Chapter 60: The Battle

Li Yangcai was indeed captured by the Qing forces.
Over the past few months, the Vietnamese authorities had announced at least ten times that Li Yangcai had been killed or captured, but all such claims turned out to be false. This time, however, it was true—Li Yangcai would surely be taken back to Guangxi to be executed, just as in history.

Hearing this news, Liu Yu was stunned as if struck by thunder.
He had to thank Li Yangcai. If not for him drawing the attention of the Qing, Vietnam, and France, Liu Yu would never have had the chance to rise to power. It was thanks to Li Yangcai’s internationalist spirit that he could now establish a foothold in Shanxi.

According to history, Li Yangcai entered Vietnam in the eighth month of the lunar calendar in 1878 and was captured in the tenth month of the following year. But in this timeline, history had changed slightly.
Perhaps Liu Yu’s actions had drawn some of the Vietnamese troops away, so Li Yangcai was not captured in 1879 but in the spring of 1880 at Zheyan by the Qing forces.

Regardless of whether Li Yangcai was captured in 1879 or 1880, his failure was already doomed by the end of 1877. Yet Liu Yu knew well that his own space for survival had shrunk dramatically.

Li Yangcai was Vietnam’s number one enemy, and many Vietnamese officials shared this view.
Before him, whether it was the Yellow Flag Army, Wu Lingyun, or other groups that entered Vietnam, they were merely bandits with no ambition to overthrow the regime—only to rule a region for themselves.

But Li Yangcai was different. From the start, he aimed to overthrow the Nguyen dynasty and restore the Le dynasty. Without the Qing’s military support, he would have succeeded almost certainly.

So even though only a dozen of his followers remained, the Vietnamese still spared no effort, deploying enormous resources to hunt down what was essentially a non-threatening bandit.
They feared a nightmare: that one day Li Yangcai might rise again and overthrow the Nguyen dynasty. Back then, Emperor Nguyen Phuc Chu had been forced to flee in all directions by the Tây Sơn dynasty, unable to even hold his ground on Fu Guo Island, and eventually had to flee to Thailand—yet he still ended up winning in the end.

As for other threats, they could only temporarily accept their existence for now.

The Xiliu Camp was the most hated armed group. They plundered Haiyang and Guang’an, killing hundreds of soldiers, and repeated such atrocities on the riversides of Shanxi. Later, they became even more tyrannical, forcing Huang Zuoyan, the commander in charge of military affairs in northern Vietnam, to hide in Xinghua.
These crimes were unforgivable, but Vietnamese officials had to tolerate them, unwilling to create further chaos before Li Yangcai was defeated.

Times had changed.
Liu Yu realized he now had to face the pressure alone. He smiled, obtained details from his spies, though the specifics meant little to him—he just needed to make early arrangements.

After comforting Luo Yanqiu, Liu Yu adjusted his clothes and stepped out of the church with confidence, the sound of wind chimes in the background. He mounted his mule and set off back home with ease.

The land was picturesque, and the women were beautiful. In Liu Yu’s eyes, Vietnam was a beautiful place. He walked slowly, having already laid out his plans along the way.

