Chapter 129: The First Company of Thanh Hóa

The Emperor’s expression turned extremely grim. He had only wanted a less strict “mother-in-law” to drive away another strict one, never expecting another “mother-in-law” to appear.
Zunshi Saeo, who had endured frustration all day, suddenly shouted loudly, “Nonsense! Bac Ninh is thousands of miles away from Thanh Hóa—how could they suddenly appear at the gates of Thanh Hóa?”
This was Thanh Hóa’s most vulnerable moment. Aside from a few troops like the Imperial Guard, almost all forces had been dispatched to the Thanh Hóa area. Who would have thought enemies would appear at the city gates? If blame had to be assigned, Zunshi Saeo must bear primary responsibility.
After all, in matters of war, it was Zunshi Saeo who held dictatorial power in governance, and he must also take responsibility for military failures. Now he tried to shirk his duties.
As for the defeat at the Thuan An Fortress, he could claim he had done his best, and the failure was purely due to fate. The entire court understood that against the French’s massive armored fleets, their side had no chance.
But the bandits from Bac Ninh were different. They were Easterners like the Vietnamese, raised on rice. If Zunshi Saeo allowed them to reach the gates of Thanh Hóa, it would be a capital offense.
The messenger grew anxious. “Everything I say is true!”
He knelt desperately on the ground. “Your Majesty, please make a decision quickly.”
Just then, another guard wearing a conical hat rushed in through the light rain. “The bandits have defeated the troops outside the city and are preparing to attack.”
At this critical moment, the Emperor shook off Zunshi Saeo and took direct control of military affairs. “What’s going on? What enemy is it?”
“It’s the Xiliu bandits! The Xiliu bandits!” The guard recognized the Xiliu flag clearly. “It’s the Xiliu bandits from the Black Flag Army!”
“Liu Yongfu?” The Emperor’s body went weak. He demanded, “Not the French? Not the Yellow Flag Army they support?”
“Definitely the Xiliu bandits. I saw it clearly—the flag has two willow leaves and the three characters ‘Xiliu Ying’.” The guard had a rank and was familiar with writing. “It’s definitely the Xiliu bandits.”
Zunshi Saeo was also surprised. “Weren’t the Xiliu bandits in Shanxi City? How did they end up at the gates of our Thanh Hóa?”
Shanxi was far in Bac Ninh, thousands of miles from central Vietnam’s Thanh Hóa. There were countless passes and towns to cross. Yet it was only when these troops reached the gates of Thanh Hóa that their side realized the severity of the situation.
But more importantly, the Vietnamese now faced a difficult choice. The Emperor, clinging to hope, asked, “How many do they have?”
The guard knelt on the ground, gasping for breath. “Just the vanguard numbers over two thousand, with more than ten cannons. All are skilled marksmen, extremely brave—our troops are no match for them.”
The Emperor felt as if thunder had struck on a clear day. He tried to comfort himself, “It’s fine! The French have already taken Thuan An. We can take our time…”
But the officials below dared not be so calm. This was a time of drastic changes—several upheavals had occurred in just one day. With these two powers clashing, they had to plan for the future.

