Chapter 94: The Last Peaceful Moment

Liu Yu emphasized again, “Remember! April 25th is the deadline—also the day when my Black Flag Army will take its oath!”
Liu Qing then thought of something else, “By the way, should we purchase grain?”
When he mentioned this, Liu Yu slapped his thigh in frustration. “Thank goodness you reminded me; otherwise, we’d suffer losses.”
Last year, northern regions had a bumper grain harvest, and Xiliu Camp had accumulated large amounts of grain and agricultural products. Just Liu Yu’s own military reserves were enough to sustain Xiliu Camp for over a year and a half, plus enough grain for the Black Flag Army for three months. Not to mention the vast quantities stored by the grain dealers affiliated with Xiliu Camp.
However, now was not the right time to buy grain. April in the solar calendar coincided with a period of shortage, meaning higher costs than usual. Even Jin Cheng sighed, “I wish we had stockpiled more last year.”
Liu Yu then remembered something, “Last year, we purchased a large amount of military grain through the Vietnamese government. We can use that now.”
It was safest to keep all supplies under one’s own control. Xiliu Camp also had contingency plans for such actions. They quickly reviewed the supplies needed: “For grain, we can buy it in Hanoi. What’s better to use—francs or Black Flag currency? What about the Baosheng area?”
Liu Yu had an idea: “Give tens of thousands of Black Flag currency to the Liu family’s joint bank and let them handle the purchases.”
This was a form of policy-driven loan. Relying solely on Xiliu Camp’s own resources, it would be extremely difficult to acquire such a large quantity of strategic supplies in just over half a month.
But around Xiliu Camp, there were dozens of businesses of varying sizes, which could provide numerous conveniences. To that end, Liu Yu had already undermined the credibility of Black Flag currency: “Lend more money, but make sure to keep control of the supplies.”
During war, the worst part was having money but being unable to buy things, or facing skyrocketing prices even if purchases were possible, except for assets like real estate and land, whose values might decline.
Liu Yu quickly decided to summon the heads of various banks that night—not under the pretext of preparing for war, but by claiming that Xiliu Camp needed to establish a new camp and lacked many supplies, asking them to help purchase them immediately.
The meeting lasted until 2 a.m. before ending. The Black Flag Bank approved a loan of 400,000, along with interest subsidies. As long as they acquired these 104 types of strategic supplies—without quantity limits—the price would be 10–20% above market rate.
As for where to purchase them, that was not Xiliu Camp’s concern. Liu Yu only demanded speed—supplies had to arrive within half a month. Otherwise, there would be no leniency.
Yet just after the mobilization meeting, another meeting was called. Due to the sheer volume of goods needed, existing warehouses were severely insufficient. Although some supplies would be used during mobilization, at least six more large warehouses would be required to meet the demand.

In addition, according to Liu Suiyun’s preliminary calculations, apart from the current warehouse, Xuan Guang needed two large warehouses, Xinghua needed four medium-sized warehouses, and Baosheng needed one large warehouse. Therefore, as soon as dawn broke, Liu Yu decided: “Order the engineering battalion to form a construction engineering battalion, with the combat engineers forming their own combat company.” The construction engineering battalion would be responsible for many tedious and laborious tasks; a large amount of cement had already been brought out of the warehouse to build defensive fortifications. For the defense of Shanxi, Liu Yu had decided to establish an ironclad defense line inside and outside Shanxi City. However, due to a shortage of rebar, only a few key strongholds would use reinforced concrete, while the rest would have to make do with bamboo rebar. Experiments showed that the black powder of this era was not powerful enough to destroy bamboo-reinforced concrete fatally.

That night, Liu Qing and Lian Jincheng arrived at the coastal defense by steamship and were immediately given a warm welcome. The foreign firms there, especially the French ones, loved these two fools—their complete ignorance of international trade principles meant they always reaped huge profits from doing business with them. At the welcome banquet, everyone quickly understood the reason: “Our Xiliu Battalion is establishing new bases in Shi Zhou recently, so we need to purchase large quantities of supplies.” Shi Zhou? They soon realized it was the old stronghold of the Xiliu Battalion, where Ye Chenglin, the famous commander of the Crow Battalion, had risen to prominence and been recruited into the army. Now, Shi Zhou was also under the control of the Black Flag Army, but Ye Chenglin had greater influence there.

