Chapter 108: Surrender

By the banks of the Beining River, the night was dark and starless; it was impossible to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. From across the river, loud explosions could be heard from time to time—either shells hitting the water and creating huge waves or exploding on the shore.
The DouLak had given up on attempting a forced crossing. Instead, it took advantage of the darkness to dock at the pier, allowing itself to be bombarded by the Black Flag Army’s and Xiliu Camp’s artillery. A loud voice shouted, “Get off the ship! Get off quickly!”
A solid shell fired by the Black Flag Army hit the deck, bouncing around and killing or injuring six or seven French soldiers, further disrupting the process of disembarking. So far, only one-third of the crew had been unloaded.
Captain Bissel stood on the pier, watching the infantry disembark one after another. He finally felt relieved. As long as they received reinforcements and enough supplies, he was convinced Hanoi could be held.
He glanced up at the night sky. The weather was beautiful—today’s moon was hidden behind clouds. The Black Flag Army’s artillery could only estimate the DouLak’s location based on the sound of its engine, resulting in few hits.
To avoid revealing their position, the DouLak chose to endure the attacks passively, even stopping its powerful cannons from firing. The captain ordered loudly, “Disembark in an orderly manner! Disembark carefully!”
When the DouLak arrived at Haiyang, it encountered two ships that had retreated from Hanoi. They witnessed the devastation caused by the various shells hitting those ships, leaving every part of them damaged. One ship was on the verge of being abandoned.
Now both ships were in chaos, with broken bodies and splashing blood everywhere. No soldier could imagine what would happen if they were hit by just one more shell. Even worse, according to the sailors on site, their opponents had advanced artillery like Krupp guns. They survived only by sheer courage.
It was for this reason that the DouLak gave up the idea of challenging the Black Flag Army. Taking advantage of the twilight, it managed to dock at Hanoi using nautical charts, but it almost encountered an accident.
Without the bright lights in the background, the Black Flag Army’s artillery had little chance of hitting such a target, so they could only fire based on guesswork. Xiliu Camp had no choice but to do the same.
“Artillery! You must hit them!”
With such limited lighting, the chances of hitting the target were extremely slim. No wonder the Black Flag Army was so impatient. Meanwhile, Xiliu Camp’s 60-mm mortars arrived as well. They fired at random, saying, “Don’t worry about wasting shells—hitting one is worth it!”
Five minutes later, one of Xiliu Camp’s light mortars finally succeeded in hitting its target, turning more than twenty indigenous infantrymen crowded on the deck into piles of corpses and wounded—yet they had fired fifty shells in total.
The DouLak’s mission to deliver reinforcements was complete, but their task wasn’t over. Bissel was already prepared: “Quickly transport the wounded! Get them off quickly!”

Over the past few days, casualties have been dying every day in the concession. Due to the intensity of the fighting, even wounded officers cannot receive treatment. There are now over two hundred wounded people in the concession, including officers and soldiers, both French and Vietnamese. All of them have lost their combat capability. If they are not sent to Haiphong for treatment, no one can survive in such a lack of medical resources. Even if they reach Haiphong, they may not survive—Captain Bisselle even suspects that it would be a great fortune if two-thirds of them could survive. Stretcher after stretcher was used to carry the wounded up, with Vietnamese casualties simply thrown onto the deck, mixed with the bodies killed by artillery fire in the earlier battles. French officers had their own separate cabins, while wounded French soldiers were crammed into one cabin—at least they were spared direct artillery bombardment. “Good heavens! In my entire career serving in the colonies, I’ve never seen so many wounded and dead!” The captain of the Doulat said to Captain Bisselle, spreading his arms wide. “This is truly terrible news!” “I know,” Bisselle said with a bitter smile. “This is our failure. Any good news, old friend?” The captain looked at the countless wounded piled on the deck, suffering alongside the dead, and could only sigh deeply. “Hold on! I have good news for you. Before I set off, Governor Qin Chong ordered that a French battalion of five hundred soldiers and a French artillery company with four mountain guns be sent to support you!” Tears streamed down Captain Bisselle’s face as he sobbed, “Thank you, old friend!” The captain smiled bitterly. “Seeing so many wounded, I know just how outstanding our captain has been. By the way, Captain Bisselle, I still can’t remember when in our colonial history we’ve faced such heavy casualties.” Captain Bisselle looked up at the night sky, at the incoming shells, and closed his eyes. “The Franco-Prussian War, my first battle.” Just like the Doulat, which was risking its life to transport wounded soldiers, over a thousand meters away, there was another group of people risking their lives as well. Jing Shiyi personally lit candles and searched the ship abandoned by the French. The result of today’s battle was that the Black Flag Army had at least nominally taken control of the ship. But boarding it during the day was the most dangerous action imaginable—after all, the French could suppress the entire ship and the riverbank with just rifles. Only at night did Jing Shiyi dare to bring his troops aboard. The ship was rickety, ready to collapse at any moment, and its interior was filled with countless dangers: unexploded shells, ammunition left behind by the French, and even unexploded grenades. Jing Shiyi and his soldiers searched the ship at great risk to their lives. “Two 65-millimeter shells…” “Hmm! Remove these steel plates!”

