Master Yuan, start!

Yuan Xiangcheng did not wait for the Chinese Minister to China, Dou Nale, to finish his words, and immediately took up his hands and clasped them tightly against his chest.

"The British Empire is truly our country's eternal good friend!"

Chapter 455: Never Killing Yuan Xiangcheng

Yunnan.

The sky is high and blue. Looking down from the air, the earth is fragmented and the terrain is rugged, which is worthy of the name of karst landform.

Under the squeeze of the Indian plate, the Eurasian continent rose, resulting in Yunnan's terrain being high in the north and low in the south.

The Gaoligong Mountains, Nu Mountains, Wuliang Mountains and Ailao Mountains in the territory run from north to south. International rivers such as the Nujiang-Salween River, Lancang-Mekong River and Yuanjiang-Red River flow between the mountains.

Mountains are surrounded by water, and water is surrounded by mountains. Between the mountains and water, there are mountain valleys extending continuously to the south.

The end points of these channels are Southeast Asian coastal countries such as Myanmar, Siam, and Vietnam.

The remnants of the Huai clique, or the former 2nd and 4th Regiments of the Lingnan New Army, which are now often referred to as the "Ye Army", are now shuttling across Yunnan.

Ye Zhichao led them along the mountain valleys flowing from northwest to southeast, slowly moving towards the border between Yunnan and Vietnam.

Their target was exactly where Liu Yongfu’s old Black Flag Army was once stationed, Lao Cai, Vietnam!

The midday sun shines directly from overhead, with a vertical projection of nearly ninety degrees, causing the solar radiation received by the ground per unit area to quickly reach its maximum value.

In addition, since it is a river valley area, the heat accumulation is serious, so that in early May, the temperature here has risen to more than 5 degrees.

Beads of sweat as big as beans fell along the ears under the action of gravity, without a trace of wind.

The former officers and soldiers of the Lingnan New Army could not hide the look of fatigue on their faces. Their once clean and tidy new army uniforms had already become tattered after more than half a year of fighting.

Fortunately, we were in the south and it was early summer, so we didn't need warm clothing. Otherwise, without the stable supply from the Lingnan Xinghan Grand Military Governor's Office, most of Ye Zhichao's army would have frozen to death.

However, although their bodies were exhausted, there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

The soldiers complained as they marched in straw sandals.

"Kunming is really not a good place. It's better for us to leave."

“No one expected that when Cen Chunxuan, the former governor of Yunnan, heard that our army had reached Qujing, he didn’t even bother to defend it. Instead, he took his men to plunder the city of Kunming and fled to Dali.

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After we entered the city, we didn't get a penny. We could only pry a few coins from the common people. We still had to raid the houses of those wealthy people!"

"What a pity, all the dog owners followed Cen Chunxuan to Dali, and those who stayed behind are all ugly.

"Brothers, you've only had a few months of happiness, and now you have to live on less food and clothing. Is this still the King of Yunnan? You're no better than a beggar!"

"Fortunately, Lord Ding has found a way for us to survive. Otherwise, I'm afraid all of us brothers would have died in this wild land and would never be able to return to our hometown in Anhui in this lifetime."

As they were talking, the Huai Army soldiers followed the direction of the rushing river and looked to the front of the team. They saw Ding Ruchang, a heavyweight figure in the former Huai Army, walking side by side with Commander Ye Zhichao.

At this time, Ye and Ding were riding on the short Dian horses and talking to each other from the bottom of their hearts.

"Brother Yuting, the lives of tens of thousands of Anhui students are all entrusted to you!"

Ye Zhichao held the reins and uttered a mournful sigh. He had fought his way westward from Guizhou to Kunming, Yunnan, and had thought that what awaited him was at least the prospect of becoming a governor of a certain region.

But what he didn't expect was that this fantasy only lasted for a few months.

The former Yunnan Governor Cen Chunxuan widely spread the news that "the Huai Army loves to kill" in the city, which scared most of the wealthy people into following him to Dali.

Ye Zhichao led his troops across mountains and rivers, and arrived in Kunming after losing hundreds of people. However, what greeted him was a city with only ordinary people left.

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After Li Hongzhang's death, he lost the supply of weapons, ammunition, food and even military pay.

If we only rely on looting along the way, it will be far from enough to meet the combat needs of the two towns' troops.

