Chapter 90: Official Positions

Preserving Victory.
This was a prosperous emerging city that remained unchanged in its trajectory despite Liu Yongfu’s return or the news of the French capturing Hanoi.
Groups of opium dealers flocked to the VIP rooms of the Black Flag Bank, waiting for the decisions of the credit commissioner. Every slight move by the commissioner could bring about huge changes in the opium market.
They needed more loans, especially those Vietnamese opium planters who were desperate for funds. Given sufficient loans, they were willing to disregard all laws in the world.
Loans were issued one after another, and the opium dealers happily received their drafts, praising the Black Flag Bank notes as “the best thing in the world.”
At the bank counters, Black Flag Bank notes were distributed to everyone—be it vegetable vendors, tall and imposing Black Flag officers, or smiling swindlers—all holding these notes of various denominations with smiles on their faces.
These Black Flag Bank notes could now be used in every corner of Northern Vietnam. The French, Vietnamese, and Qing troops all accepted them. Customs had even recognized them as legitimate currency, so during the French’s seizure of customs facilities, tens of thousands of such notes were confiscated.
They didn’t realize that these banknotes were printed in large quantities at very low cost. All they knew was that this currency had magic powers—it was worth about 70% of silver coins and remained stable.
This illusion arose not only because Liu Yu controlled the issuance well but also because Liu Qing’s strategy was effective, coupled with an era of declining silver prices worldwide.
Banknotes of various denominations were now flooding every corner of the country—the colonies of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. All Vietnamese people, willingly or not, accepted this currency, even those in Yunnan and Guangxi.
It was all because of these opium dealers. Now, Black Flag Bank notes had surpassed silver and gold in the opium trade, becoming the most widely used currency. Even the bank’s own drafts could be used as a means of exchange.
Starting from this small city, Black Flag Bank notes gradually spread to countless villages and towns.
All the prosperity of this city was built on Black Flag Bank notes.
……
Shanxi City.
Standing in Shanxi City, one would notice that although the headquarters of the Black Flag Bank was located here, the city itself and everything attached to it resembled a fortress.
An extremely large fortress—such a fortress had never existed in Vietnamese history. But rather than a city, it was more like a fortress.
It was the trade hub of Tonkin and the most important center for opium trade in the north. It housed the headquarters of the Black Flag Bank, dozens of factories of various sizes, and was also a wealthy grain-producing region in Shanxi.
Yet no word could describe this city better than “fortress.” Everything served military purposes—trade, industry, grain, and even finance—all served the military.

Batches of molten steel, red as fire, were poured out and then used to make various weapons—bayonets, rifles, artillery, entrenching tools… Batches of cloth were shipped in from the coast, and the women in the city wove them into uniforms, trousers, caps… Even barrels of picric acid were used for military purposes, though no one could explain exactly what Xiliu Camp used it for. Inside and outside the city, every soldier, even the most ordinary private, held a high status; they carried their heads high to show their determination. The Black Flag Bank served not only opium traffickers but also Xiliu Camp, considering them its top clients who could have all their needs met. The residents were slightly unaccustomed to this change—in their eyes, soldiers were akin to slaves, yet now these soldiers could walk the streets with pride, even surpassing government officials. This was the paradise every soldier dreamed of: good treatment, room to prove oneself, and the same opportunities for others with talent. A secret chapel was established in the west of the city, one of the last strongholds of the Catholic Church in Shanxi, led by a Spanish missionary. This missionary had accomplished something remarkable—he preserved the only Catholic church in Xinghua Province. He also had a special affection for angelic children and was considered the best priest in all of Vietnam. Catholic Church reports praised him in countless words, but Liu Suiyun’s evaluation was just two words: “Scum!” Only after encountering such a priest did he understand why the Catholic Church could achieve victory after victory—it was purely because they were shameless. Within the church, these living eunuchs devised countless vile tactics to lure anyone who faced slight setbacks in life onto their wrong path. But this priest was different; he even reported the details of every gathering to Xiliu Camp’s intelligence agency. Now, the Catholic Church’s secret activities in Shanxi and Xinghua were practically transparent. However, Father Yangge disagreed—he cared only about the payment offered by Xiliu Camp. Three hundred thousand French gold francs and one hundred thousand Black Flag bills—the total amount overwhelmed him. He even wondered if Xiliu Camp had its own franc printing machine. But after seeing the advance payment, he admitted it: even if it was fake money, it was indistinguishable from real money—or rather, it was real money! This amount would allow him to return to Spain and continue loving the choir angels. He disliked Orientals, especially the style of Vietnamese choirs; he couldn’t tolerate it any longer. So he agreed to all of Xiliu Camp’s reasonable and unreasonable conditions. This time, he also brought several thick books, such as *Compendium of Explosives* and *Handbook of Inorganic Chemical Industry*. He believed he could solve all problems with his own strength. Now standing in front of Liu Suiyun, he said with a smile, “We’ve solved most of the problems, haven’t we?” Liu Suiyun had to admit that this scum was an expert, a true expert.

