Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 352 Provocation
On February 1881, 2, the Governor-General of Cochinchina issued an order to march. The next day, Li Weiye led 18 marines and 500 Annan colonial troops, carrying 1100 mountain cannons, 6 Gatling hand-cranked machine guns, and set off north on two ironclad ships, the "Doulak" and the "Baswal", and four transport ships.

Arrived in Hanoi on February 2.

On February 2, Li Weiye stationed his troops outside Hanoi and met with Hanoi Governor Huang Yao.

"Your Excellency, the French Republic has an obligation to protect the safety and dignity of its citizens in overseas regions. The French Republican Government and Governor Lumei are very angry about the armed attacks on Mr. Gudin and Mr. Villeroy in your country.
Governor-General Lu Mei has entrusted me to represent the Republican Government to lodge a solemn protest with you. You must immediately order the Chinese army and the northern armed forces to stop attacking French citizens. You must hand over the mastermind behind the attack on French citizens within half a month. If you fail to do the above two things, the French army will take independent military action to safeguard the dignity and interests of the Republican Government! "

"Your citizens have been spying on military secrets without the permission of the DPRK, which is already in collusion with Vietnam. The DPRK, in line with the principle of peace and friendship between our two countries, has not taken your excessive actions seriously. Why are you turning the tables and pushing the responsibility onto the DPRK?"

After listening to the translator's explanation, the Governor-General of Hanoi retorted, "Besides, your two citizens ignored the advice of the imperial army and continued to provoke. The imperial army only expelled them from Quang Ninh Province and did not harm them. How can you talk about an attack?"

The Annanese translator on the French side was willing to relay the words to Li Weiye. After listening to it, the other party did not give in at all and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, even if we don't talk about the attack on Mr. Guding and Mr. Villeroya, a week ago, a ship carrying more than 20 people from the mining engineering survey team was intercepted by the Chinese army on the coast of Halong Bay. They aimed their guns at the French citizens on the ship, making it impossible for the ship to dock normally. The ship was flying the flag of the French Republic. They knew that there were no weapons on the ship, but they still threatened the French citizens on the ship with guns. Their behavior is a naked insult to the French Republic. If the Annan government cannot handle this matter fairly and impartially, the government of the Republic will definitely not let it go."

"Then according to Governor Lu Mei's opinion, how should this matter be handled?"

"You should order the Chinese troops to withdraw from Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces, and hand over the Hong Gai Coal Mine and all military facilities in the two provinces to the French Republic."

The French did not yet have the ability to wage a large-scale colonial war 4000 kilometers away from their homeland. Lu Mei sent Li Weiye to meet with the Governor of Hanoi, with the intention of dividing and disintegrating the French and defeating them one by one. He first used political and diplomatic means to subdue the cowardly and incompetent local authorities in northern Annan, so as to achieve victory without bloodshed.
While firmly establishing French colonial rule in the northern region, France tried its best to avoid large-scale conflicts with the Nanyang Army and the Qing Army, so as not to drag France into a war it was unwilling to fight.

Annam has been deeply influenced by Chinese culture since ancient times, and the French strategy of sowing discord and dividing the relationship between the Annam government and the Nanyang Army was easily seen through.

In order to give the country time to recuperate and prevent Annan from being invaded by the French, Hanoi Governor Huang Yao could only choose to keep things peaceful even though he knew that the French were being unreasonable.

"The Chinese troops in Quang Ninh and Lang Son are the most important troops in the country. If we withdraw the troops from the two provinces just because they refused to allow your mining expedition ship to dock, I'm afraid it will not be convincing."

"The Chinese army has repeatedly seized customs revenue from Quang Ninh Province. They used the illegally seized customs revenue to purchase a large number of rifles and artillery. Their actions have threatened the safety of the French garrison in Annan. Your government must order the Chinese army to withdraw from Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces. This is the last bottom line of the French Republic. If your government still cannot do so, then be prepared to go to war with the Republic!"

"This is too much! The armies of Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces are the Annan army. You French people prohibit other countries from exporting guns and weapons to the country, but you even interfere with the country's army's independent purchase of weapons. This is really unreasonable!"

