Due to the all-out defense this time, the strength of the defenders of Shanxi City should not be underestimated, and the main force is about 5,000 people in the 12th battalion of the Black Flag Army under Liu Renyi, including more than 2,000 people in the old battalion. At the same time, there were as many as 7,000 Vietnamese officers and troops originally stationed in Shanxi, and Huang Zuoyan, the commander of Beiqi, still had 2,000 Vietnamese troops left in his hands at this time. However, except for Huang Zuoyan, who had a close personal relationship with Liu Renyi, he could still rely on auxiliary tasks such as maintaining the grain road behind him, and the 7,000 Vietnamese officers and troops in Shanxi City could not be counted on. The reason is very simple, the Vietnamese court ordered to stop being the enemy of the French army, and at the same time the edict of expelling the Black Flag Army has been communicated to all towns in Beiqi, these 7,000 Vietnamese troops can maintain neutrality when the French army comes to attack, and it is enough to not attack the French army inside and outside, how dare they do not think about them extraordinarily? In addition, Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, sent 6 battalions of the Yunnan army, and 6 battalions of the Guangxi Gui army were ordered by Zhao Wo to reinforce Shanxi. These 12 battalions add up to nearly 6,000 people, and they also wear the uniforms of the Black Flag Army and carry the banner of the Black Flag Army. In this way, the number of defenders available in Shanxi City reached more than 12,000 people.

Considering the on-the-ground supply capacity of Shanxi City, these garrisons are not small. In addition, Cen Yuying also secretly received several batches of ammunition and food from the Black Flag Army, including more than 40 mountain-splitting guns with the handwriting of craftsmen produced in Yunnan that had been eradicated and one 120-mm Armstrong breech gun purchased from British merchants. As a result, the weapons and equipment of the Black Flag Army have been significantly improved, and considering the poor logistical supply situation of the Beiqi Cadre Army, such assistance is not small.

Since the river embankment fortress is Liu Renyi's key defense project, if the river embankment fortress is lost, Shanxi City itself will lose the meaning of guarding. Because the French army that controlled the river embankment could bring up their river gunboats and bombard the entire Shanxi city with impunity. Its terrifying and dense firepower was enough to reduce the fortifications painstakingly managed by the Shanxi defenders to pieces of scorched earth. Therefore. The garrison of the embankment fortress amounted to 7 battalions. They are the right battalion of the Black Flag Army, the Wulie Battalion, the Seven Star Battalion and the Li Yingzhang battalion of the Gui Army. Among them, 4 battalions (the front battalion, the left battalion, the main battalion, and the deputy battalion of the Black Flag Army) guarded the east gate of Shanxi; One and a half battalions (Li Tang Battalion of the Black Flag Army and half a battalion of Jia Wengui of the Gui Army) guarded the west gate, and the south gate was guarded by the 3rd battalion of the Yunnan Army. Huang Zuoyan's 2,000 Vietnamese troops were scattered in the countryside outside the south gate of Shanxi City. Liu Renyi sat in the city of Shanxi, and commanded the battle in an 18-meter-high tower overlooking the entire battlefield. Lin Yuansheng, the general office of the Guijun Camp Office, took 100 personal soldiers to sit in the inner city.

In addition, due to the support of the Dian Army and the Gui Army, Liu Renyi ordered the cadres who had previously worn the uniforms of the Black Flag Army and fought under the banner of the Black Flag Army to change back into the uniforms of the regular army, and raised the flag of the Great Cadre Army in the city of Shanxi, "Queue for three days to show that it is the place where our army is stationed, and the crime will go to war!" That is, to put pressure on the French, who have not yet officially declared war on the Great Qianguo: you attack Shanxi. It's like going to war with the Great Qian Empire.

On December 11, 9083, a proclamation about the standard of rewards for beheading French soldiers was posted all over the city of Shanxi, and in order to boost the morale of the Black Flag Army, Liu Renyi still offered money as a magic weapon.

"The three Xuan admirals of military affairs and righteous men Liu (Baron Liu Renyi) are hereby listed in the following for each reward of silver for each of the leaders of the bandit party in the battle: the head of the righteous French bandits (white soldiers in France) in the battle, each of which is rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, and those who have paintings (armbands) will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver for each painting; In battle, he won the heads of bandits from Phnom Penh and Aliga countries (Cambodian and Algerian "Zuaf" mercenary soldiers), and each was rewarded with 50 taels of silver; In the battle, he won the head of the Jiading ghost (a mercenary soldier of Jiaozhizhina), and each was rewarded with forty taels of silver; In the battle, he won the head of Zuomin (Christian), and each one was rewarded with ten taels of silver. ”

When Liu Renyi was desperately busy defending Shanxi. The French were not idle either.

