Chapter 94: Large-Scale Purchases on Credit

This matter was so important that even Liu Yu’s heart echoed with the desire: “It seems not bad to become a king!”
Tang Jingsong was still waiting for his answer, but he didn’t respond directly.
He casually picked up a handful of mountain tea leaves—local products that weren’t particularly good tea. Yet at that moment, Liu Yu exuded an air of composure.
He tossed the broken tea leaves into his teacup, which wasn’t even high-quality—just an ordinary porcelain cup. But the moment he lifted the teapot, Tang Jingsong felt that this young man truly possessed an extraordinary heroic aura, combined with maturity, showing he was far from ordinary.
The water was still a bit hot, but Liu Yu calmed himself down, sat in the armchair, closed his eyes, and thought carefully. He sipped the mountain tea slowly, feeling its refreshing fragrance permeate his body.
Tang Jingsong grew impatient. “Officer Liu?”
Liu Yu took a calm sip of tea before saying, “Some things can only be done, not spoken.”
His words were vague, but Tang Jingsong immediately became excited. His own endeavors also involved actions that could only be done, not spoken—if they reached the ears of governors or provincial commanders, countless troubles might arise.
Tang Jingsong also took a sip of tea before asking, “When will you use troops?”
Liu Yu narrowed his eyes and replied casually, “Let Lord Tang also know that although my Xiliu Camp controls only three provinces in northern Vietnam—what are merely three counties in China—it has 1,800 soldiers and 1,500 breech-loading rifles of various types.”
Now Tang Jingsong finally understood why others mentioned the Xiliu Camp as something essential for persuading Liu Yongfu—it was an unavoidable topic.
During their meeting yesterday, Liu Yongfu had already given Tang Jingsong a report on the Black Flag Army, so Tang Jingsong knew quite well about its strength.
Apart from the Xiliu Camp, the Black Flag Army had four other battalions, two elite guard units, and two defense forces for their bases, totaling 2,600 men equipped with 700 breech-loading rifles. As for the strength of the Xiliu Camp, it remained the highest secret known only to Liu Yu. Thus, Liu Yongfu had only said, “The Xiliu, Crow, New Force, and Engineer battalions—about a thousand men, all equipped with rifles.”
But it was only now that Tang Jingsong learned the Xiliu Camp actually had 1,800 elite soldiers, whose equipment was the best among the entire Black Flag Army, with the strongest supply support as well—not to mention those 1,500 rifles.
Thinking of this, Tang Jingsong secretly rejoiced that he had come to Liu Yu instead of another battalion commander rumored to be extremely powerful, Huang Shouzhong. “With the support of the Xiliu Camp and others, the French can be defeated in no time. Officer Liu, don’t miss this opportunity.”
Liu Yu was also well aware that this was the best time to deal with Li Weiyeh and the French. In history, the Black Flag Army had succeeded by exploiting timing—luring Li Weiyeh out of his stronghold a week before his reinforcements arrived and ambushing him successfully.

