More and more rifles were fired, and gunfire suddenly became dense. The French army, who was on the open and flat ground, became a target for the Black Flag Army ambushed in front. He suffered heavy casualties under the attack of the Black Flag Army's dense firepower. The indigenous infantry company that was facing the front was soon destroyed and commander Karon was seriously injured.

Lieutenant Colonel Reviron hurriedly found Bo Hua: "Commander, we have been fooled. The enemy has set up a heavy ambush here. We must retreat now!"

Retreat? Look at a joke!

Bo Gao gritted his teeth and thought that retreating now means failure. He will become the laughing stock of other domestic generals like An Ye and Li Weiye, and will never be able to surpass He Luomang and Courbet.

"No, you can't retreat!" Bohua said viciously: "The losses we have suffered are just because of the shameful sneak attack of the enemy. But now we have discovered the enemy's intentions. What we are going to fight now is the combat power and will of the soldiers. Do you think the French soldiers are inferior to these barbarians who have not yet escaped from ignorance? We have better weapons, excellent soldiers, and victory will definitely belong to us!"

Bo Hua became more and more determined as he was now taking the initiative in the battlefield.

"I order you now to continue to launch an attack! Transfer our heavy weapons and let the machine guns suppress and shoot. As long as we can break through their horse-drawn positions, the brave French warriors can kill all the monkeys with the bayonet in their hands!"

The commander's order has been given. Even if there is any objection, Reveyron will still be executed. Otherwise, even if he returns to Hanoi, he will not be able to escape the fate of being punished.

The French army's 37mm machine guns and 40mm battalion guns began to fire wildly. In an instant, black clouds rose from the Black Flag Army's position, and the fierce artillery fire temporarily suppressed the Black Flag Army's firepower. Taking advantage of this time, the three infantry companies in front suddenly retreated to a safe distance to prepare for the next round of attack.

At the same time, Bohua ordered five companies of the Huangqi Army to attack Wangcun from the flanks, restrained and encircled the frontal black flag army.

After a round of artillery fire suppression, the calmed French army began to fight back.

The slid left column artillery company was equipped with 4 1.65-inch mountain cannons. At the same time, each white infantry company also carried a Hachkas 37mm5-barrel machine cannon. The French army's initial fire suppression was provided by these artillery fire.

Seeing that his troops were suppressed by the French artillery fire, Liu Yongfu was furious, "Architecture! Artillery! Immediately blow up the artillery of the foreign devils!"

After learning that China and France were bound to be war-free, Li Hongzhang found a German comprador in Shanghai and urgently purchased a batch of German arms.

The officials of the Qing Dynasty did not know which weapon is the best in today's world, and would not analyze which weapon is more suitable for use by the Chinese army. As for how to unify the caliber and provide good logistics supply, they would never have thought about it. In the eyes of these so-called Westernization masters, as long as it is a cheap foreign gun, it is good.

Since Li Hongzhang knew that the French had suffered a crushing defeat to Prussia in Europe, he took it for granted that Germany's weapons must be better than France's. Since that's the case, no matter whether it is cheap or expensive, he immediately bought a batch of German Mauser rifles and steel cannons to arm his troops.

Since the Huai Army has updated its equipment, under the pressure of the court, Li Hongzhang had to express his feelings to the Black Flag Army, which is now on the front line, so he sent 1,500 Mauser rifles and two 75mm mountain cannons to Yunnan. Cen Yuying then transported these equipment to Liu Yongfu, Tonki via the Red River channel.

In addition to these, Cen Yuying also sent Liu Yongfu two 37mm five-tube Hachis machine guns and two 11MM multi-tube Green cannons.

Ironically, these two Hatchets machine guns were sold to the Yunnan Army by French merchants three years ago.

However, the Black Flag Army was in a hurry to receive equipment and had no time to train its own gunners. These guns were still operated by the Yunnan Army at this time. After all, this gun operation is not like a rifle, and it cannot be controlled in a short time.

Under Liu Yongfu's urging, the gunners of the Yunnan Army played their life-long loading ammunition, regardless of the life of the gun barrel. Not to mention, although the gunners of the Yunnan Army were a little worse, the Krupp 75mm mountain cannon was stably under the French 40mm battalion cannon in terms of explosion power and range. Soon, the French gun positions were silent.

Losing the cover of artillery fire, the French attack was immediately suppressed by the fierce black flag army.

When the French fire was raging, Chen Ergou felt that he was going to die. Overhead, the foreigners' bullets were flying, and outside the trenches, the ground exploded by shells. Chen Ergou felt that he could not do anything, so he could only curl up in the trenches with his head in his arms and trembling.

