Chapter 83 Section 83 France is going to fight China!

For many days, Li Hongzhang repeatedly thought about ways to deal with France, and took some diplomatic measures in time.He sent a letter to the new British Minister to China, Bacharley, hoping that Britain could intervene in this matter so as not to start a war.However, Bacharley replied in a letter saying that this matter can only be decided after consulting the country.Obviously, the UK takes a wait-and-see attitude towards the Sino-French affairs and does not want to intervene prematurely. Li Hongzhang turned to the United States to mediate the matter, but the strength of the United States is far inferior to that of the United Kingdom. Even if John Yang, the American Minister to China, agrees, it may be difficult to achieve the expected goal.

But France's fight in Vietnam at this time was not going well.The day after Li Weiye received the attack order, he led his army to Huaide Mansion.Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Black Banner Army, had learned of Li Weiye's marching route the day before, so he set up an ambush in the Zhiqiao area of ​​Huaide Mansion, taking advantage of the terrain of high mountains, dense forests, and narrow roads, and decided to give the French army an opportunity to attack. Hit hard. Li Weiye led his army to Zhiqiao, and soon entered the ambush circle of the Black Banner Army.Seeing that the time was ripe, Liu Yongfu immediately raised the black flag, and the gunshots all around burst like beans.Li Weiye was shot and killed, and the remnants of the French army fled back to Hanoi desperately.

Taking advantage of Li Weiye's death, Ru Feili tried his best to instigate a full-scale war of aggression against Vietnam and expand the war.In addition to sending more troops to Vietnam, he also set up the North Vietnamese Fleet.In August, the French army intensified its attack on the Black Banner Army in North Vietnam, and at the same time attacked the central part of Vietnam with warships, and soon surrounded the capital city of Hue. Just at this time, Nguyen Phuc, King Su De of Vietnam, suddenly died of an emergency.The Vietnamese royal court didn't care about mourning or mobilizing troops to resist the French army, but internal strife broke out because of the battle for the throne.The French army seized this favorable opportunity and violently attacked the city wall with heavy artillery; the Vietnamese king who had just succeeded to the throne had no choice but to raise a white flag on the top of the city wall and surrendered willingly.

On August 25, 1883, France forced Vietnam to sign the Treaty of Hue.According to the treaty, France obtained the "right of protection" to Vietnam; all future foreign negotiations in Vietnam were under the control of France; the French permanently occupied Hue and other important ports; French merchants could trade freely in all treaty ports in Vietnam. Of course, when the King of Vietnam signed the document, he still did not forget to secretly send envoys to China, asking China to send troops to protect them quickly.During the signing of the "Treaty of Hue" between the French army and Vietnam, the Chinese troops stationed in North Vietnam were not involved in the war.The Prime Minister’s Office strictly ordered all Chinese armies to “not engage in quarrels.” They could only stick to their own defenses, try their best to avoid fighting with France, and were not allowed to support the Black Banner Army; when the French army fought with the Black Banner Army, the French warships When all the guns were fired at Hue, the Chinese troops stationed in Vietnam just watched from the sidelines without any response.However, the announcement of the "Treaty of Hue" still surprised the court of the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, Zongli Yamen received a note from the French embassy in China, claiming that the new envoy Tolicourt had arrived in Shanghai from Japan and wanted to renegotiate the Vietnam issue with the Qing Dynasty.Li Hongzhang in Tianjin is also paying attention to the situation in Vietnam day and night.On the tenth day after the French-Vietnamese "Hue Treaty" was announced, he received a secret letter from the Minister of Military Aircraft delivered by the Military Aircraft Department. Secretly forwarded the imperial decree: "I authorize Li Hongzhang, the Minister of Commercial Affairs, as the imperial envoy, and go to Shanghai to discuss matters such as Vietnam with the French Minister in China, Toligu.

