"Your Majesty, the Huanghua Detective has been defeated!" Like a standard traitor, Minister Yuan walked up to His Majesty the Emperor who was inspecting the Baoji Railway construction site and greeted the railway workers.
"Oh, how can they be defeated so quickly?" Emperor Yang said with great interest. Huang Huatan's 100,000-strong mob, which was as good as the Boxers, faced the well-trained main force of the French army. It would be unreasonable to be undefeated. In the early stage, they
Almost all the results of the attack on Hanoi were achieved with artillery shells. Du Mei was not so much beaten into the city by them as she was bombarded by artillery!
Now it was a field battle, and without the heavy artillery of the Chinese Volunteer Army, they faced off head-on with the French army without suppressing firepower. Even Emperor Yang couldn't help but sigh that the ignorant have no fear.
"Huang Hua Tan underestimated the enemy too much and thought he had an army of 100,000 people that could overthrow the French. Therefore, he rejected the suggestion of our advisors and Japanese advisors that he deploy defenses along the Ma River and block the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Instead, he led his men to attack Thanh Hoa in Thanh Hoa.
The south took the initiative to attack the French army.
As a result, he was beaten to death on the preset position of the French army. Originally, his subordinates just fought with the wind and followed the skill of waving flags and shouting. They even fired with their eyes closed. After killing and wounding more than 30,000 people, the French counterattacked.
They were immediately defeated. Huang Huatan personally led the supervising team to try to stop them, but he was hit by a cannonball. He was injured and fell off his horse, and was trampled to death by the defeated troops.
In addition to casualties, most of his 100,000 troops have fled. Less than 30,000 people have been gathered by the Japanese volunteers. They have now retreated past Thanh Hoa and are stationed along the Ma River by the river. However, they cannot last more than a few days.
, the Vietnamese abandoned almost all their artillery when they were defeated. With their courage, it was impossible to hold their position under the French bombardment." Yuan Shikai said with a smile.
"What are the losses of the French army?" Emperor Yang asked.
"The French army's losses were not small. The main reason was that our advisers insisted on making fire preparations for half an hour before the attack. You also know that the soil in Vietnam is very poor, and hastily dug trenches are difficult to withstand artillery bombardment. In addition, there is another
The position was broken through by the Japanese volunteers, and then some Vietnamese troops followed and fought in, causing great damage to the French. Later, when Gallieni retook this position, another part was lost. In total, according to our estimates, no.
It will be less than 7,000," Yuan Shikai said.
"That's it. Tell the General Staff to get ready for war!" Emperor Yang said with a smile. This result can be said to make him very satisfied. Huang Huatan brought all the main forces of his subordinates, and after this battle, basically all
The army was wiped out. As long as he died, there would be no more unrest among the Vietnamese. Moreover, after such a cruel and bloody battle, the courage of the Vietnamese would be drained with blood.
The news of Huang Huatan's defeat and death made the call for domestic troops to join the war even louder. Some excited students even blocked the gates of the Parliament Building and the Prime Minister's Office, and some went to the palace to submit petitions. Regarding the students'
Naturally, the emperor took the petition very seriously. As soon as he received the news, he immediately ended his inspection of Baoji and hurried back.
At this time, even worse news came. The French army took two days to break through the Majiang defense line and seize the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Now they are chasing the defeated Vietnamese army towards Hanoi. The Vietnamese army who stayed in Hanoi are in China.
With the help of the Volunteer Army, they also began to step up their attack on Hanoi, preparing to seize the city before the French army arrived. However, even if they could succeed, they would easily be in dire straits without reinforcements.
At this time, the voices in China calling for a declaration of war against France became even louder, and even some factory workers joined the protest in front of the Congress building. Amidst the calls for war across the country, Emperor Yang urgently returned to Beijing from Xi'an.
He also met with some representatives of petitioning students and promised that he would never sit idly by and ignore Vietnam.
Shortly after he made this promise, the Queen Mother of Vietnam, who had been secretly sent out of Hue, also arrived in Beijing with the young king in her arms, and came to seek help from His Majesty the Chinese Emperor in person on behalf of the Vietnamese royal family and people.
Ruan Phuc Yong Shan, who was barely half a year old, immediately caused a sensation in the city of Beijing. After the grand welcome ceremony, his still charming mother Ruan Dinh spoke with blood and tears to the welcoming hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in already very standard Chinese.
Accusations of the atrocities committed by the French, the tragic experiences of orphans and widowed mothers, and especially the bloodshed of that horrific night, completely aroused the sentiments of the Chinese people, and more and more people joined the ranks of those seeking war.
Next, the mother and son were taken to the palace and received a warm welcome by His Majesty the Emperor and the Queen. On the second day of their visit to the Palace, His Majesty the Emperor directly announced that since he regarded the late King of Vietnam as his brother, his brother's son would also be him.
The son of Nguyen Phuc Vinh San will serve as the guardian of the little king until Nguyen Phuc Vinh San grows up. This has been agreed by the Queen Mother of Vietnam. At the same time, as the Emperor of China, he officially requested the French to immediately stop their invasion of Vietnam.
