CO129-216 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1884 [5-6] — Page 45

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lery of the French army. The six field guns fired on the bamboo bridge which the Chinamen had built over the Song-coi. The range was about 5,000 yards. The other battery aimed 1500 yards farther, at the tower of Hang-Hoa, which could be picked ont with some difficulty from its background of dark foliaged trees. Brière de l'Isle's battery, a little farther up the river and retired somewhat more from its banks, devoted its attention to the nearest of the outly- ing forts, a low earthwork on a swelling ground onple of miles from us. Its front was defend- d by a long shallow lake with paddy fields on the near side, and it would have been an awk- ward enough place to attack, if it had bad guns. But apparently it had not, or only of very small carrying power.

There did not seem to be any gaus at all in Hnng-Hoa, or, if any, so feeble that even the Chinamen recognized that they could not hope to touch us. They therefore remained perfectly passivo. They were good enough to hoist the usual inlinate namber of flags of all sorts of This colours from blood-red to terra-cotta. might have been a kind of chivalric indication to the French gunners where they ought to direct their fire. Perhaps it was a shrewd Machiavel- lian device to have the shells fired at a place where there was nobody to kill. Anyhow the flags remained fluttering the greater part of the day all along the line of earthworks, and the shells were not successful in displacing any of them. All day long the tire continued. Up- wards of 800 shells were fired into the town, st the bridge, and at the different redoubts. Every one was asking when the passage of the Black River was to be begun. There was abundance of material for a bridge in the stage of huge bamboo rafts lashed together. There was quite a little fleet of junks. There were half a dozen little launches with steam up. After the first half dozen shells quite enough had been done to cover the passage. There was always a certain degree of movement over the bridge. It was evi- dent that the garrison was getting its treasure, if not other matters, into safe quarters. But still we remained quiet. Brière had commenced the passage at Bat Bac in the morning. In ac cordance with the plan it was necessary for him to get a start. But he lost three men who were drowned in passing and had barely got over by sundown. Chinese patience could not endure so long. Suddenly at half-past four fire broke out in a dozen places in the town at once. A few minutes later a dash and a huge column of white smoke announced that one of the outer forts had been blown up. Another and another followed, and in ten minutes all view of the town, except so far as the flames indicated it, was blotted ont. The stream over the bridge thickened; the oc- casional parties of twenty or thirty became one continual long line. It was evident that seven hours' unresisting experience of shell-fire was more than Chinese stoicism could stand. The batteries livened up; they fired all six guns at once in volleys at the bridge, but without any visible result. The Chinsmen declined to break into a run, and the bridge remained intact. By five o'clock practically everything was over. The Chinamen had got over to the left bank and the gannore sponged out their guns and went down below to the village to listen to the band. All night long the horizon to the west was red with. the glare of burning Hung-Hoa and the villages round about

Next morning the troops crossed the Riviere Noire in junks and marched slowly on Hung Hoa. The country was practically deserted. There were a few Annamese who stood in the fields at a distance and gaped in foolish fashion, too near to be safe from a rifle bullet and too far off to be able to announce the friendliness of their intentions. The first line of out- works was reached within three miles from the river. There was no saying what the staff knew, but it is certain that the army in general. met with a surprise here. The fortifications were magnificent. They wore constructed in accordance with all the most recent ideas of European military science. It was a regular Plevna in its way. There was an excellently constructed abattis, there were casemates all along the line of works, constructed with heavy logs of wond with earth piled over them. There were parallels everywhere, connecting the differ. ont positions and altogether doing away with any danger of a flank fire. Here was the explan ation of the apparent steadiness of the Chinese under a heavy fire. Here was also the explan- ation of the statement, received with derision that morning, that there had only been four men killed with all the long day's firo. General Mil- iot had no doubt failed to inflict a blow on the

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enemy, bat at any rate he had saved much French | blood. The lines of Hung-Hoa were infinitely more formidable than Phnc-sa, which cost so dearly. The only thing was that there were apparently no canon. The Chinamen had no doubt carried off everything, but there were com- paratively few embrasures, and the few carriages that remained behind were those of small brass pieces, tidy enough little things no doubt, but altogether unable to cope with even mountain At first it seemed singular that the euemy should have abandoned such works without a struggle. They extended over quite five miles, and enormous labour-no doubt that of the wretched Tonquinese inhabitants must have been expended on them. The garrison might have remained for a month inside the caseinates and parallels under a shell fire such as that of the day before, and yet have experienced no seriona loss. But there were several reasons for the retreat. One was that the two French columns numbered at the lowest computation at least double the Chinese. There were 8,000 Frenchmen, and the staff announcement was that the Hung-Hoa garrison amounted to 3,500. Several Annamese maintained steadfastly that there were not more than 500 Chinamen al- together, but this must have been a misapprehen- sion. There may have been that number of pure-blooded sons of Han-Chinese regulars," and the balance may have been made up of the shaven-headed Annamese followers of the Frince Hoang-ke-vien. In any case I should not be in- clined to place the figure higher than 2,000. I am almost certain that the number of men who passed the bridge during tho day did not exceed that number, and a considerable proportion of these were of course coolies. The rest may have escaped by differont roads. Another reason for the evacuation was the flank march of General Brière de l'Isle. He would have taken them in the rear, where there were only two forts, and there was the want of cannon, It would appear that the attack on Hung-Hoa was not expected to come off so soon. There were goine works on the left bank of the Red River which were incomplete and had all the appearance of having been commenced after the taking of Bac- ninh, exactly a month before the entry of the troops into Hung-Hoa. Probably the Chinese thought that the attack would be deferred for a couple of months till the rising of the river en- abled the ganbonts to mount. In the meantime Hung-Hoa might have raised some However that may be, it is certain that the place was taken very cheap The Black Flags, who were expected to be in such numbers and to be so desperate, were not there at all, or if they were, did not unfurl a single banuer. The whole affair was simply big gan practice.

cannon.

The second line of earthworks was as strong or stronger than the first and then came the town. It was a dismal sight. Everything was barnt. Inside the citadel-a rectangle built on the same lines as that at Soutay, there were but three or four houses and the tower remaining. The Royal Pagoda, the rice stores, the powder, magazines, the treasury, everything was burnt. What the Chinese could not carry off, they burnt or destroyed. There was not even a lance left. The spear heads were broken off, the trumpery Annamese swords were snapped across the mid- į dle or thrown into the blazing houses. The water tanks were black with the powder that had boen thrown in; what rice there was that had not been burnt in the sheds was scattered about the streets. In the town it was the same story, Everything on the front by which we advanced was burnt. A heap of smouldering ashes marked the line of retreat down to the bridge. On the farther side of the citadel, the scene was not quite so dismal. All the better class houses, that is to say, of course, the houses of the Chinamen, were burnt, but there still remained a certain number of the wooden and bamboo shanties of the Annamese and the Pagoles. It was a very fine retreat and did great credit to Cham-Fu, the Chinese General in command.

On the other side of the river the village of Ban-Nguyen met with the same fate, and there had been some attempt made to blow up the for- tifications, but without any very great success. A small mud fort, Phu-Lam-Tan, till the last fortnight or so a station of the Black Flags, was also committed to the flames, as the Chinese pass- ed through, and sundry other villages on their line of march were treated in the same way. They marched twelve hours without a halt and effectually placed themselves beyond all chance of pursuit, more especially as they had cut the bridge. If it was only to save the bridge, it would have been well if the second column had passed under cover of the artillery fire. They.

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