They further understood that due to Lord Li Weiyeh’s remarkable achievements, the Black Flag Army might abandon the upper reaches of the Red River and retreat to Shi Zhou. To prepare accordingly, they planned to establish two infantry battalions in Shi Zhou to defend their last stronghold. These two “fat targets” were purchasing supplies for the establishment of these infantry battalions. Traditionally, the Xiliu Battalion made a large purchase every quarter, but the first-quarter purchase had been delayed, so now two quarters’ worth of purchases were being handled at once. They brought massive purchase orders—collectively worth an estimated one to two million francs. Many foreign firms took immediate action and reached agreements with Liu Qing and Lian Jincheng the next day. Liu Qing then paid large deposits in francs, silver, and Black Flag currency. However, due to the urgency of establishing the two infantry battalions in Shi Zhou, time was of the essence.

Fortunately, an undersea cable had been laid between the coastal defense and Hong Kong, allowing for easy supply shipments from Hong Kong. Otherwise, they might have given up even on the order for picric acid alone. That morning, some untrustworthy small firms still signed orders, while most firms hesitated due to doubts about the payment ability of these “fat targets.” By afternoon, these two “fat targets” managed to secure a loan of 500,000 francs from the Oriental Bank of Commerce, using a gold mine as collateral. The entire coastal defense was in shock. Afterwards, even firms were willing to accept blank bills, and some foreign firms waived deposits altogether. However, everyone haggled fiercely over prices, dealing a heavy blow to the Xiliu Battalion.

These two gullible men thought they had gotten a huge bargain. Lian Jincheng rushed to Hong Kong with a large amount of francs and silver, while Liu Qing frantically purchased supplies. Finally, someone managed to get a little truth out of him: “These are the supplies needed by the Yunnan governor to suppress the rebellion.” Everyone finally understood why these two men were acting so strangely—it was because of the gold trade route opened up by Mr. Du Bu Yi! They all knew well that going upstream from the Red River would lead straight to Yunnan. Du Bu Yi had once revived this golden trade route, but Captain An Ye’s death had interrupted its development. Now, a massive rebellion was breaking out in Yunnan, comparable to Du Wenxiu’s Hui rebellion years ago. To buy supplies for suppressing the rebellion, they specifically commissioned Xiliu Camp to procure them from Vietnam. After all, waterways were the fastest mode of transportation; purchasing by land would not only delay things but also increase costs and losses. It was a lie that any sensible person could see through, yet all the French firms went crazy, wanting to monopolize this highly profitable trade. They even pressured the customs under their control by saying, “Seventy percent of the total procurement amount has already been assigned to the following firms; you can only choose one of them.” Liu Qing was very cooperative: “Great! I’ve always been good to French friends!” “Thank you for taking care of French friends!” This abnormal trade even affected the French customs in Hanoi, who found many faults with it. Of course, they also knew that Xiliu Camp made large purchases from Haiphong every quarter. The first-quarter purchase was canceled for unknown reasons, and it seemed like two quarters’ worth of purchases were combined, but they still wanted to find faults. Since Hanoi customs was only responsible for taxes on goods going downstream, while Haiphong customs handled those going upstream, they even suggested that Lord Li Weiyeh take strict action against it. But they soon regretted this, as not only did pressure come from Haiphong, but Lord Li Weiyeh also faced accusations from Cochinchina: “Our reinforcements will arrive in one or two months. Don’t cause trouble during this time. These supplies might be used by the Black Flag Army, but according to my intelligence, he is purchasing them for the Yunnan governor. Our envoys from Beijing have confirmed this.” These firms, which could monopolize such huge profits, all had powerful connections—representatives from Saigon to Paris—sending ships full of supplies to Shanxi every day. Lord Li Weiyeh was helpless; his power was limited. However, there was good news: these supplies could hardly be used for military purposes, at most some cloth, acid dyes for military uniforms, and not even any military raw materials. He didn’t know that this was just the report he had received. After sulfuric acid could be produced locally, Xiliu Camp was pursuing even more advanced and covert military raw materials. But Lord Li Weiyeh knew clearly: “In another one or two months, when our reinforcements arrive, everything you’ve purchased will become our spoils.”