His statement was tantamount to a declaration of war. Immediately following the unanimous request of the people across the country, the Chinese government proposed to the French government that it immediately cease all military operations in Vietnam and withdraw from all Vietnamese territory, including Cochin, within a month.
The French gave an ultimatum and a deadline of twenty-four hours to respond. Naturally, the French refused without hesitation.
Their second batch of reinforcements has landed. This is the time when they are full of confidence. How can they accept such conditions? If it is just Beiqi, maybe they can consider it. In fact, France also had a negotiation plan before. After all, Yang Feng has been struggling for so long.
Time cannot be spent without any benefit. The bottom line of the French is to give the north of the Red River to China, retain the Vietnamese royal family in the middle, and France will continue to own Cochin. But now China will not let go of Cochin. This cannot be accepted no matter what.
Without the base in Cam Ranh Bay, France has completely lost the possibility of competing for interests in Asia.
After receiving a rejection from the French, the Chinese Congress immediately approved the declaration of war. Then Foreign Minister Zhang Quan summoned the French Minister to China Bi Sheng and formally read to him the declaration of war signed by His Majesty the Emperor.
At this time, the French army led by Gallieni had arrived in Hanoi, but before he arrived, the city had fallen, including the fortress on the north bank, which was also blown up by the Chinese volunteers. Governor Dume and his remaining troops
Less than three thousand French troops surrendered to the Vietnamese army, and then they were all pulled to the Red River for target shooting. French expats in the city, including French expats, were also bloody massacred by the Vietnamese army. Only a few old, weak, women and children were protected by the Chinese volunteers and served as
The refugees were sent back to China.
The Vietnamese army that captured Hanoi soon learned the news that China had declared war on France. This news immediately inspired their courage. The Vietnamese army, which was originally preparing to flee to the north bank after looting, was led by the commander of the Chinese Volunteer Army Zhang Jiwu.
The defense of Hanoi was re-arranged, and the remaining more than 30,000 Vietnamese troops and the Japanese volunteers who had just escaped were used to defend Hanoi City, while the Chinese volunteers defended the pontoon and waited for the arrival of domestic reinforcements.
It is only over a hundred kilometers from Zhennanguan to here, and in order to transport supplies some time ago, the road has been renovated, which is enough for trucks. It is very simple to send reinforcements. Almost at the same time that Galieni arrived in Hanoi, from
The Ninth Division of the Chinese Army that set out from Zhennanguan arrived in Hanoi by truck. Gallieni, who now had less than 30,000 people left, instantly ran into an iron wall. He wisely gave up and continued to attack the city.
Turn around and retreat along the Red River towards Haiphong.
He knew very well what would happen next. He couldn't expect to get supplies from the south anymore. Haiphong at least had enough reserves to support him for a while, and there were also 5,000 French troops and a group of expatriates there. He should retreat to
Furthermore, the outcome of this war is not on land, but on the sea. All he has to do is to save the lives of as many of his compatriots as possible before the outcome of the war is determined.
And just as he was evacuating to Haiphong at full speed, the decisive maritime battle between China and France had already begun in the northern waters of Tochu Island in the distant Gulf of Siam.
The Liu Buchan fleet and the Gervais fleet had been confronting each other in this area for more than a month. Both sides had already made all preparations for war. Just after China officially declared war on France, the two fleets launched attacks against each other at the same time without hesitation.
, the calm sea was instantly ignited by the flames of war, and the explosion of artillery shells broke all illusions of peace. Almost as soon as the exchange of fire broke out, every battleship found its opponent. The two Kunlun-class battleships faced off against the Charles Martel and Bouvet respectively.
The two 9,000-ton armored cruisers Wangwu and Emei surrounded the Cholegibeli, leaving the two ships Haichi and Hairong to attack their own copycat versions, the Joan of Arc and the Poseo, and others.
The four ships Haining, Haihe, Hai'an, and Haixing led seven Canglong-class ships against the remaining nine French cruisers.
The perfect battleship shocked the world when it entered the battle for the first time.
Because the attack distance of this kind of warship has been extended to fifteen kilometers away, and at this distance, the hit rate is even higher than the current maximum engagement distance of battleships from various countries within ten kilometers. The battleship with the Charles Martel on the side
The Kunlun's ten 280 main guns even started the first round of shelling seventeen kilometers away, and in the second round of shelling that followed, one shell hit its opponent.
Looking at the huge fireball that exploded in front of the main gun of the Charlie Martel, Fox Waldzer, who was watching the battle from a distance, said proudly: "Look, what I said is right? Our emperor's friend must be in his own
There are good things added to the battleship. If it is just visual aiming with the rangefinder, it is impossible to hit any target at such a distance."
"Seventeen kilometers penetrated the battleship deck armor. My God, what kind of cannon is this?" The cruiser captain next to him obviously knew the significance of this shell better than he did. He held up his telescope and exclaimed in disbelief. (