Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 351: Annan Incident

From the 1880s, in order to obtain economic benefits from overseas colonies and to make up for the huge reparations paid to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, the French accelerated their pace of aggression and occupation of Annam.

On March 1874, 3, the French colonial authorities signed the Franco-Vietnamese Treaty with Annam, which stipulated that the French had sovereignty and legal jurisdiction over the occupied areas, and that France had the right to establish embassies and station troops in every trading port.

In France's view, signing this treaty meant that France had established a protectorate in Tonkin, Vietnam.

On April 1875, 4, French Minister of the Navy and Colonies Montanac wrote to Foreign Minister Degas about the treaty: "Our current intervention is to prepare for the protectorate system, which must be clearly established and recognized in the future.

The Kingdom of Annan is now weak and has admitted that it is no longer able to make its subjects obey it, so it has to accept the protection of a great power. The rights we have obtained in Cochinchina do not allow any power other than ourselves to exert influence on Emperor Tu Duc.

We have paid a great price in laying the foundations of French rule in this country, and we must continue our work without going too far or straying from our goal, and especially without going back and undoing what we have accomplished.”

What Montanac said revealed the French government's true policy towards Annam.

After 1874, the Governor-General of Cochinchina, in accordance with the provisions of the treaty, continuously dispatched diplomatic officials and colonial troops to Hai Duong, Hanoi, Tây Sơn and other provinces in southern Annam. Then, using a small number of garrisons, he gradually undermined the Annam government's ruling power in the local area and secretly gained control of northern Annam.

The French invasion gradually made the Annan government wary.

In order to prevent the further expansion of French colonial power, the Annan government was forced to respond by sending a tribute team to the mainland to reaffirm the vassal relationship between the Qing Dynasty and Annan, and to implore the Qing court to send troops to assist France when it invades the Annan region.

Internally, he sent trusted officials such as Huang Yao, Nguyen Zheng, and Bui Yinnian to serve as governors-general of various provinces in the northern region to weaken the influence of pro-French puppet officials in the northern region.

In addition, after hearing the news that the Han Kingdom in South America had repelled the British expeditionary force, officials in the Annan court unanimously agreed that the Han Kingdom had strong military strength and could win over the Nanyang Corps, which was also part of the Han Kingdom's armed forces, to share the military threat posed by the French colonial army to the northern provinces.

Therefore, with the tacit approval and secret support of the Annan government, the Nanyang Corps rejected the French request to establish an embassy and send troops in Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces.

Due to the Vietnamese government's overt or covert resistance and the seemingly strong military threat from the Qing court,
The Governor of Cochinchina, Dupere, felt that it was difficult to implement the relevant provisions of the 1874 Treaty. In order to temporarily ease the anti-French sentiment of the Vietnamese government, he wrote to the Minister of Navy and Colonial Affairs, Chuan Lisson, in 1876, suggesting that France withdraw from the 1874 Treaty. These suggestions included "the French government assuring the Vietnamese government that it did not have any intention of conquest; agreeing not to set up garrisons in Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces controlled by the Nanyang Corps;
Repeal the clause that prevents the Annan government from changing its current diplomatic relations with foreign countries;
France could only maintain the following points: sovereignty over the six provinces of Cochinchina;
Open foreign trade to the ports of Tonkin; give preferential treatment to Christians. Later, Dupere also advocated that France should not interfere with Vietnam's customary tribute to China, although this was in violation of the 1874 treaty.

The temporary compromise and concession proposed by the Governor-General of Cochinchina, Dupere, brought a few years of precious stability to the northern part of Annam. However, by 1879, the political situation in France had undergone tremendous changes. The royalist rule that attempted to restore the monarchy came to an end with the resignation of President McMahon, and was succeeded by the Republican cabinets of Combett and Juffery.

These were two governments that were fanatical advocates of colonial expansion. They replaced the Minister of the Navy with the more aggressive Clouet, who, soon after taking office, was determined to turn his predecessor's paper plan of expanding the invasion of the north into practical action.

On October 1879, 10, Clue replaced the conservative Dupere and appointed Lu Mei as the Governor-General of Cochinchina. He also proposed a specific plan to invade Tonkin: "In this case, an expedition must be carried out. According to the information I have obtained, this expedition will not only conquer Tokyo, but also stay there for several years. 1 marines, 3000 Annan troops, and 3000 gunboats. With these means of action, we can achieve our goal."