During the Paper Bridge battle three months ago, the French artillery was destroyed by a combination of punches by the Black Flag Army before they could show their power. Therefore, these Black Flag Army had no idea how powerful the new artillery was. Now, the Thor on the battlefield was using gunpowder and shrapnel to teach these new recruits a crucial lesson.

Chen Ergou, who was huddled in the trenches, thought he would definitely die. Even if he was not killed by the cannon, he would have to be buried alive by the soil raised by the shells. Even if he was not buried alive, he would still be unable to escape death after the French attacked him. So he had already begun to pray in his heart that he could give birth to a good family in his next life, at least he would have food to eat without war.

While worshiping the Sifang Bodhisattva in his heart, he kicked Chen Ergou with a big foot, "Big Sun, pick up your gun, get up quickly!"

Chen Ergou's courage saved his life because he kept huddled in the trenches during the French artillery attack. He was miraculously unharmed, and the French army was unable to attack the position.

Han Zaixun's personal soldiers, the Right Battalion of Zhang Shentai's personal soldiers, was responsible for garrisoning the front-line positions, while Pang Zhenyun's Wulie's battalion was hiding in the village with heavy weapons. When the front-line positions were suppressed by the French artillery fire, the firepower of the Green cannons and Hatchkas machine cannons from the second line of defense in the village blocked the soldiers of the Blue-Shirt Legion before occupying the horse, and it was difficult to make progress.

The position was still firmly in the hands of the Black Flag Army, so after the French artillery was suppressed, Chen Ergou's whistleman kicked him out of the trench with one kick.

"I'm not dead yet? The foreign devils haven't attacked?"

Looking at Chen Ergou with a dull face, Liu Jun slapped him in the head, "Nonsense! The foreign devil's cannon is already dumb. Now it's time to see us! Take up your rifle immediately and shoot me!"

Seeing that he continued to move forward after beating and pulling up his companions in the trenches one by one, Chen Ergou realized that he was still alive!

very nice!

Chen Ergou grinned, then picked up the rifle again and started shooting as the whistleman said.

Since the fierce artillery fire just now did not kill our own lives, it means that we have the protection of the gods and our lives should not be lost. Since we have the protection of the gods, what are you afraid of? Beating the foreigners!

The French army, which lacked artillery support, shot and charged on the dense firepower of the Black Flag Army. This kind of courage is quite admirable, but their enemies also have no weak courage.

The Black Flag Army soldiers who survived the first round of artillery fire were quickly organized by the commanders. These soldiers were the elites of the Black Flag Army and were Liu Yongfu's personal barracks. They were not weaker than French soldiers in terms of equipment or training. What they lacked was just practical experience. The baptism of artillery fire just experienced made these new recruits who had first entered the modern hot weapons battlefield matured quickly. Moreover, the two chief officials - Han Zaixun and Zhang Shentai - always fought at the forefront in order to boost morale, which also made their soldiers more at ease.

Although the fortifications of the Black Flag Army were temporary construction, they were not easily penetrated by the light weapons in the hands of the French army. The targets left by the Black Flag Army soldiers hiding in the trenches were almost zero. However, the bright blue shirts of the French army in the wilderness were particularly eye-catching in the eyes of the Black Flag Army soldiers. Relying on the fortifications and strict shooting training, no matter how high the quality of the French army is or how strong the firepower is, it is impossible to gain any advantage in shooting.

At the beginning of the battle between the two sides, the French army was only a few dozen meters away from the positions of the Black Flag Army. If the French army had launched an attack, they might have attacked. However, under the sudden attack, the French army experienced a brief panic, and the commander's injury also made the French army lose this only opportunity.

The French army retreated to the security line three hundred meters away and reorganized the attack after obtaining artillery fire cover, but soon, the French army, which had lost the cover of artillery fire, began to struggle. After advancing more than 100 meters, the French army finally could not advance any longer.

The price is too heavy! The soldiers who were killed on the spot were better, but the moans of a large number of wounded soldiers seriously affected the fighting spirit of each company. Moreover, some soldiers quickly used up their bullets in the fierce battle. Even if they were brave enough to fight with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, they had to advance at least 170 or 80 meters. However, at this time the enemies had already begun to fight fiercely. Considering that there were actually two Green cannons on the enemy's position, it seemed that the French army's mission was impossible to complete.

While the frontal battlefield was blocked, the positions of the Yellow Flag Army on the flank were even more severe.

