Chapter 124: The Proud Heart

The battle began first in Naimun. To avoid alerting the enemy, Naimun was also empty of people, but Major Corona, the commander, was extremely cautious. After occupying Naimun, he ordered his troops to rest while sending out scouting parties ahead. He had to be careful—among the three columns, his force was the weakest. The left column had fire support from naval forces, while the right column was the strongest. Meanwhile, the artillery and some infantry of the central column were left in Anzai Village, so he even ordered his soldiers to build makeshift defensive positions.

“Report! Enemy in front!” an indigenous noncom shouted. “There’s an enemy!”
Scattered Annamese infantry were advancing in disarray, with sporadic gunfire. It seemed they were no match for the indigenous infantry.
Major Corona raised his telescope, ignoring the raindrops falling on the lens, and observed the enemy forces ahead. But moments later, he shouted loudly, “Quick! Prepare for defense!”
He saw many fortresses and gun emplacements built in Hong Village ahead. Infantry without artillery could never capture those fortresses, yet the enemy troops began retreating as soon as they made slight contact—this was a trap to lure them in.
He remembered the tragedy of the paper bridge: “Order the vanguard to retreat immediately and prepare for defense.”
Under his loud commands, French soldiers quickly took positions at key points. The indigenous infantry, under urgent urging, returned to the rain from the houses, and the riflemen also retreated.
But it was too late. Countless bullets came from the positions in Hong Village. Although the riflemen had dispersed and had the rain to cover them, the bullets were so dense that they caused a wave of casualties among the indigenous infantry.
Then figures of the Black Flag Army appeared from all directions, and finally, the large black bird flag came into sight: “It’s the omen bird!”
“It’s a crow!”
“It brings bad news.”
That battle flag was so conspicuous that everyone, whether French or Vietnamese, felt an ominous premonition. Every time it appeared, it brought bad news.
“Organize defense!” Naimun was an ordinary Vietnamese village, and it was quite difficult to accommodate over nine hundred soldiers: “Build defensive positions!”
Building defensive positions wasn’t easy, especially in the rain. Fortunately, there were some wooden houses, and the French army temporarily demolished them to construct makeshift fortifications.
“Boom!” The Black Flag Army’s artillery had already started firing. They had set up artillery positions near Naimun, and several mortars could easily bombard the entire village. 60-mm and 82-mm mortars caused significant casualties among the relatively dense defensive forces.
Then the infantry of the Xiliuying Regiment began firing. Although Spencer didn’t fire, snipers were of little use in such a situation, but the Remington and Snider rifles still caused some casualties.
Major Corona painfully realized that he didn’t have artillery with him. Due to the floods, his artillery was left in Anzai Village behind.

