On March 23, the French army launched a large-scale military operation. The French army on the western front launched an offensive against Lintao. Nigri, who was in charge of the eastern front, led more than 1,000 main forces of the First Brigade and sneaked into Zhennan Pass under the heavy fog.

After 10:30 in the morning, the fog in the pass disappeared. Seeing this, the French army decided to divide the troops into two groups: the main force advanced along the Dongling Mountains, and the other route advanced along the Guanqian Pass Valley. The goal was to attack the two groups forward and backward after the main force captured the Daqingshan Peak Grand Fort and capture the Qing army's position in Guanqian Pass. In addition to this route, the French army also had nearly a thousand people deployed in the southeast highland of Zhennan Guan as a reserve force and served as a warning in the direction of Youzhui.

"Report, the French army is coming..."

Although Feng Zicai came out before to lead the snake out of the hole, the French army came a little suddenly because it took advantage of the heavy fog, so he immediately ordered: "Immediately ask General Su to come and respond, and then let General Wang lead his troops to intercept the enemy from the side and behind." General Su was Su Yuanchun, who was stationed in the shogunate, and General Wang was Wang Debang.

"Notify Xiaoqi and follow me to fight against the enemy!"

"yes!"

Although Feng Zicai was mentally prepared, the situation was far worse than expected. The French army's artillery fire was very fierce, and the cannon sounded loudly. It was heard from afar that the valleys were ringing seventy or eighty miles away. Because the five castles on the East Ridge had not yet been completed, their defense capabilities were low. Even if Feng Zicai arrived, the French army still successfully captured three of the five castles.

"General, the French artillery fire is fierce, we can't resist it!"

French artillery shells fell on the positions, sand and soil flew, gunpowder spread, and soldiers suffered heavy losses.

Seeing that the situation was getting increasingly critical, Feng Zicai shouted: "Brothers, I know the battle is difficult, but if the legal person is allowed to enter the pass, what will we do to meet the elders and villagers in Guangxi again? What is the use of the people raising us?... I swear to live and die with the position!"

"Swear to live and die with the position!" Seeing Feng Zicai personally supervising the formation, the soldiers didn't care about so many, and they all fought for themselves and were very brave.

While Feng Zicai was fighting the enemy head-on, Wang Xiaoqi led his troops to follow Feng Zicai's previous instructions and walked around the enemy's back along the path and immediately started an attack. However, due to the terrain, the attack effect was not obvious, but it still greatly restrained the French army's firepower on the front, greatly reducing the pressure on Feng Zicai's troops, and gaining a rare opportunity to breathe.

However, the situation is still very dangerous, and Feng Zicai has no troops to adjust. Later, she racked her brains and remembered that General Chen Jia and several battalions of people were stationed in Pingxiang. Feng Zicai wrote an invitation to ask Chen Jia to come and discuss. Chen Jia was recovering from the injury, but when the situation was urgent, he did not dare to delay and immediately solicited opinions from his subordinates.

"What do you think about going to fight?"

The deputy general under his subordinate disagreed and said, "Sir, we are not subordinates of Feng Zicai. We can go or not after this battle. Besides, you are injured now..."

If you disagree, of course there will be those who agree. For a moment, you will be very irresistible in the military tent.

Chen Jia lowered his head and thought without saying a word. After careful consideration, he said: "It's not good not to go. Feng Bangban has the right to mobilize the entire army. Now he is not giving orders to transfer me, but sending me a post to invite me. This is already very proud of me. You must know that this face is given by a person, so don't be shameless at that time! Pass me to order and the entire army will set off!"

At around 4 pm, Su Yuanchun, Chen Jia and others led their troops to reinforce. Soon, Jiang Zonghan and Fang Yousheng's troops also rushed to hear the news. Among them, Chen Jia led his troops to the Fortress No. 4 and No. 5, which had not been captured, and then attacked Dongling. The situations of the other troops were similar, and they fought hard and the battle was very fierce. The Qing and French sides were evenly matched, with casualties and injuries.

At this time, Wang Debang also led his troops to attack the French right wing from You Pass, and attacked Wenyuan City at the same time. He fought with the enemy for several hours, successfully restraining the enemy's reserve team's mobility and cutting off the enemy's transportation lines for arms and food, and effectively cooperating with the battle in Dongling.

After nightfall, Feng Zicai took advantage of the opportunity to further adjust the deployment. Su Yuanchun's troops assisted Feng's troops to guard the Changjiang River, Wang Xiaoqi's troops to guard the Xiling River, Chen Jia's troops to guard the Dongling River, Jiang Zonghan, and Fang Yousheng's troops to guard the top of Daqing Mountain. Feng Zicai also sent people to fly to the fifth battalion of the camp stationed in Kobo to plagiarize the French left wing.

On the morning of March 24, Nigri, who was full of anger, commanded the French army to launch another attack in three groups. At this time, he called his deputy Lieutenant Colonel Elmingja and said, "Lieutenant Colonel, now the Daqing Mountain is foggy again. You lead a group of soldiers to raid the Daqing Mountain peak to the Daqing Mountain peak. If we can take down this commanding height, we can win the battle."

