Chapter 147: The Two Beauties’ Countermove

He was eager to obtain some insights from Huang Guilan regarding the Xiliu Camp. Throughout these days of combat, he had been at a disadvantage. His opponent was no ordinary person—in fact, if it were an ordinary individual, they would have been scared away by Zhang Shusheng long ago. After all, Zhang was once the second most important figure in the Huai Army and now the only governor who had established his own domain within the Huai Army faction.

Although the Huai Army was highly prestigious, Li Shaoquan disliked it when his subordinates pulled away troops from his command. Yet none of these prestigious titles could intimidate his opponent at all. His opponent was the renowned Peng Yulin, one of the “Four Great Ministers of Restoration” during the Tongzhi era. These Four Great Ministers—Zeng, Zuo, Peng, and Hu—were none ordinary figures. Zeng referred to Zeng Guofan, Zuo to Zuo Zongtang, and Hu Linyi, though he died young, was considered by many to be the greatest in terms of strategic talent. If he had not died, the Qing Empire might well have become a Hu family dynasty by now.

As for Peng Yulin, he was the top figure in the Hunan Army’s navy. It was the navy that enabled the Hunan Army to defeat the Taiping rebels, and Peng Yulin played a key role in this. Later, when the Hunan Army’s navy was transformed into the Yangtze River Fleet, Peng Yulin continued to lead it. Now, as Minister of War, he supervised military affairs in Guangdong, often clashing with Zhang Shusheng.

Whenever Zhang Shusheng thought of this, he grew furious. Peng Yulin, relying on his status as an imperial envoy, interfered in everything—demanding control over troops, personnel, and finances—completely ignoring Zhang as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Especially in the affairs of Annam, Peng Yulin allied with Zhao Wo, a former subordinate from the Hunan Army, and used Xu Yanxu and Zhao Wo to pressure the imperial court.

Not long ago, Xu Yanxu sent an urgent report detailing how two Qing battalions were driven out of Taiyuan Province. Although the soldiers were unharmed, the ferocity of the Xiliu Camp was evident: “The Black Flag battalions are remnants of the Taiping rebels. During the Tongzhi era, they were defeated by the imperial forces and retreated to the south. Now, they all regret their actions and wish to surrender. But the Xiliu Camp has always harbored rebellious intentions, supporting the puppet regime. Their commander, Liu Yu, deserves execution…”

Xu Yanxu’s proposed solution was simple: take advantage of the Black Flag Army’s battle with the French forces to launch an attack from behind, defeat them completely, and then use that momentum to defeat the French as well. Peng Yulin treated this report as a treasure and insisted on implementing this impractical strategy, aiming to completely defeat Zhang Shusheng, a key figure in the Huai faction.

This was no longer just a personal rivalry between two individuals but a life-or-death struggle between the Hunan and Huai factions for control of Guangdong, a premier province. Peng Yulin saw Zhang Shusheng as a mortal enemy, ignoring the fact that Zhang had long left the Huai faction. Zhang Shusheng could only defend himself helplessly. He had faced such attacks many times before; wherever he went, these former Hunan Army members treated him as an enemy, ignoring the fact that he was no longer part of the Huai Army’s core. Even after promoting several former Hunan Army generals, they turned against him. After countless attacks and heavy losses, he could only adopt a defensive strategy like that of a hedgehog.