Under the guidance of the new cabinet president's aggressive strategy, the French colonial authorities repeatedly threatened the Annam government with force to fulfill the 1874 treaty and allow the Governor-General of Cochinchina to increase the number of troops stationed in the northern provinces.

Faced with the threat from the French, the Annan government used the vassal relationship with the Qing Dynasty as a pretext, claiming that Annan was a vassal state of the Qing court. If France wanted to increase the number of troops stationed in the northern provinces, it could only seek the consent of the Qing court. The Annan government could not bypass the Qing government and agree to their demands alone.

The perfunctory response of the Annan government did not satisfy the French. While the French government ordered its ambassador to China to negotiate with the Qing government on the issue of the Annan garrison, the Governor-General's Office of Cochinchina sent several groups of armed personnel to blatantly spy on the garrison situation in the northern provinces of Annan in the name of an expedition team. In order to force the Annan government to comply,
At the end of 1880, the Governor-General of Cochinchina, Lu Mei, sent a telegram to the Minister of the Navy and Colonies, Clouet, proposing to use a local war to defeat the military forces in northern Annam and clear the way for France to fully control Annam.

Lu Mei's battle plan was recognized and supported by the other side. However, taking into account that France was not yet ready for a full-scale invasion of the Annam region, the Minister of the Navy and Colonies, Clue, reminded Lu Mei that the scale of the war must be controlled within a certain range and must not evolve into a full-scale war between France, Annam and the Qing Dynasty.

With Cluet's approval, the Governor-General's Office of Cochinchina quickly prepared the battle plan, and the only thing left was to find a suitable excuse to implement it.

When you want to accuse someone of a crime, you can always find a pretext. Excuses for creating conflicts were quickly found.

On February 1881, 2, Lu Mei reported to the French government about the incident in Quang Ninh Province where French nationals were stopped by soldiers of the Nanyang Army. He said: I received two letters from the French Consul in Hanoi today, about two Frenchmen, Mr. Gudin and Mr. Villeroya, who were conducting an investigation in Halong City.
They held passports issued by the consulate and had intended to visit the Hongji coal mine as scholars. Not long after, the two investigators had to interrupt their trip because they were insulted when leaving Baohe on January 1 and attacked in a small castle about 8 miles away from the Hongji coal mine. A Malayan they hired was shot in the thigh.

They were forced to return to the provincial capital, and had to retreat again in the face of the aggressive attitude of the Chinese soldiers. A Chinese army of several hundred people had just arrived. Without the boatman and the protection of the Annan authorities, the two Frenchmen had no choice but to keep

They retreated to the confluence of the Blackwater River. According to the latest news, they are preparing to go upstream from another river. Then, in order to escalate the incident, Lu Mei asked the French government to send a mining engineer inspection team, including Professor Fish and Engineer Sarasi, more than 20 people.

In early February, under the protection of the French colonial army, they again insisted on inspecting the Hongji Coal Mine. However, they were rejected by the Nanyang Army.

Located in the capital of Quang Ninh Province, Hongji Coal Mine produces high-quality anthracite. The coal seam is thick and the topsoil is thin, which is conducive to open-pit mining. The mining area is more than 100 kilometers long and 15-20 kilometers wide, with a coal reserve of 22.5 billion tons. It is the most important coal base in Southeast Asia, and its production and proven reserves account for about % of Annan's total.
In 1870, the Nanyang Army discovered the area where the Hongji Coal Mine was located and carried out full-scale mining in 1872. Except for a small portion of the mined smokeless coal that was transported back to the mainland for use, most of it was transported to southern mainland China, Thailand and other regions.

In 1874, in order to dispel the French idea of ​​seizing the Hongji Coal Mine, the Han State successively introduced Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, the United States, Spain and other influential Western countries in the Pacific region to invest.

After Britain, Germany, the United States and other countries invested in the company, the mining volume of Hongji Coal Mine increased significantly. The high-quality anthracite mined each year was distributed to more distant areas through the colonies of Britain, the United States, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries. After several years of operation, the Hongji Coal Mine alone brought considerable financial revenue to the Han government.

