army ministry, which had long ago wrested the direction of the Tonkin campaign away from the navy ministry. His timing was perfect. While the army ministry was struggling to explain away General François de Négrier's defeat in the battle of Bang Bo (24 March 1885) and the subsequent French retreat from Lạng Sơn, Courbet presented the navy ministry with an elegant, almost bloodless victory in the Pescadores. The Sino-French War ended on a high note for the French navy and the Troupes de Marine. On 27 July 1885, in the wake of an enquiry into their conduct, the defeated Chinese generals Chou Shan-chu and Cheng Ying-chieh were demoted and punished for the loss of the Pescadores by being posted to the remote northern Chinese province of Heilungkiang (黑龍江). Courbet's flotilla in the Pescadores campaign Significance of the campaign The news of the French capture of the Pescadores initially caused little stir in Paris, as the headlines in early April 1885 were monopolised by the so-called 'Tonkin affair' (the collapse of Jules Ferry's government on 30 March 1885 in the wake of the retreat from Lạng Sơn). Courbet's victory also came too late to affect the conclusion of preliminaries of peace between France and China on 4 April 1885, but it may have helped to prevent the peace agreement from being sabotaged by hardline elements in China and by the Chinese army commanders fighting the French in northern Vietnam (Tonkin). The Kwangsi Army commanders Wang Te-pang (王德榜) and Feng Tzu-tsai (馮子材), whose forces had recently won a notable victory in the battle of Bang Bo (24 March 1885) and reoccupied Lạng Sơn, received the order to cease fire with consternation. The regional mandarins Pao Chao (鮑超), Tsen Yu-ying (岑毓英) and Peng Yu-lin (彭玉麟), who were directing the war effort against the French in southern China, urged the Ch'ing court to continue the struggle against France. The court replied firmly on 10 April 1885 that it was necessary to make peace immediately because the loss of the Pescadores placed the whole of Taiwan in jeopardy: The Kwangsi Army has recovered Lạng Sơn, but the French now occupy P'eng-hu. If Generals Feng and Wang do not cease military operations now, after saving China's military honour, the overall situation in China will once again worsen. It is very dangerous to send an army deep into a strange country, and nothing is certain in warfare.