Chapter 221: Turning Point (Part 2)

“I’ll do my best to ensure you get the greatest benefits possible…” Liu Daimai Ban’s words carried deep implications.
Often, national interests, those of small groups, and individual interests clashed with one another. Yet, as long as Liu Daimai Ban spoke, Craig’s financial prospects seemed bright.
In fact, the “Six-Point Treaty on Normalizing Relations between the French Republic and the Huaxia Republic” reached between Craig and Liu Qingyang was the crystallization of friendship forged through bloodshed between China and France.
Under this treaty, the Black Flag Army gave up much—agreeing to withdraw all their troops from South Vietnam and recognizing the French Republic’s special interests in North Vietnam and Central Vietnam. The Black Flag Republic also opposed any third country from entering Vietnam.
In addition, thousands of French, African, and Vietnamese captives held by the Black Flag Army returned to South Vietnam after the treaty took effect. The Black Flag Army also relinquished many special rights in Central and North Vietnam.
What really caught the French interest, however, were the many special rights the Huaxia Republic promised in southern China. The Black Flag Army agreed to cede rights such as road construction, mining, and navigation—rights the French had never managed to obtain from the Qing government before.
But to gain these rights, the French had to make a huge sacrifice: they had to provide the Black Flag Army with a massive commercial loan of 130 million gold francs and a low-interest loan of 30 million gold francs.
All of these 160 million gold francs were, in fact, military reparations paid by the French. Yet, in the treaty, they were presented as the fruit of bloodshed-forged friendship between China and France. All loans were handled by the Oriental Bank for Foreign Trade, and they were first used to repay the Black Flag Army’s existing debts to the bank, with the remaining funds used to purchase goods produced in France.
According to the government’s official statement, this treaty opened the doors of the mysterious Eastern Kingdom to French goods. In reality, however, it became a feast for arms dealers. The Black Flag Army used these military loans to purchase arms worth over 100 million gold francs, while spending almost nothing on civilian goods.
The Oriental Bank for Foreign Trade and Craig became the biggest beneficiaries of this treaty. In fact, Mr. Craig was almost regarded as a god of business. Just by resolving the nearly 10 million francs in bad debts held by the Black Flag Army, he won the favor of the French bourgeoisie.
France welcomed this treaty wholeheartedly. They saw a golden path ahead—indeed, over the next twelve years, the French Republic invested a total of 1.7 billion gold francs in the Huaxia Republic. Moreover, they rushed to buy the country’s government bonds, becoming the largest foreign holders of its bonds, stocks, and other financial products.
In reality, after the initial loans were disbursed, the French could no longer stop. To protect their earlier investments, they eagerly continued to lend unlimited amounts of money to the Chinese, then reaped the profits coming from the East.

“The Road to World War” summarizes the French actions as follows: “This pursuit of commercial interests built railways, roads, dams, and a strong military for the Huaxia Republic. However, the enormous debt burden would have led to the republic’s downfall. Even if such a crisis hadn’t arisen, the entire Huaxia Republic would have fallen into French hands. But the outbreak of the war changed everything—the French returned the railways, roads, telegraph networks, commercial networks, and everything else they had built to the Chinese…”

“Not only that, but throughout the war, the French Republic imported nearly ten billion gold francs worth of military and civilian supplies from the Huaxia Republic. By the end of the war, the French found themselves with nothing and even owed 1.5 billion Huaxia Black Flag coins in debt to the Chinese…”

“Yet as we look back at history, we must ask: If the war hadn’t broken out, would the Huaxia Republic—this Pacific hegemon that profited from the conflicts during the war and sowed trouble after it—have had a chance to rise? (Translator’s note: This is slander by anti-China imperialists. The American Socialist Empire, due to internal conflicts, maintained neutrality during the war, missed the great opportunities offered by World War, and instead turned to attacking the long-standing friendship between the Chinese and French peoples.)”

But for the war, reality was stark. On the day the treaty was signed, a Black Flag army of twelve regiments immediately crossed Zhen Nan Pass and headed toward Guangdong. That same month, another 70 regiments of the Black Flag army were sent to Guangdong, most of them deployed from Vietnam.

More importantly, the Black Flag army’s military production nearly doubled. They used gold francs to purchase all the military supplies they needed in Saigon, “to the point where the French forgot that these gold francs symbolized their humiliating surrender.” By the second month, the Black Flag army had purchased millions of francs worth of arms, including 100 Maxim machine guns and large amounts of ammunition.

Faced with crushing defeats, the great powers openly clashed. The Black Flag army even purchased merchant ships, flew the French flag on them, and engaged in smuggling near Guangxi. At this moment, the friendship between China and France became unbreakable.

But Britain and Japan found themselves in a difficult position. In particular, Dai Shan Yan, as the frontline commander, demanded unlimited reinforcements in artillery, infantry, and cavalry from his home country: “Send the Imperial Guard Division—the fate of the empire depends on this battle…”

When he reported casualties of 4,000, his home country thought he had added a zero. But when he asked Japan to commit all its forces, Japan quietly supported him.

Britain also stepped up its efforts. Despite suffering crushing defeats, Britain could still afford casualties similar to those in the Boer War. They even dragged in the Austrians, and the Belgians agreed to send a battalion of infantry.

It was only after the Black Flag Army stabilized the rear that more and more troops were deployed. The two sides engaged in several skirmishes, with the Black Flag Army losing two battles that had no bearing on the overall outcome. In one encounter, both sides suffered heavy losses—800 men on the Black Flag Army side and 1,000 on the Anglo-Ottoman forces side. The war was increasingly turning into a protracted conflict. The Russians in the north began to advocate for providing free support to the Qing Empire and were willing to send a large force north to fight, but their vanguard first encountered resistance from Japanese troops in Korea. Both sides lost 200 men each, and the plan to send troops was temporarily put on hold. As for Liu Yu at this time, he was in Wuhan, discussing life’s important matters with female teachers and students.