Chapter 131: The Imperial City

For the defending forces, eliminating the reconnaissance squad was merely a minor task before the main battle. The real challenge now was facing an enemy force roughly twice their size, all composed of French troops.
The French advanced while firing, but the defenders remained hidden in their positions, waiting for the right moment. It wasn’t until the French approached the minefield that Liu Pengcheng ordered, “Mortars! Fire!”
One mortar assigned to Qiang Jiajia had already been aimed, and it immediately fired a shell. Soon after, they began reloading, while the infantry also opened fire. This barrage of gunfire and artillery caused significant casualties among the French troops—about a dozen fell to bullets, and several others, though lightly wounded, continued to charge forward.
However, they had dispersed their formation, and many were using the terrain to launch attacks, so this round of firing didn’t achieve the desired effect. The French company commander also saw that about a dozen of his soldiers had been killed or wounded. He had to admit that the enemy troops were highly combative, but it was time to stop. Their side only needed to advance another 150 meters to capture the defensive position with bayonets.
“Frenchmen, forward!”
They were brave soldiers, and these casualties only made them more determined. The entire infantry company charged at Xiliu Camp in a fan shape. The Black Flag Army used their rifles to suppress them, causing some casualties among the French, but they too suffered losses.
Yet the battle seemed increasingly favorable for the French. They were on the verge of crossing the open field when the French company clearly saw a soldier at the front have his leg blown off. His body writhed in pain on the ground, and more soldiers stepped into the minefield.
It was a disaster. The hidden mines killed or wounded five or six French soldiers. They didn’t know how many more mines lay ahead, but there must have been many.
The mines, along with rifle and artillery fire, forced the French to slow their advance. Soon, they found themselves in a difficult situation. The Black Flag Army fired relentlessly, and aside from six or seven who held their ground on a small mound, the entire company was trapped in a hail of fire under the continuous bombardment of mortars and forced to retreat with their wounded.
“About thirty casualties,” the French were quite frustrated after retreating. They had been lucky in this assault—few had actually died—but thirty casualties meant nearly a third of the company’s combat strength was lost.
The fighting had ceased, but the battles around Huế grew more intense, with increasingly frequent gunfire. This worried the lieutenant commander in charge of the attack: “Organize a second attack immediately.”
The granite ground in front of the palace was already covered with corpses, yet even under such heavy fire, the Vietnamese did not collapse. They rushed out of the palace and launched another attack on Xiliu Camp.
Each rifle fired over ten rounds, but the enemy became even more fanatical. Groups of soldiers poured out of the palace and charged at them.

“Remington rifles, load bayonets!”
Liu Suiyun gave the order, “Prepare for close combat!”
As a force relying on Spencer rifles as their main firepower, they were somewhat flustered in dealing with the surging enemy troops.
The Vietnamese troops before them could be considered some of the best in the Annam Kingdom. Shouting loudly, they rushed out of the palace to buy time for the Vietnamese monarch and his subjects to escape.
Liu Suiyun had never seen such a spectacular scene. Unlike the scattered formations of the French army, the enemy troops here were marching in neat squares through the palace gates, launching wave after wave of attacks.
Their weapons were not muskets or anything else; it was entirely a force composed of cold weapons. Seeing those black armor pieces, Liu Suiyun felt as if he were back hundreds of years in the past.
He had never seen such tenacious Vietnamese soldiers. Nearly two infantry companies formed a hollow square formation, aiming their guns at the sea of black-clad Vietnamese soldiers and firing round after round.
Many Vietnamese soldiers had already been killed or wounded. Under the command of several large flags, they launched wave after wave of attacks, only to be pushed back by the volleys from the black-flagged troops.
Their armor was quite old, but it could still cause Spencer pistol bullets to bounce off. Holding various swords and guns, they shouted loudly, preserving the last vestiges of their kingdom’s dignity.
A brave commander held a sword, waving it vigorously and urging his men forward. But after advancing just five or six steps, they were driven back by the volleys.
Faced with the intense attacks of thousands of enemy troops, the soldiers of the Xiliu Camp remained calm. Their hollow square formation remained intact as they skillfully used their Spencer rifles to support each other. Whenever enemies dared to get close, they would be subjected to intense fire.
“Kill them!”
The sea of enemies surged forward like a tide, but they were scattered even before reaching the hollow square formation. Then, under the leadership of the commander with the sword, they launched another attack.
Indeed, they were all very brave—braver than some Vietnamese soldiers. Yet the Xiliu Camp remained unshaken, with each hollow square formation operating with precision like a clock.
Meanwhile, the 60-mm mortars began their bombardment. Continuous shells caused heavy casualties. Now, if the Vietnamese wanted to advance, they had to step over corpses, but their attacks achieved nothing.
“Fire!” Liu Suiyun ignored the scattered bullets. He simply took out his revolver, stepped forward, and aimed his chest at the incoming arrows.
Another volley of gunfire knocked down a large group of Vietnamese soldiers. In the pool of blood, the commander with the sword led his troops in a futile charge forward, but there was no need to feel sympathy for him.
“82-mm mortars! Fire quickly!”
Behind him were four 82-mm mortars that had just arrived. These were the most powerful weapons in Liu Suiyun’s entire unit. The firepower from the four mortars created gaps in the dense enemy formation, which spread out instantly as the shells landed. Soon, circular piles of corpses appeared among the tightly packed ranks.