The Black Flag Army’s 60-mm and 82-mm mortars kept firing nonstop, clearly playing the leading role in this battle. Although many mortar shells failed to explode due to the weather, those that did explode subjected the French forces to another barrage of fire amidst the heavy rain, with countless shrapnel engulfing the entire Neicun village in artillery fire. They had conducted drills before the battle, marked all terrain features, and memorized firing angles and directions, thus exerting considerable pressure on the French forces. The French also began firing, but at this distance, although they suffered some losses, the Black Flag Army’s operations were not greatly hindered. However, the rain also prevented the Xiliu Camp from launching a counterattack; they had already prepared assault positions near the village, and now the two sides were engaged in gunfights from a distance of about 200 meters, with people dying or getting injured from time to time. Gunfire, rain, artillery blasts, and screams mixed together, creating a chaotic battlefield. An officer shouted loudly, “Major! Major! The 2nd Company of Tokyo Native Infantry has lost 12 men and has retreated to the village to regroup.” “We need artillery support!” “There are more and more enemies—several times as many as us!” “We need to reinforce our forces.” Major Corona appeared somewhat panicked, but as a commander, he was well aware of his responsibilities. “Remember what Napoleon said—those are just bullets!” He still had great confidence in his troops’ combat strength: “Hold your heads high.” The Black Flag Army launched a tentative attack, but the French forces defending the houses struggled hard to repel it, with the flood having an equal impact on both sides. “Give me one French platoon, one Annamite platoon, and two Tokyo Infantry platoons!” With Major Corona’s order, the required troops were quickly assembled. Everyone prepared to watch this reserve force in action, when Major Corona ordered loudly, “Lieutenant, you have the toughest task…” “Go to Anlong Village and protect our artillery!” “Major, that’s four infantry platoons!” Several officers cried out, “We’re facing an attack from thousands of enemies!” During the previous bombardment and fighting, the French forces had already lost nearly a hundred men, and the casualties continued to rise. Losing four fresh infantry platoons would make the battle even more difficult. “Frenchmen, we can hold on!” Major Corona, undaunted by the rain and wind, stepped through the mud toward the front line: “Trust our soldiers.” He knew well that there was an artillery platoon and a French infantry platoon he had left in Anlong Village, along with a Tokyo Native Infantry company. But from the previous battle, he understood that such forces were far from enough to protect the artillery. If the defenders of Anlong Village were wiped out, it would mean the rear of the central column would be cut off: “We must protect the artillery at all costs!” It turned out that Major Corona’s judgment was spot-on. The Neicun battle involved the Xiliu Camp, Hanhai Camp, and Crow Camp, but the newly added Zhiqiao Camp was ordered to attack Anlong Village.

The predecessor of the Paper Bridge Battalion was Yang Zhen’en’s Right Camp. This camp suffered the heaviest losses in the Battle of Paper Bridge, but its fighting style was also proven effective. After joining the Xiliu Camp, it exchanged a combat-ready company with the Crow Camp and received priority in terms of weapons supply, turning that company into a true Xiliu Camp unit. Its fighting style closely resembled that of the Xiliu Camp, and its infantry’s equipment and quality were far superior to before. With significantly strengthened forces, it dealt a severe blow to the defenders of Anlong Village at the first engagement. The indigenous infantry companies of Annam were no match for the Paper Bridge Battalion. Fortunately, they were able to hold their ground in the village, backed by a French infantry platoon as a core force, along with constant support from two 40-mm mountain guns, which prevented them from collapsing completely. But without the arrival of these four infantry platoons in support, the French would have been utterly defeated in Anlong Village. The Paper Bridge Battalion once forced the defenders into one-third of the village, but due to the arrival of enemy reinforcements, they were forced to retreat and reorganize their lines, still holding one-third of the village. Liu Yu could clearly hear the fighting amidst the rain through the telephone. Looking at the rain-soaked sky, he said to Ye Chenglin, “This rain is really troublesome.” “Without this flood, I would have taken the inner village long ago!” Ye Chenglin’s assault was not successful. Although they penetrated the inner village, they were eventually repelled by the French counterattack. “Haven’t we taken Anzhai Village either?” Roaring gunshots came through the telephone—both French 40-mm artillery and the Paper Bridge Battalion’s 60-mm mortars. The sound of gunfire drowned out even the rain, making it difficult to hear the officers’ voices clearly. “It’s troublesome! I didn’t expect the French to have so many irregular troops.” The main force of the Xiliu Camp, numbering around 2,000 troops, was deployed near the inner village. In open combat, they could have crushed the French forces and moved on to finish off the remaining enemies. But the French forces turned the battle into a siege of the village. Explosives became unusable due to moisture, many mortar shells failed to explode, and snipers were ineffective. What was even more troublesome was that Liu Yu hadn’t expected the French to bring so many indigenous infantry from Tokyo. Although these indigenous troops were weak in combat, they made excellent fodder for defending the village and required significant effort to deal with. To defeat 1,000 defending enemies, the defending side needed more than triple the number of troops. Thus, Liu Yu hung up the phone and said, “The situation in Anzhai Village is also very tough!” Ye Chenglin asked, “Should we request support from Colonel Huang?” Liu Yu put on his raincoat and stepped into the heavy rain. “Take it! Don’t let Liu Yongfu and his men mock our Xiliu Camp.” On another battlefield, the fighting had also reached a fierce intensity. Compared to the central column, the right column had an inherent advantage. Although it also consisted of 1,100 troops, it had an additional 1,000 troops from the Yellow Flag Army on its right flank. The French highly praised this Chinese-led Yellow Flag Army, believing their combat strength to be greater than that of the indigenous troops from Tokyo. Compared to the indigenous troops of Annam, they each had their strengths. Behind them was the French general reserve force.