He was no longer the leader of Liu’s Camp who would flee at the sight of a Marine platoon in Haiyang; now, all he saw were the lands under his control. The beauty of these lands and women lay in their being entirely in his hands. Sensing the allure of power, Liu Yu’s eyes fixed on the old camp—he stopped his horse and gazed at the camp he had painstakingly built. What had once been a deserted village was now Shanxi’s second political center. Several large cannons were installed in this simple military fortress, guarded by soldiers. Inside the fortress were the two strongest infantry units in Northern Vietnam, along with more than a dozen workshops—clothing factories, shoe-making factories, steam mills that had earned him a fortune, ironworks that produced entrenching tools and bayonets, chemical plants that made sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and nitroglycerin, and even the most powerful bomb-making workshops… Everything was in his hands. Liu Yu spurred his horse forward, feeling greatly uplifted. Seeing him arrive at full speed, the guards quickly opened the gate and saluted him, “Sir, you’re back!” “I’m back!” He immediately went to look for Jiang Ningxue. Though he still carried the scent of Luo Yanqiu, Jiang Ningxue noticed that Liu Yu’s expression had once again grown solemn. “Ayu? What’s wrong?” Liu Yu replied, “I came back from Luo Yanqiu’s place.” Jiang Ningxue knew he must have more to say and waited patiently for him to finish. “Yanqiu obtained five hundred pounds of sulfuric acid and five hundred pounds of nitric acid for me.” “That’s good news. What’s the problem?” He then delivered the most important news: “Li Yangcai was captured by the Qing troops. We’re in trouble.” As Liu Yu’s personal secretary, Jiang Ningxue was highly competent. She immediately found a stack of cards on the desk. “We still have some time. The official steel-smelting ceremony is the day after tomorrow. There are no urgent matters ahead.” Liu Yu remembered his agreement with Ye Chenglin: “The original plan was for the two camp leaders to hold a major competition in half a month, but it’s now being moved up to… seven days from now. After that, the Crow Camp will be equipped anew.” Jiang Ningxue took out another card, made a few marks on it, and calculated for Liu Yu: “Spencer is short by sixteen rifles, Remington by one. That doesn’t even include the shortages in the direct subordinate platoons.” By now, she was a very capable personal secretary, and Liu Yu liked this feeling. “There’s nothing we can do about the shortages. We’ll arm ourselves first. Also… this order hasn’t been officially issued in writing. Just keep it in mind for now.” “Given the changing circumstances, after careful consideration, it has been decided to establish a new infantry company in the Xiliu Camp and the Crow Camp. One platoon will be drawn from each of the existing companies to form the core of the third company. The troops are scheduled to be organized within three months.” Jiang Ningxue silently memorized this order. She hadn’t expected Liu Yu to take such bold action. “Where will the equipment come from? Even the Crow Camp is short-staffed right now.” Liu Yu gritted his teeth and said, “What’s there to fear? The Xiliu Camp must have confidence. Even with just fists, we can defeat troops equipped with advanced firearms.” Although it was called a decision after research, within the Xiliu Camp system, Liu Yu was nothing but a typical dictator. “Also, preparations for soldiers and officers must be made early.”

Equipment, troops, and officers don’t just appear out of thin air. What’s most lacking now are capable officers. Liu Yu once said to Jiang Ningxue in private, “The sentry chiefs of the Xiliu Camp, including me, are all unqualified.”
“Who will be the sentry chief?” Jiang Ningxue asked a good question.
“I don’t know.”
Liu Yu shook his head. Last time when the Crow Camp was established, Ye Chenglin served as the camp commander, with one sentry chief from each side—Ye Chenglin’s old subordinate for the left post, and Zhang Biao, an old bandit, for the right post.
This arrangement worked well. Although Zhang Biao had strong gangster habits and was from a collateral branch, he was willing to learn and work hard, getting along well with Ye Chenglin.
But afterward, it became unclear who to promote as the next sentry chiefs. People like Liu Suiyun, Cai Yunnan, and Shen Sheng still lacked enough experience in his eyes.
“I don’t know. Let’s produce molten steel first.”
A scorching sensation hit him as the bright red liquid appeared before Liu Yu.
“Long live!” The technicians nearby started cheering, “Long live!”
Jingshiyi also exclaimed, “It worked! It’s molten steel!”
With that, he simply sat down on the ground, feeling the heat from the molten steel. The first electric furnace built in the Xiliu Camp had successfully produced his first batch of steel, and the enthusiasm at the scene was even hotter than the temperature of the steel.
“This can produce high-quality steel!” Liu Haohao was also very excited. “It definitely can.”
This electric furnace required a lot of effort from Liu Yu, especially since smuggling the equipment was even more troublesome. Although it was second-hand equipment bought from Hong Kong, smuggling it in took a great deal of effort.
All of this could be turned into a legendary story, but at least this furnace, which cost thousands of taels of silver, had produced results.
“As long as we have steel, we need to ensure its quality too!” As he walked, Liu Yu said to Colonel Jieken, “We still rely on you for this.”
Jieken shook his head. “I can’t. The progress of the mirror workshop is too slow. I need to speed things up.”
Although the binoculars had been produced manually, only four finished products had been made so far—all 1.5x sniper binoculars, with the lenses almost as long as the barrel. But the problem lay in production volume.
The quality was slightly inferior to the original lenses, which wasn’t a big issue, but the problem was that those half-finished products couldn’t be turned into combat-ready items. Colonel Jieken was truly troubled. “I need more people and more resources…”
Sigh…
Now Liu Yu had to thank Luo Yanqiu. She had indeed done him a huge favor. Without those 500 jin of sulfuric acid and 500 jin of nitric acid, he wouldn’t be so confident in speaking now.
“Alright!” As someone who used to be a steelworker, Jieken decided to take on more responsibility. “You’ll have to handle both ends.”
Just then, Lian Jincheng turned around with a smile. “Amen! Mr. Liu, our boss and Mr. Liu the Purchaser have something to discuss with you.”
What’s going on now? Liu Yu tried to get some information, but Lian Jincheng kept his mouth shut. “You’ll know when you get there.”
Inside the old camp, Mr. Liu the Purchaser had a simple small villa, where he and Deng Cunyu welcomed Liu Yu. “Dear Mr. Liu, hello!”

