"That's, that's it." Liu Yongfu said repeatedly: "But on the one hand, the generals still need to make the soldiers familiar with the guns. On the other hand, the brothers of the Huai Army may need to adapt to the climate here. Don't worry, within a month, the generals will definitely take out the regulations and will not disappoint the generals."

Tang Jingsong knew that it was indeed as Liu Yongfu said, so he nodded and agreed.

After the serious matter was over, Liu Yongfu naturally invited Tang Jingsong and his party, so there was no need to explain in detail.

After settled these things, Liu Yongfu came to his son to report on his work and discussed his next work plan.

"I didn't expect the Qing court to be happy this time. It seems that they really regard us as pillars."

After getting a lot of benefits, Liu Yongfu said excitedly.

Looking at his father who was smiling, Liu Shaoqing couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "The eyelids are too shallow, and he has never seen the world."

"My father, we are not at ease yet. What the court is interested in now is our identity. The court and the French have not officially started a war, so it is not convenient to use the Qing army directly. Otherwise, my father thought the Qing court really valued our combat effectiveness? You see, they brought the two battalions of Huai Army here this time, and we know that we are actually just a temporary solution."

After hearing what his son said, Liu Yongfu immediately worried and said, "Oh, what should we do?"

Liu Shaoqing said: "Simple, two roads. If my father planned to stay in Vietnam like this, then we would take advantage of the benefits and leave. Once there was something wrong, we would just push the two battalions of Huai Army up. If they couldn't hold it, we wouldn't say anything. Anyway, no one in the Qing court would think that we were stronger than the elite of the Huai Army."

Liu Yongfu obviously didn't want to go on this road, otherwise why did he curry favor with the Qing court? Was it really for the small profit in front of him?

"Son, we can survive in Vietnam. One is that the soldiers fight hard, and the other is that the Red River business road can support us. But if the French come, this trade road will definitely not be our share. At that time, we will either run to Myanmar again or we will have to return to the Qing Dynasty. But Myanmar is high and deep, and it is really difficult to survive, so we must rely on the Qing court in the future."

Liu Shaoqing knew that Liu Yongfu had given him some advice. Originally, Liu Yongfu didn't say that, and Liu Shaoqing also planned to convince him to surrender to the court and fight with the French to the end. Since Liu Yongfu himself thought so, there would be no problem.

"It's really the same thing as father and son, and the child thinks so. Therefore, for the sake of future plans, we must let the Qing court see our strength clearly and no longer treat us as a foot cloth!"

"Well, tell me, what do you do, I will listen to you for my father."

"I don't dare. I think that in the near future, we will win a battle. Isn't this Qing court official still there? Let him and let the Huai army see how strong we are!"

The soldiers of the Black Flag Army were all brave in combat - those who were not brave were dead - and with the advanced military training for more than half a year, Liu Shaoqing was very confident in his combat effectiveness. Compared with the French army, if one to one, two to one, it would definitely be a sure win.

"Okay! Then let's **** grandma!"

On April 25, 1883, Liu Yongfu led his army to sacrifice to the flag, and all the elite Black Flag Army soldiers were launched to Hanoi. Tang Jingsong actually led a thousand Huai troops to follow the "Black Flag Army".

Although Tang Jingsong hoped that the Black Flag Army could directly attack Hanoi, Liu Yongfu insisted on leading the main force of the French army out of the city first and then attacking the city after the enemy's troops were weakened. Therefore, the Black Flag Army once again stationed the camp at the Paper Bridge in the western suburbs of Hanoi city.

"Hahaha, did the military gate choose to camp here to recreate the glory of the day?"

"Not bad! Sir, Hanoi City is an important town in Tonkin, surrounded by water on three sides, and only one side is connected to land. The French military ships are powerful, and if we use a naval army, it will never be possible to break through the French defense line. Moreover, if our army forcibly attacked the city, on the one hand, we do not know the reality of the French army in the city, and on the other hand, the enemy relies on the dangers of the city, and the geographical advantage is not good for our army. Therefore, the last general thought that it would be better to use the same trick and lead part of its military out of the city to annihilate and weaken its military strength."

Although Tang Jingsong represented the Qing court, he was just a guest army after all. At this time, he could only echo: "Since the military gate is already in mind, then brothers will wait for the good news. If there is anything to do, the military gate will just give orders."

