Chapter 1: Visitors in 1878 (Part 2)

1878.
The fourth year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty. The thirtieth year of Emperor Tự Đức’s reign in Vietnam.
It was a rather ordinary year in history.
Yet it would be the starting point for both the most unremarkable waves in the tide of history and the figures who would shape destiny.
Liu Yu closed his eyes, trying to keep his breathing as steady as possible. But aside from his fiancée’s concerned voice, he could also faintly hear that sinister laughter.
Ignoring the pain in his wounds, he propped himself up with his hands and let out a pained groan. His anger surged as it searched for its target along the Red River.
Jiang Ningxue was shocked but carefully supported Liu Yu, trying to ease his suffering.
After identifying his target, Liu Yu became even angrier. The inland patrol ship flying the tricolor flag unleashed its full firepower without restraint. Some French sailors even took off their uniforms, shooting randomly at the land from bare chests. Any moving person or animal would attract a barrage of bullets.
Seeing this, especially after understanding what was going on, he almost gritted his teeth in fury.
It was originally a minor issue—a dispute over territory between two villages in Haiyang. Liu Yu had encountered similar disputes before traveling through time.
But the disputing party was a Catholic village, and that turned it into a huge problem.
Catholicism had been spreading in Vietnam for a long time. Especially after the two treaties with France in 1862 and 1674, Catholic villages had become quasi-independent states within Vietnam.
According to the treaties, all matters related to believers, whether civil or criminal, fell under the jurisdiction of French consuls. Vietnamese officials were not allowed to interfere, not even if the believers committed murder or robbery.
Taking advantage of this, many villains hid under the protection of the cross to commit crimes and act as pioneers for French aggression. There were numerous Catholic villages scattered across Vietnam.
Like countless concessions in Vietnam, they enjoyed exemptions from military service and taxes while using their supreme power to destroy the last hopes of this Chinese vassal state.
The other village was no match for them and had lost several battles over the years. They tried to appeal to the authorities, but Vietnamese officials, at the mere mention of “foreign religion,” quickly turned them away, fearing trouble. With no other choice, the village raised some money and invited the fairly famous “Liu Family Army” from Haiyang to lend support.
The Liu Family Army was a remnant of a Guangxi volunteer force that had retreated to Vietnam. Though small in number, its members were mostly from the Liu family. United and disciplined, they had a good reputation.
Liu Yu, like Jiang Ningxue, was a member of the Liu Family Army. He was even the prominent young leader of the group, and this time he was specially sent out to see the world.
The Liu Family Army was experienced in dealing with such issues. They would show off their firearms and then calmly reason with the foreign missionaries, causing them to back down quickly.

He thought everything had been taken care of, but never expected that foreign missionary full of talk of universal love would actually bring warships and launch a one-sided massacre.
The scene from earlier flashed again in Liu Yu’s mind: cannons, gunsmoke, screams, the laughing priest, panicked crowds, blood everywhere…
That smug inland patrol ship continued to drift downstream, and that detestable missionary remained fixed in Liu Yu’s vision.
His anger grew even more; with a swift motion, he picked up the shotgun he carried and untied the horn container holding gunpowder from his waist.
Jiang Ningxue was shocked but didn’t stop Liu Yu. She had always seen herself as a good wife, only thinking to herself, “No wonder it’s so heavy—there’s a gun inside.”
She now felt very fortunate for not abandoning Liu Yu amidst the hail of bullets, but her expression quickly turned puzzled.
Liu Yu skillfully operated the antique-style shotgun based on his memories, moving at great speed—loading powder and lighting the fuse in just over a dozen quick actions. Jiang Ningxue had never imagined her future husband looking so handsome when focused.
He aimed the gun at that detestable missionary, taking a deep breath, but at the last moment, he lowered the shotgun.
What he held was not the Type 81 automatic rifle he used during his service, nor the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle used in parades, nor even the common Hanyang-style rifle seen in war movies—it was just an ordinary shotgun, an antique firearm from the 16th century.
With thousands of bullets fired during his service, he was convinced he surpassed gunners of his era, but that didn’t change the fact that he was holding a shotgun.
During the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming obtained gunpowder gun manufacturing techniques from the Portuguese and used them to make shotguns, which remained largely unchanged until the late Qing Dynasty.
What was even more embarrassing was that the manufacturing technology for shotguns had been slowly declining since the Kangxi era. What Liu Yu held now was just a low-quality shotgun filled with inferior gunpowder.
The equipment was inferior to the enemy!
Helplessly, Liu Yu stared at the tricolor flag, his mouth wide open but unable to utter a word.
I remember!
It was just an ordinary inland patrol boat, with only a few small cannons and dozens of rifles.
A single rocket launcher, or even a sniper rifle, would be enough to wipe them out all.
Liu Yu only had this low-quality shotgun. Such a 16th-century firearm had no chance of winning against a fully equipped modern army.
Tears welled up.
Liu Yu bit his lip, shrinking back to hide better, but his hand still tightly gripped the shotgun.
I won’t forget!
This was two centuries of humiliation and darkness.
And ahead lay another hundred years of decline and struggle.
I used to be a soldier, a passionate enthusiast of military history. I come from the 21st century.
I can change this dark history.
I can tear apart the darkness and bring in the dawn.
The Red River flowed eastward, carrying away the French inland patrol ship with its tricolor flag, but it also pushed the emotions in the mangroves to their extreme.

Liu Yu knelt among the weeds, gripping his hair tightly, while Jiang Ningxue held him closely from behind.
“I firmly believe that I will repay France’s friendship with a hundredfold enthusiasm.”