The three men hugged each other once, then sat down on the sofa. Liu Daimaihua spoke first: “I have bad news to share—our most profitable business is going to stop.”
“Has France stopped the circulation of its special silver and copper coins in Indochina?”
Just as in history, the Oriental Bank of Commerce’s attempt at currency issuance in South Vietnam also failed in 1880, lasting only a year. Producing counterfeit copper coins at 2% or 1% of the original value had been one of the most profitable activities in coin-making, but now it had to end.
“That’s right! These are our last batches. From now on, the only businesses we’ll have are those with low returns, like lead and copper coins,” Deng Cunyu warned. “But that won’t be enough to sustain our paper currency business.”
Lian Jincheng spread his arms and said, “We’re close to making breakthroughs in several areas, but it still takes more time.”
The technical team he led was the most elite Liu Yu had ever seen. After all, the military-industrial system of Xiliuying only had 1,200 people in total. Excluding some skilled workers, there were only about 70 technicians, all trained by Liu Yu over the past two years. Their technical skills weren’t very high; they could only repeat some experiments already done by Westerners.
Among the over 80 people involved in coin-making, more than 30 were responsible for producing copper and silver coins, while the remaining 40 were working with Lian Jincheng to overcome the technical challenges of counterfeiting francs. Without exception, these 40 were highly skilled technicians—any one of them could be considered a key member in Liu Yu’s team. But under Lian Jincheng’s leadership, their progress in counterfeiting francs was slow, with several technical hurdles still unsolved.
Lian Jincheng admitted that he had put in a lot of effort into this technical challenge, without holding back, but progress wasn’t as fast as expected.
Liu Daimaihua had to remind everyone, “Gentlemen, in addition to investing the required over 5,000 taels in profits, I’ve also added another 7,000 taels in investments to this workshop.”
Deng Cunyu added, “I haven’t taken a single penny in profit either, yet I’ve invested over 5,000 taels.”
Lian Jincheng said softly, “I’ve invested 500 taels.”
Liu Yu glanced at them and spoke up, “Are you also planning to stop this project? I not only provided the factory space but haven’t taken a single penny in profit either. My additional investment amounts to about 4,000 taels. We can calculate that.”
Liu Daimaihua slammed his hand on the coffee table and said, “We won’t stop. We can’t back out. I and Deng Cunyu have calculated that we’ve invested over 30,000 taels in total. If we stop now, we’ll get nothing.”
“More investment? Let me make it clear—I’m quite short on funds these days.”
Liu Daimaihua glanced at Liu Yu before saying, “We’re all short on funds. The market conditions are poor, but we’re all gritting our teeth and investing more money.”

