Chapter 54 Sino-French War

There are two main battlefields in the Sino-French War, one is the naval battle on the southeast coast, and the other is the land battle on the Guangxi and Vietnam borders. Let's take a look at the naval battles along the southeast coast first. In the key battle - the Majiang naval battle, the entire Fujian Navy was wiped out.Next, the French fleet, without the check and balance of the Qing fleet, marched eastward, first occupying Keelung, and then blockading Taiwan. Fortunately, Liu Mingchuan, a fierce general of the Huai army under Li Hongzhang, was very strong and able to fight. He led Taiwan's soldiers and civilians to a small defeat of the French army in Huwei (now Tamsui, Taipei), and then stood by for help.

Afterwards, Empress Dowager Cixi sent Zuo Zongtang and the Nanyang Fleet, who had just formed an army and had little actual combat experience, to rescue them. Unfortunately, the French fleet across the Taiwan Strait was even stronger. At the beginning of the battle, the Nanyang Fleet was sunk by two ships. When one ship was destroyed, the morale of the Nanyang Navy was devastated, and it never recovered. Zuo Zongtang's clever wife can't cook without rice. She can barely hold the coastal defense line and is unable to support Taiwan.Therefore, the French captured the fortress Penghu again, and Taiwan is about to fall!

On the land battlefield, the original French army entered Guangxi from northern Vietnam all the way, and it was like a broken bamboo.But at the same time that the French captured Penghu, Comrade Zhang Zhidong made a great contribution-employing people well. Feng Zicai, the front-line commander appointed by Zhang Zhidong, was quick-witted and commanded well, and the vanguard general——Wang Xiaoqi, the Huai army general under Li Hongzhang, correctly understood, implemented, and executed Feng Zicai's strategic intentions. More than 30,000 soldiers of the Qing army worked together to make dumplings for about 2,000 lone French pioneers in Zhennan Pass (now Friendship Pass) in Guangxi. Three hundred people.

According to historical data, the French army only had about 1,000 people, and its casualties were even less than 100. However, whether the casualties were 300 or 100, this was unprecedented for the French army in the confrontation with the Qing army. Huge casualties. The French army suffered heavy casualties and their morale plummeted. Feng Zicai took advantage of the victory to pursue and regained Guangxi in one go. After the news reached mainland France, the French Prime Minister was forced to resign.The French army was unwilling to fight and retreated to Vietnam. Feng Zicai's campaign helped the government in a timely manner, and it was known in history as "the great victory at Zhennanguan".

Although the victory of the Qing army on land put tremendous pressure on the French, it did not relieve Taiwan.On the question of whether to choose Taiwan or Vietnam, the court of course chose Taiwan. In this situation where we have neither won nor lost, Mr. Li Hongzhang, who has always pursued the "reform of domestic demand, peace with external demand" and "seeking peace and humiliation is only a means, and revenge and revenge is the goal", was ordered by Cixi. On June 9th, the "Sino-French New Treaty" was signed with the French. The content of the treaty is roughly as follows:

1. The Qing government recognized the treaty between France and Vietnam. France has already occupied Vietnam in fact, and Vietnam has also recognized France's suzerainty status, and there is no harm in losing Vietnam, a nominal country. Much more, the wool came from the sheep, so this article lightened the burden of the common people in the Qing Dynasty. 2. The Sino-Vietnamese border is open to trade and the tariffs on the Sino-Vietnamese border are reduced. This is a treaty on the trade side, and it seems to be beneficial to both parties. 3. In the future, the construction of railways in southwestern China will be contracted to the French first.

At that time, Zhan Tianyou was still a sailor in the Fujian Navy and had not yet started to build railways. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty had no railway engineers who could take the lead. 4. The French army withdrew from Taiwan and Penghu. I can't see how this article will harm China. On the whole, the Sino-French New Testament should not be regarded as a treaty that humiliates the country. Two days after the signing of the treaty, on June 11, God also issued a consolation prize to the Qing government - the commander of the French fleet, Guba, died.The cause of death is said to be the plague, and another said to be an infection of the wound wounded in the battle.

However, Li Er, who was in charge of signing the contract with the French, was miserable. Although he was busy building the Beiyang Navy as soon as he turned around, so that he could counterattack the big powers in the future, he was still scolded. Patriotic officials colluded everywhere, filled with righteous indignation: We finally won the "Zhennanguan Great Victory", and we should have taken advantage of this good momentum to enter Vietnam and fight the French to the death, but you, Li Hongzhang, are lucky enough to seek peace with the French and give up on taking back Vietnam opportunity!You kid eats inside and out, and knows foreign countries inside!

... In short, I wish I could use the big hat of traitor to crush Li Er to death. Many people think that compromising with the outside world must be surrender and traitorousness, and they are suspected of traitors.Like Li Hongzhang, he has been infamous for so many years.As long as those who advocate tough resistance must be passionate and patriotic, even if they fail, they are tragic heroes and worthy of praise. But in fact, many things in the world are bad in the hands of those who make high-profile voices, because these people are unreliable. Their temper is far superior to their knowledge, and their impetuousness is far superior to their experience.

They can only read military books in vain, lack practical experience, let alone rigorous thinking and accurate judgment. Their minds are still struggling between the tribute system of Celestial China and the world system of Western powers. When the Qing Dynasty was still the world leader, they were still immersed in the dream of Celestial China and could not extricate themselves. Let's invite Mr. Zhang Peilun to speak for us. Zhang Peilun, the main combatant at the time, was the left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. His favorite sentence on weekdays was: I am the most patriotic.Cixi was fooled by his special mouth (maybe Cixi did it on purpose), so he was appointed as the imperial envoy in the Sino-French war.

Before the Battle of Ma Jianghai, Zhang Peilun came to the front line of Fujian, but the commander-in-chief of the Qing army didn't do anything serious. Heap, saying that this can increase the momentum; use a civilian merchant ship without artillery to carry sailors to rush forward, and when the enemy ship is approaching, let the sailors rush to the enemy ship to fight the enemy hand-to-hand... If this method of warfare can defeat the French, Hell. As soon as the war ended, Zhang Peilun, who "was called patriotic, but actually wronged the country", was dismissed from his post and sent to the Northeast, and sent to reform through labor. While Zhang Peilun was reflecting on himself in the labor reform farm, Zuo Zongtang, another main combatant, had already reached the end of his life. A real famous general does not win battles in one place all his life, but can win battles everywhere in his life.Zuo Zongtang is a real famous general - fighting the Taiping Army in Jianghuai, fighting the Muslim Army in Shaanxi and Gansu, and fighting the Russians in Xinjiang.Although he didn't beat the French on his final journey, he didn't lose either.But Zuo Zongtang didn't think so. For him, if you don't win, you lose. In the early morning of July 27, 1885, Zuo Zongtang, a 74-year-old Hunanese, died in depression. It is a pity that this arrogant scholar disappeared from people's sight in such an unwilling way. Zuo Zongtang, who looked down on Li Hongzhang, left forever, and Zhang Peilun, who also looked down on Li Hongzhang, came back alive after a few years. During the reform-through-labour period, this man made up his mind to re-plan his life after a brief but intense ideological struggle.So as soon as he came back, he became Li Hongzhang's staff, and married Li Hongzhang's older leftover daughter Li Ju, and lived a different life from then on. This is how the "patriotic hero" became the son-in-law of the "big traitor". Zhang Peilun would never have imagined that his granddaughter, "the originator of female literary youth" Zhang Ailing, would also be messing with the traitor and traitor. ... The good and evil of human nature are far more complicated than you and I imagine.Who is the selfless patriot? No matter what you say, only time will tell!