He was a genius when it came to explosives and inorganic chemistry, and many problems that had plagued Xiliuying for a long time were quickly solved.
Now, the mortar factory in Xiliuying was working on two fronts, developing time fuses and impact fuses. In particular, the time fuses had become quite reliable—on average, six or seven out of ten shells fired would explode.
More importantly, after switching to nitroglycerin propellant and cotton-based charges, the range of the 60mm mortars had exceeded 400 meters, greatly increasing their lethality and making them highly practical.
Yet Father Yangker noticed something—he preferred another kind of demonic sensation over that of the Vietnamese choir.
“Your artillery will bring death; it will kill many Christians.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Suiyun cursed angrily, though his face remained smiling. “My friend, we will use it sparingly.”
“No!” said Father Yangker. “I hope this artillery can kill a thousand people! No, at least three thousand—not those yellow-skinned people, but the noble French and Europeans.”
He realized his soul had already turned to Satan. Just the thought of killing French and Europeans, of killing Christians, filled him with uncontrollable excitement.
It was the feeling of the devil—he loved this sense of killing.
Even if he couldn’t participate in the killings himself, the mere thought of such evil filled him with uncontrollable excitement.
This profession was perfect for him—providing huge financial gains while allowing him to commit any crime without restraint.
Perhaps every missionary harbored such desires; after all, they were supposed to control all their passions, but now Father Yangker could unleash all of them.
Smiling, he said, “Perhaps it can kill five thousand. I can offer a more efficient method of killing.”
……
Hanoi.
Colonel Li Weiyeh took up the letter brought by Liu Yu with sarcasm. He asked the priest who delivered it, “Is this the surrender declaration of Liu’s gang? No, this is a declaration of war!”
The priest also harbored extreme hatred toward Liu Yu. Angrily, he said, “It is indeed a declaration of war, but Colonel Li Weiyeh, for the sake of the Republic, you’d better consider the pros and cons carefully!”
In the letter, Liu Yu expressed goodwill toward Li Weiyeh and the French, wishing for peaceful coexistence. Xiliuying was willing to open the Red River waterway to a certain extent.
But Li Weiyeh’s expectations were very high: “The Red River belongs to France! Tokyo belongs to France! The whole world belongs to France!”
The priest, a loyal French citizen, said, “I believe all glory belongs to France. It is thanks to your help that we can restore our cause in Shanxi.”
As the price for Father Yangker entering Shanxi, Liu Yu allowed Catholics to resume their activities to a certain degree. He also hoped for peaceful coexistence between Catholicism and the Huajian religion in Hanoi.
This was utterly impossible. The priest therefore hoped Colonel Li Weiyeh would intensify his oppression of the Huajian religion: “The stricter your suppression of heretics, the easier it will be for our church to spread the Lord’s gospel.”

Li Weiye was thinking of other things. He personally led two patrols, during which the armed men of Xiliu Camp and the Huajian Sect retreated without firing a single shot. He had already figured out Liu Yu’s limits—these Black Flag Army troops were afraid of the French tricolor flag; even a single patrol soldier could scare away dozens of Huajian Sect fighters. The patrol soldiers could even venture three to four kilometers deep into Shanxi without any obstacles. Xiliu Camp’s patrol teams were poorly equipped, with only a mix of muzzle-loading and breech-loading rifles, and they would immediately retreat at the sight of the tricolor flag. All of this delighted Colonel Li Weiye. He had seen Liu Yu’s gang in person—a large force of nearly a hundred men, including a few breech-loading rifles, but all of outdated French models. Their uniforms were disheveled, their morale low, and they were no match for the Marine Corps. However, Colonel Li Weiye still hadn’t received authorization, and the reinforcements he was waiting for hadn’t arrived, so he could only delay further action for now. But he had already assessed Xiliu Camp’s strength—this was the best-equipped unit of the Black Flag Army, with around 900 to 1,200 armed soldiers. It was said to have 500 rapid-fire rifles, but according to the information Li Weiye had, that number was greatly exaggerated; the actual count was likely no more than 400, possibly just over 300. He could defeat these bandits with his own forces, but before that, he needed to establish the colonial police, the Annamese native infantry, and the Catholic militia—these were his most urgent tasks. In the original history, the establishment of these forces was much slower and on a much smaller scale. But it was precisely because of Xiliu Camp that Li Weiye was forced to arm hundreds of Annamese soldiers. He now only wanted war to break out as soon as possible. He described it in one sentence: “He who laughs last laughs best…” … Liu Yu once again employed a tactic of feigning weakness. A real wolf with a long tail only needs to pounce once to be deadly; a real pervert can be knocked down with just a push. So many muzzle-loading guns were taken out of the warehouse, and new recruits were specifically chosen to wear old uniforms for patrols, with officers deliberately controlling the situation. Everything went very smoothly, even so convincingly that Li Weiye believed it. He even sent a ten-man patrol team deep into Shanxi, nearly ten miles inside. Seeing his small force, it seemed like the easiest prey. Ye Chenglin, the leader of the patrol, had to restrain himself from attacking. Ye Chenglin was more suited for such dirty work; Sima Tai was too proud to do it. Although Xiliu Camp lacked officers, there were plenty who could perform this act, like Shen Sheng, who performed exceptionally well in Hanoi. Now everyone understood that the act had to continue, waiting for the right moment to bring Li Weiye down. And the first one who wanted Xiliu Camp to bring Li Weiye down was Liu Yongfu. Full of complaints, he said, “Officer of Liu Camp, I ask you—what on earth is going on? Hanoi isn’t your jurisdiction. How did you let the French take it?”