Although the Yunnan Army, which was responsible for the right wing defense, was not equipped with Green Cannons and Hatchcas, they had six fireworks for fire support. Moreover, the Yellow Flag Army was not like the French Army. Not only did it not have artillery support, but it even lacked rifle equipment.

Even the equipped rifles did not play much role in the hands of the Huangqi Army. They did not have the monsters like Liu Shaoqing to guide and train, nor did they have sufficient ammunition to practice. These soldiers' use of firearms was even worse than that of the Yunnan Army.

Not only can the firepower keep up, but even the tactics are far behind. Faced with the defensive positions composed of horses, trenches and bastions of the Yunnan Army, the soldiers of the Yellow Banner Army were still using the pig-punch tactics of the Taiping Army twenty years ago, hoping to seize the position by filling in the lives, but were shot one by one by one by the Yunnan Army in front of the horses.

In less than two hours of the battle, not only did the Huangqi Army soldiers die or suffer more than 100 casualties, but even the second-ranked Chinese commander Qiao Erchi, also was shot dead.

Qiao Erchi, nicknamed Lao Qiao, was a capable general under Du Buyi back then. This man has always been a water corporal officer in Haifang Port. When Bohua recruited local armed forces, he saw the opportunity, and he persuaded Liao San, the remaining member of the Huangqi Army of Goutoushan, and Lin Dayi, the remnant of the peasant army in Qinzhou, to join the French.

Afterwards, Qiao Erchi ran to Shangsizhou, Guangxi to recruit local Catholics. The establishment of the Huangqi Army was mainly due to the power of this person. Now he was beaten to death by the Yunnan Army, which is a full of evil deeds.

The French attack was completely suppressed, but Bo Ga was still unwilling to give up. He thought he still had a chance.

In the northeast direction not far from Wangcun, Colora's central column was stationed there. According to the information from previous sources, the Black Flag Army had withdrawn from Huaide Mansion, and the Central Column was not blocked. Moreover, after being hit by a head-on attack, Bo Gai believed that the enemy in front of him must be the main force of the Black Flag Army, even if not all the troops, at least the majority. In other words, the current central column should be drawn out at any time to attack the flanks of the Black Flag Army on the opposite side.

Since Bohua had already determined that the Black Flag Army in front of him was the main force of the enemy, he naturally wanted to make a contribution to the battle. So he asked Reviron and Flaviano to defend his position, and sent a messenger to the central column, asking him to come quickly to launch an attack from the flank, intending to cooperate with the two routes to reverse the decline.

However, Bo Hua didn't know that the central column at this time had been divided and surrounded by the Black Flag Army - the Indigenous Infantry Company, the Artillery Company and the 33rd Company were surrounded by the Black Flag Army under Wu Fengdian's troops in Anzhai Village; Major Corona led two companies to guard the inner village, and opposite him were more than 1,200 people from the three battalions of Huang Shouzhong's troops.

Now Corona needs to consider the first thing to do is to strengthen the temples in the village as a stronghold and lay out barricades to prevent themselves from being annihilated by the Black Flag Army, rather than completing the task of 'flanking encirclement' of waves!

The middle column, which also fell into a trap, was unable to execute Bohua's orders. Looking at the fewer soldiers around him and the more Black Flag Army gathered, Bohua began to worry that he might repeat the mistakes of Li Weiye. In order not to let his head become the spoils of the Black Flag Army, Bohua had to order the left wing column to retreat completely.

At 1:30 noon, the unwilling Bohua commanded the troops to retreat from Wangcun to Huaide Mansion. At the same time, he ordered the reserve army that was originally left at the Paper Bridge, the 21st Company of the 3rd Marine Corps, the 21st Company of the 3rd Marine Corps, the 2nd Indigenous Infantry Company and an artillery platoon equipped with two artillery, to come and respond.

"Want to run? It's not that easy."

Liu Yongfu sneered, "Tell me to order..."

A personal soldier immediately bowed his head and waited for the order.

"Fate, Han Zaixun and Zhang Shentai battalions were bitten by the enemy and tried their best to delay their retreat speed; Pang Zhenyun's Wulie battalion immediately went around the enemy from a small path to block the wave-skid retreat. At the same time, please keep the soldiers of the Yunnan Army as much as possible and annihilate the Yellow Banner Army headquarters in front of them!"

"Yeah!"

If it were three months ago, Liu Yongfu faced thousands of French troops, he might have been willing to withdraw his troops after fighting such a blocking war. After all, the Black Flag Army has not had a strong foundation, and it is not easy to win such a blocking war.
Chapter completed!