Tang Jingsong’s arrival in Shanxi was both a historical accident and an inevitable outcome. Even if the Black Flag Army had not launched an attack on the French forces in Hanoi in May, the French would still have attacked them in June. The advantage he currently had was that he could seize the initiative compared to history. At present, Li Weiyeh only commanded a force of five or six hundred French troops and three or four hundred Vietnamese infantry in all of North Vietnam, with more French troops set to be sent to this battlefield. His tactic should be to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy’s forces before the French could react. Liu Yu was also willing to have Tang Jingsong convey a message to Liu Yongfu: “If Yongfu is unwilling, our Xiliu Battalion is ready to lead the troops out of Hanoi first. Let us take on all the tough tasks. If we win, it will be credited to Liu Yongfu; if we lose, I will bear the responsibility alone.” Tang Jingsong came to Shanxi precisely to request that the Black Flag Army engage in battle. Based on his observations, Liu Yongfu’s idea of retreating to Shizhou was meaningless. Once Shanxi fell, the entire Black Flag Army would lose its food supply, and remote areas like Shizhou held no strategic value. With Liu Yu’s promise, he was extremely enthusiastic: “Just these words are enough. Even if Liu Yongfu refuses to go, I will provide strong support behind you. Are you confident in the military strategy? It is said that French reinforcements will arrive in Hanoi within a month or two.” Liu Yu was somewhat vague on this point: “Taking care of Li Weiyeh is no problem.” He added casually, “Even if we can’t deal with Li Weiyeh, holding out against the French for a year isn’t a big issue. Besides the existing troops, I still have a thousand trained reserve soldiers and six hundred Mauser rifles.” Liu Yu was actually hiding some cards—he had nearly eight hundred Mauser rifles ready, along with a dozen mortars. But just six hundred rifles were enough to shock Tang Jingsong: “There are six hundred more?” Six hundred rifles weren’t much in the mainland. Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang would purchase thousands of rifles each time they ordered military equipment, but to save money, they preferred breech-loading rifles—cheaper, easier to replenish with ammunition, and sufficient for suppressing domestic unrest. As for thousands of rifled rifles, they were usually deployed on a strategic scale. For example, to strengthen the Guangxi defense forces in Vietnam, three thousand Remington rifles were specially brought in from the north, though only a few were actually usable. Yet, who would have thought that among these Vietnamese rebels, there was such a figure? Especially considering that this area had been under Vietnamese blockade for years, making it extremely difficult to acquire foreign guns and artillery. This young man had managed to accumulate two thousand rifles through years of hard work—something to be truly proud of. After all, the entire Black Flag Army only had seven hundred rifled rifles, with half of those reportedly taken from the Xiliu Battalion. It seemed the Xiliu Battalion had used a method akin to ants moving house, smuggling two to three thousand rifles under the noses of the French over five years: “Great! With this, I am completely confident.”

Liu Yu smiled and said, “Five years of preparation—all for this one battle. Inform Yongfu that I’m ready for everything. Shanxi has stockpiled enough food for an entire army for three months. I’ve also prepared ten thousand rounds of ammunition each for Remington and Snider guns, and everything else is ready as well.”
Tang Jingsong, hearing him speak so casually about years of preparation, realized even more that this young man was nothing ordinary. Before entering Yue, he only knew of the name of the Xiliu Camp, but never imagined it was prepared so thoroughly for this battle against the French.
“I’ll inform Commander Liu right away! This time, we’ll surely ensure everlasting prosperity!”
He got along very well with Liu Yu and didn’t leave until after dark. As he left, he took Liu Yu’s hand and said, “Meeting Commander Liu feels like seeing my younger self!”
It wasn’t until he left that Jiang Ningxue brought out the hot meals in a lunchbox: “Ayu! Hurry up and eat!”
“Mm!” Liu Yu was already hungry. The young couple had a quick dinner under the kerosene lamp, but it tasted delicious: “Ningxue! Call me Liu Qing—we still need to hold a meeting tonight.”
Holding a meeting at the Black Flag Bank was different. At home, Liu Yu only lit a kerosene lamp, but at the Black Flag Bank, there were modern gadgets—electricity from generators kept the entire meeting room as bright as day.
In this headquarters, one could access any of the latest inventions in the world—from movies and phonographs to generators, telegraphs, and telephones. Liu Qing enjoyed a life befitting a European bourgeois.
The longer he stayed in the position of general manager of the Black Flag Bank, the more attached he became to it. This was the place of a successful person—not to mention the countless eager gazes directed at him every day, but even just the massive figures in the accounts fascinated him.
Yet that night, he appeared very serious. He carefully flipped through the accounting report, with Lian Jincheng, representing Deng Yucun, sitting across from him: “Can’t we continue with this?”
“That’s right! Unless we use francs to settle the debt, this business won’t sustain itself.”
Liu Qing gripped the French-style conference table, staring at the oil painting hanging above it: “This isn’t due to personal factors, nor is it related to the bank at all.”
The loss-making operations that dragged down the entire bank had little to do with the Black Flag Bank itself—they were entirely caused by the massive imports of the Xiliu Camp.
Since its establishment, the Xiliu Camp had used the Black Flag Bank as a tool to carry out frantic imports of supplies. Strategic materials imported had filled more than a dozen large warehouses, with additional backup warehouses set up in Xuan Guang and Xinghua.
Just in terms of hygiene supplies, the Xiliu Camp had stockpiled enough for a hundred thousand people to use for a month. As for medical supplies, there was enough to treat ten thousand wounded soldiers.
Military uniforms were prepared for twenty thousand people, and items like picric acid had been stocked at 450 tons—aside from minor consumption, this amount would be sufficient to dye fabric for the entire Xiliu Camp for a year.
As for steel, platinum, officer’s pocket watches, and so on, the Xiliu Camp used the Black Flag Bank as the best tool to hoard all kinds of war materials.
Liu Qing was fully aware of all this. The reason the Black Flag Bank hadn’t gone bankrupt was entirely thanks to the outstanding efforts of the Oriental Mercantile Bank and the Haidiang Bank.

