Chapter 171: The Development of the Battle Situation

The saying “fighting a wolf with a reed—fearing both ends” describes exactly this situation. The French were deeply worried, but faced with an unprecedented victory, the Black Flag Army was also anxious that all their efforts might be ruined.
This was Cochin China, a colony that the French had governed for twenty years. Spies, informants, and police were present in every corner. The French had even managed to retain the original Vietnamese royal troops and form local forces.
These forces held no goodwill toward the Black Flag Army. They were simply overwhelmed by the tide of battle and forced to surrender in large numbers. If they had time to react, countless armed militias might have risen up to resist the Black Flag Army.
Moreover, the troops could barely maintain their structure. Due to their rapid advance, many small units had already threatened the outskirts of Saigon, while the reinforcement battalions had just crossed the border. This situation was almost a repeat of the final stages of the Shanxi Campaign, but Saigon and the entire French army in the South had sufficient reserves.
“Quickly replenish your troops,” Liu Yingu suggested over the phone. “You can use prisoners to fill the gaps. I give you the authority to do so.”
“I’ve already done it. Out of six hundred veterans, I’ve added three hundred new recruits. Each regiment is now fully staffed, and I’ve even formed a new regiment. But I dare not add any more,” Li Qiu said, troubled by this issue. “But there are still eight hundred prisoners.”
Although Li Qiu himself was an Annamese native infantryman who had joined the Black Flag Army, he had no trust in these prisoners.
Of course, he had joined the Black Flag Army out of a certain mindset, and these people joined him for the same reason. It was precisely because he understood the psychology of these native troops who surrendered voluntarily that he only dared to form four infantry regiments, totaling nine hundred men.
This number could easily be considered that of an entire infantry regiment, but Liu Yingu had other plans. “Form another reinforcement regiment. Try to keep control of your troops.”
An infantry battalion with five infantry regiments and one artillery regiment wasn’t even as large as the Xiliu Battalion, known as the best unit of the Black Flag Army. Yet Li Qiu said, “I don’t have enough experienced troops. I dare not form more, fearing problems.”
If they were well-trained recruits, he would have the courage to form a division. But with these amateurs who surrendered at the first sign of battle, Li Qiu was full of doubts and suspicion. “Brother, even just one platoon would give me confidence.”
With one infantry platoon, he could barely assign some officers to form a full regiment. After all, he was very familiar with the situation in Cochin China and knew which troops were strong and reliable.
“I’ll assign my guard platoon to you,” Liu Yingu said. “If you still have enough troops after this battle, I’ll find a way to turn you into an infantry regiment.”
“Thank you, Brother Liu. I’ll fight hard,” Li Qiu promised over the phone. “Don’t worry. In Cochin China, our Zhouchu Battalion can certainly take on a French regiment, if not more.”

Anyway, the improvement in his strength gave him confidence, and he didn’t need to worry too much about casualties—so long as the capture operation went well, recruiting five hundred more men wouldn’t be a problem.
Liu Yinguang hesitated on the phone for a while before saying, “I think we should release some of the old and weak prisoners on a voluntary basis, of course following the old rules from the north.”
“Okay!” Li Qiu agreed with this idea. “I’ve paid quite a bit of money, so there shouldn’t be any problem with releasing them.”
The prisoners were of mixed backgrounds—Catholic groups, Annamese indigenous infantry, local special forces, police… Although they had surrendered to the Black Flag Army, they had various motives; some had only temporarily submitted to save their lives. Now, they were happily receiving generous severance pay.
“Forty piastres—keep this!” A junior platoon leader of the Black Flag Army smiled as he handed a stack of Mexican eagle coins to a police officer in his fifties. “Next time you bring your gun, we’ll still charge the same price.”
The old and weak soldiers who didn’t want to stay with the Black Flag Army and preferred to return home were released after a brief speech: “Due to the chaos, we’ve prepared permits for you to return home. As long as you show this permit, our troops won’t stop you.”
This kind of release was sporadic. Among the 1,100 prisoners taken in by Zhou Chu’s camp, about 450 were incorporated into the troops after their units were disrupted, while about 100 were released after receiving travel funds and severance pay.
But this small number was of no real help. In the subsequent battles, Zhou Chu’s camp lost 30 men but captured 500. Now, the entire force’s progress was slowed down by the captives, yet all the soldiers pressed forward despite their fatigue.
Although Zhou Chu’s camp didn’t have a good reputation, their combat effectiveness had indeed improved significantly after joining the Black Flag Army system. “We must fight our way to Saigon.”
Many of them were originally from the legitimate Annamese indigenous infantry. After several fierce battles in the Black Flag Army, they became true veterans. They swept through two provinces at lightning speed, aiming straight for Saigon.
Meanwhile, the Black Flag Army continued its advance across Cochinchina, achieving in one week the number of enemies they had planned to eliminate in a month.
At the same time, at Liu Yinguang’s urging, the local Black Flag Army units on the other side of the border also dispatched six infantry companies to the south. This worried Liu Yongfu: “We’ve lost another six companies. With the French fighting so hard, can we hold them off?”
When the French forces in Thanh Hóa learned that the main force of the Black Flag Army was heading south to attack Cochinchina, they became extremely aggressive and rushed to attack the Black Flag Army’s bases near Thanh Hóa.
The governor of Cochinchina ordered them to send troops to the Cochinchina colonies for support, but they had no such intention. “We should take this opportunity to completely resolve the Central Vietnam issue, eliminate the main forces of the Black Flag Army in China and Vietnam, and destroy their bases. Under these circumstances, the Black Flag bandits in the colonies will be forced to retreat due to lack of support.”