Unfortunately, not much money could be robbed from Kunming City.

Helplessly, he could only send troops to the surrounding areas. Small cities such as Chengjiang, Jinning, Kunyang, and Anning near Kunming were successively captured. After looting, the money was used to pay military salaries and stabilize the morale of the army.

Cen Chunxuan was a traditional feudal bureaucrat, and he had never sponsored the establishment of any new factories during his tenure as governor of Yunnan.

So after capturing several small cities, Ye Jun only replenished a batch of money, and the gap in the loss of guns and ammunition became larger and larger.

After all, Yunnan is not rich, and after the first wave of plundering, there is not much oil left.

Therefore, after serving as the city lord in Kunming for a few months, Ye Zhichao soon fell into a situation of lack of money, guns and food.

In fact, there was no shortage of food, but the Huai Army, which was mainly composed of people from Anhui, could not get used to the food in Yunnan.

The 2nd Town was his direct line, so it was easier to deal with. However, the 4th Town was originally under the direct jurisdiction of the Governor's Office, and some of them were not very obedient.

Some of the Huai Army soldiers among them were not satisfied with the current situation. They shouted that they did not want to eat wild fruits and mushrooms anymore and wanted to go back to their hometown to eat Anhui rice!

Although Ye Zhichao killed some people to establish his authority and temporarily stopped this trend, he knew that this was not a solution after all.

If the situation drags on for too long, I'm afraid that his own direct line, the Second Town, will also cause trouble.

At this time, Ye Zhichao no longer thought about sending troops to Dali to fulfill his ambition of becoming the King of Yunnan.

Because he knew that even if he took Dali, it would not change the current difficult situation. It would only make it bigger and poorer.

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After all, every shot fired means one less round of ammunition, and now Ye Zhichao only wants to keep the troops on hand to protect himself.

At this time, Ding Ruchang came to Kunming with Yuan Shikai's four instructions to act as a lobbyist, urging him to march from Yunnan along the river, deploy troops in Vietnam, and attack Hanoi from both sides.

After learning about the situation, Ye Zhichao did not hold back at all and simply said, "I will follow the orders of the President." After leaving a troop of more than a thousand people to defend Kunming, he decisively led the remaining troops south.

In history, Ye Zhichao, like Wei Rugui, was also a general who fled.

During the First Sino-Japanese War, his combat skills were third-rate, but when he was stationed in Pyongyang, his level of reveling every night was first-rate.

His experiences in this life were similar to those in his previous life. He had never experienced the desperate situations on the battlefield, and the opponents he faced were all Guizhou chieftains and local armed forces.

In short, I have only enjoyed happiness and have not suffered much.

Therefore, the further away from Kunming, the more anxious Ye Zhichao became. He somewhat regretted agreeing too readily.

But seeing that the Huai Army had already headed south after hearing the news, Ye Zhichao was not sure he could bring them back.

So he could only keep asking Ding Ruchang indirectly about his future treatment while on the road.

When Ding Ruchang heard Ye Zhichao say, "The lives of thousands of people depend on me," he waved his hands repeatedly.

He shook his head and said, "No, Brother Shuqing, the life and death of the soldiers of these two towns actually depends entirely on your decision, not on me, a mere commoner."

"Then Brother Yuting, after we arrive at the old street, where should we go?" Ye Zhichao asked hurriedly.

"Go south, of course!"

Ye Zhichao's heart began to beat as he thought about fighting the French. "But the two regiments under my command are short of guns and ammunition. I'm afraid they won't be able to handle this heavy task."

"The President has already sent people to deliver supplies to Laojie. After getting the weapons and supplies, we should be able to fight, right?" Ding Ruchang glanced at Ye Zhichao and said lightly:

"Brother Shuqing, the conditions offered by the President are quite generous. Think about it, if you took the equipment from Laojie and turned around and ran back to Kunming, the President would actually be unable to do anything to you.

However, I believe that Brother Shuqing will not act like this. As long as Brother Shuqing can lead his troops to attack the French army, even if it is just to attract part of the detachment, the goal of this southward march will be achieved.

After the war, whether you want to return home and become a rich man or come to surrender with a large army, the president will not treat you unfairly.

Aren’t the Hubei New Army’s newly formed mixed brigade and Liu Yongfu’s Black Flag Mixed Brigade ready-made examples?