Currently, the Black Flag Bank has received a loan of five million francs from the Oriental Bank of Commerce, of which 1.5 million was painstakingly transferred from the Saigon branch by the Haiphong branch. After using part of the new loan to repay old debts, the remaining over two million francs was almost entirely spent on purchases. In addition, the Xiliuying camp had huge debts with various foreign firms in Haiphong. When these accounts payable were converted into Black Flag Banknotes, the total amounted to a staggering 3.5 million—far exceeding the bank’s capital. Of course, this was also the result of repeated exploitation by the French and foreigners, as the actual supplies received by Xiliuying were not that many.

Previously, Liu Qing had enjoyed such a life, but today he suddenly realized that those days of privilege seemed to be coming to an end. He shouted, “If we use the printed francs, we can pay off these debts!” Yet he knew this was unrealistic. In Vietnam, anyone who saw seven million francs would know they were fake. He also knew Liu Yu must have more plans.

“Deny the debts! I’ll deny them all!” Liu Yu casually picked up his pen and drew two red lines through those astonishing figures. Smiling, he said, “War is coming.”

Lian Jincheng understood: “We should owe another 3.5 million Black Flag Banknotes.”

Liu Qing approved of this idea as well: “Another 3.5 million! Good idea!”

“We still have about half a month,” Liu Yu said, checking his watch. “It’s 8:23 p.m. on April 2, 1883. According to the agreement I just reached with Tang Jingsong, my Black Flag Army will swear an oath on April 25 and march toward Hanoi’s Huai De Prefecture.”

Lian Jincheng and Liu Qing both understood: “What needs to be purchased?”

Liu Yu wasn’t in a hurry. “Set off tomorrow morning immediately and bring plenty of money.”

“Black Flag Banknotes from the mint, francs… well, we can also use some gold and silver. Lian Jincheng, go and procure 250 tons of picric acid. Don’t hesitate to spend more money. Remember, the shipment must be completed by the 25th.”

Lian Jincheng was very quick-witted: “We need cash, but bills of exchange might be better. We have blank bills from the Oriental Bank of Commerce. Before, we issued them honestly, but now we don’t care—just issue them!”

The Oriental Bank of Commerce could be considered the Black Flag Bank’s greatest benefactor. Moreover, Liu Qing had made up his mind: “Hmm! Right, we can always buy on credit. This time too, it’s the same—just pay a deposit in Black Flag Banknotes and francs.”

Since they were going to default, they might as well do it thoroughly. Liu Yu said, “We need to make purchases not only in Haiphong but also in Hong Kong and Saigon. But we must hurry. Remember! By the 25th, if we miss it, we’ll be trapped in Hanoi by Li Weiyeh. Oh, and we need to take good care of the French friends’ businesses.”

“Take good care of the French friends!” Liu Qing nodded repeatedly. “Exactly! We must take care of the French friends.”

Since the Black Flag Bank could no longer avoid bankruptcy, they might as well follow Liu Yu’s lead, take the utmost care of the French friends, and complete the bank’s asset restructuring as quickly as possible.

Liu Yu added, “We’ve conducted three large-scale purchases. In the first three times, we were deceived and cheated, while the foreign firms made huge profits. It’s time for them to pay a price now.”
It wasn’t just a small price to pay—Liu Yu knew full well that his words could lead to the bankruptcy of countless French families. But he preferred thousands of others to suffer rather than his own family.
Liu Qing nodded. “Fortunately, we’ve been purchasing goods everywhere, so there are regular shipping routes from Haiphong to Hong Kong and Saigon. I think we can set off by steamship tomorrow and still make it in time.”
He made a decision. “I’ll stay in Haiphong to oversee the Saigon route, while you go to Hong Kong!”
Liu Yu emphasized, “Remember! April 25th is the deadline—also the day my Black Flag Army will take its oath!”
But Liu Qing thought of something else. “By the way, should we purchase grain too?”