Chapter 35: The Downfall of the French Expeditionary Forces

  When the news of the Tonkin Campaign reached France, it caused a national outcry. The following month (August 1883), the French government hastily appointed Courbet as Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Squadron, replacing Admiral Meyer who took over command of the Expeditionary Corps.

  By the end of June 1883, troops from France, southern Vietnam and Tonkin were concentrated at Hanoi in preparation for a major campaign against the Black Flag Army.

  At this time, the total number of French troops in Vietnam surged to over 12,000, with nearly 20 warships. This force was a super army in Southeast Asia at that time.

  July 18, 1983 was a Sunday in the Western world. All departments generally rested on Sundays, but Mieu was eager to avenge the Trung Doan army and demonstrate his ability, ordering troops to advance into northern Vietnam in three parts.

  The naval force was led by Admiral Courbet, commander of the French Far East Squadron, and advanced on the Hanoi-Haiphong defensive line, preparing to bombard the city of Hanoi and the base of the Black Flag Army.

  The land route was divided into two parts, with the vanguard of over 8,000 people leading the way and opening up the road, while the rear consisted of around 1,000 logistics and artillery troops, moving in the direction of Hanoi, forming a pincer movement against the Zhongyong Army on both land and water.

  When the French expeditionary force of about 8,000 men led by Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny rushed to a nameless mountainous area 50 kilometers south of Hanoi, they found that the road was sandwiched between two not-too-large hills. He did not send anyone to scout on the hill, but ordered the whole army to pass through the relatively wider mountain road.

  However, just as they were about to pass through the mountain road, they found that the exit ahead was blocked by countless dense iron wire meshes. The gaps between the iron wire meshes were very large, and some even had crisscrossing trenches behind them.

  Mile knew that they had encountered an ambush, but he was very confident because he found that the enemy army in front of him was not too many, and there seemed to be no big guns. These stupid yellow-skinned pigs were given guns and cannons, but they didn't know how to use them! What's the use of these nets and ditches?

  The French army charged forward, but behind the first few rows of barbed wire, there were no trenches or enemy troops, and they were too far away from the rear positions. Mireau was delighted and ordered: just tear open a road on the barbed wire that allows the troops to pass safely, he didn't ask the French soldiers to waste their efforts destroying all the barbed wire.

  When they arrived at the empty area in the middle, something unexpected happened. They were suddenly hit by heavy weapons that appeared in front of them, and large-scale artillery bombardment also appeared on the mountainsides on both sides of the road. Mile was immediately stunned, how could there be artillery fire? And it's still a large-caliber artillery.

  In a state of panic, General Mielle hastily ordered his troops to counterattack and prepare the rear guard to become the vanguard, retreating to organize a defense. However, the few rows of barbed wire in the rear that Mielle had previously ignored suddenly became an insurmountable obstacle blocking their retreat, where previously undiscovered French troops and trenches appeared.

  And also set up dozens of heavy machine guns, these are the trenches paved with planks, when the French army passes through and the battle begins in front, the troops hiding underneath immediately pull away the planks on top of the trench, set up light and heavy weapons, blocking the French army's retreat route. This idea is a tactic that often appears in the StarCraft game, borrowed by Zhou Yu.

  They were ambushed by a mixed force of 30,000 troops from the Second and Third Group Armies of Zhongyongjun, led by Wu Fengdian and Huang Shoucheng respectively.

  In the last war against the French army, Yang Zuo's unit ended the battle in a beautiful and victorious way, like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Only during the street fighting, more than 10 people were killed or wounded. The military department commended the entire army for their collective second-class merit, which made Wu Fengdian and Huang Shouzhen extremely jealous.

  This time's ambush, the two of them said they would definitely participate in the war, so Zhou Yu had no choice but to compromise and let each of them bring half of their elite troops to join the battle, which made Yang Zhenen furious. This was a big battle with more than 10,000 people! He could only watch from the side, how could he not be angry? But being angry is useless, facts are facts.

  When Wu Fengdian saw that the French army had completely fallen into the trap, he secretly let out a sigh of relief, and at the same time, he was also full of suspicion towards Zhou Yu. Mireau was a general of France, how could Zhou Yu know so clearly about Mireau's adventurous personality, and be so familiar with the route of the French army's march, their weapons, and personnel configuration?

  Moreover, it is extremely targeted, setting up such a ring mountain array. In Wu Fengdian's view, it is full of loopholes. No one will see that it is an ambush location and still rush in, unless he is a fool.