Despite boasting that the Battle of Danfeng had turned into a great victory, General Bohua knew in his heart what was going on. Two successive attacks on the Black Flag Army ended in vain. There were already a lot of "rumors" within the French army, coupled with the constant "slander" of He Luozhen, Bo Hua thought that it was necessary to use a "real victory" to stop He Luozhen's mouth and stabilize his position. Therefore, he decided to launch another large-scale attack on the Black Flag Army, and the target was Shanxi City, which was heavily defended by the Black Flag Army.

This time, the wave slip changed the previous casual style, and in order to attack Shanxi smoothly, the preparation of the wave slip was not fine. Through his previous careful exploration of the course of the Red River, he found a route that could be navigated by gunboats in December. This meant that the powerful could enter and exit the Red River at will within this section to provide heavy fire support for the attacking French army. Moreover, Bo Slip learned the lessons of the last few gunboats, and modified all the gunboats in his hand, and equipped each gunboat with a different number of Haqikais machine guns, and strengthened the melee firepower.

On December 11, when Liu Renyi issued the reward standard, after the soldiers and logistics were ready, Bo Hua led the troops out of Hanoi and drove all the way to Shanxi. One way is the waterway, and dozens of river gunboats and civilian ships of the Far East Fleet are mighty all the way up the Honghe; The other road is a land route, crossing the Red River through Danfeng County and approaching Shanxi.

This time, the plan was to make a feint attack by land and outflank by water, relying on the firepower of the river fleet, which was not available on the part of the Black Flag Army and the cadre army.

However, due to the fact that the draft of the flagship of the Far Eastern Fleet "Baya" is too deep, no matter how to lose weight and enter the Red River, it is also wishful thinking. Therefore, the gunboat "Ju Dove" was designated as a temporary flagship by Bohua, in order to follow the whole force and command the whole situation.

From the sequence of the French army's operation, it is not difficult to see that Bo Slip made full and careful preparations for this military operation, and both columns were equipped with telegraph and telegraph squads to ensure smooth communication, and the accompanying army also had field ambulance teams to deal with casualties on the battlefield. From this, it is not difficult to see that this time Wave Slip is very determined to "complete the battle".

In the early morning of December 11, the land column commanded by Colonel Belan marched along the highway from Hanoi to Shanxi and officially began to attack Shanxi; At the same time, Colonel Bishuo's waterway column, carried by steamer, successfully arrived at the confluence of the Red River and its tributary, the Dihe, at 3 p.m. on the same day, and landed at 6 p.m. The troops were instructed to go two or three kilometers ahead to set up a cordon and then arrange camping. Wait for the Beran column to cross the bottom river. Will attack Shanxi.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and after the Beran column arrived on the other side of the river, it encountered a lot of trouble, and when it arrived, it was already late at night when he could not see his fingers, and Colonel Belan, in order to quickly meet with the Bishuo column, ordered to build a simple bridge to cross the river overnight. The sappers worked all night to build a wooden bridge over the river. After receiving the report of the success of the Belan column in building the bridge, Bo Slip ordered the Bishuo column to advance slowly to Shanxi City first, and ordered the Belan column to quickly cross the river and catch up as quickly as possible. But the unexpected happened at this critical moment: perhaps the late night construction affected the quality of the project. When the soldiers of the Beran column had just stepped on the new bridge, they heard only a "sparse commotion" - the pontoon bridge had collapsed! Fortunately, there was no one on the collapsed part, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. However, due to the "tofu scum project" of this sapper, it was impossible for the Beran column to catch up with the Bishuo column on time anyway.

After receiving the news, Bo Slip reluctantly ordered the Bishuo column to stop advancing again and wait for the Beran column to cross the river, he knew very well that the plan to attack Shanxi City that day was in vain, and at this time the Beran column had lost confidence in the safety of the improvised bridge and the quality of the construction of the engineer unit, and the commander, Colonel Belan, for the sake of the soldiers' lives and even his own life, decided to use a much slower but safer method to cross the bottom river -- relying on a few wooden boats found nearby, the entire Belan column began to send people to the other side of the bottom river one by one. It was grinding until noon on December 13. The Beran column had only crossed the bottom river in its entirety. Looking at the embarrassed Beran column, Bo Slip once again reluctantly ordered: the attack on Shanxi was postponed for another day. Postponed to December 14.

