Chapter 20: Li Yangcai (Part 2)

Guangxi. Zhenan Pass.
Qing army soldiers in numbered uniforms were slowly gathering, while in Vietnam, scouts kept sending reports on military developments.
Leading these nine infantry battalions was Zhao Wo, a highly influential official in Guangxi. He originated from the Chu army and shared the same background as several governors of Guangxi and the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi. Thus, his rapid rise through the ranks was inevitable. To sideline Feng Zicai, who belonged to the Jiangnan faction, Liu Changyou deliberately organized two defensive forces, assigning Zhao Wo to command ten battalions. This angered Feng Zicai so much that he pretended to be ill and returned home.
Now, Zhao Wo was extremely proud: “Gentlemen, Li Yangcai’s invasion of Vietnam is a heaven-sent opportunity. It’s the perfect time for us to achieve great glory.”
“Indeed!” Everyone understood clearly that Feng Zicai, as the military governor of Guangxi, should have led the troops into Vietnam. But the governor deliberately assigned Zhao Wo to lead them out of the pass, clearly aiming to replace Feng Zicai. “Zhao Wo will surely make great contributions this time—don’t forget about us, brothers!”
Under the Qing military system, one battalion consisted of 500 soldiers, so nine battalions totaled 4,500 troops. The number of people following Li Yangcai into Vietnam was similar. Thus, Zhao Wo was full of confidence: “We’ll leave tomorrow and strive to settle this battle in one go. Haha… I wonder how Brother Cuiting will handle this situation.”
Unbeknownst to him, the course of history had already changed.
Haiyang City.
“So that Shi Yuji actually has such sinister intentions, forcing my Liu Battalion to risk our lives for him. How despicable! I’ll send someone to kill him right away.”
These words, heard by Fan Fushu, sounded like divine revelation: “In that case, we owe Governor Liu a great deal of gratitude.”
“No need to thank me,” said Liu Yu, now it was his turn to make a demand. “As agreed earlier, I’ll send people to take control of your warehouses.”
“Great! Excellent!” Fan Fushu also offered Liu Yu every convenience. “With just one word from you, all of Haiyang’s public and private warehouses will be open to your troops as a token of gratitude.”
Liu Yu thought for a moment—who should he send to oversee the warehouses? It was a lucrative position. Although Vietnam was poor, a city like Haiyang still had quite a few assets in its government warehouses. The choice of person was crucial; he couldn’t let someone else seize this first pot of gold.
“Simatai!” he immediately decided. “Also, Sui Yun and my father-in-law.”
Simatai valued reputation over practical benefits. Put nicely, he regarded money as worthless. He was trustworthy, but since he belonged to an external faction, Liu Sui Yun needed to be sent to keep an eye on him. As for his father-in-law, Dajiang Linyang, who had been a failed small businessman, he had joined the Liu Battalion after going bankrupt along with Jiang Ningxue. He might be useful in resuming his old business this time.
“Perfect!” Now the Liu Battalion was entirely under Liu Yu’s control. “These three choices are impeccable.”
Thieves like Zhang Biao, who valued money over their lives, didn’t know about these three candidates. Even though they wanted to seize the opportunity, just seeing Liu Yu made them lose all courage.

He usually didn’t care about his life, but thinking of the astonishing abilities of this young commander—who had captured Haiyang with just 200 men—was truly overwhelming. Moreover, he had quite a number of breech-loading guns at his disposal, something their small group of dozen or so people couldn’t handle. At the thought of breech-loading guns, his heart heated up; after capturing the city, each person was supposed to get one, and he wondered if that promise would be kept. He glanced at Liu Yu and thought, “It depends on your skills, kid. If you can’t get me a breech-loading gun, I’ll go join someone else.” Just as he was thinking this, Jing Shi Yi rushed in eagerly and said, “Commander, the breech-loading guns have arrived!” As soon as he spoke, the old man from Liu Yu’s camp glared at him angrily, “Stop making noise. Everything must be decided by the commander.” This kid was too hasty in his actions. How many breech-loading guns could Deng Yucun have brought this time? At most forty or fifty, not enough even for Liu Yu’s camp to use. Jing Shi Yi just wanted to show off in front of everyone. With such a glare, he realized he had made a mistake. Meanwhile, Liu Yu remained calm. He said to Zhang Biao and Cai Yunnan, “Some breech-loading guns have arrived. Let’s go take a look together.” “Sure!” Zhang Biao clapped his hands. “Let’s go see them right away!” Cai Yunnan was also very interested in the breech-loading guns. He pulled Zhang Biao along and followed Liu Yu outside. “Let’s take a look.” Deng Yucun and Lian Jincheng were already waiting outside. Lian Jincheng greeted Liu Yu politely, “Amen! Commander Liu, we’ve prepared all the goods for you.” “What kind of goods?” Liu Yu immediately focused on the large two-wheeled cart carrying the guns. “Boss Deng, I paid 70% more than usual.” Deng Yucun smiled without answering, “They’re all high-quality goods. You’ll know once you see them.” 70% more? This stunned Cai Yunnan and Zhang Biao. “70% more? And they’re breech-loading? How much silver will that cost?” They had dealt with Deng Yucun before and knew he could charge exorbitant prices even for front-loading guns. A foreign gun that cost ten taels of silver in Hong Kong would cost at least 25 taels in his hands, and now he was raising the price by another 70%. Seventy percent! What kind of deal was that? This was the best opportunity in the world. Yet Liu Yu wasn’t affected at all. He wasn’t afraid of the high price. After all, they had already captured Haiyang—what did a little extra spending matter? In history, the Black Flag Army suffered greatly. Liu Yongfu had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but the French blocked Red River, so even with money, he couldn’t buy weapons. With 300 rapid-fire guns, where could they not go? Meanwhile, Lian Jincheng was laughing as he unloaded boxes of weapons from the cart, greeting Cai Yunnan and Zhang Biao, “You guys are really lucky. You might not find this many breech-loading guns even in ten years.” Over there, Liu Yu exclaimed excitedly, “Spencer.” He had placed an order with Deng Yucun for a large batch of Spencer rifles—the more of these repeating rifles, the better. Zhang Biao and Cai Yunnan were also eager to try them. After seeing the Spencer rifles, they immediately wanted to get one each. During this attack on Haiyang, they had personally experienced the terror of such repeating guns—who could stand against them?

In just a short while, they had fired seven bullets, while even with a breechloader, one could fire at most two bullets. No one would complain about such a high rate of fire. Liu Yu then asked, “How many does Spencer have? How many other breechloaders? And how many bullets?”