Li Hongzhang asked Zhang Shusheng to rush to Tianjin to handle the delivery while begging for an order.However, Joufeli Pato Ligou's negotiation with China in Shanghai was actually just a diplomatic trick without the slightest sincerity. Li Hongzhang hurried to Shanghai, and as soon as he met Tuo Ligu, Toligu used a threatening tone to force the Qing Dynasty to recognize the legitimacy of the "Treaty of Hue" between France and Vietnam; after being rejected by Li Hongzhang, he further threatened: "Your minister has been practicing diplomacy for a long time. You should know that the current situation is only about strength, not reason. Our country's Prime Minister Ru Feili has clearly stated that if your country insists on not recognizing the "Hue Treaty", it means that the two countries will fail. peace; even if you lose peace with your country, you will not hesitate."

Li Hongzhang didn't want to start a quarrel at first, but he couldn't stand Tuo Ligu's arrogance, especially before the departure, the Prime Minister's Office had clearly instructed not to recognize the legitimacy of the "Treaty of Hue". Ligu's various unreasonable demands were refuted. Li Hongzhang had even seen through the tone of Toligu that France had no sincerity in this negotiation, maybe it was buying time for a big move. In the process of negotiating with Tuo Ligu, Li Hongzhang telegraphed his thoughts to the Zongli Yamen three times: "The minister and the rebuttal repeatedly, it is time for the envoy to delete the words that did not interfere clearly or covertly. It is the most paradoxical to think that the more it is an independent country without affiliation, China has not yet recognized this covenant. The envoy also agreed to delete the word "covenant", saying that it is necessary to call the country to comply, and the minister also replied that the country must be asked To show compliance. It seems that this matter is difficult to discuss for a while, and it is ready."

More than ten days later, Li Hongzhang went to the court again, requesting to suspend negotiations with Tuoligu.Li Hongzhang wrote: "The envoy has a cunning temperament. If the official is here to do business and turn his heart of strange threats, he must not be accommodating. Now that Beiyang's defense is urgent, I plan to stop discussing with the envoy. Take the reincarnation and take the opportunity to observe the movement." Two days later, a telegram from the Military Aircraft Department arrived: "Tuo Ligu is now in Shanghai, what's going on? If Li Hongzhang comes to the north regularly, he must inform the envoy that if he has something to discuss in person, he will do business after he arrives in Tianjin to show that he will not stop. "

Obviously, the Empress Dowager Cixi still has a glimmer of hope for the negotiations, fearing that a breakup would lead to further provocations.Li Hongzhang got the permission of the court, so he resolutely suspended the negotiations with Tuoligu and returned to Tianjin by boat. Li Hongzhang's move was beyond Toligu's expectation, and he hastily telegraphed the fact that China had suspended negotiations.Li Hongzhang inspected the layout of various forts and defense forces along the way. On the day the ship arrived in Tianjin, before Li Hongzhang had time to rest, he received a secret message from the Minister of Military Aircraft urgently delivered by the capital.Li Hongzhang's face changed suddenly after reading, and he broke out in a cold sweat.It turned out that when Li Hongzhang went to Shanghai to negotiate with Tuo Ligu, the Roufeli cabinet once again increased military expenditures for the French invaders and sent more troops to Vietnam on both land and water.This information comes from the Chinese Embassy in France.

Li Hongzhang sighed in his heart: It seems that France is determined to go to war with China!The peace that I have worked so hard to create will be disrupted by the ensuing war.But Toligu followed and insisted on reopening negotiations with Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang had to ask for an order again, and sat down at the table with Tuo Ligu again.A month later, the negotiations are still no progress.Because Toligu came to Tianjin this time, he did not intend to reach any agreement with China. He just followed the instructions of the Rufeli cabinet and used the illusion of negotiation to cover up his true feelings of mobilizing the army to launch a larger-scale war against China.To put it bluntly, Toligu was buying time for the mobilization of the army.

