Master Yuan, start!

So in fact, the French army seemed to have landed in Guangxi and the Chinese mainland, but was blocked by the Zuojiang and Yongjiang rivers. In fact, they landed on the seasonal "Qinlian Island".

The French army, which was seriously lacking in support, could only hold the city after capturing Qinzhou. The National Revolutionary Army took advantage of this opportunity and continuously sent reinforcements from Guizhou, Hunan and Guangdong, and a situation of confrontation along the river had emerged.

Although the French Navy cut off the sea transportation route for transporting troops to the south, it was still unable to stop the National Revolutionary Army from continuously deploying military divisions to the Sino-Vietnamese border.

From April 4st to 1th, in less than two weeks, a large army took the official road and walked from Hengzhou Prefecture to Zhaoqing.

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Seeing this, the French general had no choice but to lead the defenders on shore to fight hard and led the troops westward to attack the capital of Lianzhou Prefecture.

At the same time, the navy also cooperated with the army and dispatched a marine corps to land near the coast of Guangxi, trying to take Lianzhou City.

Lianzhou City is the seat of Lianzhou Prefecture, and is one level higher than Qinzhou City.

Two brigades of the National Revolutionary Army were stationed in the city. They were originally field troops supporting the Zhennan Pass front, but the French moved too quickly, and as a result, they were blocked in Lianzhou City by the landing French before they could reach the front line.

The French Marines, a brigade of the Army, and an artillery regiment, totaling more than 5000 people, launched a fierce attack on Lianzhou with the support of a fleet and two siege heavy artillery.

Unlike the previous approach, this time the French expeditionary force did not choose to lay siege first and then attack the city in order to prove its worth to the Paris government.

Instead, they used cannons to clear the way and rushed forward almost at all costs.

Faced with this situation, the soldiers defending the city had no choice but to defend themselves and at the same time move cannons to the top of the city walls, trying to use cannon fire to relieve the pressure on their side.

The most intense battle in this round of attack was for a mountain fortress called Keyizhai in front of Lianzhou City.

After several rounds of sieges, looking down from the mountain, there were corpses and blood everywhere, and the heavy artillery shells had completely changed the landscape!

Amid the rumbling explosion, Hatch's gun finally played its due power in the hands of the French.

A unique clicking sound came out of its mouth, and it waved the colorful streamers of death. The dense rain of bullets blocked wave after wave of soldiers who wanted to go out of the city to provide assistance in front of Lianzhou City.

But the situation remains grim.

"Boom!" A shocking explosion sounded from a distance. This was the vibration caused when France used its large-caliber heavy artillery in stock to bombard the Lianzhou city wall.

"Colonel, it hasn't collapsed yet, it's almost there!"

Under the guidance of his adjutant, Colonel Tosk shook off the mud and walked to the observation position.

I saw that a large hole was torn open by this artillery shell at a narrow pass two kilometers to the left of Lianzhou City. All the wall bricks fell off, revealing the rammed earth layer inside.

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With this gap as the center, artillery shells from the French army began to fall rapidly. In just over ten minutes, the loess layer where the city wall was located seemed to have passed through a time tunnel.

Over the course of natural time, the rammed earth loess layer, which would disappear after thousands of years of weathering, erosion, transportation, and accumulation, began to slowly thin at a speed visible to the naked eye.

There were deep and terrible craters everywhere, and several thick bunkers were blown away by artillery shells.

After the heavy artillery fire ended, dense French infantry, despite the bullets from the city wall, crossed the gap and spread to both wings, trying to intercept the Keyi Pass Fortress that wanted to come down to support.

Seeing that Lianzhou City was in danger, the National Revolutionary Army stationed there had no choice but to step up their resistance.

The domestically produced 60mm field guns fired back unwillingly at the French heavy artillery, like a lone boat in the ocean of artillery, trying hard to stay afloat.

But there were too many French soldiers, and there was no time to dig trenches or put up barricades. The soldiers on the city walls were knocked down one by one under the fierce attack of the French army.

The 60mm guns were originally designed for field battles and were not intended for defending cities. Under the bombardment of French heavy artillery, they were quickly blown up one by one.

The small and medium caliber guns originally used to deal with artillery have no advantage at all in artillery bombardments.

However, the French colonel was still not satisfied with this.

Waves of soldiers approached Lianzhou City, but were always beaten back by the inexhaustible National Revolutionary Army.

French Colonel Tosk stamped his feet in anger. "Tell Ames not to be stingy with his ammunition. We don't have much time. Open fire with all our might. We must take Lianzhou City as soon as possible!"

Soon after Tosc gave the order, the French army increased its firepower again. This time, even the central army that was used to guard against enemy raids in the rear was sent to the front line.

More than a dozen 75mm rapid-fire cannons continuously fired shells at the rammed earth layer that had just become thinner and thinner. Balls of fire suddenly rose up and hit a large number of National Revolutionary Army soldiers defending the city.

The defenders at Keyi Pass near Lianzhou City were pinned down on the hillside and unable to move, and were unable to go down the mountain to provide support.

Shortly after Tosk launched the bombardment, the French fleet on the sea stopped standing idly by and took advantage of the high tide to try their best to get close to the coastline.

Just when the French navy on the watchtower could see Lianzhou City through the telescope, dozens of naval guns roared out from the barrels of the navy ships.

The shells spun and whistled, and in the blink of an eye hit the precarious rammed earth wall.

The 105mm and 150mm naval guns are extremely powerful, but their accuracy is poor even at long distances.

But under the French Navy's persistent bombardment, the rammed earth wall was destroyed in just over ten minutes.

After being blocked by the blast, the original 8-meter-high loess layer was reduced to only a loess embankment more than 5 meters high, which seemed to foreshadow its upcoming fate.

"Would it be better if Major General Nissen were here?"