Liu Suiyun turned away as shells continued to bombard the area intensively. The Vietnamese commander had already been knocked down by the shells, yet he still raised the imperial sword with all his strength, pointing it skyward. The Xiliu Camp had formed ranks and charged forward, leaving the Vietnamese without the courage to resist—they turned and fled back into the city. With the Xiliu Camps positioned above the palace, the sword pointing to the sky fell from the brave Vietnamese commander’s hands in that moment. The palace had changed hands. The soldiers of the Xiliu Camp performed heroically; two infantry companies entered the palace almost simultaneously and raised their battle flags, but they did not linger and immediately began searching. They had wasted too much time in the battles outside the palace—they had to find the emperor and ministers of the Vietnamese Nguyen dynasty as quickly as possible. Standing among piles of corpses, Liu Suiyun faced nearly 1,500 dead and wounded who had held off the Black Flag Army with repeated and fierce attacks for an hour. Yet aside from the slaughter, they had not inflicted heavy losses on the Black Flag Army: “One of us died in battle, five were wounded—that’s all our losses.” “These are the toughest Vietnamese I’ve ever seen, but our Xiliu Camp has won!” He stepped through the bloodshed, moving swiftly, undeterred by the brutal scene. With the palace in their hands, it meant they controlled the city; the remaining task was to fend off attacks from the French forces outside. At this moment, he couldn’t help but admire Liu Yu’s wisdom. He had never imagined there could be someone so far-sighted. Over the years, the Xiliu Camp had repeatedly planned how to take Shunhua. It was the most difficult task—after dozens of attempts on paper, Liu Suiyun had suffered repeated failures. After all, a force of at most a thousand men had to travel thousands of miles through countless unfamiliar enemy territories, carrying all their supplies, while facing the entire military force of an enemy country and numerous fortified cities. But he finally succeeded—it wasn’t his victory; it was Liu Yu’s victory. Over the past five years, he had trespassed into Shunhua three times to scout the terrain, but today he finally entered the palace—not only thanks to Liu Suiyun but also to Liu Yu. All the planning had been done by Liu Yu, including coordinating with the mountain tribes that the Vietnamese could not control and having the Flower Among Flowers Sect establish secret strongholds in Cochinchina. For this campaign, the Xiliu Camp mobilized every resource at its disposal, including secret groups like the Heaven and Earth Society, in addition to the Flower Among Flowers Sect. And now, the harvest time had arrived. Liu Suiyun, carrying a revolver, led his troops into the palace gates. … “Our vanguard companies are facing heavy resistance. The enemy not only has a large number of rapid-fire rifles but also many cannons. They have at least two to three hundred men and strong positions…” “The reconnaissance units are engaged in fierce battles with the enemy. We didn’t expect them to have an entire battalion—our losses are severe…”

“The vanguard company launched another attack, but due to the enemy’s overwhelming numbers and heavy firepower, it was forced to halt after suffering over a dozen casualties…”
Major General Gobat could clearly hear that, following successive bombardments, the artillery fire in Huế suddenly ceased, along with the gunshots. It was obvious that the fighting inside Huế had come to an end, leaving him little time.
“All of our main forces will join the battle immediately.”
Major General Gobat knew full well that he must capture Huế, then conquer Vietnam, and ultimately become a glorious rear admiral of the navy.
With his orders, the entire French army mobilized as well. Thousands of French soldiers formed battle formations and advanced in a massive force. Among them were the highly combat-effective French Marine Corps, medical units, engineering companies, as well as 40-mm mountain guns and 60-mm boat guns. The most powerful were the 37-mm autocannons.
When Li Weiyeh was annihilated at the Paper Bridge, he also carried such 37-mm five-barreled autocannons, but he failed to make good use of them, forcing the artillery troops to constantly move from one position to another until the French were destroyed—without a single shot being fired from those 37-mm guns.
But Major General Gobat would not repeat such a mistake. With a force of a thousand French soldiers, no enemy forces from any Far Eastern country could stop their advance.
It should be noted that during the Sino-French War, the Qing army claimed a great victory at Tamsui, mobilizing thousands of troops to attack fewer than 600 French soldiers, eventually forcing them to retreat. Yet the French lost only 17 men—this was considered the greatest achievement of Liu Mingcai, who was already regarded as a great general.
Now, Gobat had twice as many troops, and they faced only a small number of Vietnamese forces. As they advanced, he finally received a messenger from Huế offering relief: “My lord, the invaders are the Black Flag Army!”
“The Black Flag Army?” General Gobat had always claimed to look down on them. He claimed he could easily win if he were in Po Hoa’s position, but that was merely a political tactic.
Among the French generals in Vietnam, he was an exceptionally talented commander. He always sought to be fully confident before each battle. Thus, he immediately issued orders: “Order the vanguard company to harass the enemy and gather information about their strength!”
As he spoke, he took out a map of the area around Huế—a military map drawn by missionaries. Though not as accurate as the one in Liu Pengcheng’s possession, it was still quite precise.
He quickly located the village held by the Black Flag Army. Based on its size, he concluded: “The enemy force cannot exceed one reinforced company.”
That village controlled the main road to Huế. His troops could not bypass it to attack Huế directly. Of course, he could send one or two reconnaissance units to take a detour, but the artillery and supplies would have to use that road or take a detour of dozens of kilometers.
He made his decision quickly: “Order the artillery! Speed up the march. Prepare the 37-mm guns for battle.”

