At 4 pm, modern weapons finally overwhelmed the vigorous fighting spirit of the Qing army, and all the forts in the Sizhu Temple were silent. Without the cover of artillery fire, Ding and Li had to give up the Sizhu Temple stronghold and evacuate to Shanxi.

Subsequently, the French right-wing column quickly cleared the fortifications outside the Sizhu Temple. After a night of rest, they occupied the Sizhu Temple in the early morning of August 16.

Compared with the right-wing column with warships, the initial battle between the French left and middle columns was unexpectedly smooth.

Because of the failure of the Four Pillar Temple, Liu Yongfu realized that it would be more than worth the loss to fight head-on with the French army, so he decisively ordered the Black Flag Army to give up Huaide.

The fast-marching central column arrived at the Huaide Mansion Fort, but found that the Black Flag Army had already evacuated. When the left-wing column, which Bo Hua personally supervised the formation, passed by Anye and Li Weiye's death-dead paper bridge, he heard that the Huaide Fort had been easily occupied, so he was proud and ordered Major Crona to lead his team to garrison Huaide, while he planned to advance along the Shanxi Highway and prepare to attack Shanxi, an important city further north.

"Foreigners have been engaged in colonial wars all over the world for hundreds of years. They have never suffered a great loss. This determines that they will definitely make the mistake of underestimating the enemy and advancing. It's just that at what time this mistake will be made. We first voluntarily withdrew from Hanoi, and now we have given up on Wilde. These are all arrogant strategies. The purpose is to make the enemy have an illusion, so that our opportunity will come."

The Black Flag Army withdrew from Huaide did not intend to flee without a fight. Although Liu Yongfu was always accustomed to discussing military affairs with his precious son during this period, this did not mean that he was an incompetent general. On the contrary, since following the Tiandihui and Taiping Army uprising, Liu Yongfu has fought for almost twenty years. In terms of the richness of the battle, he is no less than any French commander. He can survive under the encirclement of the Qing army and continue to grow. His military sensitivity should not be underestimated.

Wangcun is just a small village along the Shanxi Highway, but in 1883, this small village was destined to be extraordinary. Because Liu Yongfu chose this place as a position to block the French army.

At 11 noon on the 16th, I didn’t know that the wave slip had fallen into the trap, and I saw a fortification built in front of the village, consisting of horses, chest walls and plum blossom pits.

"There is an ambush!"

The fortifications in front of him immediately aroused the alertness of Reveyron, but Bo Hua did not think so. "Lieutenant Colonel, if there were Chinese ambushers in front of him, then it would be great that they were ambushing them, so good that even if we pass through the telescope, we could not find any traces of people. However, this is in the wild Jiaozhizhina. Do you think that the uncivilized natives here have such superb means of war and can hide the ambush so well?"

Bohua once suppressed local uprisings in French Senegal. In his eyes, these colonial indigenous people had only one way of fighting, which was to rush around with big swords. Although the fortifications in the distance were complete, they were strangely unpopular, as if they were just an empty position.

Lei Weilong also hesitated, "Did the Chinese army really escape?"

On the side, Bo Hua continued his analysis, "From the message sent by the middle column, the Black Flag Army had fled in panic before our army was over. You should be clear that Huaide Mansion had not suffered any blows in the previous battles, and had relatively complete city defenses. Do you think if the other party wanted to block us, they would give up the solid city defense and run here to build fortifications to ambush us?"

Bohua, who had never been to Toki, knew that Huaide Mansion was called "官网", but it was actually just a small town with no city defense at all. The Black Flag Army did not completely withdraw from Huaide Mansion. They just gave up the inner village and Anzhai Village, but were stationed in Hongcun, which had a solid fortress and fort. The Colora middle column did not completely occupy Huaide. On the contrary, they were now suppressed by the Black Flag Army stationed in Hongcun and could not make any progress.

However, Lei Weilong, who also did not understand the situation and terrain, was temporarily convinced by the analysis of wave slip, so the French army continued to march with confidence and boldness.

Just when the French army stopped, in the distant village, several Black Flag Army and Qing generals also raised their hearts to their throats.