"But, but..." Ye Zhichao obviously still had doubts in his heart.

After all, the Hubei New Army and Liu Yongfu had no grudges against Yuan Shikai, and had never fought against each other, but the Huai Army was different, as the two had just fought a war.

Seeing that Ye Zhichao was still worried, Ding Ruchang gently squeezed the horse's belly, held the reins with one hand, and slowly approached Ye Zhichao's horse, saying comfortingly:

"Don't worry, I guarantee you with my life. Once you arrive in Laojie, if you can lead the troops to attack France, no one will bother you with the old Huai Army incident!"

Ding Ruchang also tried his best. He knew that as long as he could bring Ye Zhichao's army back, it would be a great achievement. He would also be able to use this achievement to get a good job in the new government in the future.

After a pause, Ding Ruchang looked around and said loudly in front of the Huai Army soldiers around him: "Besides, don't you still believe in President Yuan's credibility?

He is not General Quan. In the more than 10 years since the Jiashen Right Army started its uprising, he has never killed anyone who surrendered! "

Chapter 456: Battle of Hanoi (Part )

Hanoi.

Because it is located in the center of the Red River Plain, the Vietnamese who have lived in the Red River Delta for a long time think that it is "located in the center of the world, with the momentum of a dragon coiling and a tiger crouching", so it is also called Thang Long.

There are no stars in the sky above Tonkin, the clouds are low and thick, and the night is dark. On the summer night in the Red River, there is no sound of insects, only explosions that tear the eardrums.

Near Hanoi City, the simple floating bridge across the Red River was broken in two from the middle, and dense light spots consisting of machine guns on both sides of the bridgehead shuttled back and forth.

In the distance from the bridge, the National Revolutionary Army's river crossing commandos in the north were advancing desperately in the dense water columns.

On the south bank of the river, the barrel of a light Hatch gun driver's gun extended from a makeshift shelter. Life had become the least valuable thing at this moment, and blood dyed the river red.

At this moment, the Red River has truly become a bright red river.

While the French artillerymen were ravaging the National Revolutionary Army crossing the river, the National Revolutionary Army artillery on the opposite bank was also destroying the temporary fortifications built by the French.

Balls of orange-yellow fire exploded along the river. The barricades, sandbags and positions that had taken a month to build were blown away by artillery shells. Broken limbs rolled and shattered in the air waves, and steel fragments screamed and harvested lives indiscriminately.

The explosion points of the artillery shells were so dense that they could not be distinguished, especially the M1897 French 75mm artillery, which had an astonishing rate of fire. Every minute, more than a dozen shells fell on the same position, blasting a gap in the position.

The frontline positions in the hills along the river were no longer recognizable. In order to ensure the success of the river crossing, Wang Zhanyuan applied to the Military Commission for a large amount of weapons and equipment support, and almost sold out all the artillery forces available south of the Yangtze River.

Not only did each division use its own 60mm and 90mm field guns, but they also no longer spared ammunition and brought all the captured French 2mm guns to the front line.

The National Revolutionary Army even transported four 3mm heavy artillery pieces weighing three tons from Guangdong. These were the heavy weapons for city defense that Li Hongzhang had ordered people to purchase from the Germans.

It’s a pity that on the day Guangzhou was captured, it was all street fighting and was of no use.

Hundreds of rafts and small boats were moored in secluded areas along the river. These small boats were also collected from all over the place, and even ferries from Vietnam came here.

Crossing the river by force would be a difficult task for any troop, but in order to support the offensive of Ye Zhichao's Corps from the side, Wang Zhanyuan had to use such a primitive method to cross the river.

But in fact, he had no better solution.

Hanoi City is on the south bank of the Red River, close to the confluence of the Red River and the Dun River. If you want to capture this city, you must cross the river.

The flying shells drew countless bright spots in the night sky. In the darkness, the woods at the foot of Baima Mountain were densely packed with National Revolutionary Army soldiers waiting for orders to set off.

At the front of the crowd, Wang Zhanyuan, who had a classic straight beard from the late 19th century and served as the commander-in-chief of the front line in the war against France, held a telescope and closely observed the situation on the front line.

Wang Zhanyuan was very satisfied with his strategy of using heavy firepower to bombard the French. However, Tanaka Yu, who had also been promoted to the chief of staff at the front, was a little anxious: