Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 359 Recapture of Hanoi

After completely annihilating the French indigenous colonial army, the Nanyang Army began to send Annamites and Chinese intelligence agents to infiltrate the French-occupied strongholds to gather intelligence on the French army's deployment.

On March 3, using intelligence obtained from more than 24 intelligence agents, the Nanyang Corps drew up a French defense map that included roads, obstacles, fortifications, etc.

"Hanoi's city walls are divided into two layers, the inner and outer walls. The inner city is a square city with a brick wall up to 5 meters high and 300 meters long and wide. The walls are full of cross-linked bamboo stakes, which protrude outwards about 2 meters wide to prevent the enemy from climbing the city. The upper part of the wall is about 10 meters wide, with four artillery batteries and bunkers for the defenders.

In the middle of each of the four sides of the city, there is a brick bridge spanning the moat and leading to the center of the semicircular arrow tower. There is a bamboo gate guarding the entrance of the bridge, and another wooden gate passing through the semicircular arrow tower and the city. The east gate of the city has been closed with bricks.

The city is surrounded by a moat about 20 meters wide and 3 meters deep (1 meter of which is filled with mud and water). There is an 8-meter-wide earthen road between the moat and the city. The slope of the river is extremely steep and is made of bricks and stones.

Inside the city wall, there is an 18-meter-high tower, from which you can overlook the distant scenery. It is the commanding height of Hanoi City.

Everything was ready, and all the troops of the Nanyang Army had assembled. Liang Xing, head of the Nanyang Army's intelligence department, briefed everyone on the defense situation of Hanoi City.

Liang Xing held a pointer in his hand and pointed at the spread-out topographic map and continued, "

The city walls are surrounded by the city quarters, which are made up of four rows of brick houses or mud houses. These houses are located on both sides of the roads leading to the four gates of the outer city.

The four gates of the outer city were all built with large bricks and stones. The east and west gates were sealed with mud, while the north and south gates could be opened. There was a defensive fortification connecting the gates, which was composed of a 4-5 meter high earth wall with gun holes or battlements dug on the wall, which were covered with wood blocks or firewood rafts so that the defenders on the city could take cover when firing guns.

There is a 5-meter-wide trench around the parapet wall, which is filled with water from a nearby small river. On the trench is a deer fort made of untrimmed dry bamboo. There is also a 3-4-meter-wide slope between the trench and the parapet wall.
It was covered with a layer of green bamboo as high as 8 to 10 meters, completely hiding the entire city and making it impossible for outsiders to see it. This layer of bamboo fence formed an insurmountable obstacle under intensive firepower.

…………

Hanoi was a military stronghold built by the Annamites in the Beiban area. After the French easily captured Hanoi, in addition to using the existing fortifications left by the Annamites for defense, they also blocked the exits in the west gate, north gate, and east gate, leaving only the south gate exit more than 400 meters away from the river in the south of the city, and placed a small ironclad ship and four gunboats to assist in defense.

The south of the city is the key defense area of ​​the French army in Hanoi. In addition to deploying warships in the river to snipe our army's attack, the French also built artillery batteries near the river bank to threaten the channel for our navy gunboat formation to attack from the water. "

"How many troops have the French deployed along the river south of the city?"

"According to the information sent by our intelligence personnel in the city, the garrison commander in the south of the city is French Major Wei Yi, who has more than 240 marines and more than 500 black soldiers dispatched by Li Weiye. If we also include the young and strong men from Annan who were forcibly recruited by the French to build fortifications along the river, the French can mobilize more than 1300 soldiers to defend the south of the city."

"How is the French defense strength in other directions?"

Tang Jingsong asked.

"Through the analysis of the results of multiple fire reconnaissances, we can roughly infer the situation of the Hanoi defenders. From Hanoi to Bac Ninh, the French defense is tight and strong, but the defense on the side is relatively weak. Therefore, I suggest attacking Hanoi from the front and gathering the main force to attack the fortifications from Hanoi to Bac Ninh. Although this attack method may cause a certain degree of casualties to our army, it is the most effective and can eliminate the main French forces in the Beiban area in the shortest time."