Elmingja was a little hesitant after hearing this, but she still agreed to Negri's order.

After going up to Daqingshan, Elmingjia realized that this was impossible. The terrain here was steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, Feng Zicai was afraid that there would be any mistakes here, so he deployed two units of Jiang Zonghan and Fang Yousheng here.

Elmingja was not good at disobeying Nigri's orders, so he launched a sneak attack. The result can be imagined. He had to retreat.

At 11 a.m., Nigri found that Daqingshan was not moving at all. He thought Lieutenant Colonel Elmingja had succeeded, so he was secretly happy and immediately issued an order to bombard the Qing army's frontal fortifications with fierce artillery fire, attempting to cover the French army advancing along the valley to approach the long wall, and cooperate with the French army in Dongling to break through the pass position in front of the pass.

For a moment, the shells fell like rain, turning the long wall into a sea of ​​fire. The French army rushed over and the Qing army resisted tenaciously.

Su Yuanchun, who was in charge of defense, saw the heavy casualties of his subordinates, and was anxious, so he said to a general: "Go and ask Lord Feng if you can retreat first."

The general heard this and said, but he still gritted his teeth and asked for instructions. However, his words became very tactful and said, "Sir, Admiral Su, senior, it is difficult to defend this place. Can you retreat to Pingxiang and fight again?"

Feng Zicai glared and said angrily: "Bah! There is a long wall here, and there is still danger to guard. What should I rely on to defend when retreating to Pingxiang? This time I was defeated. I think I have no shame to go back to meet the people of Guangdong and Guangxi! Go back and tell your Admiral Su that you are young and have a great future. If you want to retreat, you will retreat secretly and don't shake the morale of the army. I am old and die on this wall with the soldiers."

Seeing Feng Zicai's attitude was firm and knew that the persuasion could not be achieved, the general had to go back to see Su Yuanchun. After saying that, although Su Yuanchun was unhappy, he could only stay with him to defend.

The French offensive became more and more fierce, and shells fell down beside Feng Zicai from time to time. His nephew felt it was very dangerous and said, "Master, please step back a little."

"Why retreat, why are you afraid of shells? If you dare to say that you can shake the morale of the army, I will kill you!" Feng Zicai sent a commander of all departments at this time: "If you retreat, no matter what general or army, you will be punished!" He also set up checkpoints in various routes to block deserters. Feng Zicai and Wang Xiaoqi did what they said, and those who dared to escape would be beheaded regardless of their official rank. For a time, the morale of the army was greatly shocked and morale increased greatly.

The French offensives were always very fierce, sometimes approaching the long wall, or even climbing up the long wall. Seeing this, Feng Zicai was getting stronger and stronger. He shouted with his spear, led his two sons to jump out of the long wall, rushed into the enemy formation, and launched a hand-to-hand combat. Seeing the commander leading the army, the soldiers of the army opened the gate and rushed towards the enemy. As soon as the French were hit by a stick, they began to retreat and were defeated and were knocked down into the valley.

At noon, the Feng army of the fifth battalion, who came to reinforce from Kobo, rushed into Longmen Pass from Mosha Village, led by the guerrilla Yang Ruishan, Dusi Mai Fengbiao and others, suddenly appeared behind the French army, giving unexpected blows to the attacking enemy. After a fierce desperate battle, the French army retreated back to the valley in a panic. While fighting fiercely in front of the pass, Chen Jia and Jiang Zonghan led their troops to repeatedly compete for the three forts in Dongling occupied by the French army. During the period of seven ups and seven downs, Chen Jia was injured four times. Until the evening, after defeating the enemy's reinforcements and eliminating their transport team, Wang Debang's troops attacked the French army's right side from outside the pass, and cooperated with the Dongling defenders to regain all the enemy-occupied forts.

At this time, Wang Xiaoqi's troops had also repelled the enemy attacking along Xiling and surrounded the enemy's rear from Xiling. The French army was surrounded on three sides, with many casualties, and there were too few support, and the ammunition was about to be exhausted, and the entire line began to collapse. So, Negri had to order the retreat. The French army left hundreds of corpses and fled back to Wenyuan in a panic.

In the Zhennan Pass, nearly a thousand elite enemy troops were killed and wounded, and a large number of guns, cannons and dry food were seized. On the same day, the Qing army on the Western Front won victory in Lintao under the command of Cen Yuying, and the situation in the war in Tokichi took a fundamental change.

After the French army on the eastern front was defeated by Zhennan Pass, the number was less than 2,000, and they were resting in Wenyuan. Negri felt that it was not safe, so he ordered the main force to retreat to Lang Son in a hurry and meet with reinforcements that had already arrived there, and the total number increased to about 4,500.

Feng Zicai did not give the defeated enemy a chance to breathe. On March 26, he personally led his troops and Wang Xiaoqi's troops out of seclusion to attack Wenyuan, and notified Wang Debang's troops to copy the enemy's right wing from Xiaolu. Wenyuan defended the enemy and went to fight in full swing. After a while, the enemy's leader was shot and dropped. The rest of the people fled. The Qing army immediately recovered Wenyuan. The Yuenan Rebel Army, who was ordered by Feng Zicai, also increased the harassment from Lang Shan to Nayang, Tunmei and other traffic lines, posed a great threat to the rear of the French army.

