Looking at all the wars in the late Qing Dynasty, there is a very important feature, that is, no matter whether it is victory or defeat, the gap between the costs paid by China and foreign countries is very large, whether it is the Sino-Japanese War, or the First and Second Opium Wars, or the Sino-French War, of course, the Eight-Power Alliance's invasion of China must be excluded, because when the coalition forces attacked Tianjin, the casualties paid reached more than 800 people.
The Eight-Power Alliance's invasion of China.
Anyone who has studied modern history knows that the Sino-French War was a war that broke out in Vietnam in the 1880s between Chinese (Qing Dynasty) and French colonists. In December 1883, the French army began to attack Shanxi in Vietnam, due to the superiority of equipment, the French army took Shanxi in only two days, and by February 1884, the French army continued to attack northwards, until June 1884, Vietnam had completely become a French colony, the Qing army collapsed to the Sino-Vietnamese border, and the Qing government was forced to sign the "Concise Treaty of the Sino-French Conference" recognizing France's "right to protect" Vietnam.
The French army marched in.
On June 23, 1884, the French army suddenly attacked the Qing army near Liangshan, creating the "Guanyin Bridge Incident" to provoke war again, in February 1885, the Qing army abandoned Liangshan, the French army followed, and captured Zhennanguan in one fell swoop, but due to poor logistics, it was forced to burn the pass, and Feng Zicai, who assisted in the military affairs of Guangxi Guanwai, took the opportunity to come to Zhennanguan to lead the repair of fortifications, and in the battle between March 23 and March 24, the future French army repelled, which was a great victory for Zhennanguan, which was famous for the epicenter of Zhennanguan.
General of the Qing Army.
It is natural to annihilate a large number of enemies for the "great victory", and how many people have lost on both sides of the Zhennanguan Great Victory? According to the reports of Chinese officials afterwards, the number of losses of the French army and the black army and some miscellaneous so-called "guest bandits" and "religious bandits" is probably more than 1,500, but according to the records of the French staff officer LeGunde: "The number of losses will probably reach more than 1,500: "According to the records of the French staff officer LeGunde: "
Counting all the reserves, the total number of the whole army was 2,137 (1,137 infantry, including foreigners) and 10 cannons. ”
French army.
If the Qing side's report is true, then the French army can be regarded as a complete army, the 2100-man army lost 1500 people, and it was actually able to successfully withdraw from the battlefield, comrade Nigri is really a long-legged general among the long-legged generals, and in the case of more than 70% of the troop losses, it can still run back with the remnants, and the number of the other side is far more than its own.
Qing army.
If the casualties on both sides are to be clarified, some details of the battles between the two sides must be described. After the unsuccessful night raid on Wen Yuan, Feng Zicai grasped the repair and reinforcement of the fortifications of the position. In fact, the terrain of Zhennanguan was very favorable to the Qing army, the path in front of the pass was sandwiched between two large mountains, the vegetation on the mountain was luxuriant, Feng Zicai commanded the troops to build a stone wall at the pass in front of the pass, cut off the road, and also dug a trench, and at the same time built a fortress on the Daqing Mountain in the east and the small Green Mountain in the southeast direction, and a large number of entangled trenches and ground bases were also built behind the stone wall to prevent French artillery fire, and the number of Qing troops was 30,000, and the preparation was indispensable.
Qing musketeers.
In the early morning of March 23rd, the French troops to the vanguard were first shot by the Qing army (the Qing side said to kill two people, the French side said to wound a horse, was captured by the Qing army), and then the battle began, in fact, the French army to seize the Qing fortress of the big and small Qingshan was not very smooth, the rugged mountainous terrain around Zhennanguan greatly weakened the advantage of the French artillery fire, until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the big and small Qingshan positions were basically lost, and the French casualties totaled no more than thirty people (4 dead, 25 wounded).
Qing infantry.
The next day, due to a misjudgment by the French commander, a french force of about two hundred and forty people fell into the grip of the Qing army—because Negri mistakenly believed that the French had captured the remaining large fort on Daqingshan, the French troops who were actually on the mission had to return to the same route due to the terrain, and the plan to shell the long wall from above failed. When this French army relied on the terrain to maneuver with the Qing army, the main force of the French army was all pressed up, and the Qing army also opened the gate and rushed out, and the final result was that the French army was defeated and escaped. According to the French themselves, after the collapse of the entire line, the French casualty figure was two hundred and fifty-eight (seventy-five dead), of which eighty-nine were lost around the Guanqian Pass.
However, according to the memories of the Vietnamese, the beheadings of the Qing army were actually more than a thousand, but the heads of the real French were only about a hundred, and the rest should be from China and the puppet "army" of Vietnam. The total losses amounted to a quarter of the retreat of the combat force, and this performance was undoubtedly justified. The loss of the Qing side may exceed 5,000 people.
Battle of Horsetail.
Counting the number of casualties of the chaotic "sect bandits" and "guest bandits", the Qing army annihilated more than 1,000 enemies in total, the real French lost between about seventy and one hundred people, and the Qing army itself suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and considering the combat effectiveness of those Vietnamese puppets that was almost equal to zero, this exchange ratio was still too ugly. In addition to the Vietnamese puppets, the exchange ratio can actually reach one to twenty, which shows how big the gap between the quality of the Qing army and the French army was at that time!
Qing artillery.
Moreover, it is not difficult to see that the victory of the Qing army in this battle was largely due to the rugged terrain, which made it impossible for the French artillery superiority to be exerted, and finally it was suddenly attacked by the Qing army in front of the village, and a wave of beatings was beaten down, and finally retreated. Therefore, this battle was a fierce victory, the Qing army defeated the French army with great difficulty in the case of large numbers and terrain advantages, of course, Feng Zicai's strong fortifications were also indispensable!