At the end of February 1881, a messenger from the Governor of Hanoi arrived at Cam Phuc, the capital of Quang Ninh Province, and informed Mui Dong Hung and others about the situation of French troops stationed outside Hanoi.
"The situation in Hanoi is in crisis. After the Governor rejected the unreasonable demands of the French, the French-Barbarian bandit leader Li Weiye became angry and dispatched 200 Marines and the armored ship Military Music from the Haiphong Province to reinforce Hanoi. Now the French troops and the Annan rebels gathered outside Hanoi.
The total number of troops was nearly 2,000, and Li Weiye also sent an ultimatum to the Governor-General, requiring the Governor-General to disarm the Hanoi garrison within three days and completely hand over the three provinces of Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Lang Son to France.
army!
Fa Yi is arrogant, and the governor does not want to be humiliated, so he has sternly rejected their request. However, Fa Yi sent troops to Hanoi this time and came prepared. The governor is worried that it will delay the national affairs, so he specially ordered me to come to see you, please.
Your Excellency, in view of the court's respect for the Chinese people in recent years, has sent troops to rescue the city of Hanoi. When the French and barbarian troops retreat and the crisis in Hanoi is resolved, the Governor will personally ask for credit for all of you!"
"What is the situation in Hanoi? How many troops are stationed? What is the condition of the soldiers' weapons and equipment?"
"I dare not deceive you, your lords. The money and food taxation in the northern part of the country is
They were all controlled by the French. The annual customs duties paid by Hanoi Province totaled about 300,000 silver dollars. However, among them, the Korean government could only obtain 100,000 silver dollars. The rest were all controlled by the French and rebel forces dependent on the French.
Hanoi Province has insufficient tax revenue, money and grain income. Every time it recruits officers, soldiers and people to fight against rebellion, it can only be handled by the local people.
The Governor-General is in charge of the military affairs of Hanoi and the provinces of Xishan. Although he has more than ten thousand troops, the soldiers he recruits are all local people.
We can handle it, but Li Weiye's troops stationed outside the city of Hanoi are all equipped with foreign guns and cannons, and their soldiers are sharp. It is difficult to win against the enemy with more than 10,000 people in the city armed with strong weapons."
"The Annan army is extremely weak and unable to suppress the local rebel forces. It is no wonder that the French are pressing forward step by step, intending to bring the entire Annan territory into their colonial rule."
Mui Dongxing secretly felt sorry for the Annan government. There were more than 100,000 troops in the country, but they were helpless against the invasion of thousands of French colonial troops. If the Nanyang Army had not helped the Annan government put down the rebellion, I am afraid there would be no need for the French to attack. The Nguyen dynasty
It will also be destroyed and overthrown in the internal peasant uprising.
"Hanoi, Quang Ninh, and Lang Son provinces are all one body. The armies of our two provinces will definitely not sit back and ignore Hanoi's crisis. Please report back to Governor Huang. Within two days, I will personally command Quang Ninh and the Lang Son army to support Hanoi.
City, I also ask Governor Huang to be firm in his determination to defend the city and resist the enemy. He must not sacrifice his life to serve the country lightly, causing the country to lose a great minister and famous general."
Even if they despise the Annan government in their hearts, considering the objective reality that the interests of both sides are consistent, the Nanyang Army still needs to help Hanoi at the critical moment.
"Come here, select some good horses from the army, and send two people back to Hanoi with the messenger to show Governor Huang that our army is determined to support the Hanoi defenders."......
After sending away the messenger asking for help from Hanoi City, Mei Dongxing summoned the main officers of the Nanyang Army to discuss a response plan.
"The total number of French colonial troops stationed in Annan is about 5,000. Based on the intelligence obtained by our army and the situation explained by the Annan messenger, the number of French troops gathered in the northern provinces should be around 3,000. The number of French troops on the front line is equal to that of our army.
The regular army has about the same strength."
Mui Dongxing said solemnly, "The French colonial government still has more than 2,000 colonial troops in the southern region. If the war in the north reaches a stalemate, Cochin China Governor Lu Mei may take the risk and dispatch the southern garrison on warships to sneak attack our army in Quang Ninh Province.
base,
The French have maritime superiority in the Nanyang region, and before our army sends troops to support the Annan garrison in Hanoi, it needs to leave the necessary troops to guard against the French threat from the sea."
