Chapter 206: Direction (Part 1)

These words were spoken by Liu Suiyun. His seemingly casual remark triggered endless turmoil, and everyone pricked up their ears.
This was not yet the time of fame and success—whether to head east or north was indeed a critical issue for the Black Flag Army, determining its fate in the coming period.
Currently, the Black Flag Army dominated Vietnam, had expanded into Guangxi, and launched attacks in southern Yunnan, enjoying a very favorable situation. Given their strength, they could only focus their efforts in one direction, using auxiliary forces for the others.
Westward led to Guizhou, a dead end. Unless forced, the Black Flag Army would never advance westward, as Guizhou was mountainous and barren, offering little in the way of resources. Unless Liu Yu lost his mind, he would never choose this route.
Moreover, Guizhou’s mountains made it difficult to attack Guiyang from Guangxi. It would be better to use the auxiliary force in southern Yunnan to conquer the three southwestern provinces while the main force focused on the Central Plains.
As for Hunan and Guangdong, Liu Yu could only devote full strength to one of them, sending an auxiliary force to the other to gain a foothold. After all, aside from the troops stationed in Guangxi, he could mobilize at most 20,000 soldiers.
In terms of prosperity, Guangdong was the best. Although the local warriors there were fierce fighters, in this era, they were merely local dogs. The real threat came from the Huai Army units under the former governors of Guangdong and Guangxi. It was said the new governor was preparing to take action against these troops.
But Guangdong’s biggest problem wasn’t the Qing army—it was the foreigners in Hong Kong. The Black Flag Army had heard from Demons and others that since the start of the war, the British had been continuously reinforcing their forces in Hong Kong. Now, there was a whole brigade there, with enough weapons to equip ten brigades.
No one knew for sure whether the British would launch an attack from Hong Kong while the Black Flag Army was fighting the Qing army, attacking them from the flanks. Moreover, the eastern provinces were the wealthiest in the country, with many foreign interests, which could lead to international disputes. With funding and weapons, they could quickly raise large new armies.
As for Hubei and Hunan, they were also prosperous provinces, and worse still, they had abundant military manpower. If the warriors from Guangdong and Fujian were local dogs, then the armies from Hunan and Hubei were like a pack of wolves. As the saying goes, “Only Hunan has talent”; without Hunan, no army could be formed—making them difficult to deal with.
What was even more terrifying was the large number of veteran soldiers scattered in the countryside. If these ex-soldiers were rallied by a skilled general, they could form hundreds of elite battalions, posing a serious threat to the Black Flag Army. If they abandoned Hunan to attack Guangdong, they might face the same fate as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which once tried to split the country but was ultimately destroyed by the Hunan warriors.
Thinking of these complexities, the generals of the Black Flag Army fell silent, waiting for Liu Yu to make the groundbreaking decision. Yet Liu Yu himself was hesitant: “Let’s all think carefully. We have a few days to spare…”
……
North of Liuzhou. A sea of corpses and blood—the Black Flag Army had waged a massacre on the battlefield. The captured remnants of the Qing army were led off the field in low spirits.
“Lord Governor, good news from Guilin! Guilin has been recaptured!”

The good news from Qingqi further brought a smile to Pan Dingxin’s face. Looking at the dense pile of corpses in front of him, he felt as if he could soar into the sky: “General has recaptured Guilin; my small victory here is nothing in comparison!” He couldn’t suppress his pride—there was no battle in his life that surpassed this one. With just two infantry companies, twoGreene guns guns, and one Hatzigas machine gun, he achieved a complete victory. Not only was the siege of Liuzhou lifted, but thousands of enemies were also eliminated in such a decisive and brilliant victory. Looking back on past battles, none could compare to this one. On the battlefield, the corpses of the Qing troops formed small hills—these were Qing troops who had tried to use their numerical advantage to storm the hastily formed positions of the Black Flag Army, only to be repeatedly slaughtered by dense artillery and gunfire. Even those few Qing troops who managed to reach the front lines were pushed back by the Black Flag Army’s bayonets. He now saw the strength of the Black Flag Army—their advanced weapons and tactics lived up to their reputation. Although many of them were new recruits, under the leadership of experienced soldiers, they fought seamlessly, not giving their opponents any chance at all. Especially that infantry platoon with a solid foundation—now he understood what Sima Tai meant by daring to attack a thousand men with just one platoon. When the gap in combat strength was so great, numerical advantages became secondary considerations for commanders. Yet, he also played a significant role in achieving such a decisive victory. Though he was slightly inferior to the Black Flag Army in terms of combat tactics, dealing with this group of local militia, volunteer troops, and defected soldiers came naturally to him, as easy as reading palm lines. After all, although he was considered a second-rate general, he was still among the best—far superior to the leaders of these ragtag forces. He knew their tactics inside and out, so it took less than half a day to maneuver the enemy and utterly crush them. Strictly speaking, it was the artillery fire that defeated the Qing troops; their commanders hadn’t even realized their forces had completely collapsed like wheat waves. This restored Pan Dingxin’s immense confidence. “Skilled in external battles, but not necessarily in internal ones!” he thought to himself. “When dealing with these volunteer troops, Liu Yu might not have as many strategies as I do!” Having fought many low-level battles, he naturally had his own methods. Now, leading a high-level army to defeat low-level opponents made him feel somewhat proud: “To repay General Liu…” “I am Pan Dingxin, the governor of Guangxi. Ordered to lift the siege of Liuzhou, I have already defeated thousands of enemies north of Liuzhou. Over 700 corpses were left behind, and more than 1,400 were captured. Our losses are minimal—only seven dead and over twenty wounded…” “I have made contact with the defenders of Liuzhou. The siege is lifted. I…” He turned to a staff officer sent by the Black Flag Army and asked, “What was that term again?” The officer immediately replied, “Divide and conquer, encircle with an iron net…” “Our army will move without pause and definitely adopt a strategy of divide and conquer, encircling with an iron net, to take decisive action against the remaining bandit groups near Liuzhou and Nanning. Any bandit group that shows hostility toward us will be crushed!”

Now that Guilin had been conquered, the Black Flag Army’s attitude toward local forces also changed; it could no longer tolerate any local forces that showed hesitation. Pan Dingxin stepped forward and took on this task: “Without the need for any reinforcements, Pan Dingxin is willing to use people from Guilin to govern Guilin and clear the entire region for the commander within a month…”
Pan Dingxin was already assessing his own strength. He realized that after taking over the Black Flag Army units near Liuzhou, along with the two infantry companies scheduled to be assigned to him and the authority to expand his forces by two more infantry battalions using Black Flag Army officers, his strength was far greater than he had imagined.
“Anyone who dares to offend our Black Flag Army will be punished, no matter how far away they are!”
Unaware of it, he had completely changed his stance.