Last time we spoke about Francis Garnier and his wild expedition in Vietnam. Yes against all his superiors orders, Garnier decided to grab a few of the boys and sail up river to threaten and steal territories for France. He first struck at the grand city of Hanoi, taking it much to the shock of the Nguyen officials. But he did not stop there oh no, he then set his eyes upon the provinces of Hung Yen and Phu Ly. Both were taken with shockingly small forces, but Garnier strived for even more and dispatched a force to take Hai Duong. Then he found out the Vietnamese at Ninh Binh were forming an army to fight him so he attacked it. This greatly pissed off the Vietnamese and their Black Flag Army allies who attacked Hanoi and in the process Garnier died charging into the enemy like a madman. Today we continue the story of how France colonized Indochina.   #43 The Tonkin Campaign   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Now last we spoke, Henri Riviere basically took up the mantle of Francis Garnier and began to seize territory in Tonkin against his nation's wishes. That was of course until the government changed and the new administration led by Jules Ferry were very pro colonization and immediately supported Riviere.  Now Rivieres actions had caused a real maestrum for the Nguyen empire. Liu Yongfu went to Hanoi and slapped a note against the citadel on March 26th of 1883 threatening to kill Henri Riviere, taunting the french into battle. This scared the hell out of the Nguyen court who expected Riviere to unleash hell so they ordered prince Hoang Ke Viem to go seek out the Black Flag Army to see what could be done. Hoang Ke Viem was sent under the guise he was trying to move the Black Flag forces away from Hanoi, but Riviere did not buy it at all. Riviere sent a letter to Hanoi’s military commander Hoang Dieu, demanding he submit or get rid of the Black Flags, otherwise he would yet again attack Hanoi. Hoang Dieu simply stated it was impossible for him to do so. Thus Riviere and his forces occupied Hanoi by April 26th, further stressing out the Nguyen court who desperately sent envoys to negotiate with France. Meanwhile Hoang Ke Viem saw the paint on the wall and began to mobilize forces in the northern provinces for war. During the negotiations with the French, Riviere demanded the French be allowed to garrison at Son Tay, but the Nguyen court said they could not, it was in fact because the Black Flags were there. Rivier took this as an act of hostility and began to suspect Hoang Ke Viem was working directly with the Black Flags. Things were however not looking good for Riviere, he had very limited forces and was forced to go on the defensive. The Nguyen court then ordered Hoang Ke Viem to write a letter to the French in Hanoi to officially explain the role of the Black Flags, in the vain hope of regaining Hanoi free of conflict. Despite all of this Hoang Ke Viem and the Black Flags mobilized for battle. On March 28th, in response to Liu Yongfu’s taunting, Riviere elected to go out and fight the enemy. Why would he do this with basically under 500 men against thousands? According to the French, Riviere was forced to do so to protect the prestige of France, so he led a column of 450 troops out of Ha