Chapter 72: The Wedding (Part 1)

Shunhua. Qian Palace.

Thiệu Đức preferred to handle state affairs in his own mausoleum. He was a man of great humility and immense diligence. A worker ant was the best description of him. Born to toil, he would rise before dawn each day to deal with government affairs, working until late at night. With so many troubles plaguing the country over the years, he often failed to eat properly, constantly preoccupied with national affairs.

When his ministers urged reforms, he believed the laws established by his ancestors should not be changed drastically. When they advocated sticking to the status quo, he sought to forge a new path in this turbulent era—truly, everything was difficult. Though an incompetent emperor, he had an unusually kind temperament and rarely lost his temper.

But today, he finally lost his temper: “Release the imperial treasury funds! Release them! All these years, when foreign invaders came demanding reparations, I even remelted all the silver in the palace, yet I could only raise a few thousand taels of silver.”

Furious, the palace concubines handling documents beside him paled instantly and quickly knelt down, fearing Thiệu Đức would vent his anger on them. They were all daughters of noble families, beautiful by nature, with fair skin and delicate features. Even if they didn’t possess stunning looks, they still had artistic talents. But now, their faces had lost their luster.

Thiệu Đức was already in his fifties, but in his over thirty years on the throne, he had rarely been so agitated. He was no longer the humble gentleman wearing the small yellow hat. “Thinking of the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, he too was misled by such useless ministers… Sigh!”

“It is not the emperor who brings about the downfall of the country; it is the ministers. I understand the state of affairs. If there had been funds to distribute, I would have already relieved the people. If the treasury is empty, where could there be funds?” he continued to mutter to himself. “At such a difficult time for the country, as high officials, instead of helping to save the people, they only spread slander to please the emperor…”

He rambled on about trivial matters but eventually brought up the imperial treasury unique to the Vietnamese royal family. This was similar to the situation in the late Ming dynasty. It was said that Emperor Chongzhen had vast amounts of imperial funds that were never released. After the fall of the dynasty, some claimed Li Zicheng’s army had seized 70 million taels of silver, while others said the treasury was completely empty—a major mystery in history.

The Nguyễn dynasty followed the Ming system, thus also having an imperial treasury. It had existed since the founding of the Nguyễn dynasty, but the exact amount was unknown to outsiders. After Thiệu Đức ascended the throne, he released a few tens of thousands of taels from the treasury but stopped afterward, claiming it was exhausted.

However, many ministers doubted this. But Thiệu Đức was known for his filial piety. He even gave the empress dowager newly minted silver coins. Over time, people believed the treasury was indeed empty. Yet there were still some reckless individuals who misunderstood Thiệu Đức.

As a result, Emperor Thiệu Đức was furious all afternoon and ate very little that night. Recently, he muttered, “It is not the emperor who brings about the downfall of the country; it is the ministers. I now understand the feelings of the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen. Bring me the documents.”

Only then did the beautiful palace concubines hand over the piled-up documents. But as soon as he flipped to the first one, Thiệu Đức became furious again: “Liu Yu, the commander of Xiliu Camp, is getting married? How detestable!”

The group of stunning palace concubines knelt down again.

In Vietnam, there is no winter. November and December are quite pleasant times.

Huang Zuoyan arrived in his familiar Shanxi during this season, but now everything had changed—places remained the same, yet people were different. Shanxi was no longer his Shanxi; he saw red everywhere, a sea of festivity, yet his mood was dark. Red couplets were posted everywhere, but the celebration in Xiliuying was built on his great suffering. Zunshi Yunping pointed angrily ahead and said, “That’s the newly established camp of Liuying.” “The New Force Camp? The one made up of new recruits? What does he need so many troops for?” Huang Zuoyan now knew little about the situation in Shanxi; he didn’t even know exactly how many troops Liu Yu had. In times of national crisis, some people became indecisive, especially in Shanxi. Especially after the emergence of the Black Flag Bank, Vietnamese officials became pawns of Xiliuying and the Black Flag Bank—all revenues and expenditures had to go through the bank, even officials’ salaries were paid via Black Flag Bank notes. The current governor of Shanxi had become a puppet of Xiliuying; if Liu Yu wanted to issue orders throughout Shanxi, he could simply do so through the Black Flag Bank as an intermediary. Under such circumstances, most officials wisely sided with Xiliuying. Zunshi Yunping, who knew more about Shanxi, pointed at the New Force Camp and said, “It’s not just one camp; Xiliuying has also established another camp called the Engineering Camp, which is essentially similar to the labor troops in the Qing Dynasty’s defense forces.” He added, “Both camps operate on a two-squad system, with about 500 men in total—most unarmed, with only one row armed with breech-loading guns.” “Just one row…” This thought stirred countless emotions in Huang Zuoyan. One row of men armed with breech-loading guns meant their equipment level surpassed that of the Black Flag Army. Thinking that instead of eliminating the Black Flag Army, he had brought in Xiliuying as a greater threat, he regretted it deeply. “I have failed the nation’s trust!” Zunshi Yunping said, “These two new camps are stationed near Shanxi for training and labor duties, with another squad dedicated to training officers.” Huang Zuoyan was well aware that with these rear units, Xiliuying and Wuya Camp could free up their main forces. Now, the strength of these six squadrons was unmatched in Tonkin. Even the French forces in Hanoi wouldn’t stand a chance without support from Cochinchina. Thinking of this, he grew even more anxious. These were opponents more formidable than Huang Chongying, Wu Lingyun, and Li Yangcai in the past! To defeat them, he would need to summon Qing troops, but Shanxi was too close to Hanoi, and those Qing officials would never dare to come here and provoke the French. As for his own Vietnamese troops, even if they numbered 5,000, they might still be wiped out by Xiliuying, not to mention the Black Flag Army, which had even larger numbers and better equipment behind them. Thinking of these things, Huang Zuoyan felt utterly helpless and couldn’t think of any solution. Zunshi Yunping continued, “Although the Engineering Camp has only two squads, one thing worth noting is that it often uses our country’s strong men—there are usually a hundred or two hundred of our people in the camp.”

Upon hearing this, Huang Zuoyan was stunned: “Is this true? How could I not know?”
Zunshi Yunping replied, “I just found out as well. It is said that this engineering battalion was expanded from an old engineering platoon in Xiliu Camp, and all its members are from our own country; there are very few Qing people among them.”
Huang Zuoyan, however, said in surprise, “Xiliu Camp has great ambitions!”