Xiliu Camp had always had a tradition of prompt payment. Most of the first batch of payments was made in cash in francs, which boosted merchants’ confidence. French firms even forced them to buy their inventory: “Everything in the warehouses, except weapons, is yours!” Meanwhile, in areas beyond their reach, the Black Flag Bank was also waging an economic war. Over a hundred types of strategic supplies were trapped in a vast web. Merchants of all sizes operated like hungry wolves across all provinces in Tonkin, even extending their plundering to China. This massive mobilization matched the pace of Xiliu Camp’s preparations. Among all units, the first to be mobilized was Shen Sheng’s search platoon. As an experienced unit that had long operated in Hanoi, this platoon retreated dozens of steps into the base of the Huajian Sect, then received a large number of new recruits and weapons, becoming a standard light infantry company. Within the Black Flag Army, the first wave of mobilization was underway. The two veteran units, the Black Flag Camp and the Crow Camp, each added an infantry company and a mortar platoon. Weapons were taken out of the warehouses in batches to arm the soldiers. This was just the first step; further mobilization plans were in place. Everyone agreed that although Xiliu Camp and the Crow Camp had gained many new troops, since they were trained reservists, the overall quality had not declined but actually improved. After the first wave of mobilization, Xiliu Camp’s troop strength exceeded 2,000. The four 82mm mortars produced formed a direct artillery company. According to the second wave of mobilization plans, artillery, logistics, and engineering units would be added. On the Baosheng front, all units of the Black Flag Army, except for those left to guard the base, moved toward Shanxi. Thanks to them, if they hadn’t taken some of the military grain, the grain purchased by Liu Yuxin would have had to be left exposed outdoors—after all, it was the rainy season. From above, two long columns could be seen heading toward Shanxi: one was a fleet of French ships flying the French flag, and the other was the various units of the Black Flag Army. This time, persuaded by Tang Jingsong, Liu Yongfu made up his mind. He decided to launch an attack from Huaidefu to deal with Li Weiyeh once and for all before his reinforcements arrived. All rapid-fire guns were brought to the front line, and the total number of mobilized Black Flag Army soldiers reached 2,100, with 700 breech-loading guns. Considering artillery and non-combat personnel, there was one rapid-fire gun for every two soldiers—a very high ratio, even surpassing that of most of the trained soldiers who formed the core of the Qing army’s regular forces. They found that Xiliu Camp had prepared everything: enough food for three months, 10,000 rounds of Remington and Snider rifle bullets each, all necessary military uniforms, and more. Liu Yu even personally delivered a month’s salary in silver to each unit: “As you move deeper into Hanoi, emergencies may arise. This silver is for use in critical moments.”

The French fleet that came to deliver goods also discovered some new Black Flag Army members near Shanxi. However, these Black Flag Army members, advised by the Xiliu Camp, did not show any hostility, and the French likewise replaced their French flags with British flags. What mattered most to them was the huge profits at stake, and they could not believe that this small Xiliu Camp and the Black Flag Army would dare to challenge French authority. The French Republic was one of the most powerful nations in the world; it could mobilize millions of troops in the Far East to easily crush these wealthy bandits. Some executives from foreign companies were even considering whether to ask Lord Li Weiye to start a war as soon as possible. This was the richest place in the world worth plundering! What they didn’t know was that Liu Yu had already issued his second mobilization order: “Officers, soldiers, my brothers, we are about to part ways, but we will always remain brothers, always belonging to the same group!”