Deng Cunyu said beside him, “Investing so much money and getting nothing in return—I’m not willing to accept that either. But if the Oriental Union’s copper coins stop circulating, it will be extremely difficult for us to sustain our current funds. In that case, we’ll have to halt this project, so I need you to invest more.”
“How much?” Liu Yu asked directly.
“Another five thousand taels per person. Well… Jincheng will contribute five hundred taels. Liu Da Muaiban and I can’t bear the risk alone.”
Liu Yu was now somewhat desperate about this project. So far, he had only seen a glimmer of hope, and there was still a long way to go before any breakthrough. He even wondered if he would have persuaded Liu Da Muaiban to engage in counterfeiting francs if he had known what this project would be like from the start.
Even without those technical workers, his open furnace couldn’t produce molten steel. Yet he felt the cost seemed too high—this was simply an endless pit. At the current pace, investing another three times five thousand taels might not yield results.
“Everyone must contribute according to this share!” Liu Da Muaiban laid it out clearly. “If anyone refuses to invest more, my money will be as good as wasted.”
Neither he nor Deng Cunyu wanted to take on more risk. They had already decided: “You, me, and Deng Cunyu—all must invest another five thousand taels.”
Liu Yu found this situation very complicated. “When do you need an answer?”
Liu Da Muaiban thought for a moment. “Seven days, one week!”
“Ningxue, how much cash can we pull out right now?”
As Liu Yu’s closest person, Jiang Ningxue was most familiar with his financial situation. “There are still thirty-five thousand taels left, but we need to deduct the money for sulfuric acid and nitric acid to Yan Qiu.”
“Another large expense. The competition also requires funds, and the newly formed infantry regiment needs money too…” Liu Yu calculated again. “Ningxue, Jincheng is asking for money again, and it’s five thousand at once.”
“Five thousand taels?” Jiang Ningxue rarely encountered such a large one-time expense. “Should I discuss it with Dad?”
But Liu Yu knew Jiang Linyang was just a small merchant and likely couldn’t handle such large sums. “No need. My wife and I will discuss it privately.”
In Liu Yu’s mind, he must keep some cash on hand—no matter what era, money was absolutely essential. Thinking of the initial investment of five thousand taels, the factory building, and those useful technical workers, he gritted his teeth and decided, “Ningxue, prepare five thousand taels for me. I need it within a week.”
When he left Haiyang, he had roughly sixty thousand taels in assets, but with expenses constantly draining them, only thirty-five thousand remained. After handling these major matters, there might be just over twenty left.
“We need to find more income and cut costs.”
But before that, they had to finish the competition between Xiliuying and Wuyaying first, then proceed with the planned reequipping.
As the first officer promoted from platoon leader to squad leader, Zhang Biao was full of ambition. “Brothers, give it your all to win first place! I’ll pay extra to treat you!”

In this competition, he was determined to make a stunning impression. He knew the Crow Camp had more veterans than the Willow Camp, but in terms of combat strength, the Willow Camp was superior. However, combat strength didn’t guarantee first place in a competition.
“It’s all a fight between the veterans from the Willow Camp!” He saw through it: “The others have no chance.”
Ye Chenglin and his old subordinates had trained for a full year less compared to the Willow Camp, and even when compared to prisoners from the Yellow Flag Army, they had trained for half a year less—a gap that couldn’t be made up.
Others had already completed the fourth and fifth rifle exercises, as well as highly difficult drills like moving targets and side-target shooting, while most of these older yet newer soldiers had only just finished the first rifle exercise.
But he had brought all his old subordinates from the Willow Camp with him. He specifically instructed Platoon Leader Fei Lilun, “Pick a few top performers to train hard—don’t worry about wasting bullets.”
Now was the time to reap the rewards.
“Remington rifle shooting.”
“Get ready, first rifle exercise!”
A few soldiers from his direct platoons, whose military skills were weaker, didn’t participate in this competition. Each battalion sent two people per event, for a total of eight competitors.
This was Zhang Biao’s strong suit—those two veterans had even set a record of hitting enemy targets from 300 meters away. Zhang Biao patted their shoulders to encourage them, “You two, give it your all! Win some face for me!”
“Ready!”
But when it came time to compete, Zhang Biao felt extremely nervous, even more so than in actual combat, as this was tied to their pride.
“Start!”
He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, waiting for the results.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
“Call out the scores!”
Shooting in this prone position with support, using high-powered Remington rifles, selecting the best marksmen from each company, and after calibrating the guns, everyone had hit five targets out of five so far—no misses.
“One scored 45, the other 43!” The Willow Camp’s left squad was slightly behind, but they still surpassed Sima Tai’s right squad to finish in second place. Zhang Biao was thrilled: “Second in the whole army—not bad at all.”
The left squad was led by Liu Yu himself, so their military skills were naturally the best in the army. They not only outperformed their comrades from the Crow Camp but also defeated Sima Tai’s right squad from the Willow Camp, filling Zhang Biao with immense pride.
“Spencer rifle!”
“One-minute rapid fire exercise in prone position from 100 meters!”
This was a training exercise not originally part of the People’s Liberation Army’s regimen, unique to the Spencer rifle.
With a magazine capacity of seven rounds, after firing seven shots, the Spencer rifle needed to be reloaded—a rather lengthy process. Thus, within one minute, soldiers had to fire as many rounds as possible while maintaining accuracy.
Zhang Biao was even more delighted by this event; he felt he had a good chance of succeeding in this crucial test.