"Minister Liang's suggestion is good. If you have any other ideas, please feel free to bring them up."

Mei Dongxing stood up and asked.

"My Lords, I have an immature idea. I wonder if I should tell you or not?"

"Brother Tang's position as a staff officer has been recognized by the locals, so naturally you should provide more advice for the Nanyang Army's combat operations. Feel free to say whatever you want to say, but if there are any shortcomings, we can discuss and supplement them later."

"Then Tang will speak directly."

Tang Jingsong bowed to everyone and said, "When I was on a boat and entered Annan from the Red River, I found that the water flow at the confluence of the Tiande River and the Liutou River was turbulent and the water volume was huge. The confluence of the two rivers is less than 20 miles away from Hanoi City. If we intercept the flow and store water at the confluence of the two rivers in advance, and then break the embankment and release the water when the battle is about to begin, the turbulent water will hit the French warships and fortifications deployed in the river. Later, our army will send gunboats to take advantage of the rising water volume to go downstream and attack the French warships and artillery positions, and cover the main force to launch an attack from the south gate. There will be a greater chance of success."

"The water flow of the Tiande River is gentle. After it merges with a portion of the Liutou River, it may not be able to flood the city, but it is not difficult to temporarily disrupt the French army's defense line along the river."

Mei Dongxing found the intersection of the two rivers marked on the topographic map. After looking at it for a while, he quickly made a decision to adopt the offensive plan proposed by Tang Jingsong. Then, based on Tang Jingsong's plan, he made some improvements and formulated the final offensive deployment:

Li Wencai led 2500 regular troops of the Nanyang Army from Shangqingfang, crossed the left bank of Liutou River, and marched along the
Advance along the Tiande River and cross the river to Zhicuntang to join the second attack force led by Chen Xinggui.

Chen Xinggui led more than 1000 soldiers, bypassed the blocked west gate of Hanoi, landed at the confluence of Liutou River and Tiande River along the waterway, captured the heights of Zhenqiao and Tushan, and attacked the French army's fortifications on the Tiande River from the side to allow Li Wencai's troops to pass through.

Once the two forces joined on the left bank of the Tien Duc River, they continued to advance and attacked the second French line of defense, mainly using warships to bombard the dams extending from Zhongshan to Labe and from Bac Ninh to Daqiao. After defeating the defenders, they took advantage of the situation to attack the South Gate and occupy Hanoi.

At 3 a.m. on March 27, the water level of the Liude River surged. Four 10-ton gunboats and three 500-ton gunboats followed the surging river and attacked the French army.

At 11 a.m., the Nanyang Corps' gunboat formation destroyed four small riverside fortresses and successfully broke through to a point six miles away from the south gate of Hanoi City.

At 12 noon, the French warships on the river were defeated by the surprise attack of the Nanyang Corps' gunboats. A small ironclad ship was damaged and captured, two gunboats were sunk, one gunboat escaped in the chaos, and two gunboats were captured.

The French warship fleet was completely wiped out and the coastal fortifications were almost completely destroyed. Then, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Li Wencai's troops and Chen Xinggui's troops defeated the stubborn French defenders, successfully broke through the South Gate defense, and entered Hanoi city.

At 5:07 in the evening, most of Hanoi was occupied. Seeing that reinforcements were cut off and there was no hope of breaking out, the French garrison commander Li Weiye ordered all French troops and their subordinate black indigenous and Annamite troops to stop resisting under the promise of the Nanyang Corps' representative who persuaded the surrender not to abuse the prisoners and to guarantee the personal safety of the captured French soldiers.

As a result, the Nanyang Army achieved a great victory at the low cost of more than 300 casualties, killing 189 French soldiers, injuring 110, and capturing more than 400 white soldiers. (Black natives and Annan vassal troops are generally not included in military records.)
(End of this chapter)