There are complete commercial and military docks near the Hongji Coal Mine. The superior geographical location and rich economic benefits have long been coveted by the French. For this reason, on February 1881, 2, the French government used the conflict as an excuse to send a letter to the Vietnamese government, forcing the Vietnamese government to expel the Nanyang Corps to ensure the safety of the French.

After the unreasonable demands of the French government were politely rejected by the Annan government, Lu Mei decided to have the colonial authorities send troops to resolve the dispute.

He assigned this task to Colonel Li Weiye, the new commander of the Cochinchina Naval Squadron, and Major Wei Yi, the commander of the African black colonial army.

Li Weiye was born in 1827. He entered the French Naval Academy in 1843. After graduation, he served in the French Navy and participated in the expedition to Mexico, but he made no military achievements.
He was promoted simply by seniority, and was awarded the rank of colonel in his 50s. He also knew that his military career was coming to an end and that it was time to prepare for retirement. While serving in the navy, he also engaged in literary creation, published poetry collections, published many novels, and staged plays. In 1881, Li Weiye was appointed commander of the Cochinchina Naval Squadron. This was a
This was an unenviable post, whose duties were to guard the Indochina coast from Singapore to the Hainan Strait, and the river navigation between Cochinchina and Cambodia.

It was a rather boring job, and Europeans were not very adaptable to the local climate.

Two colonels had previously refused this appointment, but Li Weiye accepted it without hesitation and arrived in Annan one year earlier than in history according to Lu Mei's urgent order.

Major Wei was originally a low-ranking officer stationed in the French Congo colony. Starting in 1875, the French government successively recruited black soldiers from colonies such as Chad, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Niger, and French Congo to Annan, Cambodia, and Laos in Indochina to adapt to the hot weather there.

By the beginning of 1881, the number of black colonial troops in Indochina had reached more than 1000, accounting for about % of the total number of French colonial troops (the French colonial army was composed of whites, Annamites, and blacks, with whites only accounting for a part, and the main force was the vassal army composed of Annamites).

The French were more tolerant towards blacks than the British, Germans, Belgians and other countries. In Africa, in order to facilitate governance, France vigorously promoted the assimilation policy. Politically, the French destroyed the original chieftain system and replaced it with a governor-general to rule according to the French system; culturally, they made French a necessary condition for further studies and encouraged learning French in the colonies. In order to win over the upper echelons of African tribes, they also actively encouraged colonial elites to obtain French citizenship and allowed a small number of elite blacks to live in the mainland.

The Great Revolution of 1789 spread the ideas of democracy, freedom and tolerance, and enabled some French people with fraternity ideas to bring these ideas to Africa. Therefore, in the black colonial army of Annan, although white people still served as officers, the mainstream, for the purpose of encouraging black people to make progress, some outstanding black people were still able to serve as low-level officers.

In 1880, Major Wei was appointed commander of the black colonial army because of the appreciation of the Governor. Facing the upcoming war, Major Wei was full of confidence in his soldiers.

"Lieutenant Bryant, I order you to be the commander of the vanguard. Once the Governor issues the combat mission, immediately lead your company and follow the combat plan to move toward Halong first. After Colonel Li Weiye's troops occupy Hanoi and Haiphong, your troops must occupy the town of My Lai within two days to cut off the connection between Cam Phu and Halong."

"Understood, Commander. The soldiers under my command are all warriors from various tribes in Congo (French Congo). I guarantee that those yellow monkeys will be beaten so hard that they dare not turn back."

A tall black officer, with his mouth wide open, revealing a row of white teeth.

"I believe in the courage of the soldiers of the Republic's African Legion. However, this military operation is crucial. You must restrain your troops and try not to provoke the small town of Annan on the march, so as not to delay the combat mission."

The military discipline of the European countries' colonial troops was generally loose. Most of the black troops under the French colonial army had not yet emerged from their primitive state of ignorance, and their military discipline and regulations were much worse than those of the white colonial army. After the African black troops arrived in Indochina, there were no less than 30 killings and rapes against local villages and towns, which made the people of Annan deeply hated.

If the French colonists had not restrained the black soldiers for fear of exacerbating the conflict with the Annan government and provoking armed resistance from the Annan people, their destructive power would have been even greater.

"Commander, rest assured. My company will not take the initiative to provoke the Annan villages before the combat mission is completed."

(End of this chapter)