The reason for saying this is that Tang Jingsong mainly does not trust the combat effectiveness of the Black Flag Army. After all, no matter how much he promotes it, he cannot believe that a bandit armed force that has just learned to use new foreign guns will be stronger than the elite of the Huai Army who have been through a long battle. After all, these bandits used big swords and spears a year ago to fight.

Of course, Liu Yongfu knew his position in the minds of others. He had to follow his previous temperament and wanted to let the Huai Army go up to be cannon fodder. But since his current purpose was to establish his authority in front of the Qing court, it was naturally difficult to borrow the Huai Army's troops. After hearing Tang Jingsong's words, he immediately replied: "Don't worry, if our army fails, it will not be too late to ask the Huai Army to attack again. However, I believe that you should not have to work."

Seeing Liu Yongfu's confident look, Tang Jingsong didn't say anything, but just sneered in his heart. "A leader of a remote thief army, by chance, won a victory when he fought with dozens of French troops. After being touted for a few years, he thought he was really the nemesis of the French army? When you lose your troops, you will naturally know that it is powerful."

After reaching an agreement with Tang Jingsong, Liu Yongfu sent a detailed work to post a manifesto and notice on the walls of the Hanoi city, while constantly harassed and attacked the French church outside the Hanoi city with small troops, hoping to use this move to lure Li Weiye into the war.

The arrogant French army was indeed trapped.

At this time, the commander of the French army was Li Weiye, the commander of the French Navy's Nanning Detachment.

In the seventh year of Guangxu, Li Weiye was entrusted by Governor Lu Mei of Jiaozhi to be responsible for the organization and implementation of military operations in North Korea, Vietnam. The reason why he chose the navy rather than the army was mainly because the French army was severely damaged during the French-Prussian War. In addition, the population growth was slow after the war and he was unable to station a large number of overseas. Moreover, the main force of the French army in Vietnam at that time was the navy.

As a naval colonel, Li Weiye had rich experience in serving overseas. At the same time, the smooth progress of a series of military operations against Vietnam from the seventh to the early nineth year of the Guangxu period made him look down on this small Southeast Asian country, including the so-called "Black Flag Army" in the north and the Qing Empire.

"Everyone, I believe you already know that our northern enemies are now starting to challenge us. Moreover, our churches outside the city are frequently harassed, and God's servants may be killed by pagans at any time. I don't know how you who have learned this news view this matter, but in my opinion, the provocation of the 'Black Flag Army' is seeking death, a naked insult to the French warriors."

Li Weiye waved the flyer in his hand and said with contempt.

"So, I think it's necessary to punish these yellow-skinned monkeys and let them know that the price of insulting us is something they can't bear."

After the words came, a staff officer said: "Dear Colonel, I am as angry as you for these provocations, but we have to consider our current military strength. You know, we only brought 6 gunships, 680 Marines and 20 Annan snipers this time. This little force alone is not enough to support us in launching an attack on the opposite "Black Flag Army". After all, the combat effectiveness of the "Black Flag Army" is very strong. Please don't forget Captain An Ye's lesson."

Li Weiye was very upset when he heard this and immediately retorted: "Please don't compare me with that coward. An Ye's death was entirely caused by his own stupidity. As for the combat effectiveness of the "Black Flag Army" you mentioned, I think you must have been blinded by their propaganda. When we occupied Nanding, there were hundreds of "Black Flag Army" in the city. What role did they play? Didn't they chase us like rabbits? I think that with our current military strength, it is enough to slap those monkeys who are jumping up and down, so I decided that except for leaving a small number of personnel, other soldiers will lead you personally to defeat the Chinese people."

Seeing that the main general had decided, the others naturally stopped talking. At 4:30 am on May 19, Li Weiye led more than 400 French troops, carrying three 65mm camp cannons, and fired out of Hanoi City to search and attack the Black Flag Army.

The Black Flag Army not only had a good geographical location in Tonkin, but also had people and people. The French's movements were soon reported to Liu Yongfu through the inside line inserted in Hanoi.

At 8:30 a.m., the French army walked up to the paper bridge outside Hanoi city.

Ding Yiwei ran into the Guandi Temple in a panic. After learning that the French army had left the city, Liu Yongfu quickly arranged troops to deploy and set up a temporary command center in this Guandi Temple about three or four thousand meters away from the Paper Bridge.