  And Mi Le was like a fool, knowing that there were tigers in the mountains, he still went to the tiger mountain. It seemed like Mi Le and Zhou Yu were performing according to a well-written script.

  If it were said that Huang Feihong's Intelligence Department had intelligence, Wu Fengdian wouldn't believe it at all. How could the personnel of the Intelligence Department possibly infiltrate the high levels of the French army?

  Is it possible that the principal has informants outside of Zhongyong Army, otherwise these inexplicable phenomena cannot be explained.

  On the observation deck in front of the command post at zero hour, Huang Shouzhong smiled at Wu Fengdian's soulless body and said: Hehe, Old Wu! Look, the French are really obedient. They completely followed the principal's arrangement to act, just like they had rehearsed it beforehand.

  Yes! I was also very surprised when the principal made such arrangements, and I was worried at that time! If the French army did not enter the ambush circle but turned to deal with our artillery positions, the consequences would be unthinkable. Now that they have entered the pot, why should we be polite? Wu Fengdian said with emotion.

  Alright! Let's get started then! My brothers have been waiting for a whole day, in this godforsaken place Vietnam, the mosquitoes can bite you to death, it's better to finish early! Huang Shouzhong put down his binoculars and said hastily.

  Alright! Then let's blow the military horn! If we wait any longer, the mice will escape. However, unfortunately, the principal doesn't allow us to annihilate the enemy army, only requiring our army to intimidate the enemy and prioritize surrender. What a pity! Seeing that it was almost done, Wu Fengdian said with a relaxed and regretful tone.

  What a pity! It's really a waste of such a big fat piece of meat! As he spoke, Huang Shouzhen gave the order to attack to his deputy officer beside him.

  The long-awaited Huaxia Zhongyong Army immediately welcomed the Mira Corps in their own special way.

  The nearly ten thousand strong expeditionary force of Milne was sandwiched between the barbed wire and trench fields in a specially reserved super-large open space, which was impassable for entry and exit. It really fulfilled an old Chinese saying: An old cow wore a nose rope - can't run away.

  Without the support of artillery fire, the French army, facing geographical and numerical disadvantages, only put up a weak resistance for half an hour before being forced to surrender. The French suffered nearly a thousand casualties, with the rest taken prisoner, including General de Négrier, commander of the expeditionary corps.

  This is still due to Zhou Yu's intention, otherwise the French army would have been doomed. Zhou Yu was afraid of pushing France too hard, after all, he wasn't the German Empire! But there was no absolute capital to play with extravagance.

  Due to Mi Le's haste for revenge and underestimation of enemy intelligence, he committed a fatal low-level mistake:

  Without sending out reconnaissance troops, without the cover of powerful artillery fire, encountering unexpected situations with disdain, and advancing recklessly, he was overconfident, underestimating the loyalty and bravery of his army.

  Moreover, the subsequent artillery units did not fire a single shot and only engaged in a relatively small-scale firefight before being completely controlled by the fully armed and equipped special forces of the Zhongyong Army and Liu Chengliang's guard division. The entire French army was annihilated. In this battle, the French army was once again defeated.

  At that time, the French army's rear logistics team, because there were their own troops in front of them, had not thought at all that they would be ambushed, and even no sentry was dispatched. They advanced towards Hanoi in a leisurely manner until they were surrounded by the Zhongyong Army.

  They thought the vanguard of the Miao army had been annihilated, otherwise how could the enemy appear again. Moreover, at that time, the French who resisted were suppressed by the other side with advanced weapons such as small cannons, hand grenades and light and heavy machine guns that they had never seen before, and they no longer had the courage to resist.

  This situation, Liu Chengliang was so angry that he couldn't help but feel that his comrades could launch a large-scale war, how did it end up being so miserable for himself? The French army is really not worth fighting, they surrendered after just two shots, with over a thousand casualties! Although it's close combat and the artillery can't be used, at least put up some decent resistance! Winning like this is really meaningless.

  He also didn't think that if there were no advanced weapons, his army would have to pay how many lives to achieve the purpose of victory.

  At that time, he wanted to order the shooting of prisoners, but in the end, reason overcame impulse and he endured it. He didn't want to be punished by his teacher for a momentary pleasure.

  Mi Le paid a heavy price for his rashness and underestimation of the enemy, as well as incomplete intelligence.