Such a powerful force filled Bo Hua with pride, and capturing Huai De Prefecture without a fight further inflated his confidence to the limit.
“Soldiers, get ready! There will be a tough battle outside Shanxi City, but we will be the victors!” he shouted to boost morale. “We have powerful artillery, and each soldier is equipped with 120 bullets.”
He didn’t even send out a scouting party, so although his troops were stronger than those in the central column, they faced far greater challenges.
Ahead of him lay traps carefully prepared by Liu Yongfu.
Liu Yongfu had bet everything on this: Liu Chengliang’s rear camp, Wu Fengdian’s left camp, plus two newly formed units—Pang Zhenyun’s Wu Lie Camp and Tang Jingsong’s personal guard camp.
Pang Zhenyun’s Wu Lie Camp consisted of 300 Guangdong mercenaries recruited from Hu Kunshan, but they were equipped with many rapid-fire guns. Tang Jingsong’s personal guard camp was formed by him seizing weapons for his own use.
This infantry unit was weaker than any of the Black Flag Army’s units, lacking combat experience, but it was well-equipped. Taking advantage of his role in coordinating arms purchases for Liu Yongfu, Tang Jingsong seized a batch of rapid-fire guns to arm his personal guard camp.
Now, the personal guard camp had 200 soldiers and 150 rapid-fire guns. Yet compared to the Black Flag Army, this unit resembled more of a Qing army’s elite unit, characterized by soldiers serving their commanders personally—half of the 200 soldiers were even borrowed by Tang Jingsong from Huang Guilan.
With such a personal guard camp, Tang Jingsong had much greater influence within the Black Flag Army.
Beyond these four infantry units, Huang Shouzhong’s two infantry units provided support from the center, ready to be deployed in the battlefields of Wang Cun, Si Zhu Miao, or Nei Cun at any time.
But Major Bo Hua was unaware of all this. The French soldiers advanced in dense columns, forming a long line over three kilometers long.
They set out from Huai De Prefecture and quickly reached Wang Cun.
It was a typical Vietnamese village, empty of people. The soldiers pressed forward together, unaware that deadly enemies lurked in the bamboo fences nearby.
Although the Xiliu Camp was more combat-effective than other units of the Black Flag Army, the Black Flag Army had more experience. Now, they had hidden all four infantry units behind carefully constructed positions stretching over two kilometers long.
Bo Hua still knew nothing. He said to his staff, “The artillery must keep up. I think we must buy trained warhorses in Dongjing—these have already caused us enough trouble today.”
It was a massive army—infantry, mules, artillery, and supplies all gathered together, forming a blue dragon in the rain.
Liu Yongfu watched his opponent enter the ambush zone and felt somewhat nervous.
He never expected Bo Hua to be so careless. But like Liu Yu, he also hadn’t anticipated that the enemy forces ambushing them would be so large. If Liu Yu still had a numerical advantage, on this battlefield, he was at a disadvantage.
Liu Yu was facing 1,100 French soldiers with 2,000 of his own, while on this battlefield, he had to confront over 2,100 French soldiers with only 1,300 of his own.

The French army’s formation was even twice as wide as his ambush position, but he had no other choice. He simply said to Tang Jingsong beside him, “Lord Tang, my battalions are no weaker than Commander Liu’s.” Deep in his heart, he also harbored a proud ambition. Tang Jingsong was confident in his own elite battalion as well: “Although my elite battalion is new to battle, it will surely deal a heavy blow to the enemy.” “Let the French taste the power of Liu Er!” he ordered loudly. “All of you! Fire!”