The Taiping Rebellion

In 1856, Feng, a lieutenant colonel, commanded a regiment stationed in northern Jiangsu during the Taiping Rebellion. He defeated rebel forces many times on their march across the Yangtze River toward the north and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1864. The war ended in 1871.

In 1867, he established his base of command in Nanning, where he worked to fight bandits, rebels, the Hmong, and other groups threatening the Qing Empire in south China and northern Vietnam.

Sino-French War

During the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885) Feng was placed in command of a chiefly Zhuang armed force in South China, composed mainly of local peasantry and some of Feng's retired imperial troops. On 23 February 1885 the misdeployment of Feng's troops too far from the battlefield was a major factor in the defeat of China's Kwangsi Army in the Battle of Đồng Đăng. Feng atoned for his incompetence exactly one month later. On 23 and 24 March 1885 Feng's forces were present at the Battle of Bang Bo, in which Francois de Negrier's 2nd Brigade was defeated at Zhennanguan on the Kwangsi-Tonkin border. The Chinese had heavily fortified their position, and although the French captured a number of Chinese outworks on 23 March, their attacks on 24 March failed to make any headway. Eventually the French were counterattacked and forced to retreat, with casualties of 74 killed and 213 wounded. Chinese casualties were far higher.

Feng Zicai's troops, stationed on the Chinese right wing around the village of Bang Bo, played an important role in the battle, defeating an assault by the French 111th Line Battalion on a position known as 'the long trench'. Feng is said to have encouraged his troops with the words 'You should die rather than bear to see a French army invading Chinese soil!' (寧死不忍見法軍侵入中國境內). He is also said to have personally led the Chinese counterattack against the 111th Battalion. The second story is unlikely to be true, but the first story may well have a basis in fact. The Chinese had been beaten with ease by the French during the Lang Son Campaign of February 1885, and Chinese sources attest to the poor morale of the Chinese army at Bang Bo. Feng Zicai is known to have issued orders that any man who left his post would be executed on the spot, and several dozen Chinese soldiers who fled when the French approached the long trench were immediately shot.

Feng's defiant words to his troops at Bang Bo are sculpted on a giant stone on Wuzhi Mountain, the highest mountain in Hainan.

Movie

There is an action packed war movie, The War of Loong (2017) about Feng Zicai and the victory of Chinese troops in the Sino-French conflict (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7345928/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt).

生平

生于廣東欽州（今屬廣西），自幼父母雙亡，流落街頭，跑過牛幫，早年參加過廣東天地會，1851年為江北大營名將、總兵官，隨廣西提督向榮力抗太平天國，於一破江南大營時防守建功，咸豐二年，馮子材改為隸屬張國樑麾下，張國樑曾撫其背，稱讚說：「子勇，余愧弗如。」張在丹陽南門外落水溺死，馮子材收聚殘軍，再度建立江南大營。1864年收復常熟，領軍駐防揚州，平定太平天國。同治元年正月十七（1862年2月15日），由甘肅西寧鎮總兵官升任廣西提督。光緒八年（1882年），乞病家居，以疾退休。光緒九年六月十九（1883年7月22日）病免。貴州代提督江忠義、丁憂副將蕭榮芳先後于同治元年十二月至二年十二月代。

1884年法軍進犯滇桂邊境時，兩廣總督張之洞奏請起用馮子才，稱馮「老成宿將，熟習邊境軍務，威望遠播」。光緒十年十月，馮子材率部抵達廣西龍州。1885年任廣西提督領導海外義勇兵團黑旗軍在越南，廣西一帶於法軍作戰，馮部配備新式兵器，且帶領兩個兒子上陣戰鬥，「短衣草履，佩刀督隊」，並親自手挺長矛與法軍東非黑人兵進行肉搏戰，取得鎮南關大戰勝利，連克越南文淵、諒山；後到海南島撫黎，以開山為先，發動黎族青壯年開山修路，設義學館。光緒十三年（1887年）在海南島中部五指山馮還書寫「手壁南荒」巨形山壁古刻；後任過雲南、貴州提督，累官至太子少保，86歲卒于軍旅，朝廷謚曰勇毅。

馮子才逝後葬於欽州，朝廷詔予于欽州城東南隅（今市糧食局周圍）建「馮勇毅公專祠」紀念，稱「宮保祠」。其故居目前為愛國主義教育基地。著有《軍牘集要》。