In order to reduce the loss of life caused by the occupation of Annan, the French prohibited other Western countries in Southeast Asia from selling weapons to them. This was an open matter. Annan was surrounded by the sea on both sides. Thailand and Cambodia in the south had either become colonies of Western countries or were in danger of losing themselves. It was impossible to obtain advanced weapons from the north. The Qing Dynasty in the south said that it was carrying out the Westernization Movement, but its weapons and ammunition were purchased from abroad. Annan was small and weak, and could not afford to buy muskets and artillery that had been traded. Therefore, using the relationship with the Nanyang Corps to purchase muskets and artillery produced in the Han country at a suitable price was almost the only way for the Annan government to obtain foreign weapons. Hearing the almost shameless request of the French, Huang Yao, who paid attention to his appearance, could not help but get angry.

"Tell the Western barbarians that Huang has been favored by the imperial court in this life, and will never do anything that would dishonor the dignity of a vassal. If you threaten me with military force again, I will prepare a thin coffin and personally lead the army of the ten northern provinces to repay the imperial court's kindness with my own death!"

"Foolish barbarian, I hope you won't regret your decision today!"

"Send the guests away. If the country takes a step back, you foreigners will take a step forward. If I make concessions again today, I am afraid that the disaster of national destruction is imminent. I would rather die than agree to your request!"…………

This meeting showed that the positions and views of the two sides were very different. In response to Li Weiye's sudden provocative action of marching troops to the city, the Vietnamese government had no choice but to take three measures.

First, he sent Nguyen Thanh Nghi, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to Saigon to negotiate with the Governor-General of Cochinchina, Lu Mei, hoping to control the development of the situation and avoid conflict.

Secondly, he instructed the Governor of Tonkin, Huang Zuoyan, the Deputy Envoy of Jingbian, Zhang Guangli, and Nguyen Youdu to persuade the Nanyang Army to make concessions in order to ease the hostility of the French army.

Nguyen Chinh-chung, the governor of Tonkin, and Pei Yinnian, the vice governor of the Ministry of Revenue and the director of the Metropolitan Inspection Council, went to assist Huang Zuoyan and others in handling this matter. They were instructed that if the French army clashed with the Nanyang Army, the Vietnamese army should remain neutral: "If they (referring to the French army) only want to defend themselves, then deal with them well and do not provoke a conflict first; or if they want to retaliate against the Nanyang Army, then the governor should keep them away. If they rely on their strength to go to Shanxi to fight, then deal with them appropriately. I will only advise and persuade them to be fair and not to favor anyone. Fortunately, nothing will happen, but if it is unavoidable, those who should be recruited should do it immediately."

Finally, just in case, the Vietnamese government also secretly ordered the provinces of Tonkin to prepare for war: "The French want to take Tonkin, in the name of the Nanyang Army, the deep intention is unpredictable, in our
You should also prepare in advance."

Based on this, the Vietnamese government instructed the governors of Ninh Binh, Hanoi’s Nam Dinh, Hung Yen, Haiyang, Shanxi, Hunghua, Nghi Kuang, Bac Ninh, and Taiyuan: “All matters must be handled universally, without making any noise. If they can be eliminated quietly, that would be good. If they dare to go too far, we have no choice but to let them handle the matter as they see fit, and do their duty to defend the territory.”

According to the instructions of the Vietnamese government, the governors of Hanoi and Shanxi Province, Huang Yao, Nguyen Dinh Nhuan, and Huang Youcheng, secretly proposed a preventive strategy, saying: "The situation in Tonkin is that from Ninh Binh on the left to Me Duc Mountain, and from Beitai and Dongchao on the right, there are mountains that can be used for defense. If we can make great efforts to manage them and go upstream to defend Zhongzhou, they will know that it is difficult and dare not move because they are good at water but not at mountains."

Nam Dinh Province requested to defend the river route, set up fortifications and place artillery; Huang Zuoyan requested to withdraw the Vietnamese government troops that were clearing out various places, and invited the Nanyang Army to help defend Hanoi.

(End of this chapter)