The Dingyuan warship was personally guarded by Admiral Ding Ruchang.
After a year of intensive training, Ding Ruchang's naval command ability had made a qualitative leap and successfully transformed. In addition, Lin Taisheng, Deng Shichang, and other outstanding naval forces returned to the navy.
A large number of live-fire drills had also allowed their originally unfamiliar skills to rapidly improve.
However, ten years of land force and a hundred years of navy force, without the test of a real war, no one could tell the direction of a naval battle.
The ship whistled and the flag bearers on the ship kept sending flag signals, exchanging information with each other as they slowly left the port...
It had been some time since the declaration of war against France. The armies of various places had been constantly mobilized. The key forts along the coast, such as Dinghai, Qingdao, and Dagukou, had been strengthened.
All the sailors received orders to be on standby. On the official road to the south of Yue, military flags were fluttering, and horses were galloping. Large groups of people were advancing quickly towards the border between China and the south of Yue…
The current governor of Guangxi was Xu Yanxu. Huang Guilan, the general of the Huai Army, was appointed as the commander of the left army and Zhao Wo, the commander of the right army. Set up defense in Beining, Longzhou and Liangshan. Before the new army arrived, the three of them were in charge of the southwest.
Liangshan Camp.
"Sir, Liu Yongfu is here. Do you want to meet him?”
Huang Guiran strode into the tent and cupped his hands.
"Humph! Traitor! He went to Annan and was appointed as the governor of a lower country! Don't you know what kind of person you are?”
Xu Yanxu and Zhao Wo were chatting happily when they heard Huang Guilan's words, but their expressions changed and they cursed.
"The Emperor declared war on the French, and Li Zhongtang sent a letter asking us to fight against the French. It seems that this war is unavoidable. I really don't know what these people are doing.”
Zhao Wo said unhappily. He and Xu Yanxu were both civil officials. Although they had some understanding of the surrounding situation, they did not want to fight this battle.
However, Yue Nan Wang has sent people to ask us to send troops time and time again. Are we really not going to send people over? What if the Imperial Court investigated?“
Huang Guilan said worriedly.
Now that the whole country is in an uproar, our Qing Dynasty has no choice but to start a war. When the French really attack, they will know how powerful they are!”
"Don't move, you must protect North Tranquility! This way, we won't have anything to use against others.“
As for that Liu Yongfu, you don't have to pay attention to him. He's just a tough bandit. After winning a few times, he really thinks he's something!“
Xu Yanxu said with a frown.
"Yes, sir! With this humble official here, I will certainly ensure that Beining will not be lost!“
Huang Guilan replied. Although he was quite good at leading troops, he had not fought for a long time after destroying Taiping Country. The corruption of his soldiers was serious. He also knew what kind of people his subordinates were. He really did not dare to go out of the city to fight the French.
By the end of 1883, the French had conquered most of Nanqi, Zhongqi, and Beiqi. Only Liu Yongfu's Shansi and Beining, which was defended by the Qing army, remained intact.
If the two places were lost, the entire territory would fall, and North Tranquility would directly lead to Liangshan and threaten the important town of Zhennan Pass on the Chinese side.
Once the Southern Mountain's City was breached, the entire southwest gate would be exposed to the claws of the French.
half a month later
The French army once again gathered their forces and charged straight for Shanxi. The entire atmosphere became tense.
This time, Vice-Admiral Guba took over the position of Commander of the French Army, Li Weili. He was appointed as the commander of the French Far East Combined Fleet and led 20,000 soldiers to reinforce Annan.
With the addition of the colonial armies from all over the world and Annan's local army, the total number of French troops in Annan reached a terrifying 80,000.
"I really have to thank these yellow-skinned monkeys for their arrogance. Otherwise, I wouldn't have left that damn place in Africa!”
Gu Ba looked at the lush flowers and trees on both sides of the road and greedily breathed in the fresh air.
Originally, he had been leading the expeditionary army to fight in Africa and served as the governor of New Caledonia. However, everyone knew that the damned place in Africa was not suitable for humans to stay in. All these years, he had been in deep trouble.
Their target this time was the important town that Liu Yongfu was defending, Shanxi.
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