Chapter 183: Defeat (Part 2)

But unlike Erminga’s bold declarations, it wasn’t the Song Army units sent by the Black Flag Army that shattered his will—it was merely a small detachment of the Black Flag Army that slipped through and suddenly appeared before him.
After a few gunshots, Erminga loudly ordered, “Retreat to Hanoi! Abandon Danfeng! Abandon Danfeng!”
He didn’t even take the time to vent his anger at Lieutenant Colonel Bissel before issuing orders with an unusual firmness: “Transfer to Hanoi immediately! The enemy’s forces far outnumber ours!”
Communicating like this in the darkness was extremely difficult; some units received orders, while others couldn’t retreat at all.
The most frustrated was Lieutenant Colonel Bissel himself. When Erminga gave the orders, he was organizing resistance on the front lines and was caught off guard by a devastating blow from behind.
The Black Flag Army’s attacks grew more intense. Troops arriving from Taiyuan joined the battle, and the Holy Guardians of the Flower Sect took advantage of the chaos to strike as well. No matter how skilled he was as a general, he couldn’t withstand such pressure.
As he tried to gather reinforcements everywhere, Erminga frantically issued yet more orders. He grabbed the messenger by the collar and shouted, “No retreat! No one is allowed to retreat!”
“It’s an order from Colonel Erminga!”
“Whoever dares to retreat will face military discipline immediately!” Lieutenant Colonel Bissel knew the situation well—resisting at the positions was already tough, let alone fighting in the open against the Black Flag Army. “No one retires! It’s my order!”
Just then, more bad news came: “Colonel Erminga has already led his troops into retreat. You must retreat too!”
In the darkness, some units received the news and retreated on their own, while others continued to resist. Still others, even after hearing the news, refused to retreat, plunging everything into chaos.
The units that retreated voluntarily managed to break through southward due to the Black Flag Army’s inability to form a tight encirclement. But the rest were in the same mess. Lieutenant Colonel Bissel tried several times to organize a counterattack, but the Black Flag Army repelled them with firepower.
“I…”
Lieutenant Colonel Bissel was too angry to speak. Due to Erminga’s unauthorized retreat, several gaps had opened in his defenses. The Black Flag Army immediately exploited these gaps to launch attacks, pressing him relentlessly.
Seeing the Black Flag Army surging forward like a tide, he shouted, “France, charge with bayonets…”
He led dozens of organized soldiers to charge the Black Flag Army ranks with bayonets…
…
“The enemy has crossed over, even faster than we thought…”
At dawn, every officer and soldier of the Black Flag Army knew they had achieved a glorious and great victory: “We’ve won!”
“We’ve won!”
Cheers rang out one after another. Although the gunfire on the battlefield had not ceased and the fighting was still intense, the French forces had lost most of their organized resistance. Now they were scurrying around in chaos like a swarm of bees.

Liu Yu also didn’t expect Erminga to flee so quickly: “Thank you, friend who loves Sino-French friendship so much!”
There are always those who add more glory to things in this world. Less than half an hour after dawn, several infantry units joined the battle.
Cleaning up the battlefield was equally difficult. The French forces resisted with their last strength, especially some units of the Bissel garrison, which used the fortifications they had built earlier to hold their ground tenaciously.
But this was just one dissonant scene on the battlefield. Groups of French soldiers and Legionnaires were taken off the field, their eyes lifeless, already prepared for the worst.
By noon, the battle was essentially over, with results so significant that even the Black Flag Army couldn’t believe them. There were over ten thousand rifles captured alone, along with artillery and other military equipment enough to arm four infantry brigades of the Black Flag Army.
“Long live!” Even the most cautious officers knew what kind of victory they had achieved: “The next target must be Hanoi, right?”
“Yes, Hanoi! We were besieging it last year at this time. Now we can do it again.”
“There are more defenders in Hanoi than last year, but our strength is more than ten times greater…”
Inside Hanoi were the remnants of Erminga’s defeated troops, along with some forces personally commanded by Gobat. But any sensible person could see that the French forces were on the run.
“They’ve just sent an additional regiment from Haiphong. We’re confident we can take it!”
Although all units suffered heavy casualties, with many infantry companies reduced to less than a third of their original strength, the enthusiasm of these junior officers to fight only grew stronger.
At this time, Liu Yu also received an unexpected welcome.
“Negotiation envoys?”
“That’s right! They are negotiation envoys sent by Rear Admiral Gobat. They demand immediate negotiations to achieve permanent peace in the Tokyo region and are willing to engage in equal negotiations with us.”
Over the past few years, this had always been the goal of the Black Flag Army, but now the relationship between the two sides was in a completely different state.
“What are their demands?”
“They demand an immediate ceasefire and the conditional lifting of the military embargo against us!”
Although Gobat wasn’t aware of the extent of his frontline forces’ losses when he sent the negotiation envoys, the bad news coming in since yesterday afternoon made him clearly understand the mistakes he had made.
Even Sedan had never faced such pressure. According to reports from the front, Erminga’s and Nigeri’s two infantry brigades had suffered devastating blows, and the Bissel garrison had also been heavily damaged.
Although there was still an infantry brigade in Hanoi for defense, it had also been severely hit in previous battles. Now the entire city of Hanoi was on the verge of collapse.
He was filled with regret!
He clearly knew that after the Shanxi campaign, the French could no longer win this war. Why hadn’t he stepped forward back then instead of suffering such destruction today?

His actions over these past few months are outright crimes; he has doomed France’s interests in the Tokyo region to destruction. All he can do now is try to mitigate some of the damage before standing trial in a military court, and these two military envoys are his representatives.
“A cease-fire on the spot?”
Liu Yu’s voice rose sharply: “Apart from unconditional surrender, I won’t accept any terms.”