Liu Yongfu

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Liu Yongfu bigraphy, stories - Dynasty

Liu Yongfu : biography

10 October 1837 – 1917

Liu Yongfu ( Vietnamese: Lưu Vĩnh Phúc) (1837–1917) was a Chinese soldier of fortune and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) he established a close friendship with the Chinese statesman and general Tang Ching-sung, and in 1895 he helped Tang organise resistance to the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. He succeeded Tang as the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).

Black Flags versus Yellow Flags

Having secured his base, Liu began to extend his ambitions. Ultimately, his intention was to carve out a small empire of his own controlling the upper course of the Red River. His first target was the border town of Lao Cai, which had recently been occupied by a force of Cantonese bandits under the command of He Junchang (Ho Chun-ch’ang, 何均昌). His band was allied with the Yellow Flag Army, a force established by Huang Chongying (Huang Ch’ung-ying, 黃崇英) on the model of the Black Flag Army and about three times its size. Liu’s attempt on Lao Cai brought him into conflict with the Yellow Flags. Troops of both armies moved warily into the town while their leaders negotiated insincerely. Finally the Yellow Flags launched a surprise attack on the Black Flags, first exploding a mine in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the Black Flag leader. However, despite their superior numbers, they were defeated and driven from Lao Cai. The town was to remain in the hands of the Black Flags until 1885, and became Liu’s main stronghold.Lung Chang, 30; McAleavy, 107–10.

In 1869, having conciliated the Vietnamese, Liu also won favour with the Chinese authorities by committing the Black Flag Army to a Chinese punitive campaign against the Yellow Flags, which gave him the opportunity to cripple this rival bandit army. The Chinese expedition was commanded by the veteran general Feng Zicai, who would later win fame during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) by defeating a French column at the Battle of Zhennan Pass (24 March 1885). In one particular military exploit, known as ‘the storming of the thirteen passes’, Liu’s Black Flags fought their way through the mountains and attacked Huang Chongying’s headquarters at Hayang, a town on the Clear River near the border with Yunnan, forcing the Yellow Flag leader to take refuge with his montagnard allies. Although the Chinese and Black Flags failed to anninhilate the Yellow Flags, they taught them a severe lesson, and Feng rewarded Liu for his help by offering him an honorary commission in the Chinese army.McAleavy, 110–12.

In the next few years Liu Yongfu established a profitable protection racket on commerce on the Red River between Son Tay and Lao Cai. Traders were taxed at the rate of 10% of the value of their goods. The profits that accrued from this extortion were so great that Liu’s army swelled in numbers during the 1870s, attracting to its ranks adventurers from all over the world. Although most of the soldiers were Chinese, many of the junior officers were Americans or European soldiers of fortune, some of whom had seen action in the Taiping Rebellion, and Liu used their expertise to transform the Black Flag Army into a formidable fighting force.Lung Chang, 31. Liu commanded 7,000 black flag soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi around Tonkin.(Original from Harvard University)

Early years

Liu Yongfu was born on 10 October 1837 in the town of Qinzhou (Ch’in-chou, 欽州) in southern China, close to the Vietnamese border. Qinzhou, now in Guangxi province, was at that time in the extreme southwest of Guangdong province. The ancestral home of Liu’s family was the village of Popai in Guangxi province, and when he was eight his parents moved to Shangsizhou (Shang-ssu-chou, 上思州) in Guangxi. Liu’s family was poor, living by manual work for others, and was only just able to scrape a living. In 1857 Liu joined a local militia force commanded by Wu Yuanqing (Wu Yuan-ch’ing, 吳元清), who claimed to hold a commission from the Taipings.Lung Chang, 30; McAleavy, 99.