His allies were former generals of the Huai Army; these officers closely surrounded him, protecting Zhang Shusheng from attacks by the Xiang Army. This hidden struggle between the Xiang and Huai factions played out almost everywhere in the Qing Empire. He didn’t want to do this, but reality forced him to use geography to keep people apart. He regarded former Xiang Army generals like Peng Yulin and Zhao Wo as mortal enemies. Huang Guilan, on the other hand, was someone he could rely on—not only because she was one of his old subordinates and his son-in-law’s family, but also because neither he nor Huang Guilan had any loyal subordinates of their own to command. It was truly absurd: the head of the Shu Army, the second most powerful figure in the Huai Army, couldn’t even command a single unit in his old age. Yet for this very reason, he and Huang Guilan felt a sense of mutual understanding. He picked up Huang Guilan’s letter, feeling the sorrow expressed in it: “Brother Guilan isn’t doing well under Xu Yanxu’s command, but he’s still very strategic…” Just like the struggle between the Xiang and Huai factions, even when they had the same views on a matter, they would engage in hidden conflicts to defend their own group’s stance. “By offering small favors, lending a small amount of firearms and ammunition, we can make them launch a counterattack southward on Hanoi. After both sides suffer losses against the French, our army can handle the situation calmly.” As for the views on the Xiliu Camp, Huang Guilan didn’t fundamentally disagree with Xu Yanxu or Zhao Wo, but deep down he wanted to prove himself superior: “We can lend the Xiliu Camp a hundred rapid-fire guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition, and after they capture Hanoi, lend them more supplies…” But from the perspective of his own small group’s interests, even if Huang Guilan was wrong, Zhang Shusheng still had to protect his interests—especially since Huang Guilan was right. “Sigh…” Zhang Shusheng felt he was old now; his sigh was filled with helplessness, yet he still had to plunge into this struggle. “Bring me a pen!” He knew he couldn’t fully subdue Peng Yulin, a key figure in the revival of the Huai Army, on his own, so he needed external help. He decided to write to Li Hongzhang, but as he picked up the pen, he felt sorrow again: “If not for Shaoquan, why would I be in this situation today…” His complex relationship with Li Hongzhang—full of grudges and reconciliations—was hard even for him to sort out. Back then, when Li Hongzhang led troops to aid Shanghai, he served as the liaison for recruiting troops from Hefei. Among the officers recruited, he held the highest rank, equivalent to that of a prefect, which would have allowed him to establish his own domain. It was precisely this position as prefect that made Li Shaoquan uneasy; after arriving in Shanghai, Li Hongzhang refused to give him important responsibilities. Later, when several units of the Xiang Army were sent back to Anhui to recruit more troops, while other units had two battalions each, the Shu Army unit only had one. Later, the Shu Army unit was placed under the command of Zhang Shusheng’s brother, Zhang Shushan, but it was later handed over to Li Hongzhang’s brother, Li Hezhang, as well as Liu Mingchuan and Guo Songlin. Its rank was lower than that of the Ming and Ding units. It wasn’t until 1863 that the Shu Army unit was expanded to seven battalions, but it later reverted to a six-battalion structure, making it the smallest in the Huai Army.

In May 1865, at Li Hongzhang’s orders, he was stationed in Huai and Xu regions with one battalion of guards, which was later expanded to seven battalions. In September, Zeng Guofan inspected the troops, examined their camps, and observed their drill formations. To his surprise, the Shu Army, which had little reputation among the Huai Army forces, turned out to be exceptionally strong. He praised their “extremely orderly marching” and “highly skilled use of guns and cannons,” saying they were “far superior to any infantry force he had seen in his life.” As a result, he ordered two more infantry battalions and one cavalry battalion to be added, turning the Shu Army into a force of five thousand men with both infantry and cavalry, capable of operating independently.

However, Zeng Guofan’s trust in him brought about serious problems. Li Hongzhang’s greatest fear was officials commanding troops and establishing their own fiefdoms, just as he had done with the Hunan Army by taking an entire army force and turning it against him. At that time, Zhang Shusheng had already been promoted from the position of inspector to governor of Xu and Hai, and later appointed as inspector of Zhili. Command of the Shu Army was then placed under Zhang Shengshan. The expansion of the Shu Army’s battalions without Li Hongzhang’s approval, coupled with Zhang Shusheng’s and the Shu Army’s high regard for Zeng Guofan, raised suspicions that Zhang might seek to establish his own power base.

Moreover, Zhang Shusheng was the first officer from the Huai Army to leave and take on a high-ranking position in another province, raising concerns that he might lead his former troops to form his own separate force—exactly what Li Hongzhang feared the most. To preempt this, and both as a warning to others and as revenge for Zeng Guofan’s unauthorized changes to the structure of the Huai Army, Li Hongzhang decided to impose restrictions on the Shu Army. While several of his trusted generals expanded their forces by adding infantry and cavalry battalions, the Shu Army faced additional restrictions. Li Hongzhang informed Zeng Guofan, “Due to financial shortages, no army should be allowed to add infantry battalions. If they request cavalry, they must first reduce their infantry to free up funds for cavalry.” This was clearly meant to restrict the Shu Army. After all, the Shu Army’s infantry had just reached nine battalions, matching the size of the Sheng Army, and it was the least able among the Huai Army generals to withstand infantry cuts. Additionally, while other armies added cavalry without reducing infantry, some even expanded their infantry, yet the Zhang brothers’ requests to add cavalry were rejected twice by Li Hongzhang.

This was not yet the worst of it; later, Li Hongzhang went even further. After Zhang Shushan was killed by the Nian rebels during battles in Hubei, Li Hongzhang broke with tradition and did not assign command of the Shu Army to Zhang Shusheng’s other brother, Zhang Shuping. Instead, in May, he split the army into two, merging six battalions into the Ming Army, which had also suffered a major defeat, forming the Ming Army’s Left Corps. Only three battalions were left under Zhang Shuping’s command. Although Li Hongzhang repeatedly promised to assign these three battalions to defend the Yellow River region under Zhang Shupeng’s command, he never kept his word. When the Huai Army underwent large-scale reductions, these three battalions were completely disbanded, marking the end of the Shu Army as a major force within the Huai Army.