Li Hongzhang broke with Tuoligu again.On the day Li Hongzhang announced the suspension of negotiations to Toligou, the French Army stationed in northern Vietnam launched a fierce attack on the Chinese Defense Forces stationed in Shanxi, Vietnam. Tang Jiong led his army back to Xinghua, Xu Yanxu led his troops to Beining, and Liu Yongfu's Black Banner Army also retreated to camp in Xinghua.The French army occupied Shanxi, Vietnam in just three days and nights.At that time, the commander-in-chief of the French army stationed in Vietnam was Miller, and the commander-in-chief of the fleet was Admiral Guba.On the second day after the French army occupied Shanxi, the Ministry of Water and Land quickly rushed to Beining. Xu Yanxu was unable to support himself and retreated to Taiyuan, Vietnam.The French army followed, and so did Taiyuan.Xu Yanxu retreated to Xinghua, and the French army arrived shortly thereafter, occupying Xinghua again.So far, the French army has occupied the entire Red River Delta area. When the news came, the government and the people of the Qing Dynasty were shaken, and Li Hongzhang was also stunned.However, the Empress Dowager Cixi seized the opportunity of the defeat in Vietnam and the improper employment of Prince Gong, and dismissed all the duties and positions of Prince Gong Yixin with lightning speed.None of the original ministers of military aircraft were retained, and those who were retired and those who were demoted were all eliminated. Later, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued another decree: Prince Shiduo was the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, Erlehebu, the Minister of the Ministry of Households, Yan Jingming, the Minister of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhiwan, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Zuo Zongtang, a scholar of the Dongge University, was the Minister of Military Aircraft, and the Minister of Industry. Sun Yuwen, the left servant of the Ministry of Justice, and Xu Geng, the right servant of the Ministry of Punishment, walked on the Minister of Military Aircraft; Belle Yikuang was ordered to be the Prime Minister and Minister of State Affairs Yamen, replacing Yixin to take charge of the diplomatic power of the Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi also made major adjustments in the sealing of borders while replacing the privy court.The first thing is to dismiss Tang Jiong and Xu Yanxu and ask Pan Dingxin and Zhang Kaisong to act as governors of Guangxi and Yunnan respectively.The second thing is that Zhang Shusheng is the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the imperial edict, and Li Hongzhang is the acting governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang trade affairs, and controls the Beiyang navy;The third thing is to strengthen the defense of Fujian and Taiwan: order He Ruzhang to go to Fujian as soon as possible to serve as the Minister of Shipping, and assist in the military affairs of Fujian; Zhang Peilun, the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, will go to Fujian to manage the sea area Defense; Liu Mingchuan, the former governor of Fujian who was suffering from eye diseases in his native place, went to Taiwan to supervise military affairs; Zhang Zhaodong was ordered to act as the governor of Fujian.The fourth thing is about the war in Vietnam: Peng Yulin, the former commander of the naval division of the Hunan Army and now retired, was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War, and went to Beiqi, Vietnam to supervise the various armies. Since Li Hongzhang was in Ding You's period, he had no choice but to ask for resignation with a 30% discount, but he was not allowed.Li Hongzhang had no choice but to go to Baoding to meet Du Zhuan. After the delivery, Zhang Shusheng immediately set off for Guangdong and Guangxi with his family, but unfortunately, his old illness relapsed halfway, so he asked for a leave of absence.The Empress Dowager Cixi had no choice but to allow her to return to her hometown to recuperate from illness, and also ordered Zhang Zhidong to act as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi temporarily. Li Hongzhang was very clear in his heart that when Empress Dowager Cixi deposed Prince Gong, she actually tore off the curtain, and instead of listening to politics, she directly intervened in politics.He didn't know how long the Qing Dynasty's national fortune could last if Prince Gong left the court.Not allowing Li Hongzhang to think too much, France played a new round of diplomatic tactics against the Qing Dynasty to further test China's attitude towards Vietnam.