally made up his mind to invade the country on a large scale.

Under his rule, the Viceroyalty of French Saigon successively destroyed Cambodia, Laos and the Kingdom of Vietnam, occupying most of the vast territory of Indochina, so it is not unusual to have another Yue country.

Any flea that dares to provoke the majesty of France must be rewarded with a hundredfold punishment, which is the price that the weak must pay.

After making this fateful decision, Governor Montapero exhaled deeply, walked to the window and looked at the silent Saigon night, and commanded without emotion in his tone; "Remember, tomorrow morning at nine o'clock I will meet Admiral Jean-Varane, commander of the French Far East Fleet."

"Yes, Lord Governor."

Unfortunately, the revenge of the Governor Montapero, who gritted his teeth, was doomed to fail.

Next

March 4, 1896, morning

Governor Montapero received bad news that made his heart sink down;

The Hanoi Telegraph Office was completely unable to contact us, and there was no response to the telegram signal, and it was not clear whether it was a fault for the time being, and it was necessary to check the telegraph line to find out, and the time would take three days.

Hearing this news, where could Governor Montapero still hold back?

Immediately ordered the French Far East Fleet to send fast ships to Hanoi, and sent a fast horse messenger to Haiphong Port, the closest port to Hanoi, to find out the cause of the situation and report it immediately.

In anxious waiting, day after day passed, the heart of the Saigon Governor's Office sank into the abyss, waiting in fear and uneasiness for news from ahead.

There was no news of the fast horse messengers sent by Haiphong Port, and it was not until March 9, when the Vietnamese army arrived at Haiphong Port, that the Saigon Governor's Office got the exact news, and the general trend was gone!

Where is Haiphong Port?

Haiphong Port is the easternmost part of Hanoi, bordering the Northern Bay in the north, and separated by two French colonies in Hung Yen Province and Hai Duong Province.

This could not be more bad news, because the French Governor's Office of Saigon was heavily armed in Hanoi, and the rest of the country added up to only a mere 2,000 troops, and the entire colony of Indochina was in danger of falling.

That's it

The Governor's Office of the French Governor of Saigon had to ask for help from mainland France, requesting an urgent transfer of troops to solve the urgent need.

After the news was transmitted back to France, it caused a national shock, and for a time the crowd was excited, and the French rooster was really enraged, and public opinion generally shouted for a tough response, and there was a shouting and shouting to kill.

The current government, which had lasted two months, collapsed immediately, and a new republican government came to power, and the parliament immediately approved a war appropriation of 44 million francs, and on March 17 quickly sent reinforcements to the southeast peninsula, which can be described as a swift response.

The first batch of reinforcements will be drawn from the Suez Canal Zone, with a total of more than 4,700 people, and will arrive in Saigon, Hue and other places by cruise ship under the escort of warships, and the estimated time is about 20~25 days.

Subsequently, the second batch of reinforcements departed from Corsica on the French mainland, totaling more than 6,200 people, and will arrive in Saigon in a month and a half.

The third batch of reinforcements is being prepared......

And at this time

The whole of Vietnam had been turned upside down, and the glorious victory on March 3 brought the Vietnamese army to victory with great confidence in victory, and then they entered Hanoi at nightfall......

On that day, Hanoi was weeping under the ravages of 40,000 troops......

Since the Qin Dynasty, this ancient city in South Asia has endured more than 2,000 years of ups and downs, and suffered the darkest three days of bloody baptism, which is unbearable to look back on, and I will never want to remember such pain again.

Three days later

The Vietnamese army was reorganized and rested for two days, and the Black Flag Army, which had suffered heavy losses, the first and second divisions were replenished, and the third division, which suffered relatively small losses, also regained its combat effectiveness in its heyday and quickly started a new journey.

The 3rd Division of the New Army marched eastward, occupying Hung Yen Province, Hai Duong Province, all the way to Haiphong Port, and after a short but not fierce battle, it finally completely occupied the area, and then began the public security screening operation.

Suppress the reactionary landlords, reactionary literati, and reactionary eunuchs who colluded with the French colonialists, and suppress all police, military, and merchants who cooperated with the French colonialists, and carry out a complete liquidation.

The Black Flag Army marched to the southeast, occupying Henan-Province, Taiping Province, Nanding Province and finally Ninh Binh Province.

The troops of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the New Army marched southward, capturing Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoang, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh all the way, and 40 days later, on April 19, they reached Quang Binh Province in the Zhongqi region, and stopped their advance here, mobilized laborers to start building a seaport, received a large number of construction materials transported from the seaport, drove nearly 30,000 laborers, and began to build a strong defensive line relying on the geographical advantage.

7017k