Chapter 215: The Yangtze River (Part 2)

Liu Yu was deeply concerned about the Yangtze River. Although the Black Flag Army’s officers had differing opinions, Liu Yu quickly clarified his plans.
Liu Suiyun, however, felt great pressure. He asked, “Why not bring more troops this time to Hubei?”
He knew well that Liu Yu’s plan to attack Hubei involved forty to fifty regiments, which meant a significant reduction in strength; the actual number of troops would be just over forty regiments.
In fact, this was a very cost-effective investment for the Black Flag Army. With forty regiments, they managed to capture two-thirds of Hunan and most of its key cities. Dozens of new regiments were formed afterward, yet Liu Yu still managed to retain a mobile force comparable to what he had initially deployed.
Still, he felt that forty regiments was an overly risky move. From the perspective of the commander in charge of Changsha’s defense, it seemed necessary for Liu Yu to leave more troops in Hunan.
Liu Yu replied bluntly, “Frightened birds are nothing to worry about!”
It turned out he was absolutely right.
On December 19, 1885, the Black Flag Army launched another attack on the Qing forces in Hubei. Forty-seven regiments, under Liu Yu’s direct command, took part in the attack. In addition, the commander in charge of Changsha’s defense sent five regiments to carry out flanking attacks.
To cover the success of the Black Flag Army’s attack on Hubei, the troops stationed across Hunan also launched attacks that day, seeking to engage the enemy in the open field and wipe them out entirely. While some achieved success and others suffered losses, this delayed the Qing forces in Hubei from reacting immediately.
In fact, they did react. Given past experiences, they deployed fifteen infantry battalions on the front line to try and stop the Black Flag Army advancing from the north of Yanglousi Town.
Dozens of soldiers in their forties hid behind watchtowers, cautiously discussing the recent battles: “It was brutal! Out of 360 men in a battalion, only over twenty made it back!”
“Then the orphans and widows back home must have cried their eyes out.”
“Yes! Everyone’s family is in trouble. Without their breadwinners, they really don’t know how to get by!”
The more they talked about the battles, the darker their outlook became.
They were just ordinary farmers who joined the army to earn money to support their families. But the officers were utterly irresponsible, delaying their pay for sixteen months.
Pay delays were unimaginable in the Black Flag Army, but they were common in traditional armies. Even many so-called elite forces would delay payments to the point where soldiers could no longer bear it.
The Huai Army had a unique term called “nine checkpoints,” meaning pay was issued only every forty days—nine times a year. For three months, the pay ended up in the hands of battalion officers. Even this was considered the finest among the nation’s elite Huai Army units.
Such traditional armies continued to have a history of unpaid salaries even in the Republic of China. A platoon leader from the 88th Division once angrily described how this elite unit, equipped with modern weapons, fought in Shanghai. The troops had nothing left to eat, not even the machine guns they were supposed to carry, while their officers had delayed their pay for months. The soldiers had almost no money and could only grab whatever they could find to eat.

But the soldiers of the 88th Division, having fought against the Japanese, could maintain high morale despite having nothing at all, whereas these Qing soldiers who couldn’t support their families lacked such courage. Since the war began, the Qing Dynasty had spent vast amounts of silver in Hubei, yet the benefits these soldiers received were merely an extra two months’ pay, with nothing more after that. Their superiors were more interested in forming new battalions, as it was well known that a battalion commander, though leading only a few hundred men, could easily earn several thousand taels of silver per year—if managed well, this position could also fetch several thousand taels. The position of battalion commander was just a small source of income; new battalions required numerous purchases, from weapons to cooking pots, all of which offered opportunities for profit. Thus, these soldiers still wore the old, tattered uniforms issued last year. Though the cold wind was biting, they would shout, “Stop talking! Those Black Flag bandits are already wearing cotton clothes—look at us!” “The uniforms are old, and we only get a pair of shoes a year…” Their stories were filled with sorrow: “The New Year is approaching, and we’re running out of food. My wife sent word that if we can’t get by, she’ll go back to her parents!” “Stop talking! Look at how much sand is mixed in our food!” As they spoke, they heard loud cannon fire from the south, and the soldiers who had been complaining about their hardships immediately grew nervous. Soon, they saw a large group of soldiers also wearing old uniforms retreating from the front, shouting, “The Black Flag bandits are coming!” “Black Flag bandits!” “The Black Flag army has arrived!” Upon hearing that the main force of the Black Flag army was approaching, these Qing soldiers immediately fired two volleys into the air and then ran away. Given their meager treatment, firing two volleys was already considered a great favor by their officers. They had long been prepared—knowing the Black Flag army was formidable, they refused to carry anything that could slow them down. They left all their baggage in the camp and rushed across the Yangtze River. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” Bullets were fired from some Qing outpost, but fortunately, the shots were inaccurate and missed them. Then they shouted, “The Black Flag army is coming! The Black Flag army is coming!” They still hadn’t seen a single member of the Black Flag army, but that didn’t matter, because the Qing soldiers who had been firing randomly were also terrified by this shocking news. They even threw away their muskets and rifles, shouting, “Run! Run! Run!” “The Black Flag army is here! Tens of thousands of them!” “No, it’s hundreds of thousands!” The retreating crowd was like a tide, and the Qing soldiers from just a dozen battalions posed little threat to the Black Flag army’s advance. The reason was simple: the roads were packed with retreating soldiers, so crowded that it was impossible to pass through. The Black Flag army’s attack proceeded smoothly; even those Qing soldiers who dared to resist would fire from a distance beyond their maximum range before retreating in panic before the Black Flag army launched another attack.

Yet now, on the roads of the Black Flag Army, there was a scene akin to an ant colony; any unit taking detours in any direction would find crowds in uniform fleeing in panic along the roads. At the sound of a machine gun shot, they would immediately surrender, but for the Black Flag Army, the troubles had just begun. Sometimes, a single reinforced platoon could capture an entire Qing infantry battalion, and the Black Flag Army officers had to exert great effort to provide them with food.