Negri tried to defend Lang Son, waited for more reinforcements to arrive and invaded Zhennan Pass again, and made three arrangements: First, the main force guarded a high ground north of the donkey to ensure that the donkey was driven and blocked Lang Son. Second, a force was placed on the south bank of the Qi River, and was divided into the main traffic road leading to Gu Song and Tun Mei. Third, the old and weak soldiers were organized into a "castle squad" and stationed at the Liangshan city walls and bunkers.

Feng Zicai, considering that Lang San was a key military land in northern Vietnam, would be difficult to achieve a breakthrough if he did not rush to attack first. He also believed that the French army was defeated in all battles and was already scared. Instead of attacking more openly, it was easier to achieve success in secret than taking more soldiers. Therefore, in Wenyuan, he secretly negotiated with Su Yuanchun and others, and finally decided to use the right troops to attack and drive the donkeys and send out surprise troops to secretly capture Lang San.

On March 27, Feng Zicai sent Yang Ruishan to lead his troops to detour, cross the Qi River at night, and sneaked to Langshan at dusk the next day, scattered everywhere outside the city.

On March 28, Feng Zicai, Su Yuanchun, Wang Debang, and Wang Xiaoqi advanced forward in sequence, forcing the attack and driving the donkey in three ways: Feng Zicai, Su Yuanchun led the main force to attack the front; Wang Xiaoqi's troops and Feng's troops attacked the west; Wang Debang's troops attacked the east. The French army relied on the solid fortifications in the highlands on the north side of the donkey and resisted stubbornly, preventing the Qing army's attack. Given that his left wing and frontal positions were solid, and the eastern terrain was difficult to defend, Nigri decided to lead a unit of his army to launch a counterattack to the Wang Debang's troops in the east.

At around 2 pm, Feng and Su took advantage of the enemy's mobilization of troops and their frontal defense was weakened and launched another fierce attack. During the fierce battle, Nigri was seriously injured in the chest. Elmingja, who succeeded to command, immediately ordered a retreat to the south bank of the Qijiang River. The defenders of Langshan cut off the floating bridge in panic, causing some French troops to drown in the water during the escape. After that, the French retreated into Langshan City and immediately deployed a retreat south in two routes.

At dawn on March 29, the main force of the Qing army crossed the Qi River and advanced towards Langshan. Before that, Yang Ruishan's troops, who were ambushing outside the city, took advantage of the French army's sleeping opportunity and suddenly launched an attack. The French army in the city responded in a hurry, and there was chaos. Yang Ruishan and others led the battalions, brave and ants to join us, split the city gate, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the French army. The French army rushed to fight, and suffered many casualties, and the remaining troops fled south. The Qing army pursued for more than 20 miles, searched the mountains while advancing, and captured many enemies from the valley.

During the process of defeating Langshan, the Qing army killed and wounded nearly a thousand French troops and seized a large amount of weapons and supplies. Yang Ruishan's troops alone captured more than 30 large and small artillery pieces. After Langshan was defeated, the Qing army took advantage of the victory and chased southward from east to west.

On March 31, Chen Jia's troops on the East Road and Wang Debang's troops conquered Gusong, and one of Feng's troops on the West Road defeated Tunmei and advanced to Langjia. The French army was like a frightened bird, fled to Langjia and the bow of the ship in one breath.

Seeing that the situation was getting better, the Vietnamese rebels who were originally waiting and watching began to join in, while the rebels who were originally ordered by Feng Zicai were active more frequently.

Huang Tingjing, the governor of Beining, gathered more than 20,000 charity people from all walks of life, established the Feng army's banner, volunteered to pick rice, serve as a guide, followed the army to assist in the suppression, or attacked in different ways. People in Hanoi, Haiyang, Taiyuan, Saigon and other places also planned uprisings, hoping that the Qing army would move south as soon as possible to drive away the French invaders.

Feng Zicai decided to personally lead the entire army on the eastern front to attack Beining and Hanoi in mid-April. Tang Jingsong's subordinates were also preparing to go out to herd horses and attack Taiyuan. Guangdong was preparing to send troops out of Qinzhou and attack Guang'an along the east coast of Toki. More than 30 battalions of livestock troops from Bao Chao's troops were advancing towards Longzhou and ready to enter Vietnam at any time. The Yunnan army on the western front had also defeated Guangwei and other places and was developing an attack towards Xinghua.

On the evening of March 27, French Prime Minister Rufeli, who was in Paris, was a little anxious and his secretary walked in with a pale face.

"How is the battle?" Ru Feili asked, already having an extremely bad premonition in her heart.

"Defeated..."

Ru Feili couldn't believe it, and seemed to have lost all her strength in an instant, and sat on the chair with no choice.

"Mr. Prime Minister..." the secretary called.

After a long time, Ru Feili, who was already distracted, finally had a slight reaction and said hoarsely: "What should we do?"
Chapter completed!