Anyway, recently, the French forces reinforced near Thanh Hóa numbered as many as an entire infantry brigade. Together with the existing French troops and Vietnamese auxiliary forces, they had two full brigades at the Central Vietnam battlefield. Such an offensive left Lưu Vĩnh Phú feeling overwhelmed.
“If Liú Yǐnggōng had delayed his march south by three months, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Lián Jǐnchéng didn’t want to go to that harsh place in Cochinchina. “They must be sending troops there because the battles aren’t going well—at least not as gloriously as they describe in their reports.”
There was still a lack of communication between the two factions, but Lián Jǐnchéng saw an opportunity to expand his forces in Central Vietnam. After the troops moved south, many battalions would need to be reorganized. If he seized this chance, he could make up for lost opportunities and become a distinguished regimental commander once again.
Liu Chengliang, on the other hand, acted in the interest of his own small group: “It’s better not to send Jǐnchéng’s independent battalion south for now. They’ve already moved six independent companies around, affecting the battles between China and Vietnam.”
Wú Fēngdiǎn was calm and had his own ideas: “Since we don’t have the strength to provide support, let’s ask the north to help. There are twenty infantry battalions there; it shouldn’t be a problem to send one or two to support Cochinchina.”
“Right! No problem.” Lián Jǐnchéng was known for taking leave often. He thought the battles in Cochinchina were too difficult. “I heard the reorganization of the Old Yellow Flag Army is complete. But let them go south with Zhou Chǔ’s battalion. Our top priority is to stabilize the situation near Thanh Hóa.”
It wasn’t just the French forces who became more proactive because of Liú Yǐnggōng’s march south; even the exiled Vietnamese dynasty became emboldened by this and recklessly attacked the Black Flag Army. Although they were defeated, it caused the Black Flag Army a lot of trouble.
According to the latest reports, the French had reached an agreement with the Vietnamese dynasty: the French would sell them weapons in exchange for their attacks on the Black Flag Army.
But in any case, the favorable situation created by Liú Yǐnggōng’s march south was gone. Fortunately, Lưu Vĩnh Phú launched a major sweep operation as soon as he moved south, wiping out many small and medium-sized strongholds. It would take at least one or two months for the French to regain control of the battlefield.
“Send an enhanced platoon from Lián Jǐnchéng’s battalion to provide support,” Lưu Vĩnh Phú hesitated for a moment. “After replenishing with new recruits, it should be an enhanced company—so as to live up to our brothers in the south. As for the other battalions…”
Anyway, Lưu Vĩnh Phú felt he should fight a battle to show the might of the old Black Flag Army: “Concentrate forces on the north wing of Hèngshān and prepare to deal a heavy blow to the French main force…”
……
Saigon.
It was as if the sky had fallen. Many unknown strongholds appeared on the map.
It turned out that dispersing troops was a foolish idea, as such a strategy led to many indigenous infantry battalions being wiped out outright.
But neither the French nor their opponents knew the exact details of how these troops were defeated. Scattered across a vast area, they were overwhelmed by the surging Black Flag Army—sometimes even by defecting Annamese indigenous troops.

After losing the support of the indigenous troops and police, the French forces became isolated islands in a sea of darkness. Many units continued to fight, but even more were completely defeated. As for the weaker police and Vietnamese local auxiliary forces, they lost contact almost from the start of the battle. At least some of the indigenous infantry managed to escape back, but they disappeared into the sea. But now there is good news: The Governor-General of Indochina said to his officers, “I place all the hopes of the colony on you.” “A French infantry battalion, a French Honor Battalion composed of wounded soldiers returning to duty, two French artillery companies, along with the two most combat-effective indigenous infantry battalions in the colony have been assembled, along with several detachments, to be under your command.” “And I have even better news for you.”