At this time, Liu Yongfu was talking to Tang Jingsong. After Ding Yiwei came in, he saluted Liu Yongfu first, and then said to Tang Jingsong: "Sir, the situation may be worse than we expected. According to the news sent back before, the French army had about one battalion of troops this time, and it also carried three artillery pieces. Therefore, Beizhi believes that with the troops we have arranged at present, it is far from being able to deal with, and it must be adjusted immediately!"

The French army's basic battalion can reach eight or nine hundred troops, while the Qing army's battalion usually has four or five hundred troops. The "French army's battalion" mentioned by Ding Yiwei is calculated based on the organization of the Qing army camp.

After listening to the report of the battalion under his command, Tang Jingsong frowned. He also knew that the French were not easy to deal with, but he was just a civil servant after all, and he had never been to the battlefield. Ding Yiwei, as the leader of the elite battalion of the Huai Army, had once taken over the battle with foreigners. His opinions were obviously very important. So Tang Jingsong immediately asked: "Well, how should we deal with it in your opinion?"

Ding Yiwei hurriedly said, "Sir, I have fought with foreigners in Zhongtang's camp. Foreigners have sharp firearms and well-trained, and their troops are not enough to resist them. If you want to win, you will need at least five or six battalions of troops to be able to do so."

Hearing this, Tang Jingsong breathed a sigh of relief, "It's true that foreigners are difficult to deal with. I have only heard of it before, but you don't have to worry. This time, there are seven battalions of soldiers led by Liu Junmen, and the two battalions of you and Li Jiyun should be enough to deal with it."

When Ding Yiwei heard this, he knew that Tang Jingsong was still in the dark and said anxiously: "I don't know that although Lord Liu's troops have seven battalions, they only arranged less than two battalions in front. The rest of the people and the bidding were under the quotation, and Li Shen's troops did not arrange them at all!"

Brush! Tang Jingsong's face immediately changed. He immediately turned around and asked Liu Yongfu: "Military Sect, is what Lord Ding said the truth?"

"Yes, this is indeed arranged by me. The one in front of me was responsible for blocking Yang Jie'en's main battalion. At the same time, I also arranged a battalion ambush on the left wing of the enemy. As for the other soldiers, they were resting near Guandi Temple to watch the battle."

Although Liu Yongfu does not have the official position given by the Qing court, he is the deputy admiral of the Three Xuan appointed by the Vietnamese king, so he calls himself "the original official" in front of Tang Jingsong, which is in line with his identity.

Liu Yongfu just explained a few words, and before Tang Jingsong could ask again, Ding Yiwei interrupted again: "And there are three battalions of Lord Liu's seven battalions that are only equipped with bows and arrows and spears! The so-called ambush of Lord Liu is one of the local battalions that are only equipped with bows and arrows and spears!"

When Tang Jingsong heard this, he was furious and slapped the table and said, "What is the military gate? The imperial court has successively added seven battalions of foreign guns to the military gate, so why not use them? And he wanted to set up an ambush with more than 800 people. Could it be that the military gate thought this was a joke?"

At this time, he deeply doubted whether Liu Yongfu was just pretending and did not want to go to war with the French, but simply to deceive the court's military pay and weapons.

In fact, Liu Yongfu himself was also uneasy in his heart. But his precious son once said that if he defeated the French with five or ten times the force, the Qing army could do this - the premise was that the general did not escape. How could he prove his value in front of the court? Then he had to defeat him with less or even the same force as the French army to show the difference between our army. Therefore, in this ambush, the "Black Flag Army" only arranged 800 people, and 300 of them were original equipment for bows and arrows and spears, used for close combat. Half of these 300 people were Vietnamese local soldiers who had just been recruited.

At this time, Liu Yongfu saw that Tang Jingsong was really angry, so he did not dare to inform the truth. He hurriedly said, "Stop being angry, and let this arrangement be considered. Please believe us."

Seeing that Liu Yongfu was unmoved, Tang Jingsong pointed at Liu Yongfu's forehead and started scolding: "You..."

‘口’, ‘口’.

A sudden gunfire came from afar, interrupting the dispute between the three. The few people immediately reacted and started fighting in front. Tang Jingsong did not care about arguing with Liu Yongfu anymore. He angrily shook his sleeves and hurriedly took Ding Yiwei out to watch the battle situation. Liu Yongfu was also displeased when he saw that the two of them did not care about their faces at all, but after all, the battle situation ahead was important, so he ran out immediately.
Chapter completed!