"Among the more than 3,200 colonial troops stationed by the French in the northern region, the 900 Marines with the strongest overall combat effectiveness are undoubtedly the 900 Marines. The French Marines are all composed of white soldiers. The rifles and artillery they are equipped with have better weapon performance than
Our army is slightly stronger,
However, excluding the 900 Marines, the remaining 1,300 Annan colonial troops and 1,000 black colonial troops are generally equipped with old-fashioned breech-loading rifles. The soldiers have insufficient combat literacy and weak combat will. With the same strength, they are not regular troops of the Nanyang Army.
opponent.
Therefore, I believe that the focus of our army's operations should be on dealing with the enemy's Marine Corps, trying to concentrate superior forces, using Hanoi City as bait, to encircle and suppress part of the enemy's Marine Corps in the Hanoi area, forcing the Cochin China colonial government to
Delay or abandon the plan to invade northern Annan by force."
Exploring France's military strength in the Nanyang region has been the focus of the Ministry of Military Intelligence's intelligence work in recent years. Using the overseas Chinese scattered throughout the Nanyang region as cover, Liang Xing obtained a lot of military intelligence about the number of French colonial troops and the distribution of the garrison.
.
"My subordinates agree with Minister Liang that the French colonial rule in Annan was nothing more than mutual coercion. They used the consolidated Annan rebellion to help the French govern the people in the occupied areas, and then transferred a group of black troops from the African colonies.
, taking advantage of the vicious incidents of black soldiers' violent temperament and frequent harassment of Annan people to create conflicts between the Annan colonial army and the African colonial army, thereby preventing the two colonial armies from joining together and maintaining the stability of French colonial rule.
However, the Annan colonial army and the black African army, which relied on the French's bluff, were only cannon fodder-level troops after all, and could not pose a major threat to our army.
Most of the marines under Lu Mei were deployed to the northern region to carry out armed deterrence against the Annan government. The French colonial troops and marines remaining in the six southern provinces only numbered more than 300. Even if they took ships to attack Quang Ninh from the sea,
There is no need to worry too much if the province launches an attack. There are 1,000 regular troops and 1,500 militiamen left to defend various places, which is enough to deal with possible attacks by the French.
The remaining 2,000 main Nanyang Army troops and more than 1,500 militia troops can join Lu Zhiping, Li Yasheng and other Chinese armed forces and march steadily towards Hanoi. After getting in touch with the Governor of Hanoi, further arrangements will be made based on the response of the French army."
"The central government's focus is on the homeland. Annan is no less than ten thousand miles away from the homeland. If the scale of the war expands, it will also be detrimental to the Nanyang Army."
Mei Dongxing synthesized the suggestions of the two people and made a response decision: "The main purpose of marching into Hanoi is to fight for peace. If the French insist on provoking a war, the Nanyang Army from top to bottom cannot hesitate and must be determined."
determination to defeat the enemy,
Although the Nanyang Army hopes for peace and stability in the Nanyang region, peace is not obtained by retreat and concession, but by fighting. Only by inflicting pain on the enemy and making the French feel the consequences of humiliating the Nanyang Army step by step will they face up to the Nanyang Army and the Han soldiers.
Only with the courage and strength can we have the opportunity to force the French to sit at the negotiation table and exchange what they want with equal terms, instead of simply relying on the guns in their hands to grab it!"
With a sonorous tone, Mei Dongxing stood up and said firmly, "The situation in Hanoi changes three times a day. In order to prevent accidents from happening, I have decided that before noon tomorrow, all the expedition troops will assemble and set off. At the same time, I ordered Lu Zhiping, Li Yasheng and other armed forces to quickly advance towards Hanoi.
To rendezvous with the main force of our army nearby, all armed forces must arrive at the designated rendezvous point within three days. Those who fail to arrive within the time limit will be punished as a crime of delaying a fighter jet!"...
There are more than 4,000 Chinese armed forces in northern Annan. These Chinese armed forces usually receive food, weapons and supplies from the Nanyang Army and training from the instructors of the Nanyang Army. Therefore, although they are distributed in various provinces in northern Annan, they are directly ordered by the Nanyang Army.
Command, once faced with the threat of foreign war, the Nanyang Army will also use the Chinese armed forces hidden in various places to launch attacks on the enemy.