Chapter 69: Engaging in Battle (Part 1)

Hearing that the Xiliu Camp had offended Huang Guilan, Huang Zuo Yan was overjoyed, though he kept a calm expression. “Yunping, we must plan carefully this time to ensure those bandits from the Liu Camp suffer a heavy loss.”
Zunshi Yunping’s face turned cold. “Governor, in my opinion, we should speak to Commissioner Zhao again.”
Huang Zuo Yan was about the same age as Zhao Wo and was already an elder, with gray hair appearing early. He spoke calmly, “What’s there to suggest? We just need to force them into Lu Zhiping’s territory, where they’ll fight to the death.”
Zunshi Yunping, a shrewd man, sneered, “Don’t forget—the Liu Camp uses breech-loading weapons.”
Only the French could do that in all of Northern Annam. The Vietnamese army relied entirely on flintlock guns, and even the defense forces, though claiming to use modern guns, had only three or four hundred breech-loaders among their twelve battalions and six thousand troops.
As for Lu Zhiping, he had many front-loading guns, but in terms of firepower, they couldn’t compare to the two battalions meticulously trained by Liu Yu. “Governor, those two battalions use breech-loaders with strong firepower. Though Lu Zhiping is brave, under normal circumstances, he’s no match for them.”
“Split them up?”
Huang Zuo Yan had suffered this before—Zunshi had split his troops into several groups, making each one weak. Zunshi Yunping proposed, “Split them up so their battalions can’t coordinate with each other. We could even split them into five or six groups, turning each into a weak force.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll speak to Commissioner Zhao. The Liu Camp is suspicious; we can’t let them be in the same place.”
Zhao Wo agreed with Huang Zuo Yan. “That’s true. The Xiliu and Wuya Camps are suspected of harboring remnants of the foreigners… By the way, is Liu Yu from your country, Mingxiang?”
Huang Zuo Yan, usually domineering, acted like a obedient pupil here, following Zhao Wo’s lead. “No! He’s not from Mingxiang—he’s from the Qing dynasty.”
Zhao Wo sneered. “So he’s defying precedent. After what Li Yangcai went through, he still dares ignore it.”
He then asked, “Where is his defense zone?”
Huang Zuo Yan didn’t dare say more. “In Shanxi Province.”
“Shanxi Province?”
Zhao Wo was troubled. “Shanxi isn’t far from Hanoi. Are there French troops in Hanoi?”
“Just one company, 110 men,” Huang Zuo Yan added, “It’s not a big problem.”
“That’s a problem,” Zhao Wo said. “Even with ten battalions, he’s easy to deal with. But Shanxi is too close to Hanoi. If the foreigners get involved, that’ll be bad.”
As a Qing official, he knew well that the foreigners couldn’t be provoked, and that angering them would bring severe consequences.
“Then split those two battalions and deploy them separately.”
Meanwhile, at Qiling Mountain in Gaoping—this was Lu Zhiping’s stronghold. He had been there for over a decade. The Qing army had tried to drive him away with large forces, but he returned quickly.

After ten years of operation, this place has become an impregnable stronghold, with various camps visible everywhere. The Gao Ping area is originally a forested region unsuitable for large-scale military movements, while the Qi Ling Mountain area is even more rugged and treacherous. Coupled with Lu Zhiping’s construction of countless camps, even Zhao Wo suffered heavy losses when leading his troops to attack here. Lu Zhiping himself is one of the more astute among the remnants of the Guangxi rebel forces in Northern Vietnam. In his hands was a letter from Liu Yongfu: “Yuan Ting is not loyal at all. I helped him a lot in the past, but who would have thought he’d turn on us now?” “Fear him? We’re not weaklings. We’ll fight to the death.” In Lu Zhiping’s stronghold, dozens of leaders sat on the ground, half-naked, eating meat and drinking heavily, showing no regard for the government troops sent to suppress them. They were all desperate outlaws who had had enough of life and seemed utterly indifferent to death. “Zhiping, let’s be the vanguard—fifty of us will fight for you. No matter how many they send, we’ll wipe them out.” But Lu Zhiping was very cautious: “This time, it’s different from previous years.” “How is it different? We can count how many troops they have.” Lu Zhiping was well-informed: “The Qing are going all out this time, determined to wipe out these thousand or so of us.” “Really? No wonder they’re putting in such effort, just like they did against Li Yangcai.” When Li Yangcai entered Vietnam, he received significant support from Lu Zhiping and others. But later, the Qing troops pursued him with fierce determination, leaving even these outlaws in awe. “To deal with Li Yangcai, Zhao Wo and his men went all out. With just a dozen or so camps, thousands died in a few battles.” They couldn’t understand why the Qing were so determined to fight Li Yangcai. There was a reason: for the Qing dynasty, it was a disgrace for a high-ranking official to lead a rebellion in Vietnam. These officials, including Cixi, had extremely fragile pride. On one hand, they couldn’t afford to offend foreigners, and on the other, they wanted to preserve their last shred of face—face was a matter of national dignity. So after Li Yangcai entered Vietnam, they pursued him with all their might, even at the cost of heavy casualties. Now, they wanted to save face by achieving a victory over Lu Zhiping: “The Qing claim we might collude with the French, so they’re eliminating me, Lu Zhiping, before the French can ally with us.” Saying this, Lu Zhiping felt deeply frustrated. The worst thing in life, he thought, was having no way to betray one’s country. Huang Chongying’s Yellow Flag Army indeed colluded with the French to seek glory through betrayal, but Lu Zhiping wanted to betray his country too. Yet the French refused to even talk to him. Still, the Qing used this as an excuse to trouble him. Hence, he said angrily, “Twelve battalions of defensive troops, four or five battalions of Black Flag Army, plus thousands of Vietnamese soldiers— they’re going all out to trouble us. We can’t withstand them.”

