135 years ago, that is, on March 23, 1885, the Qing army fought fiercely with the invading French troops at Nanguan, Guangxi for two days, and achieved the famous "Zhennanguan Victory". The French Asian Expeditionary Force, under the command of General François de Negril, tried to conquer Nanguan and occupied Guangxi Province in southern China. It was defeated by the Qing army led by the veteran Feng Zicai, which led to the French Cabinet of Jufféry downfall. Contrary to what everyone imagined, this great victory did not happen at the majestic Zhennan Pass, because as early as February 23, the French army had captured here and used explosives to blow up the gate.
Feng Zicai believes that the original town Nanguan has no defensive function, and the terrain is open and difficult to defend. Two stone walls were built 4 kilometers north of Zhennanguan to seal the bottom of the canyon. The height of the stone wall is about three meters, and the height is slightly lower on the slopes on both sides, turning into a jagged low wall for riflemen to shoot. However, the French advance troops did not pay attention to such a temporary line of defense. They retreated after being shot intensively, killing 6 people and wounding 29 others. The picture shows the uniforms of the French Expeditionary Force, from left to right: officers, marines, sergeants, and noncommissioned officers.
The next day, a large French army entered the canyon. The French army had a total of 2,500 men and carried 10 mountain cannons. After a short preparation for artillery fire, the French army from two battalions launched an offensive, while the other battalion circled the mountains, trying to bypass the defense line and attack from the rear. But the result was the same as the previous day, the only difference was that the loss of the French army increased a lot. The Qing army relied on two stone walls to target the French army and fired. Under the intensive bullet rain, dozens of French army fell to the ground. The picture shows General François de Negril and his officers.
However, the French army rushed under the city wall and the central city gate with intensive firepower, which had already been destroyed by French artillery fire. According to Chinese records, Feng Zicai shouted with a knife and took the lead in leading his two sons out of the long wall and rushed to the French army to start a hand-to-hand battle. After brutal hand-to-hand combat, the Qing army defeated the French infantry, and the subsequent French army hurriedly opened fire to prevent the Qing army from counterattack and drag away the wounded. The picture shows the scene when the French Expeditionary Force leaves the mainland.
To the French’s praise, this retreat did not turn into a defeat. When the Qing army launched a counterattack, General De Negril’s reserve forces joined the battle to stabilize the situation. Although the circuitous French army had already occupied the Qing army fortress guarding the mountain road at this time, seeing the defeat of the frontal battlefield attack, they did not launch a meaningless offensive and gradually withdrew to the position before the attack. The picture shows the French Expeditionary Force marching in Vietnam.
In the second day’s offensive, 74 French soldiers were killed, including 7 officers, and 213 others were injured. General de Negril did not intend to launch an offensive, and in the evening ordered the troops to retreat to the rear base in Lang Son, Vietnam. After that, the French army did not attack Zhennan Pass again. The Qing army quickly launched a counterattack and attacked Langshan on March 28, but the French army defended the city. In the battle at Lang Son, General de Negril was seriously injured and has not participated in the battle since. The picture shows Vietnamese soldiers (left) and Chinese soldiers (right) fighting the French army in 1885.
After returning to France, General de Negril drafted a report stating that there were more than 40,000 Qing troops in the Zhennanguan Canyon, and he killed and injured 1,000 to 5,000 people. In fact, Feng Zicai led only 8,000 Qing troops stationed at Zhennanguan at that time. Although there is no exact number of Qing troops casualties, they are certainly less than the description of the French general. "Zhennanguan Great Victory" actually did not make any substantial changes to China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, but it has important political and psychological significance. The picture shows a foreign print. The Qing army soldiers are positioned at the back, as if the main enemy of the French army is the Vietnamese army.
In the end, France won the bargaining table and made Vietnam out of Chinese control and become a French colony. However, China has also gained some benefits, such as the French retreat from Taiwan to avoid the expansion of the war. These are the two stone walls where Feng Zicai was stationed at the time. The small building in the center was destroyed by gunfire, and the tiger's eyes on the small building were observingmouth. According to the translation of foreign materials, the casualty figures are official French records, which are far from our imagination. At that time, the fighting power of the Qing army was very poor. The British army only lost 35 people in occupying Guangzhou. Such a result is definitely a major victory.
