Chapter 116: Feeding the Horses (Part 1)

Although the Black Flag Army had some experience dealing with such issues in previous battles, when crowds rushed over to surrender their weapons, the only feasible solution for them was to provide them with a thin porridge. The Black Flag Army hadn’t encountered much trouble in earlier fights and had even captured numerous weapons and supplies, so preparing a bowl of porridge was still somewhat manageable. Yet as soon as the porridge was distributed, the soldiers below began to complain: “We want severance pay!” “We want to join the Black Flag Army and get full gear!”

Soldiers who had fled from Hunan had already told them about the Black Flag Army’s methods for dealing with captives. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled captives were eager for the severance pay offered by the Black Flag Army. Though it wasn’t as much as their overdue salaries, it was still a considerable sum. They immediately mentioned their hometowns: “I’m from Mashan; I deserve more travel money. Money in Black Flag Bank notes would also work!”

Since the Xiang Army’s retreat northward, Black Flag Bank notes had become de facto currency in Hubei. The reason was simple: many captives released by the Black Flag Army rejoined the Xiang Army, bringing with them large amounts of paper money, which they forced others to accept. Coupled with the Black Flag Army’s series of victories in the south, the rulers of Hubei were caught off guard. Although they repeatedly banned Black Flag Bank notes, astute money houses saw this as an opportunity to revive their businesses.

This violated normal business ethics, as these money houses were acting as agents for the Qing government in managing Hubei’s finances. Yet they had their own plans. Hubei’s money houses suffered a devastating blow during the Taiping Rebellion and failed to recover over the following two or three decades. Now, under pressure from major Shanghai firms and banks, they could only barely operate.

Given Hubei’s strategic location as a crossroads of nine provinces, it should have been an ideal trade hub. But throughout the late Qing period, Hubei was dominated by Shanghai. Even the largest banks and money houses, with capital of only ten to twenty thousand taels of silver, were unable to provide much-needed business loans to merchants in Sichuan. As a result, they turned to ordering goods directly from Shanghai.

Under such circumstances, the long-suppressed Hubei merchants were willing to take risks. They also learned from the south that the Black Flag Army welcomed merchants and was even willing to offer various conveniences to banks and money houses.

After capturing cities like Guilin and Changsha, although military control was imposed on various banks and money houses to prevent them from withdrawing funds, and some government shares were confiscated, most legitimate banks continued to operate normally under military oversight. The Black Flag Bank and its affiliated financial institutions were expanding rapidly using capitalist methods. But to reach every corner of the occupied areas, they needed the assistance of these traditional financial institutions.

The banking institutions and money houses in the south reaped huge profits from this round of expansion. Although military controls imposed severe restrictions on their capital allocation, the low-interest loans from the Black Flag Bank provided them with several times more capital for operations than before—this had long been the biggest headache for these institutions in the late Qing dynasty.

Although the banking institutions and money houses in the south gradually came under the control of the Black Flag forces, with some forming joint ventures with the Black Flag Army and turning into new local banks, such developments made the managers of banking institutions and banks in Hubei extremely envious. Thus, they decided to gamble on Black Flag banknotes, purchasing large quantities of what were still illegal currency at the time, while sending people to Changsha to express their willingness to cooperate. The response from Changsha was very positive; they even met with Liu Yu personally, and the two sides exchanged views on rebuilding Hubei’s financial system after the war. Eventually, these businesses and banks became the fifth column of the Black Flag Army.

With the Qing army’s front lines collapsing rapidly, these fifth columns played a significant role. However, their outstanding performance caused the Qing soldiers, who were not receiving pay, to collapse instantly and become prisoners of the Black Flag Army. This left the Black Flag Army busy dealing with these large numbers of captives, significantly slowing down their progress. But in war, victory always goes to the side that makes fewer mistakes. Although the Black Flag Army was delayed for two full days, their mistakes were offset by even greater mistakes on the Qing side.

The problem lay with Wang Debang and the various Hunan troops that had retreated to Hubei. Due to insufficient troops in Hubei, the Qing high command deployed these five to six thousand Hunan troops on the left wing of the second line, hoping to use these foreign troops to stop the Black Flag Army. In their minds, the Hunan troops were already the Black Flag Army’s mortal enemies; although their combat strength was poor, they could at least hold their positions and delay the Black Flag Army for a few days, buying time for further action.

But at that moment, Wang Debang and his allied troops had already left their assigned positions. Several Hunan army officers, panicked, went to Wang Debang and asked, “Since we’re retreating now, won’t the higher-ups blame us? Shouldn’t we fire a few shots here before leaving?”

Wang Debang replied while riding, “Haven’t you seen how formidable the Black Flag Army is? Once they get you, there’s no way out! Besides, we’ve left the local militia behind and even given them three hundred rifles!”

What rifles? They were all old, broken shotguns. The militia had reluctantly accepted them under threat of bayonets. “If we fail to resist effectively, it’s definitely not because we didn’t retreat in time, but because the militia is too weak and intends to defect!”

Wang Debang had accumulated extensive experience during his journey from Vietnam to Hubei, especially regarding the combat strength of the Black Flag Army. He knew that once caught by them, there was no easy way out. After hesitating for half a day, he suffered heavy losses of thousands of troops. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to escape. Now, being ordered to stop the Black Flag Army in place would mean certain death, so he coordinated with the retreating Hunan troops, who retreated as soon as they heard the news, handing over the entire left wing to the Black Flag Army.

Yet a few officers from the Hunan army still hesitated: “Is it really okay to retreat like this?”
“We have six or seven thousand combatants!” Wang Debang was very confident: “Wherever we go, there’s a way out! Who dares to suppress these six or seven thousand combatants? Who dares not pay us double rations?”
Now that he was so confident, as long as he had a large army at his disposal, he would be well-treated wherever he went. But those officers from the Hunan army finally asked one question: “What if an imperial envoy is sent and demands our heads?”
“Then we’ll put on imperial robes and become emperors for a while!”