The officers quietly directed the brave soldiers to remove everything useful from the warship using the method of “ants moving house.” To prevent the French from using the ship again, they even brought two 15-kilogram explosive charges, intending to blow it up from the inside so that nothing would remain except the value of its steel plates.

For the Black Flag Army stationed in Shanxi, the loot from this ship exceeded their expectations: “Look what I found—a nautical chart!” It was a blood-stained military chart, exactly what the Xiliu Camp needed, and the other finds also left Jing Shiyi extremely satisfied—even blood-stained steel was still the most essential material for the Xiliu Armory.

“Get ready to blow it up!”

Just as Jing Shiyi said this, someone came in, covering their mouth: “Company commander, guess what we found!”

In the light, Jing Shiyi’s only reaction was to cover his mouth: “Fourteen 65-mm shells, and also…” His eyes lit up; he could hardly hold the lantern in his hand, overwhelmed by the shock. After a while, he said, “Stop the explosion! We must take these shells back!”

The lantern still trembled in his hand as immense joy filled his heart: “Thank you, Teacher Jieken! This credit belongs to you.”

At that moment, he heard thunderous cheers from the Hanoi concession—signaling the departure of the Doulaque.

With the seriously wounded taken away and 300 reinforcements arriving, the defenders of Hanoi were greatly encouraged. Of these 300, there was only one Annamese native infantry company of 125 men; the rest were true French soldiers, which further boosted the French morale.

Their joy was built on the suffering of the Black Flag Army. Although they had no accurate information about the French reinforcements, Liu Yongfu and Huang Shouzhong both made pessimistic estimates: “At least 200, at most 400—this is really going to cause big trouble.”

Liu Yongfu had been confident about capturing Hanoi before, but at this moment he was greatly shocked—the enemy’s strength far exceeded his imagination.

In his mind, the Vietnamese recruited by the French would be a ragtag bunch that would crumble at the first strike, while the French themselves had few troops and were only slightly more combat-effective than the Black Flag Army. More importantly, his experience from the First Paper Bridge Battle in 1873 led him to believe that as long as they achieved a victory like the one at Anye, the French would withdraw from Vietnam.

But reality clearly showed Liu Yongfu that his judgment had been severely mistaken. The Vietnamese puppet troops recruited by the French were not as weak as he thought, especially the Annamese native infantry recruited in Cochinchina, who were quite combat-effective, with many holding out until the end.

An even bigger problem was the French combat capability. Although they had eliminated Li Weiyeh and occupied half of the Hanoi concession, Liu Yongfu had to admit that the French were superior in combat skills and training. In a confrontation of equal numbers, the French could hold a complete advantage.

What’s more important is that the situation has now reached a point where it’s hard to back down. France in 1883 is completely different from France in 1873. Now, it’s like a gambler who has lost all his money, rushing to add six or seven hundred troops to Hanoi in just a few days. This is entirely contrary to Liu Yongfu’s expectations, which brings to mind the phrase often mentioned by Liu Yu: “France’s power is growing; it’s no longer the time of the first Franco-Prussian war when it was too far away to reach the southern regions. If we fight them, it’s not because our combat strength is inferior, but because our overall strength is weaker!” Historically, the Black Flag Army had mixed fortunes in battles against the French forces. However, the French were far stronger—the Black Flag Army had only about two hundred Remington rifles and three thousand combatants, with a maximum of just over four thousand soldiers at its peak, many of whom were new recruits without even weapons. At this time, with the addition of the Xiliu Camp, the Black Flag Army’s strength had increased significantly, but compared to the mighty French Empire, they were still in a vastly inferior position. After years of effort, Liu Yu had only deployed about two thousand five hundred troops on the front lines, while the French had already sent a full thousand reinforcements to Hanoi in just a few days. The destruction of Li Weiyeh’s detachment and the heavy losses suffered by the Hanoi defenders were merely a temporary setback for France—far from fatal. Liu Yu even speculated pessimistically that the French would deploy even more troops to Vietnam. However, Liu Yongfu also felt immense pressure, though his commander seemed very optimistic. Huang Shouzhong said, “Whether it’s two hundred or four hundred reinforcements, we’ll just go and fight them!” Wu Fengdian, who was usually calm, also said, “We can’t let our morale weaken now!” Tang Jingsong glanced at everyone and then at Liu Yongfu before deciding to retract his earlier words: “France is powerful; all units must strengthen their strength. I think having over a hundred soldiers per platoon in the Xiliu Infantry Regiment could serve as a reference.” Not long ago, he had still been arguing with Liu Yongfu about whether the Black Flag Army should recruit new units. In the end, Liu Yongfu had to compromise, reducing the number of new units from four to three. But given the current situation, he had to change his mind. “The French forces are very strong, and there aren’t enough soldiers at each post; we must recruit more!” Yet Liu Yu sensed that Tang Jingsong’s words seemed aimed at him. Among all the units of the Black Flag Army, only Liu Yu’s infantry regiments were the strongest, with each regiment having over one hundred thirty to one hundred soldiers. Even the newly formed Hanhai Camp had an average of over one hundred twenty soldiers per regiment. The other regiments, such as the Left, Right, and Rear Camps, had an average of three hundred soldiers spread across four posts. Including their personal guards, each post usually had only a strength slightly greater than that of a single platoon from the Xiliu Infantry Regiment. Even the relatively stronger Front Camp had only about eighty soldiers per post. These regiments could use this as an excuse to recruit more soldiers, but since the Xiliu Infantry Regiment was already strong, there was no need to bring it up to over a hundred soldiers—this was Tang Jingsong’s plan.

