Chapter 339: Can Feng Zicai and Liu Yongfu be a match for my French heavenly soldiers?

Chapter 339: Can Feng Zicai and Liu Yongfu be a match for my French heavenly soldiers?

Chapter 339: Can Feng Zicai and Liu Yongfu be a match for my French heavenly soldiers?
Shanghai, Huangpu River Pier.

You Sihai, the former manager of You's Chamber of Commerce, later the prefect of Tongzhou, who was now recommended by Shao Quanzhong and promoted to the governor of Jiangsu, met Shao Quanzhong, an old friend of his father, Magistrate You of Jingjiang.

The Governor of Jiangsu was originally Li Hongzhang's confidant Ding Ruchang. Ding Ruchang has now become the admiral of the Beiyang Fleet and is stationed in the Sasebo naval port. The position of Governor of Jiangsu has always been a remote position and now falls into the hands of You Sihai.

You Sihai was extremely proud. His father had a keen eye for talent and had invested heavily in Shao Quanzhong when he was still a militia leader. You's family completely surrendered to the Shao family, and now it was rewarded, wasn't it?

Who could have thought that his father, a double-examination Jinshi, had been a seventh-rank official in Jingjiang for more than ten years without moving, while his son, who had no diploma, would rise to the top and become a second-rank governor, and the governor of Jiangsu, the richest and most prosperous place in the world.

This is the advantage of starting from Long Zao.

You Sihai did not come to take up the post on his own initiative, but brought with him 7,000 reserve troops from the Tongzhou Insurance Team.

These 7,000 people will form the Jiangsu New Army in Suzhou and expand it to a town. The Jiangsu New Army will obviously also join the Huai Army.

You Sihai is stationed in Suzhou and will immediately push for the establishment of a reserve insurance team throughout Jiangsu. Now the entire Jiangsu will finally be under the control of the Huai Army.

When Governor You took office, he did not go to Suzhou or visit his theoretical superior, the Governor-General of Liangjiang Ma Xinyi. Instead, he immediately led his troops across the river from Tongzhou to Shanghai to pay a visit to his benefactor Shao Quanzhong who was about to go to Europe.

"Brother Sihai, when you take office, you don't need to rush to build the new army in Jiangsu. The most important thing is to maintain the stability of Shanghai. Now all ports are seizing French merchant ships and sealing up French businesses."

"If the court wants to get silver, the goods have to rely on the Wen Chamber of Commerce to cash in. As for merchant ships, You's Shipping can actively purchase some suitable ones to help the court."

Ahem, is this to relieve the worries of the imperial court? This is the so-called priority purchase right of the stolen goods at a low price sale, and the opportunity to buy at the bottom and make a profit is of course for our own people.

The Jiangsu New Army led by You Sihai took over the defense of Shanghai, especially the former French Concession, and cooperated with the Wen Chamber of Commerce to swallow up... ahem, take over the French property.

Of course, the imperial court will be able to get 20 or 30 million silver coins in the end, but everyone knows what the receiving official can do, so it must be someone from their own team.

"Marshal Yu, according to the intelligence from You's Shipping, France has two fleets stationed in Yokohama and Saigon in the Far East, in addition to the Far East Fleet in Shanghai. Now that the Nanyang Fleet has left, we need to be on guard against them causing trouble."

"I know about this. The French squadron in Saigon won't last long. The one in Yokohama is too far away to be managed."

"Shanghai now has the Far East Fleet of our friendly country Britain, so there will be no problem. With the support of Pu, the original trial-produced thousand-ton ironclad ship of Zhenjiang Shipyard has been assembled on the slipway and will soon be able to participate in coastal patrols. A dozen wooden-hulled ships in Yokohama will not be of much use.

"The Pacific Fleet, Beiyang Fleet and South China Sea Fleet can suppress them. They dare not come to our Qing Dynasty to cause trouble."

Shanghai was handed over to You Sihai, and someone was responsible for selling the stolen goods in the rear. Shao Quanzhong took the fleet and the Anhui New Army and Heavy Artillery Brigade on board and rushed to Guangzhou to join forces with the Guangdong and Guangxi New Army.

…………

Saigon, Reunification Palace, French Government-General's Office of Cochinchina.

This is not a French colony, but a place claimed by France as its territory. Governor Dupere is sighing at this moment.

"The Qing Dynasty suddenly turned against France and attacked French forces in various places in the Far East. France has been operating in the Far East for decades, and its achievements may be lost in one day."

"Everywhere is in danger, how can Jiaozhi China survive alone? Are we going to surrender to Shao Quanzhong?"

