Master Yuan, start!

With the same worry, Duan Qirui walked in with a sad face.

"Comrade Zhiquan?" Wang Shizhen quickly stood up to greet him upon seeing him, and even deliberately glanced at the sky and jokingly said, "You are a rare guest. How come you have time to come to my place today? Isn't it time for dinner yet?

Unexpectedly, he still had the mood to joke. Duan Qirui was also amused: "You can still laugh when the situation is critical."

The two had known each other for many years, and both were close confidants of Yuan Xiangcheng who had come from Incheon, Korea, so Wang Shizhen had nothing to hide from him and said with a smile:

"Are you crying if not laughing? No matter how difficult it is for us, it's not as difficult as it is for Wang Zhanyuan and the chief instructor on the front lines. Besides, in my position, even if I don't help, I have to at least stabilize the morale of the troops. I can't act so anxious, right?"

People outside who don't understand the situation think that Chief of Staff is not a real position. They all say that Wang Shizhen is not good at fighting, and Yuan Shikai was grateful for his contributions, so he gave him the position of Chief of the General Staff. People who don't understand the situation often look down on Wang Zhanyuan.

Wang Zhanyuan had also heard these rumors, and he never refuted them. He believed that the National Revolutionary Army established by Yuan Shikai, starting from the Jiashen Right Army, was not a traditional feudal army.

The military commander is indeed important, but in this team, the position of chief of staff is not just a vase-like role.

The National Revolutionary Army was under the dual leadership of the Central Military Commission of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the General Staff, and in most cases, he, as the Chief of Staff, could attend the meetings of the Central Military Commission.

In Wang Shizhen's view, this approach can prevent the situation where the army disobeys orders to the greatest extent.

Over the years, Wang Shizhen has been in charge of almost all the major and minor matters in the military, from the formation of troops to the distribution of new equipment, support and logistics base construction, etc., and he has never had a single day of leisure.

The National Revolutionary Army was not divided into such detailed units. Only two departments were set up under the Central Military Commission: the General Staff and the General Political Department.

Although Wang Shizhen was the Chief of Staff of the General Staff, he actually also did the work of the General Logistics Department and the General Armament Department.

In Duan Qirui's eyes, Wang Shizhen might definitely be able to perform combat tasks on the battlefield, but he was undoubtedly more suitable to stay in the rear and make strategic plans.

In fact, to be honest, does the National Revolutionary Army need a combat general or military district commander like Wang Shizhen?

There is no shortage of people, but the position of Chief of the General Staff must be filled by Wang Shizhen.

So, after Duan Qirui poured a glass of water for himself and him and sat down, he lowered his voice a little because he didn't close the door: "Brother Pingxin, there has been a lot of noise in Guangzhou these days.

I'm worried that the French army will continue to land in Guangdong. If that happens," he paused before continuing, "once the French army advances deeply into Guangdong, it will inevitably affect the entire Lingnan region. These people have just surrendered, and I'm afraid they will have other thoughts."

Wang Shizhen was indeed a little nervous, even though he had made a lot of money by issuing war bonds during this period.

But the consumption was also extremely huge. The military expenditure alone was more than 200 million taels per month, and the biggest expense was ammunition and various combat allowances.

Even though it has been adjusted to a conscription system, the money has been compressed to the extreme.

In addition, the international silver price changed and silver became less and less valuable, so Wang Shizhen was also worried, not only about military affairs but also about finances.

Duan Qirui also knew Wang Shizhen's difficulties, so he comforted him: "From a tactical point of view, it is not impossible for the French army to continue landing on the coast of Guangdong.

But I personally speculate that they will not rashly open a new battlefield before achieving a victory.

Otherwise, the troops they transported would be very scattered and there would be a risk of being surrounded and annihilated by the National Revolutionary Army.

Of course, it is not ruled out that they will become desperate and gather heavy troops in one place, wanting to have a head-on battle.

However, they will certainly avoid the lesson of losing supplies when they marched north alone, and it is impossible for them to advance too deep. Secondly, the French expeditionary force currently has only tens of thousands of troops stationed in Annan.

It would take several months to transfer troops from the mainland. If something went wrong with these troops after landing in Guangdong, their entire Indochina colony might be lost.

The French army would not make such a bold move.

As long as we mobilize the people and implement the "strong and clear" tactics along the coast of Guangdong, the French army will be unable to obtain supplies locally and will naturally choose to retreat to the vicinity of the coastal line.

This back and forth gave the National Revolutionary Army some breathing space, and there was room for consolidation between Zhen and Liang.

The chief instructor has already deployed five main divisions of the National Revolutionary Army on the Sino-Vietnamese border. These are all the old National Defense Army and even the old Jiashen friendly forces.

The four newly reorganized brigades of the Huai Army also patrolled the Guangdong coast day and night, ready to guard against any surprise attacks by French troops at any time.

As long as the French do not send an entire division north, these newly formed brigades can play a certain blocking role in the short term.

In addition, the chief instructor is ready to send troops from Zhejiang to Fujian to harass Xiamen, forcing the French army to withdraw part of its forces back to Fujian and Taiwan, and use Xiamen to strangle the French army in Indochina!

The last sentence made Wang Shizhen frown. Fujian was no different from other places. The National Revolutionary Army had never reached here in recent years.

Even after the establishment of the Republican government, the local forces in Fujian expressed their surrender, but due to the obstruction of the Hunan Army and the Huai Army, this place was still an unfamiliar land.

Therefore, after hearing that Yuan Xiangcheng decided to send troops to Fujian, Wang Shizhen could not help but worry:

"Isn't this too risky? Xiamen is not like the Central Plains or Jiangnan. When the National Defense Army came south from outside the Great Wall, they could provide quick support no matter where something happened.

But Fujian is a place with high mountains and deep waters. If we go deep into it alone, something might go wrong."

"Don't worry, nothing will go wrong." Duan Qirui puffed out his chest and said confidently, "With a powerful enemy at our doorstep, I doubt those Fujianese will dare to harbor any unreasonable thoughts against the National Revolutionary Army."

Duan Qirui took off his military cap, trimmed his short hair, and his eyes gradually turned cold:

"Since ancient times, the victor is the king and the loser is the bandit. This is an eternal rule! Think about it, after the National Revolutionary Army defeated the Hunan Army and the Huai Army, who in the world can still represent China?

The arsenals in Incheon, Shenyang, and Lushun have already begun working in shifts day and night to rush to produce artillery shells and gunpowder. If the Fujianese can't figure it out, these shells may not be enough to fight the French, but they will be more than enough to take Fujian!

"Relax yourself when you come to Fujian this time." Duan Qirui threw the documents to the ground when several staff officers came in, his eyes shining.

...

"Rumble!"

The fireballs that suddenly rose up near the Bailongwei coast of Qinzhou Bay seemed to be responding to the conversation in the Guangzhou Operations Room. The Far East Navy from France was taking aim with its 150-caliber naval guns and began to unleash its power.

The French Far East Navy was formed by splitting and expanding the Mediterranean Fleet, and also incorporated some ships from the former local administration colony in India.

Therefore, the French Far East Fleet today has both small-caliber 57mm guns and medium and large-caliber guns such as 105 and 150.

Unlike the domestic navy, the French Far East Navy was the first navy to establish a marine corps.

This was done to meet the needs of the colonial authorities in the Far East. After all, cannons could bombard ports but could not penetrate deep inland.

It would be too troublesome if the army and navy had to coordinate every battle, so the navy organized a group of marines in the Far East.

This is also the reason why Courbet dared to lead the navy north, land in Tianjin and go straight to Beijing 10 years ago.

Although he led the navy, he also had some land warfare skills. Although he could not compare with the genuine French army, it was more than enough to deal with the backward colonial armed forces.

It’s a pity that they underestimated the enemy and encountered the Jiashen Right Army led by Yuan Shikai, which led to their ultimate defeat.

The reason why the French army chose to land here was because to the north of Bailongwei was the coastal passage from Guangxi to Vietnam.

As long as this passage is controlled, the possibility of China supporting Lang Son from the coastal areas can be cut off.

On the French ship battered by wind and waves, the 150-caliber gun barrel was laid flat. After the upper barrel was pulled open, two loaders struggled to slowly stuff a 41-kilogram high-explosive bomb into the barrel. At the same time, the deputy gunner aimed the direction at the bottom, and when everything was ready, he began to aim.

"emission!"

At the gunner's command, the 75mm naval gun, which was much larger and faster than the 150mm gun, drew an arc at a speed beyond the reach of the naked eye and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Almost instantly, it appeared on the land, raising a cloud of thick smoke and razing a defensive land fortification there into the ground.

