Chapter Nineteen: Aftermath (Part 2)

“Li Yangcai?” Ruan Youming repeated the name. “I know him—he’s an excellent Chinese general who once served as the commander of the Xunzhou Military Region in Guangxi.”
“He has no ill will toward France in history. As I reported to you before, during the war between the Qing army and the Yellow Flag Army, two Frenchmen sent to act as liaisons with the Yellow Flag Army were captured by Li Yangcai’s troops. His subordinates suggested killing the two liaisons, but Li refused. Instead, he provided them with travel funds and documents, and sent people to escort them to Hanoi.”
“Hmm! But now he is taking hostile actions against the Vietnamese government, which has signed a protection treaty with us. We must protect their interests.”
Ruan Youming emphasized further, “I agree. Although the Yellow Flag Army was defeated, these Chinese people remain loyal to our cause.”
The consul did not want to shift the topic to the Yellow Flag Army for now and continued to explain the current situation: “According to reports from various sources, Li Yangcai, angered that a position he had long desired was taken by his colleague, sold his assets and gathered a large force to cross the border.”
“His army is equipped with many Western-style rifles, even some breech-loading firearms, while the Vietnamese only have a small number of muskets. So it’s only fitting that the Vietnamese suffered a heavy defeat; they already faced a significant setback in battle.”
“Hmm.” Ruan Youming wanted to know more. “How many do they have?”
“According to Vietnamese official sources, it’s seven thousand. But some rumors say Li Yangcai has as many as fifty thousand men. Our envoy received official information from Beijing stating that Li Yangcai has at least twenty thousand men.”
“A greater problem is that we have confirmed reports that the Vietnamese authorities have violated the protection treaty and are attempting to seek help from the Qing dynasty. A large Qing army is being assembled, ready to enter Vietnam at any time! This army could number as many as twenty thousand.”
“An astonishing number. If I were in your position, I would also agree to send reinforcements to Hanoi.”
Hanoi is the most important city in North Vietnam, and Li Yangcai’s forces number tens of thousands and are well-equipped. A single regiment cannot handle such a difficult task, and even two marine regiments would be insufficient, in the consul’s view. “I’ve already sent a telegram to Hanoi. The marine regiment stationed in Haiyang can dispatch half a regiment to reinforce them at any time, and more troops can be sent if needed.”
“I understand. French interests come first. I agree to delay the operation to recapture Haiyang, but as long as there are enough troops, I still recommend eliminating these bandits who are infringing on French interests as soon as possible.”
“I agree too. Fortunately, no French citizens died in the unrest, though some Catholics were martyred.”
In the consul’s eyes, French citizens’ lives were far more valuable than those of Vietnamese people. If a French citizen died, he would surely risk sending troops immediately. But since only injuries occurred, he had the authority to delay action.
“Rest assured. In about ten days or two weeks, we’ll be able to muster enough troops to resolve this issue. The governor-general is our strongest supporter.”

“I agree with you. I look forward to seeing the downfall of these bandits—they are truly detestable.”
Yet Ruan Youming still couldn’t shake his resentment. Why did it take ten days or half a month to see those bandits’ doom? They would surely plunder Haiyang City during that time and then flee.
He even felt that those bandits had grasped France’s limits—they deliberately didn’t kill French missionaries but instead shot Vietnamese Catholics, allowing them to occupy Haiyang City without restraint.
But at the thought of this, he shook his head. It was impossible. How could they know about Li Yangcai’s rebellion or France’s limits? There were no such people among barbarians.
Haiyang City.
“Li Yangcai?”
At the mention of this name, Fan Fushu’s eyes jumped.
Some so-called admiral? He was merely a nominal general with the rank of a second-rank official, not an admiral.
The Qing Dynasty had thousands of nominal admirals and tens of thousands of nominal generals, but there were only twenty-three actual admiral positions, five of which were held by governors-general, leaving only eighteen real positions.
Yet Fan Fushu wasn’t happy at all. He knew Li Yangcai.
A famous general of the Qing Dynasty, a former subordinate of Feng Zicai, he had led troops into Vietnam many times to suppress rebellions and knew Vietnam extremely well.
He knew Li Yangcai was from Guangdong and had once served as the deputy commander of Xunzhou. With such dual identities, his call for rebellion would surely draw many followers.
He had to confirm once more: “Li Yangcai is a second-rank nominal general of the Qing Dynasty—how could he commit such treason?”
Liu Yu knew Fan Fushu had fallen for the trap: “That Shi Yujie told me personally that Li Yangcai’s ancestors were emperors of your Li dynasty. He went to Vietnam to reclaim his ancestral lands and also to serve as a barrier against the French.”
Fan Fushu’s face lit up; he almost treated Liu Yu as his father: “There’s no need for such formality. My ancestors also came from the Tang Dynasty. We’re from the same country—maybe even from the same hometown. Li Yangcai merely promised Liu Yu’s army a nominal title, but our Great Vietnam can offer them real benefits.”
“Is that true? The prince seems pretty good too, doesn’t he?” Liu Yu was still hesitating about the pros and cons.
Fan Fushu was a talented mediocre man, but among mediocrities, he was the most favored by Emperor Si De. Having studied the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood, he had made loyalty to the emperor his top life goal.
As a typical Confucian scholar, he was powerless to change reality. Moreover, from his observations, Liu Yu’s army had extremely advanced weapons—hundreds of breech-loading guns and probably no less than a thousand muzzle-loading rifles.
If such military strength were given to Li Yangcai, it would be a disaster.
No! He even thought of something worse than a disaster—the downfall of the Nguyen dynasty. Having received great imperial favor, how could he stand by and do nothing?
He glanced at this naive young man. Thankfully, thankfully.
This boy was inexperienced and didn’t realize how significant his role was.
He had already made up his mind: “Don’t worry. Whatever you want, we’ll give it to you. Haiyang’s treasuries are open to you!”
“Choose whatever you like!”

Note: The events related to Li Yangcai described in this section are all based on Chinese and French archives. In October 1878, he crossed the Sino-Vietnamese border in an attempt to overthrow the Nguyễn dynasty and take its place, but he was defeated the following year as a result of joint efforts by China and Vietnam.