The three battalions of Liu Yongfu's headquarters were responsible for the ambush in Wangcun, including Han Zaixun's personal right camp, Zhang Shentai's personal left camp and Pang Zhenyun's Wulie camp, a total of more than 1,500 people. In addition, there were more than 1,500 battalions of Cen Yuying's troops from Yunnan. Liu Yongfu personally supervised the battle.

Just a few days ago, the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou Cen Yuying sent two battalions of the Dian Army to escort weapons, ammunition and 20,000 taels of silver to arrive in Shanxi. Afterwards, Liu Yongfu asked his precious son and Yang Zhuen's troops who had made contributions in the early battles to return to the old street to receive supplies, and armed the new recruits who were training left on the old street. The two battalions of the Dian Army came to Huaide. Cen Yuying's plan was to let them survive the war.

"Master, this foreigner must have noticed it?"

The French suddenly stopped and the Black Flag General hiding in the village was immediately worried.

Liu Yongfu was not sure at this time. He only heard this kind of ambush based on firearms from his precious son, but after all, it was a big girl who got into the sedan chair - for the first time, he really had no confidence in whether he could succeed.

"It would be great if Shaoqing was there, and we could still discuss it." Liu Yongfu thought silently in his heart. But he didn't know that if his precious son was really at the scene, he would actually be on the ambush position so openly that he would roll his eyes.

Although Liu Yongfu was playing in his heart, not only the Black Flag Army participated in the battle on the spot, but also the Yunnan Army of the Qing army. This momentum cannot be weak. "It doesn't matter, our position is on the road that the French army must pass. As long as you want to continue to advance, you must rush through our defense. As long as he rushes forward, I will let him go without a return."

Good guy, this is the rhythm of using ambush as a position defense battle!

At this moment, Revelong was convinced by Bohua, and the French army finally began to move forward. What's strange is that the two French commanders did not expect to send vanguards to the village to investigate.

"Haha, the French guy is taken the bait!" Liu Yongfu slapped his thigh and said happily in the village.

The three battalion managers next to him immediately said: "Master, then we will go to the front position now..."

Liu Yongfu nodded and immediately instructed: "Don't shoot first. You must wait until my cannon think about it and then shoot together!"

Han Zaixun and the other three said in unison: "Don't worry, the handsome man, brothers will definitely not embarrass you!"

After saying that, the three of them turned around and left.

Liu Yongfu bowed to the two Yunnan Army guerrillas behind him and said, "The two lords, the Huangqi Army on the right wing, will be responsible for blocking them!"

Ding Huai and Li Yingzhen bowed and said, "Please rest assured, Lord Liu, the Ministry of Justice will not let the Huangqi Army go further!"

In front of the Wangcun position, the French army was gradually approaching the ambush position of the Black Flag Army. At the front was the Vietnamese indigenous infantry company commanded by Captain Karon. After him, the 25th Company of the French First Regiment, the 34th Company of the Third Regiment, and the 36th Company of the Third Regiment; finally the 1st Artillery Company and other auxiliary soldiers.

300 meters...200 meters...100 meters...

Just when the French army was about to approach the fortifications of Wangcun, Liu Yongfu shouted suddenly: "Fire the cannon!"

With Liu Yongfu's order, the artillery soldier who had been on standby for a long time suddenly pulled the cannon rope in his hand, and a 75MM flowering bullet shot out of the cannon chamber with a "bang", drawing a graceful arc in the air, landing next to the French army more than 4,000 meters away.

Chen Ergou has been squatting in the trench that had been dug in advance for a long time.

At the beginning, these soldiers stood or sat, and before the French arrived, they could still stroll around and chat. Of course, the most content of the chat was the upcoming battle.

Like other soldiers, Chen Ergou was not afraid of the upcoming battle. Although he was not a veteran, he had been joining the Black Flag Army for more than a year. Because he was still in a strong state, he was elected as the personal military camp of the Black Flag Army's commander.

As Liu Yongfu's personal soldiers, they were naturally one of the first battalions to arm the new type of rifle. Originally, the Black Flag Army was known for its bravery in combat. After equipping with the new type of foreign guns, they were even more afraid of fighting with the French.

But as the French approached, Chen Ergou felt more and more pressure in his heart.

In order to confuse the French, the Black Flag soldiers had to hide their entire bodies in the trenches. To avoid exposing their targets, they didn't even set up a lookout. The unknown external situation, the pressure of the coming war, and the sense of restraint of being unable to move in the trenches made these soldiers start to feel scared!