The power of large-caliber artillery shells is amazing, especially when filled with yellow explosives. Even if it faces a bunker made of stones, it can be easily blown to pieces.

When the sea breeze blew away the already thin smoke, the captain on the bow of the ship, holding a telescope, watched the Chinese soldiers rush out of the smoke and were forced to find new shelter, and he laughed out loud.

"Navy, Navy!"

Looking at the soldiers on land hiding here and there, the French navy captain clenched his fists tightly.

"Chinese people, where is your navy? Where is your navy?

A bunch of cowards, not daring to engage the French Navy head-on, they simply cowered in the harbor, acting as a fishing platform under the cover of dense mines."

"Hahahahaha, hahahahaha!"

The French captain laughed so wildly that his voice was carried by the sea breeze and even reached the shore.

...

Behind him were the lush, deep, and endless mountains, and in front of him was the French fleet with thick smoke billowing from its gun muzzles.

Seeing the soldiers in front of him hiding here and there under the bombardment of French gunboats, Xie Zhi, commander of the National Revolutionary Army, was filled with hatred but could do nothing about it.

"Retreat! Leave the White Dragon Tail beach to them!"

Seeing that the infantry were suppressed on the shore and had no power to fight back, Xie Chi had no choice but to give up.

He couldn't let the frontline soldiers be killed like rats, their deaths meaningless.

"We're just being beaten for nothing. Where's our navy?"

Chapter 444 Smoke II

At the end of March 1898, war broke out along the coast of the South China Sea.

At noon on March 3, the Central Government of the Republic of China issued an ultimatum to the French Embassy, ​​demanding that the troops that had landed in Qinzhou, Qiongzhou, Leizhou Peninsula and other places be withdrawn immediately, otherwise they would face a devastating blow.

As the news came out, the Indochina colonial authorities became more anxious and transported two reinforcement brigades from Cochinchina to Tonkin that night.

After their arrival, the Governor-General of Indochina ordered another attack on Lang Son. The French army, drawing from Cochinchina, brought in a number of Annamite skirmishers stationed in southern Vietnam and, braving the 75th's heavy artillery fire, attempted another assault on the city.

However, after suffering heavy casualties, they were repelled by the National Revolutionary Army, whose reinforcements had arrived and were well-supplied.

The Governor-General of Indochina knew that it was impossible to break through the Lang Son and Zhennan Pass line, so he simply ordered three brigades of infantry to march forward along the east coast of Vietnam, trying to open up the route from Tonkin to Qinzhou and even Lianzhou.

Therefore, they could only settle for the second best and cooperate with the navy to establish a line of defense in the Bailongwei area at the border between China and Vietnam, which was considered to have barely achieved part of the combat objectives.

He himself established a new skirmish regiment in Vietnam to pacify the chaotic Central Vietnam and Tonkin.

However, the riots in Vietnam this time are different from the past.

After suppressing batch after batch of rebellious civilians, Vietnam not only did not become peaceful, but became more and more chaotic.

Vietnam's major cities were relatively calm, but most of the Vietnamese vassal officials stationed by France in the vast rural areas had lost contact.

The French regular troops were fighting on the front line, while in the rear, they were caught up in a series of security battles.

This forced the Governor-General of Indochina to suspend the plan of sending large-scale reinforcements to the north and dispatch the genuine French troops stationed in Cochinchina to suppress the unrest in the Vietnamese countryside.

At the same time, the French landing army in Guangdong finally captured Qinzhou City after repeated losses.

However, because the supply lines between Qinzhou and Zhennan Pass were separated by dangerous terrain such as Sifangling and Shiwandashan, although the French army captured Qinzhou, they could only choose to attack eastward and northward.

But they cannot go west and cut off the supply line from China to Zhenliang.

But if you go east or north, you will encounter another natural barrier.

Zuojiang and Yongjiang rivers.

In March and April, when the spring floods arrive in southern China, warm and humid air currents from the Pacific return, clashing with the cold air mass from Siberia.

The two large air masses pulled back and forth, bringing abundant rainfall to South China and greatly widening the water surface of the Zuojiang and Yongjiang rivers.

The French army had little inland transport capacity, and when the Yongjiang River flooded, it was impossible to transport the army across the river.