Chapter 37: New Appearance (Part 1)

Early in 1879 AD.
According to the lunar calendar, it was still the fourth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty and the thirty-first year of the Tự Đức reign in Vietnam.
It was December 27th, the end of the year approaching. Even though the region was affected by war, the entire city of Shanxi retained a festive atmosphere.
Not long ago, some good news had intensified this festive mood, prompting many people to set off firecrackers, filling the city with their loud noises.
Victory! A great victory!
In a recent decisive battle, the Black Flag Army, the Qing forces, and the Vietnamese army joined forces to defeat Li Yangcai’s main army.
It was a massive battle involving tens of thousands of soldiers. The four armies fought fiercely for days and nights. Li Yangcai’s forces had their twenty-plus camps breached one after another, and he could no longer resist the combined attacks. He was ready to break through and escape.
This hateful war was nearing its end.
What they didn’t know was that although Li Yangcai had suffered heavy losses, the fighting would still continue for three to four months. His complete defeat would come ten months later, but in any case, his ultimate failure was already a certainty.
To the north of Shanxi, among those returning home for the New Year, there was a particularly prominent group.
These people wore blue military uniforms, and many were barefoot. Yet no one dared to ignore them—especially because of the Seven-Star Black Flag they carried. More importantly, among this group of over a hundred people, a few were equipped with Remington rifles, the same type widely used by the famous Xiliu Camp in Shanxi.
Although the rifles didn’t have bayonets, the people of Shanxi recognized them at a glance. Then they realized these were Liu Yongfu’s personal guard troops. Upon closer inspection, not only were Liu Yongfu’s two personal aides present but also several of the Black Flag Army’s battalion commanders.
Liu Yongfu wasn’t very noticeable in the crowd. He was of average height and build, and it was hard to imagine him as the commander of this powerful force from northern Vietnam. Yet as he stood among his troops, they seemed even more energetic.
Seeing that his brother-in-law, Wu Fengdian, seemed displeased, he immediately walked over and patted his shoulder. “Fengdian, it was Shouzhong who made a mistake! Shanxi was originally your responsibility. It was right for him to ask me to decide whether to include Xiliu Camp, but giving them control of the defense area was a mistake.”
Wu Fengdian was a very calm man. As the commander of the Left Battalion of the Black Flag Army, he replied casually, “Yuanting, there’s no need to comfort me. I didn’t do anything wrong. Who would have thought that when our Black Flag Army set out on a campaign, someone like him would come to join us? Naturally, we treated him well.”
He was upset for a reason. He had married Liu Yongfu’s sister-in-law, making him one of the most trusted men in the Black Flag Army. His Left Battalion’s defense area had always been in Shanxi. Now, as he followed Liu Yongfu to fight Li Yangcai, he found that trouble had arisen at home—Xiliu Camp had taken control of Shanxi.

It’s easy to invite guests but hard to see them go. The Black Flag Army only has such a small territory, and now the Xiliu Camp has taken root in its defense zone. In the future, there will be one more pair of chopsticks at meals. Yet he didn’t show much of these thoughts on his face; instead, he comforted Liu Yongfu: “Yuanting, it’s you who need to be more careful. You must think about the future of our Black Flag Army and not let that Feng guy trick us again.”

To be honest, Liu Yongfu was angrier than anyone else, but he had nowhere to vent his anger. The reason was simple: this time, in the attack on Li Yangcai, the Black Flag Army had put in all its effort and achieved numerous military successes. Just the other day, the allied forces broke through more than twenty of Li Yangcai’s camps. It seemed they were about to reap the rewards, but someone had already surrounded the peach tree.

Huang Zuoyan had always liked to play such political games. It was common for him to fail to reward those who had made great contributions. He kept the Black Flag Army from starving but also from ever being truly satisfied. Yet Liu Yongfu never expected to be tricked by Feng Zicai as well.

One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. Feng Zicai’s ambition wasn’t much greater than Liu’s own. Seeing Li Yangcai on the verge of defeat, Feng actually moved the Black Flag Army to the rear, so he could surround the “peach tree” and pick the peaches at his own pace.

This time they had been deceived, but fortunately, they had received 15,000 taels of silver from Huang Zuoyan in advance, enough for the Black Flag Army to cover expenses for several months.

Thinking of this, Liu Yongfu felt that the southern region wasn’t a place for permanent settlement. Even a second-rank official there wasn’t as reliable as a minor officer in the Qing Dynasty. Over there, Yang Zhenen had already avenged Wu Fengdian: “Yalou, you’re just too easy to talk to. You lent your defense zone to the Xiliu Camp out of loyalty—that’s his fault. With just one word from me, our Right Camp will make them give up their defense zone.”

Yang Zhenen was the closest to Wu Fengdian among the Black Flag Army members. He was originally a failed military scholar. Four years ago, after Wu Fengdian defeated An Ye and returned home to recruit troops, Yang Zhenen joined the Black Flag Army under Wu’s guidance. Their Left Camp and Right Camp were extremely close to each other.

“How could it be easy?” Another commander, Liu Chengliang, Liu Yongfu’s adopted son, retorted. “If the front camp doesn’t step in and just stands by watching, how dare the three of us camps charge at those 300 muskets?”

Each of these three camps had only about 300 men, especially Yang Zhenen’s Right Camp, which was the weakest in combat strength. It didn’t have a single backloading rifle, let alone a front-loading foreign rifle—only bird guns.

“What’s there not to dare?” Yang Zhenen got angry at these words. “Our Right Camp may not have foreign rifles, but we’re not necessarily defeated by their Xiliu Camp.”

Liu Chengliang countered, “It’s a good thing that the Xiliu Camp has brought 300 backloading rifles to join our Black Flag Army. If everyone sits down and talks properly, we can surely reach an agreement.”

He had already discussed this with his adoptive father, Liu Yongfu. Liu Yongfu needed to consider the entire Black Flag Army’s interests. It was indeed a great thing that the Xiliu Camp had brought 300 backloading rifles, but figuring out how to accommodate them posed a dilemma for Liu Yongfu.

The Black Flag Army was too small—only about 3,000 men with a budget of 50,000 taels. They were afraid they wouldn’t be able to accommodate the Xiliu Camp, a much larger force. If the Xiliu Camp switched sides, the Black Flag Army would be left helpless.

Yang Zhenen still persistently demanded justice for Wu Fengdian: “Is no sense left? That’s Ya Lou’s territory—how can the front camp act on its own! And what does it matter if they have three hundred rapid-fire guns? I heard their commander is just a kid, and most of the troops are new recruits. They can only train hard these past few months, but it’s impossible for them to catch up with our Black Flag Army!”
He shouted at Liu Yongfu, “Yuanting, you must uphold justice for Ya Lou!”
Hearing this, Liu Yongfu grew somewhat displeased. He said, “What’s the use of talking nonsense? Even if their combat strength is weak, those three hundred guns are enough to make up for it. Enough. We won’t return to Shanxi for now!”
Liu Chengliang blurted out, “Where to?”
Liu Yongfu replied loudly, “To Xiliu Camp. I want to see what’s really going on there.”