At 9 o'clock in the morning of December 14, 9083, the Shanxi offensive and defensive battle officially began, and the French land column under the command of Colonel Belan attacked the Fusha Village fortress in the east of the river embankment fortress under the cover of the fierce naval guns of the Far East Fleet and the fire of the five-barreled machine guns of Haqikais. Liu Renyi, who was sitting in the 18-meter-high tower, was not slow to react, and transferred the old battalion of the Third Battalion of the Black Flag Army, Wu Fengdian's left battalion, Huang Shouzhong's right battalion, and Zhu Bingqing's Wu Wei deputy battalion, which were originally defending the east gate, to launch a counterattack, and the counterattack points selected were also quite level. About 2,000 Black Flag troops were inserted straight between the French on land and the gunboats on the waterways for flanking attacks. For a time, the fierce artillery fire of the French River Fleet suddenly lost its target, and they ceased fire one after another, for fear of accidentally injuring their own people. British military correspondent Scott commented: "Their (referring to the Black Flag Army) was cleverly designed, and the cadres were between the French army and the fleet, so the fleet did not dare to fire ......."

However, Wave Slip's reaction was not slow, and he immediately ordered the land column to stop advancing and move to the defense on the spot, giving full play to the superiority of the French army's firepower. At this time, the value of the modification of those gunboats of the Far Eastern Fleet was fully manifested. In the mast mounted on the mast of the warship, the machine gunners shook the handle that drove the barrel rotation on the 40 mm five-barreled gun of Habqikais like clockwork, and the five barrels rotated at high speed, and the dense fire was poured on the rushing Black Flag Army. "With such fierce firepower, I'm afraid that even a well-trained soldier can't be calm!" The Black Flag Army had never encountered such a dense firepower cover, and the ferocious counter-attack collapsed in an instant, and the three most combat-effective Black Flag old battalions were scattered in an instant. Two subsequent counterattacks were also futile.

While the Black Flag reinforcements were repulsed by the French, the Black Flag Army in Fusha Village was quickly defeated by the bayonet charge of the Algerian indigenous infantry under the command of Major Jono (the French bayonet tactics worked again). At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Fusha Fortress, which was crucial to Shanxi City, was lost.

Hearing that the fortress of the river embankment and the fortress of Fusha Village were lost, Lin Yuansheng in Shanxi City was taken aback, and his first reaction was to take the fortress back. Liu Renyi attributed the failure of the Black Flag Army of the three battalions to rescue the Fusha Fortress to the ineffective command of Wu Fengdian, Huang Shouzhong and Zhu Bingqing, and the three naturally could not accept this accusation, and the Black Flag Army generals were already arguing. In Lin Yuansheng's eyes, the Black Flag Army at this time was no longer available, and only the Gui Army was left to launch a counterattack.

Under Lin Yuansheng's promise of "those who climb the river embankment first, quasi-conservative guerrillas" and double the bounty for cutting the head of a legal person, a Gui army death squad was quickly organized. At about 1 o'clock in the morning of December 15th, the moonlight was exceptionally bright, and the temporary camp of the French army in Fusha Village, which had been a camp of the Black Flag Army a day earlier, was suddenly attacked by the fire of the "Hale" rocket (imitated by the Jinling Machinery Bureau)! Subsequently, a large number of cadres and soldiers rushed into the French positions after destroying the outer obstacles. But then he was stopped by the equally brave French Foreign Legion; Then he puffed up again and rushed in a second time. and was stopped by these North African Zuaf soldiers wearing Little Red Riding Hoods, bloomers, and curved daggers at their waists; The cadres who were unwilling to give up again launched a third attack. But it still fell short under the dense defensive fire of the French army. A total of 40 Zuaf soldiers and 15 French naval landing team soldiers were captured alive, and after these North Africans and whites were taken back to the camp of the cadre army, not one of them was beheaded according to the tradition of the cadres treating prisoners of war.

"I'm afraid Shanxi can't hold it!" Looking at the retreating brigade of Gui Army, Liu Renyi couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh.

