Chapter 22: The Deal (Part 2)

“Let’s agree this time—this shipment of goods will count as your advance payment for the arms. I’ll go to Haifang to arrange everything for you.”
Boss Deng was a very practical man. Although he had taken a deposit from Liu Yu, the shipping cost was still substantial, so he simply took a large shipment of rice from Liu Yu as full payment for the last batch of arms, agreeing to pay in cash only for the second shipment.
Liu Yu was more than willing to do this deal—after all, he had nothing to lose.
In Haiyang City, the Vietnamese government troops were practically a forgotten existence. After their defeat, they vanished without a trace. Most people even believed that even if officers tried, they wouldn’t be able to reunite and regroup them.
But they were wrong. More captives were found among the prisoners of Liu Yu’s camp—captives who had been brought back by their superiors after exhausting efforts, traveling from house to house overnight.
The docks were in full chaos. The officers once again felt short-staffed. Wielding whips, they urged the soldiers desperately, “Hurry! Hurry!”
Sweating profusely, the soldiers loaded bags of rice onto the ship with all their might. The ship became heavily loaded, sinking deep in the water, yet every soldier wore a smile.
The officers, on the other hand, could hide under umbrellas and drink cold tea, but they were even more anxious than the people of Liu Yu’s camp. “There aren’t enough people. Too many have been sent to the cemetery. We might not be able to finish this on time. This is troublesome…”
Just as the French conquered Nanning, once they captured a castle, they could conquer the entire region. Everyone submitted willingly to French rule.
What concerned them now was their own interests. Liu Yu didn’t even need to send troops to guard them—they would never escape or take any actions against Liu Yu’s camp. What worried him more was, “Liu Yu’s camp has offered a reward of a thousand taels. What if we miss the deadline and don’t get the money?”
Now, Liu Yu was paying each Vietnamese officer and soldier double their usual salary, with additional benefits for officers.
An officer, in addition to receiving double his regular salary, could also take 10% of the extra salary from his subordinates. In other words, an officer commanding 200 men could earn the salary of 20 extra soldiers. Since it was double the usual amount, it was equivalent to the salary of 40 men under normal circumstances. And if they completed the delivery task successfully, there were even more rewards—both for officers and soldiers.
Of course, Liu Yu paid in lead coins. After all, there were still 460,000 taels in the warehouse. He aimed to spend all of it within ten days and turn it into real cash.
They had never felt this good—even emptying their pockets wouldn’t have been as satisfying. They could easily earn a generous salary, so these officers now had pockets full of lead coins, too many to fit at home.
Yet there were clearly over 2,000 soldiers in the city. Despite their efforts, even going outside the city to find their own soldiers and having relatives dress in military uniforms to pretend to be soldiers, they could only find a little over a thousand.

“If we fail to complete the mission, tons of money will be lost!” an intermediate officer snapped. “We must capture those people no matter what! That money belongs to us!”
Though they weren’t good at fighting, they were experts at making money.
This army had a glorious history in business. For a long time after the founding of the Nguyen dynasty, the entire country functioned like a massive military camp, with most adult men serving in the army. Yet the Nguyen dynasty couldn’t afford to support such a large force, so the army turned into a huge trading enterprise, capable of engaging in any kind of business except warfare.
Now, this unarmed force operated with astonishing efficiency. Every member worked for Baiqian, and none dared to embezzle, fearing that colleagues might report them and steal their chance to make money.
However, there was far too much inventory in the warehouses of Haiyang Province, and the speed of transferring it to the docks was still too slow.
Meanwhile, Liu Yu also had visitors who came to demand answers.
“Who are you?” He grew nervous upon seeing these blond, blue-eyed merchants. Had the French acted so quickly?
The three merchants had blond hair and appeared quite barbaric. One of them, speaking fluent Chinese, demanded, “Are you Lord Liu Yu? We present you with our most solemn protest!”
“I ignore it!” Liu Yu stood his ground firmly. “You can talk to my subordinates!”
The blond merchants waved their hands angrily. “We demand equal business opportunities. The French granted us such rights during their time in Haiyang. We ask that you, who currently rule Haiyang, make the same promise!”
As they waved their hands, they said angrily, “We can pay in any form of currency—gold francs, pounds, or Mexican silver coins.”
Liu Yu was surprised. “Who are you?”
“I am a Russian merchant under the protection of the Tsar!” The three bearded men refused to budge. “I protest against you granting such business opportunities. We are under the protection of the Tsar!”
“Russian merchants?”
“Russian merchants under the protection of the Tsar.”
In fact, they weren’t Russian merchants but Polish merchants under Tsarist rule. What they sought wasn’t equal business opportunities—they were actually the monopolists of trade along the Red River.
There was a saying about France’s outstanding contributions to colonialism: “The laziest colonizers in the world.” Anye and Dubuyi opened the doors to the Red River, but it was a group of Polish merchants who monopolized its trade.
Later, through the Sino-French War, France paid hundreds of millions of francs in military expenses and lost tens of thousands of soldiers before finally opening up southwestern China. Yet, as “the laziest colonizers in the world,” they failed to reap much benefit from their control of the Red River trade, which instead boosted trade volume for Hong Kong under British rule.
Now, these Polish merchants monopolizing the Red River trade were demanding “equal business opportunities,” offering their own terms: “We can pay in any form of currency.”
They weren’t just profit-driven; they also had vast funds and a large fleet of merchant ships. If they secured such a lucrative deal, they could continue expanding their business.

“Great! I agree!” Liu Yu said with a smile, “Open doors, shared benefits!”