  Zhou Yu used the trench warfare tactics of World War I, which made the entire Zhongyong Army look at him with admiration for his wisdom. At this time, a rumor was circulating quietly within the Zhongyong Army that Zhou Yu was the incarnation of the Wenqu Star from heaven. As a result, the upper and lower levels of the Zhou Yu Group regarded Zhou Yu as the savior of the Huaxia tribe, and they became even more united and cohesive, with morale reaching an all-time high.

  The French fleet, the Far Eastern Squadron of France, advanced towards Hanoi along the coast from Hu?. In the Gulf of Tonkin (also known as the North Bay of Vietnam), they encountered two small torpedo boats and were fired upon before Admiral Gueydon could give the order to counterattack; the enemy quickly escaped in a northeasterly direction.

  To prevent the fleet from being attacked again, Admiral Gobat immediately ordered to contract the formation and pursue the enemy at full speed.

  Report to Commander, enemy ships have been lured into our torpedo ambush by Lieutenant Li Yong's fast torpedo boat.

  The report from the observation post made Ye Fu's mouth slightly curl up, and his admiration for Zhou Yu at this time was like the Yangtze River, endless. This large-scale minefield was arranged by Zhou Yu.

  Generally, it is not good to lay mines in deep water areas. Zhou Yu adopted the technique of laying mines that was used later. Fortunately, this area is close to the coastline and the seawater is not too deep, making it easy to implement Zhou Yu's mine-laying plan.

  Because Zhou Yu didn't want to: engage in a large-scale frontal naval battle before his own navy was truly powerful. He knew that his navy was still very weak and couldn't withstand damage.

  Order, Tian Ergou's submarine squadron releases torpedoes, blocking the pocket.

  Order all naval fleets to advance at full speed and form a encirclement five thousand meters outside the torpedo encirclement circle, requiring the complete annihilation of the enemy fleet.

  With Ye Fu's order, the Zhongyong Army naval fleet, which had been wandering outside the Tokyo Bay minefield, immediately accelerated and advanced towards the minefield.

  At this time, the commander of the French fleet, Bouvet, was very puzzled. He had ordered a pursuit, but did not know where they came from, and two small torpedo boats began 20 minutes later.

  Two of our own warships were damaged, the two small ironclad gunboats that charged to the front were attacked by underwater unexploded ordnance and were blown high out of the water. The two gunboats were split in two by the powerful explosion and sank within two minutes, all officers and men on board were killed.

  At first he thought it was an ambush by a submarine, but after the third gunboat was lost, he discovered that he had been lured into a minefield.

  Just as he was about to discover and prepare to break through with artillery, he was hit by more than a dozen large-caliber enemy ironclad ships. The enemy had two battleships that were larger and more advanced in technology than those of France.

  The enemy was outside the effective range of our artillery fire and subjected us to intense shelling.

  This time the world-renowned Battle of Tokyo Bay, also known as the Great Massacre of Tokyo Bay. It ended with the complete annihilation of the French Far East Fleet by the Zhongyong Army and perfectly concluded the battle.

  In this battle, Admiral Courbet of the French Far East Squadron was killed in action, along with over a thousand other French naval officers and men.

  The rest were all captured, and the Zhongyong Army still lost a torpedo boat, with a total of 16 deaths. Nine ironclad ships above 4,000 tons that could be repaired were captured, and the remaining unusable ones were sunk by torpedoes.

  The French Navy's campaign this time may have been lost, but it is still admirable that under unfavorable circumstances, the entire naval officers and men did not surrender immediately like the army, but put up a stubborn resistance.

  The commander of the French Far East Fleet, Goubert, also showed the adaptability and pride that a world-renowned naval general should have, but he encountered Zhou Yu, an abnormal existence that did not play by common sense.

  This naval battle made a qualitative leap in the naval strength of the Zhongyong Army, and also made the whole world aware of the existence of the Zhongyong Army.

  The Western powers were crying out for the arrival of the wolves, and the Qing dynasty was also trembling with fear, deeply afraid that one day the Loyal and Brave Army would seize their throne.

  Afterwards, more than 100 large sea mines weighing 450 kg were laid around the ambush circle. After repeatedly confirming that there were no sea mines in the sea, the Zhongyong Army naval fleet triumphantly returned to the Vietnamese coast's Zhongyong Army zero-hour naval base.

  After the Battle of Tokyo Bay, the whole world was shocked. The news that the French army in Indochina had been defeated and annihilated spread to Paris, France, causing the Jules Ferry cabinet to fall amidst a chorus of criticism and condemnation.