Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Bắc Lệ ambush" in English language version.
Unlike the Black Flag, the Qing troops tended to use conventional military tactics over guerrilla warfare. Chinese land victories against the French were notable, albeit few in number, and the June 1884 Baclé incident is perhaps the best known of the Chinese military victories.
In late June 1884, led by Wang Te-pang, one of Tso Tsung-t'ang's former officers, yung-ying troops participated in defeating the French near Baclé after three days of heavy fighting.
During spring 1884, negotiations between Captain François Ernest Fourier and Li Hongzhang resulted in a preliminary agreement, signed on 11 May, which specified that all Chinese troops would withdraw from Tonkin and return to China, Although Li had agreed that China would retreat, the exact timetable was unclear. Thinking that the Chinese had already left Annam, a French force of 900, under Lieutenant Colonel Alphonse Dugenne, was sent to occupy Lạng Sơn during early June 1884. Before reaching Lạng Sơn, however, Dugenne's troops encountered a Chinese garrison near Baclé and fighting erupted.
In late June 1884, led by Wang Te-pang, one of Tso Tsung-t'ang's former officers, yung-ying troops participated in defeating the French near Baclé after three days of heavy fighting.
The exact origins of the hostilities are difficult to determine. On the Chinese side, the garrison reportedly acknowledged the Li-Fourier agreement but stated that they had not yet received specific orders to leave. They therefore asked the French officers to be patient until instructions could be obtained form their superiors. As for the French, Dugenne evidently demanded immediate withdrawal according to the terms of the agreement and, when this was not forthcoming, ordered the assault on 23 June 1884. Once the fighting began, Wang Debang, a Chinese officer who received his training under Zuo Zongtang, led the Chinese troops in a three-day battle against the French forces. Although the Chinese casualties were high-approximately 300 Chinese killed to France's twenty-two dead and sixty wounded-the Chinese pushed back the French force. The Chinese portray the Baclé incident as a French defeat. Because of the ambiguity underlying the origins of the conflict, however, French accounts referred to it as a Chinese "ambush."192 Lloyd Eastman has commented on how this incident filled the French public with a "sense of righteous indignation."193
Spurred on by their defeat at Baclé, the French decided to blockade the Chinese island of Taiwan (Formosa). Beginning on 5 August 1884, Admimral Lespes bombarded Taiwan's forts at Jilong (Keelung) Harbor on the northeast coast and destroyed the gun emplacements. However, Liu Mingchuan, a former commander of the Huai Army, successfully defended Jilong against an assault by Admiral Lespes' troops the following day; the French abandoned this attack in the face of the much large Chinese forces.