After seeing the fall of Lianzhou City, Colonel Tosk suddenly thought of something.

"Will Major General Nissen choose this kind of fierce attack to capture Lianzhou City, or will he use some other ingenious strategy?"

Shaking his head, Colonel Tosk put these thoughts behind him.

He knew that Major General Nissen had been captured. What he had to do now was to attack with all his might, attack, and attack again to take the major general back from the Chinese!

"I'm afraid Lianzhou City can no longer be defended!"

The guards on Keyi Village closed their eyes in pain, and saw that in front of Lianzhou City, dense French troops, with the help of naval guns, were charging towards the rammed earth embankment more than one meter high.

Due to angle limitations, the National Revolutionary Army on the city wall had no way of hitting the French soldiers who were climbing over the rammed earth embankment right below them.

Once this rammed earth embankment is controlled by the French, this section of the Lianzhou city wall will also be lost.

At that time, the Lianzhou defenders had no choice but to withdraw the city wall and fight with the French troops entering the city.

By then, Lianzhou City had become a dead city.

Just when everyone was most pessimistic, two flashes of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, and bean-sized raindrops fell violently after brewing for several days.

The heavy rain blocked the French infantry's sight, and the National Revolutionary Army in the city took this opportunity to send out thousands of people again to resist inside the rammed earth embankment in the city.

At the same time, the 60mm gun on the city wall was also pulled down from the wall and brought into the city, aiming at the rammed earth embankment. Finally, the gun barrel turned and aimed at the eastern hillside.

The rumbling of artillery fire and machine guns intertwined together, and the entire Lianzhou city seemed to have turned into hell. Flesh and blood were easily torn apart by bullets, and artillery shells even blew up the dead bodies.

The tenacious National Revolutionary Army took advantage of the baptism of heavy rain and burst out with a fighting power that shocked the French Army. When night was about to fall, the French army still could not enter the city.

Seeing that half of the city wall had collapsed, but the Chinese were still defending the city, Tosk ran out of the tent in anger and let the rainforest pour into his head.

He looked at Lianzhou City, drew his sword, and commanded:

"Damn it! Charge! Keep sending people to charge!"

...

The night rain continued and the sea breeze was howling.

Heavy rain poured down, and in the violent sea breeze, team after team of French soldiers crouched down, stepped on the mud and rushed towards the rammed earth embankment at a rapid speed.

Everyone was shouting the slogan "A little spicy France", and they only had rifles and bullets on them.

They completely abandoned any supplies and went to support the siege as quickly as possible.

A French soldier ran at the front of the team. Rainwater hit his military cap, forming streams of water along the brim. On his exposed arms, one could see scars from shrapnel.

As a soldier, nothing is more unforgettable to him than the battle of Lianzhou tonight.

He didn't expect that there would be such a difficult army in the far East.

Is this still the Chinese army that, as soon as the shots were fired, would turn into birds and beasts and flee in all directions?

Why is it different from what the predecessors said?

This soldier was setting foot on Chinese soil for the first time. He did not hate the Chinese, but he loved France more.

As a devout Catholic, he vowed to sacrifice his life for France from the day he joined the French army.

He had always wanted to participate in a battle that would determine the fate of France, and now, he had finally waited for the Battle of Lianzhou.

As he charged at night, scenes of attending school, joining the army, saying goodbye to relatives and friends, and saying goodbye to his parents kept appearing in his mind.

As he was thinking, he finally turned around and ran to the rammed earth embankment.

Just as he stretched out his arms, struggled to grab the earthen embankment, stood up on the muddy rammed earth embankment, and was about to jump into Lianzhou City.

A gunshot took his life.

"Slightly spicy, France!"

On his deathbed, the young French soldier sent his final wishes to his motherland.

Chapter 445 The Emperor and the President

Guangzhou, inside the former Governor's Mansion.

A sign reading "Guangzhou Government Office of the People's Republic of China" has been hung in front of the former Lingnan Xinghan Military Governor's Office.

Citizens from all over the city crowded the road in front of the Guangzhou government office, and dozens of Chinese and foreign reporters were running around with heavy cameras in their hands.

The flash of the spotlight and the smell of burning after the flash intertwined together, making most of the Guangzhou residents who were seeing such a scene for the first time marvel at it.

As the newly appointed prefect of Guangzhou, Liao Zhongkai stood next to Yuan Shikai, slightly behind him, cautiously lowering his head and looking at the guests in front of him.

Although Liao Zhongkai was appointed as the prefect of Guangzhou by Yuan Shikai for his contribution in taking over Guangzhou City, he was still a little nervous when facing such an important moment.

The scene of dozens of Chinese and foreign reporters pouring into the city hall early in the morning still made him feel uneasy. It was not until Ming Ye arrived early with the guards that order was restored.

From this point of view, he had to admit that under Yuan Shikai's words and deeds, the gap between the Huaxing Party and the Social Revolutionary Party was getting bigger and bigger.

This style of remaining calm in the face of emergencies and his open perspective of actively integrating into the world alone made him dare to face so many reporters and handle them with ease, which is something Li Hongzhang could not match.

In the past, faced with such a scene, people would most likely be sent to disperse the crowd.

To put it more simply, the Socialist Revolutionary Party now represents the Chinese people of the new era. Whether they are wearing gorgeous republican uniforms or simple revolutionary clothes, they give people a positive feeling.

Li Hongzhang thought that he could win the hearts of the people by emulating Yuan Xiang and establishing a political party.

But once something big happens, the truth will be revealed.

The son of a governor could actually assassinate another governor.

This incident directly stripped off the seemingly Westernized outer coat of the Huaxing Party and Li Hongzhang, revealing the Chinese-style jacket full of holes underneath.

...

All unnecessary decorations in the government office were removed.