Dozens of leaders thought carefully and really couldn’t bear it: “Then we’ll fight our way through. Zhiping, who do you think we should cause trouble for?”
Lu Zhiping was quite confident: “I already have an idea of where to break through.”
“Where exactly?”
“The area around Heishanggou in the south. It’s flat there, and we can rush down from the mountains. Besides, there’s a new camp there, so their combat strength probably isn’t very high.”
“Whose camp is it?” They all chimed in: “Let’s gather our rifles and scatter those new recruits.”
“It’s Lao Ye from Shizhou. That guy isn’t very loyal—he came to suppress us as soon as we submitted.”
At the mention of Ye Chenglin, Lu Zhiping shook his head.
He had known Ye Chenglin for many years, and their relationship was good. When Li Yangcai entered Vietnam, he and Ye Chenglin became his right-hand men, always supporting each other. Who would have thought that after Shizhou was pacified, it would be Lu Zhiping’s turn to face trouble.
“Lao Lin? Didn’t he join the Black Flag Army? Let’s find another place.”
“Ye Chenglin may be a scoundrel, but he’s quite skilled in battle. Maybe we should break through from Vietnam instead.”
Everyone agreed that even if Ye Chenglin led new recruits, he would still be tough to deal with. Vietnam seemed like an easier target.
But Lu Zhiping shook his head again: “It’s difficult. In other places, either there are thousands of Vietnamese soldiers or Qing troops and Black Flag camps.”
He explained the situation in detail: “I, Lu Zhiping, claim to have led tens of thousands of men before, but that was an exaggeration. The ones who truly stand by me are just these seven hundred or so men.”
“The armies surrounding us number nearly twenty thousand. We shouldn’t provoke any of them. Only Lao Ye’s group is small, so it seems easier to deal with.”
“How many men did Ye Chenglin bring?”
“His camp has just over a hundred men, and their flags are quite new. What was it called again?”
“A black bird, a big black bird.”
“And more importantly, aside from Lao Ye’s new recruits, there are only two Vietnamese troops in that area. We can easily take care of them.”
For Lu Zhiping, the Vietnamese were just a hassle. If there were many people, it was a big problem; if there were few, it was a minor issue, not a serious one.
“The Black Bird Camp? What a horrible name. Lao Ye is getting more and more chaotic.” The leaders complained, assessing their own strength: “Are they really new recruits?”
“At least fifty to sixty percent of them are new recruits.”
“That’s still a problem. Lao Ye is good at fighting,” one leader said. “Are there any weaknesses elsewhere? Lao Ye with a hundred experienced soldiers is even more of a hassle than five hundred Vietnamese soldiers.”
Lu Zhiping shook his head again: “I haven’t found any. Even the weaker ones are just a few Vietnamese soldiers grouped together, which makes things troublesome.”
The leaders talked more about Ye Chenglin’s past, agreeing that he was indeed skilled in battle and a real hassle: “Should we send a messenger to ask Ye Chenglin to make way for us?”
“Lao Ye hasn’t even sent us a message. That’s pretty clear enough, right?”
“Damn it, this is really troublesome. Is he really in Heishanggou?”

These leaders were extremely familiar with the terrain of Gaoping and knew that the area around Heishanggou was unfavorable for both defense and attack. “Has he wasted all these years leading troops for nothing? To set up his camp at the bottom of the gully?”
“That’s right! Old Ye is also an experienced general—how could he get so confused so quickly?”
After Lu Zhiping explained in detail where Ye Chenglin’s camp was located, the leaders grew somewhat hopeful: “Old Ye is really damn foolish. Is this place even suitable for setting up a camp? It’s a death trap.”
“It’s definitely a death trap. Just think about the terrain of Heishanggou. Even with over a hundred new recruits, or even a thousand veteran soldiers, I’d still dare to use two hundred rifles to drive them away.”
Hearing this, Lu Zhiping smiled and concluded, “He’s seeking his own death. We can only act as heaven’s avengers!”