He even gave Huang Shouzhong a hint—that the front camp wouldn’t suffer any loss from this, and he could use this opportunity to absorb Yang Zhen’en’s right camp. In that case, Huang Shouzhong would have a force as powerful as the Xiliu Infantry Regiment. Everyone seemed to fail to see his intentions, saying, “Lord Huang’s words are excellent, truly excellent!” Liu Yu also praised, “Hmm, this plan is great!” But everyone knew clearly that even Liu Yongfu couldn’t make a decision on this matter; it would have to be decided by Liu Yu later. The reason was simple: to recruit new troops, one needed military pay first, followed by uniforms, weapons, and other supplies. Especially when it came to weapons, even the existing camps couldn’t complete the conversion to breech-loading rifles. Although they had captured many weapons in previous battles, there was a severe shortage of French rifle bullets. Only Liu Yu, the most powerful figure, could decide how many more troops to add, and everyone had to obey his decision. Liu Yu simply said, “Tomorrow, I’ll add the Crow Camp and the Xiliu Camp. I don’t believe we won’t be able to take Hanoi!” Everyone understood that Liu Yu was ready to go all out. Since he was willing to invest so much, and everyone relied on him, how could they not do the same? Huang Shouzhong, a sensible man, said, “Send the entire front camp!” The battle the next day was especially fierce. Although the defending forces’ morale soared with the arrival of three hundred reinforcements, the Black Flag Army fought desperately, breaking through fortress after fortress. Now both sides were fighting with all their might. The French fortresses fell one after another, and the French forces, who had hidden their strength until now, also joined the battle, sometimes even sending entire French companies into combat. French soldiers in dark blue uniforms lay scattered everywhere in the streets. The Black Flag Army quickly realized that although such battles caused heavy losses, they also allowed them to strengthen their forces. That morning alone, they captured hundreds of rifles—both the 1874 model and the 1878 model, both of which were among the best rifles in the world. Everyone felt that expanding their forces was very promising. The battles in the afternoon became even more intense. The French forces counterattacked in large groups, and some positions changed hands several times. As a result, the Black Flag Army captured far fewer rifles—only fifty. But the Crow Camp achieved significant success in their first battle. They defeated an indigenous infantry company and captured fifteen thousand rifle bullets that had just been shipped from Đà Lạt—thirty boxes worth of bullets originally intended to supply all the indigenous infantry, but now in the hands of the Crow Camp. Once this news spread, the entire Black Flag Army went wild, attacking even more fiercely. Although the rifles captured by the Xiliu Camp were not the 1878 model used by the French but the 1874 model used by the indigenous infantry, the Black Flag Army had plenty of these rifles in each of their camps, and bullets were extremely scarce. Fifteen thousand bullets would last for a long time. But with so few bullets for the newer 1878 model rifles, and after hearing that the Đà Lạt ship had also delivered twenty thousand bullets of the 1878 model the previous day, the Black Flag Army went completely insane.

The French troops’ morale was quickly weakened by the arrival of reinforcements. They realized that the Black Flag Army was fighting desperately—even setting up some muzzle-loading cannons to fire back at them. It was the indigenous infantry who gave way first; they had held out in Hanoi for days and nights, and it was already a miracle they hadn’t collapsed by now. After a few shots from the muzzle-loading cannons, over twenty indigenous infantrymen from Tokyo threw up white flags and surrendered. But instead of turning to surrender to the enemy troops ahead, they ran toward the Crow Camp, shouting, “Stop fighting! Stop fighting! We surrender! We surrender!” The leading Vietnamese sergeant shouted loudly, “Anyway, there’s no hope for the French if we keep fighting. We’ve already surrendered!” Ye Chenglin was overjoyed to see the first organized surrender. He asked loudly, “How many reinforcements arrived last night?” “They said five hundred, but I heard the actual number was only three hundred. Fifty more died or were injured when they landed!” The leading sergeant no longer cared about keeping secrets for the French. “You fought too fiercely. We originally had a hundred men, and now only a few are left!” But Ye Chenglin thought of another question: “I ask you, can you bring over the indigenous infantry from Cochinchina as well?” The sergeant, being an experienced soldier, immediately flashed a smile at Ye Chenglin. “Sir, then I’m done for.” Yet Ye Chenglin heard something else in his words: “Do you have a way?”