Across from them, Liu Pengcheng’s reinforced platoon was in a festive mood. They had repelled three waves of French attacks in succession, with no less than forty French corpses and seriously wounded soldiers lying in front of their positions. A considerable number of the wounded had already been taken care of by the French. So far, out of the 67 soldiers in this reinforced platoon, only two had died in battle and seven were injured, most of whom were not seriously hurt and could continue fighting. Liu Pengcheng was very optimistic about the battle: “One more attack, and we can still hold them off!” The cessation of gunfire from Shunhua City only heightened their morale. They knew for sure that Liu Suiyun would not abandon them and would surely send reinforcements. Taking advantage of this downtime, the defenders quickly replenished their ammunition and repaired the damaged fortifications, feeling that everything was now impregnable. What they didn’t know was that their small force of 60 men was about to face an attack from 1,200 French soldiers, many of whom carried advanced breech-loading steel cannons. …

Beining. After hearing the news of the Black Flag Army’s great victory at Huaidé Prefecture, Xu Yanzhu summoned his officers and gave them a speech, highly praising the Black Flag Army. However, rumors circulated that Governor Xu smashed a cup in anger afterward, vowing to cut off arms supplies to the Black Flag Army. How could that work? The Black Flag Army was a great client—they paid in gold and silver, and everyone, from top to bottom, received a share of the profits. To obtain foreign guns from the arsenal, silver was necessary; otherwise, the arsenal supervisor might withhold one or two parts, leaving them helpless. But no other client was as generous as the Black Flag Army. Moreover, everyone knew that the better the Black Flag Army performed in battle, the easier things would be for them and the more profits they would gain. One day, someone came with a letter from Tang Jingsong asking for rapid-fire guns, specifying, “If there are no rapid-fire guns, Enfeierde’s foreign guns will do.” The tone was bold, but they brought two loads of silver with them: “Lord Tang Jingsong wants new commanders. As long as we have guns, everything is negotiable.” With silver on the table, negotiation was possible, but the arsenal supervisor still frowned: “We need the governor’s approval.” The visitor replied with a smile, “The commander-in-chief has already given his consent.” Huang Guilan was indulged in wine and women and didn’t handle affairs much, but on paper, he was still the prestigious Guangxi commander and the second-in-command of the Guangxi Army in Vietnam, holding significant status in the camp. The officers hesitated for a moment as the visitor took out several silver bills: “This is just a small token of appreciation.” Alright! With such payment, even without approval, they dared to deliver arms. But upon seeing the amount, they hesitated again: “1,500 rapid-fire guns? So many?” After all, despite continuous arms supplies, the Guangxi Army in Vietnam had only received about 7,000 foreign guns recently. For Tang Jingsong to demand one-fifth of that with just a letter seemed excessive. But the visitor was an experienced soldier: “1,500 rapid-fire guns? Lord Tang still thinks it’s too much. Brother, Lord Tang’s personal guard unit is doing very well at Huaidé.”

Everyone has heard about this: “It’s truly extraordinary when a civilian leads troops.”
The envoy who came to negotiate said, “But Lord Tang doesn’t want to be limited to that! He wants to transfer a few battalion commanders from the Black Flag Army under his own command, so he can achieve great feats.”
“What battalion commanders?”
“The famous Crow Battalion, which is already connected to Lord Tang. He plans to seize five of their battalion commanders. So, will you give us the guns? At the previous price, we’ll add 30% more—otherwise, it won’t count!”
“Sure! Of course!” The clerks all laughed. “We’ll definitely give them the guns at an increased price of 30%, but the amount is too large; we can’t give it all at once.”
They thought for a moment and said, “Keep half of the money first. We’ll supply you with 300 Mauser 9mm guns now, and we’ll gradually provide more later.”