The nichinan wilderness was in full swing, and generals were glad to have broken the enemy.
The demon atmosphere is destroying the leaves, and the enemy has been cold and bold to seize Tun Mei.
The rock corridor was used carelessly and habitually, and the Absolute Circle Spinning Sect boycotted back.
Don't allow Huang Longcheng to drink bitterly, the same as ancient and modern people mourn!
——Peng Yulin, "There is a Sense in the Yangcheng Army"
In this poem, the general mentioned by Peng Yulin is none other than Feng Zicai, a veteran who has won the great victory of Zhennanguan.
Feng Zicai (1818-1903), the character Nangan, the number Cuiting, Guangxi Qinzhou people, since childhood, both parents died, and their grandmother depended on each other. When he was fifteen years old, his grandmother also left him, and Feng Zicai lost his last reliance.
To walk the rivers and lakes, you need to have a skill. Feng Zicai, who had nothing, made up his mind to walk the rivers and lakes, and he thought that he could not do without a good martial art. But where to go? At this time, a martial artist surnamed Pang saw that he was a talented person, not only did not charge tuition, but also provided him with food and accommodation. Feng Zicai, who had no worries, actively practiced martial arts, quickly learned a lot of skills, and joined the army under the recommendation of a local Peng surname.
After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion, he was ordered to fight the Taiping Army. With less than 10,000 troops, he defended the isolated city of Zhenjiang and repelled several times the Taiping Army several times. After the fall of Tianjing, the Qing court rewarded him for his merits and made him the viceroy of Guangxi.
In the second half of the 19th century, France plotted to invade Vietnam and then invade China's southwestern frontier. Feng Zicai had lived in southern Xinjiang for a long time and had long been aware of the ambitions of the French, so he repeatedly warned his superiors. However, those civilian and military generals who sit in the official office and drink tea on weekdays and only fight for power and profit have no time to take care of external troubles. Discouraged, Feng Zicai, who has been honest all his life, chose to return to his hometown.
In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out, and the Qing army lost one after another and was defeated all the way. The new governor of Liangguang, Zhang Zhidong, invited the veteran general Feng Zicai out of the mountains. At this time, he was already an old man of nearly seventy years old.
In January 1885, 7,000 French troops marched to Guangxi, and on February 13, they occupied The Town of Nanguan. As a result, the situation became precarious: "You Yongshui plundered refugees, deserters swept down the river, and there was a great earthquake in Kannai. Along the river from Nanning, Wuzhou, Xunzhou to Guilin, all disturbed'. At this time in Guangxi, people were trembling.
It was in this situation that Feng Zicai led his army to the front. He summoned all the generals to a meeting and said, "This battle has a great bearing, and it is decided that Vietnam will belong in the next fifty years, and I must make concerted efforts to strike at the FaLun!" The generals were all enthralled and asked for battle. On 25 February, they marched to Pingxiang to fight the French. On the night of March 21, Feng Zicai attacked the French soldiers at night, and the commander Nigri was furious and commanded 2,000 people to attack. - This Negri, from a family of officers, he himself served in Algeria, Tunisia and other places, more than ten years of conquest, let him rise from second lieutenant to brigadier general, but also made him become arrogant, he arrogantly believed that the Chinese army was vulnerable, which gave him the courage to attack.
On the 24th, in the early morning, the French army took advantage of the fog to launch a fierce attack on the defenders around Zhennanguan, and in danger, Feng Zicai, who was getting older and rarer, raised his arms and shouted, ''' Summoning the armies: There are retreaters, no matter who will be the general or what army, they will be punished! ''Taking the lead in pouncing on the French position, the generals saw that the commander was so brave, and rushed forward one after another,' 'Kill the enemy and repay the country, at this moment!'' They shouted and roared, and engaged in a white-knife battle with the enemy, and after two days of fierce fighting, they annihilated more than a thousand enemy soldiers and seized countless guns, grain and grass. At this point, Feng Zicai's department achieved a great victory in Zhennanguan. This was a rare victory in the foreign war at the end of the Qing Dynasty!
In order to expand the results of the battle, Feng Zicai decided to take advantage of the victory and pursue. At dawn on the 29th, Feng Zicai rushed into Langshan, and the remnants of the French army fled in a daze. After two days of fierce fighting, he won the Liangshan Victory. Just as he was about to drive the French out of northern Vietnam, the Qing government issued an edict calling off the army and negotiating peace. In June 1885, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-French Treaty of Vietnam with the French envoy in Tianjin, recognizing France's colonial interests in Vietnam. Since then, the southwest gateway has been opened, and China has been undefeated and defeated!
After the war, Feng Zicai was promoted to an official. But that wasn't what he wanted most. During the Sino-Japanese War, the old general repeatedly requested to go north, but what he was waiting for was a piece of paper called the Treaty of Maguan. In 1903, Feng Zicai died at the age of 86.
Feng Zicai's deeds reflect the determination and courage of Chinese to resist foreign insults. Such a national hero, whether successful or not, is worth remembering.