He vented all his frustration: “I heard Governor Huang ordered you to lead troops to Hanoi the very next day to assist in the battle. How could you send not even a platoon and just watch Hanoi fall? And why did you send troops to Xinghua? It breaks my heart!”
It was true that Liu Yu was the primary responsible person for Hanoi’s fall. He had considered sending troops to Hanoi and blocking Li Weiyeh outside the city, but after careful thought, he realized it wasn’t the right approach.
He was confident he could block Li Weiyeh outside the city without even needing to mobilize forces—just by sending the Crow Camp there, and with the city’s strong defenses, they could hold off Li Weiyeh’s attacks. But the problem was time. Blocking Li Weiyeh wasn’t difficult, but he wasn’t sure he could withstand the French forces’ follow-up attacks. A year was enough time to produce a thousand Snider rifles, dozens of mortars, and dozens of tons of explosives. It was for this reason that he decided not to intervene.
However, he also needed to shirk his responsibility. He glanced at Wu Fengdian and said, “I was waiting for orders from Ya Lou. I’m just the commander of the Black Flag Army’s front line. I can’t make such major decisions on my own!”
Wu Fengdian was probably the most aggrieved. Hearing this, he could only lower his head and say, “I’ll take responsibility for this.”
He knew that, regardless of anything, he was the acting commander of the Black Flag Army in Liu Yongfu’s absence, so the responsibility for Hanoi’s fall should fall on him.
“You’re not allowed to speak!” Liu Yongfu was unkind even to his brother-in-law. “Liu Camp Commander, you must also take responsibility for this!”
Meanwhile, Huang Shouzhong had already started firing artillery. “Then should I, as the commander of the rear line, also take responsibility? That can’t be said. It’s true that the Xiliu Camp is stationed in Shanxi, and it’s true they sent troops to Xinghua.”
“But those are cautious strategies. If they had sent troops to Hanoi and fought a direct battle against the French, what would happen to my camps?”
Liu Yongfu was only angry. He knew that if Liu Yu really sent troops to Hanoi, it would bring disaster. “No matter how great the responsibility, I’ll take it on his behalf. But once Hanoi falls, our Black Flag Army will be completely at a disadvantage.”
He thought Huang Shouzhong would give up after being reprimanded, but Huang Shouzhong continued, “That’s not right. Both the front and rear commanders followed your orders. Without your orders, how would we dare go to war with the French?”
Liu Yongfu understood now. Huang Shouzhong was upset because of the issue of the acting commander position. Liu Yongfu hadn’t given that position to Liu Yu nor to Huang Shouzhong, but instead to Wu Fengdian, a less capable camp commander. Now they were arguing over this issue.
Hearing this, Wu Fengdian was also furious, but as a steady person, he immediately said, “Yongfu, this time you’ve implicated me. I’m not experienced enough for this acting role. I really didn’t do well. Don’t let me handle it again in the future.”
This was his way of shirking responsibility, and Liu Yongfu found the situation even more troublesome.
The setup of front and rear commanders was originally temporary, but now neither Huang Shouzhong nor Liu Yu intended to give up their positions. In other words, after securing victory, two de facto command centers had emerged.

Especially after Hanoi fell, Shanxi had become the city of greatest concern to the Black Flag Army. The gain or loss of Shanxi was tied to the rise and fall of the army, while Heyang also served to protect its flanks. Together, these two forces numbered two thousand men. Without them, the Black Flag Army could not function at all. What should be done next? Wu Fengdian stood up, glanced at the group of officers present, and said, “Yongfu, we are one family. This time I’ll be straight up—I’m asking you for a position.” Liu Yongfu blinked, not understanding. “What kind of position do you want?” Wu Fengdian had suddenly taken action without even consulting him beforehand, and Liu Yongfu still couldn’t figure out what he really wanted.