The French Far East Navy Commander Charles Louis Thibold Courrier is not in Shanghai. He is currently in Saigon and is the target of Governor Dupere's complaints.

Kurris was also trembling with fear, but he consoled the Governor, "We have three rice crops in Saigon, and the grain production is abundant. The army has 9,000 standing troops, and we can recruit more immediately. We are equipped with modern equipment, including Gatling machine guns. It is not something the enemy can defeat in a short time."

"The Franco-Prussian War has already begun. Shao Quanzhong is eager to go to Europe to join the war. He may not have time to fight us. The fleet in Yokohama and Saigon may be preserved."

"Report! Liu Yongfu, the brave general and first-class baron of the Nguyen Dynasty, led 3,000 black flag troops and captured our Da Nang with the support of heavy artillery. He announced that he would seize Saigon."

There was no formal procedure for Liu Yongfu to be included in the non-staff ranks of the Huai Army by Shao Quanzhong.

The Black Flag Army was stationed in Hue to help the Nguyen Dynasty defend the capital. The Nguyen Dynasty gave him a lot of official titles. He attacked as a general of the Nguyen Dynasty. Commander Curris and Governor Dupere were delighted when they heard the news. "Sure enough, the Qing Dynasty only sent the military forces of the vassal states to attack Saigon. It's really looking down on us."

The Governor immediately issued an order, "Huo Daosheng!"

"My subordinate is here!"

"You take one thousand French regular troops, two thousand colonial black soldiers, and three thousand Jiaozhi vassal soldiers to fight Liu Yongfu."

"As ordered."

Huo Daosheng ordered his troops to leave. Humph, Liu Yongfu had known for a long time that they were just a group of peasant armed forces who could not stay in the Qing Dynasty and fled to Annan.

I have brought a thousand of the world's strongest regular troops, with a total strength of 6,000 people. Wouldn't it be like a piece of cake to deal with you?

Huo Daosheng left and arrived in Huai'en County, Binh Dinh Province ten days later. He found out that Liu Yongfu was still in Da Nang.

In Saigon, a fast horse galloped to the Governor's Palace and the scouts rushed inside.

"Reporting to the Governor-General, the Qing general Feng Zicai stationed in Bangkok led his troops to rush eastward for a thousand miles and attacked Phnom Penh by surprise. Phnom Penh has already fallen!"

Wow, the Qing people are attacking from two fronts again? Di Pere is not afraid.

As long as the Huai Army doesn't come, how can these bastards be my opponents? I have never heard of Liu Yongfu and Feng Zicai before.

Well, Liu Yongfu was indeed unknown before, but Feng Zicai was quite famous.

However, it is good enough for the Governor-General to know Shao Quanzhong, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong. There are so many admirals in the Qing Dynasty, how could he know them all?

"How many people did Feng Zicai bring with him?"

"Soldiers who escaped from Phnom Penh reported that there were about 10,000 people."

Dipere looked at his colleague Kurris and said, "Lieutenant General, I will leave Saigon to your navy. I will lead the army to drive Feng Zicai out of Phnom Penh. If all goes well, we will push back all the way to Bangkok."

Dupere personally led one thousand regular French troops, one thousand black troops from the African colonies, one thousand well-trained Jiaozhi vassal troops, plus eight thousand new Jiaozhi vassal troops urgently recruited in the past ten days. They were fully equipped and in high morale, and marched westward to fight Feng Zicai.

Humph, they are just local troops of the Qing Dynasty. If I can’t beat the Huai Army, can I beat you?

It is only 400 miles from Saigon to Phnom Penh. Eight days later, Huo Daosheng led his troops on the eastern front to Da Nang and exchanged fire with Liu Yongfu's troops. The French army on the western front, led by Dupere himself, also arrived in Phnom Penh and confronted Feng Zicai's army.

The French Far East Navy Commander Courrès was entrusted by the Governor-General to stay in Saigon. He was lamenting that the Governor-General's District of Cochinchina was too backward and had not yet laid a telegraph. He didn't know what the situation was like on the two fronts...

"Report to the commander. No, this is not good."

"Why are you panicking?"

"Come out and see for yourself."

The Lieutenant General rushed out, raised his eyes and looked south along the direction his subordinates pointed.

Five thousand-ton steam ironclad ships were sailing up the Mekong River, approaching their six wooden-hulled steam ships. Behind them were countless thousands of tons of transport ships, and no one knew how many there were.

Looking through the telescope, I saw a Johnson-class steam-armored cruiser parked on the distant sea with three Chinese characters on it: "Haiqi".

(End of this chapter)