While they were busy scheming for power and profit, a thunderous explosion was heard, causing their internal organs to shake violently. It was unclear how many cannons the Xiliu Camp had used to attack the city, but even the palace was shaken by it.
“Such strength!” That cannon blast erased all the pride of the royal family, leaving them fearful: “We should withdraw from Thanh Hóa.”
“That’s absolutely impossible. Thanh Hóa is the foundation of our dynasty; we cannot afford to lose it.”
“No! What if the two armies fight and we get trapped in the city?”
Even at this moment, these ministers continued to attack each other under the guise of discussion. Emperor Xiehe could only sit helplessly on the dragon throne and sigh deeply: “You are a king who brings ruin to his country, and I am a minister who brings ruin to my country…”
After his sigh, he suddenly stood up and shouted, “The enemy troops are approaching! Follow me to Hengshan for a northern campaign!”
He finally resolved to flee.
But before fleeing, he had one more thing to do: “Go quickly and ask for help from the French in Thuan An. We would rather die at the hands of the French than the Qing.”
…
On the flagship, Special Commissioner Ho Ro Hen and Rear Admiral Gobat were discussing the most important issues with pens in hand.
“The first and most important point is that Vietnam must accept French protection. In any negotiations with foreign countries, France must have final say.”
“Hmm, place Phu Tho Province under direct French rule in Cochinchina.”
Ho Ro Hen was extremely knowledgeable about Vietnam’s affairs. Each of his conditions was like cutting flesh from Vietnam’s heart, but he preferred to insert a knife into it for easy use at any time: “French troops shall be stationed in Hengshan and Thuan An.”
Thuan An and Hengshan were both key locations near Thanh Hóa, very close to it. If these two points were lost, Thanh Hóa would have no defenses left. Therefore, the Special Commissioner made a minor superficial compromise: “From Qinghe to Hengshan, it can be directly ruled by the Kingdom of Vietnam.”
Gobat also interjected, “The French envoy in Thanh Hóa shall have free access to the palace to meet with the emperor. In Tonkin, north of Hengshan, France shall appoint governors in each province to supervise Vietnamese officials.”
By now, all the key issues had been settled. Tonkin would be placed directly under French control, while Cochinchina’s tariffs and public affairs would be in French hands. French merchants would be free to trade along all the coastal areas, and France agreed to expel the Qing and Black Flag armies.
But the most important point was still Vietnam’s acceptance of French protection. France would manage Vietnam’s relations with all other countries, ending the Sino-Vietnamese vassal relationship that had lasted for over 200 years, leaving China facing a hostile country on its southern border.
However, it was the Black Flag army that would be directly affected. They would face a completely hostile Tonkin region, unable to receive food, supplies, or military pay, eventually becoming rootless and sourceless.
Thus, the Special Commissioner realized: “This will be the turning point of the war.”
The rear admiral had an even deeper understanding: “I believe Rear Admiral Bo Hua hasn’t been in Tokyo for long. It must be us who conquer this country.”
He believed he would surely become a rear admiral, the highest rank in the navy.

He Luoheng suddenly looked again at the capital in the distance and said, “What we gain from this city will be enough to cover our military expenses for several months.” Using Vietnamese funds to recruit Vietnamese troops to conquer Vietnam was a truly satisfying endeavor. Holding the hand of the rear admiral, he said, “My lord, now we can wait for their surrender. They can only accept these twenty-six conditions; aside from the right to accept, they have no other rights.” As he gazed at Huế, a thunderous explosion shook the skies above it. The special envoy hesitated, unsure of what could have caused such an explosion. Among the French army’s arsenal, the most powerful weapon was the 239MM main battleship gun—just one shot from such a gun could knock down an entire fortress. Yet even this main gun seemed unlikely to produce such an astonishing explosion. He watched Huế hesitantly, trying to figure out what had happened, but Huế returned to calm, as if nothing had occurred. He wasn’t aware that the explosion had been caused by four 15-kilogram bombs and six 4-kilogram bombs, totaling 84 kilograms of picric acid explosives—an explosion that was truly earth-shattering in this world. Although those large-caliber ship guns might have an advantage in terms of ammunition, no amount of well-optimized black powder could compare to picric acid. It was not until more than three hours later that news came from Huế: “My lord, the Black Flag Army is entering Huế. The Kingdom of Annam needs your support.” The special envoy was stunned by this news. He never expected the fruit he thought he had secured to fall into the enemy’s hands. After months of hard work, mobilizing thousands of troops from land and sea, and firing thousands of shells from ship guns, he was now forced to let others take what he had worked so hard for—his heart sank greatly. Guoba, on the other hand, took off his naval cap and said to the officers, “Order the marines to prepare to fight alongside me!” “Also, all personnel from each fleet, except those necessary, should prepare to land and attack Huế!” … Four 15-kilogram bombs and six 4-kilogram bombs—this was the largest-scale explosion carried out by the Black Flag Army to date. Considering the extremely strong fortifications of Huế’s city walls, Liu Suiyun used nearly one-sixth of his explosives in this attempt, aiming to create a large gap in the walls with a single successful explosion. As for Huế’s defenses, Liu Suiyun didn’t have much information, but he knew there were tens of thousands of Vietnamese troops nearby, some of whom might be highly combat-effective and pose a threat to his forces. Yet an even greater threat was the French landing forces at Shuananxun, not far away. He wasn’t sure of the enemy’s size, but he knew that if a stalemate with the French ensued, his force might be completely annihilated outside Huế’s walls. After all, this was just a battalion-sized unit of 600 soldiers. Though every soldier in this unit was the best, having experienced countless fierce battles, they were not superhumans.