Hearing Liu Renyi's words, Huang Shouzhong, Wu Fengdian, Zhu Bingqing and other Black Flag Army generals also showed panic.

Today is a veritable nightmare for all of them.

Iwao Konno held up his binoculars. Observing the battlefield carefully, and seeing the corpses of the soldiers of the Black Flag Army and the Gui Army scattered all over the battlefield, he couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh.

He didn't expect that the French army's offensive would be so fierce, and the artillery fire would be so powerful, especially the machine guns, which could cause such heavy casualties to the Black Flag Army.

But through careful observation, he also saw that the French army defending Fusha Village was attacked by the cadres three times in succession, and the casualties were certainly not small.

Do you want to attack again?

He knew that the Fusha fortress and the river embankment defense line were of great importance to Shanxi City. If we can't retake the sand fortress and the embankment defense line tonight, it will be dawn. The French army will launch an attack on the west gate of Shanxi City, because there is a gap of more than 30 meters wide in the wall of the west gate, so it is the most difficult to defend, once the French army breaks through, Shanxi City will not be exempt from the fate of falling.

What to do?

Iwao Konno had a brain teaser and thought about what to do.

The main reason why the Black Flag Army and the Cadre Army failed in the three counterattacks was that the French army's machine gun firepower was too strong, and the French army's bayonet fighting tactics were too powerful, and the Black Flag Army, which was originally good at close combat, could not be compared with the cadre army at all.

The superiority of the French army is such that what is the advantage of the Black Flag Army and the cadre army?

The advantage of the Black Flag Army and the Cadre Army was their large numbers, and as a defensive side, they had strong fortifications, as well as heavy artillery.

Iwao Konno's mind suddenly flashed like lightning!

That 120mm Armstrong breech cannon!

In Konno Iwao's opinion, the most powerful weapons of the Black Flag Army are the two 80mm Armstrong breech guns and the 120 mm breech cannons produced by the same company as the gift from Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. Now that the fortress has been lost, the two 80mm guns have fallen into the hands of the French army (the French army did not use them in the battle just now, and they should have broken down), and the 120mm cannon was placed in the city and was not able to participate in the battle.

Iwao Konno thought of it because of an experience he had during the Southwest War.

On that occasion, they encountered the night attack of the Satsuma army, and those fierce samurai, who were already short of ammunition, actually pushed a 120 mm Armstrong breech cannon taken from the Japanese government army to the front of the battle with amazing perseverance under the cover of night, bombarded the position defended by Iwao Konno's troops, and took the opportunity to break in when the defenders were in chaos, and started a white-knuckle battle!

If it weren't for the fact that they didn't have many shells and were outnumbered, they would probably have succeeded this time, and Iwao Konno would probably not be standing here.

Thinking of this, he had an idea.

"There are not many Fayi, our army has attacked repeatedly, and they must have suffered a lot of casualties, and it is estimated that there will not be much ammunition." Iwao Konno suggested to Liu Renyi, "If we attack again, we will definitely be able to recapture the river embankment and the village." ”

"Another attack?" Liu Renyi turned his head sharply and stared at Iwao Konno, "Iwamatsu, do you think you can take down the village and the river embankment by attacking again?" ”

"Yes." Iwao Konno nodded and said his plan, "We brought the ocean cannon in the city, pushed it to the front of the formation by taking advantage of the night, and approached the bombardment, the French army guarding the floating sand has run out of ammunition, and if it is suddenly bombarded, it will definitely be chaotic, then our army can rush in and recapture the position." ”

"But the French gunboats are still on the river, and the artillery fire is fierce and difficult to control, and when our army counterattacks, it will suffer greatly, and if we see our army attacking at night, we will inevitably be repulsed in the end." Huang Shouzhong pointed in the direction of the river, where the figure of the French gunboat could be faintly seen.

"Hit them with rockets first, push the ocean cannon at the gate, and bombard the French gunboats first." Liu Renyi looked at the river and clenched his fists, "Gather the mountain-splitting cannons and bombard Fusha Village and the river embankment according to what Yan Song said." ”

Hearing that Liu Renyi had made appropriate changes to his battle plan, Iwao Konno knew that Liu Renyi was planning to fight again.

"The range of the rocket is too close, and the rate of fire of the ocean cannon is slow, I am afraid that it will not be able to hit them, but it will destroy them all." Wu Fengdian said with some frustration. (To be continued.) )

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