The founder of the Huai Army himself could not even control a single infantry battalion. Huang Guilan led the six battalions of the Shu Army into the Ming Army’s Left Corps but was driven out by Liu Mingchuan within a few months. It was not until many years later, when the Ming Army returned eastward, that he managed to reclaim his Shu Army and reorganize it into the Wu Yi Right Corps. However, after belonging to the Ming Army for years, the Wu Yi Right Corps was no longer the original Shu Army. He still felt unable to command those five infantry battalions. When he returned to Guangzhou, he brought these five battalions to Guangdong—becoming the only combat-effective force in the entire region.

Peng Yulin also took the opportunity to act, directly naming the five battalions of Wu Yi’s right army and pointing out numerous flaws, intending to use former Xiang Army members to form new battalions. At the thought of this, Zhang Shusheng felt anger surge within him. He thought to himself, “Li Shaoquan, if the eastern provinces fall into the hands of people from Hunan, I wonder if you’ll be able to sleep soundly!” He then wrote another letter to Huang Guilan: “That traitor general Xi Liu can be utilized. If we can incite him to fight against the French, we can provide him with more weapons and ammunition. Under no circumstances should he be allowed to be controlled by outsiders.” By outsiders, he naturally meant Zhao Wo and Xu Yanxu. …

Shanxi City. The city was surrounded by numerous barracks and armories. Dozens of armories belonging to the Black Flag Army and thousands of workers were working round the clock to increase production, turning countless raw materials into deadly weapons for the battlefield. The sound of steam engines was constant, with large amounts of military supplies being sent to the front lines daily. The armories here had astonishing production capabilities. With full mobilization, nearly a thousand rifles could be produced each month, enough to arm two infantry battalions. Thirty to forty mortars could be manufactured per month, and a thousand rifle bullets could be produced daily, with some shells being reused to manufacture more bullets. Mortar shells accounted for the largest portion of production, with one to two thousand shells made each month. Now, production resources were gradually shifting toward mortar shells, which had become the most important part of the Black Flag Army’s military manufacturing. Other productions and research efforts also accelerated significantly after mobilization. What supported this industrial system was massive investment and years of accumulation. Sufficient raw materials, whether steel, picric acid, or sulfuric acid, had been prepared in advance. After the war began, production and procurement were intensified without regard for costs. Liu Yu stood in the governor’s mansion, observing this massive industrial output, breathing in the somewhat polluted air. Luo Yanqiu stood beside him and asked, “Husband, do you think we should teach more about mortars at Huajian Sect?” On the other side, the nun known by her Chinese name Yun Zhiyun and her foreign name Teresa placed her hand on Liu Yu’s shoulder; the scent emanating from her breath seemed lascivious. Her touch was pleasant, and surrounded by them, Liu Yu felt much more relaxed. “You’ve produced so many rifles but lack artillery, so naturally we need to supply you with that.” Mortars were the most urgently needed military equipment. No matter how many were produced, and without even needing trials, the commanders of the Black Flag Army’s various battalions prepared to take them away under Liu Yu’s orders. Mortar shells were also in short supply. Although each mortar came equipped with thirty shells at the time of production, it quickly became clear in actual combat that this amount was far insufficient. The commanders of the Black Flag Army’s battalions used mortar shells like machine guns, firing hundreds of shells in a single battle. In the battle against the Yellow Flag Army, the Xi Liu Battalion simply concentrated twenty mortars of various sizes to fire six hundred shells. If the Yellow Flag Army had continued to resist, thousands of shells might have been used. Meanwhile, Huajian Sect frequently attacked local infantry and Catholic groups near Hanoi, expanding their religious warrior force to five hundred members. However, they lacked firearms and were in urgent need of mortars and mortar shells.

Now Teresa and Luo Yanqiu have come together to ask Liu Yu for help. Liu Yu was straightforward: “A few cannons and a few hundred shells aren’t a big problem for me now, but look at this—I’m overwhelmed by paperwork.” Sister Teresa smiled, “Aunt Jiang and others are here to help, right? And the staff department is in charge too.” “The staff department can only handle military matters. Once fighting starts, many frontline officers are promoted to battalion or company commanders. Only now, back in Shanxi, do I realize there’s so much paperwork piled up with no one to deal with it.” Today, Liu Yu had already processed hundreds of documents, but there were still many more to go through, leaving him feeling frustrated. Meanwhile, Luo Yanqiu had already grabbed Liu Yu’s thighs, saying, “Then let us sisters help you relax!”