After a long march, the troops were in high spirits, but their uniforms were somewhat worn out. Though mended, their condition indicated that they were not a strong force. After marching swiftly and defeating enemy forces along the way, the detachment had several lightly injured soldiers. Fortunately, they carried plenty of ammunition and requisitioned two more carts, which prevented them from abandoning the wounded. At the gates of Thanh Hóa, Liu Suiyun told himself he must not make any mistakes. He deployed an enhanced infantry platoon between Thuan An and Thanh Hóa to resist the French offensive. Since the Battle of the Red River Outpost, the Xiliu Camp had held the view that a single platoon could not conduct battles in isolation—at least an enhanced platoon was needed. This platoon, an old unit established since the founding of the Xiliu Camp, was highly combat-effective with a full complement of troops. Nevertheless, Liu Suiyun reinforced it with an additional mortar and several combat engineers. The main force was prepared to capture Thanh Hóa in one fell swoop, take prisoner the emperors and ministers of the Nguyễn dynasty, seize control of the city, and withdraw quickly. If they couldn’t withdraw in time, the Nguyễn rulers and officials would be executed—this was the crucial mission repeatedly emphasized by Liu Yu. Even chaos was better than the Nguyễn kingdom’s forces being exploited by the French; as the saying goes, a kind ruler should not handle military affairs. Thus, ignoring the fatigue from the long march, he launched an attack just a day after resting, aiming to take Thanh Hóa in one strike, using nearly one-sixth of his explosives for this purpose. “Boom…” Even He Luomang, far at sea, felt the force of this massive explosion, not to mention the soldiers of the Xiliu Camp near the blast site. Countless bricks and stones flew through the air, and dust covered an area of a hundred meters. They had planned to carry out another explosion, but now a huge gap had opened in Thanh Hóa’s city walls, allowing the Xiliu Camp to enter. The defenders on the walls were terrified by the explosion and vanished. “Attack!” The 60-mm mortars of the Xiliu Camp were originally intended to bombard the city walls, but now, with the defenders in disarray, they followed the infantry to provide immediate fire support. After all, though their ammunition was relatively abundant, it could not be replenished, so every shell had to be used wisely. For this operation, each rifle carried 200 bullets, each mortar 80 shells. Additionally, Liu Suiyun had 5,000 rifle bullets, 250 60-mm mortar shells, and 30 82-mm mortar shells in the camp’s supplies as a reserve. Only 60 kilograms of explosives were taken initially, but upon arriving in Thanh Hóa, they obtained another 500 kilograms from a secret base run by Hua Jianjiao there. There were also some other military supplies and food, but the most urgently needed mortar shells and rifle bullets were missing. Yet this was the last replenishment the Liu Suiyun detachment could receive. Unless they retreated to Shanxi or used captured supplies, they wouldn’t be able to get any more bullets. As a result, the infantry was extremely careful with their ammunition. Many soldiers charged with a Spencer rifle in one hand and an entrenching tool in the other. But Liu Suiyun believed that under the banner of the Xiliu Camp, even the most determined resistance could be overcome.

But to their surprise, the capital city of Huế was already prepared to lay down its arms. Just as its city walls were as fragile as tofu, its defenders were also easily defeated. In less than fifteen minutes, apart from a platoon that held the breach, the entire army had entered Huế City. It was only then that some signs of resistance appeared—some Vietnamese troops fought their way back while retreating. Though defeated by the Xi Liu Camp, they at least managed to slow down its advance slightly. Liu Suiyun loudly ordered, “Target: the palace! The first company to capture it will be honored…” “Huế First Company!”