Chen Ergou couldn't tell how long he had been squatting in the trench. A cup of tea, a stick of incense, or an hour? When his legs were numb, he lay down and turned over when he was tired. The comrades around him were the same as him. This kind of waiting was really torment. They began to wish the French would come soon.

Finally, the long-awaited cannon sounded. For the soldiers in the trench, the blast of cannon sounds coming from this moment was the only signal. But perhaps because he had been waiting for too long, Chen Ergou even doubted whether he had really heard the cannon sounds.

"Let's fire! Open fire!"

Fortunately, the officers seemed to be still awake, so they might have heard it right, it was time for the war to begin.

Chen Ergou suddenly realized that he needed to stand up and then shoot at the Frenchman who might appear in the distance.

The idea of ​​standing up was transmitted from the brain to the legs, and Chen Ergou suddenly straightened up. Suddenly, a blue figure appeared in front of his eyes!

"Mom!"

With the sound of a cannon, the soldiers of the Black Flag Army who had been ambushing for a long time stood up one after another. Only then did they realize that the French soldiers were actually close.

"Open the fire..."

The shouts of officers came from his ears, and there was no time to feel fear, excitement, and panic. Chen Ergou instinctively put his gun on his shoulder, his left hand was flattened, his cheeks pressed on the buttstock, and his right hand pulled the trigger. The long-term rifle training made Chen Ergou's body form an instinct. Without any thought, Chen Ergou mechanically shot the first bullet according to the command of his superior.

‘Bang!’

A 10mm caliber bullet quickly drilled out of the gun chamber under the push of the launch/pharmacy. In just a moment, it drilled into the body of a French army dozens of meters away.

After Chen Ergou shot a bullet, he did not check the results of the battle at all, but slid down the trench again. Squatting in the trench, Chen Ergou felt a palpitations. "Mom! Why are the **** foreigners so close!"

At that moment just now, Chen Ergou seemed to see those yellow-haired and blue-eyed foreigners pounced at him fiercely, just like the evil ghost with green face and fangs mentioned in his grandmother's mouth when he was a child. He only remembered that he seemed to pull the trigger, but he didn't dare to see whether he hit the target. Subconsciously, he felt that the trench was as safe as his mother's arms. When his legs were weak, Chen Ergou instinctively sat on the ground.

The French army was stunned by the sudden gunfire.

The bullets seemed to come from all directions, and the sound of gunfire seemed to be close at hand. Everything was so sudden that before they could make any evasion, the first round of volleys of the enemy was over.

The body lay all over the ground, the injured soldiers howled miserably, while the uninjured fled like headless flies. Only a few soldiers were able to remain calm and fired forward under the leadership of the officers, but they could not see any enemy in their eyes.

Most of the soldiers of the Black Flag Army were like Chen Ergou, shocked by the sudden appearance of French soldiers. Although long-term training allowed them to instinctively shoot bullets in the guns as required by the officers, their trembling legs also made them all choose to squat into safe trenches.

The fear from the bottom of my heart allowed the soldiers of the Black Flag Army to perfectly perform a tactical action of burst shooting and hidden bullet replacement. The sporadic counterattack of the French army did not cause any casualties.

Chen Ergou, who was sitting on the ground, came to his senses amid the officer's shouts.

The soldiers all lay down, and the officers naturally would not stand there as targets to attract hatred, but in addition to hiding themselves, they also needed to get their soldiers to stand up and continue fighting.

"Pull on the bullet! Pull on the bullet!"

"Free shooting! Reload and free shooting!"

The officers shouted at the top of their lungs so that the new recruits who had just started fighting the battle formation would come back to their senses as soon as possible. The battle has just begun!

Chen Ergou quickly pulled the gun away, exited the firing shell, took out a new bullet from his body and pushed it into the chamber, closed the gun, took a few breaths, and then accumulated a little courage.

As if he was encouraging himself, a flowering fire shell exploded in the enemy formation in the distance. Chen Ergou shouted in a muffled voice, straightened up again, held the gun on his shoulder, quickly aimed at a blue shadow not far away, and pulled the trigger again.
Chapter completed!